Protect The Kids With Link

We are now in the digital age and one thing is for sure, there is no slowing it down. We are also so entrenched in our daily lives that we keep the young ones busy with digital content, be it on our phones, mobile tablets, TVs, or PCs. As we know, the internet is a plethora of information, but can also be very dangerous and perverted place.

From Teleraph.co.uk

Now there comes the question of how we keep these young inquisitive minds safe from the perverted information aplenty on the  internet, or how we manage what and when they consume. This is where apps like Google’s Family Link comes into play.

According to Google, Family Link at the time of this article, will only

  • Manage the apps your kid can use – Approve or block the apps your kid wants to download from the Google Play store.

  • Keep an eye on screen time – See how much time your kid spends on their favourite apps with weekly or monthly activity reports, and set daily screen time limits.

  • Set device bedtime – Remotely lock your kid’s device when it’s time for bed, or time to take a break.

Unfortunately, Family Link doesn’t filter or block content, but with these three features, you can control how the youngsters view and use the internet.

To use Family Link, the kid’s device has to be an android, but you can control the access of said android device from an IPhone or Android device. Please visit here to read more about this nifty tool.

We at thecomputerpotato think technology like this is very much needed as we go forward, and will be looking forward to seeing more and more tools like this to keep kids from the horror and perversion, until they are old enough that is.

Make Any Phone A Satellite Phone: SatSleeve

We have all been there, those days when you are out of network signal on your phone and you are looking to make an urgent call or browse the internet, and you think to yourself “What wouldn’t I do for a connection now”.

Well that might be a thing of the past if Thuraya has its way. Thuraya a major player in satellite phones have found an ingenious way of keeping up with the “smart” world we live in today. They have found a way to turn your smart phone into a satellite phone so that your phone can boast smartness even in the most remote places on our planet, with a steep price of course.

Meet the SatSleeve

Now you don’t have to worry about taking that adventurous trip while being in touch with the rest of the world. You can read more about this technology here.

 

The Future Is Tyred!

If the past recent years is anything to go by, then we can only see more technologies that have been featured in Hollywood blockbusters trickle down to us, the consumers!

Goodyear -one of the giants of tyre makers- has released a concept tyre that looks very similar to Will Smith’s tyres in the movie I-Robot.

Meet the tyre of the future

If anything, it looks futuristic and cool. We hope to see more of it!

This App Can Help Control Your Sex Life

It is no doubt that technology has taken over most aspects of our lives, and it is only bound to take up all aspects in the coming future. This holds true with proposals like IoT, which has already begun! Our sex lives is no different, with dating sites accounting for most “hookups”, and “smart” sex apparatus, touting themselves as helping us pleasure ourselves more.

Natural Cycles, as it is rightly called, wants to help you know when you are ovulating, so it help avoid conceiving or improve the chances of an offspring! This app is for the ladies, and it is to do with your monthly cycles. As long as you don’t mind measuring your temperature before getting out of bed each morning, Natural Cycles claims to give accurate results. In fact Germany’s Department of Health thinks it is so accurate that the app is now classified as a contraceptive. The first app of its kind!

The app costs £6.99 a month, plus you need to buy a thermometer  to measure your temperature every morning. If you want to know more about the science behind it, please click here.

Great ideas begat great innovation and we say this one is a great innovation! Kudos to its inventors and brains behind it.

Why Shoot For The Stars, When You Can Shoot Stars!

Many cultures have told kids to wish upon a shooting star, because if you do, it will most certainly come true! This elusive phenomenon, and it superstitious promise has got people looking to the skies since, forever! That is going to change now, if a project being touted as “The future of entertainment” gets its way.

Meet Sky Canvas. Please see video below!

Yup, you did just watch that!

The project aims to use satellites to shoot you stars at will! For entertainment! According to the brains of this idea “A natural shooting star occurs when a particle in space, with a size of a few millimetres, enters the atmosphere and burns brightly through a process called plasma emission. Our goal is to artificially recreate this process.”

We think it is a great lucrative idea, but one that also takes the magic out of a lifetime-old fable!

If you want to know more about this, you can read more about how it works here.

Tanvas; Touch Innovation!

If you are into online shopping like many people I know, then you must agree with me it would be nice to know more about what you are buying. E.g the fabric of that jacket you were forced to look at by your computer and the unsatisfying feeling you felt when you thought to yourself “This ad is invasive, but I really like this one!”

Tanvas is here to change that!

Tanvas claims “it enables you to add a sense of touch to any touch display and truly differentiate the experience for your customers.” This  technology has been in works for more than a decade and the researchers now think it might be finally ready to see the light of day or feel the touch of your skin! You can read the in-depth research here.

This is another promising technology that will change the world of touchscreen that we have all loved to love now!

The Full Power Of Wireless

As of June 2016 the number of audio-visual devices connected to the internet was inching toward 13 billion according to a report by IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS). Now that figure must have come about by how many can be practically counted because they are connected. Bringing this into context, there are billions more that are not connected. More than half of all these devices are mobile, which means they run on some form of battery, and batteries need charging.

If you look around, you will most likely see at least two of such devices in sight. This brings to question how we keep these devices charged! There have been promise of such technologies around. From long lasting battery to air charging!

Another organisation, Energous, think they have cracked it one more time. Meet the the rightly named Wattup!

If Energous gets their way, cable chargers will be a thing of the past and you would never be worried about your devices running out of power!

We at thecomputerpotato can’t wait for this to be reality! It will most definitely change the world of mobile devices!

 

Cruise In The Latest Rides With Croove!

Mercedes Benz; the car giant has a new service that allows you to rent someone else’s car for that long awaited trip. Yes! Rent your neighbour’s Ferrari as long as they have signed up for the service!

If you are wondering why this brilliant idea sounds familiar, it is because it is. Think Airbnb! Airbnb has a similar service with their house renting service! You can rent your house out to strangers and make some money while you are on holiday. However, Croove is one of the very few to rent cars in this way!

Giving you the the famous German service, you need not leave wherever you are to get the car to the renter of said car. Croove offers an optional valet service. A hassle-free pick-up and drop-off service and takes care of the handover for you. So while you are away, your car won’t be sat there unloved, it can be making you some money.

If Croove is for you, click here to read as an owner or click here as a renter. It has only just taken flight so you will need to be patient before it launches near you or around the world.  Nonetheless, we believe this to be a handy service for both car owners and those looking to rent them.

 

 

Hang In The Skies

There comes a time in history when everything changes! Think the invention of the telephone, the radio, or the discovery of electricity itself. One of those history changing events was the test of one of the heights of human advancement; the very first successful machine flight test!

Image taken of Jean Marie Le Bris from http://www.flyingmachines.org
Image taken of Jean Marie Le Bris from flyingmachines.org

But all that doesn’t seem to matter to us in 2016, as we advance we seem to forget and many new nifty smart devices become a part of us. We now have miniature devices we call drones that fly at our command and directives! This brings us to the subject of today’s article. We at the  Computer Potato think this concept we are about to introduce to you will make its mark in history if it kicks off!

Meet Ehang 184

Brilliant I hear you scream! Your own very personal Uber! A shame it can’t carry more than one person!

Unfortunately, at this stage it is merely a concept with its own prototype, but the idea is out there and with human enhancement and doggedness, you can be sure it will soon be reality!

If you would like to know more about it, please click here.

This Tiny Device Purifies Water By Harnessing Solar Energy

A joint research with the Nature Nanotechnology team at Stanford University in the USA claim to have created a tiny device that uses the sun’s power to purify water, in just 20 minutes! That is ground breaking technology!

A researcher holds a tiny device that uses sunlight to disinfect water.
The Tiny Miracle (Jin Xie/Stanford University)

When in water, this device absorbs sunlight in the way most solar devices do not, efficiently, and uses this to cause a reaction that kills bacteria. The test killed off 99.9% of the bacteria in 20 minutes! If you want to read more, please click here!

Boy is this good news for many parts of this blue globe we live in.  1.9 billion people, that is almost a third of the world, are said to drink water that is faecally contaminated according to WHO! Needless to say this technology will be seeing the light of day soon!