Crazy Technology World

LG said it will ship 65-inch OLED TVs starting September in South Korea.

 South Korea (AP) - LG Electronics Inc. announced two new giant OLED TVs with ultra-high definition screens Monday, sticking with its strategy of using the exceptionally expensive OLED display technology.

Amount of electronic waste generated globally last year is enough to fill 100 Empire State Buildings
In an industrial area outside Kenya's capital city, workers in hard hats and white masks take shiny new power drills to computer parts. This assembly line is not assembling, though. It is dismantling some of the estimated 50 million metric tons of hazardous electronic-waste the world generated last year.
The clanking is rhythmic as the workers unscrew, detach and toss motherboards onto piles of gleaming circuitry at the East African Compliant Recycling facility. Workers wipe hard drives with magnets, shred small appliances, and bundle old cables like bales of multi-colored hay.
Stacks of dingy gray computer towers some with now-ancient floppy disk drives cover much of one wall. The cornerstone is a cardboard box labeled "PCs for Africa."
The amount of electronic waste generated globally last year is enough to fill 100 Empire State Buildings and represents more than 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) for every living person, according to the U.N. Environmental Program. Much of that e-waste is exported to developing countries like India and Kenya in the form of used goods, where it ends up in landfills or is burned, putting lead, arsenic and mercury into the environment.
Kenyan leaders are working on new laws and regulations requiring proper disposal of e-waste, defined as anything with a battery or a cord.
"A lot of e-waste is shipped to these countries in order to get rid of it," said Ruediger Kuehr, the executive secretary of Solving the E-Waste Problem, a Germany-based organization coordinated by the U.N.
Impoverished Nairobi residents collect end-of-life electronics for processing. In Nairobi's Mukuru slum, women pick through dumpsites or purchase discarded material from electronics repair shops. They earn about $2 for a CRT tube-style television. If dumped, that television would have released 6.5 pounds (3 kilograms) of lead into the environment.
"I can say we have already done something good," waste collector Joyce Nyawira said, referring to cleaning the environment.
Some of this e-waste stems from private Western charities donating products near the end of their life cycles, like the box of "PCs for Africa" sitting in the warehouse. Public initiatives like school computer programs also contribute.
"You can imagine if you are giving one kid a laptop, it's very easy for this laptop to die anytime," said Joshua Patroba, operations manager at East African Compliant Recycling, a company in Machakos, about an hour east of Nairobi, that began business in December and has already collected and sold more than 130,000 pounds of e-waste.
East African Compliant Recycling funds its operations by selling high-tech waste to countries like the U.K., China and Hong Kong with the machinery to isolate the precious metals and rare minerals from the scrap. High-grade motherboards can contain platinum, gold and silver. New products also pose a growing problem, as cheap gadgets become more widespread. Kuehr said more e-waste is generated in developing and transitioning countries than in the developed world. The U.N. says that while the world's 7 billion people have 4.5 billion toilets, they also have 6 billion phones.
"Most people, when their phones are dead, they give them to their children as toys, and then the children break them," said Margaret Kamar, Kenya's Minister of Higher Education, Science & Technology. "People get exposed to a lot of dangerous materials that are used when electronic materials are being manufactured."
President Uhuru Kenyatta in June signed regulations requiring e-waste be disposed of at government-licensed facilities meeting international standards. More detailed regulations written into an environmental act are pending. 

Wearable technology is the fastest growing category at this year's Computex.


TAIPEI (AFP) - A new generation of wearable technology is promising not only to log data about users' health but to predict and avert crises -- from drivers falling asleep at the wheel to runners wearing themselves out in a marathon.
But there are concerns over the accuracy of the personal information collected by the burgeoning range of smart wristbands, watches and clothing -- and how companies might use that data.
Wearable technology is the fastest growing category at this year's Computex, Asia's largest tech trade show which kicked off in Taiwan on Tuesday, with health-tracking a dominant theme.
"Health and fitness sensors and data are fundamental for wearables and largely define the category," said Daniel Matte of market research firm Canalys.
Market tracker IDC predicted in April that sales of wearable tech items would triple this year to 19 million units worldwide, growing to 111.9 million by 2018.
At Taiwanese smartwear company AiQ's Computex stand this week, a muscular mannequin showed off a lycra cycling top.
Stainless steel fibres in the fabric and electrodes in the sleeves sense heart rate and other vital signs as well as calories burned, sending the data to a Bluetooth clip which can transmit it to a phone, tablet or other smart device.
The technology will appeal to sports fans, but it is Taiwan's bus drivers who will be the first to benefit, when companies ask them to wear smart shirts later this year in a move that could prevent accidents.
"We will provide a shirt which can monitor the drivers in case they are falling asleep, or in case any vital signs are not OK, and it will provide a signal or a warning to the bus company," said AiQ vice president Steve Huang.
The clothing was trialled for a year on discharged hospital patients to track their condition and it received positive feedback from wearers, he added.
But analysts and consumers still have reservations about whether smartwear can really tell us the truth about our bodies.
"Current sensors are not very accurate, but there will be improvements," said Matte.


- Privacy fears -

Samsung unveiled a new digital health technology platform last week that uses sensors to track a range of body functions such as heart rate and blood pressure.
And another giant of the sector, Apple, also launched its 'Health' app this week, with speculation mounting it will move into hardware later this year.
Leading Taiwan tech firm Acer also revealed its first wearable at Computex -- a fitness-tracking wristband which links to a smartphone.
But while tech firms jump on the health-monitoring bandwagon there are questions over how the huge flow of data from the new devices will be handled.
"There is a massive opportunity to analyse and monetise the large amounts of data that wearable sensors and platforms will generate. Privacy is always a concern," says Matte.
Huang acknowledged the tension between the potential commercial benefit for smartwear firms and the risk of invading users' privacy.
"There will be a lot of legal and moral issues," he said.
Tech companies are also emphasising the potential benefits of analysis to help users make sense of their data, and the possibility of linking up with experts who can give them feedback.
"Maybe we will cooperate with some medical (institutions) like hospitals to improve this kind of product and to do something to really help people -- this has been talked about at Sonostar," said Paula Luh at the Taiwanese firm's stand.

- New approach for athletes -

Sonostar was showing its new brightly coloured SmartFit trackers -- silicone wristbands with a pop-out coin-sized sensor which is battery-powered and designed to be worn all day, monitoring everything from steps taken to sleep patterns.
The device has one year's memory storage, said Luh, who added that users' privacy would be protected through a registering and sign-in procedure to access their personal data online.
Smart wearables could also be set to re-educate athletes away from a "no pain no gain" approach, with one new device at Computex claiming to be able to measure "stamina" so that it can warn racers when they might be pushing too hard.
"We detect the current flowing through your heart... then we use our algorithm and transfer the raw information into stamina," said Kuo Hsin-fu of Taiwanese start-up Bomdic, which makes the clip-on Bluetooth "GoMore" device.
By analysing the user's heart activity the device can predict lactic acid build up and other physical factors which can affect performance, said Kuo, with stamina shown as a percentage level.
"Most of the (smart) bands focus on general users, but our target audience is athletes. The ones who have tried it love it -- it's good for training and competition efficiency," he added.
"We are doing everything that other sports apps can do, but more."

The Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory put Messi's value at 216 million euros ($294 million).

GENEVA (AFP) - Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi remains the world s most valuable footballer, even though his crown slipped this season, a market study showed on Wednesday.
In its annual report on the player market, the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory put Messi s value at 216 million euros ($294 million).
Even though Messi s lower performance levels slashed 19 million euros from his market value, he was still worth almost twice as much as arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, second in the ranking on 114 million euros.
CIES said that Messi s higher value was mainly related to his younger age -- he turns 27 this month, while Portuguese icon Ronaldo is already 29.
Ronaldo s heroics this season with Champions League winners Real Madrid meanwhile saw his market value climb by four million euros.
The study also showed that Real Madrid did the worst deal -- in market terms -- for a single player when they spent a record 100 million euros to sign Welshman Gareth Bale from London club Tottenham.
"Real Madrid clearly paid over the odds to convince Tottenham to release the player," CIES said, underlining that Bale s market value was now 37 million euros less than he cost the Spanish club.
Real spent an average of 32.3 million euros per player to build its Champions League squad -- the most expensive line-up on record.
Champions League runners-up Atletico Madrid, who this season also clinched the Spanish title, made do with 4.3 million euros per player.
Other clubs where results outstripped spending included Crystal Palace in England, Elche in Spain, Guingamp in France, Augsburg in Germany and Verona in Italy, the study showed.

The lanky paceman was injured during the Twenty20 series against South Africa in November.

LAHORE (AFP) - The world s tallest cricketer Mohammad Irfan Tuesday said he could win next year s World Cup for Pakistan single-handedly after regaining full fitness from a hip bone injury which had sidelined him for six months.
Irfan, who is seven-feet and one-inch (2.16 metres) tall, was speaking at a training camp in the eastern city of Lahore following his long lay-off.
"I am feeling good fitness and of course the target is to win the World Cup for Pakistan," said Irfan, who turns 32 on Friday.
"It s a big event, every player feels honoured to play it. In Australia pitches are very bouncy and are suitable for me and obviously I got a height factor and I can do well.
"If I managed to sustain my 100 per cent fitness I can win everything all alone, single handedly," he added.
The lanky paceman was injured during the Twenty20 series against South Africa in November last year in Dubai, missing Pakistan s series against Sri Lanka, tour to South Africa, Asia Cup and the World Twenty20.
Irfan said it was disappointing to miss six months of cricket, but said he would strive to avoid further injuries.
"I am working so hard on my fitness and I am ensuring this time that I should go (a) long way," he said.
Irfan broke into the national team in 2010 at the relatively late age of 28 but has so far played just four Tests, 27 one-day internationals and seven T20.
"I know I have to manage my workload and playing Tests is an added pressure hence I decided to play T20 and one-dayers only. I have to get myself tied up for a longer run this time and will ensure that I won t get dropped."
The selectors are not likely to take a chance on Irfan for their August tour of Sri Lanka, with the all-important series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in October-November a more realistic target for a comeback.
Pakistan then play New Zealand in the UAE, and tour New Zealand for a short limited over series before the World Cup in 2015.