The world of tech had a busy week, with a lot of new inventions, announcements and unveils. Here's www.indianweb2.com making you catch-up with the 10 top tech news that you must know from the week gone by.

1) One Can Now Make Smart Gadgets and IoT Devices That Use Bluetooth 5

While the users will still have to wait for a few more months for Bluetooth 5 to reach their mobile devices, but the technology has finally reached developer boards designed to make gadgets and IoT devices.

The technology, which hooks up multiple devices wirelessly, was first unveiled to the world in the year 1999 and since then its popularity has swollen like anything. Its latest will offer a realistic range of 120 meters and transfer data of up to 2 Mbps. The organisation claims that the range could be even longer in a clear line of sight.

If you're one of the inquisitive ones, you should definitely try your hands on the new Bluetooth 5 with the wireless boards which are currently shipping. The boards will come in handy for innovators developing internet of things devices or prototyping gadgets for automation or industrial settings. TI’s SimpleLink Bluetooth Board, Abelon Systems Bluetooth 5 for IoT and Nordic Semiconductor’s Hardware Development Kit are some of the hot favourites.

2) Indian Bitcoin Startups Build A Blockchain Association Following RBI Caution Circular

A few days back, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest notice had urged the users of virtual currencies in the country to be extra cautious while engaging in any digital currency-related activity. While everyone thought the notice will lead to a situation of panic among the industry and its investors, but Indian Bitcoin Startups decided to take this notice as an opportunity to create an industry association.

Bitcoin startups such as Searchtrade, Zebpay, Unocoin and Coinsecure have all come together to form the Blockchain and Virtual currency Association of India and are reportedly currently in the midst of formally registering the association. The association has in fact had its first meeting in Mumbai last week where the members discussed the aforementioned RBI circular in detail amongst a few other things.

The main objective of the Blockchain and Virtual currency Association of India is to create an industry body that can engage with regulators. In addition to this, the association will also focus its attention on making Bitcoin trading safe in the country by ensuring that the members follow strong KYC measures and by creating awareness among bitcoin users about Ponzi schemes and various other risks attached with the usage of virtual currencies.

3) With 4,750 Tech Startups, India is Now Third Largest Startup Ecosystem in the World

India’s startup ecosystem, which is considered as one of the fastest startup ecosystem in the world, has added another feather to its cap. From the year 2010 to now, the Indian technology startups landscape has seen a phenomenal growth towards creation of innovative startups. It now houses 4,750 tech startups — the highest number in the world after the United States and Britain.

From being just an outsourcing hub for Western technology companies looking for a cheap and well educated workforce to becoming the third largest base of technology startups in the world, India has come along a long way. The country’s middle class giving its young people the freedom to experiment can be seen as a major factor in this success.

According to software industry association Nasscom, by the year 2020, India could see between 200,000 and 250,000 people working in tech startups, which is nearly double the current number.

4) Japanese Scientists Develop Sticky Insect-Sized Drones To Help Pollinate Crops

Japanese scientists have once again done the unthinkable and developed a tiny insect-sized drone coated with horse hair and a sticky gel that can help in pollinating crops in the future and significantly reduce the costs of bee populations worldwide.

The scientists believe that their invention could someday in the future help in extending a shoulder to the burden that modern agricultural demand has put on colonies and result in benefiting farmers all around the world.

5) Is Oculus Working On A VR glove? Mark Zuckerberg’s Post Surely Suggests So

Facebook-owned virtual reality lab, Oculus is apparently working on a VR glove. Well, that is what a recent post by Facebook's founder CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed. In the post, Zuckerberg details his experience about visiting the Oculus Research lab in Redmond, Washington recently and how he witnessed some of the best scientists and engineers in the world pushing the boundaries of virtual and augmented reality when he was there.

The one image that caught everyone's eye was that of Zuckerberg trying on a VR glove with what seemed to be like a Spiderman game. Explaining the video, he said in the post, “We’re working on new ways to bring your hands in virtual and augmented reality. Wearing these gloves, you can draw, type on a virtual keyboard, and even shoot webs like Spider Man. That’s what I’m doing here."

6) New High-Tech Liquid Material Developed To Push Technological Innovations

According to a study published in the journal of Nature Communications, researchers from Australian National University (ANU) have been successful in developing liquid materials for new technological innovations – including techniques to manipulate microorganisms – which are more flexible and dynamic than solids, solid materials.

The researchers controlled wave-generated currents in order to make the dynamic material that could prove to be revolutionary in the field of science, similar to the ones created in the recent decades that have been successfully used for superlenses, high-efficiency antennae and invisibility cloaking.

According to Nicolas Francois from the ANU, each current was like a Lego brick and that now that they have created the brick, he is hopeful that people will be able to make complex structures that they couldn't imagine now.

7) Augmented Reality Has Potential To Be As Big As Smartphone: Apple CEO Tim Cook

According to a recent statement given by Apple CEO Tim Cook to The Independent newspaper, augmented reality (AR) has the potential of becoming as big as the ubiquitous smartphone and help people out in their daily lives.

Backing his statement, he said that unlike virtual reality, which closes the world out, AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what is happening presently.

“I regard it as a big idea like the smartphone. The smartphone is for everyone, we don’t have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s huge,” Cook said.

8) Gas Imaging Makes Quantum Leap With A Single Pixel

In a paper published in the journal Optics Express, researchers from the University of Glasgow’s School of Physics and Astronomy and Scottish photonics company M Squared Lasers have talked about how a new technology which could end up offering the oil and gas industry a cheaper way to visualise methane gas has now taken a step closer in becoming commercially available.

The paper describes about how the researchers have used a technique called single-pixel imaging to create real-time video images of methane gas in a typical atmospheric setting.

Since the currently commercially available gas imaging technology systems are very expensive, bulky and power-hungry, Single-pixel imaging can serve as a great replacement as it makes use of just one light-sensitive pixel to build digital images instead of using conventional multi-pixel sensor arrays, which can be prohibitively expensive for infrared imaging.

9) Cisco Predicts 1,380 Million Mobile-Connected Devices In India By 2021

According to Cisco's forecast in its 11th annual Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) report, India will have 1,380 million mobile-connected devices by the year 2021 and 60 per cent of these mobile connections will be ‘smart.' Not only this, the mobile data traffic in the country will witness a growth of seven-fold by 2021 and mobile video traffic will show an increase by over 11-fold.

Sanjay Kaul, Managing Director (Service Provider Business) Cisco India and Saarc believes that this exponential growth in the numbers will be fuelled by massive consumer adoption of smartphones, IoT, smart devices and use of machine-to-machine connections.

10) Samsung To Begin Small Production Of Foldable Smartphones In Q4 2017

Tech giant Samsung is finally gearing up to start the production of its much awaited foldable phones in the last quarter of the financial year ending 31st March and make them available in the market by later this year. But, for now, it will be a small production as Samsung won’t be able to begin mass production until the second half of 2018 due to a number of technical issues.

While Samsung hasn't given out an official statement yet, but the phone is reportedly called Galaxy X and it will be a 5-inch foldable phone that could also be used as an 8-inch tablet.
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