technology MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2016

Capture the beauty of marine life with some easy photography tips DUBAI: Canon Middle East, the leader in imaging products and solutions, announced their partnership with Discovery Channel ‘Shark Week’ exhibition at Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo as the ‘Imaging Partner’ of the exhibition. In its role as an imaging partner, Canon Middle East has supported Discovery Channel and Emaar Entertainment, which manages Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, by providing them with EOS 5D Mark III and Legria mini X cameras. The highly powerful cameras have been used to shoot a documentary that Discovery Consumer Products and Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo have produced, highlight- ing shark conservation in the Arab world and the Shark Week exhibition project, titled ‘Arabia’s Sharks - A Journey of Discovery’. Jonathan Ali Khan from Wild Planet Productions and director of the documen- tary shares some key photography tips on shooting images underwater with marine life, especially with sharks: under and above water. The more experi- you are about to shoot. Go online and which has evolved to blend in with the balance of your image at all times. Use this 1. The advantages of digital: ence you have with your camera, the easier research the subject, read books and water. function constantly as it is the first real Digital is incredibly advantageous. it becomes to plan your images. spend time observing the animal and its means (other than exposure and focus), to Viewing your results straightaway under- setting, trying to anticipate moments of 6. Capturing The Moment: manipulate the true colors of the scene water is essential in getting to perfecting 3. Perfect your skills: behavior or action that best characterize During shark dives, your mind needs to and enable you to craft your edges. your image, and you are no longer limited Whilst essential for ALL divers to perfect the subject. Be prepared to spend hours be ready and the fingers of your hands to 36-exposures like the old days of film on your buoyancy and other diving skills, min- and repetitive dives in order to get a single should act if they playing an instrument: 8. Build your story: each dive. The ability to the delete the bad imizing your impact on the environment - shot! metering the background water, getting Take time to build a story around the frames means that the greatest limitation it is more so for photographers and video- the right exposure with f-stop corrections, images, including use of top-side is either when the battery runs out; you fill graphers. 5. Close To Your Subject: finding the best composition - everything ‘moments’ that help to complete your col- your card; or your dive time ends. The use of autofocus, auto exposure Being alone in the water is the best way should become almost automatic lection. controls, and the ability to take a white bal- to let animals come close. This is especially If lucky, groups of sharks are more likely 2. Choosing the right system: ance and change the ISO during the dive, important for underwater photography. than single animals to stay around for a 9. Be Bold but Sensible: Choose a camera system according to all help to free up the photographer to Less water between the subject and the while, providing a number of chances. Remain calm around sharks and learn your skill levels and intentions for the focus on finding the subject, composing camera means better visibility, fewer sus- After the first approach, find the best set- to detect their body language. Most sharks future. Start how you intend to continue and lighting the shots, while being careful pended particles, fewer micro-bubbles ting and concentrate on the composition exhibit swimming patterns that demon- for years to come with a system that allows not to damage the precious aquatic life reflecting the light and better sharpness. to get a wider choice and keep shooting. strate their state of mind; dorsal fins down you to upgrade as you grow your skill-set around you. In the right situation, marine creatures and arched back provides ample warning and interest levels. Become self-sufficient as you will need are often curious rather than elusive. they 7. Crafting the image: as they are letting you know you should If you decide on a compact solution, to conduct solo-dives for best results. will choose the direction, the speed, the In open water, depending on depth, move away. push your budget to include the best you angle- — and most of the time they will be light penetrates the water in a way that fil- Failing to recognize these signs may can afford, with lens adaptors and diopters, 4. Learn about your choice of subject: in the ters out the color spectrum. Good camera result in unpleasant consequences - and strobes, etc. If you decide on a DSLR, Study up and get as much information back-light in order to take advantage of models provide excellent white-balance you will only have yourself to blame if choose a camera that suits you equally as possible about the animal or subject using the natural light to hide their body, features so that you can control the color things go wrong! New messaging apps gain traction in workplace No more messy emails

WASHINGTON: Looking to break als” have different ways of working. ness productivity,” he said. email and Skype, aiming for a broad out of a “messy” email situation, the “They want to work when they want Slack and rivals like Atlassian’s set of business tools under its nonprofit group dosomething.org to, they want chat sessions that bet- HipChat and Microsoft’s Yammer umbrella. “Microsoft hasn’t made a recently switched over to a new way ter integrate with their social media offer social media-style interfaces for lot of noise, but they have been of communicating among its far- lives,” Le Clair said. Le Clair said many messages, and some integrate with aggressive in remaining the domi- flung teams. workplaces are facing “information business applications to enable nant place in productivity applica- Moving most internal communi- overload” due to the volume of voice calls, video and other services. tions,” Castanon-Martinez said. cations to the messaging application emails that need to be sorted and Slack recently teamed with cloud Aggressive pricing is also being Slack with its “channels” for various prioritized. “The goal is to get out of computing group Salesforce to used as a way to woo businesses teams made it easier to coordinate email hell,” he said. broaden its offerings in services such away from Slack. Microsoft offers its : Chinese , left, and , right, chat the group’s social change projects as customer relations management. suite of services for $2 to $4 per user, behind a glass enclosure during a presser at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch across 131 countries, said software ‘Just sign up’ Slack also allows organizations to and Facebook $1 to $3 per user engineer Joe Kent. “All the teams Small- and medium-sized busi- create channels for communicating compared with Slack’s standard Center in northwest China yesterday. —AP have their channels and anyone can $6.67 per user. jump in and see what the others are doing,” Kent told AFP. “You can follow The Facebook model China to blast 2 the conversation a lot more quickly.” Facebook meanwhile is seeking Slack, created in 2013, has to use its advantage as “the social become a leader in a crowded field media world that millennials grew into space today of new applications aimed at help- up with,” Le Clair said. But the analyst ing workplaces move away from said it is not clear if companies and email. Facebook this month jumped network managers will move to the BEIJING: Chinese officials unveiled plans sion for two years and docking with three headlong into this segment with its Facebook platform. “Most of the for today’s launch of the country’s latest visiting spacecraft. The Tiangong, or Workplace application, aiming to employers and managers didn’t space mission in which two astronauts will “Heavenly Palace,” stations are considered leverage the popularity of the lead- grow up in that world,” he said. “They be blasted into space and will dock with an stepping stones to a mission to Mars by ing social network used by some 1.7 associate Facebook with something orbiting space lab. the end of the decade. billion people. nesses find Slack especially appeal- outside the enterprise, powered by their kids are doing, it’s not associat- The 11 spacecraft will be Wu identified the astronauts flying the Facebook is among an array of ing because of its ease of use on artificial intelligence “bots.” “Slack is ed with productivity and getting launched at 7:30 a.m., said Wu Ping, mission as 49-year-old Jing Haipeng and competitors vying for a slice of this both mobile and desktop devices, moving away from just being a mes- work done. Some companies even deputy director of China’s manned space 37-year-old Chen Dong. It will be Jing’s market, including several startups says Mark Beccue, an analyst who saging tool, they want to be the restrict the use of Facebook in the engineering office, in a televised news con- third flight into space following missions in and Microsoft. researched the market for Compass home base for enterprise applica- workplace.” ference. The Shenzhou mission will take off 2008 and 2012. “It is any ’s dream San Francisco-based Slack has Intelligence. “There’s no friction. tions, and that’s a different ball- Analysts point out that Slack and aboard a Long March-2F carrier rocket and pursuit to be able to perform many raised some $500 million at a report- Companies don’t have to go through game,” said Raul Castanon-Martinez, similar platforms may increase the from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center space missions,” Jing said at a separate ed valuation of some $4 billion, mak- a major software license process, you an analyst at 451 Research. burden on employees, becoming an on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northern briefing. ing it one of the most prominent just sign up,” Beccue said. “It’s the Castanon-Martinez said that additional “feed” to manage, and China. The state-run China Youth Daily news- venture-funded tech “unicorns” consumerization of an enterprise “Slack’s success took a lot of people that email is still necessary for exter- The spacecraft will dock with the paper said Jing would celebrate his 50th worth over $1 billion. With some product.” by surprise” but that it may be diffi- nal contacts and other functions. Tiangong 2 space station within two days birthday in space. China conducted its first three million active users, including The global enterprise chat and cult to sustain momentum in the Le Clair said artificial intelligence and the astronauts will stay there for 30 crewed space mission in 2003, becoming nearly one million paying for “premi- messaging market is set to reach face of deep-pocketed rivals like may be the tool that helps sift days to test the complex’s ability to sup- only the third country after Russia and the um” service, Slack has become one $1.9 billion by 2019, according to Facebook and Microsoft. through messages to stay on track. port their life. They will also conduct med- US to do so, and has since staged a space- of the fastest-growing business Beccue’s report. Slack came at the Microsoft earlier this year “You’re going to need emerging ana- ical and scientific experiments, Wu said. walk and landed its rover on the applications. right time for companies seeking announced that its Yammer messag- lytics to go through those streams,” An earlier Tiangong 1 experimental moon. Administrators suggest a manned Craig Le Clair of Forrester new ways to improve workplace effi- ing platform would integrate with its he said. “Facebook has done a lot of space station launched in 2011 went out of landing on the moon may also be in the Research said these services are ciency, Beccue said. “I think they are Office 365 groups, while also offer- investment in AI so they could be service in March after extending its mis- program’s future. —AP growing because younger “millenni- major driver of innovation for busi- ing easy connections to Outlook well-placed to do that.” —AFP Obama shakes mind-controlled robot hand wired to sense touch

WASHINGTON: A paralyzed man shared a hand- left paralyzed after a car accident. When a get,” said Robert Gaunt, a Pittsburgh assistant pro- shake with President Barack Obama on Thursday researcher touched two fingers at the same time, “I fessor of rehabilitation who led the new study. by using a mind-controlled robotic arm that, in a just laughed and I said, ‘Are you trying to be tricky “People have an incredibly difficult time interact- first for medical research, is helping to restore his or something?” ing with objects, picking objects up, manipulating sense of touch. Preparing to show the president how the cut- them, doing fairly basic things with the hand if Obama fist-bumped Nathan Copeland’s robotic ting-edge research worked, Copeland said he was they don’t have a very basic sense of touch.” hand, and tiny chips implanted in Copeland’s brain “circling between excited and nervous every half- Step one is placing sensors in prosthetics. The let him use his thoughts to move the Star Trek- hour.” next hurdle is how to allow feedback to and from looking metal arm attached to his wheelchair - and Harnessing brain waves to power prosthetics is those sensors. For amputees, some scientists are also let him feel subtle pressure in his own fingers a hot field, with a goal of giving the disabled more attempting to wire nerves left in the remaining when the artificial ones were touched. independence and improving artificial limbs for part of the person’s natural limb directly to the He had “pretty impressive precision,” Obama amputees as well. Headlines in recent years have robotic arm. said. “When I’m moving the hand, it is also sending reported experiments that let paralyzed people That’s not possible if a spinal cord injury has signals to Nathan so he is feeling me touching or move a robotic arm to touch a loved one or take a interrupted the messages that normally flash moving his arm.” The president congratulated the drink simply by imagining the motion. Their between the hand and the brain. But previous University of Pittsburgh researchers who are devel- thoughts activate brain implants that relay electri- monkey research had suggested brain implants oping the technology, saying, “what a story.” cal signals needed to command movement. The could bridge that gap. So surgeons at the The research is part of a quest to make artificial signals are transmitted through a computer to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center implanted limbs that can feel. On Thursday, the Pittsburgh robotic limb. electrodes in the part of Copeland’s brain that con- team reported important early findings: When What’s new is recreating sensation using this trols what his hands feel. they blindfolded Copeland, he could correctly brain-controlled technology. After all, proper Electrically stimulating those cells worked even identify which robotic finger they touched 84 per- motion depends on more than muscle movement. though the car wreck that left Copeland mostly cent of the time. Reach for something and that sense of touch helps paralyzed happened over a decade ago, Gaunt PITTSBURGH: President Barack Obama holds a robotic arm being controlled “The majority of them, it felt like a pressure or a you naturally grasp with just enough force to hang noted. “This shows you can get natural sensation” by the mind of the man in the wheel chair at right as he makes a stop at the tingling” in his own corresponding finger, said on while not either dropping something or crush- through the brain implant, added Pittsburgh neu- exhibition hall of the White House Frontiers Conference on Thursday, Oct. 13, Copeland, 30, of Dunbar, Pennsylvania, who was ing it. “It’s not only that emotional connection we robiologist Andrew Schwartz. 2016. —AP