NASA’s first flight to another planet set for early April

WASHINGTON (NUT DESK) NASA is targeting early April for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet, the space agency said Tuesday. Right now, the ultra-light aircraft remains fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18. On Sunday, Perseverance dropped the debris shield that had protected Ingenuity during landing, and is currently making its way to the “airfield” where Ingenuity will attempt its flights. Once there, it will have 30 Martian sols — equal to 31 Earth days — to carry out its mission. “The best guess we have right now is April 8,” for the first flight, said Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, though he added it could be sooner or later by a few days. Balaram revealed for the first time that Ingenuity is carrying a small piece of cloth that covered one of the wings of the Wright brothers´ first aircraft that achieved the first powered flight on Earth at Kitty Hawk in 1903, to pay tribute to the milestone. Ingenuity will be attempting to fly in an atmosphere that is one percent the density of Earth´s, which makes achieving lift harder — but will be assisted by a gravity that is one-third our planet´s. The first flight will involve climbing at a rate of about three feet (one meter) per second to a height of 10 feet (three meters), hovering there for 30 seconds, then descending back to the surface. Ingenuity will be taking high resolution photography as it flies. Before any of this happens, however, Ingenuity needs to be placed at its launching site, and set upright, a process that will take a few more days. Once Perseverance drops off the helicopter, it needs to drive away about five meters within 25 hours so it doesn´t cast a shadow on Ingenuity. That´s the amount of time Ingenuity´s batteries will be able to run a heater without needing to recharge via its solar panels.This part is critical to surviving the night time temperatures which can plunge as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius).If left unheated, the helicopter´s unshielded electrical components will freeze and crack, killing the mission before it even begins.If things however go to plan, Perseverance will take up a position at a distance to record Ingenuity´s exploits with its own cameras.Up to five flights of gradual difficulty are planned over the course of the month.The four-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft cost NASA around $85 million to develop, and is considered a proof of concept that could revolutionize space exploration.

 

 

realme launches the gaming beast Narzo 30A

realme launches the gaming beast Narzo 30A with MediaTek Helio G85 processor and 6000mAh Battery which supports Reverse Charging in Pakistan

The fastest-growing smartphone brand, realme has launched the new gaming phone Narzo 30A finally in Pakistan. realme keeps bringing trendy and youth-friendly devices for its customers to enhance the young look. realme has finally launched its best gaming phone for mobile gamers. Equipped with a MediaTek Helio G85 processor and 6000mAh Mega battery, the realme Narzo 30A is the best gaming phone at only PKR 20,599. The launch was held on realme’s Official Facebook page on March 21, 2020, at 12.00 pm. The phone is exclusively available on Daraz.pk only and has a limited stock online. A lucky winner from the viewers of the live event was announced on realme’s social media and won a brand new Narzo 30A.

Narzo series is globally known as realme’s “performance series”. Three models for the Narzo series had already launched globally, including realme Narzo, Narzo 20, and Narzo 20 pro. The latest successor from the series, Narzo 30A is the first Narzo phone to land in Pakistan. Narzo 30A features MediaTek Helio G85 processor with a 12nm Octa-core 64bits Processor and 200000+ Antutu Benchmark, a 6000mAh Mega battery, and 6GB RAM + 64GB Storage capacity. It Supports Reverse Charging, has a 16.5cm Display and other amazing features to support a smooth gameplay. 

MediaTek powers more than 2 billion connected devices annually and has become a market leader in developing advanced systems-on-chip (SoC). The MediaTek Helio G-series chips feature HyperEngine Game Technology to deliver sustained performance and longer gameplay. The MediaTek Helio G85 pumps its Arm Mali-G52 GPU up to 1GHz, while MediaTek HyperEngine provides whole smartphone enhancements, blasting performance for avid mobile gamers.

Narzo 30A with the powerful MediaTek Helio G85 has finally launched as a treat for mobile gamers. The phone is exclusively available on Daraz.pk with a limited stock online. So what are you waiting for? Get your wallets out and grab this chance to buy this best gaming phone at only PKR 20,599 before it is sold out!

A Thailand Tour awaits you on every Spark 6 Go purchase by TECNO!

In this race of becoming the best brand regarding customer engagement, TECNO is winning the game. TECNO has taken this to a next level. The brand has announced a special offer for its fans where you get a Scratch card with every purchase of Spark 6 GO and get a chance to win another Spark 6 GO for FREE or a trip to THAILAND!

Spark series is TECNO’s famous mid-range series with near-flagship features. Spark 6 GO comes with Mediatek Helio A22 1.8GHz Quad-Core Processor, Dot-Notch 6.52″ HD+ Display, AI 13MP + QVGA Camera with Dual LED Flash, AI 8MP Front Camera with LED Flash, and 5000mAh Battery. The phone was a great seller with these amazing features on such a minimal budget. The phone was a great success due to its remarkable features in a reasonable price segment. Spark 6 Go with 3GB RAM and 64GB storage was available earlier at PKR 16,499 but is available for only PKR 15,999. The Spark 6 with 4GB RAM and 64GB massive storage was launched at the price of PKR 20,599 but has now been reduced to only PKR 19,599.

The fun part is the brand has not only reduced its price but on the purchase of every Spark 6 GO device, the customer will get a scratch card. Each scratch card contains a prize including a trip to Thailand, a new Spark 6 Go handset, and other gift prizes including pens, key chains, etc. If you win pens, kettle, or key chain, etc., you’ll get the prize from your retailer on spot. If you win a tour to Thailand or Spark 6 Go, you need to get in touch with the TECNO team. Go to TECNO’s Facebook page, send a picture of your scratch card, the EMEI number of your device, and your CNIC to TECNO. After verification from the brand’s data collection office, the gift shall be dispatched to you from the head office.

Isn’t this amazing? All you need to do is, go to your nearest retailer, buy a Spark 6 GO phone, scratch your card, and win! So what are you waiting for? Your Trip to Thailand is waiting for you. Hurry up and grab this chance to win such amazing prizes and much more.

OPPO Launches F19 Pro in a Stylish Night in Pakistan

OPPO Launches F19 Pro in a Stylish Night in Pakistan: New Dazzling Video Allows Users to have Fun with Every Shoot

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) OPPO, the leading global smart device brand after much anticipation launched its F19 Pro in a first ever online fashion show smart devices launch. Starring Asim Azhar and Maya Ali as show stoppers, the OPPO Fashion show was a huge hit – a night full of fun and glamour. OPPO unveiled its F19 Pro and Band. With the fun-filled OPPO Stylish Night, the brand has set yet another benchmark in the smartphone industry. The launch went live on OPPO’s official social media channels at 8 PM.

“F Series is well recognized among trendsetters as a phone that’s tailored to enhance their love for life and ambitions at work, but also represents their personal style. In addition it brings out the creativity in its users with new video capturing features that put the power of expert video productions in the palm of your hands,” said George Long, OPPO AED CEO.

Fun with the Camera

AI Color Portrait Video is getting an upgrade on F19 Pro and can now also be used to capture beautiful videos. Like its photography variant, AI Color Portrait Video works by recognizing the person in the video shot with F19 Pro and can intelligently distinguish the person from their background. The person in the shot is then highlighted with enhanced and bright colors, while a monotone black or white filter is applied to the background to ensure that the subject of the portrait stands out.

Finally, for vloggers or people that rely on their phones to record their daily lives, OPPO is introducing a new way to capture two perspectives at once. Dual-View Video records footage from the front-facing and rear cameras simultaneously. Recording the headline act of a concert with the rear camera, while immortalizing the excitement in your face as the beat drops ensures that this video shared on social media will be a hit with friends.

F19 Pro features a set of 48MP Quad Cameras with the main event its 48MP main camera. To add depth to your photos and videos, the main camera works in concert with an 8MP ultra wide-angle camera, 2MP macro camera and 2MP mono camera. Of course, selfies are just as important to users, so the other side of the phone is accented by a 32MP front-facing camera.

Fun Sleek with Slim and Fashionable Design

F Series known for its ultra slim design concept and F19 Pro is no different. With this generation, you’ll experience convenience thanks to a 7.8mm Ultra Slim Body weighing only 172g, and rounded out with a 3D curved battery cover. Of course we can’t forget about OPPO F19 Pro’s dazzling 6.43-inch hole-punch Super AMOLED display.

It will come in two colors including Fluid Black, Fantastic Purple. Of these two colors you’ll also get the phone in 8GB RAM + 128G storage.

Fun Fast with a Longer Battery Life

To make this possible, F19 Pro pays particular attention compared with the previous F17 Series on increasing the battery’s capability. F19 Pro this time introduces a larger 4310mAh battery and 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0 technology.

Fun Fast with a Phone You’ll Use Longer

System Performance Optimizer is OPPO’s proprietary technology, which offers a suite of ten optimization features and ensures that your phone runs at optimal performance to ensure that it runs smoothly without lag for a longer period of time. Under the hood, F19 Pro runs at optimal performance thanks to its powerful MediaTek Helio P95 Octa-core Processor. This runs on 2 ARM Cortex-A75 Prime Cores that operate at up to 2.2GHz.

Market Availability

OPPO F19 Pro is available starting 21st March 2021 for pre-booking on OPPO’s official website. Customers now have the ability to book the smartphone directly from their dealers as well.

A few lucky winners will get a chance to get their OPPO F19 Pro signed by Asim Azhar and Maya Ali. 

realme offering exclusive discounts

realme offering exclusive discounts on smartphones & AIoT for Daraz Pakistan Day Sale Live now

The fastest-growing smartphone brand, realme brings trendy and youth-friendly products for its young audience. It is one of the top-selling smartphone brands in Pakistan catering to all phone requirements one might seek at exceptional prices. realme has partnered with Daraz.pk many flash sales in the past and this time again they bring together an exclusive flash sale for realme fans from March 17, 2020, till March 24, 2020.

realme smartphones are highly popular and offer multiple trendy AIoT and Lifestyle products for the customers. Be it audio devices like wireless earphones, Bluetooth earbuds; mid-range smartphones to premium flagship phones; or smart lifestyle options like smartwatches, smart scale, or security cameras. These products are equipped with the latest technology and sleek designs. The products currently on sale on the Daraz Flash sale include realme C15, realme Buds Q, realme Watch, and realme Buds Air Neo.

The 6000mAh powerhouse realme C15 is realme’s mid-range phone and comes with an Ultra-wide Quad Camera with Nightscape Mode. The phone is available on Daraz Flash sale for only Rs.19,999 instead of Rs.22,999realme Buds Q lets you listen to your favorite music nonstop with great audio quality at just Rs.4,799 instead of Rs.5,999. The realme Watch is the smarter way of life with a trendy smartwatch on your wrist at just Rs.9,599 instead of Rs.11,999. The last product on sale at the Daraz flash sale is the realme Buds Air Neo, a complete audio package for you at Rs.6,999 instead of Rs.7,999.

realme has always been big on these flash sales. The brand has become very popular for online flash sales and was one of the top brands sold out at the end of 2020. For an exclusive realme experience, head over to the realme official store on Daraz at https://www.daraz.pk/shop/realme/ and get the best online shopping experience!

Scientists trying to find out ‘black box’ of human development

TOKYO (NUT DESK)  Scientists have generated early-stage human embryo models that could help shed light on the “black box” of initial human development stages and improve research on pregnancy loss and birth defects. Two separate teams found different ways to produce versions of a blastocyst — the pre-embryonic mass of cells at the stage of development around five days after a sperm fertilises an egg — potentially opening the door for a huge expansion of research.

The scientists make clear that the models differ from human blastocysts and are not capable of developing into embryos. But their work comes as new ethical guidelines on such research are being drafted and could spark fresh debate. The teams, whose research was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, believe the models dubbed “blastoids” will aid research on everything from miscarriages to the effects of toxins and drugs on early-stage embryos. “We´re very excited,” said Jun Wu of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, who led one of the teams. “Studying human development is really difficult, especially at this stage of development, it´s essentially a black box,” he told a press briefing ahead of the research´s publication. At the moment, research on the earliest days of embryonic development relies on donated blastocysts from IVF treatment. But supply is limited, subject to restrictions, and available only to certain research facilities. So being able to generate unlimited models could be a game changer, said Jose Polo, a professor at Australia´s Monash University, who led the second research team. “This capacity to work at scale, we think, will revolutionise our understanding of early stages of human development,” he told reporters. Generating models of blastocysts has so far only been done in animals, with researchers in 2018 successfully generating them in mice using stem cells. The two teams approached the development of a human model in slightly different ways.

Price drop alert! Your most Favorite TECNO phone Spark 6 Go is now more reasonable

The globally eminent smartphone brand, TECNO keeps bringing something for its fans. The brand launched its Spark series – a series of mid-range phones with near-flagship features. Spark 6 Go was launched in the third quarter of 2020 and became an instant hit. Spark 6 Go has 2 great variants 3+64GB and 4+64GB. The brand has now reduced the price for these mid-range phones for its fans. So hurry up and grab your devices before they are sold out!

TECNO Spark 6 GO came with great features. Spark 6 GO is equipped with MediaTek Helio A22 1.8GHz Quad-Core Processor, Dot-Notch 6.52″ HD+ Display, AI 13MP + QVGA Camera with Dual LED Flash, AI 8MP Front Camera with LED Flash, and 5000mAh Battery. The phone was a great seller due to its astounding features at on such a minimal budget.

Spark 6 Go came in three variants (2GB+32GB), (3GB+64GB), and (4GB+64GB). All variants were available in the market but TECNO has now further reduced the price of two of the best-selling devices. Spark 6 Go with 3GB RAM and 64GB storage was available earlier at PKR 16,499 but has now been reduced to only PKR 15,999. The second variant Spark 6 Go with 4GB RAM and 64GB massive storage was available at PKR 20,599 but is now available at only PKR 19,599.

Isn’t this great news? So what are you waiting for? Visit now at your nearest TECNO store or order online from TECNO official website to get yourself your Spark 6 Hero Phone and Spark 6 Go!

realme set to launch Narzo 30A with MediaTek Helio G85 processor

The young and trendsetting technology company, realme continues to bring remarkable technology at a cost-effective price. The brand shall be launching its Gaming phone realme Narzo 30A with MediaTek Helio G85 processor and 6000mAh Mega battery. The launch will be held on realme’s Official Facebook page on March 21, 2020, at 12.00 pm. The phone will be exclusively available on Daraz.pk only. It is going to be the best gaming phone for mobile gamers under the price of PKR 25,000.

For the past two years or so, realme has worked hard to bring the latest technology and innovative lifestyle products to Pakistan. The young and trendsetting smartphone brand always brings cutting-edge technology, advanced camera, fastest charging, and an overall superior experience to all its fans. The Narzo series is realme’s “performance series” and has already launched three models for the Narzo series globally, including realme Narzo, Narzo 20, and Narzo 20 pro. 

Narzo phones have a powerful processor that helps facilitate every young user. The latest successor from the series, Narzo 30A will be featuring a MediaTek Helio G85 processor with a 12nm Octa-core 64bits Processor and 200000+ Antutu Benchmark, a 6000mAh Mega battery, a larger display, and other amazing features. The phone is expected to be the ultimate choice of gamers as it provides the smoothest and efficient gameplay.

MediaTek is the 4th largest fabless semiconductor company globally. It powers more than 2 billion connected devices annually and has become a market leader in developing advanced systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile devices, home entertainment, connectivity, and IoT products. MediaTek Helio G-series chips feature HyperEngine Game Technology to deliver sustained performance and longer gameplay. The MediaTek Helio G85 pumps its Arm Mali-G52 GPU up to 1GHz, while MediaTek HyperEngine provides whole smartphone enhancements, blasting performance for avid mobile gamers.

Narzo 30A with the powerful MediaTek Helio G85 shall be launching in the Pakistani market on March 21 at 12.00 pm. It is going to be a treat for mobile gamers as it is priced in the mid-range segment. Do not miss the live launch event on realme’s official Facebook page to get a glimpse of this incredible phone! 

OPPO F19 Pro’s Hands-On Videography

OPPO F19 Pro’s Hands-On Videography Features Enable Users to have Fun With Every Shoot

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) OPPO the leading smart device brand is set to launch its latest edition to the F series – OPPO F19 Pro. The latest smartphone is expected to be equipped with AI Color Portrait video enabling users to expand their creative horizons. OPPO F series have been a huge hit and the latest editions AI Color Portrait Video makes it stand out in a crowd.

OPPO F19 Pro inherited the consistent image quality of the F series, providing users with surprising shooting effects. Through users’ research, we found that users have needs for personalized expression. Therefore, AI Color Portrait Video function that can make portraits stand out in your screen was born. This series, the function is optimized for video portraits, allowing the phone to cover more aspects of using experience in terms of image.

In the development of the AI Color Portrait Video, the team worked closely for several months to solve a series of technical problems on refined portrait recognition, namely keying and will continue to follow up after the product goes to the market. For example, unsatisfying keying effects usually appear in certain scenes, engineer’s debugged algorithm through trial and error. When it comes to gesture recognition, they need to dig out the solution of improving edge definition. It may also be items in a person’s hand which will influence the effect of recognition. We need to train an AI model to recognize more complex portrait edges such as hand gestures and portrait attachments (water cups, etc.) to improve the accuracy and clarity of the keying.

Moreover, based on the actual needs of users and the balance of imaging effects, we specify the keying scene into portrait limited to one or two persons, to make the keying of a close-up movie more accurate and personalized. The most distinctive feature is that while we support the color retention of video portraits, we still support turning on the beauty effect, so that users can use simple operations to take beautiful and personalized portrait effects.

Dual View Video allows users to capture moments from more than one perspective. It is a new feature that enables users to simultaneously record a video from both the rear camera and front-facing camera. Previews from both camera perspectives can be viewed on-screen at the same time. Both the environment and the user’s expression are recorded at the same time to make shots come to life through the user’s expressions. Users can sing along with an idol during a concert and record both their performance and themselves in the same moment. The front-facing camera supports beautification, while the rear camera supports zooming. Dual-View Video is only available for ColorOS cameras.

OPPO products will continue to optimize effects in portrait photography, such as handling the balance of highlights and colors in portrait photo. It is also planned to introduce more interesting and high-quality shooting functions in OPPO F19 Pro on 21st March 2021. Stay tuned for more details. 

Google gets into sleep surveillance with new Nest Hub screen

SAN RAMON  (NUT DESK) –  Google’s next internet-connected home device will test whether consumers trust the company enough to let it snoop on their sleep.

New sleep-sensing technology will be a key feature on Google’s latest version of its Nest Hub, a 7-inch smart screen unveiled Tuesday.

But the latest Nest Hub can also perform a new trick. If you allow it, the device will also monitor your sleeping patterns from your bedside, negating the need to wear a fitness device or any other potentially bothersome gadget in bed. The feature, which Google intends to offer for free through at least this year, relies on a new chip Google calls Soli, which uses radar to detect motion, including the depth of a person’s breathing.

The $100 Nest Hub can display pictures and video in addition to fielding questions and handling household task through Google’s voice-activated assistant. It doesn’t feature a camera.

The Nest Hub is supposed to generate weekly sleep reports with easy-to-understand breakdowns on the length and quality of sleep, how frequently the user gets up at night and snoring and coughing frequency, along with tips developed in consultation with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Google says it honed the technology by studying 15,000 sleeping people over a combined 110,000 nights.

That kind of help may sound appealing to the millions of people who have trouble sleeping. But the feature may also raise privacy concerns — especially given Google’s long history of online surveillance to collect personal details such as interests, habits and whereabouts to help sell the digital ads that generate most of its revenue.

The company may also eventually tweak the feature to work with its FitBit line of fitness devices, which Google took over in January. That $2.1 billion purchase has raised concerns that Google could use those gadgets to peer more deeply into people’s personal health.