Category Information Technology

Mazes & More puts a spin on a classic puzzle game with some tricky twists. Find a way out in six modes: Classic, Enemies, Ice Floor, Darkness, Traps and Time Trial. In Darkness mode, you see the maze at the start, but then everything goes dark except for a small spotlight on you, and you have to make your way to the exit. Ice floor will see you sliding ahead of where you want to go. Customize your player avatar and tap or swipe your way through the mazes. Puzzles range from easy mazes to harder and advanced labyrinths; escape each and share your score with friends. Complete all 450 levels and become king/queen of the maze. Mazes & More is available in over 57 languages, including Hindi. Free for iOS and Android, the game does not require an internet connection.

Maze apps can boost your child’s motor, cognitive, and social-emotional skills. Playing Maze is a great way to improve the fine motor skills needed to perform specific movements such as writing, tying shoelaces, etc.  Maze requires a child to control their hand movements through the Maze without hitting the borders, improving their fine motor and hand-eye coordination, but also enhancing perseverance, patience, and focus.

The game often requires a child to come up with various strategies and consider different solutions. Therefore, maze apps for kids can foster problem-solving skills and spatial orientation. They also encourage children to practice their working memory and scan various solutions.

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Taking inspiration from physical notebooks, Zoho Notebook has scrapped ‘Folders’ used by other apps, instead using ‘Notebooks’. The app lets you set a custom cover image for Notebooks and group related notes into stacks. Individual notes can be locked using a PIN. Capture your thoughts in six ways: text notes, checklists, audio notes, photo notes, sketches and document notes. Students can record lectures using Audio Card, or draw diagrams and take handwritten notes using Sketch Card, or scan reference books, or use Notebook Web Clipper to clip research content and web links. You can even capture special moments using Photo Note. The app syncs across devices and you can share notes via supporting apps or export as PDF. The app integrates with assistants: Ask Google Assistant to “Take Note’ to instantly create a note or ask Siri to search through notes. Free for iOS and Android.  The covers make it easy to segregate and identify different notebooks. You can also choose fonts, font size and colours as per your preference. On iOS, the app integrates with Siri. You can ask Siri to search through notes, for instance. If you want to have your notes synced across your devices, you need to sign-up for a free account. Its not mandatory to sign up if you don’t want to back up online and only want to keep notes on your current device.

Credit : Economic Times

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When your apps are open in the background, they are in a state where it is easy to re launch them. This does not mean that they are using much of your resources. Resources are accessed by apps open in the background only when a background process is involved such as uploading a file, location tracking, playing audio. In fact, closing background apps uses more battery. When you force quit an app, you are using a portion of your resources and battery for closing it and clearing it from RAM. Resources will be used when you open it again leading to increased usage of battery. To improve battery life, turn off notifications for frequently used apps, turn off vibration for calls/notifications and dim the display.

Picture Credit : Google 

The new Sony Aibo’s outward appearance resembles a real dog and it includes 4,000 parts, 22 actuators to allow for fluid movement, OLED-screen eyes, and the same kind of artificial intelligence (Al) used for self-driving cars. Its sophisticated cameras and sensors map a house, so it can easily move around and go to its charging station on its own. It recognizes upto 100 faces and remembers interactions with people, allowing its AI engine to develop a unique personality that changes over time. Aibo can learn new tricks, bark, detect words of praise and smiles, and respond to touch when someone pets it. It is controlled by voice command or through the Aibo app. Its software is naturally curious and trained to please, letting it learn a user’s preferences and eventually become a one-of-a-kind companion.

The new robot dog is also equipped with a fisheye camera in the nose and a second camera near the rear that both work with sensors to detect and analyze sounds and images, and help aibo recognize its owners faces. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology allows aibo to adapt to its environment.

Controlling all of this is a 64-bit quad-core CPU. The robot’s power consumption is rated at 14 watts and the battery has a life of about 2 hours.

According to Izumi Kawanishi, Sony’s senior general manager of its AI Robotics Business Group, this combination of sensors and deep learning also helps aibo analyze praise, interpret smiles, and respond to petting, which creates “a bond with its owners that can grow over time.”

A SIM card connection provides aibo with mobile Internet access, which Sony plans to extend to connect to home appliances and devices. And Kawanishi said the company was also considering educational and personal assistant applications for aibo, but he gave no examples of how those would work. He added that other entertainment robots were a possibility in the future.

Credit : IEEE Spectrum

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We all know that it’s important to sit up straight, and to not stay seated for too long. With that in mind, researchers at Germany’s  Fraunhofer  Institute have developed an LED stool that coaches people in ‘sitting’. Along with LEDs, the stool is outfitted with multiple flexible pressure sensors. By measuring the user’s weight distribution, the sensors are able to determine if the person is sitting ergonomically they detect if the user is seated at an improper angle or is maintaining one posture for too long. The data is wirelessly transmitted to a computer or mobile device via an app, then transmitted back to the stool which responds by illuminating its LEDs in certain colours, letting the user know that they need to make a change. That app can also guide users through exercises intended to alleviate problems caused by their improper posture, with the sensors detecting if they’re doing the exercises correctly.

The user can consult the app to see a video illustrating what the problem is, along with suggestions on how to correct it. The app also guides users through exercises intended to alleviate problems caused by improper posture, with the sensors detecting if they’re doing the exercises correctly. Fraunhofer is currently demonstrating the system on Germany’s MS Wissenschaft exhibition ship, in a setup where two players control their movements in a game of electronic table tennis by swinging their pelvis on a couple of the stools. Down the road, the sensing technology could also be integrated into more practical applications, such as mats or office chairs.

Credit : New Atlas

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Life can be busy and stressful. Here’s where Aloe Bud comes in, making it enjoyable to check in with yourself every day for a bit of self-care. There’s no sign up process, no “friend-finding” function, no pressure of joining yet another social network. Users set reminders to do little things like Hydrate, Breathe, Rest, Motivate or Be kind. All tasks fall under three umbrellas: emotional, mental and physical. For each activity, users can check in or write a reflection. You can use the app for journaling, too. The creators have concentrated on using only positive and encouraging language whether it is for the name of the activity (“fuel” instead of “food”) or for push notifications (“You’ve got to nourish to flourish!”). Free for iOS. The app is the latest to enter the booming “self-care” market, which caters to a largely younger demographic who are better handling the pressures of modern-day life by carving out time for themselves to mediate, relax, and practice other mindfulness techniques. Some older folks have scoffed at the movement, claiming millennials are too self-involved – or they just scratch their head in confusion. (“Mindfulness?”)

But there’s real demand for these self-care applications and services – in the first quarter of the year, the top ten self-care apps pulled in $15 million in revenue. Now who’s scoffing? However, most of the self-care apps today are focused on meditation and calming techniques, not on the day-to-day aspects of self-care. That’s where Aloe Bud comes in. Even cynics will have to admit the app is kind of adorable with its soft color scheme and its original, retro-ish pixel art icons.

Picture Credit : Google