Tech articles

Artificial blood closer to reality

The blood banks across the world struggle daily to hold their reserves, and the artificial blood could definitely solve the problem of scarcity. A new development based on stem cells have entered a phase of clinical trials to be completed in 2017, but it is still far from mass production.

The blood donation is a diffrent process in various parts of the globe. Some countries rely on paying money to keep their blood banks at acceptable levels, while in others it is illegal to receive any compensation, and develop broad appeal campaigns seeking volunteer donors. Generally, the volume of blood available tends to be insufficient. We should not forget that blood can only stored for only a small period of time (less than a month in the case of whole blood) , and after that the “stock” needs to be renewed accordingly. On the other hand, the concept of artificial blood has been with us for several years. For example. Fluosol and PolyHeme were two so-called “blood substitutes” which received approval and reached an advanced stage of testing, but for different reasons have been abandoned.

Other developments were inclined in favor of stem cells as a basis for artificial blood . In January 2013, it was reported that the IIT-Madras was ready to start mass production of artificial blood , and now come Similar developments through research funded by the Wellcome Trust , a foundation dedicated to raising funds for biomedicine projects. According to Professor Marc Turner , principal investigator, his team created red blood cells (RBCs) from induced pluripotent stem cells. Professor Turner acknowledges all previous investigations, but said it is the first time that it was possible to manufacture blood obeying every parameter of quality and safety required for transfusion in humans .

Now this artificial blood must enter a prolonged phase of testing. Chances are that these tests are focused on the treatment of patients with thalassemia, a complex type of anemia that requires frequent transfusions. The next step will closely monitor the behavior of artificial cells, and if all goes well, the process should be completed in the last months of 2016, or early 2017. Unfortunately, Professor Turner admits that mass production will be a challenge apart. A single unit of blood (about 450 milliliters) contains one trillion red blood cells, therefore, we cannot think of “blood factory” yet, but if the proof of the concept is successful, then this could change within some years.

April 17, 2014
LIX 3D Pen – Now you can draw in the air!

The progress in 3D printing is not only in reducing its cost, there also has been extensive improvements in miniaturization . A new development called LIX incorporates 3D printing to something as simple as drawing with a pen, allowing the user to create different objects directly with their hands , without supports or limitations.

Although virtual reality and augmented reality are emerging to shape the next technological revolution, personally I’m much more excited about the 3D printing . The idea of printing your own commonly used objects, ornaments and spare parts in the comfort of your home is fabulous and I can not wait for it to become popular. Instead of exploring an advanced design provided by a 3D printer industry, what we have here is the ability to draw freehand physical objects .

It’s name is LIX , and as expected, it takes the form of a pen . A USB cable(for providing 5Volt ), a plastic filament PLA or ABS, and pressing a button is all it takes to create three-dimensional drawings . Its length is just over 16 inches while its weight does not exceed 35 grams, so LIX should be relatively comfortable in the hands of the user. The speed with which the plastic comes out is not so quick. So, most likely, a bit of patience is needed to draw with the LIX pen .

If you’re interested, this device will be available soon through a pre-order. The price posted on the official website is 139.95 dollars , although no details about the international shipping costs or availability is mentioned. Anyway, it’s time for LIX to reach Kickstarter , where we can obtain the missing data, and access (in theory) to different offerings. Some of the test designs are stunning, and you can see thousands of people hoping to develop a new kindof art with this pen.

April 14, 2014
MyScript Calculator- Turns you handwriting into mathematical expressions!
One of the things I don’t like about the standard scientific calculators are that I have to press numerous buttons one after another to make an expression. It is a time-consuming and tedious process. If you have also felt like me, then you need to check Myscript Calculator, It can turn your hand-writing into expressions! You just have to draw the mathematical expression with your fingers on your mobile/tablet and this App will calculate the result. The hand-writing recognition technology used in this App is almost perfect, because it was able to recognize my bad handwriting without any issues.

The current version of MyScript Calculator can perform the following operations:-
- Basic operations: +, -, ×, ÷, /
- Powers, Roots, Exponentials: 9², √, ∛, e³
- Misc. Operations: %, |9|, 6!
- Brackets: ( )
- Trigonometry: sin,cos, tan, cot, cosh, sinh, tanh
- Inverse trigonometry: acos, asin, atan
- Logarithms: ln, log
- Constants: π, e, phi.
One thing I like about MyScript Calculator is its ability to solve unknowns. You just need to just insert an “?” into an equation and the app will fill in the correct value for the unknown. You can also strike the numbers to remove them. You can erase the entire calculation by crossing it out.

Although, MyScript calculator can easily replace any traditional calculator apps, it cannot replace a scientific calculator because it lacks many scientific functions. We can hope that newer versions will support those functions too.

You can download the Android Version from here for free

And you can download the IOS Version for free from here.

Windows phone users can burn 😛
April 14, 2014
Best online tools for creating infographics and charts

Now everything is said using infographics. Because it is easier, faster, and more engaging. Sooner or later you too will find a need to create an image “that says things.” Infographics are simply using graphic design to visualize the content that has long existed in other forms. While it is not useful for all types of content, infographics can add valuable context to existing stories by using visuals to show relationships in data, anatomy, hierarchy, chronology, and geography.It also makes it easier for the general public to understand complex things. Here are some online tools which will help you create infographics and charts quickly and for free. It never fails.

Visual.ly

This infographic about why you need infographics was made in visual.ly 😀

Visual.ly is a large library(or marketplace as they call) of infographics. The free tool offered on the site can create stunning infographics. You choose one of the templates that are already included on certain networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), and usually have to enter your account name, a hashtag or things like that, to create a chart with data on it. You can follow the life of a popular trend on Twitter and make it into infographics. The Infographics can be downloaded in JPEG and PDF or sent to Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook.

Piktochart

Piktochart is difficult to compete. The free version includes only a handful of the hundreds of templates that are available to subscribers, but even these are beautiful and customizable to the last detail. The editing tools include graphics, shapes, texts, and images. You can save your work to your online portfolio to continue at another time, or export it as JPG or PNG image.

Easel.ly

In Easel.Ly, you can manipulate any element on the screen as in Piktochart. The only saving options is to export to JPG, but Easel.ly has more facilities to share your graphics on websites and social networks, so it is very useful to quickly spread your creations.(If you are lazy to download and then share)

Venngage

If you are looking for an easy tool to make your infographics then venngage is the best. You can choose from hundreds of templates, charts,icons and themes. Also, you can upload your own images and backgrounds, or customize the theme to suit your brand. The coolest thing is that you can animate them too!

Infogr.am

Infogr.am is one of the latest tools for creating online informational graphics. It is more oriented to traditional statistical infographics, but with great visual power. Note that it is not as configurable as what we’ve seen so far, but if you’re looking to put all those data you have in text files or XLS into a beautiful graph, Infogr.am is the # 1 choice.

Hohli

There is possibly no simple way to create statistical graphics than by using this tool. There are 14 different models to choose the charts (bar, pie, Venn diagrams, lines, etc..) where you must simply enter the reference data using the form. If infographics may be very large or complicated because the data can be imported. The images are saved as PNG and can be shared online.

Dipity

Dipity is a tool to make interactive timelines. You will not have to touch anything directly, just simply fill in the forms with the necessary information, and Dipity will create it for you. The timelines support videos and pictures.You can keep it private, or selectively share time.

iCharts

iCharts is another tool for statistical graphics, similar to Hohli, but with a crucial difference: it allows data import. In comparison, it is simple and is much heavier to work. For basic graphics, it includes several nice templates that will make your graphics look well enough. You can download the work to PNG, PDF, send it to a website, share it with users and social networks.

Gliffy

Gliffy is an interesting service for computer graphics, a specialist in connective networks, organizational charts, and for other graphics. It Includes some alternatives that we have not seen so far, more specifically in the areas of technology, such as networking. It has several export options (image, XML).

Tagxedo

Tagxedo is a creative way to integrate words into a graph. you enter a data source (which can be a website, a Twitter account, search, etc..) and generate a huge image with the most relevant words around that criterion. Some are truly unreadable mess, but some of them are really good too. If you prefer to do the work manually, it also includes an editor from which you can start everything from scratch. There are several quality options and recorded formats.

Visualize

It is a infographic ‪resume generator. You can visualize your resume in one click and also take a look at previous examples. We think that this is how our resumes are going to look like in the future.

We hope that you found this list useful. If you have any better info-graphic tool to add to this list, then please comment below and let us know.

April 11, 2014
Google Releases Project Ara Module Developers Kit

After an year of rumors about Project Ara,Google have officially announced their first Project Ara Module Developers Kit. This kit is currently available only for developers. The project was originally started by Advanced Technologies and Projects team in Motorola,when Google owned it. Although Google has sold some of Motorola’s share to Lenovo,the have retained the team from Motorola who would be working under the Android Division for this project.

The design for Project Ara consists of an endoskeleton and modules. The endoskelton is the structural frame that holds all the modules in place. A module can be anything, from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter–or something not yet thought of. The required modules can be added to the endoskeleton. In other words,we can build a smartphone of our exact needs. This would also make the maintenance and upgradation of the phone simple.

Currently,there are two sizes available-Mini and Medium,while Large has been confirmed. Google will be the sole provider of skeletons,as per now. A number of developer’s conference has been planned by Google throughout 2014. And an estimate 4000 developers have been registered for the conference on 15th and 16th of April. It’s commercial release is expected in the first quarter of 2015. If you are one of the developers interested in it,kindly inform the officials via mail/forum here or register for the upcoming conferences here.

April 10, 2014