<p>Toughening its stand on road safety, the UK government has said that drivers will be banned from using handheld devices for searching photos, listening to music or playing games from next year.</p>

<p>The government said that if found guilty, the drivers would be fined £200 and six licence points, which means that repeated offence would lead to suspension of license for six months and even revocation in the worst case scenario.</p>

<p>The government had already barred drivers to call or text on hand-held phones while driving unless it is an emergency.</p>

<p>Motorists will still be allowed to use hands-free devices while driving, such as navigation devices or mobile phone, if is secured in a cradle.</p>

<p><strong>Also read:</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/uk-to-issue-temporary-visas-to-ease-truck-driver-shortage-until-christmas-eve-416005">UK to issue temporary visas to ease truck driver shortage until Christmas eve</a></p>

<p>The Department for&nbsp;Transport has announced it is planning to strengthen laws from next year to make it easier to prosecute drivers using and holding their phones at the wheel.</p>

<p>The crackdown on mobile phones comes after a public consultation that found 81% of respondents supported proposals to strengthen the law, according to the Guardian.</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/uk-government-greenlights-self-driving-cars-on-motorways-380964">UK government greenlights 'self-driving' cars on motorways</a></p>

<p>According to reports, the Highway Code will be revised to make it clear that being stationary in traffic counts as driving and handheld mobile phone use at traffic lights or in motorway jams is illegal except in very limited circumstances.</p>

<p>But they must ensure they take full responsibility for their driving and can face charges if police find them not in proper control of their vehicle, the transport department said.</p>

<p>However, drivers making a contactless payment using their mobile phone while stationary will be exempt from the new rules.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


Toughening its stand on road safety, the UK government has said that drivers will be banned from using handheld devices for searching photos, listening to music or playing games from next year.

Toughening its stand on road safety, the UK government has said that drivers will be banned from using handheld devices for searching photos, listening to music or playing games from next year. The government said that if found guilty, the drivers would be fined £200 and six licence points, which means that repeated offence would lead to suspension of license for six months and even revocation in the worst case scenario. The government had already barred drivers to call or text on hand-held phones while driving unless it is an emergency. Motorists will still be allowed to use hands-free devices while driving, such as navigation devices or mobile phone, if is secured in a cradle. Also read: UK to issue temporary visas to ease truck driver shortage until Christmas eve The Department for Transport has announced it is planning to strengthen laws from next year to make it easier to prosecute drivers using and holding their phones at the wheel. The crackdown on mobile phones comes after a public consultation that found 81% of respondents supported proposals to strengthen the law, according to the Guardian. Also read: UK government greenlights 'self-driving' cars on motorways According to reports, the Highway Code will be revised to make it clear that being stationary in traffic counts as driving and handheld mobile phone use at traffic lights or in motorway jams is illegal except in very limited circumstances. But they must ensure they take full responsibility for their driving and can face charges if police find them not in proper control of their vehicle, the transport department said. However, drivers making a contactless payment using their mobile phone while stationary will be exempt from the new rules. (With inputs from agencies)

UK drivers to be banned from using handheld devices from next year

<p>It is said that science fiction is about making the improbable seem possible. Writers of the genre postulate a world of the future. And while some of their ideas can end up remaining a fantasy, there are a number of times when their predictions have been right on the money.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s 9&nbsp;times sci-fi writers were spot-on about technological advancements:&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Debit/Credit Cards</h2>

<p>When Edward Bellamy wrote Looking Backward in 1888, people only relied on paper money. His book introduced the concept of universal credit where citizens of his future utopia carried a card that allowed them to spend on goods and services without paper money changing hands. The book was a huge success.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_1-20161212084822.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Earphones</h2>

<p>When Ray Bradbury published his dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 in 1953, portable audio already existed, but the headphones were ungainly and heavy. In his book, he talked about &ldquo;little seashells&hellip; thimble radios&rdquo; that brought an &ldquo;electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk&rdquo;. Who would have then imagined that one day devices like in-ear earphones would become an integral part of people&rsquo;s daily lives.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_6-20161212085416.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Electric Cars, Violence And Hookup Culture</h2>

<p>John Brunner&rsquo;s Stand On Zanzibar was another piece of literature that was way ahead of its time. Published in 1969, his book painted a world that we are all too familiar with today: America plagued by random acts of violence like school shootings and terrorist attacks, cars powered by rechargeable electric fuel cells, men and women eschewing marriage for short-term and low commitment hookups. What was he thinking?&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_8-20161212085717.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Geostationary Satellite Communications</h2>

<p>In 1945, a pioneering science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke wrote a manuscript called The Space-Station: Its Radio Applications. He introduced for the first time, geosynchronous satellites being used for telecommunications relays and most importantly for television signals. Imagine a world without our televisions and scores of channels.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_9-20161212085813.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>The Space-Station: Its Radio Applications by Arthur C. Clarke (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Moon Landing</h2>

<p>Jules Verne wrote From The Earth To The Moon and predicted many aspects of the 1969 manned lunar landing of Apollo 11. Verne&rsquo;s astronauts were launched from a Florida site in an aluminium capsule. In the book, he even gave accurate calculations as to the amount of force that would be needed to propel the rocket out of Earth&rsquo;s atmosphere. We have gone much beyond the Moon now!</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_3-20161212084933.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>From The Earth To The Moon by Jules Verne (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Nuclear Weapon</h2>

<p>Robert Heinlein&rsquo;s 1940 short story Solution Unsatisfactory predicted a future world where America develops an atomic weapon that ends World War II unilaterally. After they use it, it spurs the rest of the world into a nuclear arms race to keep up. The story was written even before the United States entered World War II and five years before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_10-20161212085934.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>Solution Unsatisfactory by Robert Heinlein (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Security Cameras</h2>

<p>George Orwell wrote the book 1984 in 1949. In it, he spoke about the concept of a dystopian state monitored by an interconnected web of security cameras. It seemed absurd back then, but it is a reality now with round-the-clock security surveillance, cameras in both public and private spaces, GPS tracking and online tracking by government agencies. Orwell wrote about it all in his book.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_5-20161212085316.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>1984 by George Orwell (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Tanks</h2>

<p>H.G. Wells wrote the story The Land Ironclads which was published in the Strand Magazine in 1903. His story took the then-current technology of metal-hulled warships and put them on land, creating war machines- tanks. Wells&rsquo;s conceptualised modern day tanks were approximately 100 feet long and rolled on eight pairs of wheels, each of which had its own independent turning axle. A tower in the top of the machine let the captain survey the scene. In reality, the first tanks were deployed on the battlefield in 1916 during the battle of the Somme.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_4-20161212085043.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>The Land Ironclads by H.G. Wells (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Video Chat</h2>

<p>The first demonstration of consumer video conferencing was in the form of &lsquo;picturephone&rsquo; at the 1964 New York World&rsquo;s Fair. The technology has now come a long way with FaceTime and Skype becoming the standard means of long-distance communication. But all of this traces back to Hugo Gernsback&rsquo;s novel Ralph 124c 41+. The story was first printed in Modern Electrics magazine in 1911. It spoke about a device called the &ldquo;telephot&rdquo; that let people have eye contact while speaking across long distances.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://wion.azureedge.net/photos/books_7-20161212085540.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>Ralph 124c 41+ by Hugo Gernsback (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>(Contributed by: Zeba Khan)</p>


Paperless money, security cameras, nuclear weapons and more just stepped out of a book into our reality

It is said that science fiction is about making the improbable seem possible. Writers of the genre postulate a world of the future. And while some of their ideas can end up remaining a fantasy, there are a number of times when their predictions have been right on the money. Here’s 9 times sci-fi writers were spot-on about technological advancements: Debit/Credit Cards When Edward Bellamy wrote Looking Backward in 1888, people only relied on paper money. His book introduced the concept of universal credit where citizens of his future utopia carried a card that allowed them to spend on goods and services without paper money changing hands. The book was a huge success. Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy (WION) × Earphones When Ray Bradbury published his dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 in 1953, portable audio already existed, but the headphones were ungainly and heavy. In his book, he talked about “little seashells… thimble radios” that brought an “electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk”. Who would have then imagined that one day devices like in-ear earphones would become an integral part of people’s daily lives. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (WION) × Electric Cars, Violence And Hookup Culture John Brunner’s Stand On Zanzibar was another piece of literature that was way ahead of its time. Published in 1969, his book painted a world that we are all too familiar with today: America plagued by random acts of violence like school shootings and terrorist attacks, cars powered by rechargeable electric fuel cells, men and women eschewing marriage for short-term and low commitment hookups. What was he thinking? Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner (WION) × Geostationary Satellite Communications In 1945, a pioneering science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke wrote a manuscript called The Space-Station: Its Radio Applications. He introduced for the first time, geosynchronous satellites being used for telecommunications relays and most importantly for television signals. Imagine a world without our televisions and scores of channels. The Space-Station: Its Radio Applications by Arthur C. Clarke (WION) × Moon Landing Jules Verne wrote From The Earth To The Moon and predicted many aspects of the 1969 manned lunar landing of Apollo 11. Verne’s astronauts were launched from a Florida site in an aluminium capsule. In the book, he even gave accurate calculations as to the amount of force that would be needed to propel the rocket out of Earth’s atmosphere. We have gone much beyond the Moon now! From The Earth To The Moon by Jules Verne (WION) × Nuclear Weapon Robert Heinlein’s 1940 short story Solution Unsatisfactory predicted a future world where America develops an atomic weapon that ends World War II unilaterally. After they use it, it spurs the rest of the world into a nuclear arms race to keep up. The story was written even before the United States entered World War II and five years before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Solution Unsatisfactory by Robert Heinlein (WION) × Security Cameras George Orwell wrote the book 1984 in 1949. In it, he spoke about the concept of a dystopian state monitored by an interconnected web of security cameras. It seemed absurd back then, but it is a reality now with round-the-clock security surveillance, cameras in both public and private spaces, GPS tracking and online tracking by government agencies. Orwell wrote about it all in his book. 1984 by George Orwell (WION) × Tanks H.G. Wells wrote the story The Land Ironclads which was published in the Strand Magazine in 1903. His story took the then-current technology of metal-hulled warships and put them on land, creating war machines- tanks. Wells’s conceptualised modern day tanks were approximately 100 feet long and rolled on eight pairs of wheels, each of which had its own independent turning axle. A tower in the top of the machine let the captain survey the scene. In reality, the first tanks were deployed on the battlefield in 1916 during the battle of the Somme. The Land Ironclads by H.G. Wells (WION) × Video Chat The first demonstration of consumer video conferencing was in the form of ‘picturephone’ at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The technology has now come a long way with FaceTime and Skype becoming the standard means of long-distance communication. But all of this traces back to Hugo Gernsback’s novel Ralph 124c 41+. The story was first printed in Modern Electrics magazine in 1911. It spoke about a device called the “telephot” that let people have eye contact while speaking across long distances. Ralph 124c 41+ by Hugo Gernsback (WION) × (Contributed by: Zeba Khan)

9 predictions by science-fiction writers that actually came true

handheld-devices

Handheld Devices, News on Handheld Devices, stories on Handheld Devices, articles on Handheld Devices, Handheld Devices stories at Wion, Handheld Devices news, Handheld Devices latest news