The Flu season is here ... with a new needle

Auch, that must of hurt a lot! (PopSci)

The Flu season is just around the corner. I am guessing most of you are getting a bad taste in their mouth when they picture the syringe needle that comes with the flu shot. 

Fear not ! Two newly patented pain free inventions are here to save the day.

The microneedle patch

The first one is a microneedle patch patented in April 2011 by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. It offers a pain free alternative to the outmoded big needles.

"Our vision is that the microneedle patch for flu vaccination is something that can be self-administered. That someone could go to the pharmacy or even get a patch in the mail, stick it on the skin, peel it off, throw it away and be done with their flu shot,” says one of the researchers - Dr. Mark Prausnitz.

The second device that will soon replace the already archaic syringe needle is developed by the vaccine devoted company - Sanofi Pasteur. It has is an ultrafine needle about 0.06 inches long. This will allow it to blast the medication through the patient skin, making it painless.

Say Hi to the painless makeover of the needle (Sanofi Pasteur)

Facebook's new features - good or bad?

At the recent F8 Developers Conference on September 22, Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook announced many new features of his social network. Here is a list of some of the changes:

1.       The Ticker – Lightweight version of the News Feed, sitting on the right side of your screen.  All the trivial information such as “X commented on”, “X likes Y’s photo”, “X is attending…” is sent there. Most of the Facebook users were outraged by this feature, complaining that it negates their privacy settings.

2.       Subscribe button – Facebook will now let you subscribe to someone (even if he/she is not your friend). This way you can get their public updates in your News Feed. Also you can use the Subscribe button to fine tune all the information you are getting from your friends. For example you will be able to hide all those annoying game updates.

3.       New Friend button with Smart Lists – Whenever you hover over the Friend button you will have new options such as “Close Friend” or “Acquaintance”. The first will automatically set their Subscription button to “All Posts” and the second automatically sets it to “Only Important.”

4.       Say good bye to “Profile” button – Instead of the three options “Profile”, “Home”, “Account” now you will have a small thumbnail with the username you are logged in as.

5.       The Timeline – Say “Hi” to the upcoming Facebook’s face-lift called the Timeline. Zuckerberg says “[The Timeline is] … your entire Facebook life condensed into one page”.  It will track your updates for the rest of your time as a Facebook user. As they say “Timeline is your collection of all the top photos, posts and apps that help tell your story”.

Some of the new features sound good, some not so much. What do you guys think?

October 4th - Apple revealing the new iPhone(s)?

October 4th might be the day all iPhone fans were waiting for. 

As stated by “All Things Digital” (the Wall Street Journal’s technology blog), Apple will announce their new smartphone at large media event scheduled for Tuesday, October 4^th. What is even more interesting is that there might be not one, but two new iPhones. 

According to recent news, Apple is preparing to surprise us all not only with the announcement of the new iPhone 5, but also with an updated iPhone 4 version (bearing the name iPhone 4S). Here is the list on what the specifications of the upcoming Apple’s smartphones might be:

 

iPhone 4S :

-          A5 dual-core processor

-          512MB RAM (same as in iPhone 4)

-          3.5 inch display (same as in iPhone 4)

-          The front/back will be similar to iPhone 4

 iPhone 5:

-          New design (featuring 4 inch display)

-          A5 dual-core processor

-          1GB RAM

-          8MP camera

-          A better, thinner battery (providing more standby/talk hours)

-          iOS 5 (many new features, some of which might be gesture based controls)

-          Possible removing of the home button, thanks to the iOS 5 features

-          iCloud – an easy way to store/send your documents, photos or other types of data to other iCloud ready devices

          These are only couple of the rumored features we might see, but I am already getting excited.

                                                                      How about you?