New discovery dubbed as ‘Li-Fi‘ to replace Wi-Fi in China?

Chinese scientists have successfully developed a new cheaper way of getting connected to internet by using signals sent through light bulbs instead of radio frequencies as in 'Wi-Fi', a move expected to radically change process of online connectivity. 

Four computers can be connected to internet through one- watt LED bulb using light as a carrier instead of traditional radio frequencies, as in Wi-Fi, said Chi Nan, an information technology professor with Shanghai's Fudan University. 

Under the new discovery dubbed as 'Li-Fi', a light bulb with embedded microchips can produce data rates as fast as 150 megabits per second, which is speedier than the average broadband connection in China, said Chi, who leads a Li-Fi research team including scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

The term Li-Fi was coined by Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh in the UK and refers to a type of visible light communication technology that delivers a networked, mobile, high-speed communication solution in a similar manner as Wi-Fi. 

With Li-Fi cost-effective as well as efficient, netizens should be excited to view 10 sample Li-Fi kits that will be on display at the China International Industry Fair that will kick off on November 5 in Shanghai. 

The current wireless signal transmission equipment is expensive and low in efficiency, Chi said. 

"As for cell phones, millions of base stations have been established around the world to strengthen the signal but most of the energy is consumed on their cooling systems," she said. 

"The energy utilisation rate is only 5 per cent," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted her as saying. 

Li-Fi was touted as a boon to China netizen community, the highest in the world with about 600 million connections. 

Compared with base stations, the number of light bulbs that can be used is practically limitless. 

Meanwhile, Chinese people are replacing the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs with LED light bulbs at a fast pace. 

"Wherever there is an LED light bulb, there is an Internet signal. Turn off the light and there is no signal," Chi said. 

However, there is still a long way to go to make Li-Fi a commercial success. 

"If the light is blocked, then the signal will be cut off," Chi said. 

More importantly, according to the scientist, the development of a series of key related pieces of technology, including light communication controls as well as microchip design and manufacturing, is still in an experimental period.

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Sony launches Galaxy Grand rival Xperia C at Rs 21,490

Sony India has launched its Xperia C phablet in India, bringing yet another rival of the popular Samsung Galaxy Grand in the market. This device has a 5-inch screen, Android 4.2, dual-sim functionality and a quad-core processor and has been priced at Rs 21,490.

Xperia C will compete against the likes of Samsung Galaxy Grand, Micromax Canvas 4 and the upcoming LG Optimus G Pro Lite.

The new Xperia C has a TFT display with 960x540p resolution and has the Omnibalance design that Sony uses in its top-end smartphones. This phone comes with 4GB internal storage, microSD support up to 32GB, 1GB RAM and runs on a 1.2GHz quad-core Mediatek processor.

On the back, Xperia C sports an 8MP camera with LED flash, while a VGA unit is used in front. Connectivity options in the phablet include 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB 2.0. Powered by a 2,390mAh battery, this device is available in white, black and purple colours.

Sony is offering headphones worth Rs 1,490 with the Xperia C for free. It is also offering six months of accidental damage protection with the handset. The company has tied up with Airtel to offer 1GB of free data usage for two months for this device.

The Xperia C has been retailing at e-commerce websites in the country for around Rs 20,000. It was unveiled globally in June this year at Mobile Asia Expo.

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Former Nokia CEO: Company made several mistakes

Ex-Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila says the former No. 1 mobile phone company made several mistakes at its peak, including failure to predict changing customers' needs.

In his autobiography, which translates from the Finnish as An Impossible Success, Ollila concedes that after 2001 the Finnish company was unable to sustain its role as the main innovator in the wireless industry. Several of its models flopped and it failed to sense popular trends such as folding clamshell handsets and touch screen models.

Ollila at the book publication that Nokia became "painfully aware" that its cellphone platforms lagged behind US software and the challenges posed by the iPhone.

He also described the planned sale of Nokia's smartphones and services to "arch rival" Microsoft as "dramatic and rave."

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Samsung unveils faster, power-efficient 5G memory chips

Samsung Electronics has reportedly unveiled its fifth-generation (5G) high-efficiency green memory chips which consume less energy and enhance performance simultaneously. 

The South Korean tech giant said that the advanced memory solutions were optimized for next generation data centres that use cloud computing based on a big data platform. 

Samsung said that the new green DDR4 chips will take more physical space but save more power. 

The chips are expected to raise the server data transfer speed to 2,133Mbps from the older DDR3's performance limit of 1,866Mbps, while consuming 24% less energy. 

The company said that it plans to mass produce DDR4 with a data transfer speed of 3,200Mbps in the future. 

According to Xinhua, the Green PCIe solid state drive (SSD) can offer a data transfer speed of four GBps, six times faster than the SATA SSD's 600MBps and reducing the delay in data transfer by 67% and enhance energy efficiency around 2.6 times. 

Executive vice president of Samsung's memory sales and marketing, Jun Young-hyun said that with the introduction of the innovative memory solutions that maximize IT investment efficiency, the company has set the stage for sharply strengthening the value of advanced memory.

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Youth thinks technology can be dehumanizing: Survey

Millennials are tech-savvy young adults who grew up with smartphones and iPads, but many think technology makes people less human, according to a poll. 

The survey of 12,000 people aged 18 and older in eight countries, commissioned by Intel, also showed that 18- to 24-year-olds want technology to be more personal and know their habits. Older women and those living in emerging markets are the most enthusiastic about the role technology can play in their lives, the findings showed. 

Dr Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist and research director at Intel Labs, said although the results of the survey that examined global attitudes towards technology innovation may indicate that young adults are rejecting technology, the findings could be more complicated. 

"A different way to read this might be that millennials want technology to do more for them," she said in a statement. 

Nearly 90% of young adults questioned in the poll admitted innovations in technology make life easier, but about 60% said people rely on it too much and that it can be dehumanizing. 

Seventy percent said technology enhances their personal relationships and about half believe it will have a good impact on education, transportation and healthcare. 

Women age 45 and older, and those living in emerging markets such as Brazil and India, are more enthusiastic about the impact technology could have on their lives. 

In China, more than 70% of women said technology is not used enough. 

"Women historically have become avid users of technology when that technology solves a problem, helps us organize our live and that of our families, as well as aids us in saving time and time shifting," Bell said. 

The findings showed that Italians and Japanese held the most negative attitudes toward technology. 

The survey, which was conducted in Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the United States from July 28 to August 15, has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.89 percentage points.

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Apple wants more Samsung devices banned

Apple wants product import ban on Samsung devices in the US to be broadened to possibly include more devices. The tech giant has appealed against decision of United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose an import ban against only a few of the Samsung Electronics gadgets. ITC website recently published Apple's official appeal.

In the appeal, published by ITC on its website, Apple seeks to overturn the unfavourable parts of the final ITC ruling on its complaint against Samsung. The Cupertino-based company aims to reverse ITC decisions which it believes allow Samsung to design workarounds for its products despite the ban.

ITC has already found Samsung guilty of infringing two patents. Apple's appeal wants ITC to review three more patent cases. The present ban mostly covers discontinued models of Samsung.

Samsung Electronics is expected to appeal against Apple's petition.

In another case, Samsung reportedly lost a bid to block a ruling requiring it to produce information about the extent of its violation of a court order protecting Apple's patent licensing agreements.

According to the Bloomberg report, US District Judge Lucy H Koh in San Jose, California, upheld US Magistrate Paul S Grewal's sanction requiring Samsung to produce Apple e-mails, communications among Samsung employees, and to make available to Apple various witnesses because of its violation.

Samsung is said to have argued that Grewal's order was "grossly overbroad," and would cause it to violate attorney-client protections.

Obama administration recently vetoed a product ban that would have forced Apple to stop selling some iPhones and iPads in the United States, in what was seen as a rare intervention by the White House.

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First computer programmer inspires women in tech

In 1842, Ada Lovelace, known as the "enchantress of numbers," wrote the first computer program. 

Fast-forward 171 years to October 15 (which happened to be Ada Lovelace Day, for highlighting women in science, technology, engineering and math), and computer programming is dominated by men. Women software developers earn 80% of what men with the same jobs earn. Just 18% of computer science degrees are awarded to women, down from 37% in 1985. Fewer than 5% of venture-backed tech start-ups are founded by women. 

Those statistics, released by Symantec, the security company, and the Anita Borg Institute, which works to recruit and promote women in tech, provide context for recent debates in Silicon Valley, like why Twitter has no women on its board. 

Given that girls begin to shy away from computer science when they are young, because of a lack of role models and encouragement from parents and teachers, perhaps a short history lesson on Lovelace would be helpful. 

She was the daughter of Lord Byron, the poet, who split from her mother shortly after her birth. Her mother encouraged her to pursue math to counter her father's "dangerous poetic tendencies," according to the University of California, San Diego. 

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, some people sense change in the air. "There's a lot more focus than we've seen in the past, and a lot more hard conversations," said Telle Whitney, chief executive of the Anita Borg Institute . The Symantec and Anita Borg report tried to find a bright side — the wage gap is smaller in technology and engineering than it is in other fields, and the job opportunities are many. 

Astia, which offers programs for women tech entrepreneurs , announced on Tuesday a partnership with Google to expand its lunch series for introducing women founders to investors. And two scientists, sponsored by Brown University, are hosting a mass Wikipedia editing session for people to create and expand upon entries for women in science and technology.

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