SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Eye-tracking uses the camera to lock onto the motion of a user's peepers, following wherever they move. With it, the phone can perceive where the user is looking, and can respond to a set of behaviors, let's say a very intentional movement to scroll a Web page up and down, or a long, purposeful blink to click.

If your eyes have reached the bottom of a page, eye-tracking software could automatically scroll you down the following paragraphs of text.

This type of technology -- which had been researched for desktop computing long before it was conceived of for the smaller smartphone screen -- has been demoed for a variety of actions: zooming in or out, pausing a video by looking away from a screen, and playing games.

One company, Umoove, has already posted a demo video on how different eye-tracking navigation could work (below).

This isn't to say that this is the exact implementation that Samsung would use, if it were to integrate eye-tracking software at all, but it does help us visualize the pros, cons, and use cases of "perceptual computing" with this type of gesture-based software.

Software that's hard to perfect

We'll be the first to admit that weaving and bobbing your head to interact with the screen looks a little silly, but there are a few practical use cases, particularly if you're the type of person who's often busy with your hands. It's also a potentially useful accessibility feature.

From a business perspective, eye-tracking software also has interesting ramifications for advertising, potentially allowing companies to tailor ads based on the parts of a story or screen where people actually look.

However, there are also plenty of possible cons. Since the technology is still in its early days, commanding the screen with a come-hither look won't always be accurate. Just think of the issues users have had with Apple's Siri and Samsung's S Voice assistants.

Movements could look awkward in public, and distractions could easily keep your orbs darting this way and that, interfering with the tracking software's behavior. Battery life is also an issue, since the phone would have to be awake to keep an eye on you.

Just how likely is this?

We don't have any insider information on this, but eye-tracking is just the kind of feature Samsung would include in its handset.

Why not? The Galaxy S3 has SmartStay, which, if you enable, keeps the screen from dimming if you look at it. An  Android phone, the Galaxy S3 also includes rudimentary facial recognition to unlock the screen.

All that's in addition to a long list of optional physical gestures that use sensors like the accelerometer to pan and zoom when you move the phone, and mute a call or song when you flip the device over.

For Samsung, a company all about staying ahead of the pack, being one of the first to use a feature like eye-tracking would be a big win -- whether anyone really uses it or not.

"Innovation is quite difficult to achieve in these devices when you're effectively using the same software platform as everyone else and the same underlying hardware," Ovum analyst Tony Cripps said. "These investments are perceived as important in that they provide some kind of differentiation from rival devices in the market."

A recent Bloomberg article reports that eye-scrolling (one of eye-tracking's behavioral expressions) won't make it into the Galaxy S4, but there's a strong chance that future devices could feature it.

As more and more handset-makers look for ways to innovate, expect to see more visual gestures creep into a smartphone's bag of tricks.-www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: Cnet

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – According to the New York Times, the Samsung Galaxy S IV will expand its eye tracking capabilities to include web pages; the built-in browser will scroll down as your eye descents on the page. This comes after the Galaxy S III introduced Smart Stay, a relatively efficient way to ensure your screen didn’t turn off while you were looking at the screen.

Samsung recently filed for patents related to eye-based scrolling and pausing, and while the NYTimes source would not comment on what specific technologies will power the hands-free scrolling, it’s easy to imagine it will fit into the entire TouchWIZ ecosystem quite naturally. According to the source, the Galaxy S IV, like its predecessor, will focus on software innovation rather than hardware specs, though significant speed increases are expected as well.

Recent benchmarks point to a 1.8Ghz Exynos 5210 SoC with a PowerVR SGX544 GPU, a combination significantly faster than anything previously seen on the market. While it’s still possible that the North American GS4 will be powered by the less power-hungry Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC, we’ll likely see an octa-core version pop up in Europe and unlocked on various online stores, as we did with the GS3.

Samsung is promising big things for its New York unveil on March 14th, which is less than two weeks away. We’ll be there to cover all the action, so stay tuned for more.-www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: Mobilesyrup

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- It begins when the person likes something, then his evil soul dwells on the matter, and by continually looking at the person who has the thing of which he feels jealous, he directs his spell towards him.

Late Shaykh Abbas Qummi (may Allah bless him) has recommended the recitation of verse 51 of chapter al-Qalam to ward off the spell cast by the evil eye. Given the circumstance in which the verse was revealed, reciting it is good. In addition to this verse, reciting other verses of the Quran such as Sura "al-Nās", "falaq", "al-Hamd" and "al-Tawhid" have been recommended for protecting oneself against the evil eye.

Detailed Answer

The evil eye is a part of the influence of the soul. There is no reason to negate it as it has occurred repeatedly in the concrete external world. There are some traditions which explicitly state that the influence of an evil eye is real. It is narrated from Durr al-Manthur that the Holy Prophet said: "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..."  He also said: "An evil eye puts a healthy man into the grave and a perfect camel into the caldron."[1]

The Commander of the Faithful, Ali (a.s.) said: "The Holy Prophet (pbuh) took amulet (prayers or supplications which a person keeps with him to ward off the curse of an evil eye) for Hassan and Hussein (a.s). He then read the dua:

«أُعِیذُکُمَا بِکَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّاتِ وَ أَسْمَائِهِ الْحُسْنَى کُلِّهَا عَامَّةً مِنْ شَرِّ السَّامَّةِ وَ الْهَامَّةِ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ کُلِّ عَیْنٍ لَامَّةٍ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ »

[I seek refuge for you in God's words and all His attributes from the evil of everything that causes affliction and from the evil all invisible things and from the evil of every laammah (evil) eye and from the evil of the envious when he envies. ]

Then the Prophet (pbuh) told us: "Ibrahim sought amulets for Ismail and Ishaq as such." [2]

It is mentioned in al-Hikmah (saying) 400 of Nahjul Balaghah that: "The influence of the evil eye is a fact and seeking dua for protecting oneself against it is also a fact."[3]

It is understood from the above narrations that the influence of the evil is not an illusion or a superstition; rather it is a reality that takes place in the external world and there are protective measures available for guarding oneself against it.

It is well-known that verse 51 of chapter al-Qalam is effective for warding off the spell cast by the evil eye. In this verse, God, the Exalted says to the Holy Prophet (pbuh): "And those who disbelieve would almost smite you with their eyes when they hear the reminder, and they say: Most surely he is mad."[4]

It is said that this verse was revealed when a man from Bani Asad tribe suffered hunger for three days. Thereafter, whenever he confronted anything he would say: "As of today, I have not seen anything like that" and that thing would suddenly break or get damaged somehow. Some people wanted to do the same thing to the Prophet (pbuh) but Allah, the Almighty, protected him against it.'[5]

Late Allamah Tabatabai (r.a.) says in the commentary of the foregoing verse: "The Arabic word'leyuzlequnak' in the verse, as per the saying of all commentators, refers to smiting someone with one's eye or casting an evil eye on someone which is by itself an effect of the soul and there is no rational proof to refute its existence. In fact, many incidents have been seen in the outside world which can be the effects of the evil eye. We have no reason to deny it or reject it as a superstitious belief."[6]

Zamakhshari narrates from Hasan al-Basri (one of the prominent Sunni figures) that reciting the aforementioned verse for warding offer the spell of the evil eye is recommended.[7]

Late Shaykh Abbas Qummi, the famous Shia narrator and author of Mafatihul Jenan, says in his explanation concerning charms and amulets that reciting the verse "wa ein yakadul-lazina kafaru[8]" is good and may be recited for warding off the influence of the evil eye.[9]

It should be noted that the narrations mentioned under this verse in various commentaries do not make mention of warding off the danger of the evil eye through this verse.[10]

Late Allamah Majlisi (may Allah be pleased with him) relates a narration from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) about warding off the influence of the evil eye. Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: "He who is afraid lest his eye may influence another person or another person's eye may influence him should recite three times "Ma sha'allahu la quwata illa billahil aliyil azim"[11] or he should recite "qul a'uzu bi-rabbinnas wa qul a'uzu birabbil falaq". In another tradition, Sura-e al-Hamd and Sura-e al-Tawhid have been added. However, when he explains these treatments, he does not make mention of the verse under discussion.[12]

Based on the above, what is certain is that there have been instances of afflictions concerned with the influence of the evil eye and that there are also certain du'as (supplications) which have been recommended for protection against the influence of the evil eye.

For further information, vide Tafsir Nomouneh, vol.24, pg.426.

[1] - Durr al-Manthur, pg.651.

[2] - Al-Kafi vol.3, pg.569, hadith: 3. The Arabic version of the hadith is the following:

عَلِیُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِیمَ عَنْ أَبِیهِ عَنْ بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِهِ عَنِ الْقَدَّاحِ عَنْ أَبِی عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ قَالَ أَمِیرُ الْمُؤْمِنِینَ ع رَقَى النَّبِیُّ ص حَسَناً وَ حُسَیْناً فَقَالَ أُعِیذُکُمَا بِکَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّاتِ وَ أَسْمَائِهِ الْحُسْنَى کُلِّهَا عَامَّةً مِنْ شَرِّ السَّامَّةِ وَ الْهَامَّةِ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ کُلِّ عَیْنٍ لَامَّةٍ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ ثُمَّ الْتَفَتَ النَّبِیُّ ص إِلَیْنَا فَقَالَ هَکَذَا کَانَ یُعَوِّذُ إِبْرَاهِیمُ إِسْمَاعِیلَ وَ إِسْحَاقَ (ع).

[3] - Nahjul Balaghah pg.547 : العین حق والرقی حق

[4] - Al-Qalam: 51 وَ إِن یَکاَدُ الَّذِینَ کَفَرُواْ لَیزُْلِقُونَکَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ لَمَّا سمَِعُواْ الذِّکْرَ وَ یَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ لمََجْنُونٌ Tafsir al-Mizan, Allamah Tabatabai, vol.19, pg.636.

[5] - Al-Kashshaf, Zamakhshari, vol.3 and 4, pg.1278, Darul Haya Publications.

[6] - Al-Mizan, vol.19, pg.648.

[7] - Al-Kashshaf, Zamakhshari, vol.3 and 4, pg.1279.

[8] - Al-Qalam: 51

[9] - Shaykh Abbas Qummi, Mafatihul Jenan, pg.319. (He has not made any mention of this verse in regards to the evil eye in Safinatul Behar.]

[10] - Tafsir al-Mizan, vol.19, pg. 651; Tafsir Nasim Rahmat, pg.71; Tafsir Noor al-Thaqalain, vol.5, pg.400; Tafsir Nomouneh, vol.24, pg.426.

[11] - «ماشاء الله لاقوة الا بالله العلی العظیم»

[12] - Hilyatul Muttaqin, Allamah Majlisi, pg.319, Hijrat Publication

www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Many hailed the emergence of civilian rule in Egypt when then recently elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi ordered the country’s armed forces back to their barracks in August, after they had led the county for close to a year and a half.

But within months, the same military was functioning as the country's auxiliary police force, ensuring the safety and integrity of the upcoming constitutional referendum, and protecting the presidency – both physically by guarding the palace and politically by acting as an intermediary to diffuse political tensions between Islamists and the opposition.

Meanwhile, the newly drafted and disputed constitution that will be up for a vote on Saturday changes little about the military's role in the state. In fact, it preserves the ability of the military to try civilians in military courts. It also maintains the secretive budget of the armed forces, which eats up a sizable chunk of the state’s coffers.

So, as Egypt lurches through a crisis pitting the country's president and his Islamist supporters against opposition forces, observers are working to figure out what exactly the country’s powerful military will do next.

Egyptian leader told: 'Fear God... postpone the referendum'

The dispute over a controversial decree giving Morsi near absolute powers reached a crescendo on Dec. 11, when protesters opposing the president's decision circled the presidential palace. Morsi supporters, mainly from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties, took to the streets in counter protests. They, too headed to the palace, only this time to confront the president’s opponents. What ensued were deadly clashes that left at least eight people dead and more than 700 injured.

Amid the turmoil and after standing on the sidelines, the powerful armed forces weighed in and issued their first political statement since Morsi was elected on June 24.

ANALYSIS: Egypt is rapidly approaching its own 'cliff'

“Anything other than [dialogue] will force us into a dark tunnel with disastrous consequences, something which we won't allow to happen,” the statement read. The call for dialogue may have struck some as a surprise because it came from an institution that served as the backbone of the country's authoritarian regimes for six decades.

Then late Sunday night, Morsi issued a decree granting the country's military law enforcement powers, essentially giving the armed forces the legal authority to act as the country's police force. The military was allowed to arrest and detain civilians in the run up to the key constitutional referendum starting Saturday. It was also tasked with securing the thousands of polling stations around the country, meaning its job was to secure the integrity and safety of the voting process and the voters.

The move has drawn sharp criticism from Human Rights Watch, an international organization, which said the military's emergence as a law enforcement authority raises serious human rights concerns.

Egypt army gets temporary power to arrest civilians ahead of referendum

Islamist forces, however, remain skeptical of the military. After all, for decades it was the country's senior internal security leadership in conjunction with the military that hunted down Islamist leaders, jailing them and torturing them under strongman Hosni Mubarak and his predecessors.

What Egypt's military wants
The military, which had recoiled back to its bases after it led the country for nearly 18 months following the revolution that toppled Mubarak, remains skeptical, too.

“They have not been neutral. While appearing to be sympathetic to the protesters' demands, they remain suspicious of popular mobilization's ability to induce change that goes beyond their control,” said Joshua Stacher, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and author of "Adaptable Autocrats."

Google+ Hangout with NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin

The military is also not standing on the sidelines and will likely remain the last arbiter of Egypt’s politics. Any appearance to the contrary is a result of the armed forces being “intentionally opaque,” Stacher said.

“I don't believe that they have a plan worked out. Rather, they are waiting to see how the situation evolves before deciding what is the best course of action,” he added.

The best course of action may just be revealing itself. The proposed constitution also stipulates that future defense ministers must be officers.

But the real test of power, Stacher and others argue, will be whether the military retains control over its vast economic empire and secretive budget under a new constitution.

External link: English translation of Egypt's draft constitution

“The military prefers to remain behind the curtain influencing events,” he said. “They also have the constitution that they want in terms of securing their interests. They would prefer that the constitution pass, they stay formally out of politics, and the protesters go home.”

www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Scientists from the Imperial College London were able to develop an ultra-sensitive sensor that will allow doctors to detect the early stages of diseases with their naked eye. The newly developed sensor, which is still a prototype, is reportedly ten times more sensitive than the current methods today. This allows doctors to detect the onset of diseases such as prostate cancer and other virus infections, and even HIV.

Essentially, the sensor works by analyzing serum, a protein-rich liquid that separates when blood coagulates. Positive and negative reactions can then be viewed easily by the naked eye. The scientists believe that the new sensor will greatly help other countries without the necessary equipment and technology to treat its patients. So far the sensor was able to detect a biomarker called p24 in blood samples, which actually indicates HIV. In another series of tests conducted, the sensor was also able to detect a biomarker called Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), which is an indicator for Prostate Cancer.

“We have developed a test that we hope will enable previously undetectable HIV infections and indicators of cancer to be picked up, which would mean people could be treated sooner. We also believe that this test could be significantly cheaper to administer, which could pave the way for more widespread use of HIV testing in poorer parts of the world,” said Dr. Roberto de la Rica of Imperial College London.— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Ubergizmo

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — he researchers claim that because Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and Parkinson’s disease each involve ocular control and attention dysfunctions, they can be easily identified through an evaluation of how patients move their eyes while they watch television.

“Natural attention and eye movement behavior—like a drop of saliva—contains a biometric signature of an individual and her/his state of brain function or dysfunction,” they write in the study, which is published in the Journal of Neurology.

“Such individual signatures, and especially potential biomarkers of particular neurological disorders which they may contain, however, have not yet been successfully decoded.”

Typical methods of detection—clinical evaluation, structured behavioral tasks, and neuroimaging—are costly, labor-intensive, and limited by a patient’s ability to understand and comply with instructions.

To solve this problem, doctoral student Po-He Tseng and Professor Laurent Itti of the department of computer science at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering, along with collaborators at Queen’s University in Canada, have devised the new screening method.

Participants in the study were simply instructed to “watch and enjoy” television clips for 20 minutes while their eye movements were recorded.

Eye-tracking data was then combined with normative eye-tracking data and a computational model of visual attention to extract 224 quantitative features, allowing the team to use new machine-learning techniques to identify critical features that differentiated patients from control subjects.

With eye movement data from 108 subjects, the team was able to identify older adults with Parkinson’s Disease with 89.6 percent accuracy, and children with either ADHD or FASD with 77.3 percent accuracy.

Providing new insights into which aspects of attention and gaze control are affected by specific disorders, the team’s method provides considerable promise as an easily deployed, low-cost, high-throughput screening tool, especially for young children and elderly populations who may be less compliant to traditional tests.

“For the first time, we can actually decode a person’s neurological state from their everyday behavior, without having to subject them to difficult or time-consuming tests,” Itti says.

Funding for the research came from the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, the Human Frontier Science Program, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Ubergizmo

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — For the first time ever, scientists have given a previously blind woman sight by way of a bionic eye. The Australian-designed implant, which resembles the model worn by Arnie in The Terminator, is likely to transform the lives of millions worldwide.

Dianne Ashworth, who is suffering from the incurable condition retinitis pigmentosa, had lost almost all vision when surgeons at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne performed the groundbreaking surgery in May.

A month later the device was switched on.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but all of a sudden, I could see a little flash…it was amazing. Every time there was stimulation there was a different shape that appeared in front of my eye,” said Ashworth in a statement.

The device consists of 24 electrodes attached to the retina. Each time they receive a signal from the outside world, they stimulate the retina, which then sends an impulse back to the brain.

So far, scientists have used the bionic eye to create simple patterns from the twenty four signals – like the shapes of a tree or a house – and see whether Ashworth is able to identify them.

Over the next 18 months, scientists will work in the laboratory with Ashworth and two other sight-restricted patients.

But the next big step is installing a camera, so that the patient is able to receive representations of real objects, not just those created by the scientists.

Even at this stage, the signals Ashworth will receive will be unlike normal eyesight, but the aim of the invention is practical.

"What we're going to be doing is restoring a type of vision which is probably going to be black and white, but what we're hoping to do for these patients, who are severely visually impaired, is to give them mobility," says Penny Allen, the lead surgeon on the procedure.

Eventually, with a greater number of electrodes, a more detailed picture could be beamed into the blind person’s brain.

Yet the inventors are trying not to over-engineer the device, so that it doesn’t become unaffordable.

"We didn't want to have a device that was too complex in a surgical approach that was very difficult to learn," says Allen.

The World Health Organization says that 39 million people worldwide are blind, and nearly 250 million are impaired by extremely poor vision.

Bionic Vision Australia, which brings together leading scientists, surgeons and engineers, is funded by the government, and hopes to get a market-ready bionic eye out by 2014.

—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: RT

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - The progress of any nation has always been strongly associated with knowledge and learning. King Saud University, the premier institution of higher education in Saudi Arabia, was established in 1957 to enhance the nation’s growth and well-being.

Through strong government support and many highly-qualified professionals and administrators, KSU has supplied the Saudi people and market with years of invaluable service, and served as a traditional source of skilled professionals and academics needed to meet the nation’s growing needs in the areas of medicine, engineering, agriculture, science and development, the humanities and language.

On top of teaching and research, the University extends its practical and vital academic functions to the development of Saudi health care and the needs of the private sector.

Universities around the world are always the leading institutions to condemn human rights abuses and violations of justice. It is normal to see these institutions releasing reports to counter any violations happening around the world.

Considering KSU as being one of the leading Universities in Saudi Arabia and the first ranked Arab University, the question is why it never released a human rights condemnation reports about abuses happening in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere around the world?

That is believed to be a hard question to answer by educational institutions and authorities in Saudi Arabia.

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — The United Nations and the Arab League have agreed that veteran Algerian diplomat, Lakhdar Brahimi should replace Kofi Annan when he steps down as Joint Special Envoy to Syria at the end of the month.

Now they just have to convince him to take the job.

Sources at the UN tell me the offer has been made, but the 78-year-old Brahimi is not exactly jumping at the opportunity to take on what many have described as “mission impossible.”

Annan himself said that he could do no more to help end the bloodshed in Syria. He blamed both the Syrian government and opposition for continuing to fight, and the Security Council for sending mixed messages.

Annan and Brahimi are both members of The Elders, a self-described group of “independent leaders using their collective experience and influence for peace, justice and human rights worldwide.”

The group released a statement Friday expressing “deep moral outrage” at the international community’s inability to stop the carnage in Syria.

In it, Brahimi is quoted saying: “Millions of Syrians are clamouring for peace ... world leaders cannot remain divided any longer, over and above their cries.”

Obvious choice

Brahimi seems like an obvious choice with his wealth of experience mediating conflict in the Middle East, from Afghanistan in 2004, to Lebanon at the end of its civil war.

But who can blame him – or anyone – for not wanting to be put in such a difficult position?

Despite the obvious challenges, UN officials and diplomats think it is important to find a replacement for Annan.

“We simply can’t let down the Syrians and say to these people, "let’s go fight and come back when you are finished your fighting," said French Ambassador and current president of the Security Council, Gerard Araud.

“Maybe this special envoy, maybe it will be useless in the first week or the first weeks. At least there will be somebody who will be ready to seize any opportunity to … find a political solution.”

Now they just have to find someone willing to do the job.—www.shafaqna.com/english

Source: Aljazeera

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - Is the media predicting a 'terrorist' attack at the London 2012 Olympic Games? The 9/11 false flag event was 'predicted' in the media. There seems to be sufficient evidence that another false flag event is being predicted or planned at the Olympic Games.

Decide for yourself once you have watched this presentation.

At this time, the 'prediction' of a terrorist attack at the Olympic Games cannot be proved.

This presentation was compiled, using 3rd party video clips and may therefore be subjective in the way that it deals with the subject matter.