Saturday, January 22, 2011

How Parents Prioritize the Skills They Teach!


Photo: Biking, Swimming? Nah. Survey Says Kids Master Tech First: Survey Highlights How Childrens' Interaction With Technology Has Changed
A young girl holds an Apple iPad on display at Regent Street's Apple store in London.
(Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Kids these days may know their way around the family computer or how to use their parents' cell phones, but a new survey says they're more likely to master those high-tech tasks than basic life skills like riding a bike or tying their shoelaces.

According to a survey of 2,200 mothers commissioned by software maker AVG Technologies, 14 percent of kids aged 4 to 5 could tie their shoes -- compared to 21 percent who knew how to use a smartphone or iPad application.

Among kids aged 2 to 5, 52 percent knew how to ride a bike, while 58 percent could play a computer game and 69 percent could operate a computer mouse. Twenty percent knew how to swim, but 25 percent could open a Web browser.

"Children's behavior has changed, and that's mainly because the way we use the technology is so different. It changes everything," said J.R. Smith, AVG's CEO.

Study Raises Questions About How Parents Prioritize the Skills They Teach

He said the company commissioned the survey as part of its yearlong series, "Digital Diaries," to show how differently children are interacting with technology and how parents need to educate their kids about the online world earlier than they might have thought.

An earlier AVG survey found that 92 percent of two-year-olds had some kind of digital identity -- like e-mail addresses or Facebook profiles created by their Web-happy parents.

But though the company conducted this latest study to raise awareness about kids' online safety, its findings also raise interesting questions about what constitutes a life skill in our wired world and how we prioritize the things we teach our kids.

"There's a very legitimate concern that the next generation will be so wired and so hooked up that we will forget some of the basic life skills," said Dr. Vic Strasburger, a member of the American Academy of Pediatric's (AAP) council on communication and media and a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. "I think parents need to be increasingly vigilant because there are so many media and so many different avenues for accessing media."

Friday, January 21, 2011

iLove! iPad

It’s hard to believe we could fit so many great ideas into something so thin.

A large, high-resolution LED-backlit IPS display. An incredibly responsive Multi-Touch screen. And an amazingly powerful Apple-designed chip. All in a design that’s thin and light enough to take anywhere. iPad isn’t just the best device of its kind. It’s a whole new kind of device. Watch the iPad video

LED-Backlit IPS Display

LED-Backlit IPS Display

The high-resolution, 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing, watching movies, or viewing photos. With iPad, there is no up or down. It’s designed to show off your content in portrait or landscape orientation with every turn. And because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So you can hold it almost any way you want and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast.

Multi-Touch

The Multi-Touch screen on iPad is based on the same revolutionary technology on iPhone. But the technology has been completely reengineered for the larger iPad surface, making it extremely precise and responsive. So whether you’re zooming in on a map, flicking through your photos, or deleting an email, iPad responds with incredible accuracy. And it does just what you want it to.

Thin and Light

Thin and Light

One of the first things you’ll notice about iPad is how thin and light it is. The screen is 9.7 inches measured diagonally. So overall, it’s slightly smaller than a magazine. At just 1.5 pounds and 0.5 inch thin,1 you can use it anywhere. And a slight curve to the back makes it easy to pick up and comfortable to hold.

Up to 10 Hours
of Battery Life

To maximize battery life, Apple engineers took the same lithium-polymer battery technology they developed for Mac notebook computers and applied it to the iPad. As a result, you can use iPad for up to 10 hours while surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music.2 While surfing the web on a 3G data network, you can get up to 9 hours of battery life.2

Wireless

With built-in 802.11n, iPad takes advantage of the fastest Wi-Fi networks. It automatically locates available Wi-Fi networks, which you can join with a few taps. iPad also comes with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, letting you connect to devices like wireless headphones or the Apple Wireless Keyboard.

3G

iPad is also available in a 3G model with superfast data speeds up to 7.2 Mbps.3 So if you’re traveling or you happen to be somewhere without a Wi-Fi network, you can still get a fast connection for surfing the web, downloading email, or getting directions. Learn more about 3G on iPad

Performance

Performance

A4 chip

The A4 chip inside iPad was custom-designed by Apple engineers to be extremely powerful yet extremely power efficient. The performance is unlike anything you’ve ever seen on a touch-based device. Which makes iPad fantastic for everything from productivity apps to games. At the same time, the A4 chip is so power efficient that it helps iPad get up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. And iPad is available with a choice of 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of flash storage,4 giving you lots of room for your photos, movies, music, apps, and more.

30-pin connector. Built-in speaker.

Connectivity

The dock connector port on the bottom of iPad allows you to dock and charge it. It also lets you connect to accessories like the iPad Camera Connection Kit and the iPad Keyboard Dock. You’ll find many accessories designed to be compatible with the dock connector port.

Audio

The powerful built-in speaker produces rich, full sound perfect for watching a movie or listening to music. iPad also comes with a headphone jack and a built-in microphone.

Accessories

What makes iPad even better? Accessories. The iPad Keyboard Dock combines a dock with a full-size keyboard. You can import photos from a digital camera or SD card with the iPad Camera Connection Kit. The iPad Case not only protects your iPad, it lets you use it in various positions. And different adapters let you connect iPad to TVs, projectors, and displays. Learn more about iPad accessories

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Latest Japanese Technology, Fastest Book Scanner

200 صفحة في الدقيقة

على مدار عامين متتاليين اخترع فريق من العلماء اليابانيون بجامعة طوكيو نموذج أولي يقوم بمسح الكتب لإدخالها على الكمبيوتر وهذه السرعة الجديدة التي تصل إلى 500 صورة في الثانية الواحدة, مستخدما الأشعة تحت الحمراء قياسات ثلاثية الأبعاد بحيث تبدو كل صفحة من الكتاب مسطحة كما في الصفحة الأصلية.


Japan is famous for its newest technology products recently succeeded in developing a new technology in the process of scanning a book with a speed of 170-200 pages in one minute.
This development was carried out by scientists from Tokyo University, which took over 2 years in the development of the prototype. The scientists claim the scanner that they developed is the fastest book scanner in the world today that uses the technology of a camera that can shoot up to 500 images per second.

The mechanism of image scanning system which is owned by the fastest scanner is to set the angle of deviation caused by the curvature that occurs when each page of the book quickly reversed. The settings are performed using three-dimensional infrared measurements so that each page of the book are drawn looks flat as the original page.

In the future will consider the use of robots in reversing page per page automatically, so the results are more constant, fast, and neat. With this scanner is expected in the future will be more produced ebook of printed books that exist, so the reader can read the ebook using ipad Apple or Amazon Kindle. so you do not have to carry heavy-weight if you go anywhere, you just simply bring an ipad Apple or an Amazon Kindle is lighter weight.




3D technology that brought this scanner can be applied widely, both in the robotics industry or automotive industry. One Japanese scientist who was involved in research scanner says that the application of 3D technologies on the automotive industry will create a steering system that is more secure and comfortable. If the 3D technology was carried into a vehicle, it will be able to take 3D images of what lies ahead, whether it's an uneven road or other obstacles. While in industrial robotics, the application of 3D technologies in robot vision will make the robot move faster than humans.