US students build $10 smartphone-powered microscope

WASHINGTON: You can now build your own microscope with nothing more than a smartphone and basic supplies worth $10 from a hardware store!

The do-it-yourself microscope project is being undertaken by students at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The students are enrolled in two biological sciences courses taught by Terry Wilson, an associate teaching professor.

In one of the courses, students are building their own digital microscopes using carriage bolts, nuts, wing nuts, washers, plywood and Plexiglas from a hardware store, laser pointer lenses, LED click lights from a keychain flashlight to build a stand and a smartphone to view and enlarge lab specimens.

The DIY microscope can magnify samples up to 175 times with a single laser pointer lens, or nearly 400 times when stacking two lenses, said Daniel Miller, who earned his master of science degree in biological sciences from Missouri S&T.

Miller created a prototype to use in Wilson's General Biology lab, where he served as a teaching assistant.

Wilson was looking at commercial kits and online versions of microscopes, but was not satisfied with what was available.

When Miller showed her his prototype, "I was blown away by it. I was really shocked by how good a job it does," she said.

In commercially available biology lab kits, "the microscope is usually the most expensive thing. This is much more cost-effective. It's the perfect solution for us," Wilson said.

Image courtesy: Instructable

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Microsoft should not obstruct anti-trust probe: Chinese regulator

Microsoft Corp should not obstruct an anti-trust investigation by Chinese regulators, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said on Monday, the latest shot fired by China's government at the US software giant.

The SAIC has questioned Microsoft's lawyer, deputy general counsel Mary Snapp, who was at the regulator's offices on Monday, a spokesman for the SAIC said.

Last week, the SAIC said it was formally investigating Microsoft for breach of anti-trust rules and had raided four of the software firm's offices in China.

"Microsoft promised to respect Chinese law and fully cooperate with the SAIC's investigation work," the SAIC said in an e-mailed statement. Microsoft declined to provide immediate comment, but last week said its "business practices are designed to be compliant with Chinese law."

The warning is likely a preemptive step in the course of the government's investigation.

"I don't think the government is saying Microsoft has already done anything to obstruct the investigation, otherwise they would have publicized it," said You Yunting, a senior partner at Shanghai DeBund Law Offices. "In China, you do everything you have to to completely submit if the authorities investigate you. The government is saying, 'We might be more lenient if you don't resist, otherwise we'll be tough'."

Microsoft has been suspected of violating China's anti-monopoly law since June last year in relation to problems with compatibility, bundling and document authentication, the SAIC said last week.

But industry experts have questioned how exactly Microsoft is violating anti-trust regulations in China, where the size of its business is negligible.

The US company has taken a public beating in China in recent months. It has been subject to wider scrutiny against US technology firms in China in the wake of former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's cyberespionage revelations.

It has also seen service for its OneDrive cloud storage service disrupted in China, and had its latest Windows 8 operating system banned from being installed on the central government's new computers.

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LG stops G Watch skin irritation issue with software update

LG has rolled out a firmware update for its LG G Watch following concerns that the gold terminal pins on the back of the device were causing skin irritation and even burns for some wearers.

The problem, as reported by Android Police, is a constant electrical current that is sent through to the exposed Pogo pins while the device is being worn.

Other users have complained about discolouration and corrosion of the pins, which has is caused when sweat meets the live Pogo pins on the Android Wear device.

The update from LG, which is yet to be officially acknowledged by the company, has been sent to stop that current while the device is in use.
Disabling the current
A LG customer support representative did tell one G Watch owner: "Recently it has come to our attention that a small number of G Watch devices have been reported to have developed discoloration and residue buildup on the terminal pins located on the back."
"While completely safe and unlikely to affect charging, LG will be rolling out a maintenance release over the next few days that will disable the current when the G Watch is not in the charging dock. The maintenance release will be rolled out automatically over-the-air to all G Watch owners. We thank G Watch users for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

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Top telcos owe Rs 2,100 crore penalty to DoT: CAG

NEW DELHI: Telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Aircel, Tata Tele and BSNL have not paid penalties totalling Rs 2,116.95 crore levied on them for non-compliance of subscriber verification rules that are important for national security, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report.

"We further noticed that out of Rs 2506.80 crore of penalty levied by the DoT and the Term (Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring) Cells during 2009 to 2012 for defective CAFs, the service providers had paid only Rs 389.85 crore," CAG said in its latest report.

As per data provided by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to CAG, RCom has maximum outstanding due of Rs 594.76 crore, followed by Airtel Rs 502.8 crore, Aircel Rs 402.31 crore, BSNL Rs 269.42 crore, Vodafone Rs 203.04 crore, Idea Cellular Rs 74.15 crore and Tata Teleservices (TTSL) Rs 70.47 crore.

Term Cell levies Rs 1,000 penalty for every wrong Customer Application Form (CAF) filled for mobile connections if 95% cent of forms are correct.

The penalty escalates to Rs 5,000 per wrong CAF if compliance rate is between 90-95% and goes up to Rs 50,000 per form if it is below 80%.

CAG estimated that the total penalty in the year 2012 alone works out to be at Rs 4,204.33 crore as compared to Rs 2,506.80 crore levied by the DoT.

"Based on the figures worked out, it could be seen that total defective CAFs for the 7 major service providers was Rs 4.20 crore for the year 2012. Even, if a minimum penalty of Rs 1,000 is levied for each defective CAF, total penalty works out to be Rs 4,204 crore for the year 2012 alone," CAG said.

As per the auditor, the penalty on RCom should be Rs 918.3 crore, Airtel Rs 906.4 crore, Vodafone Rs 601.88 core, Idea Rs 563.6 crore, BSNL Rs 492.55 crore, TTSL Rs 408.75 crore and Aircel Rs 312.85 crore.

CAG has said that government has not achieved 100% compliance to subscriber verification rules because of "ineffective monitoring and weak control by DoT and the Term Cells."

The auditor also said that the findings of Term Cells regarding non-compliance during regular monthly audits could not be relied upon as surprise checks had revealed non-compliance to a large extent.

"The compliance level of most of the service providers was found to be very poor in cases of complaints/surprise checks by Term Cells. In the case of some of the service providers, such as Tata Teleservices and Bharti Airtel, the non-compliant CAFs were as high as 84% and 55%, respectively," CAG said.

The auditor has suggested that DoT should monitor levy of penalty by Term Cells and enforce its recovery from the service providers without delays.

The CAG also said that DoT should devise and implement a comprehensive subscriber verification policy and ensure timely issuance of orders for achieving 100% subscriber verification aiming towards strengthening the national security.

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'Micromax beats Samsung, becomes India's No. 1 mobile vendor'

NEW DELHI: Micromax has overtaken Samsung to become the largest mobile phone supplier in India in Q2 2014, according to independent market research and consulting firm, CounterPoint Research.

As per the report, Micromax's handset shipments share was 16.6% in the quarter while Samsung's share was 14.4%. This is the first time that Samsung has been displaced from the pole position.

Nokia was at the third position with a 10.9% shipments share, followed by domestic brands Karbonn and Lava which had a 9.5% and 5.6% share, respectively.

In terms of smartphone shipments, Samsung still retains the top slot with a 25.3% shipments share in the second quarter. Micromax is closing the gap with 19.1% share, followed by Karbonn, Motorola and Nokia.

The smartphone shipments share figures is in line with a recent report by Canalys which also placed Samsung, Micromax and Karbonn as the leading smartphone makers, shipping 8.5 million, 5.8 million and 2.3 million handsets, respectively.

READ ALSO: Moto G helps Motorola pip Nokia in India, becomes fourth largest smartphone seller

According to the Canalys report, Motorola shipped 955,650 smartphones in the three-month period, while Nokia shipped 633,720 smartphones.

Interestingly, Micromax was also the leading feature phone supplier with a shipments share of 15.2%, as per the CounterPoint Research report. It displaced Nokia for the first time. Nokia's shipments share was 14.7%.

READ ALSO: Samsung tops Indian smartphone market, Micromax second: IDC

Globally, Micromax is the tenth largest handset brand in terms of mobile phone shipments, it added.

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Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

TOI Tech/ Ravi Sharma / August 02, 2014

Vishal Sikka has taken over as Infosys new CEO. As Sikka embarks on his first full week at the company, we bring to you seven things you should know about the company's first non-founder CEO.

1. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

August 02, 2014

Vishal Sikka was born to Punjabi parents; his father was an Indian Railways employee and his mother was a teacher. He was born in Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh on June 1, 1967; the family moved to Vadodara, Gujarat, when he was six years old.

Sikka now lives in Silicon Valley California with his wife and two sons and holds American citizenship.

2. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

August 02, 2014

Vishal Sikka did his schooling from Rosary High School, Vadodra, in Guajarat.

Sikka joined bachelor course in computer science at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, which he later discontinued to go to Syracuse University in New York where he earned BS and MS in computer science. He completed his PhD from Stanford University in 1996.

3. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

August 02, 2014

Vishal Sikka, the first non-founding member of Infosys, has a five year term at the company. He took over the chief executive's office on August 1 from SD Shibulal.

Sikka, who is also the managing director of the company, will be based in Silicon Valley.

4. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

August 02, 2014

Vishal Sikka is the highest-paid tech executive in India, with a salary of $5.08 million (approximately Rs 30 crore). This includes a base salary of $900,000 and a variable pay of $4.18 million that will be subject to the company achieving certain fiscal milestones.

5. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

August 02, 2014

After quitting his job at Xerox, Vishal Sikka tried his hands at entrepreneurship. His first startup, iBrain Software, was acquired by PatternRX. His second venture, Bodha.com, was bought by Peregrine Systems. With the Bodha.com buyout, Sikka joined Peregrine Systems as its vice-president for platform technologies.

6. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

August 02, 2014

Vishal Sikka is credited with developing HANA (High Performance Analytic Appliance), SAP's hugely successful in-memory database management system.

According to a TechCrunch report, Sikka met with an accident in Costa Rica while on a vacation in 2008. After this accident, he felt that he needed to change the direction of his life and told SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner that he wants to leave SAP. However, Plattner challenged him to "intellectually renew" the German giant. Sikka took up this challenge, which is believed to have led to the creation of HANA.

7. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: 7 things to know

August 02, 2014

Vishal Sikka is a well respected Silicon Valley professional and a member of CTO Forum, a non-profit community. He was also on the advisory board of Coghead between 2006 and 2009, along with the likes of Guy Kawasaki and Seely Brown; Coghead was later acquired by SAP.

Sikka maintains a blog and has written about his vision for a 'Timeless Software' that does not cause disruption to users as technologies change. He has 24,000 followers on Twitter.

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Startup that turns men into 'accessories'

Note: We recommend you read the following under the assumption this is a spoof startup, even though the founders told Mashable they're dead serious about ManServants.
Advertising mavens Josephine Wai Lin and Dala Khajah think they have a brilliant new company that they insist is not a gimmick.

Called "ManServants," their startup is essentially an escort service. It turns men into doting dates and on-demand cabana boys.

"We believe personal assistants and pool boys are luxuries every woman, or gay guy, deserves — even if it's just for a day," the founders wrote on their site. "And they make great accessories."

The code of conduct is beyond disturbing. Women can name their ManServants anything they want, and they'll respond. They can choose what attire the man dresses in. ManServants are required to "keep their penis, and hands, to themselves" and they're expected to do things like "serve drinks, light cigarettes, take Instagram photos, and feed grapes." In exchange, ManServants can earn at least $80 an hour or $300 per day.

Wai Lin and Khajah say their dream is to "annihilate the stripper industry," and that ManServants is a suitable alternative.

"Everyone who watches [our promotional video] thinks it's a parody," Khajah, who is a copywriter for the AKQA agency, told Mashable. "Even the name of the company sounds like a joke. But it's not."

If ManServants is real, it joins a wave of startups that are trying to empower women, but may actually be achieving the opposite. Lulu is another controversial startup that's like Yelp for men. It lets women rate men anonymously on their personalities and sexual prowess.

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3 apps to learn a foreign language

Whether you're travelling abroad on holiday, emigrating to another country, or immersing yourself in a new culture, learning the language of the land is a great way to get to know the people and place you're interested in.

I usually start with the names of popular street food dishes a new country has to offer, but you might find greater success interacting with native speakers and delving into their literature.
Whichever path you choose, you'll benefit in more ways than one: re search has shown that learning an additional language helps stave off dementia and Alzheimer's, improves your multitasking skills and memory, and even makes you more effective in your native language! Getting started with a new language might seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be: there are thousands of resources available for language learners at every level available on the web, as well as communities to connect with fellow polyglots and learn together. Plus, I've got three wonderful apps to help you try your hand at a foreign language, for free, in the comfort of your own couch, and it's as easy as playing a mobile game! It's never too late to start, and these apps let you learn at your own pace. So what are you waiting for?
Pronti? Attenti! Via!

Learn in a flash with memrise

Whether you're an absolute novice or know your way around your language of choice, Memrise can help you sharpen your skills with courses for every level in a range of languages, created by the community. Levels in Memrise are like flash cards - you're shown a word with its translation, followed by a couple more, and then asked to correctly recall the meaning of any of these words. Most courses include spoken words and Mems (funny pictures that act as mnemonics) to help you remember each word. To make things interesting, you can even choose courses based on movies, comics and songs that you can check out before beginning the course, which includes words and phrases from the selected media. This adds context to your learning and helps you create stronger memories.

The app also tracks when you last completed a level or course and will remind you to practice and stay sharp. If you want to know what it's like to learn a language you're interested in, Memrise is a great choice to start with. memrise.com | Web, iOS and Android (Free)

Play and learn with Duolingo

Intimidated by German? Apprehensive about French?
Duolingo takes the stress out of learning a new language by turning the process into a game. You start with three lives per level, and have to get through each by successfully translating to and from your chosen language, pronouncing words and phrases correctly and transcribing short sentences over roughly 20 rounds to a level. By going through various sections like Basics, Phrases, Food, Plurals, Adjectives and more, you'll begin to understand the language system without having to dissect it as you would in a classroom.

When you're feeling confident about your grasp over the sections you've completed, you can practice by taking on other language learners worldwide, or a bot in a timed language challenge to see who scores higher.

Duolingo will periodically encourage you to test your skills, and you'll be rewarded with Lingots that you can use in the shop to buy a lost life or even bonus skills like useful idioms and pickup lines (because they're endearing when you're a foreigner - your mileage may vary!). You can also set goals for your chosen languages, so Duolingo will prod you to practice enough each day.
And if you've got friends who are using the app, you can follow their progress on a leaderboard, and keep the competition alive by increasing your XP score daily. After a few weeks with Duolingo, you'll be comfortable reading, writing and pronouncing the basics of your chosen language. All you need is a few minutes a day to practice! duolingo.com | Web, iOS and Android (Free)

Practice with native speakers, with Hellotalk

It's no secret that Memrise is great for learning key phrases and improving your vocabulary, but it doesn't do a lot for users' grammar and composition skills. It's perfect for use in conjunction with a professional language course, or for learning basic conversational language. The best way to get the hang of a language is to practice speaking it often - and that's where HelloTalk comes in. This handy mobile app connects you to speakers of your chosen language from around the world so that you can practice conversing with them by speaking or typing, just as you would with friends on a messaging app. And you don't have to worry about not being fluent in the language you're training in - HelloTalk includes tools to translate text to and from your native and chosen languages, pronounce typed text and even transcribe voice messages.

All you need to do is indicate your chosen language and your skill level, and HelloTalk will let you look up other speakers across the globe whom you can message and chat with.
Even beginners can get in on the action - simply type in your native language, and use the Translate tool before you send each message, and view translated responses too. Over time, you'll become more comfortable conversing in your chosen language. As for intermediate and advanced speakers, there's simply no easier way to find language learners to practice with. Plus, you're bound to make a new friend or two in the process.

hellotalk.com | Available on iOS and Android (Free)

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Lenovo S660 review: Budget phone with good battery

Lenovo has been offering smartphones across different segments in the Indian market. We've seen its flagship (Vibe Z) and premium mid-ranger (Vibe X). But also on the platter is S660, an economy smartphone that promises good battery life.

Last year, Lenovo introduced P780 which offered great battery backup, but was a little underpowered. Is S660 a better smartphone? We try to find out in our review.

Build and design
Lenovo 660 has a rather staid design that won't really turn heads. But it certainly makes the phone easy to carry and use, despite being slightly bulky.

The phone boasts of a brushed metal rear cover which gives it a solid feel and makes the back resistant to smudges and visible scratches. However, we had a hard time whenever we had to open the rear cover. You'll need long nails to pull it out.

The cover hides a removable battery, a microSD card slot and two regular sim card slots stacked on top of each other. Good luck to you if you're using a micro/nano-sim adaptor. The stacked slots are cumbersome and there are chances that the adapter may get trapped.

There's a solid plastic frame around the edges which also sports a metallic finish.

Both the power and volume rocker keys are located at the right edge, and offer good tactile feedback. The micro-USB port is at the bottom while the headphone jack is at the top.

The front is dominated by the phone's 4.7-inch display, with three capacitive touch keys located just below it.

Overall, the phone is well-built and seems durable. However, it doesn't stand out when it comes to design.

Display
Lenovo S660 sports a 4.7-inch qHD (540x960p) IPS display. While it's not as sharp and crisp as 720p displays, the screen offers good viewing angles, vibrant colours and decent brightness levels. Sunlight legibility is above average.

Camera
Lenovo S660 sports an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera. The rear camera can capture 1080p video.

The camera app is not very intuitive but comes with controls for all granular settings and shooting modes, including Panorama and HDR modes.

We found the images captured by the Lenovo S660 outdoors, during daylight, to be pretty good. The images offered decent amount of detail, reproduced colour accurately and had good contrast, especially in HDR mode. Pictures captured in low-light conditions and indoors were not that great and a bit grainy.

Overall, the camera is good for taking casual shots. Videos taken with the rear camera also turned out to be above average.

However, the VGA front-camera is archaic and functional at best. Don't expect good quality selfies or high quality video chats.

Software
Lenovo S660 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, an older version of the operating system. We're not sure if the company will update the OS to Android 4.4 KitKat. Lenovo skins the OS with a custom UI and unlike stock Android, it doesn't include a separate app launcher. App icons and widgets are spread across the home screens.

The unified home screen-app launcher style may come across as user-friendly to people who've not used an Android phone before. But it may take some time to get used to if your last phone was already an Android smartphone.

You can choose between several transition effects and customise your home screen as per your liking.

The UI can be themed and the S660 comes with two preloaded themes. The notification tray and app switcher have not been skinned but the settings menu and some system apps have been customized a bit.

Lenovo also includes several preloaded apps, including Lenovo SHAREit (for sharing files via Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth), SECUREit (anti-malware app), CLONEit (for migrating data from an old phone) and SYNCit (syncing data to the cloud) apps, and Evernote, Facebook, Kingsoft Office, Route 66 Navi + Maps, Skype, Twitter and UC browser.

The Lenovo apps work fine and can even be installed on a non-Lenovo phone to carry out the desired function.

Performance
Lenovo S660 is powered by 1.3GHz MediaTek MT 6582 quad-core processor, and 1GB RAM. While using the phone, we did not encounter any hiccups in launching and switching between apps and there was not much lag.

In terms of synthetic benchmarks, it scored 5,434 in Quadrant Standard, 17,589 in AnTuTu and 64 in NenaMark 2, topping Motorola's Moto G by a small margin in some tests. But we do not recommend a phone based solely on benchmarks as real world performance is different at times.

Lenovo S660 sports a giant 3000mAh battery and will last about a day and a half on full charge with moderate to heavy usage (screen brightness at full, 3G on).

Out of the 8GB storage, around 6GB is available to the user. However, you can expand the storage with a memory card of up to 32GB.

It offers Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS connectivity options. Lenovo S660 offers excellent call quality and signal reception and we did not encounter issues while making calls even in areas where the cell signal is relatively weaker. The phone was able to lock to GPS without any hiccups.

We were able to play most popular video and audio file formats, but it struggled to play some 1080p videos. The low-resolution display also disappoints when it comes to multimedia playback.

The loudspeaker grill, located at the back, offers loud sound output, but the quality drops when you increase the volume level. The sound gets muffled when the phone lies on its back, which is a problem with all such designs that place speakers at the back.

Gaming
Casual games such as Subway Surfers run smoothly. However, we observed some frame drops while playing graphics-heavy games like Asphalt 8.

Verdict
Lenovo S660 was launched at Rs 13,999 but is available for as low as Rs 11,500, online. The phone is a good option for someone who needs a solidly built device that offers good battery life but doesn't come with too many bells and whistles. Having said that, the low resolution display and the VGA front camera disappoint.

While the phone offers decent performance, there are others available at a lower price point, that tick all the right check boxes. Asus Zenfone 5, for instance, is a better option that costs just Rs 10,000.

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Acer Iconia A1-713 tablet launched at Rs 12,999

NEW DELHI: PC vendor Acer has launched a 7-inch budget Android tablet, Acer Iconia A1-713, at Rs 12,999.

The tablet comes with 3G connectivity and offers voice calling functionality.

The Iconia A1-713 tablet sports a 7-inch display (1024x600p), and is powered by a 1.3GHz MediaTek quad-core processor and 1GB RAM. It runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean but Acer has promised an Android 4.4 KitKat update.

The tablet sports a 2MP rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera. It comes with a 3400mAh battery.

In terms of connectivity, it supports Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and 3G.

Announcing the launch, S Rajendran, chief marketing officer, Acer India, said, "Over the last year, internet access has received a huge boost and has changed the dynamics of the Indian tablet market significantly. Popularity of the Android ecosystem, coupled with affordable data tariffs and improved reach of service has driven the demand for tablet PCs in the country. Witnessing the growth in demand for this form factor, we introduced a device that offers the functionality of a laptop and the portability of smartphones - the Acer ICONIA A1-713 is an ideal device for consumers looking to enjoy mobile entertainment."

Other notable tablets available in the same segment in the market include Samsung's Galaxy Tab 3 Neo, HP Slate 7, Flipkart Digiflip Pro and Lenovo A7-50.

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