The Sony Wrist Computer Concept for the Year 2020

By:Britney Scott

Considering the rate at which technology is developing by leaps and bounds, the proposition of having a mini computer strapped to your wrist does not seem to be a distant probability.  However, there is one concept design of a wrist band converting into a PC which has completely caught the imagination of the avid gadget aficionado- the Sony Nextep Computer that has been designed by Hiromi Kiriki.  Although, this fabulous design is in its concept stage, nevertheless its entire form, idea and features have made it one of the most awaited gadgets to come out nearly seven years from now!

This concept of a wrist computer would be having an OLED touch screen which would be extremely flexible and that would be accompanied with a holographic projector that would do away with the screen and make it very high-tech.  You can pull out additional keyboard panels from the device and the features would also connect you to your preferred social networking sites.

This wearable PC might sound a little geeky, but that is the way things have always been imagined.  Think of how we might have sounded back in the days before laptops and mobile phones existed!   We have now come to an age which is predominantly dependent and run by technology and communication.  Hence, our need for internet connectivity is at all times and this is the reason why technology needs to evolve further and provide us more profound devices that enable us to remain ‘connected’ at every step of the way- this is why Nextep Computers would bring about a new revolution in technology.

The design is super cool as it looks like a bracelet and is worn like one too.  This potential computer by Sony raises a lot of hopes as its design is very capable of supporting various apps along with other user friendly features like the holographic screen and the retractable keyboard- which combines both the qualities of a high-end PC as well as a mobile phone.  The bracelet device can be converted into a tablet with three display units and two additional keyboard panels, however, it is not ascertained whether it would also double up as a mobile device, although there is a high probability that it might.

This should be the next big thing in technology that is being brought about by the electronics giant Sony which has risen hopes of the Sony Nextep as being the next big thing in the technology market!

Money doesn’t grow on trees but gold leaf does: study

SYDNEY: Australian researchers have found minuscule nuggets of gold hidden inside the leaves of eucalyptus trees, in a discovery they say could help prospectors discover new deposits of the precious metal.

Scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) made the find in the resource-rich Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia, which was the site of a major gold rush in the late 1800s.

Geochemist Mel Lintern said it appeared the trees sucked up the gold particles from 30 metres (100 feet) below the ground through their roots.

"The eucalypt acts as a hydraulic pump -- its roots extend tens of metres into the ground and draw up water containing the gold," he said.

"As the gold is likely to be toxic to the plant, it's moved to the leaves and branches where it can be released or shed to the ground."

In research published in the journal Nature Communications, the CSIRO said the leaf particles themselves would not trigger a new gold rush as they measure just a fifth the width of a human hair and are visible only through advanced X-ray imaging.

Researchers involved in the study estimated it would take the gold from 500 eucalyptus trees to make a single wedding band.

But they said the discovery presented a gilt-edged opportunity to improve the exploration methods used to search for gold, making them more efficient and environmentally friendly.

"This link between... vegetation growth and buried gold deposits could prove instrumental in developing new technologies for mineral exploration," they said.

New discoveries of gold have fallen by 45 percent in the past decade, while prices have skyrocketed as reserves steadily dwindle -- the cost of the yellow metal shot up by 482 percent between December 2000 and March this year.

The CSIRO said scientists could use a technique known as "biogeochemical sampling" to give an indication of the presence of gold.

"By sampling and analysing vegetation for traces of minerals, we may get an idea of what's happening below the surface without the need to drill," Lintern said.

"It's a more targeted way of searching for minerals that reduces costs and impact on the environment."

He said the method could also be used to find other metals such as zinc and copper.

Nigel Radford, a geochemist who has been involved in gold exploration for decades in Western Australia, said the discovery was a world-first with major implications for prospectors.

"A lot of this stuff has been speculated about for some time, but the identification of the gold particles in the leaf materials is completely convincing and very, very important for the future of mineral exploration," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

According to the World Gold Council, more than 174,000 tonnes of gold have been extracted from Earth since the dawn of civilisation.

In 2011, the US Geological Survey estimated there were 51,000 tonnes of gold left in reserve in the world.

Radford said using biogeochemical sampling had the potential to make searching for gold deposits much easier.

"If you can sample on-surface, it saves all the cost and all the time involved in drilling holes," he said.

Sixty percent of gold becomes jewellery, but it is also a crucial component in electronics and is used in medical technology, including for cancer treatment.

Skull discovery suggests early man was single species

WASHINGTON: A stunningly well-preserved skull from 1.8 million years ago offers new evidence that early man was a single species with a vast array of different looks, researchers said Thursday.

With a tiny brain about a third the size of a modern human's, protruding brows and jutting jaws like an ape, the skull was found in the remains of a medieval hilltop city in Dmanisi, Georgia, said the study in the journal Science.

It is one of five early human skulls -- four of which have jaws -- found so far at the site, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the capital Tbilisi, along with stone tools that hint at butchery and the bones of big, saber-toothed cats.

Lead researcher David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgian National Museum, described the group as "the richest and most complete collection of indisputable early Homo remains from any one site."

The skulls vary so much in appearance that under other circumstances, they might have been considered different species, said co-author Christoph Zollikofer of the University of Zurich.

"Yet we know that these individuals came from the same location and the same geological time, so they could, in principle, represent a single population of a single species," he said.

The researchers compared the variation in characteristics of the skulls and found that while their jaw, brow and skull shapes were distinct, their traits were all within the range of what could be expected among members of the same species.

"The five Dmanisi individuals are conspicuously different from each other, but not more different than any five modern human individuals, or five chimpanzee individuals, from a given population," said Zollikofer.

"We conclude that diversity within a species is the rule rather than the exception."

Under that hypothesis, the different lineages some experts have described in Africa -- such as Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis -- were all just ancient people of the species Homo erectus who looked different from each other.

It also suggests that early members of the modern man's genus Homo, first found in Africa, soon expanded into Asia despite their small brain size.

"We are thrilled about the conclusion they came to. It backs up what we found as well," said Milford Wolpoff, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Michigan.

Wolpoff published a study in the journal Evolution last year that also measured statistical variation in characteristics of early skull fossils in Georgia and East Africa, suggesting a single species and an active process of inter-breeding.

"Everyone knows today, you could find your mate from a different continent and it is normal for people to marry outside their local group, outside their religion, outside their culture," Wolpoff told AFP.

"What this really helps show is that this has been the human pattern for most of our history, at least outside of Africa," he added.

"We don't have races. We don't have different subspecies. But it is normal for humans to vary, and they have varied in the past."

But not all experts agree.

"I think that the conclusions that they draw are misguided," said Bernard Wood, director of the hominid paleobiology doctoral program at George Washington University.

"What they have is a creature that we have not seen evidence of before," he said, noting its small head but human-sized body.

"It could be something new and I don't understand why they are reluctant to think it might be something new."

In fact, the researchers did give it a new name, Homo erectus ergaster georgicus, in a nod to the skull as an early but novel form of Homo erectus found in Georgia.

The name also retracts the unique species status of Homo georgicus given to the jaw that was found in 2000 along with other small, primitive skulls.

The jaw lay a few meters (yards) from where Skull 5, belonging to the same owner, was later discovered in 2005.

Co-author Marcia Ponce de Leon of the University of Zurich said Skull 5 is "perfectly preserved" and "the most complete skull of an adult fossil Homo individual found to date."

Its discovery, in such close quarters with four other individuals, offered researchers a unique opportunity to measure variations in a single population of early Homo, and "to draw new inferences on the evolutionary biology" of our ancestors, she said.

Few Tunisian women waging Syria ‘sex jihad’: Official

The number of Tunisian women travelling to Syria to wage "sex jihad" by comforting Islamists fighting the regime is very low, a senior interior ministry official told AFP on Sunday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, seemed to play down previous government statements that suggested "sex jihad" was more widespread.

"At most about 15 Tunisian women went to Syria, most to care for fighters or to do social work," the official said.

But some of them were forced to have sexual relations with Islamist fighters once they were in the country, the official said.

"Four of them came back from Syria, and one is pregnant," he added.

"The pregnant woman said that she was caring for fighters and had to have sexual relations with them."

The official said, however, that women from Chechnya, Egypt, Iraq, France and Germany had travelled to Syria for "sex jihad".

"They were targeted for indoctrination over the internet and by foreign sheikhs," he added, referring to information obtained from Tunisian women returning from Syria.

Interior Minister Lotfi ben Jeddou told the National Constituent Assembly in September that Tunisian women had gone to Syria where "they have sexual relations with 20, 30, 100" militants.

"After the sexual liaisons they have there in the name of 'jihad al-nikah' -- (sexual holy war, in Arabic) -- they come home pregnant," Ben Jeddou said at the time.

Ben Jeddou did not elaborate on how many Tunisian women had returned to the country pregnant with the children of jihadist fighters.

Jihad al-nikah, permitting extramarital sexual relations with multiple partners, is considered by some hardline Sunni Muslim Salafists as a legitimate form of holy war.

Meanwhile the head of the relief association for Tunisians abroad, Badis Koubakji, said "dozens of Tunisian women have come back" from Syria after carrying out the jihad al-nikah there and that "hundreds" were still there.

Koubakji said there was a camp for the women in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.

"It's a complete network and the interior ministry is not being transparent on this issue," he said on Sunday.

He said that these young women aged between 17 and 30 would not talk about their experiences because their families wanted to "preserve their honour".

NGOs in Tunisia have urged the government to do more to tackle networks recruiting young girls to travel to Syria.

The interior ministry said earlier this year that it had beefed up checks at airports to stop young Tunisians trying to reach Syria.

Ben Jeddou had said that since he assumed office in March "six thousand of our young people have been prevented from going there" to Syria.

Local media outlets in Tunisia have published several anonymous witness accounts from young women saying they had come back from Syria, but AFP has been unable to verify them.

Media reports say thousands of Tunisians have, over the past 15 years, joined jihadists across the world in Afghanistan Iraq and Syria, mainly travelling via Turkey or Libya.

Enjoy Your Pre-Wedding Moments

Some couples get so caught up in the wedding planning whirlwind that they forget to enjoy the moments they have together. The months before your wedding will never come back again, so you need to enjoy and cherish the details that lead to your wedding day. Selecting Your Wedding Venue: Visiting hotels, and hall rooms can be really fun, you get to visit beautiful hotels, sample food, and imagine your wedding details together. The Wedding Invitations: Spend the evening with your fiancé, write down the names of your guests, and why not deliver your wedding invitations together? Your guests will appreciate it. Choosing Your Wedding Rings: Visit different jewelers and try on wedding rings, make a day out of it and go for a quick lunch together afterwards to celebrate choosing your wedding rings. Choose Your Song: Spend the evening listening to songs that remind you of each other, not only will it bring back memories of when you first met, you will also get to practice your dance moves. 

78000 People Apply for One-Way Trip to Mars

The desire of man to explore new vistas in universe has certainly touched a new high. The mission to Mars is almost a reality now. With thousands of applications being received within two weeks of the announcement of establishment of a human colony of Mars, the craze of would be astronauts can be well gauged.

This mission is being funded by a Dutch non profit organization by the name of Mars One. A crew is proposed to be sent to Mars by 2022 and given the physiological changes that human body will experience owing to this mission, the astronauts who make this trip cannot return to the earth.      

Surprisingly, realizing the numerous dangers and prospects of a lifelong stay on Mars, the future trip has attracted over 78,000 applications. Bas Lansdrop, the co founder of Mars One expects that they will receive another 50,000 application by August 31st , the date by which bookings are expected to close.

Daily life at Mars would be an exciting experience for the astronauts who happen to be a part of the mission. The astronauts will have to actively participate in the construction work at the red planet. They will not only have to install greenhouses but will also be a part of the research team that will look into the red planets geological history.

Interestingly, Mars One is not looking for people with any specific life sciences degree. People will utmost professionalism and a passion for exploring new adventures are being preferred. Each of the participants who would be a part of the final team to Mars will undergo a training of around eight years. This training period will prepare the potential astronauts physically, mentally and psychologically to live on Mars.

Norbert Kraft, the Chief Medical Director for Mars One points that they are not looking for people having experience of flying supersonic jets but instead want people who can trust each other for a lifetime.

People from across the globe have shown interest in being a part of the mission. People from over 120 countries have shown their interest in being a part of the mission. The zeal of the people who wish to be a part of the mission can be best described in words of Steven, a 43 year old from United States of America. He pointed out that he wanted to be a part of the mission to discover new life and be a part of a unique experience that has the potential of changing anyone’s life.

Another unique aspect of the mission is that most of proposed $6 billion is to be raised through fundraising. People who wish to be a part of the mission need to be good fundraisers too. The organizers plan to raise this amount through a reality television show.

With new technologies developing by the day, the mission seems to be going the correct way and Mars One is working successfully in this direction.

$1 Billion Taj Mahal Replica ‘Taj Arabia’ Dubai could be the world’s most expensive wedding venue

For centuries, the exquisite, timeless and unforgettable Taj Mahal ‘Crown of Palaces’ has been the classic symbol of abounding love. Now imagine if this immaculate tribute to love, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, could be the setting for the milestone event in the life of man and woman, when the bond of love is sealed with commitment through marriage. Yes, this dream will soon become a reality. As the City of the Future; Dubai, which intends to surprise, impress, and bewilder with its novel ideas and incredible ultra-modern constructions will now soon be adding an ostentatious building, the $1 billion Taj Arabia or the Crown of Arabia to its skyline. In Dubai’s Falcon City of Wonders, a wondrous and luxurious concept will come alive; the ‘Taj Arabia’, which is the breathtaking replica of the original Taj Mahal and yet four times larger and embedded in an exquisitely landscaped estate, will become a symbol of love and destination for world’s most expensive weddings.

Celebration will now certainly find a whole new paradigm with the Taj Arabia, a multidimensional real estate project which includes a luxurious, landmark 300-room five star hotel, six mixed-used themed buildings with lifestyle apartments, retail, restaurants, cafes and boutique offices.

When completed, Taj Arabia would be the most expensive wedding destination in the world. Some of the other most expensive wedding venues includes New York City, with Manhattan being the most expensive wedding destination at a cost of $70,730. The other most expensive locales includes, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and Vermont.

Since budgets are typically an issue out-of-concern for the world’s ultra-elites, the Taj Arabia as wedding venue will host the beyond lavish royal nuptials, where the bride will be dressed in the world’s most expensive wedding dresses, and the couple will celebrate the occasion with the most expensive wedding cake like the $129,335 Quinn wedding cake (featured above) crafted by the 82-year old New York baker Sylvia Weinstock, for the wedding of Ciara Quinn, the daughter of billionaire Sean Quinn to Sean McPartland. The 6-foot cake was especially flown to Ireland for the wedding and is beleived to be the most expensive cake to ever grace an Irish wedding table.

To put it simple, the Taj Arabia will be the wedding venue for the billionaire heiresses, known to have a penchant for fantasy wedding, like the Arabian Nights-themed royal wedding of one of world’s wealthiest man Sultan or Brunei’s daughter Princess Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah with civil servant Pengiran Haji Muhammad Ruzaini.

The other most expensive weddings includes the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton which ran an expense of an estimated $34 million, including $800,000 for flowers and $80,000 for a wedding cake.

The rich and the famous have always forked out multi-million dollars to celebrate the D-day. The Taj Arabia wedding will write a new chapter in the history of the most expensive weddings of all times, including the lavish wedding of Vanisha Mittal, the daughter of the multi-billionaire steel magnate Lakhsmi Mittal and Amit Bhatia which ran a bill of $60 million, besides the high-profile celebrity weddings including the $3 million wedding of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, the $2.2 million wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and the $1.5 million wedding of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, to name a few.

Notably, the Taj Arabia is the latest project to join the ever burgeoning ranks of sterling real estate developments in the desert emirate.