A $ 300 million project seems to have failed to produce a cheap way to make fuel from algae.
In 2009, ExxonMobil announced that it would pay Craig Venter’s Synthetic Genomics up to $ 300 million to develop algae-based fuels.
Tag Archives: Back
Boeing 787 Dreamliner back in service in the US
Posted by Gsurface
on May 20, 2013
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After a four-month-long grounding due to a battery issue, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is back in action in the US, with United Airlines announcing that the first flight since the grounding occurred today and took passengers from Houston, Texas to Chicago, Illinois. Boeing has fixed the battery issue, and is sticking with lithium ion, but
Boutique PC seller laughs all the way to the bank on the back of Windows 7
Posted by Gsurface
on May 20, 2013
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A boutique system builder has bucked the industry trend of slumping PC sales by continuing to focus on selling Windows 7 machines.
Computerworld News
A look back at NASA’s planet-pinpointing space ‘scope
Posted by Gsurface
on May 19, 2013
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The space agency says the Kepler space telescope is having equipment issues. With the mission threatened, we look back at Kepler’s mind-expanding search for Earth-like exoplanets. [Read more]
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Instabeat Is Revolutionary HUD For Swimming Goggles You Can Back On Indiegogo
Posted by Gsurface
on May 16, 2013
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While the world goes gaga for Google Glass, a small startup has come up with an intriguing new take on a device which can display information before your eyes. Instabeat is head-up display unit which attaches to swimming goggles and monitors your heart rate, calories, laps and turns during your swim. It’s been live on crowd funding platform Indiegogo for a few days and is already poised to reach its modest funding target, meaning the product will actually ship.
TechCrunch
Netflix cuts back on expiration dates after ‘streamaggedon’
Posted by Gsurface
on May 15, 2013
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To combat confusion, Netflix says it has altered its API to prevent third-party tools from broadcasting inaccurate movies expiration dates. [Read more]
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Don’t bring back the mammoth, scientist warns
Posted by Gsurface
on May 14, 2013
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Watch ABC app for iOS aims to fight back Aereo
Posted by Gsurface
on May 14, 2013
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It’s been rumored for a couple months that ABC would be releasing a live-streaming mobile app where users could watch live television on their mobile devices, and it seems that ABC is coming through with such an app. The television network launched Watch ABC for iOS today, and it’s aiming to change how viewers watch
Humble Bundle is back with Double Fine lineup
Posted by Gsurface
on May 7, 2013
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For those who’ve been desperately missing the Humble Bundle series, you’ll be glad to know that it’s back again, and it has a game studio theme again, only this time it’s indie themed. All the games included were developed by indie game studio Double Fine Productions, including Costume Quest, Psychonauts, and Stacking, as well as
This May the Fourth, look back at amazing ‘Return of the Jedi’ art
Posted by Gsurface
on May 4, 2013
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A Star Wars Day spectacular! Take a trip through Ralph McQuarrie’s vision of the alien worlds and characters seen in “Return of the Jedi,” which celebrates three decades this year. [Read more]
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Space shots: Android phones beam back Earth pix
Posted by Gsurface
on May 4, 2013
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NASA released photos taken by three smartphones as they orbited Earth.
Computerworld News
Facebook helps you log back in with a little help from your Trusted Contacts
Posted by Gsurface
on May 2, 2013
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Facebook wants you to log in. Real bad. But the social network hasn’t traditionally gone out of its way to streamline password recovery. The site’s finally make things a little smoother with Trusted Contacts, a redesign and rebrand of its Trusted Friends offering. Go into Security Settings and you can list three to five e-pals, who can help you log back into the site before your farm goes belly up. Contact them and let them know you need in, and they’ll get a security code and instructions to help you get back to the wall.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: The Next Web
Source: Facebook
Google Ordered Back To UK Parliament To “Explain Itself” Following Investigation
Posted by Gsurface
on May 2, 2013
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DavidGilbert99 writes “Last November Matt Brittin, Google’s European chief gave a pretty convincing account of himself as he tried to explain why Google wasn’t paying more tax in the UK. All the sales staff were based in Ireland apparently and the UK-based staff were there just to promote the platform for advertisers. Great. Nothing to see here. Move on please. Well, actually there is a little more to the story, as an investigation by Reuters has discovered. There are many sales staff in the UK with titles and responsibilities curiously close to what most people would call sales staff and as a result Mr. Brittin will once again have to face Margaret Hodge and the PAC to explain just what is happening.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
To give back to investors, Apple goes for massive bond deal
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2013
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In an effort to return cash to investors, Apple is reaching out to the debt market and offering US$ 17 billion in bonds, the biggest non-bank bond offering in history, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Computerworld News
Back to BASIC
Posted by Gsurface
on April 29, 2013
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What’s Holding Back 3-D Printing
Posted by Gsurface
on April 28, 2013
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An anonymous reader writes “An article at MIT’s Technology Review makes the case that the complexity of the design tools behind 3-D printing are what’s holding it back from widespread adoption. Many of the devices are indeed prohibitively expensive, but the inability for your average person — or even your average tech hobbyist — to pick it up and start experimenting is an even bigger obstacle. ‘That means software innovation could be more important to 3-D printing than gradual improvements in the underlying technology for shaping objects. That technology is already 30 years old and is widely used in industry to create prototypes, molds, and, in some cases, parts for airplanes. … Although additive manufacturing allows for designs that can’t be made easily in any other way — such as complex shapes with internal cavities — so far, companies have mostly used 3-D printing to create prototypes or models of familiar products.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pinterest design update brings back most beloved days-gone-by features
Posted by Gsurface
on April 27, 2013
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All good things come to an end, or so the saying goes. As is the nature of things, product design changes over time see new features added and some old ones eliminated or changed, often without too much hassle or outcry. Occasionally some features prove to have been so beloved by users that they’re brought
In new iPhone 5 ad, Apple tries to get the feeling back
Posted by Gsurface
on April 26, 2013
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In a renewed tug at heartstrings and purse strings, Apple’s new ad says that more pictures are taken with the iPhone than with any other camera. How does the company know? [Read more]
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Classic Note For iOS Is Bringing Blocky Back
Posted by Gsurface
on April 26, 2013
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In case you can’t wait for Jony Ive to give iOS a complete revamp, there’s Classic Note, an app that will bring back a bit of the Woz-Jobs magic in fully 128K glory. The app includes a note taker and calculator into a package that harkens back to the days of the original Macintosh.
How the HTC One’s back cover pops off, China style
Posted by Gsurface
on April 26, 2013
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When we first reported on the leaked image of China Unicom’s HTC One with its back cover off, some questioned its authenticity since the phone touts its unibody design in other parts of the world. Well, as we found out at HTC’s Beijing launch event on Wednesday, the Chinese variants (802w, 802t and 802d; ¥4,888 or about $ 790 for 32GB) do indeed have a removable cover for access to their dual SIM slots and microSD slot. But the question is: how does that piece of metal come off? It’s simple: the usual micro-SIM tray at the top left side of the phone is replaced by a latch release (close-up shot after the break), and pushing it up would pop the cover open, as pictured above.
While this may technically not qualify for the “unibody” moniker, HTC’s Vice President of China Lin Zurong told us that the removable cover and its accompanying parts at the top and bottom are cut out from the same piece of aluminum; so if you mix and match covers across two Ones of the same color, the fit or texture may not feel “right.” Other than that, the Chinese One feels and looks very much the same as its foreign counterpart.
And finally, we asked whether the much anticipated red HTC One will be sold in China, to which a representative replied this was originally designed with other regions — namely Japan — in mind, so there’s no confirmation as to whether China will get it just yet. Come to think of it, wouldn’t the red HTC One be a nice fit for Verizon?
Source: Engadget China, HTC China
The Amazon Rainforest Wants Its TLD Back From Amazon.com
Posted by Gsurface
on April 26, 2013
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terrancem writes “The Seattle-based Amazon.com has applied for its brand to be a generic top-level domain name (.amazon), but South American governments argue this would prevent the use of this internet address for environmental protection, the promotion of indigenous rights and other public interest uses. Along with dozens of other disputed claims to names including “.patagonia” and “.shangrila”, the issue cuts to the heart of debates about the purpose and governance of the internet.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pinterest Tweaks Its New Look, Improves Search And Brings Features Like Pinned From And Mentions Back
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2013
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While Pinterest is still rolling out its brand new look to users, it decided to listen to some feedback along the way and make some tweaks. Since the site relies heavily, or completely, on its users pinning things to boards like crazy, some features that were dropped from the new design were re-added due to popular demand. One of the features that caused the community to clammer the most was “Pinned By,” which let people see who originally pinned an item. This was a way to discover new people to follow and Pinterest has brought it back: Additionally, the mentioning friends feature using an @ symbol has returned, yet another way to discover new people to follow. Notice a trend here? It seems like the new design was limiting users on how they could find new friends and boards to interact with. The company says that finding friends from Twitter and Facebook that are on Pinterest is back, too. Other than the features that were reintroduced, Pinterest has improved its search functionality by adding auto-suggest, something that helps people out when looking for things. This has been a popular feature on Google’s search product, making the experience way less aggravating than looking at an empty white box for minutes: Along with search, Pinterest has moved your recent activity notifications, including older ones, to the top right corner, another move that could increase engagement. Things that the company are thinking on and might roll out soon are rearranging pins and creating a board within a board. Let’s call that feature “Boardception.” Still, it’s clear that remaining true to the original experience tops all new bells and whistles. Other social sites like Twitter and Facebook tend to roll out features slowly, getting instant feedback from people along the way before things are released to the masses. By letting users opt-in to trying out the new look, Pinterest gets beta testers who are ready, willing and able to voice their complaints, since that’s what people end up voicing anyways. If you’re still rocking the old design on Pinterest, just click “Get it now” after you log in:
TechCrunch
Google Mail and other services back after disruption, company says
Posted by Gsurface
on April 17, 2013
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American Airlines back online after computer glitch
Posted by Gsurface
on April 17, 2013
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American Airlines restored access to its reservation system on Tuesday afternoon after a four-hour long outage that grounded its flights across the U.S.
Computerworld News
On eve of departure, Otellini looks back on four decades with Intel
Posted by Gsurface
on April 17, 2013
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Just a month away from retirement, Intel CEO Paul Otellini has reflected on his four decades with the company during his last quarterly earnings call with analysts and reporters.
Computerworld News
‘The Matrix’ is back (in your hospital)
Posted by Gsurface
on April 14, 2013
No comments
There he is, Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. Several Hugo Weavings weaving their way around a hospital. Welcome to the future — or the present — of GE software in a new ad. [Read more]
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Google, Yahoo, Microsoft execs back CISPA through trade group
Posted by Gsurface
on April 14, 2013
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Tech trade group whose members include Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer sends letter to House Intelligence panel commending its work on the controversial bill and expressing interest in added privacy protections. [Read more]
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Big-Name Investors Back Effort to Build a Better Bitcoin
Posted by Gsurface
on April 11, 2013
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Some of Silicon Valley’s best-known venture funds have backed OpenCoin, a startup with a new digital currency called Ripple.
The value of a Bitcoin has grown in the four years since the digital currency was invented, but there’s been little interest from mainstream business or technology investors in using it.
RapLeaf Is Back and Bad As Ever
Posted by Gsurface
on April 11, 2013
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itwbennett writes “Privacy blogger Dan Tynan opted out of data aggregator RapLeaf back in 2010 — and wrote about it. At the time, opting out seemed to work well enough. But fast forward a couple of years and … they’re baaaack. While testing a privacy service called Safe Shepherd, Tynan discovered that ‘not only [is he] not opted out of RapLeaf’s database, they’ve also gathered far more information about [him] than they had before.’ And it’s a pretty good bet some of the data came from Facebook apps, which is a practice that the company was slapped for in 2010 and claimed to no longer do.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Zuckerberg, Schmidt, Mayer and others back FWD.us tech political lobby group
Posted by Gsurface
on April 11, 2013
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If you thought that Mark Zuckerberg’s aspirations ended at command your smartphone, then think again. The Facebook chief has teamed up with a raft of other tech heavyweights including Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer and Elon Musk to form FWD.us, a political lobby group designed to promote tech-friendly causes. The first issue it wants to tackle is immigration reform to make it easier to woo foreign engineering talent, but it also has designs on scientific research, education reform and job creation. Evidently, these people still have spare time even after their stressful day jobs.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: FWD.us
Tumblr Overhauls Its Android App With Path-Like Interface, Brings “Take A Photo” Back To The Desktop
Posted by Gsurface
on April 8, 2013
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Today, Tumblr launched a brand new version of its app on Android, completely overhauled. Its interface is the design you’re seeing in many apps lately, mostly made popular by Path. Yes, Tumblr has gone Holo with its UI. That aside, the app feels way more responsive, letting you scroll through all of the cat photos and emo shots of your pals. Its pull-down-to-refresh even got a snazzier animation. The brief note from the Tumblr Staff blog came along with an animation of the new navigation…animations: Tumblr for Android just got a total facelift! We’ve completely redesigned the interface, added fancy post animations, made images pop, and a whole lot more. Download the update today. Tumblr has also made it so that photos pop out in your stream more, so as to kick up more interaction within the app. This is something that Facebook recently announced it’s doing with its own News Feed: It’s interesting that Tumblr attacked the Android app first, as its iOS version still has this boring old interface: Stay tuned for that iOS version, though, since its latest major overhaul was back in November. There’s only one problem with the new interface, though. You can’t post from any page you’re on. I’d like to see the animated “post” button follow me no matter where I am on the site. Right now, you have to go back to your stream to post something. Since it’s not all about mobile, for those who like to take “selfies,” (who doesn’t?) the company has brought back the “take a photo” functionality to the desktop site. If you just want to show all of your followers exactly how you feel right now, you can just shoot a shot and post it to your stream like this: Sadly, that feature only works on Chrome and the latest versions of Firefox. Sorry, Safari and IE users, no selfies for you. Happy Tumblr-ing. [Photo credit: Flickr]
TechCrunch
Marvel brings back free comic book promotion
Posted by Gsurface
on April 8, 2013
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Remember last month when Marvel introduced a new promotion where you could download 700 first-issue comic books for free? Well, it obviously didn’t turn out too well — Marvel’s servers were slammed from the overwhelming demand from comic book enthusiasts. However, the company brought the promotion back, and hopefully they came better prepared this time
Apple ‘bounce back’ campaign aims to reclaim Mac users
Posted by Gsurface
on April 2, 2013
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Drawing Mac users back into the OS X fold after they’d switched to Windows is a move that dovetails with Apple’s new Final Cut Pro campaign and planned Mac Pro upgrade. [Read more]
CNET News
The Underhanded C Contest Is Back
Posted by Gsurface
on April 2, 2013
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Xcott Craver writes “After several years of inactivity, the Underhanded C contest has returned. The object is to write a short, readable, innocent-looking computer program that nevertheless performs some evil function for reasons that are not obvious under code review. The prize is a $ 200 gift certificate to ThinkGeek.” The deadline is July 4th, so get to hacking.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Rare Apple photos: Cook in high school, Jobs back on the job
Posted by Gsurface
on March 30, 2013
No comments
Vintage shots service on the Web: Tim Cook during his high school days in Alabama in the mid ’70s, and the fortuitous night Steve Jobs returned to Apple and set about engineering a legendary comeback. [Read more]
CNET News
Softbank and Sprint say no to Huawei in hopes of getting merger back on track
Posted by Gsurface
on March 29, 2013
No comments
In an effort to speed up an already contested $ 20.1 billion merger, Softbank and Sprint have reportedly agreed not to use Huawei network equipment within the US carrier’s existing network. In fact, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, recently told The New York Times that the two outfits have pledged to remove Huawei hardware from Clearwire’s network, too. These promises are likely a reaction to Congress’ security concerns, which saw Huawei exiled from America’s first responder network back in October. While Rogers is happy with Softbank and Sprint’s new game plan, this deal is far from done. The two firms still need to make it past the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which reviews national security risks connected to business transactions. Until then, Dan Hesse may wanna hold off on any extra curricular activities.
Filed under: Wireless, Networking, Mobile, Sprint
Via: The Register
Source: The New York Times
India hits Nokia with demand for $338M in back taxes
Posted by Gsurface
on March 28, 2013
No comments
Indian tax authorities have accused Nokia with evading income tax in the country for five fiscal years. [Read more]
CNET News
17 animals scientists want to bring back from extinction
Posted by Gsurface
on March 28, 2013
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It’s called “de-extinction,” the act of bringing an extinct animal back to life by reassembling its genome and injecting it into embryonic cells. After that, it’s the simple matter of finding a surrogate. Last week, scientists met to discuss which animals should be up for consideration. We’ve highlighted 17 of their 24 final choices.
Russia’s Growth Leads Yuri Milner Back As Ostrovok Takes $25M From General Catalyst, Accel and Others
Posted by Gsurface
on March 27, 2013
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It’s often difficult to discern the mind of Yuri Milner. Despite building his investments out of Russia initially, he hasn’t invested in a startup there for over there years. What’s luring him back? No doubt the enormous growth and potential of the market there. So it’s not a huge surprise that he’s invested in one of Russia’s hottest startups today, hotels booking service Ostrovok.ru which has pulled in a $ 25 million Series B round. Ostrovok may now be the best funded startup in Russia. However, then putting boots on the ground to build up the hotels inventory – which is really only just coming online in Russia – is a very capital intensive business.
TechCrunch
Malware abuses Chromium Embedded Framework, developers fight back
Posted by Gsurface
on March 26, 2013
No comments
A new version of the TDL rootkit-type malware program downloads and abuses an open-source library called the Chromium Embedded Framework that allows developers to embed the Chromium Web rendering engine inside their own applications, according to security researchers from antivirus vendor Symantec.
Computerworld News
Apple ID security issue fixed, password page back online
Posted by Gsurface
on March 24, 2013
No comments
The page was taken down yesterday, after reports of an exploit that could let hackers with a user’s e-mail address and birth date change the user’s Apple ID password. The company has fixed the issue. [Read more]
CNET News
Lack of Ways to Measure Success Holds Back Mobile Ads
Posted by Gsurface
on March 23, 2013
No comments
Apple ID accounts reportedly vulnerable to password reset hack, forgot password page taken offline for maintenance (update 2: back)
Posted by Gsurface
on March 23, 2013
No comments
Gaping security holes are a pretty terrifying thing, especially when they involve something as sensitive as your Apple ID. Sadly it seems that immediately after making the paranoid happy by instituting two-step authentication a pretty massive flaw in Cupertino’s system was discovered and first reported by The Verge. Turns out you can reset any Apple ID password with nothing more than a person’s email address and date of birth — two pieces of information that are pretty easy to come across.
There’s a little more to the hack, but it’s simple enough that even your non-tech savvy aunt or uncle could do it. After entering the target email address in the password reset form you can then select to answer security questions to validate your identity. The first task will be to enter a date of birth. If you enter that correctly then paste a particular URL into the address bar (which we will not be publishing for obvious reasons), press enter, then — voilà — instant password reset! Or, at least that’s the story. While we were attempting to verify these claims Apple took down the password reset page for “maintenance.” Though we’ve received no official confirmation from Apple, it seems the company is moving swiftly to shut down this particularly troublesome workaround before word of it spreads too far.
Update: We’ve heard back from Apple on the matter, which stated, “Apple takes customer privacy very seriously. We are aware of this issue, and working on a fix.” No real surprises that a fix is in the works, but there you have it from the horse’s mouth.
Update 2: The forgotten password page is back as of late Friday evening — that was (relatively) quick.
Source: The Verge
Why I won’t be going back to BlackBerry from iPhone
Posted by Gsurface
on March 22, 2013
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After using BlackBerry phones for years before switching to an iPhone, I was intrigued to see whether the Z10 could tempt me back. But glitches and a lack of apps left me cold. [Read more]
CNET News
Release of Ashton Kutcher’s Steve Jobs film pushed back
Posted by Gsurface
on March 17, 2013
No comments
The film, starring Ashton Kutcher as late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was originally set for release next month. [Read more]
CNET News
MetroPCS moves back shareholders meeting to April 12th
Posted by Gsurface
on March 3, 2013
No comments
MetroPCS has moved the date of its shareholders meeting back to April 12th. The special meeting will allow MetroPCS stockholders to vote for the pending T-Mobile merger. Following the meeting and the votes, MetroPCS believes that its merger with T-Mobile will be completed shortly after. MetroPCS encourages all of its shareholders to vote in favor
Engineer Plants to Reflect Light Back into Space
Posted by Gsurface
on March 2, 2013
No comments
Samsung Takes Note Of Apple’s Passbook And Fires Back With Its Own Wallet App
Posted by Gsurface
on February 27, 2013
No comments
I’m no great fan of Apple’s Passbook, but it seems at least a few people at Samsung have taken a shine to the same general concept. Earlier today, Samsung officially outed a new Samsung Wallet app at its Developer Day here at MWC that will allow users to store coupons, membership cards, tickets, and boarding passes on their smartphone. Sound familiar?
TechCrunch
HP Back In Tablet Game With Android-Based ‘Slate7′
Posted by Gsurface
on February 25, 2013
No comments
theodp writes “You know the old adage, ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me?’ Still, even if you got bit by the HP TouchPad debacle, HP’s newly-announced $ 169 Slate7 tablet could prove hard to resist. Specs-wise, the Slate7 sports an ARM Dual Core Cortex-A9 1.6 GHz processor, 7-inch 1024×600 HFFS screen, Android 4.1 (Jellybean), three-megapixel camera on the back, front-facing VGA camera, 8GB of on-board storage, HP ePrint, Beats Audio, and a micro SD expandable card slot. It measures 197mm x 116mm x 10.7mm thick, and weighs in at 13 ounces. It will be available in the U.S. in April. Engadget has some pics and their initial hands-on take.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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