Samsung Electronics to unveil Galaxy S5 smartphone in late Feb

Samsung Electronics Co will unveil a new version of its flagship Galaxy S smartphone this month, but expectations are low that features such as a bigger screen will lead to a sharp jump in sales given intensifying competition.

Samsung sent out invitations on Tuesday for "Samsung unPacked 5" event on February 24 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The launch has been brought forward by around three weeks after sales of Samsung's S4 came in weaker than expected, analysts said.

The world's biggest smartphone maker is bracing for its weakest mobile annual profit growth in seven years amid fierce competition from Apple Inc and Chinese vendors, and as growth for high-end smartphones eases due to near saturation in many markets.

The S5 is widely expected to feature a bigger screen, an improved rear camera and biometric functions such as iris recognition or a fingerprint scanner. It may also come with an improved Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

The launch at the annual industry gathering is set to reflect a new emphasis on costs, marking a departure from the glitzy marketing Samsung has deployed in the past, including the use of actors and a full live orchestra to launch the S4 at New York's Radio City Music Hall last year.

A bigger screen for the S5 may not become much of a selling point as Apple is widely expected to introduce large-screen smartphones - Samsung's mainstay products - later this year. Apple is also expected to gain ground in China after it began selling iPhones through China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, last month.

More challenges may come from China's PC maker Lenovo Group which announced last week it would buy Google Inc's Motorola Mobility handset unit for $2.9 billion.

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'Hand of God' image captured by Nasa

A new image of the pulsar wind nebula known as the 'hand of God' has been captured by US space agency Nasa's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR).

The photograph captured by the telescope shows the nebula 17,000 light-years away, which is powered by a dead, spinning star called PSR B1509-58. The pulsar itself is just 19 kilometres long, but spins around nearly seven times every second.

As it spins, it throws out particles upheaved during the star's death, which interact with magnetic fields around the ejected material, causing it to glow with X-rays.

For Nasa, one of the biggest remaining mysteries surrounding the object is whether the pulsar particles are interacting with the material in a specific way to make it look like a hand, or if the material is in fact shaped like a hand.

"We don't know if the hand shape is an optical illusion," Hongjun An of McGill University, Montreal, Canada told Nasa. "With NuSTAR, the hand looks more like a fist, which is giving us some clues."

NuSTAR has imaged the structure in high-energy X-rays for the first time, shown in blue. In the image, lower-energy X-ray light previously detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory is shown in green and red.

Fiona Harrison, the mission's principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California said the telescopes unique viewpoint is allowing them to see "the highest-energy X-rays" and is "showing us well-studied objects and regions in a whole new light."

The telescope also produced another image of a range of supermassive black holes lit up. Nasasaid all of the dots in this image are active black holes tucked inside the hearts of galaxies, with colours representing different energies of X-ray light.

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New artificial muscle promises super strength

(Credit: Warner Bros.)

We have seen robots destruct and conquer in movies, but we never thought that would come close to happening in the real world. After all, we have only seen them being built for humanly tasks such aspainting and, well, vomiting.

But researchers at the University of California (UC), Berkeley have developed a micro-sized robotic muscle, which is 1,000 times stronger than a human muscle.

A material called vanadium dioxide is used to produce the robot muscle. When it is heated to 67 degrees Celsius, the compound changes from an insulator to a conductive metal, yielding a huge amount of strength during the transition.

This lets the robot muscle throws objects 50 times heavier than itself over a distance five times its length, all within 60 milliseconds -- faster than the blink of an eye.

Heating of the robot muscle can be done either with a tiny heating pad or with an electrical current. The heating process can also be triggered optically since heat is generated when vanadium dioxide absorbs light.

Physicist Junqiao Wu, the leader of this search project, said: "With its combination of power and multi-functionality, our micro-muscle shows great potential for applications that require a high level of functionality integration in a small space."

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Apple's Big Plans For 2014

Now that the holiday’s are over and 2014 is almost here, Apple is eager to jump into the new year. Between statements made by Apple’s CEO Tim Cook as well as rumors suggesting that a larger iPad is on the way, 2014 is already looking as though it will be a huge year for the Cupertino-based tech giant.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love. I am extremely proud to stand alongside you as we put innovation to work serving humankind’s deepest values and highest aspirations. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world for the opportunity to work at this amazing company with all of you. - Tim Cook, Apple CEO

It is still many months away but the rumors surrounding a 12.9-inch iPad are piling up with the majority of them suggesting that an October 2014 launch date seems to make the most sense for Apple.

Apple’s large-size tablet will be manufactured by Quanta Computer, and was originally expected to adopt either 12.9- or 13.3-inch panels, with recent rumors indicating that 12.9-inch has a better chance to be picked. - Digitimes Report

On top of the massive iPad rumors, some sources are now saying that we could see the iPhone 6 as early as May 2014. This release date would differ from the majority of Apple’s previous releases but sources are justifying it by saying that the company sees the iPhone 6 as more of an incremental update than a completely new system.

Since the iPhone 6 is expected to be nearly the same as the 5S, a large iPad seems to be a bit more interesting for consumers as well as for analysts. The 12.9-inch iPad is reportedly set to be an alternative for laptops which means that it may be setup in a way that is similar to Microsoft’s new Surface Pro tablets.

With iPad keyboards already a popular accessory for the tablet, Apple may use the larger iPad to capitalize on consumer interest in swapping out their computers for tablets.

On top of the iPad and iPhone, reports have surfaced that Apple recently purchased a patent for a heart rate monitor. While heart rate monitors are nothing new, the patent detailed a piece of technology which could actually identify people based upon slight differences in their EKG readings. This sort of technology may not end up making it into any of Apple’s products but if it does, it will surely make a big splash in the tech industry.

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MetaPro AR is the cooler, better-looking version of Google Glass

Cool isn’t one of the words usually associated with wearable tech but Meta wants to change all that. The company is on a mission to bring the “Tony Stark” dream alive with a new pair of aviator-style augmented reality sunglasses called MetaPro.

The smart sunglasses are not only the most fashionable we have seen in the wearable tech space, but they also promise to pack a computing punch. Unlike Glass, which has been primarily notification driven until now, MetaPro aims to deliver a “holographic experience”. The smart glasses let you interact with the digital world in your field of view by using finger and gesture interaction.

Meta is currently working with developers on getting 500+ apps up and ready for the device. But users can also mirror real devices to their MetaPro glasses to use them virtually. Using a virtual iPhone on such a futuristic device seems a little backwards to me but it does give users a lot more apps to use out of the gate, so I do see its value.

MetaPro retails for just about $3,000 which is double the current price tag of Google Glass. But MetaPro offers 15 times the screen size of Glass, displays 3D instead of 2D, and  has a display for both eyes so perhaps the price is justified. But the price is also high because MetaPro isn’t just a pair of smart sunglasses; it relies on a pocket computer which you need to carry with you to offload the processing power.

Deliveries of MetaPro are expected to start June of next year, with pre-orders starting now. If you are interested in Meta’s technology but don’t have $3K just laying around, Meta is still offering their developer edition Meta.01 for $667.00.

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