Avatar:



Will there be a day when you say "I can't read your mind, you know!" and the reply will be "Oh, stop it -- of course you can!"? It could happen. Neuroscientists are finding ways to read people's minds with machines, and although this has been in the works for decades, real progress is being made by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and elsewhere. Translating electrical activity from the brain by means of decoding brainwaves is one way to help sufferers of dementia, for example, who have complications with neurotransmitters relaying thoughts into comprehensible speech or holding thoughts long enough to get them out verbally before they're forgotten.

• On the other hand, it is more than a little frightening to know that science and machines could soon have access to our innermost thoughts. Implications for neurohacking into people's thoughts have also been studied in relation to neuromarketing, which targets people's brains by manipulating their wants and desires through marketing and advertising. Our thoughts and actions could actually be hijacked by a form of media that makes us think we're getting what we want, when really, we're going for something our brains may only think is supposed to be good

Nokia has already created indestructible phones, but now the phone company is trying to create a phone that will harvest radio waves in order to recharge the battery on the phone while it is on standby.
Basically, whenever you're just sitting around on the couch watching television, your phone could be charging while in your pocket! The eventual goal for a phone like this would be that the user of the phone would NEVER have to plug their phone into something to charge it!

You don't know it, but your television, microwave, car, the phones of your friends and family all release radio waves, and these radio waves are going to be used to charge your cellphones, and maybe, other electronic devices!
A wireless transfer of energy has already been tried in 1893, where Nikola Tesla tried to send electricity to an intercontinental transmission tower! It was a little too futuristic for Tesla, but maybe not for Nokia!

 

Story:

Is this a mosquito? No. It’s an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US Government. It can be remotely controlled and is equipped with a camera and a microphone. It can land on you, and it may have the potential to take a DNA sample or leave RFID tracking nanotechnology on your skin. It can fly through an open window, or it can attach to your clothing until you take it in your home.

Analysis:

The story comes with a picture claiming to show a Mosquito spy drone that can take photographs and DNA samples of people, and that it is funded by the U.S government for tracking people.
It is a fact that there are reports suggesting that research is going on to develop the MAV's, i.e. Micro Air Vehicles in the form of tiny flying objects like a mosquito. The purpose of these MAVs is to be useful in scientific and military applications. The micro flying robot can have cameras, microphones and other sensors that can take pictures, videos and other useful scientific and biological information from people and places where humans (or the military) cannot reach. This way the tiny flying robots can also be used as spies and weapons against enemies.

Earlier Citations

In 2007, at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), the latest developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were showcased. Scientists talked about the design of micro UAVs of insect-size that actually flap their tiny little wings, and convey important communication information in a given mission. Not just from U.S, there were in total 20 UAV-related papers at the conference, from four continents and eight countries, including Portugal, Germany, France, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil.
In 2008, the U.S. military engineers were trying to design flying robots disguised as insects which can fly and spy on enemies to conduct dangerous missions without risking human lives. Refer to an animated picture in the image section below. Greg Parker, who helps lead this research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton talks about this saying:
Parker and his team planned to start and develop such a bird-sized robot as soon as 2015, followed by the insect-sized models by 2030.

The Facts

The picture shown in the story is not a real robot mosquito drone, but simply one such proposed 'prototype' that may become reality in future, and perhaps they will also be able to take photographs and DNA samples of people. But as of now, these are only speculations, and not facts in practical. A quote from RT America confirms the same:
Watch the video, it explains the same story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMI7HIhKdIo&feature=player_embedded

Story: 

The Flying Car - A Fantasy Soon To Come True!!
The flying car which is popularly called the TF-X will be a hybrid of a car, helicopter and plane, which can be driven as well as flown like a personal jet plane.
First model set to go on sale in two years - and there is even a version that can take off vertically if you get stuck in a traffic jam.

Analysis:

Circulating messages talk about the fantasy of flying cars becoming a reality soon, also those which can take off vertically when you get stuck in a traffic jam. It is a fact with some misinformation.
The flying car, known as the Transition Flying Car was developed by a Massachusetts based company called Terrafugia (means Escape the Earth in Latin). It was founded in Woburn by pilot-engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company mainly works around building practical flying cars, and its motto is to bring personal aviation into the mainstream.

The Transition Flying Car

As mentioned in the message, the Transition flying car is an hybrid car, helicopter and plane that can be driven as well as flown like a personal plane. The hybrid flying car is a two-seater aircraft with folding wings. The company is keen on this street-legal airplane that converts between flying and driving modes within a minute.
The prototypes of these Transition cars have in fact been flying for years, as the company is testing its durability and the certification by federal aviation and highway safety agencies. The company said that it is planning to start delivering the flying car to customers in 2015 or 2016. In the first video, you can watch a test flight of this Terrafugia Transition flying car conducted in 2009.

The TF-X™

Terrafugia is also working on a successor model of this flying car called as TF-X™, which can take off and land vertically, flying at more than 200 mph and for 500 miles - carrying four people. The company announced about these studies of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plug-in hybrid-electric flying car in a press statement released on May 5th, 2013. Terrafugia plans to incorporate the state-of-the-art intelligent systems and control technology in the proposed TF-X™ so as to increase the level of safety and comfort of personal aviation.
However, this vertical take off car is in the earliest stages of design and feasibility studies. The second video shows the design vision of this VTOL car. The company said that they are planning to develop the TF-X™ to have the most control over the flight so that even a person without a license would be able to fly it.
These flying cars will be a good news for the frustrated commuters, also for the fact that it gives them a new dimension of personal freedom.

Story:

Warning for to all parents with children that have any electronic devices, ex : ipod, tablets etc.... there is a site called Talking Angela, this site asks kids questions like : there names, where they go to school and also take pictures of their faces by pushing a heart on the bottom left corner without any notices.
Please check your children's ipods and all to make sure they do not have this app !!! Please pass this message on to your friends and family that have kids !!!!

Analysis:

The message comes as a warning to all parents with children having electronic devices like ipods
and tablets, claiming that there is a site called Talking Angela that will hack the children's personal information including their pictures - without any notice. The message is not a fact.

About Talking Angela

Unlike mentioned in the message, Talking Angela is not a website as such, it is an interactive application for iOS, Android and Facebook. The app is a product from Out Fit 7 Ltd., the same company that developed the famous Talking Tom Cat app. Talking Angela is a two-way interactive app meant for entertainment, where Angela, the chat bot talks to the user about various topics and answers in text and voice. In Child Mode, the purpose of the Talking Angela app is to wait until the child says something and then mimic what they say back to them in a cat-like fashion.

Facts about Child Privacy

As mentioned in the message, the Talking Angela app does have a Heart button, but it does not take a picture without notice. When the heart button is pushed, the app takes your picture, and then pops up a screen with 'option' to share your picture with Angela on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The app does not gather any personal information initially, but in payments page, just like other apps, does collect your personal information. However, the Legal Notice mentioned in the description of the app says that the personal information is only stored as anonymized data and not shared with anyone:
And as mentioned in the privacy disclaimer of Out Fit 7, the company is also keen to protect children's privacy while using their products:
Therefore, the warning about Talking Angela as a threat to children's privacy appears to be nothing more than a scare. It need not be shared. However, it is always a good idea to keep a close eye on what your children are doing online, especially when they are using devices connected to internet

Warning if you take photos with your cell phone of your kids, grand kids, elderly family members --
WATCH THIS!
This is truly alarming - please take the time to watch this video, AND TAKE THE RECOMMENDED PRECAUTIONS. At the end they'll tell you how to set your phone so you don't run this risk!
PLEASE PASS THIS INFO TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO TAKES PICTURES WITH THEIR CELL OR SMART PHONE AND POSTS THEM ONLINE. Be sure to share with all your family and friends. This is important info, about what your posting pictures/info on your cell phones can do TO YOU!!! Too much technology out there these days so beware...........

I had no idea this could happen from taking pictures on the blackberry or cell phone. It's scary.

Analysis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

The Solution:

THERE are more than a dozen sorts of three-dimensional (3D) printer. They all build up objects, layer by layer, but what the layers are made of varies from one to another. Some extrude filaments of molten plastic. Some spray special “inks”, such as liquid polymers that solidify when exposed to ultraviolet light. Some use powdered plastic or powdered metal that is then fixed in place with a laser or an electron beam. Now there is yet another way. Staples, an office-supplies company, has introduced it at its store in Almere in the Netherlands. And the layers their machine prints are made of a substance that Staples has in abundance: A4 sheets of paper.

The process was invented by Conor MacCormack, an Irish aerospace engineer, and his brother Fintan, an electrical engineer. They worked with 3D printers but found the materials expensive. (Many manufacturers put a high markup on their bespoke printing materials, just as the producers of 2D printers do on their ink.) The MacCormacks therefore set out to make a full-colour 3D printer with exceptionally low operating costs. They call the result “Selective Deposition Lamination” (SDL) and they reckon the cost of the paper needed for it works out at about 5% of the cost of the materials for other 3D systems.
Like those other systems, SDL begins by taking a series of digital slices through the object to be replicated. These are then sent to the printer, which reproduces each layer in turn. In the case of SDL, the process starts by the machine applying drops of adhesive to a sheet of paper. More adhesive is applied to the area which will form the first layer of the object; less (but still some) is applied elsewhere. The lightly glued area acts as a support while the structure is built up.
Next, the machine slides a second sheet of paper on top of the first and presses them together to bond them. This done, it uses a tungsten-carbide blade to slice around the outline of the object (ie, between the heavily and lightly glued areas). The process continues, layer by layer, until the object is complete. It is then removed from the machine, the supporting material is peeled away, and the finished item, which has a consistency similar to wood (not surprising, since paper is made of wood pulp), is revealed.
Adding colour involves a bit of old-fashioned two-dimensional printing. Each sheet, before it is put in the stack, is printed top and bottom with appropriate ink in a pattern that follows the edge of the item at the level this sheet of paper will occupy. The ink soaks through the paper so that when it is cut no white is visible.
So far the new printers, which are made by the MacCormacks’ company, Mcor Technologies, have been used mainly to produce things like architects’ models, three-dimensional maps, prototypes of parts, moulds and various arts-and-crafts items such as figurines. A doctor is also using a Mcor machine to make surgical guides for facial reconstruction. Staples hopes people will use their imaginations and print all sorts of other things as they expand the service to more stores. And one day, as more office documents migrate to cyberspace, 3D printing with paper may even overtake the 2D sort