TWO FOR TANGO

This is basically for smartphones and their wearable.

When it comes to the world of smartphones, a chain of battles exist, dust never settles and phones are churning out every day. So much that it’s enough to feed your ego with a plate of hardware. But as we try to sweat out trying to understand all the tech phrases that the geeky savvy are trying to chunk down our throat, we can’t fail to notice a new set of techy wearable that is pulling up on the stop,. The Smart Watches.

We’ve heard of them, seen them and probably worn them but what do we know of them?

So here are a couple as an introduction to them:

Samsung Galaxy Gear, a.k.a The Maze Runner. Yes it is. This watch can turn your brain into a maze and make your thought hit dead walls before you finally get it right. Needless say, to new enthusiasts, the clueless ones, it may be like trying to solve a Rubic cube.

Pebble Smart Watches a.k.a The Skimmed Milk. This watch can make coffee out of most smartphones. It’s compatibility is of a wider range than that of the usual ones and it’s affordable as it comes at a cheaper price tag.

Nike’s Smart Band a.k.a The Runner. The fit guys, those who hit the gym to burn calories, or even run for miles in that case this might be for you. This is not a casual watch to walk in the office with but it may be suitable if you’re the kind of person who hits 50 words per second on paper. It can literally tell you how much calories you’re burning through your finger.

Apple Smart Watch a.k.a The Show Stopper. The fans who run by this watch, tend to be more of a fuss. You constantly have to remind them that to steer a car you have to be on the inside and not on the bonnet.

Motorola 360 Smart Watch a.k.a The Elegant. This watch looks ridiculously cool. It’s very round, minimalist and shimmers with prestige. You may find it with the business execs, but given a chance to join the club, it can lock and drop it.

The LG Smart Watch a.k.a The Extremist. This watch covers a wide array of applications and it can even navigate you to a destination. It keeps you on track with your schedules, and gives you a smile from the user interface design.

So let’s Tango,..

These phones usually operate from the marriage with their respective smartphones. If you kill the phone sadly you’ll end up having a watch that needs constant charging and since the tango is broken, it will be dancing to the tunes of an alarm.

So how do they work?

Standard Bluetooth connection is the answer.

And how do they come about?

The Galaxy Gear, comes as an accessory if you buy one of the stand alone Galaxy phones ie from the S4 onwards. If you want it solo…Ksh 30,000. Yes that’s what you pay to buy the Galaxy Gear solo. Right, it turns your head around or is it to the side? And furthermore, you need a Galaxy phone to get most of the features activated. What a whack!

The Pebble, this watches are sold without the companion of a phone. It is suitably adjusted to pair with any phone and as such it doesn’t burn your pockets.

The iWatch. Simple and expensive. They’ve even made a Ksh 160,000 watch and am sorry, you’ll only have to use it with an Apple product. They bring merry to the fans and as such, they become a show-off.

The Nike’s Smart Band? Comes as a band, a band that cheers you, final.

The Moto 360 and the LG Smart Watch, you may want to buy this if you want something classy. Both are round, responsive and easy to operate.

So, what need are they to you?

First, it’s a watch, helps you keep track of time. Second, they are a fitness tracker and third, they notify you of any incoming notifications. You can also make calls and quick text replies.

Health-wise, you can track most of your exercise records. Some of it include: mileage tracker, calories count, heart rate and exercise reps. Too bad it can’t count your abs. It’s also a boost of aid to those who need to be conversant with their health incase of any health compliance.

The demerits?

One, talking to your phone is not what you call impressive. You may look mad on a count of three. Second, having a watch that warns you of a high heartbeat when watching a match, isn’t what you call glam. Third, when doing exercises, some have proved to be inaccurate.

Verdict

If you want to play tango, make sure you buy a pair to get the most benefits. Don’t inter marriage them, manufactures have designed them mostly to tune with the phones they make. Otherwise your hand may fall like the leaves in autumn.

Most of all, they’re impressive but I don’t like them. We may have all these smart gadgets, but turning your mind to be dependent on a tech piece, is what may make you intellectually deprived. So let these devices help you but don’t let them determine your life.

Tech Byte

Samsung fans, the Galaxy S6 is finally out and it has come with a new partner, the Galaxy S6 Edge, a smartphone whose screen bends on both sides. We’ll give you a review when we get them hands-on. Cheers!

By Kevin Kamau.

Top 3 Reasons Why Motion Microscopy Is The Way Of The Future

We so really get a chance to glimpse at the future. With innovation being so slight, one must wonder the possibility of motion microscopy.

It is human nature to explore the world we live in. we describe the world in many fields. But beyond the obvious, we have been able to expand our view of the world to the microscopic level. All thanks to Robert Hooke.

Now, Michael Rubinstein has taken it a bit further. He has developed a video-processing microscope that can detect the minute changes in colour, position and movement of objects in space.

Excitement can only be an understatement for a tech head like me. So let’s get right to it…

+1 Easy Diagnosis…

As blood passes under our skin, from and towards the heart, the colour of the skin changes. It changes ever so slightly that our eyes can barely notice. There is a pulse wave every second.

The amazing thing is the motion magnification that can capture this subtle changes to the effect that one can determine the heart rate. This technology is as accurate as the traditional methods of pulse monitoring.

So this makes me wonder…

Can I also detect changes in neural activity? Huntington’s disease is a genetic disease that causes involuntary and impaired body movements. This is just an example, but can you imagine the number of diseases that can be diagnosed with “video” microscopy.

What about other bodies?

What about machines, engines and electronics with moving parts? Definitely all these can be diagnosed… or troubleshot.

+2 He mentioned art…

So a student at Yale motion magnified stills and they came to life with small movements. That’s cool and all but…

Imagine if we magnified The Scream… and due to the small vibrations of the earth. What if he actually moves like a screamer?

I should patent this stuff…

+3 Surveillance

Now, for those of you that hate physics… am sorry. For those of you who are physics gurus… am sorry too.

Pressure is the force that is exerted on a surface area. The smaller the area the greater the pressure. The force itself increases with the pressure. Force has the ability to move things. And sure as hell didn’t they capitalize on that fact.

When we speak or sing. Our vocal cords change the pressure in the air by squishing the air molecules together and separating a few.

This change in pressures is called sound.

As I said the force can move things.

So what these geniuses from MIT came up with can revolutionize the way we think of safety and privacy.

Imagine you are in your room. Hiding away as you make that important and private call. You are probably whispering because even your room is not that secure.

There is a camera in your room… in your office anywhere. You are out of the view. Something else is in the view. However, the pen on the desk is still exposed.

The sound waves cause the vibration of the pen even if they are as slight as changes on the mountain.

Once magnified your whole conversation is for all to see and available to anyone with this technology.

You can only imagine the scenarios…

Let us know what you would love to know this in the comment box below. 🙂

What To Expect With Android At The Mobile World Congress

Ladies, this is mostly your article 🙂 Yes… For so long it has been stereotyped that ladies are clueless in matters concerning technology, but in my case, it’s actually true.

My co-writer always makes fun of my ignorance but really, it is absolutely not my fault. To begin with, my phone is the frozen yoghurt or froyo generation (for those who don’t know what that is, it means my phone is an android 2.2: these phone generations are always named according to sweet foods) yet right now, phones have reached the lollipop generation (which is the android 5).

That means between my current phone and the latest phone released, there are 5 generations of phones that is, the gingerbread, honeycomb, ice cream sandwich, jelly bean and kit Kat before finally getting to lollipop. 😦 (If you don’t know what all those code names mean, do a little homework and Google 😉 )

Needless to say, my co-writer (<3) makes fun of my phone because it is so basic, we can call it an efficient phonebook and basic communications machine (like texting). Its storage is so little; I have to delete my photos every now and then to make enough space for incoming messages.

Well, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for me, my ignorance in technology makes me blind to the shortcomings of my phone and so we have been together for years.

Well, now to the point, today’s article was written with assistance from a good friend, Kevin. He is those guys you run to when all hope is lost for your “devices”. Like when your phone drowns in a bucket of water and all mechanics, even the guys at river road, say it is gone forever; Kev will always have a solution.

Basically, he always has the latest development in technology, so you can keep up with technology and I’m also learning 🙂

The Battle of Kingship

With the Mobile World Congress (MWC) fast approaching, a lot of attention is being drawn to the much awaited and anticipated flagship devices from Samsung and HTC.

This will be more like the Battle for the Damned, winners will take the seat and losers will choke with the dust. Of course, we expect more devices to be launched at the event but do they bring much flare like the big kings? No, but we’re sure there will be much pomp and color, enough to roll your eyes around and interlock your jaws.

So, let’s reel forward to what we expect from this opening. The Samsung Galaxy S6, of course from the Giant South Korean Company, will be there, with its pride, to showcase its pro-efficiency. But this won’t be easy with their other competitor who came with the aluminum fists with the likes of the HTC One and their M series which sent their brother back to the lab. The guys at Samsung were not pleased.

So they’re coming up with something new…

They say it will be a beast, made of metal and glass. They also say it will be dripping with technology that will blow most of their competitors out of the water. They’ve even released teaser videos to keep your mind locked on the game, hash tagging it TheNextGalaxy. This may be amusing to the fans especially if you like to watch molten metal flow and 2D of an image. But we expect it not to shock anyone like its predecessor as we look at it.

Via Samsung.com

The Samsung Galaxy S5, their current flagship device, showcased sometime last year on May during the end of the MWC show, didn’t come as people expected. It came with variants of colors, a faux leather battery case, brilliant screen estate and a  silver band around the edges which may fool you to be metal. But this only tells half the story. As you see, with a phone coming up at a cost of over Ksh 65,000 on launch, you expect it to come on a premium feel. But running on plastic isn’t what you call premium. Another problem is, when the phone was aggressively and physically used, the metal band around the edges started to peel…it peels off easily than a banana, right, it’s heartbreaking especially if you paid the price.

Clocked around, we expect #TheNextGalaxy to clothe clean some of this problems.

Now, the HTC…they came with a magnificent design since the launch of the HTC One, and kept it better as they released more of its predecessor. Kind of makes me align them on table and lick them all to get the taste. More so, the double speaker grills on top and bottom of the phone combined with the boom and Dre sound technology…! Damn, makes me want to compensate the car stereos for it. But, with the reign of the HTC One M8 slowing on the dusk, its big brother is not far, in fact, very close. The HTC M9, Bigger and better than the bad-est they say. More aluminum on board, better camera on the back and a front camera that can tear your face off.

But not much has been said about these phones. Rumors are still churning in the mills, but until then, we’ll have to wait until we get them hands on.

Love from team digital TC,

Steja & Kevin.