Software to improve building safety in quakes

A Spanish software company is developing a computer tool that will help improve building safety in earthquakes and can also be used in construction projects by companies located in seismic zones.

The new aspect of this software, which is geared toward architects, engineers and construction firms, is that it is capable of calculating the effect that the facades, the partitions and the walls - which have a tendency to develop cracks in a quake - will have on the overall structure of a building.

The Arquitectura, Ingenieria y Construccion CYPE software company, based in the eastern Spanish city of Alicante and operating in more than 47 countries - mainly in Latin America, Portugal and North Africa - has been working on the product for a year, the firm’s technical director, Carlos Fernandez, said in an interview with EFE.
The aim of the software, development of which is almost completed, is to better analyze the structure of a building and its behaviour in the face of different seismic risks, Fernandez said.

This is ‘one more tool that’s going to contribute to improving the safety of ... buildings in seismic zones, but it’s not the definitive weapon, it’s not a panacea,’ he said, adding that the project will have an international market because many professionals around the world will be able to make use of it.

The new computer program is based on the analysis of real architecture and it would be used, at first, to analyze newly-constructed buildings in earthquake zones.

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Google making videogame console and smart watch

Google is working on a videogame console and smart watch powered by Android software that has been a hit in smartphones and tablets, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The Journal cited unnamed sources as saying that the California-based Internet titan is out to expand its hardware line-up to include a new version of a Nexus Q digital media device introduced last year but never brought to market.

Google has openly shared a vision of its free Android operating software being used to put brains into a broad range of devices, including typically ‘dumb’ machines such as refrigerators or clothes dryers.

Efforts to develop a watch and a game console come as rumors spread of plans for a new-generation Apple TV box, as well as a smart watch, from Google’s Cupertino, California-based rival.

Microsoft and Sony have also set out to tighten their grips on modern-day home entertainment with new generation Xbox One and PlayStation 4 videogame consoles, which are to be released late this year.

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