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Scientists Turn Nuclear Waste into Clean, Long Lived Diamond Batteries

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GadgetByte

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November 29, 2016

Scientists Turn Nuclear Waste into Clean, Long Lived Diamond Batteries

Nuclear waste had always been a pain in the neck, lacking a safe way of disposal. However, with the new discovery, our perception to nuclear waste will be changed. Nuclear waste will now no longer be a headache to the environment. The physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol developed a man-made diamond, which could generate a small electric current when placed in a radioactive field. The named this discovery as ‘diamond battery’. The researchers assumed that with the diamond battery, the nuclear waste could take the form of clean energy source.

“There are no moving parts involved, no emissions generated and no maintenance required, just direct electricity generation,” Said professor of materials Tom Scott. “By encapsulating radioactive material inside diamonds, we turn a long-term problem of nuclear waste into a nuclear-powered battery and a long-term supply of clean energy.”

Electrical energy is often generated by the relative motion between coil and magnet or magnetic field. However, in this method, there will be no motion involved and no emission generated. Just with an enclosure of short-range radioactive material inside a man-made diamond, we can generate a small electric charge. The diamonds themselves are radioactive, so they are given a second non-radioactive diamond coating to act as a radiation shield. Due to the blockade of radiation, the generation of electric charge takes place.

The researchers first used Nickel-63 isotope as a radiation source to develop a prototype for demonstration. However, in order to improve the efficiency of the diamond battery, they are now working on Carbon-14. Carbon-14 is a radioactive version of carbon, which is found on graphite blocks, used for moderating the nuclear reaction.

“Carbon-14 was chosen as a source material because it emits a short-range radiation, which is quickly absorbed by any solid material,” Dr. Neil Fox explained. “This would make it dangerous to ingest or touch with your naked skin, but safely held within the diamond, no short-range radiation can escape. In fact, diamond is the hardest substance known to man, there is literally nothing we could use that could offer more protection.”

The diamond battery offers low power as compared to conventional batteries. However, the longevity of the diamond battery is incomparable; it can last for thousands of years. It was mentioned that the diamond battery with Carbon-14 would take approximately 5730 years to reach 50-percent power. With the low amount of power generation, the diamond battery could not surpass the conventional batteries. However, it suits in the places where low power is required and charging or replacing of convention batteries is challenging. The obvious places can be a pacemaker, satellites, high-altitude drones or even spacecraft.

The discovery sound pretty amazing, however, the practical application of diamond battery does not seem feasible. The most conspicuous problem encountered would be the cost since the diamond is expensive. The use diamonds to develop a low power battery does not sound witty. However, with this discovery, nuclear waste will no longer sit there posing a threat to humanity.

PhotoScan by Google : Easiest way to digitize your old photos

GadgetByte

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November 29, 2016

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PhotoScan by Google : Easiest way to digitize your old photos

What do we do for keeping memories? Well, obviously we take photos and that is not something new. We’ve been taking photos long way before smartphones and digital cameras happened. We easily share our everyday selfies and other pictures from or about any event. What about those old printed photos that mean a lot more than everyday random clicks? Like me, do you find scanning a printed photo through a scanner something hectic? or, you so much wanted to scan your old printed photos but don’t own a scanner by yourself. Okay, the solution is here and it is just a free app namely PhotoScan by Google, which is definitely the easiest way to digitize your old photos.

Are you an IOS user who’s not sure whether to continue reading about an app by Google, thinking it might not be something for IOS devices? Well, the app is for everyone and is totally available in both the App Store and Google Play Store.

If you are someone like me, who already thought about digitizing old photos by shooting photos of those photos from mobile devices or digital cameras. Remember? It wasn’t that easy to digitize a photo. There used to glare in the photos. The photos used to be oriented in some angles. You latter need to rotate, straighten and crop the photo. Well, that was a lot of post-production to do just while trying to digitize just one photo.

With this new PhotoScan app by Google, things have become much simpler and easier. And, even the result comes faster and better. The photos come out to be glare free, in the right orientation and no frame or other backgrounds will be included. The newly digitized photo now happens to be just the photo. The app on Google Play Store already has got over 1 million downloads in just over a week from its initial release. It is just 19.77 MB in play store which won’t’ take long to download. The interface is so easy-to-use. All you gotta do is place your old photo on a desk and open the app on your phone and start to capture four dots that will appear on the old printed photo that you’re trying to digitize.

Moreover, you can then keep your digitized old photos in Google Photos in high quality, without compression and for free. That’s safer and wiser way of preserving the memories of your childhood or parent’s marriage or school trips or any events that still kick some vibes in you. You can later auto or manual enhance your photos from Google Photos. The best thing about Google Photos is, it even organizes your photos detecting faces. That means, old photos of your parents, your sisters and brothers will be in respective albums automatically.

Well, from all that I said about the must-have app from Google, if you haven’t yet downloaded the PhotoScan app, please do download it now. Trust me, you’ll find it handy to digitize and share your old photos. Let your friends in social medias know, how fun and colorful your childhood actually was.

Galaxy J7 Prime Review: Samsung’s Newest Premium Midranger

GadgetByte

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November 28, 2016

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Galaxy J7 Prime Review: Samsung’s Newest Premium Midranger

Just after 5 months from the release of the Galaxy J7 2016, Samsung released the third iteration of the J7. It was obviously a sad moment for those who bought J7 2016 to find out that their new device got older much before they could realize. Was this iteration a need of time? Has this successor brought remarkable new changes to the table? In this full review of Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime, we are digging deep to find out if the latest J7 is really the greatest J7.

Samsung Galaxy On Nxt Latest Price: Rs. 19,990 [Last updated on: December 6, 2018]

Design:

The most immediate difference that anyone will easily notice is the phone’s full metal unibody design. This phone certainly feels and looks premium this time around. The dimensions of the phone are pretty identical to its predecessors. Though it’s the first metal phone in J7 line up, it has managed to be 3 grams lighter than the plastic made J7 2016. The phone weighs only 167gm.

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The remarkable change in the design language is the new placement of loudspeaker in the right top corner of the phone. In the same right edge, the power button is placed below the speaker. The volume toggles are on the top left side of the device. Below them are the micro sd card and dual nano sim trays. The back of the device has cleaner look. There’s a 13-megapixel camera lens along with a led flash in the center of top back. In the bottom of the device, headphone jack can be found to the right of the micro USB port. The mic is placed at a left bottom edge. On the top front, there’s 8-megapixel selfie camera to the left and proximity sensors to the right of the earpiece. The fingerprint sensor is placed at the center of the bottom which doubles as the home bottom and recent and back buttons are placed on its either sides.

Those upgrading from earlier J7s might find this device a little slipper as compared to its predecessors which used to have a matte finish.

Display:

The J7 Prime comes with a 5.5-inch Full-HD IPS LCD display with a 1080×1920 pixels resolution which roughly translates to 401 ppi pixel density. This is the first J7 phone that rocks a full HD resolution. The white balance of the display seems to be in the right scale this time as compared to the warmer white balance of its predecessors. Though its an LCD, the display is still pretty sharp and offers great viewing angles. The display has good color reproduction. The brightness is sufficient enough to lit the display even in outdoors. The brightness when lowered to its least, does soothe the eyes while using the device before bed at night. The phone lacks an ambient light sensor like all the Samsung J-series of smartphones, hence the brightness level have to be adjusted manually.

Software UI:

The J7 Prime runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow-based TouchWiz UI. It is still isn’t good as the stock one but lately, Samsung is trying really hard to cut down on bloat or unwanted apps. It’s an appreciable effort from Samsung and may be someday TouchWiz will be good enough to get more love than hate. The two new features are now available exclusively in this new device : S power planner and S secure. The former one helps the user to get the best out of last minute juice from its battery and the latter one gives the facility to secure files, folders, and apps. The another good thing about the ‘S Secure’ feature is that same app can be cloned in S Secure and the user can use two facebook, viber or any other apps right in the same phone. The phone is getting timely Android Security patches and which is just too sweet.

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Performance and Battery Life:

The Galaxy J7 Prime houses a 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 7870 processor which is the same as that of J7 2016 but the RAM is now of 3GB. The phone comes with a memory capacity of 32GB of internal storage which is further expandable by up to 256GB via microSD card. Dual nano sims and sd card can be used without any compromise since they have dedicated slot for all three of them. The 3300 mAh battery seems to be a perfect match here. The phone provides dope battery life. Even in hardcore usage, I managed to get 6 hours plus screen on time.

Benchmark Scores

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The processor made by Samsung itself is quite powerful, and yet is an efficient one. The app switching is relatively fast. The phone handles easily no matter what games we throw at it. Yes, few stutters here and there were noticed but that is more likely due to the TouchWiz, and not due to the hardware configuration. This is one of the best mid-range processors available. The phone doesn’t heat up in a way like you should stop using it. A little of heat is just acceptable. The already good battery life can be easily elongated with the power saving features that comes with the device.

The side firing mono speaker is pretty loud and much clear with little or no distortion even at peak volumes. Like any other mid-range phones, the phone doesn’t support the fast charging, though.

Camera:

The J7 Prime has the same rear shooter as in J7 2016 that is a 13 megapixel one with 28mm focal length, f1.9 aperture, and a LED flash. However, while judging the pictures of both the phone, J7 Prime’s pictures had natural colors as opposed to little-saturated ones from J7 2016. The camera software hasn’t changed much but has included an additional Night mode. This primary shooter with auto-focus can shoot a 1080p (full HD) video at 30 fps.

The front facing shooter, however, has got a Megapixel upgrade and now sports 8 Megapixel one instead of 5 megapixels. There is no selfie flash on this unit as opposed to J7 2016. But don’t get upset, the display triggers flash by itself while taking selfies in low light. However, those selfies in low light come with lots of noise in them. But selfies taken at good lighting condition happen to be a well-detailed one.

Conclusion:

Well, Now we can certainly say that the latest J7 is really the greatest J7 so far. The phone looks well built and has the improvements worth considering. The phone is premium, powerful but a bit pricey at Rs. 29,450. J7 was considered to be an affordable device but J7 Prime is priced at a little more than affordable price range. With that being, if you pay for this device, you would certainly won’t be disappointed. The full HD display of 1080p is certainly the charm of this device.

Since it’s 2016 and no phone is secure as the one with fingerprint sensor along with S Secure feature right from the box. The phone performs as good as it sounds on the paper. Top of all, the battery life you’re gonna get, is certainly gonna surprise you. While using the device, I personally wished if the power button and volume toggles were placed a little lower so that I didn’t have to stretch my fingers to reach them. The absence of sensors like gyroscope and magnetometer are certainly gonna disappoint those who are into VR Gaming and 360 videos. Plus, the need for manual adjustment of the brightness while going out and coming back home was just a hectic thing to do. This phone is for those who doesn’t mind spending a little more for a mid-ranger phone which looks as classy as the flagship ones.

Leagoo Smartphones Goes Official in Nepal

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November 28, 2016

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Leagoo Smartphones Goes Official in Nepal

It’s a good thing that many globally recognized Chinese smartphone manufacturers are jumping right in, one after another in Nepali Markets. Currently, the Chinese companies like Gionee, Oppo, Xiaomi, Huawei and others are found to be doing already good in the market. They are found to be expanding their presence in the market share every single day. In this scenario, a new Chinese company to launch its smartphones can be considered as a good news. Shree Shyam Bhadhur Pvt. Ltd, the subsidiary company of JSS group, has unveiled a new set of smartphones from the LEAGOO on November 25th. 11 new models from four different series of LEAGOO smartphones were launched that day.

LEAGOO is a star brand owned by Shenzhen OTEDA Technology Co., Ltd, that was set up on April 2014 and thereafter started to manufacture smartphones, smartphone accessories, and wearables. The LEAGOO phones are getting a warm welcome from many different countries for producing quality products at cheaper prices.

After taking a thorough look at what LEAGOO and its devices are offering, we were pretty impressed to see features like fast fingerprint scanners, fast focusing cameras, quick charging and even shock proof and bullet proof glass in many of its products. The 11 phones that are initially released happen to be from four different series of smartphones from LEAGOO namely, Z-Series, Shark-Series, M-Series, and T-Series. The best thing about phones from LEAGOO is, all phones support both WCDMA and GSM networks. All LEAGOO phones pack lithium-polymer batteries that are relatively light but have worse energy densities as compared to lithium-ion batteries.

Z-Series | Leagoo:

The Z series smartphones are for the ones who are upgrading from a bar phone to smartphones and have a limited budget. The cheapest phone from LEAGOO is, the Z1 which costs only NRs. 5,700 but comes with the specs of 2011 which seems obvious looking at its price tag. The best available phone in Z-Series is the Z5 LTE which supports upto 4G network and costs only NRs. 9,999. But, if you are the one who is into specs, you probably don’t wanna consider any phones from Z-Series at all.

Z1 – NRs. 5,700 : 4-inch FWVGA, 512MB RAM, 8GB ROM, 1.3GHz Quad Core Processor, Camera (3MP and 2MP), Battery 1400mAh, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, WiFi, 3G network
Z3C – NRs. 6,150 : 4.5-inch, IPS LCD multi-touch, 512MB RAM, 8GB ROM (32GB expandable), 1.3GHz Quad Core Processor, Camera (2MP and 2MP), Battery 1800mAh, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, WiFi, 2G,3G network dual sim
Z5 – NRs. 7,199 : 5-inch FWVGA, 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM (32GB expandable), 1.3GHz Quad Core Processor, Camera (5MP w/ flash and 2MP), Battery 2300mAh, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, WiFi, WCDMA/GSM network
Z5 LTE (4G)- NRs. 9,999 : 5-inch FWVGA, 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM (32GB expandable), 1.3GHz Quad Core Processor, Camera (5MP w/ dual flash and 2MP), Battery 2300mAh, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, WiFi, WCDMA/GSM network dual sim

Shark Series | Leagoo

If you are among the ones who buy a phone looking at the battery capacity then you might be sold on 5000mAH battery packed in SHARK 1 LITE which is priced at Rs. 13,799. This phone supports OTG and power sharing so you’ll certainly be able to lend some juice to other devices as well.

SHARK 1 LITE – NRs. 13,799 : 5-inch HD IPS, 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM (32GB expandable), 1.3GHz Quad Core Processor, Camera (13MP w/ flash and 8MP), Battery 5000mAh, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, WiFi, WCDMA/GSM network dual sim

M Series | Leagoo

The M series consist of 3 models: M5, M5+, and M8. The phone from LEAGOO that most of the salesman will be pitching is certainly the shock-proof M5 which is said to survive from being crushed by SUV. This HD 5-incher IPS LCD display with 2.5D bullet proof and shockproof glass costs only NRs. 11,999. For a phone in this price range to have a fingerprint sensor is certainly surprising, but it is yet to see if that’s operationally useful or not. This phone seems to be priced right with the specs like 1.3GHz QuadCore processor, 2 GB RAM, 16GB ROM(128GB expandable), Android 6.0, fingerprint sensor, Camera (rear 8MP w/ flash, front 5MP) and 2300 mAh battery.

Along with M5, there are other two phones in M-Series namely M8 and M5+ which have 5.7 and 5.5-inch HD display respectively. M8 has fast charging and M5+ is a shock proof one. These phones are priced at NRs. 15,499 and NRs. 16,599. Both the phones have 2GB RAM, 16GB ROM (128GB expandable), 1.3GHz processor and fingerprint sensor in common. The M8 has a 3340mAh battery as opposed to 2500mAh of M5+.

M5 – NRs. 11,999 : Screen-5inch super HD IPS,2.5D Arc(shock proof & Bulletproof glass),RAM-2GB, ROM-16GB(128GB Expandable), FREEME OS6.0 (Android 6.0). Processor-1.3GHz Quade core, Network-WCDMA/GSM, FINGER PRINT-0.19S Ultra fast,Camera-Rear 8MP/ Flash+front 5MP, Battery-2300mAh li-polymer (Shock Proof)
M8 – NRs. 15,499 : Screen-5.7-inch Super HD IPS,2.5D Arc, RAM-2GB, ROM-16GB(128GB Expandable), FREEME OS6.0 (Android 6.0). Processor-1.3GHz Quade core, Network-WCDMA/GSM, FINGERPRINT-0.19S Ultra fast, Camera-8.0MP（SW 13.0MP）rear camera + 5.0MP ( SW 8.0MP ) front camera, Battery-3340mAh li-polymer/LQC V1.4 (Fast Fingerprint in 0.19S)
M5+ – NRs. 16,599 : Screen-5.5-inch super HD IPS,2.5D Arc, RAM-2GB, ROM 16GB(128GB Expandable), FREEME OS6.0 (Android 6.0), processor-1.3GHz Quade core, Network-FDD/WCDMA/GSM, Camera-rear 13mp/ flash+front5mp, Battery-2500mAh li-polymer (Shock Proof)

T-Series | Leagoo

There are three phones in T-series of smartphones from LEAGOO, but the latest T10 gets all limelight here. The Stylish T10 with 7.5mm thick metallic unibody comes with a 5.7 Inch Full HD IPS LCD Display. Under the hood, there’s a Deca-Core MTK Helio X20 clocked at 2.0 Ghz that’s coupled with 4-GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard Storage that can be expanded upto 128GB. The phone comes with a 3500 mAh lithium-polymer battery. It has 13 megapixels rear camera with Autofocus and 13 megapixels selfie camera. It supports both WCDMA and GSM networks. It runs on LEAGOO OS 2.1 that is based on Android 6.0. It is priced at NRs. 49,999.

T1 – 16,999 : Screen-5.0-inch Super HD IPS, 2.5 Arc, RAM-2GB, ROM-16GB+16GB (128GB Expandable), OS-LEAGOO OS2.0(Android), Processor- 1.3GHz Quade Core, Network-FDD/WCDMA/GSM Camera-Rear 13mp/Dual Flash + Front 8mp AF, Fingerprint- 0.19s, ID 3.0 , Battery- 2400mAh Li-Polymer/LQC V1.5( Born to be stylish)
T1+ – 24,999 : Screen-5.5-inch Super HD IPS, 2.5D Arc, RAM-3GB, ROM-16GB+16GB (128GB Expandable), OS-LEAGOO OS2.0(Android 6.0), Processor- 1.3GHz Quade Core, Network-FDD/WCDMA/GSM, Camera-Rear 13mp/Dual Flash + Front 13mp AF, Fingerprint-0.19s, ID 3.0, Battery- 2660mAh Li-Polymer (Born to be Stylish)
T10 – 49,999 : Screen-5.7-inch Super HD IPS, RAM-4GB, ROM-32GB+32GB (128GB Expandable), OS-LEAGOO OS2.1(Android 6.0), Processor- Deca-Core, Network-WCDMA/GSM, Camera-rear 13mp AF/ Flash + Front 13mp, Fingerprint- 0.19s, ID 3.0, Battery-3500mAh Li-Polymer (Born to be Stylish)

In a quick walk-through among the products of LEAGOO, some products caught our eyes right from their specs sheet but how well will they perform in real life is something yet to see. We’ll certainly share more about these new phones in the days to come.

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Oppo A37 Gets A Price Cut in Nepal

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OPPO

Yural Maskey

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November 28, 2016

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After its official arrival in September, Oppo has been investing a lot in marketing campaigns in Nepal on its selfie focused smartphone, the Oppo F1s. The phone has received lots of buyers in Nepali market, but not the same can be said to its other handset Oppo A37. Priced at Rs. 21,590, the Oppo A37 falls behind the competition in many aspects. Now, the company has officially slashed the price of Oppo A37 and is now available for Rs. 20,490.

Also Read: Deals: OPPO A37 Now Available For Rs. 15,590

Oppo A37 Specifications:

Oppo A37 features a 5-inch HD display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels (294 ppi) with gorilla glass 4. It is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor (1.2Ghz quad-core Cortex A53) and 2GB RAM. There’s ample amount of storage for the device as it has a dedicated expandable memory of 128GB along with 16GB of internal storage. The device is running a skinned version of Android 5.1 Lollipop with ColorOS 3.0 on top and probably won’t receive further updates.

Talking about the camera, the A37 comes with an 8-megapixel rear camera with a wider F2.0 aperture lens alongside LED flash and a 5-megapixel front camera. The device also features a Palm Shutter so that the selfies come out without blurs that happen when the users’ hand is outstretched. It is backed by a non-removable 2630mAh battery.

oppo a37 price in nepal — **OPPO A37 Gold Price in Nepal 2017: Rs.15,590**

Available in Gold color option, the Oppo A37 lacks fingerprint scanner and doesn’t have support from VR as it lacks gyro sensor. Connectivity wise, the phone supports 2 SIM card with 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with dual band, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS.

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Golden 1000 Days Code Camp: IT and youths for mothers and children

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November 27, 2016

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Golden 1000 Days Code Camp: IT and youths for mothers and children

Elaine Memorial Foundation (EMFound) in association with UNICEF, Nepal, Nutrition and Food Security Nepal, National Planning Commission, European Union and Ministry of Health (NHEICC), Government of Nepal had organized a residential, 4 days and 3 nights: Golden 1000 Days Code Camp from Nov 15-18, 2016.

Golden 1000 days is a campaign introduced by UNICEF with the primary goal to bring a change in the lifestyle of pregnant mothers and children below two years of age such that there is a visible reduction in child and maternal mortality rate. This initiative strives to increase awareness about the importance of the first 1000 days in a child’s life, ultimately reducing the maternal and child mortality through improved health and nutritional status of pregnant and lactating mothers as well as young children. Understanding the complications, necessities, and requirements of a mother and a child in the 1000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday offers a unique opportunity to shape a healthier and more prosperous future for the entire family.

The Golden 1000 Days Code Camp 2016 offered an array of opportunities to student developers, designers, programmers and tech professionals to team up and put forward innovative ideas to achieve the primary goal of UNICEF’s mission. Designers, developers, strategists, IT Professionals and project managers who want to make a difference through technology gathered and worked in harmony to develop many innovative ideas on how to engage youths in the pre-natal and post-natal process.

With 120 participants, the Code Camp commenced on 15th November. The introduction session began at 10:55 AM with Mr. Allen Bailochan Tuladhar, Executive Chairperson of the Em Found, addressing the participants with a mantra: “Victory is in our veins“. He welcomed and motivated the participants by letting them know about the impact that this project would create upon completion: 400,000 mothers would be benefiting from the webapp that will be developed during the code camp. The app developed by the youth for the welfare of women and children would be owned and implemented by the Government of Nepal. He also focused on the fact that how without the active participation of the youth, this innovative solution would never come to play. The participants were then divided into multiple teams and each team had a mentor from the different fields available – such as Health Expert, Business Technology Expert, Industry Expert.

Mr. Badri Bahadur Khadka, Director of NHEICC, Ministry Of Health(Nepal) put forward his best wishes for the camp and Mr. Rudrajit Das, Chief Communication For Development (UNICEF) also highlighted that innovation shouldn’t be for oneself but it should for the sake of humanity. Mr. Kunj Prasad Joshi, Health Administrative Officer,Nepal, gave a presentation on the Health and Nutrition Status of Nepal. Ms. Bonita Sharma gave a presentation about the major problems faced in child and maternal health in Nepal.

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On day 2, the participants were all invited to be creative and put forward innovative ideas to help develop a better, healthy environment for mothers and children. The participants showed their determination and dedication by designing, creating and coding their ideas. The teams were also provided with guidelines to divide tasks among team members on topics such as User Interface, Application Programming Interface etc.

On day 3, the participants showcased their ideas in front of the jury and 10 teams got selected to continue with their ideas to make “Golden 1000 days” campaign a success. The teams took the suggestions given by the jury and implemented them to their ideas to bring out an excellent result.

On day 4, the final ten teams were divided into 3 different groups: asp.net group, WordPress group, and app group. The teams were to integrate the solutions generated the day before according to their respective groups. The solutions discovered during the 4 days Code Camp will be used as a foundation by the IT interns at MIC to create the final product.

The Code Camp did not only brought together innovative ideas to make the “Golden 1000 days” a success but also brought youths with different visions and backgrounds together and made them understand the necessity of maternal and child health care. The camp was a growing platform for the youths that not only let them code their way through the 4 days but also helped them build team spirit; interpersonal, individual skills and personality.

In a nutshell, the Code Camp conducted by EMFound, Nepal was a thoroughly successful event which upon completion,we believe, can obviously help drop maternal and child mortality rate.

Yantra 5.0 – Bringing Art, Technology and Science under one roof

GadgetByte

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November 27, 2016

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Yantra 5.0 – Bringing Art, Technology and Science under one roof

With the primary focus on the collaboration of Art, science and Technology Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN) have brought Yantra 5.0. To make things clear, let’s focus on Yantra first. Yantra was an event initiated to create national wise robotics competition. RAN organizes these events and it commenced since 2012. Since the beginning, RAN has been responsible for sending the winners of Yantra in International Robotics Competition. With the passage of time, Yantra has been expanding its horizon as Art Tech Science festival than being just a National Robotics Competition. This year’s Yantra event is named Yantra 5.0 with a theme of “Agro-innovation”. As the theme implies, new and worthy Agro-tech inventions and inventors are going to make their appearances in the event. Not only to the tech enthusiasts, Yantra 5.0 has kept an area of interests for artists, doctors, commuter-programmers, bankers, engineers and even for the kids.

This year’s Yantra event is named Yantra 5.0 with a theme of “Agro-innovation”. As the theme implies, new and worthy Agro-tech inventions and inventors are going to make their appearances in the event. Not only to the tech enthusiasts, Yantra 5.0 has kept an area of interests for artists, doctors, commuter-programmers, bankers, engineers and even for the kids.

With the theme of “Agro-invention”, the primary area of interest of Yantra 5.0 can be predicted. Yantra 5.0 has given its special attention to the introduction of technical and innovative solutions to the problems in Nepalese agriculture. This year’s Yantra will be starting from 30^th of November (15^th Mangsir) and will run for a week in the different parts of Kathmandu valley. Under the name of Yantra 5.0 Art, tech Science Festival 2016, following major programs will be conducted.

International Robotics Competition

The initiation of Yantra was to extend the field of Nepali Robotics towards an international arena. Being persistent with its initial objective, Yantra 5.0 will also bridge Nepali Robot-developers to an international platform. International Robotics Competition will be held at Army Physical training and Fitness Centre, Lagankhel, Rajdal. This competition will have three categories.

Krishak Copter

This will be the main event of Yantra 5.0, International Robotics Competition. In this event, the developer will be expected to build a Quadcopter, which can spray pesticides in the agricultural fields. The work done by Krishak copter should be farmer friendly.

Yantra Racer

This event is only for the Robot-developers with an age less than 20. In this event, the participant will have to build a white-line-tracking robot. This is a race between robots. However, the manual control of the robot with a mobile app is a prerequisite. Developers should be extra careful while designing robots as the organizers have pre-mentioned about the tough way to the destination.

Yantra Akhada

This section also consists of two categories, manual Yantra Akhada and automatic Yantra Akhada. However, in both categories of Yantra Akhada, task to do is same. In Yantra Akhada event, one robot has to push another robot out of the arena manually and without human intervention in the respective manual and automatic category.

For online registration, you should click on the event you are interested.

Krishak Copter
Yantra Racer
Yantra Manual Akhada
Yantra Automatic Akhada

Registration for the event should be done prior to the event i.e. before 30^th November. Late registration fees for the participation, are mentioned below.

Krishak Copter: NRs. 15,000
Yantra Racer: NRs. 10,000
Yantra Manual Akhada: NRs. 10,000
Yantra Automatic Akhada: NRs. 10,000

Art and Tech exhibition

This program will focus on the collaboration of artists and engineers to bring a creative outcome, which could disable the distraughtness of the farmers. Art and Tech Exhibition will be held at Bikalpa Art, Sanepa.

Paper presentation

Under this program, a research paper will be selected which will be published in an international journal. The research paper should be based on the agro-tech (technology in the agricultural sector). This program is brought by Yantra to encourage national researchers and to bridge their idea to the investors, entrepreneurs and international delegates.

Yantra learning

This is a software competition. In this program, programmers will have to build smart software for a machine (Yantra) that can predict and alert the farmers about the upcoming natural disasters. The Yantra should be decisive, by processing present environment condition and detecting patterns from the past data. Yantra learning will take place in LDTA, Jwalakhel.

For the Yantra learning, you can Register Here

Creative computing

This program aims to create an innovative platform for the professionals of technical and non-technical fields. The professional educators and makers are will be piloting this program. This program aims to encourage artists, doctors, and bankers to use technology in order to ease the day-to-day activities. This program will be held in Pulchowk (RAN’s office).

This festival is going be a thread to bind technical and non-technical fellow workers by inviting them under the same roof. With the mutual collaboration, innovative solutions in the agricultural sector are ought to come. However, the ideas introduced should be applicable to solving real world problems and should be feasible in the Nepali land. The winners of the program will be awarded a grand cash prize and some of the deserving projects will be selected for Yantra Incubation Program. Yantra Incubation will be for 12 months, where the selected project members get to learn about the Agro-problems, problem-solving techniques and developing prototypes. Moreover, with Yantra kids, this festival is planning to inspire kids and raise their enthusiasm in technology.

This festival not only focuses on the technological innovations but also inspires on thinking on practical approach challenging on our theory based education system. Nepal being an agricultural country, this festival emphasis on revolutionizing agriculture sector with the introduction of technical ideas from home. In order to show the development of Nepali Robotics and inspire ideas, RAN is organizing this event providing a free entry. However, you need a ticket for an entrance. The pass ticket is available here. To know more about the Yantra 5.0 click here.

[where-to-buy buy_id=21581]

Watch out Samsung! Huawei Leads Samsung in Profit

GadgetByte

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November 26, 2016

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Watch out Samsung! Huawei Leads Samsung in Profit

I know, you want a smartphone manufactured by Chinese company because they are a good value for your money. But, somewhere deep inside you, you don’t trust them because it’s “Chinese”. Well, the recent report from Strategy Analytics, a Massachusetts, USA based company may boost your trust on them.

According to the report, Huawei is the most profitable android device manufacturer in the world in the third quarter of 2016. Vivo and Oppo (also Chinese manufacturers) trail Huawei in the list.

Although Samsung is still at the top in terms of volume of devices produced, other three Android device makers surpass in profit. This may be because of the exploding Galaxy Note 7 fiasco according to a representative of System Analytics.

In terms of overall operating profit, Apple leads the chart by a huge margin. Apple earned $8.5 billion in the third quarter of 2016. This is 91% of the total share in smartphones profits worldwide. However, new phones by Apple only make up about 20% of the global market. You know what this means? Apple phones are expensive.

Huawei follows Apple with $200 million (a 2.4% share). Vivo, Oppo, and Others (including Samsung) share an equal share of 2.2% with just under $200million operating profit. Although Samsung was not in the top list this quarter, Samsung is said to recover in the fourth quarter of 2016. That being said, the effort of the Chinese companies for making good phones should also be credited. Especially since phones like Huawei P9 got popular even outside Asia.

“Three of the world’s top four most profitable smartphone vendors are currently Chinese. Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo have not only improved their smartphone product line-ups this year, they have also enhanced their operational abilities and kept a tight lid on expanding distribution costs,” said Strategy Analytics director Linda Sui.

Now, talking about the Nepali market, Samsung leads the market share here. About 60 percent of the smartphones sold in Nepal are from Samsung, 10% are from Huawei, 8% from Gionee and remaining from other manufacturers.

With so many smartphone options available in Nepal, which brands do you prefer? Let us know in the comment section below.

Report: 18 lakhs new mobile units imported in the last 3 months

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GadgetByte

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November 25, 2016

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Report: 18 lakhs new mobile units imported in the last 3 months

With the introduction of new mobile brands in Nepal, the numbers of mobile units that have been imported and sold are getting remarkable increments. Just in first three months of this fiscal year 2073/2074, 1.8 million (18 lakhs) new mobile units are reported to have been imported already. That is approximately 237,000 more units as compared to those imported in first three months of last fiscal year.

This increment can be considered to be a motivating factor to newly introduced mobile brands lately. In the ranking of most imported goods, telecommunication equipment happens to be in the ninth ranking. The sources claim 44.5 % increment in the import of total telecommunication equipment as compared to those of last year’s first trimester. Out of those, mobile units and their spare parts fall on the top of the list of that list.

This huge increment in import and selling of mobile units may be due to the emerging of new mobile brands in Nepal. The International brands like Samsung, Huawei, Gionee, Micromax, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo are found to be doing pretty well lately. The new international brands are jumping right in the Nepali Market one after another lately. Leagoo is about to be launched today and many others are in the process of being launched as well.

From a customer’s viewpoint, this is a good thing to many options and it has created a healthy competitive scenario to the seller’s as well. All companies are pushing their devices to offer more at a lesser price. Nowadays, several phones are offering the best value for your money. But, to get the best from your available budget, you might want to consider phones from different companies in similar price range. Keep that in mind, not all the phones that are good in paper perform equally well while using. Before buying a new mobile we recommend you to check its reviews. It might be wiser to ask for advice from those who already own the phone that you’re planning to buy next.

[where-to-buy buy_id=21402]

Understanding Qualcomm Quick Charging Technology

GadgetByte

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November 25, 2016

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Understanding Qualcomm Quick Charging Technology

Previously, phones used to have fewer features. With fewer features, time of use of phone also used be less resulting in a slow drain of battery power. And the time required for charging the battery had not bothered us at all. But these days, powerful smartphones are available in the market supporting tons of features. Due to the inclusion of a multitude of features in the phones, time for its use also increased. With more features and more time of use, the battery in the smartphones started draining fast. To cope this problem, different manufacturers brought high capacity batteries. With the high capacity batteries, smartphones were fun to use as the battery lasted longer. However, with an increase in battery capacity, the time required to charge it also increased. In order to reduce charging time, quick charging technology was introduced.

Out in the market, we can hear turbo charging, adaptive fast charging, rapid charging, and Qualcomm Quick Charge. They puzzle us sometimes about the function they actually do. However, the real thing is that all of them are the same thing. They are based on the same licensed technology from Qualcomm known as quick charging technology.

“Quick charge” is just a marketing term for the capabilities of the power management circuitry in smartphones and wall-charger. Therefore, for an effective quick charging of your smartphone, both of your charger and smartphones must support Quick charging. For that, having a Qualcomm processor on your smartphone is not mandatory since Qualcomm has licensed the technology to non-Qualcomm smartphones like the Galaxy S7 (Exynos) and ZenFone 2 (Intel). The basic principle involved is, in quick charging technology, a high power is injected in your battery using higher-than-normal voltage until it reaches saturation, which is usually 60-80% charge depending on how the phone’s power management is configured. Here we have collected some released versions of quick charging brought by Qualcomm.

Quick Charge 1.0

Qualcomm brought the first version of quick charging technology in 2013 and named it Quick charge 1.0. The devices supporting Quick charge 1.0 charge up to 40% faster than the older phones. If a normal phone is stuck on charging for four hours or more, with this version on your phone you can have your battery full within a time span of three hours. However, the charging process will not be proportionate. The amount of time taken to charge from dead condition (0%) to 50% will not be equal to 50% to 100% because after a certain point known as “saturation”, the charging process slows down.

With this version on your system, the battery will be fed to a maximum power of 10 watts injected with a maximum voltage of 5 volts. This version is inbuilt with Qualcomm snapdragon 600 processor. The devices like Droid DNA by HTC, Samsung Galaxy S III, Nokia Lumia 920,Vodafone Smart ultra 6, Asus Padfone, LG Nexus 4, etc are accompanied by Quick charge 1.0.

Quick Charge 2.0

Revolutionizing charging technology with Quick charge 1.0, Qualcomm brought Quick charge 2.0 in 2014. The traditional battery charger is limited to 5 volts and less than 2 amperes and actual power received by the battery will be less than 8 watts, taking an account of the loss in charging circuitry and cables. According to Qualcomm, QC 2.0 is 50% faster than QC 1.0. In an official 30 minutes charge test between traditional charging, QC 1.0 and QC 2.0, a charge of 12%, 30%, and 60% was found respectively at the end of 30 minutes charging.

QC 2.0 works on the multi-voltage charging system offering 5V, 9V, and 12V and up to 3A of amperes of current feeding minimum power of 10 watts and maximum 18 watts to the battery. If there is a low charge on the battery, it offers to charge with 12V, which allows rapid charge and as the charge increases on the battery, charging voltage is decreased. It is backward compatible.

This version is available in snapdragon 200, 400, 410, 615, 800, 801, 805, 808 and 810 processors. QC 2.0 is found in Samsung Galaxy S7, Sony Xperia Z3, Xiaomi MI 4, LG V10, Google Nexus 6, etc.

Quick charge 3.0

The major change done by Qualcomm in QC 3.0 is that the normal charging in QC 2.0 in the range of 10 watts to 18 watts has been modified to a dynamic charging mode in which battery will be fed 3.6 volts to 20 volts range with a step size of 200 millivolts.

As the charge in the battery goes on increasing, the charging voltage decreases. In QC 2.0, if 9 volts is unacceptable then the supply voltage to the battery decreases to 5 volts but in QC 3.0, just a fall of 200 millivolts can be experienced and a fast charging can be achieved. This feature in QC 3.0 is called INOV (Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage), which allows for a fine-tuned power output and a more optimized charging cycle. QC 3.0 supported devices charges twice faster than QC 1.0 and is 38% more efficient than QC 2.0. This version also supports backward compatibility.

QC 3.0 is inbuilt in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430, 617, 618, 620, 820 processors. The devices equipped with QC 3.0 are Asus ZenFone 3, HP Elite x3, LG V20 Xiaomi Mi 5, Xiaomi Mi 5s, Sony Xperia XZ, etc.

Quick charge 4

This version of Quick charging technology has not stepped on the market yet. However, Qualcomm unveiled its flagship SoC (system on chip) in this November, which supports Quick charge 4. Qualcomm has assured that QC4 will make its debut in its high-end SoC Snapdragon 835 in 2017.

QC 4 will have Dual-charge feature due to which charging will be up to 20% faster or 30% more efficient. Admitting the heating problem of the battery, Qualcomm promised that with QC 4, charging would be 5˚C cooler than QC 3.0. So along with an efficient and quick charging, you should not have to worry about your device heating up.

Qualcomm calls this new QC version as “five for five” claiming that a meager five minutes of charging would back you up for more than five hours. Qualcomm has claimed that, in the QC 4, there would be many enhancements in the features. QC 4 would be compatible with USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB-PD). Battery saver feature is also added to the list, which enhances the battery life and ensures safety.

With so much from Qualcomm, a thrill has resided inside every tech freaks. However, to get a device equipped with QC 4, we are supposed to wait. To know more about Qualcomm’s QC 4, click here.

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