Knowledge Update

​New York, March 15 (IANS) Researchers from Harvard University have developed a technique that can quickly change the opacity of a window, turning it cloudy, clear or somewhere in between with the flick of a switch.

​New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) In a bid to make navigation around big cities easy, search engine giant Google on Wednesday updated its Google Maps app that now shows a dedicated tab with information for cab services in addition to the existing driving, public transport or walking options.

​New York, March 17 (IANS) Effectively updating its universal Windows app to support desktops and tablets, micro-blogging website Twitter has launched its app for Windows 10 smartphones, a media report said.

​Washington, March 17 (IANS) The US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark short-term interest rates unchanged as widely expected, noting that "global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks" to the US economy.

Tokyo, March 17 (IANS) Japan reported a trade surplus of 242.8 billion yen ($2.2 billion), marking its biggest trade surplus since September 2011, the government announced Thursday.

​New York, March 16 (IANS) Despite India saying no to Free Basics and going for net neutrality, the social networking giant eyes big growth in Asia than any other parts of the world, a top Facebook executive told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Tuesday.

​Berlin, March 15 (IANS) Fuelled by a favourable shopping environment, German consumers' spending in 2015 grew faster than any year else in the past 15 years.

It compensated Germany's losses in exports declines due to weak global recovery, Xinhua cited official data as showing on Tuesday.

​Beijing, March 15 (IANS) Alibaba reached an agreement on Tuesday with the China Communist Youth League, a CPC reserve force, to train one million teenagers to take e-commerce to rural areas.

London, March 16 (IANS) FTSE 100 Index, British benchmark stock market gauge decreased by 0.56 percent, or 34.60 points, to 6,139.97 points.

Share price of Coca-Cola HBC increased by 1.78 percent, topping the gainers of the blue chips on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

​New York, March 17 (IANS) Many of us have wished for a shoe that automatically ties its laces when they get untied while we are running. American sports footwear and apparel brand Nike apparently heard us and on Thursday released the futuristic self-lacing sneakers. Launched at an event here, the shoes -- named HyperAdapt 1.0 -- resemble the sneakers that Hollywood actor Michael J. Fox wore in the 1989 movie 'Back to the Future 2'. Put the sneaker on and it will tighten to the size of your foot using a heel sensor, Quartz reported. According to Nike, the real innovation is that you can quickly adapt your sneaker to the changes your foot undergoes when competing, using buttons on the side that let you tweak the fit. Laces, by contrast, may loosen up, or be tied too tight. Your foot may also change shape during exercise (expanding slightly, for instance). The HyperAdapt is meant to eliminate those problems, the report said. Right now, an athlete has to make those changes manually but this new product has a goal that can make those changes automatically and create a "nearly symbiotic relationship between the foot and shoe", the company said.The shoe has a sole that lights up -- maybe to make it look futuristic -- and it makes a slight mechanical wheezing noise when it tightens. The report pointed out that the sneaker, which runs on a battery that can keep a charge for about two weeks, has been in the works for around 10 years. The HyperAdapt 1.0 uses two recent Nike innovations, its Flywire filaments and Flyweave fabric, both of which make the shoes hold more firmly to the foot during sports. The HyperAdapt 1.0 will be available in three colours and expected to be released by the end of this year. ​ At the moment, the shoe will be available only to members of Nike+, the new app that Nike wants to be a sort of one-stop-shop for athletes.​