Gadget Innovations of 2012

5 Great Gadget Innovations of 2012

Bangalore: Gadgets have always been dear to mankind, some of the most amazing and imaginative products have been designed for the ease of humanity and we are indeed making the maximum out of it. Every year we see lots of phones, computers and tablets being launched and 2012 was a year to glee as it saw some top notch devices. These gadgets are being introduced to markets to tackle everyday problems.

Below is a list of 5 products that were launched this year which made it up to the Top 5 Gadget Innovations, as reported by Mashable.

Google Glasses
Google Glasses can be simply called as the future of all gadgets. This product received much media and public attention for its innovation and creativity. It is a wearable computer and the final design is expected to hit the market in early 2013. The product had a crazy demo with some daredevils performing stunts on top of buildings, sky diving and from plane which was all live streamed using the glasses into Google founder Sergey Brin’s keynote speech. The stunts and the features of Google Glasses made it the first must have wearable computers of the 21^st century.

AR.Drone 2.0
Drone can put an average person in the driver’s seat and let him fly it with a friendly interface of a standard-issue iPad. Today, cameras are seen everywhere and drone is efficient to patrol the skies of hot zones around the globe. This device can fly hundreds of feet above with a pinpoint-precision control from the iPad-sporting pilot on the ground below. This is an addictive gadget that can let you record onboard or simply direct it to another tablet.

Surface
Microsoft has made yet another come back with ‘Surface’. This product has freaked most gadget punts and has stunned the layman. This attractive gadget is completely designed and manufactured by Microsoft and not many knew that such a product was arriving. The product is unique by itself and stands out in the market place. This tablet computer comes with two keyboards- Touch Cover and Type Cover which is in fact the main highlight of the product.

Samsung Galaxy Note II
We all love smart phones and when those devices turn smarter and smarter it amazes us. Samsung Galaxy Note II is one such product that is capable to attract the attention of people with its wide 5.55-inch screen. Apart from the large screen, this phone also has some fascinating features like Airview. The phone has a stylus that is literally married to it and the user does not even have to touch the screen of the phone with it but can rather guess what would be the next move with the movement of the stylus over the phone on air which means it can understand air gestures. This extra ordinary feature pushes this phone to the next level among smartphones.

Lytro
This camera captured the attention of users for its amazing feature of letting a person to shift focus on images post clicking. Lytro produces its own cameras than outsourcing the technology with an established manufacturer. It allows users to change the focus of the picture ones the picture is taken and according to TechCrunch, “Lytro's are a new type of camera that dramatically changes photography for the first time since the 1800’s.”

10 Most Curious Programming Languages

Bangalore: Programming language is the mother of all internet inventions. Everything you see around- the websites, software, apps in your Smartphones, began from a single piece of code, scribbled by someone using a particular programming language. But you might not have heard about the below listed programming languages. They are the most bizarre and curious ones you will ever see, as they are designed to test the boundaries of languages or to experiment with some ideas or simply, as a joke.

These languages, which belong to the category of “Esoteric Programming Languages,” will make you believe that the computer not only understands zeros and ones, but a bit of humor too.

#10 Whitespace
Developers: Edwin Brady and Chris Morris

Whitespace was released on April 1^st 2003. Most people took it as an April fool joke, which it wasn’t. Instead of the usual programming languages that ignored whitespace characters, this program accepted only the whitespaces. Thus tabs, spaces and newlines have meaning and are considered syntax in this language.
The language can be very much useful for spies. Imagine you have a top secret program that you don't want anyone to see. What do you do? Simply print it out and delete the file, ready to type in at a later date. Nobody will know that your blank piece of paper is actually vital computer code!

#9 Chef

Designer: David Morgan-Mar

Chef is an interesting programming language which got released in 2002. The program looks like cooking recipes with variables named after the ingredients. The stacks are called “mixing bowls” or “baking dishes” and the instructions like “mix” and “stir” are required to carry out the functions. The main principle of language design is: program recipes should not only generate valid output, but be easy to prepare and delicious. For instance, the instructions look like:

Take *ingredient* from refrigerator. — read an integer from standard input and store it into the given variable.

Put *ingredient* into [nth] mixing bowl. — push the value of the variable on the top of the bowl.

#8 Shakespeare

This programming language was designed by Jon Aslund and Karl Hasselstrom as a part of their lab project. Like the Chef programming language, Shakespeare Programming Language(SPL) is designed to make programs appear to be something other than programs; in this case, Shakespearean plays. The language has title, characters, acts and scenes, enter and exit. Characters are named like "Romeo" and "Juliet", which enter into dialogue with each other for performing functions. The programs are easily understood as it is written in the form of a drama.

#7 Velato

Designer: Daniel Temkin

Velato, an esoteric programming language uses MIDI files as the source code. According to Wiki, “Programs in Velato, are defined by the pitch and order of notes. Velato is intended to allow for flexibility in composition, so functional programs will not necessarily sound like random notes. There is a tendency for Velato programs to have jazz-like harmonies.”

#6 Go

Developer: Google

You may not believe this. But the Go Programming language was developed by the search giant Google, which was released in 2009.

According to the website, “Go is an open source programming environment that makes it easy to build simple, reliable, and efficient software.”

When the language turned 3 recently, it stated that the first stable version Go 1 programs are confident and their programs will continue to compile and run without change, in many environments.

#5 Piet

Developer: David Morgan-Mar

The code of this esoteric programming language resembles an abstract painting. ‘Piet’ was named after Piet Mondrian, the Dutch painter.

The language uses 20 separate colours, where each colour corresponds to a particular behavior. They are arranged in blocks. The compilation is guided by a "pointer" that moves around the image, from one continuous coloured region to the next. Procedures are carried through when the pointer exits a region.

#4 Brainf**k

Developer: Urban Muller

The esoteric language came out in 1993 was designed to challenge and amuse programmers. It stood out from other programming languages due to its extreme minimalism. He made it with intention of designing a language which could be implemented with the smallest possible compiler. However, the language is not suitable for practical use. The developer was also able to write a 200 byte compiler for the language. 

#3 Befunge

Developer: Chris Pressey

While Brainf**k was designed for minimalism, Befunge was created in 1993 for complexity. The developer created this esoteric language with the goal of being as difficult to compile as possible. It is a two dimensional ASCII based programming language.

#2 Omgrofl

Developer: Juraj Borza

The esoteric language created in 2006 has variables and keywords resembling Internet slang. The name comes from combining the slang "words" omg and rofl. All the variables in this language should be slang like ‘lol,’ ‘lool’ and so on. Rofl is actually one of Omgrofl's commands.

#1 Ook!

Developer: David Morgan-Mar

This language is similar to Brainf**k, except that the instructions are changed into Orangutan words. Both are developed by the same guy. It is a joke esoteric language which belongs to “strange programming language” category and has only three syntax elements– Ook./Ook?/Ook!

For instance: Ook. Ook? Refers to move the pointer to the right.