Knowledge Update

​New York, Nov 11 (IANS) US tech giants Microsoft and Google have partnered wherein Office for Android will be supported on Chrome OS-based devices via the Google Play Store.

​Seoul, Nov 11 (IANS) Battling with multiple issues like the discontinuation of Galaxy Note 7, recall of 2.8 million exploding washing machines and corruption scandal, South Korean giant Samsung has reportedly filed a patent with the Korean Intellectual Property Office for a smartphone that can be folded in half and is expected to arrive next year. "Called the Galaxy X, the front of the smartphone will sport traditional Samsung home button in between a back button on the right and a menu button on the left," GSMArena reported on Friday. Samsung has been working on foldable displays for years is now ready to officially unveil its first offering in 2017. "The aspect ratio of device display looks 21:9 or close to that, and considering the physical design of the device it will be interesting to see how useful all of that screen real estate will turn out to be," the report added. Representatives of the South Korean prosecutor's office recently raided Samsung offices in Seoul on suspicion that the tech giant might be involved in a corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye. Hit by the Note 7 fiasco, Samsung Electronics has also decided to recall about 2.8 million top-loading washing machines due to risk of impact injuries. The affected washers are manufactured between March 2011 and current production dates.

​London, Nov 10 (IANS) If you exercise before work, or forego fried food for fruits and salads, you can expect brain functions to improve over time, according to a new study.

Living a healthier lifestyle could increase executive function, which is the ability to exert self-control, set and meet goals, resist temptation and solve problems, the study said.

"People who make a change to their health behaviour, like participating in physical activity, eating less processed food, or consuming more fruits and vegetables, can see an improvement in their brain function over time and increase their chances of remaining healthy as they age," said one of the researchers Julia Allan from University of Aberdeen in Britain.

The researchers analysed the relationship between physical activity and executive function, adjusting for other variables such as age, gender, education, wealth and illness and found evidence that the relationship between the two is bidirectional.

Specifically, individuals with poor executive function showed subsequent decreases in their rates of participation in physical activity and older adults who engaged in sports and other physical activities tended to retain high levels of executive function over time.

Researchers noted that while the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, focused on physical activity and its relationship to executive function, it is likely a positive feedback loop also exists between executive function and eating nutritious foods.

Similarly, it is likely that negative feedback loops also exist, in that unhealthy behaviours such as smoking or drinking too much alcohol will be both a result of and a predictor of declining executive function, the researchers said.

London, Nov 10 (IANS) Scientists have for the first time used a neural prosthetic to restore walking movement directly to the legs of non-human primates.

In the study, the researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island, US, used a wireless "brain-spinal interface" to bypass spinal cord injuries in a pair of rhesus macaques, restoring intentional walking movement to a temporarily paralysed leg. 

Walking is made possible by a complex interplay among neurons in the brain and spinal cord. 

Electrical signals originating in the brain's motor cortex travel down to the lumbar region in the lower spinal cord, where they activate motor neurons that coordinate the movement of muscles responsible for extending and flexing the leg.

To calibrate the decoding of brain signals, the researchers implanted the brain sensor and wireless transmitter in healthy macaques. The signals relayed by the sensor could then be mapped onto the animals' leg movements. 

They showed that the decoder was able to accurately predict the brain states associated with extension and flexion of leg muscles.

"The system we have developed uses signals recorded from the motor cortex of the brain to trigger coordinated electrical stimulation of nerves in the spine that are responsible for locomotion," said David Borton, Assistant Professor at Brown University.

The study, published in the Journal Nature, suggests that a brain-controlled spinal stimulation system may enhance rehabilitation after a spinal cord injury.

​New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Microsoft has released its new Windows 10 Creators test version which can let a user control external monitors from tablets without attaching a mouse.

"Use it just like you would a physical touchpad to control content on the connected screen," software engineer Dona Sarkar said in a blog.

London, Nov 16 (IANS) Using artificial intelligence techniques, a team of researchers has designed a system that can automatically learn the association between images and the sounds they could possibly make.

​New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Technology giant is officially selling refurbished unlocked iPhones in its online store at prices discounted by up to 15 per cent off compared to new models. According to a report in technology website The Verge, a listed refurbished rose gold 64GB iPhone 6S Plus is on sale for $589 and a silver 16GB iPhone 6S Plus is $529. Just like the new devices, Apple's refurbished phones come with a one-year warranty and include a new battery and outer shell. Apple has been selling refurbished Macs, iPads, MacBooks and Mac accessories, among other products. Apple has previously sold refurbished phones in 2007.

​Beijing, Nov 10 (IANS) India represents the future and its user value may surpass China in a few years, a top executive from global internet and technology conglomerate LeEco has said. "No matter how hard it is to crack the Indian market, we will try our best to grasp the opportunity there," YT Jia, Co-founder and Chairman, LeEco, said at the company's investor meeting in Beijing on Thursday. "We will focus on India, China and the US and achieve breakthroughs in these three valuable regional markets," Jia added. Since its entry into India in January this year, LeEco has introduced two generations of its phones, one generation of SuperTV and entertainment membership services.

​New York, Nov 10 (IANS) If you want to improve your sleep, better cut down on smartphone use near bedtime, suggests a new study that found longer average screen-time is associated with poor sleep quality and less sleep overall.

Poor sleep is associated with health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and depression.

"Exposure to smartphone screens, particularly around bedtime, may negatively impact sleep," the study said.

For the study, Matthew Christensen from the University of California - San Francisco, US, and colleagues sought to test the hypothesis that increased screen-time may be associated with poor sleep by analysing data from 653 adult individuals across the US.

Participants installed a smartphone application which recorded their screen-time, defined as the number of minutes in each hour that the screen was turned on, over a 30-day period.

They also recorded their sleeping hours and sleep quality.

The researchers found that each participant totalled an average of 38.4 hours over this period, with smartphones being activated on average for 3.7 minutes in each hour.

Longer average screen-time was associated with poor sleep quality and less sleep overall, particularly when smartphones were used near participants' bedtime, according to the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Ever got irritated when Facebook asked you to re-think a password for your account even if you typed in the one you have been using for years? That's because the social networking platform wants your account safe.