A loose connection between a timer and a computer led some of the world’s smartest particle physicists to conclude that certain tiny particles called neutrinos moved faster than the speed of light — a declaration that shocked the science world and would have called into questions Einstein’s theories.
Here’s a new toy concept that can help instill green values in your kids when it comes to using renewable energy. A toy designed by Endrit Hanjo, called the Quad, works like the Tamagotchi toys of yesteryears but it comes with a catch. For the toy to be kept alive, your kids will need to [...]
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Amazon's newest offering, announced Wednesday, is designed to ease application development and automate business processes.
Computerworld News
This week we’re getting one major influx of tips, previews, and leaks of information on the smartphone wave that’s about to be crashing down upon us at Mobile World Congress 2012, and it’s time you got a round-up! Everyone from Fujitsu to HTC and back to Nokia will be bringing some powerful combinations to the [...]
SlashGear
After reports earlier this month that LinkedIn was buying contact management service Rapportive, the startup just published a blog post confirming that yes, it has been acquired.
For those of you who don’t use it, Rapportive is a Gmail plugin that shows you the latest social network updates from whoever you’re corresponding with. (I’ve gotten so used to seeing the Rapportive window next to my emails that I sometimes forget that it’s not a default part of Gmail.) And if you’re a Rapportive user who’s worried that the deal will follow the pattern of so many other startup acquisitions, it sounds like LinkedIn won’t be shutting Rapportive down.
TechCrunch
YokimaSun writes “Sony have today released the PSVita in the USA and Europe, the console comes with features such as dual touch pads at the front and rear, dual cameras at the front and rear, dual analog sticks, a 5-inch OLED screen, GPS, six-axis motion sensors and a three-axis electronic compass. The PSVita is Sony’s attempt at stealing the thunder away from the 3DS but also bringing back the gamers lost to the likes of Android and IOS Devices. The PSVita in japan sold massively on its first release week but since has struggled and sold less than the PSP. With this in mind sites like Amazon have been offering many different deals to entice people to buy the console. Can Sony stop homebrewers from taking over this console?”
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Research firm eMarketer has put together a few interesting data points that show Google doing better in display ads than you might have realized. That is, by growing this business across properties that it at some point acquired – YouTube, DoubleClick, and mobile (AdMob) – it’s set to pass Facebook’s own display business.
The social network had the highest online ad sales of any company in the US last year, at $ 1.73 billion. But that was a mere $ 200 million or so above Google. This year, eMarketer expects a similar story, with Facebook bringing in $ 2.58 billion versus Google’s $ 2.54 billion. Things change in 2013 and 2014, further off from what the data can tell us accurately.
TechCrunch
The iPad will lead in 2012, but its share will drop to 62 percent from almost 90 percent in 2010, says research firm TrendForce.
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CNET News
The Asus Transformer Prime was the great, grey hope for many Android lovers – until they realized that the bootloader was locked it was impossible to upgrade or install a new bit of firmware onto the device. Asus has finally relented, allowing folks to download an unlocked bootloader and install it over the “official” Asus bootloader.
astroengine writes with an excerpt from an article at Discovery: “For the first time, ‘buckyballs’ have been discovered in the cosmos in a solid form. Until now, the only evidence in space for the bizarre little hollow balls of carbon atoms have been in interstellar gases, but with the help of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered buckyballs accumulating and stacking atop one another to form solid particles. ‘These buckyballs are stacked together to form a solid, like oranges in a crate,’ said Nye Evans of Keele University in England, lead author of a paper appearing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ‘The particles we detected are minuscule, far smaller than the width of a hair, but each one would contain stacks of millions of buckyballs.’”
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Mozilla has begun adding mobile device support to its newer extensions framework–but it’s also change Jetpack’s direction and breaking earlier extensions’ compatibility.
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CNET News
We laid our hands on Fujitsu’s quad-core prototype at the start of the year, it now looks like the phone’s now ready to show itself outside the confines of a perspex box. Wielding a Tegra 3 chipset, there’s still no official name for the incoming handset, but we’re promised admirable battery life and those increasingly typical (for Japan, at least) water resistant credentials. We’ve also been told that this will be close to — if not the — final model of the handset, so we should get to test out that fingerprint sensor in person. Sure, it’s not the only quad-core device we’re expecting to see at MWC, but we’ll welcome it with open arms — if it does make the journey outside of Japan.
Fujitsu readies its ‘final model’ quad-core smartphone for reveal next week originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Verizon users across various states are reporting another outage of 4G LTE services, though 3G users may also be affected.
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CNET News
Call it sour grapes, posturing… whatever you want. The fact remains that T-Mobile has stuck its nose in the middle of Verizon’s quest to bulk up its wireless portfolio. Big Magenta filed a request with the FCC on Tuesday, asking the regulatory agency to step in and block the transfer of AWS spectrum licenses from Cox, Time Warner, Comcast and Bright House to Verizon. The deals, which will cost the carrier roughly $ 3.9 billion, are already drawing interest from the Justice Department which is concerned it’ll place too much control in the company’s hands. T-Mo, the smallest of the nationwide carriers, is equally concerned about the concentration of spectrum in Verizon’s big red paws. Presumably though, that has more to do with its inability to then purchase it, especially in the aftermath of the collapsed AT&T merger. Metro PCS and some public advocacy groups also voiced their opposition, while Sprint took a more measured approach, saying only that the FCC should look closely at the agreements.
T-Mobile wants FCC to block Verizon’s spectrum deals with cable industry originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
NASA has discovered a distant exoplanet dubbed GJ 1214b that is 40 light years away from Earth. The planet is dubbed a “Super Earth” because it’s larger than our planet, but smaller than gas giants such as Jupiter. The planet was studied using the Hubble telescope, and the scientists believe the large part of the [...]
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superglaze writes “The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is to get an extra level of scrutiny in the EU after the European Commission said it would refer it to the European Court of Justice, to check it really does comply with fundamental freedoms in the union. This obviously follows mass protests over ACTA, and it seems justice commissioner Viviane Reding was the one who pushed for ECJ scrutiny. It’s not currently clear if this will delay the European Parliament ratification process, but it is hard to imagine the parliament voting on ACTA (scheduled for June at the moment) before the ECJ has had its say — and no-one can say right now how long that will take to happen.”
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Microsoft has joined Apple in filing an antitrust complaint against Motorola Mobility, claiming the company is trying to use online video standards patents as a weapon, and that new owner Google is doing nothing to stop it. According to Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel, Dave Heiner, Motorola is demanding the company yank Windows PCs, Xbox 360 [...]
SlashGear
Fujitsu promised us European smartphone flagships for Mobile World Congress next week, and according to the latest rumors we may well be wowed: there’s reportedly a 4.6-inch Tegra 3 monster in store. The new Fujitsu will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on NVIDIA’s quadcore processor, UnwiredView reports, as well as a whopping 13.1-megapixel camera that could potentially [...]
SlashGear
Sony and Nintendo have each turned to gaming stalwart SEGA to help them pad out their gaming options, resurrecting classic titles from the company’s back catalog for the PS3 and 3DS. The PlayStation Plus gaming membership program now offers six Genesis titles – including Sonic 1 and Streets of Rage 2 - for free download, while Nintendo’s Virtual Console [...]
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An inexpensive, polymer-based device breaks a record, reaching 10.6 percent efficiency.
A record-breaking polymer solar cell made by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, converts 10.6 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. The performance of the cell surpasses the previous record, 8.6 percent, set in July of last year by the same group.
Nokia isn’t all that great with teasers. In August the company posted a teaser for the newest version of Symbian which just so happened to include the release date in it. Today, the teaser (at least) doesn’t give away the name of the product or anything huge like that, but it’s pretty clear what Nokia is hyping right here.
Obviously the big news here is some form of camera technology. We’re promised pure detail, pure depth, and pure definition — all in all, a pure view.
TechCrunch
This is not a good time to own a file sharing site with any ties to piracy. German police recently shut down another European file hosting site called Skyload.net. In the raid, the alleged owner of the website was arrested along with a person who is said to have provided hosting services to the site. [...]
SlashGear
Remember when Google launched its desktop-only Flight Search service back in the fall? Well, now it’s made the travel checking tool both Android and iOS friendly. All the key flight-finding features of the desktop version are present: search, discover by location, filter by price, airline and calendar view, and have been optimized for the small screen. Bear in mind that this isn’t a native app, El Goog has just tweaked the web-service for the respective mobile browsers, hoping to make those spur of the moment travel plans less taxing. Hit the source link below for further info.
Google updates Flight Search for Android, iOS originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A drug that targets blood vessels in the brain shows promise in animal tests.
It’s estimated that five million people in the U.S. suffer from the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI)—which can range from coma to loss of movement to cognitive and behavioral problems. A large percentage of soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have sustained some form of TBI. Scientists have been searching for years for drugs that could ameliorate the effects of these injuries, but so far, none have been shown to prevent damage or speed healing.
With the beta of Windows Server 8 to be released in the next few weeks, Microsoft executives said the next-generation OS is focused squarely on storage.
Computerworld News
After watching customers continually download and install one of the vendor's free, limited products from the company website, Silver Peak CEO Rick Tinsley was interested to see how they would respond to the same access to its more advanced products.
Computerworld News
Intel is exploring whether it can branch out as a foundry by opening its chip manufacturing facilities to more third-party customers, the company said on Tuesday.
Computerworld News
Oracle has given customers running version 12.0 of its E-Business Suite software a reprieve from extended support fees, which would have kicked in this month, increasing the maintenance payments they were already making.
Computerworld News
New video attempts to accuse Google of Googlighting. Should you be unfamiliar with this term, it allegedly means an ad agency selling productivity software in its spare time.
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CNET News
Sony’s PS Vita has hit the mean streets of the UK, stores across the country opening at midnight to give eager gamers their chance to grab the next-gen portable, with US sales expected to begin within hours. Although early queues for the Vita had only garnered low numbers earlier this week, by midnight there were several hundred [...]
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Renewed rumors that Microsoft will publish iPad editions of some of its Office applications surfaced today, with one analyst calling the move a tough decision.
Computerworld News
Technology startups are booming. But is a shortage of mentors holding some back from success?
When John Hering, CEO and cofounder of Lookout Mobile Security, was featured in BusinessWeek as one of the best young tech entrepreneurs, he told the magazine that the “toughest decision” he ever made as an executive was moving his startup from L.A. to San Francisco.
Got problems with insider threats? Need help securing your wireless LAN because of employees bringing their own devices on to your network? Know how to protect your Android device?
Computerworld News
Let’s face it, walkie-talkies are far from glamorous, but for large and small enterprises that rely on real-time communication, the WWII artifact remains an integral part of the workday. Now, AT&T has set forth on a journey to give its push-to-talk services a modern makeover, and it’s recruiting a few partners to join the quest. In addition to providing PTT-enabled smartphones, the carrier will be testing IP-based technologies that offer workflow automation for tasks such as fleet management and dispatch. Additionally, the system will also offer integration with traditional radio systems such as PMR and LMR, which means an organization won’t need to transition its entire crew at once. You can find more about AT&T’s hybrid communications system in the PR after the break.
Continue reading AT&T launches pilot program for expanded push-to-talk services
AT&T launches pilot program for expanded push-to-talk services originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Growing enterprise interest in Big Data analytics is beginning to drive partnerships between vendors of traditional relational database management technologies and purveyors of Apache Hadoop.
Computerworld News
dcblogs writes “The European Commission last week said it is doubling its multi-year investment in the push for exascale computing from €630 million to €1.2 billion (or the equivalent of $ 1.58 billion). They are making this a priority even as austerity measures are imposed to prevent defaults. China, meanwhile, has a five-year plan to deliver exascale computing between 2016-20 (PDF). The Europeans announced the plan the same week the White House released its fiscal year 2013 budget, which envisions a third year of anemic funding to develop exascale technologies. Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy science budget asked for nearly $ 91 million in funding for the efforts in the current fiscal year; it received $ 73.4 million. DOE science is trying for about $ 90 million for exascale for 2013. There’s more funding tucked in military and security budgets. The U.S. wants exascale around 2018, but it has yet to deliver a plan or the money for it.”
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mattr writes “Japan’s Obayashi Corp. has announced plans to build a space elevator by 2050. They are famous for wrecking skylines with the over-sized bullet train station in Kyoto, the world’s tallest self-supporting tower Tokyo Sky Tree and just recently, the beginnings of the Taipei Dome. It will take a week at 200 kph for your party of 30 to reach the 36,000-km-high terminal station, while the counterweight along 96 km high, a quarter of the way to the Moon.”
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Quora has fiddled around with its Credits system and unveiled some new features today, making two very notable changes. The first one is the elimination of the original “Pay to show to Topics” feature of Credits, where users would have to pay credits to have their questions show up to people following specific topics. Instead, users will have to pay 50 Credits to ask a question, any question and all topic additions are “free.”
Users can earn credits by having their questions and answers upvoted, in addition to answering “Ask to Answer” questions or having users gift them credits.
TechCrunch
Leaked document shows ad upgrade presentation apparently targeting the friends of advertisers’ fans.
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CNET News
Dell's fourth-quarter earnings were weighed down by weak consumer PC sales and by pricing and supply issues caused by the floods in Thailand, Dell said on Tuesday.
Computerworld News
In the world of electronics, the size of a device directly relates to its ability to pull ahead of the competition — especially when it comes to fitness-tracking gadgets. The latest and greatest in this field has emerged from the most unexpected of places, with Epson, a company known for its printers and projectors, releasing the world’s lightest GPS watch. This timepiece, specifically designed for runners, reportedly offers more accurate readings and better battery life (up to 12 hours on one charge) than competing products from Garmin, with acute data on distance, speed and pace, all due to its newly-designed 13mm-thick module. If sweat is an issue, the water-resistant casing offers protection against a full submersion of up to 50 meters — you can wipe your brow with a sigh of relief. Pricing and availability on the company’s latest concept is still unknown, but you can let your eyes do the jogging as you peruse the press release just past the break. Continue reading Epson joins fitness market with world’s lightest GPS watch
Epson joins fitness market with world’s lightest GPS watch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Wi-Fi Alliance will launch a program to simplify the use of Wi-Fi hotspots in July, making it easier for both users and mobile operators to get off strained cellular networks.
Computerworld News
New submitter egparedes points out a post dissecting webOS and highlighting the things it did right, in the hopes that developers for other mobile operating systems will use them as inspiration. Quoting:
“webOS isn’t quite dead yet. It’s just being open-sourced, which, when it happens to commercial software, often turns out to be the digital equivalent of being reanimated as a walking corpse in a George Romero movie. … Of course, it’s not assured that this is the end of webOS. Maybe open-sourcing it will be the best thing that ever happened to webOS. But maybe it just means that HP doesn’t care anymore, and that webOS won’t receive much attention anymore. This would be unfortunate, because webOS is one of the few current mobile operating systems that are actually a joy to use. It’s been hurt by HP’s incompetent management, rather than any egregious faults of its own. The least we can do now is to keep its best ideas alive, even if webOS itself won’t make it.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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