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Details Emerge About Spark Linux-Based Tablet
Slashdot | 6 Feb 2012, 10:27 am
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Motorola: refurb tablets shipped with former owners' data intact
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 10:05 am
Whoops
Motorola Mobility has admitted that some refurbished Xoom tablets were sent out to their new owners with previous users' data still present in the gadgets' memory banks.…
Facebook's IPO unveils plans to invade China
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 9:58 am
Social network would love to tap that
Not content with almost total domination in Western markets, social networking behemoth Facebook could be planning an assault on China if it can just do a deal with the authorities there, its latest regulatory filing has revealed.…
New dole system is 'digital by default', like it or not
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 9:39 am
Claimants who do not comply will be 'nudged' by 'back office' workers
Universal credit – the government's "new and improved" benefits system – will be the first major government service to be digital by default.…
Spark tablet runs Linux, costs £165
Techradar - All the latest technology news | 6 Feb 2012, 9:31 am
Details of the Spark Linux-based tablet have emerged which actively encourages users to play with its software.
The 7-inch tablet will be running an open-source OS based on Linux, called KDE Plasma Active UX.
The new slate is aimed at those who like to tinker with their tablets, allowing users to program their own software in Linux without having to go in the back door by rooting their devices as you'd have to in Android or iOS.
The Spark has an 800 x 480px screen with a 1.3 megapixel camera for video calling. Inside, there's a 1GHz AMLogic ARM processor with a Mali-400 GPU and 500MB of RAM.
There's also 4GB of internal storage, with room for more via an SD card slot.
The tablet will go on sale for €200 (£165) across Europe, with pre-order starting this week and it's expected to start delivery in May.
Free to do what you want to do
The Spark was announced by KDE developer Aaron Siego, who says, "this is a unique opportunity for Free software. Finally we have a device coming to market on our terms. It has been designed by and is usable by us on our terms."
"We are not waiting for some big company to give us what we desire, we're going out there and making it happen together. Just as important: the proceeds will be helping fuel the efforts that make this all possible."
The Plasma OS has been adapted to work on a variety of devices including netbooks and televisions. The Spark comes with Plasma Active which is tailored specifically to tablet use.
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Review: Plextor M3 256GB SSD
Techradar - All the latest technology news | 6 Feb 2012, 9:30 am
We looked at one of Plextor's first 6Gb/s rated drives - the PX-128M2S - last year. And barely nine months later, the next generation is upon us, in the shape of the M3 series. According to Plextor's own blurb, these are its most advanced drives yet.
The Plextor M3S SSD comes in 128GB (510MB/s read, 210MB/s write) and 256GB (510MB/s read, 360MB/s write) flavours, both of which are available now. The flagship M3S 512GB model (525MB/s read, 445MB/s write) will be appearing soon.
The new drives come with an up-rated Marvell controller, four times as much cache as the previous generation (in the 256GB and 512GB models), and faster NAND to complete the upgrade. So what do they look like when you throw some data down their tubes?
Marvell-ous
The new M3 series uses the same Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 controller as the M2S series – and a load of other drives come to that – but with a twist: Plextor has made a raft of upgrades to the firmware. This, combined with 24nm Toshiba Toggle MLC NAND and a large 512MB cache (256MB in the 128GB model), gives the Plextor M3S 256GB pretty impressive performance.
Eight 32GB 24nm Toshiba Toggle NAND chips give the drive its capacity. These sit on the topside of the PCB, along with the two 256MB Nanya DDR3 1333 chips that make up the cache. The controller is positioned all on its lonesome on the underside of the board.
TechRadar Labs
Sequential read/write (incompressible)
AS SSD: MB/S: Bigger is better
Plextor PX-256M3S
Read: 468
Write: 346
Vertex 3 MAX IOPS
Read: 506
Write: 234
Samsung SSD 830
Read: 499
Write: 391
4K random read/write performance
AS SSD: MB/S: Bigger is better
Plextor PX-256M3S
Read: 24
Write: 46
Vertex 3 MAX IOPS
Read: 18
Write: 42
Samsung SSD 830
Read: 20
Write: 53
Under test conditions using the ATTO benchmark, the drive came pretty close to Plextor's own figures for sequential reads at 507MB/s, and did marginally better than the quoted figures for sequential writes at 365MB/s.
The more demanding AS SSD incompressible data benchmark saw it fall behind both the Vertex 3 Max IOPS and Samsung SSD 830 in the sequential read/write test, but it did much better in the 4K random read/write tests.
A bit of real world testing saw the drive take just four and half minutes to copy a 50GB folder of mixed file sizes and types, while loading Office 10 Pro took a smidgen under five minutes from key code entry to being ready for use.
Plextor is also shipping the M3S with its proprietary True Speed technology. This supposedly provides better sustained drive performance over time and, together with advanced wear levelling and bad block management, keeps the drive running closer to fresh-out-the-box than many of its competitors'.
The M3 series carries on from the previous generation, offering strong performance compared to the Samsung SSD 830 and OCZ's Vertex 3 Max IOPS. It's competitively priced as well, and at around £300 it may well ruffle a few feathers.
Plextor backed its previous range of SSDs with the usual three-year warranty, but the M3S series is backed for an unusually generous five years.
Verdict
Plextor's new drive is a rather impressive offering. It may not be the fastest kid on the block, but it's powerful enough and that price tag makes it a pretty attractive choice too.
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New York City's Energy Consumption Mapped Out, Building-by-Building [Data]
Gizmodo | 6 Feb 2012, 9:23 am
Huawei-Symantec sneaks out of US back door
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 8:29 am
Has it been booted out?
Huawei-Symantec, the joint venture between Huawei and Symantec, has effectively stopped trading and is leaving the United States.…
Exclusive: Radical new Windows Phone designs uncovered
Techradar - All the latest technology news | 6 Feb 2012, 8:10 am
A leaked video might have already outed the fact four new form factors will be coming to Windows Phone 8 designs, but it seems Microsoft may have already revealed how these will look.
The leaked video explaining Windows Phone 8 to Microsoft partners refers to new screen resolutions, but it doesn't say what size they will be.
However Albert Shum, the General Manager of the Windows Phone Design Studio, showed TechRadar a slide at Nokia World where today's Windows Phone becomes just one of six devices.
Claiming this was "something we're still working on," he said "you want an ecosystem that's not just about having just one or two things; you want diversity."
Tablets on the roadmap
Explicitly positioning Windows Phone alongside PCs and tablets, he added: "If you do well not just on phone but on PC and on tablet, then your ecosystem can really live and breathe" – so it's unlikely that the largest device on this slide would be a Windows Phone tablet.
That would be confusing for Windows 8 on ARM, and would contradict what Steven Sinofsky told TechRadar; "for us the phone is uniquely focused on the small form factor".
From the relative sizes on the slide, the largest is a 5-inch tablet, discounting the largest as a separate Windows 8 tablet.
Although HTC has two 4.7-inch Windows Phone devices already, the 480 by 800 screen resolution isn't enough to make the most of the screen.
Adding a higher resolution for larger screens will make Apollo better placed to compete with 5-inch and 7-inch devices like the Samsung Note and the Kindle Fire.
A Windows Phone Nano?
The other three form factors look like a smaller phone (enabling cheaper Windows Phone handsets for the developing world) and two devices with squarer screens, one with a facing keyboard (to satisfy business users) – and a smaller device that may be suited for the youth markets.
If the devices are in proportion, that's a screen just larger than 1-inch; perfect for the Windows Phone equivalent of the iPod nano or competing with current fitness devices.
If Microsoft thinks that's going to be the next big (little) thing, it could be part of the "time-critical opportunity" for Windows Phone that Steve Ballmer sent former Windows Phone president Andy Lees to look after.
We've yet to hear any confirmation over whether these devices are indeed the new form factors mentioned by Microsoft – but it seems an awfully large coincidence at a recent Windows Phone event otherwise.
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The Engineer Who Stopped Airplanes From Flying Into Mountains
Slashdot | 6 Feb 2012, 8:04 am
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Hackers may be able to 'outwit' online banking security devices
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 8:01 am
Investigators probe malware threat to 2-factor authentication
Hackers may already able to use malware to outwit the latest generation of online banking security devices, security watchers warn.…
Wealthfront Allows Tech Company Stock Holders To Test Share Sale Strategies Post-IPO
TechCrunch | 6 Feb 2012, 8:01 am
One of the challenges that many post-IPO tech company employees will face is when to sell stock and how much stock to sell once the their stock lockups conclude.Financial advisors can help with this, but some aren't experienced enough with the specific fluctuations of tech companies to create a financially wise strategy. Wealthfront (formerly kaChing), a startup that has been disrupting the investing and personal finance space, is debuting a new tool employees use to test option sale strategies post IPO. Basically, Wealthfront will allow you to test various strategies against the actual stock behavior of a number of tech companies that went public in the past 10 years. The tool is actually embedded below so you can test it out.As we've written in the past, Wealthfront brings the quality investment theories of a fund manager online, at a much lower fee, essentially democratizing private wealth management to the masses. The startup is the brainchild of Andy Rachleff, who was formerly a founder of Benchmark Capital.
Review: Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB
Techradar - All the latest technology news | 6 Feb 2012, 8:00 am
Overview
Intel is looking to SandForce to provide it with a performance-class SSD in the Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB.
It changed tack about a year ago and started using third-party controller chips in its consumer class solid state drives (SSDs). From that moment on, it was almost inevitable that a SandForce-powered Intel drive would eventually appear.
With the launch of the new Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB, and the other members of the 520 family, that day has finally come.
Of course, SandForce SSD controllers aren't perfect.
Thanks to the use of aggressive compression technology, impressive headline data transfer rates can sometimes translate into slightly pedestrian real-world performance. What's more, SandForce's second generation of controller chips suffered from a few stability glitches early on.
Still, there's no doubting the popularity, success and strong, all round performance of SSDs based on the latest SandForce controller. Add in Intel's reputation for going the extra mile with SSD firmware quality control and validation and you have a very promising mix.
The task for the Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB is clear enough. Not only must it rise above the hordes of SandForce based drives, it must also take on the new pretender in the form of the OCZ Octane and its refreshed Indilinx controller.
Game on.
Benchmarks
SSD performance is more multi-discipline decathlon than single-distance time trial.
A drive that delivers impressive peak performance doesn't always deliver the goods in random access workloads, for instance. Intel says it's put a lot of work into tuning the SandForce SF-2281 controller to improve performance and reliability.
But the results aren't always obvious in our benchmark tests.
Synthetic drive performance, compressible data
Synthetic drive performance, incompressible data
Synthetic drive performance, 4K Random
Application performance
Verdict
For the most part, Intel's new desktop SSD looks like any other drive based on the SandForce SF2281 controller chipset.
Not that we're suggesting that's a bad thing.
Sequential read and write speeds of 550MB/s and 520MB/s courtesy of a SATA 6Gbps interface is about as good as it gets for a single desktop SSD.
A peak IOPS rating of 80,000 for writes is pretty much par for the second-gen SandForce course, too.
So Intel isn't making any showbiz claims for basic performance.
In fact, if anything it's more up front about the limitations of the drive when it comes to shunting incompressible data around. In practice that includes most really big files, such as video, music and images.
Intel is also happy to 'fess up to the fact that the peak IOPS speed relates to a completely box-fresh drive. It only rates the Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB at a maximum of 60,000 IOPS in normal use.
However, what Intel does have is an enviable reputation for exhaustive validation and quality control when it comes to SSDs.
In fact, it's rumoured the 520 Series has arrived later than expected due to that very validation process. The upshot of all this, however, is not a drive than immediately blows away the competition for raw performance.
All our synthetic tests reveal an SSD that's very similar in performance to other SandForce-based drives. So that means a generally pretty fantastic performance with the exception of slightly ordinary incompressible data write performance.
We liked
It's not perfect, but SandForce's SF-2281 SSD controller is probably our current favourite.
It routinely wins a lot of benchmarks and is never too far behind even when it isn't at its best.
Add in Intel's hardcore validation and you have the promise of speed combined with longevity.
We disliked
If you were expecting something special in terms of raw performance, you'll be disappointed.
The 520 Series is very similar to other SandForce powered SSDs. And that means only ordinary performance in incompressible writes.
Like any large SSD, it's pricey, too.
Verdict
Probably the pick of the currently available 250GB-ish SSDs. Just a shame it's not a bit cheaper.
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Review: Intel SSD 520 Series 120GB
Techradar - All the latest technology news | 6 Feb 2012, 8:00 am
Overview
The 120GB could be the SSD sweet-spot, but can Intel's SSD 520 Series 120GB drive hit that head-on?
Intel has done the obvious thing and stuck a SandForce controller in its desktop SSDs.
If the larger members of the new 520 Series a little punitive on pricing, what about the Intel SSD 520 Series 120GB, could it offer the best compromise between price, performance and capacity?
One thing it certainly shares with the larger 520 Series solid state drive is Intel's SSD firmware development and validation regime.
It will take time for the true long-term performance of this latest Intel SSD family to shake out, but Intel has a well-earned reputation in this area.
The only slight snag is that smaller drives make for fewer memory chips and in turn fewer memory channels and a little less performance.
The optimal drive for performance in the range is the Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB model. But that's a much more expensive drive.
Instead this 120GB drive must do battle with the likes of the Corsair Force GT 120GB and OCZ's Vertex 3 120GB.
Benchmarks
Long term performance is the big worry with SSDs.
Early drives delivered scorching performance out of the box, but quickly went down the pan with intensive usage. To simulate a used drive, we install Windows 7 and then stuff each SSD full of data.
This used to be enough to make SSDs suffer slow downs. More recent SSDs are much more resilient and Intel's SSDs in particular have a strong reputation for excellent longevity.
As our benchmarks show, however, it's not hugely remarkable in terms of raw performance
Synthetic drive performance, compressible data
Synthetic drive performance, incompressible data
Synthetic drive performance, 4K Random
Application performance
Verdict
Check this out. Somewhere out there on the internet lives a species of PC hardware enthusiast that gets a kick out of endurance testing SSDs.
Among this strange breed, Intel SSDs have a very high reputation.
In fact, there have been reports of a 40GB Intel SSD soaking up 700TB of writes before finally losing the will to store data. When you consider that smaller drives fail faster in such conditions, well, it's pretty impressive.
So Intel's reputation when it comes to developing SSD firmwares that deliver excellent longevity is well earned.
Intel stresses that the same applies to the new 520 Series and its widely used, and strong-performing, SandForce SF-2281 controller. The firmware has been given the full Intel treatment.
That bodes very well for the long term.
What Intel hasn't done, however, is deliver a drive that immediately takes down the opposition in terms of raw performance. Most of our benchmark results are pretty much exactly what you would expect from a 120GB SandForce drive.
That said, there are a couple of areas where Intel's work might just be visible.
The Intel SSD 520 120GB is noticeably, if not dramatically, quicker than the Corsair Force GT 120GB in our random read and file decompression tests.
Unfortunately, sequential incompressible data write performance is no better than that same Corsair drive. Which means it's slower than both larger SandForce-based drives and the competition packing Marvell and Indilinx controllers.
We liked
The combination of Intel's attention to detail when it comes to SSD firware development and the sheer speed of the latest SandForce SF-2281 controller chip is pretty compelling. We also think 120GB is probably the current sweet spot in terms of balancing price with performance and capacity.
We disliked
Much cheaper than the 240GB model this 120GB drive may be, but it's still a significant investment to make. So it's a little disappointing that you not only have to give up half the capacity but also see write performance drop off, especially when shunting incompressible data around.
Verdict
SandForce performance plus Intel quality. Performance though is a little down on the 240GB version.
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MYSTERY as QLogic hurls InfiniBand from train
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 7:30 am
Reg storage desk baffled in the case of the fibre fracas
Comment Storage networking and InfiniBand supplier is giving up on InfiniBand and selling that business line to Intel for $125 million.…
Cryoscope gives users a feel for tomorrow's weather
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine | 6 Feb 2012, 7:25 am
Section: Good Thinking
Tags: Haptics, Temperature, Weather
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- Radiator Booster redirects hot air from the wall to the room
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Indian court grabs back 122 GSM licences from operators
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 7:02 am
Firms devalue to the tune of $25bn
India's Supreme Court has ruled that the 2G licences awarded in 2008 were not fairly distributed, and has snatched 122 of them back from the operators who were using them.…
Pedestrian Map App, Lumatic, Raises $800K From Joi Ito And 500 Startups
TechCrunch | 6 Feb 2012, 6:10 am
All the major map apps like Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Mapquest have walking directions as a standard feature, but the folks at Lumatic don't think they are good enough. It is creating mobile maps designed for pedestrians, cyclists, and people who use public transit. Originally a TechStars company called Omniar, serial entrepreneur Scott Rafer (MyBlogLog, Lookery, Mashery) joined as CEO a year ago.He recently raised a seed round of $800,000 from Joi Ito's Neoteny Labs, 500 Startups, Chamath Palihapitiya, Allen Morgan, Ted Rheingold, and other angels.
iBooks Author gets new EULA, aims to clear writer's block
Engadget | 6 Feb 2012, 6:03 am
We've waxed lyrical about iBooks Author at the technological level, but a good self-publishing platform counts for nothing if authors are put off by its terms and conditions. A particular source of antagonism so far has been the notion that, if an author decides to charge a fee for their iBook, then Apple will claim exclusive distribution rights and prevent them from publishing their work anywhere else. Check out the More Coverage links below and you'll see that a number of writers tore up Apple's licensing agreement and flung it into the proverbial overflowing trash can. Now though, Cupertino has done some re-writing of its own and come up with a new EULA. It clarifies that Apple will only demand exclusive distribution rights over .ibooks files that are created with iBooks Author, rather than the book's content itself. It states that "this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in [another] form." So, there it is -- writers everywhere can happily go back to tearing up their own work again.iBooks Author gets new EULA, aims to clear writer's block originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW, PCMag[1] | | Email this | CommentsIn The Future, The Business Founder Will Not Be Ignored
TechCrunch | 6 Feb 2012, 5:50 am
The entrepreneurial world loves nothing like a good meme. One of the more recent ones making the rounds from Palo Alto to Paris is that a startup simply can’t get off the ground without a technical founder. Investors, entrepreneurs and tech journalists alike will tell you that if you’re not a whiz kid fresh out of Stanford’s CS program, you are essentially not fundable -- entrepreneura non grata. Well, I am here to tell you that they are right.For now.Soon, however, I believe we’ll see a marked shift in who holds the cards in the startup world.
Facebook Malware Goes Viral
Slashdot | 6 Feb 2012, 5:12 am
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
EMC crashes the server flash party
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 5:01 am
Lightning strike with thunder to follow
The perfect server flash storm hitting storage arrays has generated EMC's well-signalled Lightning strike; VFCache has arrived, extending FAST technology from the array to the server. Project Thunder is following close behind, promising an EMC server-networked flash array.…
Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Nicira Pulls The Curtains Back On Disruptive Network Virtualization Platform
TechCrunch | 6 Feb 2012, 5:00 am
The enterprise is moving towards simplicity, and this extends to the data center. Nicira, a stealthy virtualization startup with backing from big-name investors, is pulling the curtains back on its disruptive platform that hopes to change the way server and storage virtualization is done. And Nicira is revealing that it has raised with $50 million in funding to date from Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates, as well as individual investors including VMware co-founder Diane Greene and Benchmark Capital cofounder Andy Rachleff. Nicira's NVP is a software-based system that creates a distributed virtual network infrastructure in cloud data centers that is completely decoupled and independent from physical network hardware. Nicira says that it is shifting the intelligence and control of the network away from hardware and into software, simplifying the virtualization process.
Twitter: In The Final 3 Minutes Of The Super Bowl, There Were 10,000 Tweets Per Second
TechCrunch | 6 Feb 2012, 4:29 am
Big TV events are becoming an increasingly popular catalyst of activity on social media, with sporting events being at the top of the list. Many of us can no longer enjoy a Super Bowl without checking Twitter every three seconds. Last year, there were several moments during the Super Bowl that set records for the most tweets per second during a sporting event, with a high of 4,064 TPS. The highs during the Super Bowl were no match for New Years Eve 2011 in Japan, which saw 6,939 tweets per second.
BTJunkie No More?
Slashdot | 6 Feb 2012, 4:19 am
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
First Legal Streaming Super Bowl A Success, But Audience Still Denied The Real Show
TechCrunch | 6 Feb 2012, 4:03 am
Lately, we've been seeing more and more big television events come with an online streaming counterpart. Big sporting and televised events are showing up online, with the 2010 Olympics seeming to be one of the first big global events where both viewers and media publicly recognized the power and potential of carrying an event like that online. For the first time ever, the Super Bowl is being shown online, for free. And it's completely legal. I was going to say "in a brilliant move by the NFL," but this should be default. Showing an enormously popular event like the Super Bowl online should not be a "brilliant" move. It should just be second nature. But, wishful thinking aside, the NFL and NBC both wanted to give home viewers options to watch the big game on the Web, without having to rub elbows with the riff raff at a local sports bar.
Server outage turns Harmony Link into a paperweight
Engadget | 6 Feb 2012, 3:42 am
The Cloud is great place right? It's all puppy dogs and ice cream, until it isn't. We'd suspect that's what Harmony Link users who ditched their old school remotes for an iOS device are thinking right about now. You see while typical Harmony remote are only programmed via MyHarmony.com, the Harmony Link apparently requires a quick phone home to work at all. That's according to a number of users at Logitech's forums starting yesterday morning claiming their Harmony Link is now a "very nice and sleek paperweight," only showing an error when they try to turn on the TV for their not-so-super Super Bowl party tonight. While we're sure this is a temporary problem and the servers will be restored before too long, it does make you wonder why Logitech would design a solution that wouldn't work at all when a server can't be contacted.[Thanks, Kevin]
Server outage turns Harmony Link into a paperweight originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Logitech support | Email this | CommentsCA wins copyright wrangle against ISI
The Register | 6 Feb 2012, 3:00 am
Don't nick the source code kids
Computer Associates has won a protracted legal battle against Sydney based software company Independent Systems Integrators ( ISI).…
Study Finds Social Media Harder To Resist Than Cigarettes, Alcohol
Slashdot | 6 Feb 2012, 2:34 am
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
How would you change the Motorola Droid RAZR?
Engadget | 6 Feb 2012, 2:26 am
Phones, phones, phones: the burden of autumnal launches for a raft of handsets is that it makes our post-mortem strand a little repetitive. This week's cellular telephone du-jour is Motorola's Droid RAZR, a "7.1mm thick" slab that hopes you neither notice nor mention that 10.6mm hump on the top end. Ludicrous claims about its waistline aside, it oozes materials quality, built from Gorilla Glass, Kevlar and diamond-cut aluminum. It wasn't the most comfortable to hold in our fleshy palm, but it compensated for that with great performance and LTE. Of course, that battery could have been bigger, but where would you stick it? What would you sacrifice (and you do have to sacrifice something) in order to improve this handset? Ladies and gentlemen, it's over to you.How would you change the Motorola Droid RAZR? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsNew "Super-Earth" discovered only 22 light years away
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine | 6 Feb 2012, 2:00 am
Section: Research Watch
Tags: Carnegie Mellon, Exoplanet, NASA, Planet, Space, Super-Earth
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Tech Bowl: Best Buy Spotlights Mobile Innovators, Founders In Super Bowl Spot
TechCrunch | 6 Feb 2012, 1:48 am
Every year, Best Buy runs a big Super Bowl spot, and traditionally they go the route of hiring a big celebrity to hawk their brand message. Last year, it was "the Biebs" and Ozzy Osbourne. This year, Best Buy has opted for something a bit different, choosing to highlight innovators and give more than a nod to geeks in its tech-focused Super Bowl ad. Drew Panayiotou, Best Buy’s U.S. marketing chief, told Bloomberg that the company had initially planned to continue down the celebrity track, but the outpouring of affection for Steve Jobs after the Apple CEO passed away was strong evidence that "Silicon Valley inventors are today’s stars."
SpaceX Dragon's ultimate mission is Mars colonization
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine | 6 Feb 2012, 1:15 am
Section: Aero Gizmo
Tags: NASA, Space, Space Travel, Spacecraft, SpaceX
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- SpaceX prepares for Falcon 9/Dragon spacecraft demonstration
Slick Augmented Reality Demo Works On Any Object Without Special Markers [Video]
Gizmodo | 6 Feb 2012, 1:00 am
MIT envisions DIY solar cells made from grass clippings
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine | 6 Feb 2012, 12:58 am
Section: Research Watch
Tags: MIT, Nanotechnology, Nanowires, Photosynthesis, Photovoltaic, Solar Cell, Titanium dioxide, University of Tennessee
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- Breakthrough in using sunlight to split water
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Universal Earphones detect left and right ear placement
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine | 6 Feb 2012, 12:46 am
Section: Music
Tags: Earphones, Headphones, MP3, Music
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Inhabitat's Week in Green: electric taxis, paper robots and a cathedral of 55,000 LEDs
Engadget | 6 Feb 2012, 12:30 am
This week Inhabitat saw the light as we reported on several spellbinding new projects around the world -- including an incredible cathedral made from 55,000 LEDs and a glowing prefab pod building modeled after the genetic structure of plankton. We also showcased a luminous forest of thousands of "Frozen Trees" and a high-flying F-Light made from a recycled airplane, and also reported on Toshiba expanding its line of LEDs. Meanwhile, as the lights fire up Lucas Oil Stadium we shared seven ways Super Bowl 46 is going green, took a look at the first organic concessions ever to offered at a Super Bowl, and got things cooking with six delicious recipes for game time snacksEco transportation also blasted off from the starting line as London's first zero-emission electric taxis hit the streets, and Stanford unveiled plans for electrified roads that automatically charge EVs. We also saw Scotland launch the world's first hybrid sea-going ferries, while Agence 360 did cyclists a favor by designing a nifty ultra-compact foldable bike helmet. Meanwhile, Chevrolet announced plans to put environmental impact stickers on all of their cars by 2013, the sun-powered solarGT car set off on a race across the United States, and we brought you a gorgeous set of long-exposure photos that make speeding trains look like laser beams.
In other news, renewable energy was a hot topic this week as researchers at MIT found a way to make solar panels from grass clippings, another team of scientists developed a hip-hop powered biomedical sensor and Britain mulled plans to install a new breed of radioactive waste-recycling nuclear reactors that could power the UK for 500 years. We also brought you several fun designs for aspiring little builders - a set of awesome paper robots and an industrial workbench for tots. Finally, since Valentine's day is around the corner we shared 10 red-hot gifts, along with 14 sexy sustainable skivvies.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: electric taxis, paper robots and a cathedral of 55,000 LEDs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsMicroOLED introduces 5.4 million pixel camera display
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine | 6 Feb 2012, 12:00 am
Section: Digital Cameras
Tags: Cameras, Night Vision, OLED, Viewfinder
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Heat Seeking Robot Absorbs and Shares The Warmth In Your Home [Video]
Gizmodo | 6 Feb 2012, 12:00 am
Philatelists Push Petition For Pluto Probe Postage
Slashdot | 5 Feb 2012, 11:59 pm
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DASH promises stutter free streaming video over LTE, hopes you don't care about quality
Engadget | 5 Feb 2012, 11:19 pm
We've all been there: fire up a clip from YouTube or a movie on Netflix and things start out great. But, then, after just a few moments, that LTE connection starts to give up the ghost and suddenly you're faced with unbearable stutturing or a video that just dies mid stream. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications are looking to solve that conundrum with DASH, or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. The idea is actually surprisingly simple -- files of different sizes and qualities will be available depending on signal strength and network load, and the stream will be able to seamlessly switch between them as these variables change. While this sounds like a win for both consumer and carriers, we're sure there are a few of you out there who just want the highest quality possible, even if that means waiting forever for that HD clip of the all accordion cover of Take On Me to buffer. Full PR is after the break.DASH promises stutter free streaming video over LTE, hopes you don't care about quality originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Slashdot | 5 Feb 2012, 10:35 pm
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Switched On: New World Recorder
Engadget | 5 Feb 2012, 10:00 pm
When it comes to time-shifting television viewing, the conversation these days usually involves premium streaming services -- namely, Netflix and Hulu Plus. But consumers routinely shell out more than they do for either of these services -- in fact, sometimes more than for both of them combined -- simply to have more convenient access to the television from their existing cable or satellite subscriptions. Not only that, they're often willing to put up with a large, relatively noisy (and failure-prone!) box for this privilege. That box is the digital video recorder.
Continue reading Switched On: New World Recorder
Switched On: New World Recorder originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsStylish Pendant Tools Keep You Fashion Forward, And Alive [Tools]
Gizmodo | 5 Feb 2012, 10:00 pm
Olympus OM-D E-M5 shots orchestrally maneuvers out of the darkness
Engadget | 5 Feb 2012, 7:41 pm
Would you look at that? According to PhotoRumors, that chunk of retro beauty is purportedly a full-on snap of Olympus' new OM-D Micro Four Thirds shooter (from an Amazon Japan listing that's since been pulled) affixed with its optional battery grip (adding what appears to be a secondary shutter button). That, or someone knows exactly what makes us go "Oooh." The chunky '70s stylings make us fear we'd abandon our career to go become a war photographer if one of those was placed in our hands. 43Rumors believes the unit will hold a 16.1 megapixel EDR CMOS, beefier than the 12.3 sensor inside the PEN E-PL3, but we hope this new body (however beautiful it is) doesn't spell the end for the dinky PEN series. If that wasn't enough, that Amazon listing we mentioned also pointed out a 1.44-megapixel electronic viewfinder, a tiltable OLED display on back and a total weight of 454 grams with its kit lens attached. We've got a few more shots in the gallery below, with others rocking some serious cropping, but each is more deliciously teasing than the last.Gallery: Olympus OM-D E-M5 leak gallery
Joe Pollicino contributed to this report.
Continue reading Olympus OM-D E-M5 shots orchestrally maneuvers out of the darkness
Olympus OM-D E-M5 shots orchestrally maneuvers out of the darkness originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
PermalinkThe Verge, Electronista | 43Rumors, (2), Mlzphoto, PhotoRumors, Amazon Japan (Google cache) | Email this | Comments
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