Nano-SIM cards: What you need to know

With the Nexus 5 shifting to Nano-SIM, in all probability, this could pretty much be the standard for future Android flagship smartphones. This is what you should know of the new standard and how you can convert your card to a Nano-SIM.
Apple shifted to the Nano-SIM standard with the iPhone 5, and the two newer ones - the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, are following the same standard. Android phones till now, had remained on the micro-SIM standard, irrespective of the brand, the device or the price band it played in. Except for the Moto X, but that hasn’t made a splash in India, as yet. But, with the Nexus 5 apparently shifting to the even smaller SIM card standard, surely the next line of Android flagships (and beyond), will also make the shift.

Unless you are using an iPhone 5 or beyond, and suddenly decide to shift to the Nexus 5, you will probably not be prepared, in the true sense of the word. There are basically two possibilities in play here - either you have the Mini-SIM (the SIM card as we have known till recently) or the smaller micro-SIM, that most phones use these days. We tell you how to get your SIM card ready for the Nano-SIM standard.

What is the Nano-SIM?
The current Nano-SIM cards that we are using in the newer iPhones and now with the Moto X as well, are also known as the Fourth Form Factor (4FF). This SIM measures a mere 12.3 mm x 8.8 mm x 0.67 mm, which is 15% thinner than the micro-SIM cards that most Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 phones deploy, with dimensions at 15mm x 12mm x 0.76mm.

The basic idea behind the even smaller SIM card standard is that the Nano SIM (4FF) reduces the size of the SIM effectively to just the golden coloured contact area. The area around the contact area is just about enough to prevent any electrical shorts that may occur within the socket. Essentially, the socket (also known as SIM-card slot) design remains the same, only that it is now smaller in dimension because the area around the contact area is greatly reduced.

Why the shift to the even smaller SIM standard?
Albeit belatedly, Android phones are also moving to this standard, because this allows smartphone makers those critical extra millimeters to play around with, with the immediate demands of a faster processor, the cooling need that comes with it as well as the bigger batteries to make the phone last longer than they do these days, on a single charge. There is no performance or cost advantage, but just the technological and internal design aspects.

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Smartphones may soon be able to detect earthquakes

Researchers at Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology are studying how the sensors in smartphones and tablets can be used to detect moderate and large earthquakes. The technology would help in gather information during seismic events in densely populated cities.

Researchers are using devices called micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometers, that can measure movement in three dimensions. The device will tell the smartphones screen to flip from horizontal to vertical when the phone moves. In laptops, MEMS will be able to detect the motion of falling, and will put the hard drive into a safe mode prior to impact.

To test the effectiveness of the MEMS technology, a team of researchers attached a MEMS accelerometer to a device used in conventional seismic surveys, and placed both on a vibrating table. They then compared the readings, to check if the MEMS chip produced similar readings as the conventional technology.

They found that the chip was able to collect data comparable to that of the standard device but only for earthquakes with 5 or greater magnitude. The chip however was unable to detect small movements and researchers are now working on advanced technology that may soon be able to deal with small movements.

Study co-author Antonino D’Alessandro stated, "Theoretically, any device connected to the Internet with an internal MEMS accelerometer, such as a computer or mobile phone, can become a strong-motion seismic station, and that could be easily used to enormously increase the number of observation points when an earthquake occurs."

He added, "A real-time urban seismic network can drastically reduce casualties in urban areas immediately following a strong earthquake, by quickly distributing information about the distribution and intensity of ground shaking."

Now, 'smart' water bottle to help you stay hydrated

A new 'smart' water bottle connects with your smartphone to calculate the amount of water you need each day based on your weight, age, temperature and humidity.

In case a person doesn't get enough water, every cell in the body is affected leading to a variety of conditions including decreased metabolism and brain activity.

The US company claims that BluFit solves this by determining how much water you need, how much you have consumed and when it's time to hydrate, ensuring your body is operating at its best.

"Our app collects a variety of factors such as weight, age, temperature and humidity to determine exactly how much water you need," the manufacturers claimed.

Disruptions: Visually Impaired Turn to Smartphones to See Their World

Luis Perez loves taking photographs. He shoots mostly on an iPhone, snapping gorgeous pictures of sunsets, vintage cars, old buildings and cute puppies. But when he arrives at a photo shoot, people are often startled when he pulls out a long white cane.

In addition to being a professional photographer, Mr. Perez is almost blind.

“With the iPhone I am able to use the same technology as everyone else, and having a product that doesn’t have a stigma that other technologies do has been really important to me,” said Mr. Perez, who is also an advocate for blind people and speaks regularly at conferences about the benefits of technology for people who cannot see. “Now, even if you’re blind, you can still take a photo.”

Smartphones and tablets, with their flat glass touch screens and nary a texture anywhere, may not seem like the best technological innovation for people who cannot see. But advocates for the blind say the devices could be the biggest assistive aid to come along since Braille was invented in the 1820s.

Counterintuitive? You bet. People with vision problems can use a smartphone’s voice commands to read or write. They can determine denominations of money using a camera app, figure out where they are using GPS and compass applications, and, like Mr. Perez, take photos.

Google’s latest releases of its Android operating systems have increased its assistive technologies, specifically with updates to TalkBack, a Google-made application that adds spoken, audible and vibration feedback to a smartphone. Windows phones also offer some voice commands, but they are fewer than either Google’s or Apple’s.

Among Apple’s features are ones that help people with vision problems take pictures. In assistive mode, for example, the phone can say how many heads are in a picture and where they are in the frame, so someone who is blind knows if the family photo she is about to take includes everyone.

All this has come as a delightful shock to most people with vision problems.

“We were sort of conditioned to believe that you can’t use a touch screen because you can’t see it,” said Dorrie Rush, the marketing director of accessible technology at Lighthouse International, a nonprofit vision education and rehabilitation center. “The belief was the tools for the visually impaired must have a tactile screen, which, it turns out, is completely untrue.”

Ms. Rush, who has a retinal disorder, said that before the smartphone, people who were visually impaired could use a flip-phone to make calls, but they could not read on the tiny two-inch screens. While the first version of the iPhone allowed people who were losing their vision to enlarge text, it wasn’t until 2009, when the company introduced accessibility features, that the device became a benefit to blind people.

While some companies might have altruistic goals in building products and services for people who have lost their sight, the number of people who need these products is growing.

About 10 million people in the United States are blind or partly blind, according to statistics from the American Foundation for the Blind. And some estimates predict that over the next 30 years, as the vast baby boomer generation ages, the number of adults with vision impairments could double.

Apple’s assistive technologies also include VoiceOver, which the company says is the world’s first “gesture-based screen reader” and lets blind people interact with their devices using multitouch gestures on the screen. For example, if you slide a finger around the phone’s surface, the iPhone will read aloud the name of each application.

In a reading app, like one for a newspaper, swiping two fingers down the screen will prompt the phone to read the text aloud. Taking two fingers and holding them an inch apart, then turning them in a circle like opening a padlock calls a slew of menus, including ones with the ability to change VoiceOver’s rate of speech or language.

The iPhone also supports over 40 different Braille Bluetooth keyboards.

On all the mobile platforms, people with vision loss say, the real magic lies in the hundreds of apps that are designed specifically to help people who are blind.

There are apps that can help people see colors, so pointing their phones at an object will yield a detailed audio description of the color, like “pale yellow green” or “fresh apricot.” People who are blind say these apps open up an entirely new way of seeing the world. Light detection apps can emit a sound that intensifies when someone approaches a light source. This can be used to help people find a room’s exit, locate a window or turn off a light. There are apps that read aloud e-mails, the weather, stock prices as well as Twitter and Facebook feeds.

In the United States, one of the biggest challenges for blind people is figuring out a bill’s denomination. While coins are different sizes, there is no such differentiation between a $1 bill and a $100 bill. In the past, people with impairments had someone who could see help them fold notes differently to know which was which, or they carried an expensive third-party device, but now apps that use the camera can identify the denomination aloud.

“Before a smartphone was accessible we had to carry six different things, and now all of those things are in one of those devices,” Ms. Rush said. “A $150 money reader is now a $1.99 app.”

She added: “These devices are a game-changer. They have created the era of inclusion.”

While some app makers have made great efforts to build products that help people with impairments, other developers overlook the importance of creating assistive components.

Mr. Perez said what he could do now with his smartphone was inconceivable just a few years ago. But even well-known apps like Instagram, which he uses to share some of his photos, do not mark all of their features.

Computing Apps, websites for a healthy heart

Given our crazy, modern lifestyle, we often ignore the one thing that keeps us going - our heart. But it isn't too late. You can still bring about a positive change with the help of some cool health websites and apps.

Microsoft HealthVault
Keeping track of your medical records can be quite a task. Thankfully, HealthVault lets you store this data online, letting you access it wherever you are and with a simple internet connection.

You can sign up for the free service using your MSN Live account, or you could create a fresh ID. Once you're in, you can enter data related to your cholesterol and blood glucose levels, keep a history of your allergies and medications, upload medical images; record your doctors' appointments, post your insurance and emergency contact details, and even chart your weight over the last three months and your blood pressure over the last half year.