Bluetooth 5.0 is Backward Compatible and Fast

So if you’ve recently bought a new device, you may have noticed that on the device’s specification list something that says Bluetooth 5.0 support. From iPhone 8 to iPhone X and to Samsung Galaxy S8 all come with Bluetooth 5.0 support. While these are not the only latest devices to bear the Bluetooth 5.0 spec, many new devices released as well as yet to be released all come with the 5.0 spec.

But what is Bluetooth 5.0 all about and how will it benefit you? Well getting to that shortly, but first basically Bluetooth 5.0 is the higher version of the current Bluetooth standard in lay man’s terms.

What is basic Bluetooth support?

Bluetooth is a wireless communication standard used with wireless headphones, wireless keyboard, wireless mice, gaming consoles and all the other wireless gadgets you can think of. But besides these, Bluetooth is also used to communicate with other smart devices and IoT gadgets in the household.

So coming back to Bluetooth 5.0, as mentioned earlier it is a higher version of the current wireless communication, so like all updated versions of things it does come with improvements. But hold your horses, not so fast, to use Bluetooth 5.0 with all its benefits you need to be able to connect to devices with the same Bluetooth compatibility otherwise you will be left with just the basic what- you- get – with the current Bluetooth standard.

All The Improvements you can think of with Bluetooth 5.0:

Any improvements you see with Bluetooth is related to the energy consumption. Any device you use with Bluetooth is likely to drain your phone’s battery, so any improvement to Bluetooth has to do with low energy consumption.

The first low energy specification was released with Bluetooth 4.0 and not to the classic Bluetooth radio either which uses a lot more of your phone’s juice. Bluetooth 4.0 was used for low power hungry devices like wearables, beacons and some other devices.

But for those power hungry devices, this specification was all but useless. So these other devices have to use the classic Bluetooth radio instead.

But with Bluetooth 5.0 you get the low energy standard which means longer battery life and lesser power usage.

As for some devices, Apple’s AirPods use Bluetooth 4.2 and a W1 chip to improve connectivity.

What else is new with Bluetooth 5.0?

Besides less draining of battery life, Bluetooth 5.0 also comes with an amazing new feature- you can connect to two devices at the same time. This means that you could either stream the same music to two headphones, for example, at the same time, or you could stream different music to different headphones at the same time all while being connected to one smart phone.

This latest and upcoming feature is titled “Dual Audio” on devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S8. But just to make it clear this new feature is not limited to only Samsung, any brand offering Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity should also include the dual audio feature.

Talk about speed with the Bluetooth 5.0:

Like all new versions of Bluetooth, Bluetooth 5.0 also comes with improved connectivity and faster speeds over larger distances.

So let’s talk numbers- the Bluetooth company boasts that Bluetooth 5.0 comes with double the speed, four times the range and eight times the message communicating capacity as compared to previous Bluetooth versions.

Bluetooth 5.0 support data transfer speeds up to 2 Mbps which double what the previous Bluetooth versions can do. Devices connected to Bluetooth 5 can also communicate with connected devices for up to a distance of 800 feet as compared to the previous 200 feet distance with Bluetooth 4.2, this not taking into consideration walls and other obstacles that will weaken the signal as they do with WiFi signals too.

Bluetooth 5.0 also comes with aptX compression standard which means that you get cd quality music. So now with Bluetooth 5.0 you will get better audio quality with transferring music to a connected device.

Gadgets can actually choose between receiving data faster or receiving data through larger distances. If the speed of data is not that important and communication over larger distances is required, then the device will compromise on speeds, while on the other hand if you need faster connectivity but distance is less between connected devices then the range is saved. This all helps in reducing battery consumption and this is where the low energy specification comes in.

For example while using your headphones, the speed while streaming music is important and range is always close to the smart phone, whereas other smart devices in the house do not need to communicate much, they just have to report on their statuses and that’s it, so there is no need for higher speeds then, this all works together to lessen battery consumption and saves energy.

Dark matter comprises a part of universe, and it does not have interaction with light. This truth is already known to us. However, recently, a new research work has revealed that this stuff can contain small electric charge.

New findings of the researchers on Dark Matter–

Till now, we realize the presence of dark matter with gravity. However, Abraham and Julian, the astrophysicists in Harvard University have found that few particles of dark matter comprise a very small amount of electric charge. Thus, this matter may have an interaction with the normal stuffs by applying electromagnetic force. The new idea will be able helpful to make out lots of things on this stuff.

Cooling process and the reasons behind Dark Matter-

Some months ago, the astrophysicists have first traced out the sign, coming out of hydrogen gas.

Several years ago, cold hydrogen gas was moving between various stars. As this gas was very cold, it has the capacity of absorbing radiation, caused due to Big Bang. However, the wavelength of this radiation must be within 21 cm. With the measurement of radiation absorption by the hydrogen gas, the researchers are able to comprehend cosmic origin. By employing the radio antenna (EDGES), the astronomers were capable of detecting the absorption.

Julian thinks it to be the amazing Dark Matter discovery. The most important fact is that hydrogen has absorbed lots of photons. To make the gas much radiation, it has to be cooler. Abraham and Julian believed that the dark matter could be the major factor behind the cooling process. In one of the journals, they have found out the fact that while 1% of this stuff had a little amount of electric charge, it could be elusive. It is also capable of pulling heat from the gas.

We have found several concepts, related to dark matter, and these are intended for clarifying the difference. To make everything clear, we can say that in place of the cooler gas, the radiation could be little hotter, or we might find flaws in measurement or analysis.

EDGES and its findings–

The observation of EDGES is really amazing. Although its researchers have spent 2 years to test out their analysis, they are still looking for better data for confirming the result. While their tests are right, we may not need more detailed clarification. However, Julian has partially elucidated dark-matter.

The scientists are trying to engage lots of tools all over the world to make their observations much detailed. Different types of experiments, including Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, are intended for assessing the way in which there is a variation in the absorption process throughout the sky. While a little amount of dark matter has electrical charge, it can develop a different mode to the variation.

Although Abraham and Julian have not proved the theory directly through observations, the presence of dark matter with electric charge is helpful to elucidate the data of EDGES. It will also support other research findings.

Today’s day and age requires information to be transferred not only fast but also that the data should be the most current or the most freshest that is out there and often this does not happen. In order to avoid overloading wireless networks every bit of data does not get transferred on time and that means what you end up viewing may not be the most- freshest or most updated data that is out there.

It is not the question of how fast data can be transmitted in the wireless networks but that the data being transmitted over wireless networks do not get transmitted as often meaning that you are not seeing the most current version of data that is there. Take for example a car and it’s sensors, now it does not take much time for the sensors within the car to transmit data to a central processor but the age of that data will not only depend on the speed at which that data is being transmitted across channels but also on the frequency with which that data is being sent by the sensors.

How to keep information fresh on a wireless networks?

The question then arises as to how to increase the frequency of data being transferred to a central processing unit without completely overwhelming the network?

Engineers at MIT seem to have come up with an answer to this question. At present researchers at MIT say that they can apply their system to a simple wireless networks but hope that in the future they will be able to apply their findings to a much complex wireless network.

The process of keeping data fresh in a wireless networks:

In the course of their research, engineers at MIT made a simple network consisting of a central control station that would receive information from multiple nodes or in their case drones.

Using the assumption that only one node or drone could transmit data at any given time, researchers then began to decide which drone should send data at which time.

This question was answered by the team coming up with an algorithm, which calculated an index for each node, which in turn took into account factors such as the age of data, the reliability of the channel relaying information and the overall importance of that node in the wireless networks.

Nodes that are more reliable and faster are given a higher index as compared to nodes of lesser reliability and which are slower. But the index assigned to each node is not a fixed factor, this index keeps on changing and at any given time the node with the highest index relays data first.

The research team calculated a bound rate- the average age of information in a wireless network, which is the least time that has ever been achieved by any of the wireless networks elsewhere.

The researchers found that their data came very close to this bound rate and gave the freshest data possible as compared to any wireless networks that is out there.

There are a few smart speakers in the market and Google Home has made its mark in that area. As compared to Alexa and Amazon Echo, Google Home has gone ahead of them with some of its smart features.

Though Google Home has the to-do list feature, there has been a bit of a shortcoming with regard to the to-do list feature. However, you can get around the shortcoming by managing the to-do list feature with Google Home.

Getting around the to-do list with Google Home

As of now, Google Home does not offer support to the to-do list, but there is a way of getting around that. One of the ways is by using the shopping list.

As opposed to the shopping list, the ‘If this then that’ or IFTTT is an efficient way of working around the to-do list with Google Home.

The first step in that direction is to create an IFTTT account and create a new App.

Under Google Assistant, check out the list of services provided.

To get started, under the text ingredient, say a sentence.

You then need to enter a sentence under the ‘What do you want to say’ command.

Also You can create various starting phrases and add a dollar sign to the command.

You then need to click ‘create trigger’

To carry on to the next service, you can select any task manager service which you are already using, like iOS reminders, Evernote, etc.

Based on the service you have selected, just follow the cue and then click ‘Create action’ at the bottom.

You will then have to provide a name for the App and click finish.

When you say ‘Hey Google’, then you also need to add ‘Go to the store to my tasks’ and the task will then be added to the to-do list of your choice.

Reminders with Google Home

Initially when Google Home was out in the market it did not offer any support for the reminders. The Google Now and the Google Assistant on the smartphones handled the reminders, but this was not seen in the smart speakers. Google Home has eventually added reminders and they are quite powerful and simple to use. To create a reminder with Google Home, just say, for example ‘OK Google remind me to go to the gym at 7am’

For the reminders you need to go to the Google Assistant app to manage your tasks. Another way is to go to Google Home, then click ‘More Settings’ and then “Reminders’

Another feature that has been added to the reminders is the location-based notifications. When you create a reminder with location data, GoogleHome will remind you when you get to the location. When using the location-based reminders, there are different locations like specific addresses, your home and work address, certain business locations and stores like the coffee shop, etc.

Third party integration with Google Home

The Assistant Apps by GoogleHome have helped in third party integration for managing tasks. Some of them are ‘My Checklist App’, ‘Todoist’, ‘Task Now’, ‘SmartTask’. In case you want to go to these services, one needs to say, ‘OK Google, talk to Task Now’. For all these applications you need to link your account in the Google Home and the Assistant App will help you create and manage your tasks.

The major shift in focus for Google towards becoming more’ smarter’ was seen more pronounced with SundarPichai at the helm. From being a search-oriented in the first half of this decade Google has taken a deep dive into the world of AI and machine learning and has established itself as a core AI enterprise without much fanfare. In the just concluded Google I/O we got to see how Google using AI to power from self-driving cars, smartphones to almost anything. The highlight of this conference was the emergence of voice assistant which appears to be indistinguishable from the humans. Here are some of the major things revealed at the Google I/O.

Google I/O:  Let AI handle the boring conversations

Google I/O brought the most exciting features to the Android which allows it make use of Google Assistant powered by Google Duplex to make natural conversation like humans. This is suited for the purpose of booking a table at a restaurant or appointments. The machine vice used here isn’t the usual creepy machine like one but happens to be a hyper-realistic human voice added with smaller words like “mmhm’ and ‘uh’.

Be polite with the virtual assistant with Google I/O

Google Assistant is smart but still happens to be a machine at the core and it is designed to respond to almost anything said to it using the “OK Google” command. Google I/O brought a noble solution to this with new features aptly title “Pretty Please” wherein users are required to make use of the words “please” and “thank you” in their commands. This feature is designed to make both adults and kids in order to encourage them to talk politely with the virtual assistant in their home or office.

Google I/O makes News become smarter than before

Google I/O made the Google New better by injecting it with the AI boost. Now users will get more personalized news with a dedicated “For You” tab where new is populated by AI through learning the user’s reading habits, then there is “Newscasts” section which brings the most notable events of the days and it also offers an in-depth news with ‘Full Coverage option which allows users to see the same news covered by different media houses.

Google I/O Helping your phone last longer

Google I/O saw the debut of new exciting features on the Android called ‘Adaptive battery” and as the name suggests this features will work by carefully analyzing which apps be used by the users at what time interval and the phone will save battery herein through reducing the app wakeups in between. This update will essentially help the users in conserving their battery and making their phone last longer with the help of the AI boost. With Android P users will also get a refined dashboard which will show how much time has been spent on any given app and users get to use a new gesture called “shush” which will allow users to put their smartphone in the “Do Not Disturb’ mode effortlessly.

In today’s world we need to be connected 24/7. We are always on our phones and for good measure too. We do all our work and other activities through our phones, whether it be looking at messages, emails or chatting or browsing, it is not a stretch to say that we are always and by that I mean really always on our phones. What about when we travel in our cars, can we get work done while we are driving to the work place? The answer is yes. With tech such as Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto we can still remain connected.All it needs is for us to connect our phones to our car’s headset and you’re done. Right now Google has even introduced wireless connectivity for Android Auto (At least if you have a pixel or Nexus phone). So now there is even no need for those bothersome wires.

Wireless support for Android Auto:

Google has begun the initial wireless rollout for Android wireless Auto. It is a limited rollout but a start never the less. Coming with Pixel and Nexus phones running on Android 8.0 and later, wireless Android Auto can be connected via WiFi to a car’s headset.

Google has tied up with Kenwood and JVC to get their headsets to support Android wireless Auto. But that is not all. Google is also working on getting other phones to support Android wireless Auto. We can hope to see this tech shortly. Samsung Fans hold on there!

Compatibility with wireless Android Auto:

Beginning with Google’s very own smart phone line, the Pixels and Nexus’ are all supported. To be more specific Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P at present, are the only devices that are supported.

Coming to the headsets, Google has got the newer versions of Kenwood and JVC headsets to support Android wireless Auto.

As shared by Google, all is not lost, Google is working with third party phone manufacturers to get the wireless android auto software up and running in no time. More updates will be coming shortly.

As for car head units and displays, Google is working out on getting more manufacturers to support wireless Android Auto tech.

Before the coming of Wireless Android Auto, you had to connect your smart phone to your car’s headset via a cable and you still do if you don’t have a Pixel or Nexus device, but as I said before not for long.

It is no doubt, with or without a cable, Android Auto and CarPlay have been a major boon to consumers. You can now get more work done in your car than ever before and you still remain connected. As compared to auto manufacturer designed systems, Android Auto and CarPlay offer unparalleled ease of use.

Apple’s CarPlay has offered wireless connectivity for months now but with Google we’re getting there with Android wireless Auto. Shortly, all you Android Auto users out there can kiss that cable good bye!

Researchers have recently come up with a new transparent polymer  that can conduct electricity, making it usable in technologies like smartphones, laptops and other device screens. The process, by which this polymer is made is relatively inexpensive and can be done on a large scale. On top of that, this polymer glass can replace the existing material known as indium tin oxide, which is an expensive inorganic material which is most commonly seen on device screens.

This type of polymer is not the first of its kind, there are other polymers too that can be good conductors of electricity but in a transparent form none of them have shown a remarkable capacity to conduct electricity. So the next screen you may see on your device could be made of this inexpensive polymer glass.

What is polymer glass?

The polymer like glass originates from earth found materials and therefore can be more cheaply made, on the other hand, other polymers use an expensive process known as chemical doping to conduct electricity making it a very expensive alternative. In spite of the process of chemical doping, these other polymers are not as good in conducting electricity as the glass like polymer that researchers have recently discovered.

Another disadvantage with the current method of making polymers conduct electricity is that they absorb light due to their delocalized or conjugated nature. Coming back to polymer glass, in order to create it researchers started afresh with a new non- conjugated polymer. To do this, researchers added in radical transparent materials, which do not conduct electricity so the next challenge was how to get the polymer glass to conduct electricity?

Using these radical transparent materials in the polymer glass makes this material cheap to produce and also possible to make the material on a large scale factory setting.

To solve the problem of the non- conducting radical materials, researchers used a process known as electrical percolation to make the polymer glass a good conductor. This method of making polymer glass makes it not only conduct electricity but also a good conductor, as compared to other polymers that are made to conduct electricity.

Advantages of using this polymer glass:

One of the major uses of this polymer glass is that they can be used as a replacement of the current material indium tin oxide, which is currently used as screens in televisions, mobile phones, laptops, computers and tablets.

Indium tin oxide is expensive as it uses inorganic materials in its composition making it costly to incorporate in such devices. On the other hand glass like polymer  is not only a good conductor but is also made from organic materials and can be made cheaply on a large scale. This ability of polymer glass to be made on a large scale makes it good for mass scale production like in a factory setting.

Achieving this feat of making glass like polymer , researchers are now looking at polymers that can be used for bio medical applications.

Pick any Color with this New Semiconductors that apparently defies the laws of physics

Researchers have recently discovered a new form of semiconductors that can absorb and give off any color the heart desires. This semiconductor can then be made to work in lasers, LEDs, windows and then some. This emergent form of semiconductors apparently defies the laws of physics and can give off any color that you want.

What’s even more interesting with this semiconductor is that it can be applied in a commercial setting with minimum fuss. But can this new form of semiconductors really work? Can we really have ourselves a light source that not only absorbs light but also gives off light of any color of our choosing?

What is this new form of Semiconductors?

This new and emergent class of semiconductor is known as HOIP or Hybrid Organic- Inorganic Perovskites. These HOIP semiconductor material is very easy to produce in large quantities and is energy efficient which makes it a very interesting material to play with .

But this is not even half the story. HOIP semiconductors apparently don’t like to follow the normal laws of physics. To elaborate, normal semiconductor materials are formed on rigidly established foundations but with the HOIP semiconductor it is a funhouse in structure. The HOIP semiconductor has stable quantum properties but in a very intense molecular motion. What researchers really want to find out is how these two Waring properties match together and how exactly can this phenomenon be explained?

So how can this Phenomenon really be explained?

In normal semiconductor materials, the materials are in the form of crystalline lattices in a two dimensional structure. This gives the rigidity to the foundations of semiconductor materials.

But in the case of HOIP semiconductor materials, there is intense molecular motions with stable quantum properties. The HOIP material is in the form of a perovskite crystalline like lattice that self assembles and how it does this is in the form of two dimensional sheets layered to form a three dimensional framework.

These two dimensional sheets are layered with the help of another molecular structure which you can think of as rubber bands, this rubber band like structure lends the wobbling feature to the HOIP semiconductor material while the two dimensional sheets lend a stable and rigid feature to the HOIP semiconductor.

Why is HOIPs such great Semiconductors?

In an atom, as we all know electrons orbit around the nucleus or can be shared by some atoms in a chemical bond. In HOIP semiconductors, the electrons are shared by the atoms more broadly.

In such a system like the HOIP semiconductors, the electrons run about participating in things like flow of electricity and heat. This leaves the orbit of an atom empty. This situation is called an Electron hole. But the atoms want their electron back. The hole becomes a positive charge while the electron is the negative charge and opposites attract. So thus begins the dance for the atom to attract the electron back into its orbit. This so called dance to get the electron back into the orbit of an atom is called exciton.

Coming back to HOIP semiconductors, in a normal semiconductor the excitons are correlated which can give some desirable properties when an energy source is applied. In HOIP semiconductors like some other semiconductors, the excitons can even pair up to form biexcitons that boost the energy properties of the semiconductor.

In HOIPs the Biexciton energies are so high that by putting this material into a laser you get maximum input absorption and then these biexcitons contract and pump out the light which makes using the HOIP semiconductor material great for use in LEDs, lasers and such.What’s more is that you can control the chemical properties of HOIPs, that is the width between the biexcitons, to control the wavelength of light, this gives you the color of your choosing emitted by the HOIP semiconductor material.

At Bespoke in Westfield San Francisco Centre, Google plans to give a talk on Google Cloud Security. There will be around 15 sessions spread over a 2 day period wherein they will cover up security across Google Cloud, the acceptance and regulations, shared responsibility and all the very best  practices adopted by Google with regard to Google’s very own internal security. At these talks, they plan to conduct interactive sessions and demos based on Google Cloud Security and all the security challenges faced including malicious cyber attacks and extraction of data by malicious third parties.

Due to the innumerable security threats that take place, the greatest challenge faced by businesses is to function in a very safe and watertight environment. The Google Cloud Security promises to provide a secure Cloud infrastructure managed by professionals to counteract security lapses.

At the Moscone Centre where the RSA Conference 2018 is scheduled, Googlers will be either giving talks or actively participating on the panel for discussions regarding data protection and secure environments.

Based on security, there will be 20 security updates and enhancements including Access Transparency to enable businesses protect their data and stay secure.

The Google Cloud Security will provide protection against DDoS attacks and will also include increased transparency, API protections and many more.

Features of Google Cloud Security

Security against DDoS attacks and other threats will be provided by the new Cloud Armor tool .

The new VPC Service Controls will protect data in API based storage and big data services.

Google Cloud Security: Cloud Armor

Cloud Armor that is available on the Google Cloud Platform will utilize load balancing to protect GCP users against DDoS attacks. Cloud Armor uses the HTTP(S) load balancing which is found in YouTube and Search. The user has to configure load balancing to get the service activated. Cloud Armor together with HTTP(S) Load Balancing provides IPv4 and IPv6 whitelisting/blacklisting, counteracts application based attacks and provides access control. Cloud Armor will show all the traffic that has been blocked and those that are allowed.

Google Cloud Security: VPC Service

Another Google Cloud Security feature in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the VPC Service. All the data that is stored in the API services in GCP will be secured. In cases where identities are stolen, IAM policies are misconfigured, and then the services such as Google Cloud Storage and BigQuery will provide protection. This will help business establishments to feel less threatened and hence move their data to the cloud.

The Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API enables the users to label, manage and even edit parts of sensitive information.

Google also has the Google Cloud Security Command Center (Cloud SCC) which will check the storage systems for sensitive info, identify the usual web hacks and take an inventory of access rights to your resources. This will bring about transparency in services like App Engine, Compute Engine, Cloud Storage and Cloud Datastore.

With regards to administrative access, Access Transparency provides audit logs of Google Support and Engineering access and the reason they needed for the access. With Cloud Identity, there will be further improvement in transparency. The Cloud Identity can increase the level of detail to which managers can grant access to users and groups.

In today’s smartphone era everyone conducts most of their searches or online activity from a smartphone or mobile device. In an attempt to make search results more mobile friendly or adaptable to a mobile phone, google is introducing Mobile First Indexing.  Recently Google has acknowledged that they have started the initial rollout for mobile first indexing. This is not to say that the process has begun recently but just that Google has acknowledged the fact now.

Some sites have already been migrated to mobile first indexing and Google says it will migrate those websites that follow best practice in terms of mobile first indexing that means that sites which use dynamic serving or responsive web design will be in a better position when it comes to migrating them to mobile first indexing. If sites have an AMP and non- AMP version then Google will choose the non-AMP version when it comes to mobile first indexing.

So what basically is Mobile First Indexing?

Since most searches are conducted from a mobile device or smartphone rather than a desktop, Google wants to make its search engine more mobile friendly. A part of this process includes mobile-first indexing whereby the Googlebot will crawl and index only the mobile version of a particular website.

That is not to say that sites that do not have a mobile version will not be crawled and indexed, in such situations Googlebot will crawl and index that website as- is. There will not be a separate main index and mobile first index. All content will appear in one index but it’s just that Google will use the mobile version of the website wherever available.

Then what about Ranking in Mobile First Indexing? Will they be affected?

When it comes to site rankings Google assures website owners that the ranking of their website will not be affected with Mobile First Indexing. It  is just a change in the way in which Google gathers information for its own Google index. By getting your website migrated to mobile-first indexing, you will not have an advantage over a website that has not yet been migrated.

A feature that was in place since 2015 has been that when a search is conducted on a mobile device all content that is mobile friendly will be placed first in the search results and that will be the same now too.