What are the improvements in Play Station 4 ?

Sony’s Playstation 4 has been recently released. There are several improvements made in this console than its previous version Playstation 3. The difference is between the graphics mainly and has improved a lot. The hardware used in PS 4 is AMD Jaguar system-on-chip that provides ease to independent developers but it is not backward compatible. The PS3 had a custom cell processor that was not backward compatible with PS2 but could play the games of PS1. But the PS3 cell processor posed greater difficulties for developers in the beginning. The storage space for both PS3 and PS4 is 500 GB that is extendable. The game developers will continue developing games for PS3 along with PS4 that means that for users there would be lots of variety of games with PS3 the only plus point that PS4 will have is the improved graphics. 

The controller of PS4 is the modified Dual Shock controller of PS3. The joystick of the controller has been changed from convex to concave convex for better grip. A touchpad has been added to the top and there are other slight modifications.

The online services for both PS3 and PS4 will remain same. The additional service for PS4 users will be that they will have access to Flixster and the players has to pay for plus subscription who want to play online. The plus subscription fee will allow the users to have access to bunch of free games. The price of PS4 is around 399 Dollars while PS3 is about 299 Dollars.

What is Biometrics? What are its applications?

Biometrics involves identification of a person by biological markers like fingerprints, facial features and irises. In the past the concept was present just in science fiction movies but today the advancement in computers have made it possible to come into reality. It was a very expensive technology that was used by security agencies and military but today it is present in ATM’s , schools and hospitals.

This technology is becoming so common that Apple’s latest iPhone 5s has included a feature to unlock its phone using fingerprint. The Android operating system has simplified the process with a feature called “face unlock,” that opens the phone by facial recognition. The Ice-cream sandwich 4.0 Android Operating System has a face unlock security system that is a bit mature and has passed the demo stage. Although there is a possibility that similar looking people may unlock your phone but in future more improvements are expected and will become a breakthrough in biometrics application. The security of a device is improved by biometrics because passwords can be hacked and private information can be leaked.

But it must also be realized that biometrics are also risky as it seems. Biometrics identifies people within certain degrees of certainty. It is also common that people leave their fingerprints on everything they touch that can be copied and used by criminals to set someone else up for their crimes. And once compromised, fingerprints cannot be reset, like passwords, or replaced, like passports.

What are the distinguishing features of iPhone 5s?

Apple has introduced some new features and improved some of the previous in iPhone 5s version. They have improved their custom ARM based system on chip processors to 64 bits allowing them to have lots of memory in them. This will help the operating system run efficiently and application developers can make use of this feature as well. The gaming applications will improve due to the improved processor because they require graphical functions and processors to respond quickly. Although the processor has been shifted to 64 bit still the phone has 1 GB RAM that is not adequate. Therefore it is obvious that most of the programs will be written in 32 bit code.

 

The other features that have been introduced include the addition of a finger print reader that is named as TouchID. The phone can be unlocked by swiping finger across the home button. There is a slot of five fingerprints to be stored on the device. Different fingerprints can be associated to different login types. Therefore if your kid is able to unlock your phone he cannot buy apps and other stuff. This is a major advancement in phone security.

The camera in iPhone 5S is improved by physically increasing the size of the image sensor. The image sensor is 15 percent larger than the one on its predecessor and contains a five-element, Apple-designed lens with an f/2.2 aperture. This will improve the low light performance of the camera. The flash is also getting an upgrade in this version. It is claimed that iPhone 5s will have a full 10 hours of 3G talk time and LTE browsing. The phone will also stay alive for 40 hours of music playback and 250 hours on standby. Imaging, not surprisingly, is getting some love on this refresh as well. The camera features a sensor that's 15 percent larger than the one on its predecessor as well as a five-element, Apple-designed lens with an f/2.2 aperture. Also on board is autofocusing matrix metering, so you can leave the arty blurring to Instagram. Even the flash is getting an upgrade this time out. Apple's offering up "True Tone," which features 1,000 variations of color temperatures to help you get things like flesh tones just right.

What is a Smart Watch? What is the Features and Specifications of Samsung Galaxy Gear?

Smart watch is a digital watch in which there are various features available like messages and call facility that are available on cell phones. Samsung has announced that their version of Smart watch will be released on near Christmas. In the past smart watches has failed to attract the attention of customers but Samsung Galaxy Gear is expected to create a boom in the market. Apple is also developing their smart watch but Samsung has announced their release before Apple to capture the market. 

Samsung has announced that a wearable smart watch named Samsung Galaxy Gear is ready to be released on September 25. Samsung Galaxy Gear will allow the users to operate various features and applications of the smart phone. It will be connected to the smart phone wirelessly in order to perform access the smart phone. The Gear will be compatible with two Samsung smart devices that include Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Tab 10.1. This feature will allow the users to make and receive calls without taking their phones out of their pockets.  The wireless connectivity between the Gear and Smartphone will allow people to check their emails and updates in facebook.

The smart watch has a camera held in the strap that can be used to shoot photos and record videos. Another feature that has been introduced in Samsung Gear is the voice dictation and there will be voice commands available to set alarms, creating calendar entries and checking the weather. The starting applications that are to be in Gear will be focused on sporting and fitness. The number of applications that work with gear is limited to about 70. The gear will require charging after a day’s use unlike conventional watches that can run for years before replacing their batteries.

Smart watch has been released by Sony, Qualcomm and other companies have also entered in this competition. Apple Inc is expected to release its Smart watch as well but they have not given any time frame.

The general specifications of Samsung Galaxy Gear are as follows:-

Display	1.63-inch, 320×320
Processor	800 MHz (Exynos single-core processor)
Wireless Connectivity	Bluetooth 4.0 LE
Charging	Snap on, proprietary USB 3.0 charger
Battery Life	24 hrs with normal usage
Price	$ 299
Camera	1.9 megapixel camera
Camcoder	720p video recording
Speaker	2 mics
Sensors	Gyroscope and accelerometer for workout tracking

What is VLSI? Can you explain various levels of its development?

VLSI refers to Very Large scale integration. By very large scale integration we means embedding more and more logical devices in to as smaller area as possible. Previously by using physical hardware devices for every circuit and logic, circuits which normally take huge amount of space in terms of boards can be put in a space in orders of millimeters. Now a days, VLSI technology is involved in all aspects of our life, like in our computers, remote controls, cars etc.

Initially, the electronics circuits were used to be manufactured by using vacuum tubes and transistors. After this era comes the era of IC (Integrated circuits) where number of gates corresponding to 10 gates per chip started to be fabricated per chip. This was called Small scale Integration. After certain period of this Period of MSI came which is called Medium scale integration. In MSI at least 100 gates per chip used to be put on a chip. Then using large scale integration which involved fabricating adder, sub tractor, multiplexer and later on developing microprocessor and other peripheral devices on single chip.

As soon as the complexity of circuits getting more and more it became difficult to manually completed the project .So need of automation of process was felt.CAD tools were developed to design electronic circuits and functional and logical verification was done using CAD simulation tools .Now using CMOS technology million of gates can be put on a chip and using automation software design level can be easily converted from one level to other. Using the modern day technological advancement it has now become possible to fabricate full system on a single chip which has saved not only cost ,space and time but also it has helped humanity to achieve those missions which would have become impossible to complete in past.

There are following classifications of VLSI design:
Analog: Implementing data converter and amplifier on a chip
ASIC: It stands for application specific integration ICs. In this case ICS are design for specific purposes. DSP is the most famous and common areas to implement it on this.
SOC: It stands for system on chip and it contains digital and analog circuits on the same chip.
FPGAs is field programmable gate arrays and this are integrated circuits design for general purposes. By using FPGAs for our design it has become too easy to manipulate with your design without wasting your resources.
FPGAS are programmed using hardware description language. Two most common hardware languages include
Verilog &VHDL
These languages are used to design, verify and implementing logics at various levels of abstractions. VHDL and verilog both can be used to design except the differences in syntax of both these languages.

What is potentiometer ?Can we use it to measure the angular movement ?

Potentiometers are a device used to measure/gauge the angular position of a shaft using a variable resistor. The potentiometer is actually a resistor. It consists of resistive material using a thin film   Sliding contact is used to rotate along the entire surface of a resistive film. The principle of a measuring resistance using potentiometer can be described as: As soon as the sliding contact is moved along the surface of a resistive material there will be a change in resistance proportional to the distance moved. Now if we apply voltage across the resistor, the voltage at the sliding contact interprets the voltages relevant to the end of the resister. The working principle of potentiometer is shown in Fig-1 In this case the potentiometer use as a voltage divider is clearly explain . As the arrow shaped sliding contact moves along the resistive material film  the voltage at the output will be proportional to the angle it rotates while travelling along the film.

There can be various uses of potentiometer .One very specific use of potentiometer is use of potentiometer for the measurement of spin direction and rate .One particular IC which embeds this basic principle of potentiometer is  IC we can used for our purpose is PR65 (Rotative Position transducer).

Use of potentiometer for the measurement of spin direction and rate is best for the case when we have rotating shaft available which can cause sliding contact of potentiometer to move. Potentiometer can be used for various other purposes i.e. it can be used to measure the resistance and voltage converted to displacement at any particular point. These can also be used to measure the linear displacement .Any potentiometer required for our particular usage can be chosen depending on our requirement and usage.

What is Electricity? What is meant by DC and AC Current ?

Electricity:

Electricity is the flow of electrons from one atom to another in a conductor. If there are excess electrons at one end of the conductor, these will be attracted towards the protons of the atoms present in a conductor. This will create a push force for the electrons towards the protons. This push force is dependent upon the number of electrons that are attracted to the protons. This force is called Electromotive Force (EMF).

EMF is defined as a force that expels the electron out of its orbit and towards the excess protons. The removal of electron from the atom will cause him acquire a positive charge because the number of protons will increase, this atom will in return attract the electrons of the neighboring atoms. Thus a chain reaction will be started as one atom gains an electron and other releases an electron. There will be a flow of free electrons that is known as electricity.

Direct Current (DC):

In Direct Current the flow of electricity is in a same direction. Direct Current is produced by batteries and solar cells and some commutator-type electric generators. Direct Current is applicable to low voltage applications that are powered by batteries or solar power systems.
Battery is an example of direct current source. It can be seen that batteries have positive (+) and negative (-) terminals. When some device is attached between the two terminals of the battery electricity starts flowing in one direction and causes the device to work. Through a wire than it receives electric current and functions. This phenomenon can be validated by connecting a small light bulb between the terminals of a battery. The light will start glowing as the electrons pass through the bulb filament.
Direct Current is used to power portable devices, such devices usually run on batteries. That electric wiring in houses is AC power and it is completely different than DC. Direct Current can also be obtained by using rectifier to convert Alternating Current to Direct Current.

Alternating Current (AC):

Alternating Current is a type of current whose direction of flow is periodically reversed. Alternating Current is produced by power plants to deliver electricity to business firms and residences. The Alternating Current is mostly a sinusoidal form of electricity but it can be triangular or square wave. The number of times in which the direction of AC Voltage is changed is known as frequency of AC Current. Commercially the frequency of AC is 50 Hz.

AC power is used all over the world for power generation and transmission. The devices required to produce AC are less expensive and are easier to make. For transmission of power it is essential to increase and decrease the current and for AC generation devices it is easier and cheaper. The power switches for AC power are also less expensive to manufacture. The major advantage of AC in transmission of power is that high voltages can be used with small currents to reduce losses. Power can be transmitted using DC but the losses would be huge.