Scientists develop flexible smartphone which allows app bending

Scientists claim to have developed the world’s first wireless flexible smartphone that allows users to feel the buzz by bending their apps.

The full-colour, high-resolution smartphone, named ReFlex, combines multitouch with bend input and allows users to experience physical tactile feedback when interacting with their apps through bend gestures.

“This represents a completely new way of physical interaction with flexible smartphones,” said Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University in Canada.

Facebook to open up Instant Articles to all publishers worldwide from 12 March

Starting March 12, Facebook will be opening up the Instant Articles program to all publishers around the world. This move also falls in line with the company’s upcoming F8 Conference wherein Facebook might unveil some new products or announcements as well. Until now, many publishers posted links from their respective website on Facebook which brought in a lot of traffic, but this same process took much longer on a smartphone, approximately 7-8 seconds.

“Media organizations and journalists are an integral part of Facebook, and we’re committed to delivering products that will create the best experience for publishers and their readers”, says Josh Roberts, Product Manager at Facebook.

Facebook helps sister find lost brother in Canada

OTTAWA: A Canadian woman found her long-lost brother after posting a message on social media website, Facebook on New Year's Eve, the media reported on Tuesday.

Matthew Handford, who tracked down his sister, Shylow Wilson, after reading the post on Facebook in which 25-year-old Wilson said she was looking for her biological brother named Matthew who was given up for adoption by their mother after he was born at Calgary's Grace Hospital in February 1987, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I was a little skeptical, but now that I've met him, I know it's for sure him, and I'm really happy about that," said Wilson. It was a "good Family Day miracle" right there, she said.

Indian-origin engineer discovers 2D semi-conducting material that could replace silicon

A team led by an Indian-origin engineer from the University of Utah has discovered a new kind of 2D semi-conducting material for electronics that opens the door for much speedier computers and smartphones that consume a lot less power.

The semi-conductor, made of the elements tin and oxygen or tin monoxide (SnO) by the associate professor Ashutosh Tiwari-led team is a layer of 2D material only one atom thick, allowing electrical charges to move through it much faster than conventional 3D materials such as silicon. This material could be used in transistors, the lifeblood of all electronic devices such as computer processors and graphics processors in desktop computers and mobile devices.

Google's Project Loon begins its first balloon internet tests in Sri Lanka

Google's Project Loon begins its first balloon internet tests in Sri Lanka

Google’s balloon-powered high-speed Internet service known as “Project Loon” began its first tests in Sri Lanka ahead of a planned joint venture with Colombo, the country’s top IT official said.

One of three balloons that will be used in the trials entered Sri Lankan airspace Monday, the Information and Communication Technology Agency chief Muhunthan Canagey said.

“The first balloon entered our airspace this morning. It was launched from South America.” Canagey told AFP. “It is currently over southern Sri Lanka.”