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Google's cute-as-a-button, fully autonomous cars are hitting the road this summer.

If you're in Mountain View, California, you'll be among the first to see them pass by.

Google says it's now ready to test-drive the gray and white prototype vehicles after extensive testing on closed tracks, according to Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car project.

In a blog post published Friday, Urmson says the cars will move at speeds no faster than 25 mph. A human test driver will also supervise each ride, taking over control if needed.

Google's self-driving cars are designed to work without permanent mechanisms such as a gas pedal or steering wheel. To comply with California state law, however, the cars have removable steering wheels and gas and accelerator pedals which human drivers will use if they take control.

When the tech company first started experimenting with self-driving technology, it modified existing cars, such as a Toyota, Audi and Lexus, by adding multiple cameras and sensors and an onboard computer.

These new prototype cars were manufactured by Google from scratch, but they are equipped with the same software that was used in its previous cars.

Earlier this week, Google revealed that the Lexus fleet has driven nearly a million miles on the road, and suffered 11 accidents since testing began over six years ago. None of the accidents were caused by Google's cars, according to Google, and none of the incidents caused injuries.

Google is just one of many companies developing driverless car technology. Universities and major auto manufacturers such as BMW and Mercedes are working on similar vehicles. Google hopes to have its version on the road by the end of the decade.

But before self-driving cars can start ferrying us to work, companies need figure out ethical issues (does it hit a deer or crash into the median?), improve basic driving functions, and work with governments on legislation to allow driverless cars on all roads.

"We're looking forward to learning how the community perceives and interacts with the vehicles, and to uncovering challenges that are unique to a fully self-driving vehicle," Urmson said. "In the coming years, we'd like to run small pilot programs with our prototypes to learn what people would like to do with vehicles like this."

More at http://www.wearobo.com/2015/05/google-self-driving-prototype-cars-hit.html

A self-driving car is a vehicle controlled by a computer. it uses technologies such as GPS, radar or lidar etc. to keep itself on the road without a human behind the wheel.


There are several advantages of driverless cars.
Accident avoidance is a major incentive because the
car can respond faster than a human. On a long
highway trip, people can read a book or watch a
movie and arrive more relaxed. When driverless cars
become the norm, more vehicles can be on the road at
the same time. In addition, the computer can operate
the vehicle more economically than most people.

with these in mind should we allow self-driving cars on Lagos roads. let us know your opinion.

more at www.wearobo.com

We will get there someday.

Me,too!

Without any doubt, electric vehicles will play a leading role in the near future; it is not coincidence that almost all leading car manufacturers already produce their own electric, or at least a hybrid vehicle. The futuristic design hides many emerging technologies, most of which are based on a nanotechnology. Lightweight composite materials that are used for the unique design, have shown strength and good performance. Concept cars, that we have today, are showing us that the automotive future has never been brighter.

Without any doubt, electric vehicles will play a leading role in the near future; it is not coincidence that almost all leading car manufacturers already produce their own electric, or at least a hybrid vehicle. The futuristic design hides many emerging technologies, most of which are based on a nanotechnology. Lightweight composite materials that are used for the unique design, have shown strength and good performance. Concept cars, that we have today, are showing us that the automotive future has never been brighter.

MOY car - This concept car allows its owner to design the car exterior himself. Designer Elvis Tomljenovic presents us his vision of the car for the future. Vehicle is powered by electric motors in the wheels and car is controlled by the “drive-by-wire” technology. The external appearance of the car is what makes this concept special. Owner can edit a design on a computer and then transfer it to the body of the vehicle, which is made of LED lights. Put your picture on the door or a short film on the hood.

Bentley SenseS - Instead of being a car, SenseS will prefer to be our favourite metal pet and an integral part of everyday life. This concept works on a similar principle as the animals in the blockbuster Avatar; it is trying to connect with the driver and to recognize and understand his feelings. The goal is to connect the car and the driver in one 'being' by using genetic engineering, biotechnology and artificial intelligence. Each model will be specifically tailored to the driver and his needs.

Nissan Pivo - This strange vehicle brings many interesting technologies and it is changing the way we communicate with the car. The ability to turn the cabin in the direction in which you are driving the vehicle, turns parking a car into a real pleasure. And yes, it is possible to drive sideways. There are also cameras that provide a 360 view all the time. But the most interesting is the way in which we operate the navigation, amazing car audio system, and other accessories - it is enough to nod.


Hyundai 2020 - The concept of family "eco" car designed by Nicolas Stone. Hyundai 2020 is suitable for a family of four. Inspired by plants, car generates its own fuel without using nothing more than sun and water. Transparent solar cells generate electricity from ambient light. Electricity generated this way is then used for the electrolysis of water and generation of hydrogen fuel for the car.

Solar car 2030 - This car is big enough for four to five people. Solar panels on the roof power the vehicle which is controlled by a joystick. Passengers enjoy comfortable seats and there is a desk in the back. Two motors power the rear wheels, which provide a maximum speed of 30 km/h.

Thanks to a car designers and rapid development of technology we have these and lots of other concept cars to crave for. New designs in car industry will contribute not only to the environment, because of their zero emotions of the CO2, but it will help the development of the automotive industry and therefore job creation.

Source:http://www.wearobo.com/2015/05/road-to-self-drivingthe-not-too-distant.html

So I was at the popular Ikeja Computer Village the other day to get some accessories for my laptop and,I bumped into a guy holding these batteries bearing MTN's logo. I ssked him where he bought them but did not disclosed to me. But I successfully beat him to take some pictures of MTN's new batteries. I don't know whether MTN, a cellular and Internet Service Provider,has entered the battery business. MTN really wants to dominate every space available. Yello!Everywhere you go -

Credit: http://www.wearobo.com/2015/05/yelloeverywhere-you-go-mtn-now-selling.html#sthash.JndzBnu9.dpuf

The cab/taxi drivers will lose their jobs to SDCs.

There are several reports from Apple Watch users who are complaining of developing skin rashes on their wrist after wearing Apple's first wearable device for certain periods of time.

Users are claiming that the rashes developing on their skin are due to irritation from the materials that were used in the construction of the Apple Watch.

The first images of users with rashes on their skin were found on Italian website iSpazio. The images showed visible red patches on the wrist of a user on places where the device's band touches the skin. Another Reddit user revealed that when he called Apple up about a similar skin problem, the call center representative asked questions for about 20 minutes then told him that Apple would get back to the user with a diagnosis.

Apple is seemingly already aware of the issue, as the company has put up a support page on its website dedicated to users who may suffer from such skin reactions after being exposed to specific materials.

Apple wrote that "a great deal of care and research" goes into selecting the materials that will be used in manufacturing the company's devices. Apple added that it went beyond the minimum safeguard requirements in selecting materials for the Apple Watch, as all the materials that would touch the skin of users underwent extensive evaluation.

However, Apple admits that still, a few users may experience allergic reactions to some of the materials used in the Apple Watch. Apple warns that the Apple Watch contains nickel and methacrylates so users who have allergies to these materials are advised to stay away from using the Apple Watch, especially for prolonged periods of time.

Source:http://www.wearobo.com

We humans find it very difficult to keep to the rules when we are left alone. But not computers. They are smarter and better than us(to some extent)and can play by whatever rules we set. This self-driving Audi Q5 traveled 3,400-mile on a US road trip without a human taking control, and never for once drove above the speed limit---drove at 25 miles per hour.

Dephi Corp Aud Q5, which had laser sensors, radar and cameras, traveled across 15 states in the United States---from San Francisco to New York City.That sounds great! Autonomous cars are getting better and ready to reduce road crashes.

source: http://www.wearobo.com/

The Lutz Pathfinder is designed and built by engineering group RDM and is equipped with sensor and navigation technology provided by the University of Oxford's Mobile Robotics Group. It is part of a project being run by the UK's "innovation center for Intelligent Mobility" Transport Systems Catapult.

more at http://www.wearobo.com/2015/02/meet-lutz-pathfinder-prototype-pod-for.html#sthash.Sf2kEyp0.dpuf

Google says l have to wait until the end of this month to withdraw my earnings. But guys....am broke and badly need money. What should l do?

It look like that Lady Gaga is not the only musician who wants to take a trip to the International Space Station and perform live from there, other candidates are also gearing up for the position and make a reality the dream of singing in space and people over here watching as it happens. Among such group of singers is +Sarah Brightman , The sensational British Opera singer.

She has set aside a whooping sum of $52 million for her 10-day trip to the International Space Station in September this year (same year +Lady Gaga will sing a song on a Virgin Galactic ship). She will sing in space and beam the event as it happens to earth through an unannounced Beijing-based firm.

Brightman said she thought about taking the voyage out of planet earth because she got her inspiration to go into music as a career after having watch Neil Armstrong land on the moon for the first time in 1969. She also wants to use it to inspire girls everywhere to become scientists.

She will begin training on Russian spacecraft Soyuz to be mentally and physically fit for the long journey, alongside other crew from the Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan .

Well spending such an exorbitant amount of money on a trip to space is not a bad idea but, think about the poor in Africa, Asia and other part of the world dying of hunger everyday.That money could go a long way towards helping to keep them alive(in my own opinion).

Source www.wearobo.com

LG Electronics (LG) unveils its eagerly anticipated LG G4 smartphone today, at launch events in New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Istanbul and Seoul. Approximately 1,000 guests around the world gathered to view the new LG G4, the successor to the G3, which exceeded all expectations in terms of sales and industry awards. Among the first users of the LG G4 will be 4,000 lucky customers who will receive the new smartphone as part of the company’s largest-ever consumer experience campaign.

With the G4, LG focused on delivering comfortable elegance, a great visual experience and a human-centric user experience. The LG G4 camera features a rare-in-smartphones F1.8 aperture lens which allows 80 percent more light to hit the image sensor than in the LG G3. The innovative camera module is paired with the new IPS Quantum Display that is better in every way than the innovative Quad HD display introduced to the world in the LG G3. The LG G4 embodies human sensibility that is clearly visible in its Slim Arc exterior design and graphical user interface.

“We are living up to our promise of Innovation for a Better Life with a fashionable, premium smartphone that is more focused on delivering a balanced user experience that can compete with the best of the best,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We wanted to give consumers a truly human-centric device that combined the analog sensibilities with technologies that delivered real world performance. From the design to the camera to the display to the UX, this is the most ambitious phone we’ve ever created.”

Comfortable & Elegant Design

LG paid special attention to the materials utilized in its newest flagship. The LG G4 is available in handcrafted, genuine full grain leather in six beautiful colors. The vegetable tanning process employed is an age old tradition that requires skilled craftsmen to produce and dye the leather. The colors of the leather on the G4 are rich with warm tones that look authentic and change over time. Most importantly, vegetable tanned leather is environmentally friendly and can be recycled easily, since no harsh chemicals are used. Other material options for the G4 rear cover include pure Ceramic White with 3D patterns, artisan-forged Metallic Gray as well lustrous, Shiny Gold.

The fashionable elegance of the LG G4 is a refreshing change from the uniformly flat, full metal designs that have been become standard across the industry. The LG G4’s design is defined by the Slim Arc, which runs along its entire body, highlighted by a display with a subtle curvature. More than just a design accent, Slim Arc offers 20 percent better durability than a flat smartphone in face-down drops and gives the smartphone a more comfortable and secure feel in the hand.

The exterior design is also reflected in the smartphone’s user interface, which includes simple, naturally intuitive graphics. In the LG G4, the icon colors are more vibrant with icons that have rounded corners, consistent with the Slim Arc design. What’s more, the Smart Notice widget automatically changes its background and text color based on the home screen image selected by the user.

Great Visual Experience

LG designed the 16MP camera in the LG G4 to capture beautiful images, even under less than ideal lighting conditions. The camera module features a wide F1.8 aperture lens that allows 80 percent more light to reach the sensor. LG improved low-light performance even further with OIS 2.0, which doubles the performance of the improved OIS+ by expanding the range of image stabilization from one degree to two degrees on the X- and Y-axis and adding a third axis for the first time.

New for G4, Manual Mode allows experienced photographers the ability to exercise more artistic expression by letting them directly control the focus, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance for every shot. Advanced photographers can also save their photos in RAW format, in addition to JPEG, for more precise editing with no loss of details.

The advanced camera in the LG G4 is complemented by Color Spectrum Sensor (CSS), the first feature of its kind to find its way into a smartphone. CSS improves color accuracy by precisely reading the RGB values of the ambient light in a scene, as well as the infrared light reflected from objects. CSS uses this information to adjust the camera’s white balance and flash color to create images that are as close to what one would see with the naked eye. With Color Spectrum Sensor, no longer will reds appear as bright orange or whites as dull yellow.

For selfies good enough to frame, LG included an industry-leading 8MP front-facing camera for sharp, detailed portraits and group shots. Gesture Interval Shot improves on the original Gesture Shot feature by taking four shots spaced two seconds apart, increasing the chance of getting that perfect shot under the most difficult conditions. Triggering the shutter is as simple as opening and closing one’s hand twice in front of the camera.

Taking a quantum leap in display technology, the LG G4 is the first smartphone to use LG Display’s new 5.5-inch IPS Quantum Display, which offers 20 percent greater color reproduction, 25 percent improvement in brightness and 50 percent greater contrast. It is the first Quad HD display to employ Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) technology, which combines the LCD and touch sensor into a single layer to provide better color reproduction and touch sensitivity. This new display is calibrated for DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) standards for color expression, championed by top Hollywood studios.

Power and Performance

With G4, the higher quality display doesn’t come at the expense of battery life. The LG G4 is equipped with a high-capacity 3,000mAh removable battery, a rare feature in today’s high-end smartphones. Combined with the benefits offered by the snappy yet energy-thrifty Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 808 processor with X10 LTE, the LG G4 has no trouble getting through a full day of normal use. In fact, the LG G4 is estimated to last 20 percent longer than the G3, from the same capacity battery.

To mark the first public unveiling of its Snapdragon™ 808 processor, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm International joined Mr. Cho on stage in New York City with Qualcomm vice chairman Jim Doh attending in Seoul.

“LG and Qualcomm Technologies collaborated from the initial stage of the Snapdragon 808 introduction to expertly tune the technologies and make several of the LG G4’s unique features possible,” said Jacobs. “The resulting G4 smartphone is an ideal example of how the best optimized technologies come together to meet consumers’ needs.”

Human-Centric UX

The LG G4 is the first phone to utilize the new human-centric UX 4.0 that promises to be simpler and more intuitive to better understand and respond to the needs of each user. The improved UX eliminates unnecessary steps while providing more configuration options for advanced users.

￭ Quick Shot allows customers to take pictures without opening the camera app by double tapping the phone’s Rear Key while the display is off. LG G4 also has an incredibly fast camera startup time of just six-tenths of a second.

￭ The new Gallery makes it extremely fast to scroll through thousands of pictures and view them on a timeline. The Memories feature automatically organizes photos and videos into event albums based on the time and place they were taken, without having to upload to the cloud.

￭ Event Pocket allows users to create one, unified calendar by dragging and dropping appointments and activities from multiple calendars and social media sites. After the initial setup, there’s no need to log into multiple calendars.

￭ The improved Smart Notice provides more personalized notifications for weather, travel and more by analyzing habits, such as how a user commutes to work. This allows Smart Notice to issue personalized messages such as, “Make sure to take an umbrella on your way to the subway.”

￭ Quick Help allows users to search for instant answers to any questions about operating the LG G4, right in the Smart Notice widget. Quick Help can guide users through the LG G4’s settings and even schedule a call with customer service.

LG has sought out partnerships to enhance the overall user experience of the G4. Google Office comes pre-installed on the LG G4 for easy collaboration on-the-go and G4 owners will receive an additional 100GB of Google Drive storage free for two years. With MirrorLink and LG G4, owners of Volkswagen vehicles will be able to view a car-friendly version of the G4 interface on the in-dash display for full integration with contacts, navigation and music on the smartphone.

The LG G4 will start its global roll-out on April 29 in Korea and will eventually be available on approximately 180 carriers worldwide. Prices and carrier availability will be announced locally in each market.

Key Specifications:*

￭ Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 808 Processorwith X10 LTE

￭ Display: 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display (2560 x 1440, 538ppi)

￭ Memory: 32GB eMMC ROM, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM / microSD slot

￭ Camera: Rear 16MP with F1.8 Aperture / OIS 2.0 / Front 8MP

￭ Battery: 3,000mAh (removable)

￭ Operating System: Android 5.1 Lollipop

￭ Size: 148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3 – 9.8mm

￭ Weight: 155g

￭ Network: 4G / LTE / HSPA+ 21 Mbps (3G)

￭ Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.1LE / NFC / USB 2.0

￭ Colors: [Ceramic] Metallic Gray / Ceramic White / Shiny Gold /

[Genuine Leather] Black / Brown / Red / Sky Blue / Beige / Yellow

￭ Other: Manual Mode / Gesture Interval Shot / Quick Shot

For more visit www.wearobo.com

what are saying? l'm talking about real visitors not some rank you can buy for $300.

Wearobo.com is now Nigeria's biggest technology blog with 82,000 monthly visitors. Though my eyes were deceiving when someone shared it on Nairaland. So I went to do some fact check. I do not know who founded that blog. But that's good to know technology is gaining ground in Nigeria and some people are doing things the right way.
PS: I still wonder why Alexa rank the blog in the United States...Na one of our own geta mo.

http://www.wearobo.com