Saturday, September 26, 2009

Wireless Energy Transfer


To the energy transfer is taking place through wire or conductor. With wired power or energy transfer, we can easily transmit energy of very low to extra high value. But for some places it will be very useful if the energy transfer occur without wire is required. There are different concepts used in the field of wireless transfer technology. The one more thing is that the % of amount of energy transfer is main criteria to transfer between places of very large distances.These are

1. Resonant induction coupling (Evenescent wave coupling)Electro magnetic wave in a high angular waveguide is called as evenescent waves which carry no energy, when if a proper resonant waveguide is brought near the transmitter then a tunnel is formed to the power drawing waveguide which can be converted in DC using rectifier circuits.A prototype model is achieved with 5 meters of ranges with this method.

2. Radio and microwave energy transfer:with this method a long range is possible. In this method microwave is sent to the long distances and can be received through rectenna which extract microwave energy back to electrical energy. But the problem with this methods is that the diameter of antenna should be order of km.

3. Laser beam transferIn this method, laser is beamed to the photo voltaic cells which extracts the electrical energy

4. Electrical conduction methodIn this method, while transfer energy through wires or conductors, when the voltage reaches the breakdown voltage, the sorrounding medium start conducts, in this way the enegy can be transferred through air medium.Though there are several methods available, in practical cases there is no device for transmitting power wirelessly with high energy capacity. But at low power transfer there are so many devices available in the market.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Wireless Energy Transfer


To the energy transfer is taking place through wire or conductor. With wired power or energy transfer, we can easily transmit energy of very low to extra high value. But for some places it will be very useful if the energy transfer occur without wire is required. There are different concepts used in the field of wireless transfer technology. The one more thing is that the % of amount of energy transfer is main criteria to transfer between places of very large distances.These are

1. Resonant induction coupling (Evenescent wave coupling)Electro magnetic wave in a high angular waveguide is called as evenescent waves which carry no energy, when if a proper resonant waveguide is brought near the transmitter then a tunnel is formed to the power drawing waveguide which can be converted in DC using rectifier circuits.A prototype model is achieved with 5 meters of ranges with this method.

2. Radio and microwave energy transfer:with this method a long range is possible. In this method microwave is sent to the long distances and can be received through rectenna which extract microwave energy back to electrical energy. But the problem with this methods is that the diameter of antenna should be order of km.

3. Laser beam transferIn this method, laser is beamed to the photo voltaic cells which extracts the electrical energy

4. Electrical conduction methodIn this method, while transfer energy through wires or conductors, when the voltage reaches the breakdown voltage, the sorrounding medium start conducts, in this way the enegy can be transferred through air medium.Though there are several methods available, in practical cases there is no device for transmitting power wirelessly with high energy capacity. But at low power transfer there are so many devices available in the market.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009



Bhuvan is a geoportal that provides medium to high resolution satellite imagery of virtually the entire India over the internet. You can "fly" around using mouse and keyboard on a simple desktop computer with virtual globe in front draped with IRS images over Indian region. Many other features are built in, including 3D terrain and information on many thematic data.
Disappointments in Bhuvan
1. India recently got its own version of Google Earth, courtesy Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Called Bhuvan, the Desi version of Google Earth goes a step ahead. The mapping application allows users to zoom far closer than the aerial view from a chopper. Though dubbed as a Google Earth killer by many analysts, the application does have a few disappointments. Here's looking into all that is missing in Bhuvan.

2. While Google Earth works on a downloadable client, Bhuvan works within the browser (only supports Windows and IE 6 and above). Unlike Google Earth which is a desktop app, Bhuvan runs using a browser plug-in. Users need to create an account and download a plug-in

3. The site was inaccessible for the better part of the last weekend (it was launched on 13th August) and even now, it gives up or hangs the browser every once in a while. When a layer (state, district, taluk, etc.) is turned on, it renders unevenly and sometimes fails to render at all. The navigation panel failed to load routinely and it felt like a rare sighting when we could actually use the panel.

4. But these are relatively minor quibbles compared with the biggest disappointment. The promise of high resolution images has not been kept. While the service promises zoom upto 10 metres from the ground level (this is contrasted with apparently 200 metres for Google Earth), we didn’t encounter a single image with nearly as much detailing. In fact, comparative results for a marquee location such as New Delhi’s Connaught Place, shows why we won’t be uninstalling out Google Earth software anytime soon.

5. The navigation tools are similar to Google Earth. The search doesn’t work if a query returns multiple results. A pop up window is supposed to give the multiple results from which the user is supposed to be able to choose. During two days of sporadic testing, we found the result only once. The rest of the time, the window would pop up, but nothing would be displayed. When the search is accurate, the software ‘flies in’ to the exact location, the same way as Google Earth.

6. Bhuvan packs a lot of data on weather, waterbodies and population details of various administrative units. We were unable to access weather data. On clicking the icon of administrative units, one could see basic information such as the population. For specialist users, Bhuvan might hold some attraction. For instance, there is a drought map which can be used to compare drought situation across years and there is a flood map that shows Bihar during the Kosi flood and after. With Isro backing, Bhuvan would be able to provide such relevant data from time to time, but the application needs major improvements in terms of usability before it will be of interest to the ordinary user.

7. Users can also not edit any data or tag locations. We hope Bhuvan is able to fix the bugs soon. But even then, to be a credible alternative to existing mapping services, and even to get new users to try it, it must provide much higher resolution images. User interest will be piqued only when they can see their house or school or local street in high resolution. With ISRO data, this is easily doable.


Bhuvan is a geoportal that provides medium to high resolution satellite imagery of virtually the entire India over the internet. You can "fly" around using mouse and keyboard on a simple desktop computer with virtual globe in front draped with IRS images over Indian region. Many other features are built in, including 3D terrain and information on many thematic data.
Disappointments in Bhuvan
1. India recently got its own version of Google Earth, courtesy Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Called Bhuvan, the Desi version of Google Earth goes a step ahead. The mapping application allows users to zoom far closer than the aerial view from a chopper. Though dubbed as a Google Earth killer by many analysts, the application does have a few disappointments. Here's looking into all that is missing in Bhuvan.

2. While Google Earth works on a downloadable client, Bhuvan works within the browser (only supports Windows and IE 6 and above). Unlike Google Earth which is a desktop app, Bhuvan runs using a browser plug-in. Users need to create an account and download a plug-in

3. The site was inaccessible for the better part of the last weekend (it was launched on 13th August) and even now, it gives up or hangs the browser every once in a while. When a layer (state, district, taluk, etc.) is turned on, it renders unevenly and sometimes fails to render at all. The navigation panel failed to load routinely and it felt like a rare sighting when we could actually use the panel.

4. But these are relatively minor quibbles compared with the biggest disappointment. The promise of high resolution images has not been kept. While the service promises zoom upto 10 metres from the ground level (this is contrasted with apparently 200 metres for Google Earth), we didn’t encounter a single image with nearly as much detailing. In fact, comparative results for a marquee location such as New Delhi’s Connaught Place, shows why we won’t be uninstalling out Google Earth software anytime soon.

5. The navigation tools are similar to Google Earth. The search doesn’t work if a query returns multiple results. A pop up window is supposed to give the multiple results from which the user is supposed to be able to choose. During two days of sporadic testing, we found the result only once. The rest of the time, the window would pop up, but nothing would be displayed. When the search is accurate, the software ‘flies in’ to the exact location, the same way as Google Earth.

6. Bhuvan packs a lot of data on weather, waterbodies and population details of various administrative units. We were unable to access weather data. On clicking the icon of administrative units, one could see basic information such as the population. For specialist users, Bhuvan might hold some attraction. For instance, there is a drought map which can be used to compare drought situation across years and there is a flood map that shows Bihar during the Kosi flood and after. With Isro backing, Bhuvan would be able to provide such relevant data from time to time, but the application needs major improvements in terms of usability before it will be of interest to the ordinary user.

7. Users can also not edit any data or tag locations. We hope Bhuvan is able to fix the bugs soon. But even then, to be a credible alternative to existing mapping services, and even to get new users to try it, it must provide much higher resolution images. User interest will be piqued only when they can see their house or school or local street in high resolution. With ISRO data, this is easily doable.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009



Readius folding eBook: smaller than Kindle, but pricier too
Electronic Papyrus: The Digital Book, Unfurled

The pocket-sized Readius, made by Polymer Vision, unfolds to show text. Its screen can be rolled around a finger.
CONSUMERS like large displays on the mobile devices they use for reading an e-mail message or an e-book, but they also like to tuck those devices into their pockets. But the bigger the screen on a cellphone or an e-reader, the sooner it outgrows pocket size.
Now a hallmark feature of these screens — their rigidity — is changing. New technologies are developing that make displays flexible, foldable or even as rollable as papyrus, so that large screens can be unfurled from small containers.
One new mobile device, the Readius, designed mainly for reading books, magazines, newspapers and mail, is the size of a standard cellphone. Flip it open, though, and a screen tucked within the housing opens to a 5-inch diagonal display. The screen looks just like a liquid crystal display, but can bend so flexibly that it can wrap around a finger.
Because the Readius is pocket-sized, but has a generous, supple screen, people with five minutes to spare in a taxi, bus or subway can use the dead time to open it, read a page or two of a book and then return the device to a shirt pocket, said Karl McGoldrick, the chief executive of Polymer Vision, the company in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, that created the device.
The Readius may even help stop people from obsessing over their e-mail: with the device, spare moments for reading may be put to a possibly better use — say, a novel by Stendhal. But if their good intentions fail, the device has a wireless connection to download e-mail as well as books.
The black-and-white display holds about 22 lines of a book page, depending on the font, all shown in the crisp black type provided by technology from E Ink, also used in Amazon’s Kindle and other e-readers. The screen changes from one page to the next in about half a second, at the touch of a thumb.
The Readius will be introduced in England, Italy and Germany this fall, and in the United States early in 2009, Mr. McGoldrick said. Its battery lasts for about 30 hours of reading — long enough to get through “The Red and the Black,” and possibly a chunk of “War and Peace.” Pages can be read under a variety of lighting conditions, even including full sunlight, he said. The price is not yet set, but Thomas van der Zijden, vice president for marketing and sales, said the Readius would be more expensive than the Kindle, which now is selling for $359.
The Readius is not the only entry in the area of flexible displays. “It’s an exciting example, but there are going to be a slew of other devices coming soon, too,” said Shawn O’Rourke, director of engineering at the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University at Tempe, which focuses on the technology’s future commercialization.
Mr. O’Rourke defined flexible displays as “different than a BlackBerry or notebook,” with their traditional glass backings. “These displays are thin, lightweight and rugged — and they bend,” he said. The underlying substrates that support the display are typically either plastic or metal foil.
The market for flexible displays is likely to grow rapidly, said Jennifer Colegrove, an analyst at the iSuppli Corporation, a market research firm in El Segundo, Calif. “Flexible displays are the crucial enabling technology for a new generation of portable devices that are mobile, but also have compelling user interfaces,” she said.
Flexible displays offer the advantages of easy, relatively inexpensive and safe shipping and handling, compared with conventional rigid screens, she said. Her firm forecasts that the total market for flexible displays will grow to $2.8 billion by 2013.
Paul Semenza, vice president for display research at iSuppli, says that flexible displays are not entirely new on the market, but that previous ones have been relatively low-resolution applications — like those in smart cards and point-of-purchase signs — “not high-resolution ones that have the kind of image quality that users expect.”
The Readius images have this potential, he said, because the displays are powered by what is called an active matrix — transistors behind each pixel that can potentially provide fast switching and high performance.
“Polymer Vision’s technology is unusual,” Mr. Semenza said. “It’s hard to make an active matrix on something other than glass.”
If Polymer Vision succeeds in “making these transistor arrays,” he said, “you’ll have the ability to make high-performance displays on flexible substrates that look as good as a notebook display on any high-performance L.C.D.”
THE Readius, which so far displays 16 shades of gray on its screen, is not at that state yet, but Polymer Vision is hoping to add color and video capability in the future, Mr. McGoldrick said. A prototype for a color model was demonstrated at a trade show in May.
Mr. O’Rourke of the Flexible Display Center likes the look of the new generation of supple screens, but he also likes their toughness. “Some of them we’ve beaten with hammers, and they still run,” he said. “No one could do that with a BlackBerry.”

Monday, September 7, 2009

Everything You Need to Know About USB 3.0
Super-Speed USB is coming in 2010, spelling the end to any hopes for a revival of FireWire

Without the Universal Serial Bus standard we'd live in a world that Apple (AAPL) with its infinite variations of specialized port formats and cable changes, would love to make possible. Think of the margins! But even the design-centric Apple has succumbed to the lure of USB, that ubiquitous little port that connects our gadgets to our computers. Proprietary on one end and universal on the other, USB has the highest consumer success rate—getting shipped on over 3 billion devices in 2008—according to research firm In-Stat. And now there's an upgrade to USB on the way. Here's what you need to know about the coming USB 3.0.
It's fast: Dubbed Super-Speed USB, it will offer transfer speeds of 4.8 Gbps compared with High-Speed USB 480Mbps transfer speeds.
It's backwards compatible: Your existing USB 2.0 stuff will also work on the 3.0 ports and vice versa, although you won't get the "super speeds."
It's coming soon: Vendors will ship some boards at the end of this year, so mainstream consumers should see them on their computers and certain devices starting in 2010.
It's powerful: Like USB 2.0, it will transmit electricity, which means you can still use it to charge your gadgets.
It's energy efficient: It supports reduced power operation and an idle power mode, but it will still make your CPU work like crazy to help it reach those fast data transfer speeds.
It's backed by all vendors: Early on, both AMD and Nvidia were kind of miffed at Intel for holding back on some of the specification details, but that's all over, and everyone's now on board.
It will end the longing for FireWire's resurrection: The faster speeds will mean that sending data to an external hard drive isn't as grindingly slow.
Or will it instead keep the FireWire flame lit? Without the threat of FireWire competing against USB products, it's possible we won't see prices for technology drop as rapidly as they did with previous generations.
Devices that generate big data will be the first to appear with the standard. Large flash drives, hard drives, video cameras, and high-end cameras will be the first to have the technology because they can benefit from faster data transfer rates.
It's a way to create the anti-cloud: Instead of accessing everything online either through downloads or streaming, you can store gobs of content on hard drives, and have relatively fast access to it with USB cables. That might be handy if strict data caps are implemented or you think you'll be without broadband for a while.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009





Bhuvan gives you an easy way to experience, explore and visualize IRS images over Indian region



ISRO is well known amongst space faring nations for its world-leading reputation in developing new, indigenous and innovative service oriented applications using remote sensing technology. Over the past 2 decades, ISRO has mastered the art of developing these unique applications using various spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions offered by the versatile IRS satellites and these have been successfully institutionalized in many important areas of policy making, natural resources management, disaster support, and enhancing the quality of life across all sections of the society. Bhuvan is an initiative to showcase this distinctiveness of Indian imaging capabilities including the thematic information derived from such imagery which could be of vital importance to common man with a focus on Indian region. Bhuvan, an ambitious project of ISRO to take Indian images and thematic information in multiple spatial resolutions to people through a web portal through easy access to information on basic natural resources in the geospatial domain. Bhuvan showcases Indian images by the superimposition of these IRS satellite imageries on 3D globe. It displays satellite images of varying resolution of India’s surface, allowing users to visually see things like cities and important places of interest looking perpendicularly down or at an oblique angle, with different perspectives and can navigate through 3D viewing environment. The degree of resolution showcased is based on the points of interest and popularity, but most of the Indian terrain is covered upto at least 5.8 meters of resolution with the least spatial resolution being 55 meters from AWifs Sensor. With such rich content, Bhuvan opens the door to graphic visualisation of digital geospatial India allowing individuals to experience the fully interactive terrain viewing capabilities.Multi-resolution images from multi-sensor IRS satellites of India is seamlessly depicted through the Bhuvan web portal by enabling a common man to zoom into specific area of interest at high resolution. Bhuvan brings a whole lot of uniqueness in understanding our own natural resources whilst presenting beautiful images and thematic vectors generated from varieties of geospatial information. Bhuvan will also attempt to bring out the importance of multi-temporal data and to highlight the changes taking place to our natural resources, which will serve as a general awareness on our changing planet. There are lot more special value added services which will be enabled onto the web portal in due course of time and each one of those services are going to be unique to preserving and conserving our precious natural resources through public participation. We are sure the common man will get rich benefits from these Indian geospatial data services in days to come.

Basic features of Bhuvan:




Access, explore and visualise 2D and 3D image data along with rich thematic information on Soil, wasteland, water resources etc.
Visualise multi-resolution, multi-sensor, multi-temporal image data
Superpose administrative boundaries of choice on images as required
Visualisation of AWS ( Automatic Weather Stations) data/information in a graphic view and use tabular weather data of user choice
Fly to locations ( Flies from the current location directly to the selected location)
Heads-Up Display ( HUD) naviation controls ( Tilt slider, north indicator, opacity, compass ring, zoom slider)
Navigation using the 3D view Pop-up menu (Fly-in, Fly out, jump in, jump around, view point)
3D Fly through (3D view to fly to locations, objects in the terrain, and navigate freely using the mouse or keyboard)
Drawing 2D objects (Text labels, polylines, polygons, rectangles, 2D arrows, circles, ellipse)
Drawing 3D Objects (placing of expressive 3D models, 3D polygons, boxes)
Measurement tools (Horizontal distance, aerial distance, vertical distance, measure area)
Shadow Analysis (it sets the sun position based on the given time creating shadows and effects the lighting on the terrain)
Urban Design Tools (to build roads, junctions and traffic lights in an urban setting)
Contour map ( Displays a colorized terrain map and contour lines)
Draw tools (Creates simples markers, free hand lines, urban designs)
There would be many more value added functions and facilities which will be added into the package from time to time. Particular interest of ISRO/DOS would be to provide such functionalities to common man so that he/she adopts participatory approach with scientists to solve simple problems easily and interactively.



What is Bhuvan?



Bhuvan is a geoportal that provides medium to high resolution satellite imagery of virtually the entire India over the internet. You can "fly" around using mouse and keyboard on a simple desktop computer with virtual globe in front draped with IRS images over Indian region. Many other features are built in, including 3D terrain and information on many thematic data.



What can Bhuvan do for me?



Bhuvan is a free web based image portal. Most Image visualization programs are very expensive and complex. Bhuvan provides a fast and friendly way to look at IRS satellite data and thematic information in geographic context, which is invaluable for management, planning and visualization. Additionally, Bhuvan makes it easy to share digital data between people and computers anytime, anywhere. Over a period of time a lot more unique functionalities will be added into this tool to address common man’s problems, particularly in the rural setup of India and addressing natural resources management issues.What do I require to run Bhuvan on my Machine?You require the Bhuvan Plug-in which can be downloaded from the Bhuvan website after registration and you will also need DirectX9 or higher version (www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/) for installing the plug-in. Please note that the Bhuvan Plug-in can be installed with administrative privileges only.



How do we use Bhuvan?



When you first open Bhuvan website, You will land on the index page which gives you information on Bhuvan and this page also allows you to register for using the Bhuvan. Once you successfully register, you will land on the Bhuvan 3D client page. Here, there are three primary areas of the program that you'll be using. The main window shows a globe, and you can navigate around with your mouse or use the Heads-Up Display (HUD) option available on the right top corner. Double right click to zoom in, and double left click to zoom out (or use your mousewheel). Right click, hold, and drag to pan. The second area is at the upper right of the main window. When you move your mouse over the navigation compass, it give you more movement options such as rotate and tilt (which you can also do with your mouse). The third area is to the left of the main window. This frame includes a fly to location and fly to important places option. On the top of the globe are the menu options for layers, 2D and 3D drawing, measurement tools, snapshot tools etc. When you select any of these options, you see the context options on the left plane where you can make appropriate choices that you can turn on to make visible in the main windows such as roads, 3D terrain, and more.




Can we use Bhuvan if I don't have a fast internet connection?



Yes. Bhuvan is designed to be as bandwidth-friendly as possible. However, it is dependent on continuously downloading a large amount of imagery. Consequently, the faster your connection, the better the program will perform. If you have a slow connection, Bhuvan will download imagery correspondingly slowly, but it will (eventually) download everything at the maximum available resolution. Depending on the number of concurrent users on over servers and the kind of bandwidth at client end the ultimate speed of visualisation will be decided. This is a beta release, however with more learnings we will be able to make things more comfortable for all types of users.



Can I use Bhuvan if I'm not connected to the internet?



No. You will have to be connected to Internet for using Bhuvan. How current is the imagery in Bhuvan?Bhuvan portal does NOT display data in real-time. The images you see are a combination of satellite imagery from various IRS sensors taken (generally) sometime within the last three years during different seasons. Bhuvan, on release, contains IRS satellite images from OCM, AWifs, LISS 3, and LISS 4 sensor images and will be added with more data from time to time. Bhuvan is constantly updating its database to use more recent and higher resolution images. You can explore the metadata content to determine when exactly a specific area was imaged, but you may be able to use landmarks to generalize a date range if you are familiar with the area.



How do I bookmark a place in Bhuvan?



Zoom to the location that you'd like to bookmark (placemark, more accurately), use the draw tool to place an icon. After you save the placemark, it will stay in the frame to the left of the main window, and double clicking on it will zoom you to that position. Can I add my own data into Bhuvan? No. In the current version, you will not be able to add your own data



Do I have to register to use Bhuvan?



Yes. It is mandatory to register to use Bhuvan.



How much does Bhuvan cost?



The basic version of Bhuvan is free. Once you register and you login, you will be asked to download the Bhuvan plug-in. Accept the installation of the plug-in and you are ready to use the full features of Bhuvan.



What are the System Requirements for Using Bhuvan?Requirements for Windows




Operating System: Windows XP/Vista
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz+ or AMD 2400xp+
System Memory (RAM): 512MB
Hard Disk: 2GB free space
Network Speed: 256 Kbits/sec
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 32MB of VRAM
Screen: 1280x1024, "32-bit True Color"




Can I run Bhuvan on Mac OS and Linux?



No. At the moment Bhuvan can run only on windows system and is optimised for IE 6. or higher with 1280x1024 resolution



What type of data can I see in Bhuvan?



You will be able to see the following data on Bhuvan



1. Satellite imagery (LISS III , LISS IV along with metadata and Multi- temporal Data from OCM & AWiFS) maps)
2. Base layers ( administrative boundaries, transport layers, water bodies, etc)
Census information
3. Metadata
4. Value added information (NADAMS – National Agricultural Drought Monitoring System), Output of flood studies for certain areas,



5. Thematic information (Wastelands, Soils, watershed,water resources related maps

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Lip-Reading Computers Able to Identify Different Languages




Lip-Reading Computers Able to Identify Different Languages

One of the latest inventions created by scientists from theUniversity of East Anglia (UEA) are lip-reading computers that are able to identify different languages.
Scientists managed to come up with lip-reading computers some time earlier but now they created the first computer that can really distinguish different languages. This latest invention could prove to be very useful for people with hearing problems, as well as for law enforcement agencies, and in noisy environments.
The revolutionary research is currently led by Stephen Cox and Jake Newman of UEA's School of Computing Sciences. They will present their latest invention at a major conference that will take place in Taiwan on April 22.
It is worth mentioning that the technology was built up by statistical modeling of the lip movements developed by a team of 23 bilingual and trilingual speakers. The system could distinguish any language with extremely high accuracy. It could identify English, French, German, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Polish and Russian, reports the UEA website.
"This is the first scientific confirmation that when people speak different languages, they use different mouth shapes in different sequences," outlined Prof Cox.
"For example, we found frequent 'lip-rounding' among French speakers and more prominent tongue movements among Arabic speakers," he added.
The study was funded by the EPSRC and is a part of a larger project of the University of East Anglia that focuses on automatic lip-reading. Soon scientists will start working on the system closer to an individual's physiology and their way of speaking.


Lip-reading computer can distinguish languages

Researchers at the University of East Anglia's school of computing developed the technology by statistically modeling the lip motions of 23 bilingual and trilingual speakers. The resulting system is able to identify the language spoken by an individual with "very high accuracy," according to the university. Identifiable languages included English, French, German, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Polish, and Russian.
What gives you away? The movement of your articulators--when you wag your tongue, jaw, and lips, you are generating the measurable characteristics of visual speech, the recognition of which is known as lip reading. Computer vision has already been used in lip reading, or "feature extraction," but this is the first time computers have been "taught" to recognize different languages.
"This is an exciting advance in automatic lip-reading technology and the first scientific confirmation of something we already intuitively suspected--that when people speak different languages, they use different mouth shapes in different sequences," said Professor Stephen Cox, who led the research along with Jake Newman. "For example, we found frequent 'lip rounding' among French speakers, and more prominent tongue movements among Arabic speakers."
The discovery could have practical uses for the deaf, law enforcement, and military units serving overseas, the researchers predict. With a little fine tuning it may also help you figure out what language your teenager speaks.