tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78728332565216348532024-03-05T11:42:51.023-08:00Information on latest technologies,Mobile phones, Internet, Gaming, Browsing and lots moreAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.comBlogger508125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-2801343053709069252014-11-06T02:44:00.000-08:002014-11-06T02:44:03.336-08:00ET deals: TCL 40-inch 1080p Smart LED-LCD TV (Roku TV) for $298<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><br />
<img alt="et-tcl-roku-tv-ed-choice" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="196" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/et-tcl-roku-tv-ed-choice-348x196.jpg" width="348" /> <br />
<br /><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><br />
Roku is well known as one of
the better streaming media players in the market, and for the first time
you can now save yourself a step and buy an HDTV with the Roku
experience baked in. The 40-inch model now runs just $298, the lowest
price it’s been since it debuted.<br />
<br />
The interface and capabilities
match up well with what you’d expect from Roku. You get integrated
access to their library of 1500 streaming “channels,” many of which are
free and others of which you’ll need a subscription to enjoy, like
Netflix and Hulu+. Content is navigated using the included simple remote
or via an app for your mobile device.<br />
</span><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><img alt="roku-tv-remote-controls" class="wp-image-193646 size-full" height="300" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/roku-tv-remote-controls.jpg" width="300" /> </span><br /><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><br />
The Roku TV also gives you
some cool functionality besides just the usual streaming options. Roku
Search lets you search for a title, actor or director across a number of
different channels at once, saving you the trouble of logging in and
out of different services. You can also cast from your mobile device
directly to the TV, letting you take advantage of the larger display.<br />
<br />
<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><br />
The TCL 40FS4610R HDTV
features a 40-inch 1920×1080 display with a Clear Motion Rate of 120,
delivering solid contrast and brightness. It’s just two inches deep and
sports thin bezels, providing a modern and compact look. Connectivity
options are fair, with a trio of HDMI ports, a USB port, and dual-band
wireless for streaming.<br />
<br />
Reception to this TV has been very positive. It’s earned PC Mag’s <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2469353,00.asp">Editor’s Choice</a>,
and in addition to 4.6 stars on Amazon, the Roku TV’s three size
variants are currently holding down the number one, two and four spots
on Amazon’s “Hot New Releases” for televisions. All three sizes have
dropped recently to the lowest prices we’ve ever seen, so grab the one
that suits your needs.</span> <br /><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-77454470899089801582014-07-03T04:26:00.002-07:002014-07-03T04:26:34.974-07:00World’s First Fully Open Source Laptop Now AvailableProject Novena is alive and running, promising to bring you the
world’s “almost” fully open source laptop. And it doesn’t just have open
source software, but open source hardware as well. Hardware with open
designs for anyone to manufacture and implement as per the requirements.<br />
<br />
This is increasingly becoming popular in tech companies today, where
all of them are concerned about ensuring data security, by keeping their
digital data and communication secure from NSA snooping<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="laptop OS" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="189" src="http://feedpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/laptop-OS1-760x360.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<br />
Project Novena’s Andrew “bunnie” Huang and Sean “xobs” Cross, two
Singapore-based engineers, who care enough about open source products so
as to go ahead and build something like Project Novena — not just
laptops, as we mentioned in the headline above, but other form factors
<br />
<div style="left: -3046px; position: absolute; top: -3643px;">
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of computing devices.<br />
<br />
Novena is having “a 1.2GHz, Freescale quad-core ARM architecture
computer closely coupled with a Xilinx FPGA. It’s designed for users who
care about open source, and/or want to modify and extend their
hardware: all the documentation for the PCBs is open and free to
download, the entire OS is buildable from source, and it comes with a
variety of features that facilitate rapid prototyping”, as confirmed on
the project’s page on Crowdsupply.<br />
<br />
The Project Novena laptop looks like a 13-inch hobbyist device with a
full-HD 1920×1080 display, 240 GB SSD, and 3000 mAh battery. It weighs
just 1.36 kgs, according to the Project Novena laptop’s claimed specs.<br />
<br />
Right now, it is priced at US $1,995, hence its not really available
financially to the local consumers, but this will definitely wow people
from the tech industries who value open source and want to have complete
control over every little aspect of their laptop.<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-59131224276626153562014-07-03T04:24:00.001-07:002014-07-03T04:24:39.984-07:00Google to shut down Orkut in September<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="orkut-shut-down" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="180" src="http://feedpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/orkut-shut-down-800x360.jpg" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
<span style="color: black;">Google will close down its social-networking service, Orkut, which was started ten years ago.</span><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">Orkut
is mainly used in Brazil and India, it will be shutdown on Sept. 30.
Google said that they will focus on its other social networking
initiatives.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">The company refused to tell the number of users Orkut has.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;"> Google
in a post on the Orkut blog on Monday said,”Over the past decade,
YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing
up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities
has outpaced Orkut’s growth, we’ve decided to bid Orkut farewell.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">Orkut and Facebook was launched in 2004 , now the Facebook is world’s No.1 social networking site with 1.28 billion users.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">The
social network’s shutdown proposal is in question. The head of Google’s
social networking services Vic Gundotra left the company in April.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">Vic
Gundotra managed the launch of Google+ in 2011 and he said in October
that 300 million users visit the Google+ web page every month.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">Google
has always tried to position Google+ as a social network site competing
with Facebook. For example, Last year Google started requiring users of
its YouTube site to sign in with their Google+ identity before posting
comments.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">The company told it will keep an archive of all Orkut “communities” which will be available from Sept. 30.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: black;">Those
you do not want their posts or name to be included in the community
archive can remove Orkut permanently from their Google account.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"> </span> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-15155382403645205152014-06-17T08:43:00.001-07:002014-06-17T09:01:00.981-07:0010 Ways 3-D Printing Could Change the World<div class="content">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-1.jpg" height="266" width="400" /> </div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
A confection made in the ChefJet Pro 3D food printer
is displayed at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
in Las Vegas. 3-D printers can create candies in very unusual shapes and
designs.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
When an engineer named Chuck Hall first dreamed up the idea of
printing three-dimensional objects back in the early 1980s, it probably
seemed to many people like something out of a particularly far-fetched
sci-fi novel [source: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/tech/innovation/the-night-i-invented-3d-printing-chuck-hall/">Ponsford and Glass</a>]. But since then, <a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/3-d-printing.htm">3-D printing</a> — which involves sending a <a href="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/10-biggest-2013-tech-moments.htm">3-D design</a>
to a special machine that piles layers of raw materials onto one
another — has not only become a reality, but a game-changer that
promises to remake our world as radically as the steam engine,
electricity and the computer once did [sources: <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/115503-what-is-3d-printing">Anthony</a>, <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394720,00.asp">Hoffman</a>].<br />
Not
only will 3-D printers allow manufacturers to slash the time it takes
to design and make a product, but the machines can enable the creation
of complex shapes and structures that weren't previously feasible. They
may even lead us into a new industrial age where we won't need factories
and assembly lines to produce many items. Instead, a designer may
transmit plans for products — from <a href="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/10-biggest-2013-tech-moments.htm">airplane parts</a> to clothing and toys — directly to the end-users' own printers [source: <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/manufacturing/3-d_printing_takes_shape">Cohen</a>].<br />
Already, 3-D printing has been embraced by big companies such as <a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/ford.htm">Ford</a>, which is printing the engine cover for its 2015 Mustang, and GE, which plans to print fuel nozzles for jet aircraft [source: <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/14/how-3-d-printing-is-changing-the-world-of-manufact.aspx">Heller</a>].<br />
But
that's just the tip of the incredible range of items that 3-D printers
can create. From pharmaceuticals to prosthetic body parts to food, let's
examine 10 ways 3-D printing technology could change the world in the
years to come.<br />
<br />
<b>Start the Countdown </b><br />
<br />
1 Guns<br />
<div class="content">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-11.jpg" height="266" width="400" /> </div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
Walter Klassen holds a fantasy gun that actually fires blanks, which he created on his 3-D printer.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
© David Cooper/ZUMA Press/Corbis</div>
</div>
<br />
In 2013, an activist in Texas with anarchist philosophical views made headlines by creating a <a href="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/5-scary-technologies.htm">3-D-printed handgun</a>
called the Liberator and successfully firing it at a private range. The
maker was careful to include a metal part to comply with a federal ban
on plastic handguns that might slip through airport security.
Nevertheless, the Liberator seemed intended to demonstrate the ultimate
futility of government-imposed <a href="http://people.howstuffworks.com/10-questions-in-gun-control-debate.htm">gun control</a>, in a future in which it would be easy to distribute blueprints for DIY weapons via the Internet [source: <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/05/3d-printed-gun-cody-wilson-defense-distributed.html">Silverman</a>].<br />
Indeed,
just a year later, authorities in Japan—a country with restrictive gun
control laws—arrested a 27-year-old man for allegedly possessing five
plastic handguns, created from plans he had downloaded off the Internet
[source: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/man-arrested-for-producing-3d-printed-guns/">Kravets</a>]. <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/05/3d-printed-guns/">Wired</a> reported in 2014 that DIY gun makers had learned to use <a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/shockwave.htm">3-D printing</a>
to create "powerful, military-grade firearms, and that it would be
"only a matter of time until fully-printed guns are equally durable and
deadly" as those made in conventional factories.</div>
<br />
2 Replicas of Famous Artworks<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-10.jpg" height="266" width="400" /> </div>
<div class="content">
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
This bust was created by a 3-D printer. Can a replication of Michelangelo's "David" be far behind?</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
John B. Carnett/Bonnier Corporation via Getty Images</div>
</div>
<br />
Southern California artist Cosmo Wenman has used a 3-D printer to
make meticulously rendered copies of famous sculptures, based upon plans
fashioned from hundreds of photographs that he snaps from every angle.
One example: He's reproduced "Head of a Horse of Selene," a classical
Greek sculpture that once resided in the <a href="http://geography.howstuffworks.com/europe/the-parthenon.htm">Parthenon</a>
and now is in the British Museum, by printing dozens of pieces of
plastic, gluing them together and painting them to simulate the marble
original. Wenman has confined his efforts to reproducing works from
antiquity, so that he won't be restricted by copyrights.<br />
<br />
Eventually, 3-D reproductions could enable museums such as the <a href="http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/destinations/landmarks/museums-tours/smithsonian-institution.htm">Smithsonian Institution</a>,
which only exhibits about 2 percent of its 14 million-piece collection
at any given time, to digitize artwork and make copies available to
people all over the world who might otherwise never see them [source: <a href="http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/jul/09/printing-art-home-3d-printer/">Carone</a>].<br />
<br />
3 Cool Cars<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-9.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
Members of the Urbee 2 design team pose with the Urbee 2, a 3-D printed car.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
Korecologic</div>
</div>
<br />
<a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/auto-manufacturing/5-auto-manufacturing-trends.htm">3-D-printed auto parts</a>
have been around for a while, but inventor Jim Kor and a team of fellow
engineers has gone a step further and printed an entire car. <a href="http://www.wired.com/2013/02/3d-printed-car/">Wired</a>
reported in 2013 that the three-wheel, two-passenger Urbee 2 vehicle,
which is mostly made of plastic, was created at a 3-D facility. The car
is not roadworthy yet since a hybrid engine (made of metal) still has be
designed, not to mention safety tests must be performed.<br />
<br />
The
vehicle took about 2,500 hours to fabricate, which means it's unlikely
to be showing up in your local car dealer's showroom for a while. But it
could be an omen of a future in which automakers can tinker minutely
with designs and use 3-D printing to make fuel-efficient cars that are
as strong and resilient as steel, but much lighter and optimally <a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-economy/aerodynamics.htm">aerodynamic</a>.<br />
In
2015, assuming funding comes through, two of the Urbee 2 inventors plan
to drive the car from New York to San Francisco in two days on 10
gallons (38 liters) of gas [source: <a href="http://korecologic.com/">Korelogic</a>]</div>
<div class="content">
<br />
4 Transplant Organs<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-8a.jpg" height="266" width="400" /> </div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
A futuristic illustration of an artificial human heart created using 3-D printer.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
Maciej Frolow/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
<br />
For years, researchers have been trying to figure out how to grow
duplicates of human organs in laboratories so that they can transplant
them into people who need them. But while they've had success growing
tissue, the cell structures and vascular systems of full-scale organs
such as <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/kidney-urinary/kidney.htm">kidneys</a> and <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/preventive-care/how-to-prevent-hepatitis.htm">livers</a> are really, really difficult to reproduce. Or at least, they have been up to now.<br />
Medical researchers are making strides with <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/modern-technology/3-d-bioprinting.htm">bioprinting</a>,
in which they harvest human cells from biopsies or stem cells, multiply
them in a petri dish, and use that to create a sort of biological ink
that printers can spray. (The 3-D printer is programmed to sort the
different cells types and other materials into a 3-D shape.)<br />
<br />
Scientists are hoping that <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/modern-technology/3-d-bioprinting.htm">bioprinting</a>
someday will enable them to arrange cells so precisely that they can
mimic the function of human organs, making them useful for testing new
drugs or even as organ transplants. If the organs could be fashioned
from a patient's own tissue or stem cells, they'd be less likely to be
rejected by his or her immune system [source: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/03/tech/innovation/3-d-printing-human-organs/">Griggs</a>].</div>
<br />
5 Your Own Home<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-7.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
Two people visit a 3-D-printed house in Shanghai, China. The manufacturer says it can make 10 of these houses in a day.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
© Pei Xin/Xinhua Press/Corbis</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
<br />
It's not inconceivable that in the future, you'll be able to create
or download a design for your dream home and then send it to a <a href="http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/10-companies-utilizing-green-construction.htm">construction company</a>
who'll print it for you on your lot. A Chinese construction company
reportedly is building houses by using a giant 3-D printer to spray
layers of <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/cement-mixer.htm">cement</a>
and recycled construction waste to form walls and the rest of the
structure. The finished homes don't look that fancy, but they can be
produced for less than $5,000, and the company claims that it can
produce up to 10 homes in one day [source: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/apr/29/3d-printer-builds-houses-china-video">Guardian</a>].<br />
Another
company in Slovenia reportedly is planning to market three different
types of 3-D house printers in 2014. The prices will start at 12,000
euros ($16,300) [source: <a href="http://3dprint.com/4392/3d-house-printer-betabram/">Krassenstein</a>].<br />
<br />
6 Fancy Candies<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-6.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
These edible confections were made in the 3D Systems
ChefJet Pro 3D food printer and displayed at the 2014 International CES
in Las Vegas.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
<br />
At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a company called
3D Systems exhibited a pair of 3-D printer systems that were customized
to <a href="http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/how-to-make-rock-candy.htm">make candy</a> from ingredients such as chocolate, sugar infused with <a href="http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/what-is-vanilla-sugar.htm">vanilla</a>,
mint, sour apple, and cherry and watermelon flavorings. The confections
were created by spreading a thin layer of flavored sugar and painting
water on top of it using a jet print head. This generated a substance of
hardened crystals. Not only was the finished product edible, but the
makers could actually create candies in unusual geometric shapes, and
even fashion sweets with moving parts [source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25647918">Kelion</a>].<br />
And
that's not the only food on the 3-D radar. A company called Natural
Machines recently unveiled a 3-D printing device called the Foodini,
which can print ravioli pasta. Yet another company, Dovetailed, came up
with a method of reshaping fruit puree into custom-molded simulated
fruits [source: <a href="http://3dprint.com/4314/3d-printed-fruit-microsoft/">Milkert</a>].<br />
<br />
7 DIY Pharmaceuticals<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-5.jpg" height="266" width="400" /> </div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
Matthew Plummer-Fernandez used software to scan and
distort the algorithms of everyday objects in a 3-D printer to create
beautiful works of art, like this one on display at the 2012 London 3D
Printshow.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
© Veronika Lukasova/ZUMA Press/Corbis</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
<br />
With a little tinkering, a 3-D printer can be rigged to spray
pharmaceutical ingredients instead of plastic or metal layers and
generate chemical reactions, which could open the way to custom-printing
medicines. In 2012, University of Glasgow researchers used a 3-D
printer to create a range of compounds, including some used in <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/cancer/facts/war-on-cancer.htm">cancer</a> treatments [source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17760085">BBC</a>].<br />
"In
the future, you could buy common chemicals, slot them into something
that 3-D prints, just press a button to mix the ingredients and filter
them through the architecture and at the bottom you would get out your <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/health-insurance/prescription-drug.htm">prescription drug</a>," researcher Mark Symes <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17760085">explained at the time</a>.<br />
DIY
pharmaceuticals someday might reduce the cost of health care, but the
technology also could have some risks, because people may choose to
forego medical supervision. Worse yet, law enforcement agencies will
have a tough time preventing drug abusers from downloading designs and
printing the substances of their choice — a future foretold by a recent
Vice article, entitled, "In the Future, Your Drug Dealer Will Be a
Printer" [source: <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/in-the-future-your-drug-dealer-will-be-a-printer">Holmes</a>].<br />
<br />
8 Replacement Parts for Almost Anything<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-4.jpg" height="266" width="400" /> </div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
A staff member of Nihon Binary shows an Acrylonitrile
butadiene styrene pylon (similar to a plastic traffic cone) which was
printed by the 3-D printer MakerBot Replicator 2X during the
International Robot Exhibition 2013 in Tokyo.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
© YUYA SHINO/Reuters/Corbis</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<br />
Probably everyone has experienced the frustration of having to junk
an old, long-dependable appliance that would work just fine, if only you
could find replacement parts.<br />
But that's likely to change, thanks
to 3-D printing, which may enable you to simply download the plans for a
replacement part and print it on your own printer. Already, 3-D
printing site <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/search/page:22?q=replacement&sa=">Thingiverse</a>
offers designs for printing close to 2,500 replacement parts for
everything from manual car window cranks and dishwasher rollers to <a href="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/clocks-watches/why-wear-wristwatches.htm">wristwatch</a> parts and <a href="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/pinball-machine.htm">pinball</a>
flippers. It's not that much of a stretch to envision a future in which
your trusty old gadgets could last as long as those 1950s automobiles
in Havana that are kept running by mechanics' ingenuity.<br />
<br />
9 Low-cost Prosthetic Limbs<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-3.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
Prosthetic, mechanical hands were on display at the 3D Printshow, held at Metropolitan Pavilion, New York in 2014.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
© Timothy Fadek/Corbis</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
<br />
In 2012, Daniel Omar, a 14-year-old Sudanese boy, was injured when
government forces dropped a bomb during an attack on rebels. An American
surgeon was able to save Omar's life, but he was left without hands.
That is, until Mick Ebeling, chief executive of a research firm called
Not Impossible Labs, read a magazine article about the plight of Omar
and other Sudanese <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/modern-treatments/amputation.htm">amputees</a>.<br />
Ebeling set up a lab at a Sudanese hospital and equipped it with 3-D printers, which churned out <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/prosthetic-limb.htm">prosthetic limbs</a> at a cost of just $100 apiece, a fraction of the thousands of dollars that conventionally manufactured ones go for [sources: <a href="http://techland.time.com/2014/01/07/how-a-time-article-led-to-the-invention-of-a-100-3d-printed-artificial-limb/">McCracken</a>, <a href="http://www.disabled-world.com/assistivedevices/prostheses/prosthetics-costs.php">Turner</a>].
Researchers at design firm Autodesk and the University of Toronto are
working to develop software that eventually will allow them to scan
amputees' bodies and design and print customized limbs that fit their
bodies more precisely [source: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2599863/How-tech-revolutionising-prosthetics-industry-3D-printed-limbs-hands-controlled-apps-mainstream.html">Woollaston</a>].</div>
<br />
<b>10 Custom-designed Clothes</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/3d-printing-world-2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /> </div>
<div class="bd">
<div class="caption">
Model Lindsay Ellingson struts the runway in her
3-D-printed headpiece as Taylor Swift (center) sings during the 2013
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.</div>
<div class="credit marginClearTop">
EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
<br />
In 2013, Victoria's Secret model Lindsay Ellingson wowed fashionistas
and techies alike by strutting down the runway in a one-of-a-kind
glittery snowflake ensemble, accessorized with a set of wings, a <a href="http://people.howstuffworks.com/corset.htm">corset</a> and a headpiece fashioned from nylon via a 3-D printing process [source: <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/14/the-victorias-secret-fashion-show-how-supermodel-l.aspx">Heller</a>].<br />
But
that attention-getting stunt only gave a hint of how 3-D printing may
transform the clothing industry. In the near future, according to Dutch
fashion designer Iris van Herpen, clothiers are likely to use 3-D scans
of consumers' bodies to create custom-designed garments and accessories
that not only fit them perfectly, but even adjust to their <a href="http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/style/fashion/body-type/5-tips-for-changing-style-to-match-body.htm">bodies' individualized movements</a> [source: <a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2013/04/24/iris-van-herpen-interview/">Dezeen.com</a>].<br />
<br />
"With
3-D printing you can decide how much flexibility you want in
millimeters or centimeters on a specific part, for example the knees or
the shoulders, and you can just include that on the file," van Herpen
said in a <a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2013/04/24/iris-van-herpen-interview/">2013 interview</a>.</div>
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-26050909180400524172014-06-17T08:42:00.002-07:002014-06-17T08:42:41.389-07:00New Type Of Computer Capable Of Calculating 640TBs Of Data In One Billionth Of A Second, Could Revolutionize Computing.<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="" height="265" src="http://www.iflscience.com/sites/www.iflscience.com/files/styles/ifls_large/public/blog/%5Bnid%5D/HP_the-machine.jpg?itok=LfFkXYYO" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
Let me introduce The Machine- HP’s latest invention that could revolutionize the computing world. <a href="http://www8.hp.com/hpnext/posts/discover-day-two-future-now-machine-hp#.U57EQfnIbC_">According to HP</a>, The Machine is not a server, workstation, PC, device or phone but an amalgamation of all these things. It’s <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/11/hp-the-machine/">designed</a> to be able to cope with the masses of data produced from the <a href="http://www.techopedia.com/definition/28247/internet-of-things-iot">Internet of Things</a>, which is the concept of a future network designed to connect a variety of objects and gadgets.<br />
<br />
In order to handle this flurry of information it uses clusters of <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/11/hp-the-machine/">specialized cores</a> as
opposed to a small number of generalized cores. The whole thing is
connected together using silicon photonics instead of traditional copper
wires, boosting the speed of the system whilst reducing energy
requirements. Furthermore, the technology features <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/11/hp_memristor_the_machine/">memristors</a> which are resistors that are able to store information even after power loss.<br />
<br />
The result is a system six times more powerful than existing servers that requires <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/11/hp-the-machine/">eighty times</a>
less energy. According to HP, The Machine can manage 160 petabytes of
data in a mere 250 nanoseconds. And, what’s more, this isn’t just for
huge supercomputers- it could be used in smaller devices such as
smartphones and laptops. During a keynote speech given at Discover,
chief technology officer Martin Fink explained that if the technology
was scaled down, smartphones could be fabricated with <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/11/hp_memristor_the_machine/">100 terabytes</a> of memory.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www8.hp.com/hpnext/posts/discover-day-two-future-now-machine-hp#.U57UDvldV1b">HP envisages</a>
a variety of future applications for this technology in numerous
different settings, from business to medicine. For example, it could be
possible for doctors to compare your symptoms or DNA with patients
across the globe in an instant and without breaching privacy, improving
health outcomes.<br />
While this is an exciting development, unfortunately for us HP isn’t expecting to have samples until <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/11/hp-the-machine/">2015</a> and the first devices equipped with The Machine won’t surface until 2018.<br />
If you’d like to find out more, check out this YouTube video from Discover 2014 detailing the technology:<br />
<span><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-66370031535042685702014-06-05T04:06:00.000-07:002014-06-05T04:06:14.910-07:00No iOS 8 for iPhone 4 : Apple<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="iOS-8-icon" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="180" src="http://feedpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/iOS-8-icon-800x360.jpg" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
Apple announces its all new iOS 8 for iPhone 4S, 5, 5C and 5S, iPad
2, new iPad, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad
mini with Retina display and fifth-generation iPod touch on Monday. But
it did not provide any upgradation for iPhone 4 which left many owners
of the phone disappointed.<br />
<br />
There has been fruphies in the market that iOS 8 wouldn’t support
iPhone 4, which turns out to be true on Monday at the Apple Worldwide
Developers Conference 2014<br />
Apple first unveils iPhone 4 in 2010 and now it is turning four years old.<br />
<br />
Apple’s tradition of dropping support for older device is nothing
new; we saw the same thing happen for the iPhone 3GS not supporting iOS
7. Last year Apple stops selling of iPhone 4.<br />
Whereas iOS 7 does supports iPhone 4 but it doesn’t offers some of
new features like siri,3D maps and turn-by-turn navigation , AirDrop ,
AirPlay mirroring ,live camera filters, panorama mode,simply because the
older smartphone is to slow to handle it. .<br />
Plus, iPhone 4 users also complained about the performance of iOS 7
on the older device, so an update of iOS 8 will create a more burden on
this old device.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-81126011970612268272014-06-05T04:00:00.003-07:002014-06-05T04:00:50.723-07:00Mumbai’s Pizzeria Delivers Pizza by Drones<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Drone" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="163" src="http://feedpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Drone.png" width="400" /> </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
A small pizza chain Francesco Pizzeria located in Mumbai succeeded in making delivery using GPS enabled drones.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
It was not a regular delivery as they were experimenting and the customer was a friend of chain’s CEO.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
The CEO of the chain said that, “All of us had read about
(global e-commerce giant) Amazon’s plans of using drones. We
successfully carried out a test delivery by sending a pizza to a
customer located 1.5 km away from our outlet on May 11.”</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
This is the first time in India where a product is delivered in such a unique way.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
It delivered a 13 inch plain Margherita pizza, weighing half a kilo to 21st floor.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
The drone speed beats the speed of the leading pizza chain, which delivers pizza within 30 minutes.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
He added “What we have done now will be common place in the
next four to five years. Every such customized drone costs around USD
2,000,” he added.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Drones are mainly used in India by filmmakers for shooting
to mount cameras And they are allowed to fly only between 200 to 400
feet.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
The Pizzeria told that it used a remote-controlled four-rotored drone which was custom made.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
The city police said that they are confirming whether the pizzeria request permission from the civil aviation authorities.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The company told that they had operated within the law.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Drones are banned in India from flying over security
reasons and there are technical difficulties like after operating within
8km area they ran out of batteries.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Amazon also reported that they would be testing drones for
making depiveryand also confirmed that it would take five years for the
service to begin.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-86102278398661872972014-06-05T03:55:00.002-07:002014-06-05T03:55:49.450-07:00Lenovo’s ‘S860′ High-End Smart Phone Released in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Lenovo-S860" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="236" src="http://feedpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Lenovo-S860.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Lenovo, a Chinese multinational technology company released
its S-series Smartphone in India at Rs. 21,500. . S860 was launched
with other S-series Smartphone – S660 and S850 – at MWC in Barcelona.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
The company assures its users that it has come up with ultra modern design, fast speed and a new improved battery life.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
“The new range of S series smartphones complements the
users’ aspirations. Bundled with stylish design, blazing fast processing
speeds, and integrated Lenovo proprietary apps, these phones provide
customers a great user experience without sacrificing performance”, said
Sudhin Mathur, Director – Smartphones, Lenovo India.</div>
<br />
Lenovo S860 smartphone features a 5.3 inch HD IPS display with 720 x
1280 pixel resolution. It sports a quad-core MediaTek (MT6582) 1.3 GHz
processor and a RAM of 2GB. It runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS and has a
dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) support.<br />
<div dir="ltr">
The phone comes with an 8 megapixel autofocus rear camera
with LED flash and a 1.6 megapixel fixed-focus front-facing camera. The
main feature of the phone is that it sports 4000 mAh battery which
delivers battery life of upto 43 hours.</div>
<br />
The smartphone comes with 16 GB of inbuilt storage and supports USB
on-the-go. Its connectivity includes: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS,
GPRS/ EDGE and 3G connectivity options.<br />
<div dir="ltr">
The Lenovo S860 is available in Titanium colour variant.
From May3, the Smartphone will be made available in physical retail and
exclusive Lenovo stores.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-88893056967873685012014-06-05T03:53:00.003-07:002014-06-05T03:53:57.242-07:00Motorola Launches New Smartphone, Moto X With Bamboo Finishing On Back<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="moto" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="154" src="http://feedpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/moto-930x360.png" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
The latest models of smartphones released by the Motorola have
experienced success in the global market. In the same run, it has
launched another model named Moto X smartphone in Indian market with
bamboo finishing on back. It is at a price of Rs 25,999 and available
only via Flipkart like any other model of Motorola smartphones.<br />
The Moto X also shares the same design, hardware and software like
the other models. Along with the walnut and teak wood finishes of back
it is also available with plastic back options such as black, white,
turquoise, blue and red colours.<br />
<br />
The plastic variant model costs Rs 23,999 compared to wood finishing
back model which is at Rs 25,999. Flipkart is offering a discount of Rs
1,000 on this wooden back model, so it is available for Rs 24,999.
Flipkart says that this offer is valid till stocks last or the offer
ends. But it has not said about any last date for this offer.<br />
<br />
The features of Moto X include 4.7 inch HD screen, 1.7 GHz dual-core
processor, 10 MP camera and 2GB RAM. It is one of the smartphone models
that runs on Android 4.4 operating system and also has a water resistant
coating. Users get a Google Drive storage of about 50GB free with Moto
X. This model also promises its users with optimized experience instead
of beefed up hardware.<br />
The most unique feature of Moto X is that always on voice assistant
which listens to the commands even when the user is not operating the
handset. Another feature is Quick capture, it allows the users to jerk
their wrist twice open to open the camera app. The camera of Moto X
allows 75% more light to enter producing better quality of low light
pictures which is nothing but Clear Pixel technology.<br />
Moto X has an Active Display that displays the time, unread messages
and emails, missed calls and other notifications even when the screen is
turned off like the Nokia’s Glance Screen. This phone is preloaded with
the Migrate app to allow users to transfer data like contacts, photos,
videos and even call log and SMSs from any Android 4.2 powered phone.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-29767561240495190792014-06-05T03:48:00.001-07:002014-06-05T03:48:13.901-07:00Samsung launches Galaxy W in Korean market<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="samsung-galaxy-w-ko" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="216" src="http://feedpanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/samsung-galaxy-w-ko.jpg" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
Another model in the series of Galaxy has been launched by Samsung in
the Korean market. This model is named Galaxy W and it is having a
7-inch display.This model is now at a price of 4,99,400 KRW
which is approximately Rs 28,800 in our currency.<br />
This 7-inch device is more or less becomes equal to a tablet model
and so Samsung has made the bezel thinner to reduce the size in-order
to facilitate the one hand operation.<br />
The Galaxy W model does not have a premium hardware. It has a 720p
display, 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and 1.5 GB RAM. It has the facility
of both cameras namely 8MP rear camera and 2MP front-facing camera.<br />
The internal storage is about 16GB and also having a microSD card slot and a battery with a capacity of 3200mAh.<br />
The operating system supported by this model is the old version
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS. The phone will be also available in
black, white and red colour variants.<br />
Until the launching of this model Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 has been the company’s biggest phone having a display of 6.3 inches.<br />
But it is not to our notice that if Samsung is going to launch this Galaxy W in other markets or not.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-43651093917598442802014-06-03T02:19:00.001-07:002014-06-03T02:19:25.280-07:00Toshiba sues Powerchip in Taiwan over memory chip patent<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="A view shows Toshiba Corp's logo at the fourth International Photovoltaic Power Generation (PV) Expo in Tokyo March 2, 2011. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao/Files" border="0" height="286" src="http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140603&t=2&i=902536758&w=580&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=LYNXMPEA5204L" width="400" /> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A view shows Toshiba Corp's logo at the fourth International Photovoltaic Power Generation (PV) Expo in Tokyo March 2, 2011.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph"></span></span></div>
Toshiba Corp, a
top maker of flash memory chips used in smartphones, said on Tuesday it
has filed suit in a Taiwan court against Taiwan's Powerchip Technology
Corp and three other firms charging infringement of its flash memory
patents.<br />
<span id="midArticle_0"></span><br />
A Toshiba spokesman said the
company was seeking T$100 million ($3.3 million) in compensation in the
case. The company is also seeking a halt of the sale and manufacture of
products that it says infringe its patents.<br />
<span id="midArticle_1"></span><br />
In
March, Toshiba also filed suit against South Korea's SK Hynix Inc
seeking damages in a case over suspected theft of data related to its
flash memory chip technology. ($1 = 29.9855 Taiwan New Dollars)<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-35200265024205920382014-06-03T02:12:00.003-07:002014-06-03T02:12:45.102-07:00Nintendo Toys With Mobile-App PossibilitiesIt could make a great deal of sense for Nintendo to create mobile apps,
but "leveraging the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets needn't be a
case of directly developing games for them," suggested Steve Bailey,
senior analyst for games at IHS Electronics and Media. Rather, mobile
platforms could be used simply to encourage deeper ongoing engagement
with the company's key console offerings.<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="Nintendo Toys With Mobile-App Possibilities" class="story-image" height="124" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw90506/nintendo.jpg" width="172" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="story-body">
Nintendo's Wii U hasn't exactly been the smash hit
that the company had surely hoped, and a year after the console's debut
Nintendo is reportedly exploring a future that could include mobile
apps.</div>
With <em>Angry Birds</em>, <em>Temple Run</em> and other casual games
dominating tablets and mobile phones, Nintendo faces increased
competition in the mobile gaming space -- a market the company has been
in since the late 1980s, when it introduced its first Game Boy.<br />
That competition is a hot topic that comes up often, and the company
recognizes the potential of the market, Nintendo of America CEO Reggie
Fils-Aime said in an interview with KING 5 News this week.<br />
Nintendo would consider experimentation that could provide a sampling
of what Nintendo has to offer, Fils-Aime noted, but in the end the goal
would be driving users back to Nintendo hardware. The company's games
are best played and best enjoyed on Nintendo platforms, he added.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Makes Great Sense'
</h2>
Mobile technologies could well be the biggest threat today to each of
the major video game hardware makers -- including also Microsoft and
Sony.<br />
"Nintendo has already dabbled with apps outside of its own ecosystem,
and the idea of companion applications for some its major titles makes
great sense," Steve Bailey, senior analyst for games at <a href="http://www.ihs.com/products/supply-chain/electronics-media/index.aspx" target="_blank">IHS Electronics and Media</a>, told TechNewsWorld.<br />
"Leveraging the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets needn't be a case
of directly developing games for them," Bailey added. Rather, mobile
platforms could be used simply to encourage deeper ongoing engagement
with the company's key console offerings, he suggested.<br />
Nintendo has "several properties that have a strong retention
characteristic that would be well-served as extensions for
non-specialist devices: think StreetPass, Miiverse and <em>Animal Crossing</em>,"
Bailey said. "Miiverse content can already be accessed from a generic
PC browser, for example, so extending such facets out to mobile APIs
isn't as much of a shift in strategy as it may appear."<br />
Instead of requiring that Nintendo release installments of its core
IP on iOS or Android, in other words, "it is more an exploration of how
smartphones and tablets can be used to enhance the ways in which gamers
connect to their Wii U and 3DS consoles," Bailey said.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
'More Than Just a Platform'
</h2>
Within the gaming world Nintendo has taken a relatively Apple-style
approach whereby hardware and software are more tightly integrated than
are competing offerings from Sony or Microsoft.<br />
"People who are talking about Nintendo games on a smartphone often
overlook that Nintendo is different than the other game companies
because it's more than just a platform," Susan Schreiner, senior editor
and analyst at <a href="http://c4trends.com/" target="_blank">C4 Trends</a>, told TechNewsWorld. "These characters have been moving from generation to generation for a lot of years.<br />
"Nintendo is the most successful company when it comes to the
integration of hardware with software, and its titles and characters
have endured over its 30-plus year history," Schreiner added.<br />
"While <em>Mario</em>, <em>Zelda</em>, <em>Pokemon</em> and <em>Animal Crossing</em>
might exist in a walled garden, they have helped Nintendo to be the
most consistently successful and acclaimed publisher of games, with its
titles consistently at the top of the game charts. There is a
universalism to its games that transcends age and gender," she said.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
'Playing It Coy'
</h2>
Nintendo's investment last month in mobile content company Dwango "might
have fueled speculation as to Nintendo's future intentions," Schreiner
pointed out.<br />
Nintendo has used Dwango as an advertising platform for its devices and games, she added.<br />
Fils-Aime's latest comments suggest that Nintendo executives are taking a cautious approach, however.<br />
"It seems as if Nintendo is playing it coy," said Schreiner. "On the
one hand executives are saying Nintendo games are for Nintendo platforms
-- but other comments like those from Reggie Fils-Aime seemingly leave
the door open.<br />
"We are seeing that people are willing to pay for a higher-quality
game experience, she concluded. Nevertheless, "while other game
publishers are experimenting with business models, perhaps for now
playing it safe might be the better strategy for Nintendo, with its
prized and reliable franchise with a loyal following."<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-80604625192061910192014-06-03T02:10:00.002-07:002014-06-03T02:10:47.737-07:00Google to Spread the Web With $1B Worth of SatellitesIt looks as though Google wants to accelerate its plans to hook up the
entire world to the Internet by deploying a fleet of satellites. It
already is working on a plan to deliver the Web via high-altitude
balloons, but a satellite system would be more reliable and durable.
Facebook is using drones in a similar effort, and Google recently bought
a drone company it had shown interest in acquiring.<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="Google to Spread the Web With $1B Worth of Satellites" class="story-image" height="150" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw330598/google-remote-internet-access.jpg" width="200" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="story-body">
Google's eye on the sky seems wider than ever. The
company reportedly is planning to spend at least US$1 billion on a
project to bring Internet access to remote areas through satellites.</div>
It is not yet clear whether the plan would augment or replace Project Loon -- Google's proposal to <a href="http://www.technewsworld.com/story/78286.html%20percent20" target="_blank">connect remote regions</a>
to the Internet through high-altitude balloons. However, the report
suggests that Google hopes the plan will help it to overcome technical
and financial hurdles that hampered similar projects in the past.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Lower Orbit
</h2>
While the details of the scheme are shifting, the project will begin
with around 180 small, high-capacity satellites that will have a lower
orbit than traditional satellites and may expand from there, according
to <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>.<br />
"The potential of the reported Google project would be to help ensure
that the next generation of unserved Internet users comes online, said
Charles King, principal at <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.pund-it.com/">Pund-IT</a>.<br />
"The fact is that often due to political folly and economic
challenges, potential online access suffers. So it's both interesting
and admirable that private concerns like Google, Facebook and others are
investigating alternatives for creating the infrastructure necessary to
support wireless Internet access," he told TechNewsWorld.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Hiring Spree
</h2>
Google apparently has been hiring engineers from
<a href="http://sslmda.com/" target="_blank">Space Systems/Loral</a> to
work on the initiative, which is being led by Greg Wyler, founder of
satellite communications company O3b Networks. Wyler and O3b's former
chief technology officer recently joined Google. Between 10 and 20
people are said to be working under Wyler.<br />
The company is spending between $1 billion and north of $3 billion --
a price tag that will be affected by the final design of the network,
further phases that could expand the number of satellites to double the
initial number, and other factors.<br />
Project Loon had the potential to build a network of balloons to
cover the entire planet, Google CEO Larry Page said at a conference
earlier this year, noting that balloons were cheaper and faster to
build.<br />
However, satellites can afford greater capacity and flexibility,
while costs to build them appear to have dropped in recent years.<br />
"I think the satellites will initially complement Project Loon," Laura DiDio, principal at <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.itic-corp.com/itic_analysts.html">ITIC</a>,
told TechNewsWorld. At first glance, satellites appear to be more
robust than high-altitude balloons circumnavigating the globe, which
could be knocked off course or downed by severe weather conditions.
Satellites can also be impacted by an incident that might occur in
space, but seem more substantial than a high-altitude balloon."
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
'Cheaper to Build'
</h2>
"Balloons can more easily be shot down, typically have less range, and
are more vulnerable to atmospheric conditions, but they are far cheaper
to build and launch," said Rob Enderle, principal at the <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.enderlegroup.com/">Enderle Group</a>.
"A typical developing country doesn't have the technology to shoot down
satellites. They can execute Loon more quickly, but the satellite
approach would potentially be far more strategic."<br />
As part of the project, Google apparently plans to take advantage of
developments in antenna technology, which can track multiple moving
satellites. Some current antennas have no moving parts and can be
controlled by software, which lowers maintenance and manufacturing
costs.<br />
"They want to increase their reach and do have a belief that every
person in the world should have access to the Internet," Enderle told
TechNewsWorld. "While they clearly have a revenue goal as well, I think
in this instance, it is secondary -- given the audience -- to their goal
of making people better informed."
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Infrastructure Plan
</h2>
Along with the somewhat noble notion of connecting people in remote
regions to the Internet, Google's latest Internet scheme could be seen
as part of tech companies' tussle to take over Internet infrastructure,
largely bypassing the networks of telecoms.<br />
Google has laid more than 100,000 miles of
<a href="http://www.technewsworld.com/story/79663.html%20percent20" target="_blank">fiber-optic cables</a> around the world, a report earlier this year indicated.<br />
"Truthfully, Google's motives are a mix of altruism and pragmatism.
They can bring Internet connectivity to remote peoples and portions of
the globe and make a profit doing it. Sounds like a win-win to me,"
Enderle said.<br />
Facebook and several other technology firms have teamed up to use
drones to bring Internet access to people in remote areas through
Internet.org.<br />
After reports surfaced of
<a href="http://www.technewsworld.com/story/80080.html" target="_blank">Facebook's interest</a> in buying drone maker Titan Aerospace, Google
<a href="http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/80302.html" target="_blank">swooped in</a> to make the acquisition.<br />
"I think their respective plans might be cooperative in the early
planning stages and then diverge if and when the project actually takes
off," ITIC's DiDio said. "At that point, Google will have to refine its
goals to suit the individual usage models. But initially at least, I can
see many people in remote locations wanting to use the same technology
to connect to Facebook and Internet.org."
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Connecting Those at Home
</h2>
The implications of such ambitious projects stretch far beyond the developing world.<br />
"There is tremendous potential If Google goes forward with its
project to give unwired portions of the planet Internet access using
small satellites," DiDio said.<br />
"The impact and implications are enormous for both developed as well
as developing nations. Location is a huge obstacle and impediment to
Internet access," she pointed out.<br />
"While it's unthinkable to city dwellers and suburbanites, there are
still many rural or geographically remote areas in the U.S. with no
connectivity," DiDio added. "According to the FCC's Eighth Broadband
Progress Report released in August 2012, 75 percent or 14.5 million of
the 19 million Americans that currently lack Internet access live in
rural or remote areas where connectivity and broadband are unavailable.<br />
"The biggest group of disenfranchised here in the U.S. are 5.1
million Native American Indians and Alaska Natives," DiDio continued.
"The majority of Native Americans live on 324 tribal reservation lands
-- many of which are rural and remote -- in the lower 48 states and
Alaska, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.
They are miles from any town or power grid, and many reservations lack
electrical power -- which means no Internet connectivity. Imagine the
difference this could make in their lives."<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-86272393369800609722014-06-02T08:28:00.002-07:002014-06-02T08:28:36.460-07:00Sonos Swings Into Google's PlaygroundListening to music just got a little more appified. "You can send your
Google Play playlist directly to any Sonos speaker -- it doesn't stream
the music through your phone or tablet, so you don't have to worry about
WiFi dropouts or having your music interrupted by system sounds or an
incoming phone call," noted Chris Boylan, editor-in-chief at Big Picture
Big Sound.<br />
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<img align="left" alt="Sonos Swings Into Google's Playground" class="story-image" height="124" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw762258/sonos.jpg" width="172" /> <br />
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A new partnership between
<a href="http://www.sonos.com/" target="_blank">Sonos</a> and Google
means that users of the Google Play Music app for Android now can stream
music to their Sonos speakers directly from the app itself.</div>
Available in 25 countries, the new capability effectively eliminates
the need to use Sonos' Controller app as an intermediary. It represents
Sonos' first such integration partnership with a major music streaming
service, but it likely won't be the last, Kristen Bender, Sonos' senior
product manager for music services, told TechNewsWorld.<br />
"In betting on streaming, we look to bring thousands of services to
millions of music lovers worldwide," Bender said. "While we started with
Google Play Music, we look to provide this same experience to users
across multiple services."<br />
<br />
For now, however, the capability is Android-only -- "no date has been
set at this time for further consideration for iOS," she said. <br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
'A More Immediate User Experience'
</h2>
Sonos originated in the PC era, when music typically was stored on local
hard drives, so "it made sense to sync from there," Mark Mulligan,
media analyst with <a href="http://www.midiaconsulting.com/" target="_blank">MIDiA Consulting</a>, told TechNewsWorld.<br />
While the majority of listeners still do things that way, "things are
changing, and Google Play is aimed at changing that," Mulligan pointed
out. So, in many ways, "this is a recognition of the fact that we're
moving into the post-PC era."<br />
From a user-experience perspective, "it is much more easy and elegant
to be able to play directly from your phone -- it's a more immediate
user experience," he added.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
'Google Is Playing Catch-Up'
</h2>
Systems like Sonos and others "are a growing way for audiences to consume music," agreed radio futurologist
<a href="http://james.cridland.net/" target="_blank">James Cridland</a>.
"Most of them have access to Spotify, Rdio and other music services, so
Google is playing catch-up here: This move will just put Google Play
Music on a similar footing to the other services."<br />
The unavailability of Google Play Music on Sonos surely has dissuaded
some Sonos owners from signing up for the Google service; conversely,
"its availability on Sonos should mean current Google Music users will
consider a Sonos system in future. This is a win-win for the two
companies," Credland told TechNewsWorld.<br />
In general, Google Music has appeared to be "a hobby" for Google and
"something they haven't taken too seriously," he added. "It still lags
behind Rdio and Spotify for social features."<br />
Both competitors have a multiplatform strategy, for example, and
Spotify in particular is available on a large number of devices, he
pointed out.<br />
So "this deal does indicate that Google is taking its music product more seriously," Credland concluded.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
'A Win for Both Companies'
</h2>
Sonos, meanwhile, is "facing more competition in the whole-home wireless
streaming market these days, as companies such as Samsung, Apple, Bose,
DTS and Qualcomm have launched or announced their own flavors of
wireless streaming," Chris Boylan, editor-in-chief at
<a href="http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/" target="_blank">Big Picture Big Sound</a>, told TechNewsWorld.<br />
<br />
Two things that set Sonos apart, Boylan suggested, are "integration
with a large number of different streaming apps -- Spotify, Pandora,
Internet Radio, iTunes and now Google Play Music -- and ownership of the
complete user experience.<br />
"With Sonos, you don't have to piece together a system or worry about
complicated set-up for multiple components," he explained. "You just
download the Sonos Controller app, buy a Sonos speaker, connect the
speaker to your network by pressing a couple of buttons, and you're
done. Everything else is controlled by the Sonos app."<br />
<br />
Now, with support for Google Play Music, "you can send your Google
Play playlist directly to any Sonos speaker -- it doesn't stream the
music through your phone or tablet, so you don't have to worry about
WiFi dropouts or having your music interrupted by system sounds or an
incoming phone call," Boylan added. "It's very similar to Apple's
AirPlay, but for Android devices instead."<br />
That, in turn, adds up to "a win for both companies," he concluded,
"as it makes it easier for current Sonos owners to stream from their
Google Play Music accounts, and it allows Google Play users to easily
send their music anywhere in their homes without the range limitations
and inherent drawbacks of a Bluetooth connection."<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-28366646877788855812014-06-02T08:16:00.000-07:002014-06-02T08:16:53.280-07:00Hiring Linux to Run Your Small BusinessLinux is safe and secure and not prone to many of the quirks that plague
Microsoft products. Still, when it comes to the care and feeding of
Linux, it should be treated like any other mature enterprise class
operating system that is running your business, noted Shaun Sellers,
senior product manager at Vision Solutions. It will need its share of
patches and updates, for example.<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="Hiring Linux to Run Your Small Business" class="story-image" height="124" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw716283/linux-small-business.jpg" width="172" /><br />
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<div class="story-body">
<a href="http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/80415.html" target="_blank"><em>Previous installment: Making Linux Feel at Home</em></a></div>
Individuals and businesses migrate to Linux for a variety of reasons.
Disgust with Microsoft or Apple regimentation and software limitations
are but two of them.<br />
For some, the greater flexibility that comes from open source
software, as well as better cost and productivity controls, are the
driving factors for a move to the Linux OS. The benefits vary depending
on the use case and the desktop or server configurations employed.<br />
Employing Linux to run your business or drive your personal computing
equipment takes some preparation. New software takes some time to
learn. However, planning for a smooth migration will make for a
successful and rewarding move.<br />
The migration process is not limited to users of Microsoft Windows
and Apple computers. A strong user base exists in enterprise settings
for other operating systems as well.<br />
There is still something religious in some enterprise circles
surrounding Unix in the embedded space. Some people cling to
OpenSolaris. Another popular OS in some quarters is BSD, noted Bruce
Tolley, vice president of technical and solutions at
<a href="http://www.solarflare.com/" target="_blank">Solarflare</a>.<br />
"In the 1990s, IT people often rallied around the notion that no one
ever got fired for buying IBM. In the last year or two, you could argue
that today if you are an IT guy who manages servers at a large company,
you are not going to get fired for hiring Linux," he told LinuxInsider.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Lure of Linux
</h2>
Linux has grown up in the last decade and has shed its reputation for
being hard to install, configure and use. Linux also has gotten past
concerns that it is not secure or not safe because anybody can view the
source code.<br />
On the high-performance side, we are seeing a lot of customers making
the move to Linux. There was some hesitancy for companies to move away
from Solaris, noted Tolley.<br />
"Regarding the OS installed in the fortune 100 companies, I would argue that over 50 percent now are using <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</a> Enterprise Linux," he added.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Letting Go of Legacy
</h2>
Cultural issues are partly responsible for the differences in operating
system deployments, noted Francois Chevresson, director of professional
services at
<a href="http://www.bonitasoft.com/" target="_blank">Bonitasoft</a>.<br />
"From a cultural perspective, European governments place much more
regulation on privacy and access to one's data. In the U.S., the privacy
and access is considered to be part of the price one pays for the
economy and third-party maintenance provided by cloud deployment," he
told LinuxInsider.<br />
With the GUIs getting better and better, it has become much easier to
get the tech guys coming out of school to start using the Linux desktop
as well as Linux servers, said Mike Vitale, chief technology officer
for
<a href="http://www.talkpointcommunications.com/" target="_blank">TalkPoint</a>.<br />
"As migration goes, when it comes to power users, it is easier. When
it comes to general users in the SMBs, it is a little more difficult.
You have to make sure that the components are there," Vitale told
LinuxInsider.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Moving Moguls
</h2>
There is also the issue of sociological preference for OS choice, based
on the IT director's computer science degree, Tolley suggested. IT
preferences might force some enterprise backends to linger longer
without Linux.<br />
Still, Linux servers are clearly the migration path of choice,
according to Rick Sizemore, director of the technology transformation
practice at
<a href="http://www.alsbridge.com/" target="_blank">Alsbridge</a>.<br />
"I don't talk to any customers today who are looking to deploy more
Windows servers. They may be adding more users per existing Windows
server or something like that. Linux is more often than not the platform
of choice," Sizemore told LinuxInsider.<br />
In many industry sectors, migrating to Linux happens quietly.
Deploying Linux also can be a segmented process, depending on the size
of the business operation and the computing needs being addressed.
Sometimes, the server services run on Linux initially, and employee
workstations get Linux and Android devices later.<br />
Bonitasoft's computer applications are based on Java, which makes them easy to deploy on a number of platforms.<br />
"This approach helps to simply a transition to Linux," said
Chevresson. "Using software deployed through a cloud installation masks
most of the problems in moving to Linux."
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Making the Makover
</h2>
Successfully migrating to Linux -- whether on back-office servers or
cube farm workstations -- might simply come down to one word: planning.
Or perhaps one phrase: Be prepared.<br />
As with any OS, you should put a lot of thought, planning and testing
into your initial deployment. However, success goes beyond that,
according to Shaun Sellers, senior product manager at
<a href="http://www.visionsolutions.com/" target="_blank">Vision Solutions</a>.<br />
"Similar to other operating systems, Linux will still need to be
maintained with patches and updates which should be vetted in your
environment through some sort of change-control process," he told
LinuxInsider.<br />
Linux is safe and secure and not prone to many of the quirks that
plague Microsoft products. Still, when it comes to the care and feeding
of Linux, it should be treated like any other mature enterprise class
operating system that is running your business, noted Sellers.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Demystifying the Move to Linux
</h2>
One of the initial barriers to migrating to the Linux OS, especially the desktop, is <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt">FUD</a>. Fear, uncertainty and doubt continue to plague the uniformed.<br />
The Linux environment has many distros that are very similar to
Windows. Users have little difficulty making the switch, according to
Tomas Zubov, CEO of
<a href="http://www.icewarp.com/" target="_blank">IceWarp</a>. First, however, users and company leaders have to know about Linux.<br />
"I am seeing situations where people are expressing great surprise
that modern Linux systems are so much like Windows in terms of the <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUI">GUI</a>. They had heard Linux required extensive use of the command line much like old-school Unix systems," Zubov told LinuxInsider.<br />
This myth is now falling away as people are discovering that Linux is
much like Windows but has a freer environment. People can easily work
with Linux, he said, adding that he sees many cases where people were
afraid of Linux but are now moving to it.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Substituting Software
</h2>
The demand for the Linux desktop has steadily been growing. That demand
led IceWarp to develop an enterprise-strength replacement product for
messaging and email needs of Linux users.<br />
"One of the trends we see is customers migrating from Microsoft
Windows who do not want to leave behind the Microsoft Exchange email
system," Antonin Prukl, director of development at IceWarp, told
LinuxInsider.<br />
The application software that computer users leave behind is rarely
much of an issue to deter their migration to Linux, agreed IceWarp's
Zubov. They are moving away from Windows services because of the
software and service limitations. The process of becoming familiar with
new desktop software in Linux is not any different.<br />
"There is always an adjustment period when you switch applications
within an operating system, but I don't see that as being an obstacle
for migrating to Linux," said Zubov. "People switch to Linux servers
because they can set it up exactly to meet their needs. That is the
power of open source that attracts enterprise users. They are able to
maximize their server use according to their needs. This is nearly
impossible for them to do with a Windows server."<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-72335949802590006302014-06-02T08:12:00.001-07:002014-06-02T08:12:19.951-07:00How to Encrypt a Windows 8 PC DriveWindows 8.1 Pro includes built-in drive encryption tools. These tools
work even if you don't have a TPM chip. TPM, or Trusted Platform Module,
is encryption-ready hardware. You'll need a spare USB thumb drive,
though. Encryption tools are hidden away in the depths of the machine,
so finding them can make you feel like an International Person of
Mystery.<br />
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<img align="left" alt="How to Encrypt a Windows 8 PC Drive" class="story-image" height="150" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw580023/windows-8.jpg" width="200" /><br />
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Real-life events -- the disclosures from website
WikiLeaks; Edward Snowden's leaks of classified government documents to
media outlets; credit card hijacks by the server load; and even
Facebook's stumbles over its privacy policy explanation to the masses --
have created a general sense of unease when it comes to privacy these
days, even at the consumer level.</div>
We are all becoming increasingly aware that our digital lives are no
longer private. Not only are they no longer private -- in reality, they
likely never have been. It may be time to think about encryption.<br />
There are some
<a href="http://www.technewsworld.com/story/79559.html" target="_blank">easy ways to encrypt email</a>. There are also some methods for encrypting thumb and hard drives.<br />
<br />
Windows 8.1 Pro, the version of Windows that Microsoft pitches on its
website, includes built-in drive encryption tools.
These tools work even if you don't have a TPM chip. TPM, or Trusted
Platform Module, is encryption-ready hardware. You'll need a spare USB
thumb drive, though.<br />
Amusingly, encryption tools are hidden away in the depths of the
machine, so finding them can make you feel like an International Person
of Mystery.<br />
Nevertheless, here's how to go about it:<br />
<em>Step 1</em><br />
Verify that your machine is running Windows 8 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro
by launching the Control Panel. The Control Panel can be accessed from
the new Windows 8-style Search Charm -- type "Control Panel" in the
search box.<br />
Click or touch System and Security, and then System. The Windows Edition will be listed.<br />
<strong>Tip: Windows 8 Encryption is called "BitLocker." It's
included in Windows 7 and Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate; it is
also available in the Pro and Enterprise editions of Windows 8.</strong><br />
<em>Step 2</em><br />
Enter the term "gpedit.msc" in the search charm's text box. Then
browse the hierarchical menu structure, moving from Open Computer
Configuration to Administrative Templates to Windows Components to
BitLocker Drive Encryption to Operating System Drives.<br />
Then right-click on the third option, labeled "Require additional
authentication at startup." Then check the Allow BitLocker without a
compatible TPM check box. Click Apply and then OK.<br />
<em>
Step 3
</em><br />
Enter the term "BitLocker" in the Windows Search Charm and then
"Manage BitLocker." Or scroll down to BitLocker Drive Encryption from
System in Control Panel.<br />
<em>Step 4</em><br />
Turn on BitLocker.<br />
<em>Step 5</em><br />
Insert a USB flash drive into the PC's USB jack and follow the prompts.<br />
<strong>Tip: You can use a password instead of a USB drive. However,
the USB drive method is more secure, because it's a physical factor --
you need to insert the actual thumb drive to access the PC. It's also
more entertaining.</strong><br />
<em>Step 6</em><br />
Create a Recovery Key by following the prompts to save a backed-up
key to an external source -- like another PC on your network or a second
USB drive -- or by printing it.<br />
<strong>Tip: A Recovery Key is a backup key.</strong><br />
<em>Step 7</em><br />
Choose how much of the drive you'd like to encrypt by selecting the appropriate radio button.<br />
<strong>Tip: Encrypt the entire drive if you're using an existing rather than new PC. It takes longer but will catch stray files.</strong><br />
<em>
Step 8
</em><br />
Select the Run BitLocker System Check check box. This will verify encryption keys.<br />
<em>Step 9</em><br />
Restart the computer. The computer will restart, and the drive will
start encrypting. The USB drive should be in the USB jack at this step.
Allow the encryption to take place.<br />
<em>Step 10</em><br />
Remove the USB drive and restart the PC to test. You'll be prompted to insert the USB drive key.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-67032399801832630522014-06-02T08:08:00.000-07:002014-06-02T08:08:54.189-07:00Iranians Caught Cyber Snooping on High-Value US TargetsThrough an elaborate social engineering ruse that involved setting up a
fake news organization, Iranian spies were able to convince thousands of
valuable U.S. and Israeli targets to connect with them on social media.
"The Iranians use a relatively low level of technological
sophistication, but what they lacked in sophistication, they made up in
creativity," said iSight's Stephen Ward.<br />
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<img align="left" alt="Iranians Caught Cyber Snooping on High-Value US Targets" class="story-image" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw124639/iran-cyberespionage.jpg" height="150" width="200" /><br />
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A cyberespionage campaign with links to Iran for
at least three years has been targeting U.S. military and congressional
personnel, journalists and diplomats, as well as U.S. and Israeli
defense contractors and members of the U.S./Israel lobby, according to a
report released Thursday by
<a href="http://www.isightpartners.com/" target="_blank">iSight Partners</a>.</div>
Using more than a dozen phony identities on online social networks,
the spy ring managed to rope into its web of deceit more than 2,000
high-value targets, harvesting credentials or planting malware capable
of stealing data from infected systems, the firm found.<br />
<br />
"Two years ago, Iran said it wanted to develop cyberespionage
capability," Stephen Ward, senior marketing director for iSight
Partners, told TechNewsWorld. "They meant it -- and we're seeing that."<br />
Ironically, the Iranian bogus persona campaign began around the time
it was reported that the U.S. Central Command had awarded a contract to a
California company to develop software for creating fake online
personalities to spread pro-American propaganda on the Internet.<br />
In an elaborate scheme, the Iranian cyberspies established a fake
news outlet, the Newscaster Network, on major social networks --
Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn -- and populated it with fake
personas.<br />
<br />
The personas probed high-value targets on the social media, making
requests to connect. After joining a person's circle of contacts, they
sent the target a link to a fake portal to the social network. When the
target entered their credentials at the phony portal, the spies then
could harvest them.<br />
The credentials enabled them to enter the target's network.<br />
"They can move from machine to machine, collecting intelligence and
information on what assets are on the network and how they can be
accessed, and escalate their privileges to access more sensitive
information," Andrey Dulkin, senior director of cyber innovation at
<a href="http://www.cyberark.com/" target="_blank">CyberArk</a>, told TechNewsWorld.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-77776450338975241352014-06-02T08:04:00.001-07:002014-06-02T08:04:09.845-07:00How to Speed Up a Sluggish Android SmartphoneIf getting rid of superfluous apps on your smartphone doesn't solve the
problem, reinstalling factory stock software likely will. Like rehab --
or the drunk tank -- for our lethargic, wrong-side-of-the-tracks
smartphone inhabitant, this operation may sound like a big deal and a
lot of work, and unfortunately it is, because you have to reconfigure
your apps.<br />
<br />
<img alt="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw36532/smartphone-android.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw36532/smartphone-android.jpg" /> <br />
<br />
<div class="story-body">
One of the disadvantages of retaining a phone
after the expiration of a two-year contract -- as many of us do -- is
that those older phones have accumulated a few years' worth of digital
gunk.</div>
They're clogged up like an aging sewer on the wrong side of town.<br />
Just like on a PC, bits of app and OS code become discombobulated --
orphaned from the parent program. Onboard digital debris becomes
disoriented like a drunk stumbling out of a favored hole-in-the-wall;
jumbled lethargy sets in, and the device can take forever to start or
become sticky in operation.<br />
Well, just like a PC -- or a run-down apartment house, for that
matter -- you can freshen up a gloopy smartphone. Here's how to go about
speeding up a slowing Android smartphone.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Get Rid of Superfluous Apps
</h2>
The purpose of this procedure is not so much to free space but to remove
any apps that might be performing poorly. Apps can contain all sorts of
trouble-prone, permissions-based polling, checking and syncing.<br />
<strong>Step 1:</strong> Open the Settings area by touching the
Settings cogwheel-like icon. Then scroll through to the Apps menu item.
In older versions of Android, it's labeled Applications.<br />
<strong>Step 2:</strong> Touch the Downloaded tab and scroll through the list of apps. These are the apps that you've installed over the years.<br />
<strong>Step 3:</strong> Touch the app label for any app that you
haven't used in six months and press Clear Cache, then Clear Data and
then Disable or Uninstall, depending on options proffered.<br />
<em>Tip:</em> Be ruthless here and purge anything you're not using -- it's a lot easier than identifying rogue behavior app-by-app.<br />
<strong>Step 4:</strong> Test by restarting the phone and
unscientifically identifying whether performance has improved. Key
benchmarks are time-to-start and speed-of-scroll between home screens.<br />
If the phone is feeling nimble again, you've identified your issue.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Make Some Space
</h2>
<strong>Step 1:</strong> Open the Apps menu item again from within Settings.<br />
<strong>Step 2:</strong> Choose Options and then Sort by size.<br />
<strong>Step 3:</strong> Scroll through the first few apps -- the
most memory-hungry -- and clear the caches by pressing the Clear Cache
button within each App label. This will free memory, allowing more
operating headroom. Then test.<br />
<strong>Step 4:</strong> Check storage by opening the Settings area again. Then scroll through to the Storage menu item.<br />
View the Internal Storage graphical bar. If it's full, with little
space being indicated as available, install LeveloKment's app <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.levelokment.storageanalyser" target="_blank">Storage Analyser</a>, available free in the Google Play store, and run it.<br />
<em>Tip:</em> This app will identify the largest files on your device
-- files that may be phantom -- and allow you to delete or move them
off the device, thus freeing space. Then test.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Reinstall the Factory Stock Software
</h2>
If the previous steps haven't solved the problem, this likely will. Like
rehab (or the drunk tank) for our wrong-side-of-the-tracks inhabitant,
this operation may sound like a big deal and a lot of work, and
unfortunately it is, because you have to reconfigure your apps.<br />
<strong>Step 1:</strong> Open the Backup and Reset menu item from Settings and check Backup My Data along with your Google account details if prompted.<br />
<em>Tip:</em> Leave the phone connected to the Internet overnight if
you are newly creating a backup. This will give the Google servers time
to pluck the settings data like WiFi connections and passwords, which it
will restore later. You can skip this, but you'll have to re-enter a
bunch more stuff manually.<br />
<strong>Step 2:</strong> Select Factory Data Reset from the same menu and follow the prompts to perform a full wipe and OS reinstall.<br />
<em>Tip:</em> Before a reset save, off-device, any internal
storage-stored media files, like captured photographs. A reset wipes
internal storage.<br />
<strong>Step 3:</strong> Allow the phone to restart and follow the prompts to set up your Google account on the device anew.<br />
<em>Tip:</em> If your downloaded apps don't immediately show, you can kick-start the installation from Google's Play store My Apps menu item.<br />
<strong>Step 4:</strong> Reconfigure your apps' settings.<br />
<em>Tip:</em> This is the tried-and-true method to get the phone back
to stock and a just-out-of-box state. Avoid restoring from backups in
this case because you may reintroduce the issue or issues.<br />
<br />
<b>you van drop your comments pls </b><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-27485579098991371832014-06-02T07:57:00.002-07:002014-06-02T07:57:23.833-07:00The Real Reason Apple Bought Beats: AddictionBeats is not about headphones or a cool service with licensing deals.
Beats is all about one-to-one connection of a brand and subscription
service that feeds a person's soul. Apple's acquisition of Beats
Electronics is more about the acquisition of a kindred spirit than a new
line of business. Sure, the executives from both companies walk
entirely differently, but their cores are similar.<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="The Real Reason Apple Bought Beats: Addiction" class="story-image" height="124" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw16440/beats-music.jpg" width="172" /><br />
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I get the sense that a good many Apple enthusiasts are confused
by its acquisition of Beats Electronics. Sure, many are nodding their
heads, saying that Beats is good for Apple and makes total sense. The
headphones are selling well. With 250,000 paying subscribers, the Beats
Music service is taking off fast, and it can only be elevated by Apple's
global brand and infrastructure.<br />
<br />
However, there's an undercurrent of concern, too -- a bit of head-scratching
and scrambling to make sense of what this really means for Apple's
future. After all, couldn't Apple have built everything that Beats
offers, all by itself? (On the surface, yes.)<br />
Does Apple really need to buy "cool" these days? (No.) More worrisome,
is Apple becoming one of those big companies that starts buying other
companies just to keep the parent conglomerate growing and expanding
in order to confuse Wall Street and make lackluster executives feel
like they're actually doing something important? (I sure hope not.)<br />
So why Beats? Why now? What the heck is going on here? Is Apple going
to start buying companies in order to attract new management talent,
like Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre? After all, it's hard to make a
traditional "hire" of an industry-leading professional with deep
industry business connections. A simple hire seems like a
step down, especially to pros who are running their own companies. A
big acquisition, though, makes landing an Iovine or Dre possible.<br />
Despite making sense on paper, the whole Beats acquisition still seems
so anti-Apple that it's just damn unsettling.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Good but Not Insanely Great Products
</h2>
At first, I got hung up on the headphones, because the Beats headphones
are popular -- but not <em>insanely great</em>. Apple used to shoot for
both -- to make a product that was insanely great <em>and</em> make it
popular through fantastic marketing. As near as I can tell,
audiophiles and music lovers who appreciate fidelity pretty much shrug
their shoulders at the Beats line of headphones and speakers. Why
would Apple buy something that wasn't better than what it could produce on
its own?<br />
This is an issue I've been struggling with. Like most of the tech
press, I tried to shrug it off with the notion that the fledgling
Beats Music subscription business is the key. That Apple is willing to
buy the mediocre "products" in order to get the backend subscription
deals with music labels, so as to offer something it doesn't yet
have itself.<br />
Forget the scraggly trees, right? <em>Just buy the whole damn forest.</em><br />
However, Apple is a very thoughtful company. It moves with intent. If Apple
poured US$3 billion into its own subscription service, it easily could
launch a great new service, if not a whole new sub-brand. So what gives?
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
A Closer Look at Headphones
</h2>
Despite popular belief, Apple is not a fashion company. Apple produces
products that become fashionable -- not because of how they look, but
because of how they make customers feel. When you hold an Apple device
in your hand -- iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook -- the quality and care is
obvious. Even the iPhone 5c is incredibly solid and well-made.<br />
Combine
the hardware with the software, which delivers constant positive
interactions with the user, and you've got a device that becomes an
extension of a person's personality -- in a sense, an element of
fashion. Still, Apple didn't set out to be cool -- Apple set out to build
great products that, because of their greatness, became cool.
As a consequence, Apple became cool, too.<br />
Beats seems to come from a radically different place -- it started with an attempt to
create a product that was cool and fashionable -- one that people
wanted because it was cool.<br />
That seems anti-Apple.<br />
<br />
There's something wrong with this simple explanation, though. It's not
deep enough. It's flat and condescending -- not only to Jimmy Iovine and
Dr. Dre, but also to the consumers who shelled out
for mediocre-plus headphones in cool shiny colors.<br />
So what's going on? Music is about emotion. It creates and modifies
moods. It's profoundly biological. What Beats did was build and create
a new cue -- a sign of sorts -- in color, format, and logo -- that
reminds a person to listen to music and enjoy it, to put on their
Beats headphones with intent.<br />
<br />
Then the visceral experience of the
music reinforces the distinctive design in such a way that users get
more joy out of listening to music through their Beats headphones than
through other, more generic-looking headphones. Cost and quality
become secondary to the repeated experience created by
using Beats headphones.<br />
In short, Beats headphones represent a constant reminder to enjoy your music.<br />
This achievement is a big deal. It's not a fad. It's a connection
between a product and life enjoyment -- and when the joy is absent, it's
a form of addictive self-medication.<br />
I'm not kidding.<br />
<br />
Most of us manipulate our energy and moods with a wide variety of
tactics and substances -- coffee, alcohol, chocolate, hot showers,
exercise, potato chips, drugs. Over the ear headphones (that
youngsters will wear in public) create a suddenly immersive music
experience. They shield you from the outside world and focus
attention on the experience between your ears -- in a way that Apple's
iconic white earbuds simply cannot replicate. Earbuds deliver sound,
but they don't have the size and shape to trigger a
deep physical and emotional signal that focuses your experience the
way that large headphones do.<br />
<br />
The very act of placing a large set of headphones over your ears
creates a cocoon of sound and experience that both shields you from
the rigors of the outside world and takes you somewhere else.<br />
Does Tim Cook know this? Maybe. Does Apple? Maybe. I wouldn't be
surprised. The most coveted products are always less about fashion
than they are about emotion -- the dirty little secret of addiction.
(After Flappy Bird -- which nobody accused of being cool -- you would
think the connection between product, experience, and addiction would
be more thoroughly discussed.)
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Enter the Beats Subscription Service
</h2>
Apple could seek to create its own line of headphones to
attempt to create this same sort of buying and using experience. But
Apple doesn't have the secret ingredient in high-grade musical
addiction anymore -- the connection of mood with device and content.<br />
<br />
Beats connects the device (headphones) with the content through its
curated streaming music service. The customers trust their moment to
the Beats Music curated list. Then, each time a user creates an
awesome playlist by connecting current music needs to the
service itself -- and is rewarded with a blast of music-delivered
emotion -- a reinforced feedback loop is created. Talk about customer
loyalty. Talk about viral world-of-mouth marketing. Talk about shared
moments hanging out with friends.<br />
Pre-built playlists in iTunes do not invite this sort of surprised
customer delight. Apples iTunes Genius just doesn't cut it. And iTunes
Radio? The feeling is more akin to tolerating the stream than being
connected to it.<br />
Beats is not about headphones or a cool service with licensing deals.
Beats is all about one-to-one connection of a brand and subscription
service that feeds a person's soul -- and it does it with a profitable
product.<br />
<br />
I've got to believe that Apple recognized something here that is
profoundly different than all the other companies that Apple could
have bought.<br />
Like Nest, for example. Nest users appreciate their smart thermostats,
no doubt, but do they have a visceral addiction and appreciation for
the thermostat? I doubt it. Google buying Nest is a practical way to
build a home-based world of Internet-connected things. Facebook buying
Oculus VR or WhatsApp is more simply about a big brand expanding its
reach. Microsoft buying Nokia is a desperate attempt to wedge open the
mobile device door before it slams shut forever. All these
acquisitions are about acquiring very simple, tactical products.<br />
Beats is not simple or particularly tactical.<br />
<br />
What finally settles it for me is the realization that the acquisition
of Beats Electronics is more about the acquisition of a kindred spirit
than a new line of business. Sure, the executives from both companies
walk entirely differently, but their cores remain similar -- they
understand that customers are about experience, and companies that
feed a fantastic experience are those who win.<br />
That's worth repeating: Companies that feed a fantastic experience are
those who win.<br />
Because the collision of products and services with deep customer
experience is such a rare quality, I don't think similar acquisitions
are going to happen often at Apple. So yeah, the Beats acquisition is
a big deal. Letting the service work with Android and Windows
Phone customers is a big deal. But shifting tectonic plates in
Cupertino? Not so much after all.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-89420578829967313902014-06-02T07:48:00.002-07:002014-06-02T07:48:33.514-07:00Google Puts Cute Little Rides on the RoadGoogle is doing all that it can to take the fear factor out of
driverless cars. It's new prototype -- it will test 100 or so of these
cars this summer -- is as cute as a bug and likely to appeal to older
folks who can no longer drive, as well as anyone who would rather be
doing something else. Speed demons won't get much of a kick out of it
though. The prototype can't move the needle past 25 mph.<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="Google Puts Cute Little Rides on the Road" class="story-image" height="150" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw56035/google-autonomous-car.jpg" width="200" /><br />
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Google this week unveiled a prototype that it will test on California
roads to learn more about how to make safe and efficient autonomous cars
a mainstream reality.<br />
<br />
For about four years, Google has been developing self-driving
technology that could make the roads safer, and its newly revealed
prototype is the latest step in the project.<br />
The tiny vehicle is reminiscent of a Smart car, except for the
sensors on top. They're designed to eliminate blind spots and provide a
view of more than the length of two football fields in all directions.<br />
Inside, there are two seats with seatbelts, a space for passenger
belongings, and a screen displaying the car's route. Missing are a
steering wheel and gas and brake pedals. There's a red button a
passenger can press to make an emergency stop.<br />
As of now, the vehicle's top speed is 25 mph. The company plans to
build about 100 of the prototypes and start testing them later this
summer. After running a small pilot program on California roads, Google
expects to be able to offer its self-driving vehicle services more
widely.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Good Head Start
</h2>
Google's self-driving research and its prototype are a huge step forward
for the industry, said Panagiotis Tsiotras, director of the
<a href="http://soliton.ae.gatech.edu/labs/dcsl/" target="_blank">Dynamics and Control Systems Laboratory</a> at the <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.gatech.edu/">Georgia Institute of Technology</a>.
One of its biggest strengths is that a Google vehicle won't be held to
the same constraints that a vehicle made by Ford, for instance, would
be.<br />
"The introduction of the prototype definitely puts Google ahead of
the competition," he told TechNewsWorld. "Google has done a supreme job
on integrating many technologies that are required to make a
self-driving car a reality. Not being an automotive company, Google has
the freedom to pursue untraditional solutions and create new
opportunities that are brought about by the absence of a driver -- some
of which more traditional car manufacturers would be most likely more
reluctant to adopt."<br />
Google's has a good understanding of the importance of self-driving technology, said
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Ealaink/" target="_blank">Alain Kornhauser</a>,
professor of operations research and financial engineering, and
director of the Transportation Program at Princeton University.<br />
The company isn't trying to convince the masses that they need to run
out and buy an autonomous car. Instead, it emphasizes the superior
safety features of self-driving technology, all of which appeals to
people who want to drive but no longer can, he pointed out.<br />
"Since the speed is limited to 25 mph and the vehicles are small, the
application is probably limited to some retirement community in
California," he told TechNewsWorld. "However, such a demonstration will
go a long way towards validating the safety and reliability of the
concept and should get many influential people believing that this is
all a real possibility rather than a pipe dream."
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Testing and Learning
</h2>
As impressive as Google's efforts so far have been, the competition won't be far behind, noted Kornhauser.<br />
"This will give everyone a kick in the butt. This is all
game-changing in a very big market, so there will be a lot of players,"
he predicted.<br />
If Google's research continues to go well -- meaning it can improve
upon urban driving, human-machine interactions and vehicle-to-vehicle
communications technology -- the company has a chance to secure a
leading spot in the space, said GIT's Tsiotras.<br />
"As more individuals start to use these self-driving vehicles, the
more we will learn about the best way to interact with them," he
observed. "All these are very good reasons for Google to release these
prototypes, and the announcement has come at the right time.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-77209803035164109752014-06-02T07:46:00.000-07:002014-06-02T07:46:09.991-07:00Can Apple Do for Smart Homes What It Did for Smartphones?To make its smart home initiative work, Apple will need an effort in
line with that which created the iPod -- and Apple just doesn't appear
to have that capability without Jobs. The recent Beats acquisition
appears to be focused on fixing its decline in music, which suggests
Apple simply doesn't have the capability even to hold markets it once
owned, let alone conquer new ones.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img align="left" alt="Can Apple Do for Smart Homes What It Did for Smartphones?" class="story-image" height="124" src="http://www.technewsworld.com/images/rw86941/smart-home.jpg" width="172" /> </div>
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<div class="story-body">
Maybe. Apple is
<a href="http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Apple-May-Connect-the-Smart-Home-of-Your-Dreams-80511.html" target="_blank">rumored to be launching</a>
a smart home platform at its developer conference this week. The smart
home market is actually in a place that's rather similar to where MP3
players were when Apple launched the iPod, and the iPhone is basically
an iPod with phone capability.</div>
The smart home effort is in part about music and video distribution,
and iPhones are commonly used as remote controls for both consumer
electronics and smart home systems. So I think Apple can do this -- but I
doubt it will be successful at it, and I'll explain why.<br />
I'll close with my product of the week: an amazing, though not
inexpensive, IR scanner you can use to locate where you're wasting
energy.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
The Problem
</h2>
Much like the MP3 player market was before Apple took it over, there is
no large dominant player driving the smart home market at the moment.
The firm I used to automate my home is arguably the best and most
comprehensive. Insteon's platform isn't that well known, however.
Microsoft's recent effort to partner with it helps, but Microsoft
doesn't have the power it once did, and the result is just now hitting
the market.<br />
There's a massive number of additional standards floating around in
the market at the moment, most of which don't interoperate well.
Creating and using smart home technology is more like conducting a
science experiment, at the moment, than it is about developing a
user-friendly solution. In other words, this is likely an ideal market
for a company like Apple to take over.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
The Competition
</h2>
There are three other major companies chasing this opportunity. Perhaps
the scariest is Google, which would get unprecedented access to your
personal behavior from this and could subsidize the result aggressively
into an offering that a product company would have a hard time matching.
Unlike the history of smartphones, Google isn't lagging but leading
Apple into this market with its NEST acquisition. It recently bypassed
Apple both in brand value and in mobile device market share, suggesting
it can move faster -- making it impossible for Apple to catch it from
behind.<br />
Microsoft is partnering with the firm I believe is the current smart
home market leader (Insteon clearly has an advantageous brand). It has a
solution that is far more complete than Google's, ranging from switches
to integrated sensors and cameras. Microsoft also has new leadership
and a vastly more optimized structure, which should allow it to compete
more aggressively than it did in the last decade.<br />
BlackBerry has the <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QNX">QNX</a>
operating platform, which is near dominant in commercial automation. It
is widely used in efforts ranging from manufacturing to nuclear plant
automation, as well as in automobiles. It is arguably the most mature
and secure effort, and both maturity and security could be huge
competitive advantages in a market concerned about attackers gaining
access to cameras to violate privacy -- or worse, carrying out home
invasions. BlackBerry is aggressively going after this opportunity as a
major part of its turnaround effort.
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Wrapping Up: Why Apple Likely Will Fail
</h2>
Jobs personally drove the effort to capture the music market and then
drove that success into smartphones. The video effort that followed
while he was ill and after he died largely failed to corner the video
market, and Netflix, Amazon and Google became stronger as a result.<br />
To make its smart home initiative work, Apple will need an effort in
line with that which created the iPod -- and Apple just doesn't appear
to have that capability without Jobs. The recent Beats acquisition
appears to be focused on fixing its decline in music, which suggests
Apple simply doesn't have the capability even to hold markets it once
owned, let alone conquer new ones.<br />
So, while the timing is excellent, the unique capability that created
dominance in music -- which would be critical to its success in home
automation -- just doesn't seem to exist anymore, and that leaves the
market open to others that are better funded (Google), better positioned
(BlackBerry), or have better partnering skills (Microsoft).<br />
Apple still could pull a rabbit out of a hat -- but since Steve died,
there has been a severe lack of Apple rabbits and Apple hats. For its
rumored smart home effort to succeed, it would need to find both.
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-25498682664275163252014-05-07T04:25:00.000-07:002014-05-07T04:25:02.124-07:00Scientists turn skin cells into sperm cells, but raise provocative new questions<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><br />
<img alt="Sperm tubes" class="attachment-full wp-post-image" height="220" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/stubes-640x353.jpg" width="400" /> <br />
<br /><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><br />
Scientists can now reprogram
cells from the skin of an adult to turn into cells that would be at home
in any organ of the body. An exception to this has been that making
germ cells — the egg and sperm — still requires a fully developed human.
New research, just published in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/pdf/S2211-1247%2814%2900264-2.pdf">Cell Reports</a>,
suggests that even these special cells can be created in the lab. What
this really means is that the limitations to further progress are no
longer scientific or technological in nature. Instead, the limits have
become the problem of a new kind of engineering — ethical engineering.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Sperm1.png"><img alt="Sperm" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-181756" height="220" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Sperm1-640x353.png" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
In
our age, getting pregnant can often be harder (and more expensive) than
avoiding pregnancy. While men shoot blanks for a variety of reasons,
inherited genetic defects and chemotherapy are common ones. The ability
to convert the skin cells of these men into sperm — thus reopening the
doors to biologic fatherhood — would be nothing short of miraculous. But
to make mature sperm cells, you need to do more than just arrange
things properly inside the cell or its nucleus. In addition, you need to
coddle the cells in the proper environment, which prods them
continuously with formative external influences.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Spermcell.jpg"><img alt="Spermcell" class="alignright size-full wp-image-181757" height="155" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Spermcell.jpg" width="325" /></a><br />
<br />
Among
the developmental tricks nature uses to rough out many organs and
tissues, a particular favorite is for localities of cells to coalesce
and essentially hack for themselves an interior fluid space known as a
lumen. The cells that line these hollow lumens, whether they are to
become the ventricles of the brain, or perhaps future sensory organs or
air passages, typically sport hair-like cilia that wave like sea
creatures permanently affixed to the sea floor. With just a few changes
to this basic plan, you get sperm cells lining the insides the
seminiferous tubules in the testes, with their tails projecting into the
inner space.<br />
<br />
To sidestep the procedural risk and ethical unknowns
of injecting rebuilt sperm precursors into the testes of men, the
researchers did something a little different. After harvesting the men’s
skin cells and transforming them into <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/180906-stem-cells-created-cloned-from-adult-cells-for-the-first-time">all-powerful stem cells</a>,
they injected them into the testes of mice. There was evidence this
plan might work because mice have previously been bred from other mice
using skin cells that have been transformed into both eggs and sperm.
Using the human cells, the researchers were able to grow cells that went
on to become sperm cell protégés inside the mice. They’re not quite
fully developed sperm with tails, but rather, are immature apprentices
to sperm with all the molecular hallmarks of potential.<br />
<br />
These
hallmarks are basically protein or nucleic acid markers that the cell
produces when dedicated to any particular fate. They are often
visualized using what molecular biologists refer to as a “heat map.”
These maps are basically colorized matrices that indicate relative
abundance of different things in the cell. Mentioning a heat map to your
genetics counselor will let them know you are not one to be trifled
with. It’s kind of like asking a potential mechanic if they can read
U281 OBD2 codes for CAN VW Audi.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Heat-map.png"><img alt="Heat map" class="alignright size-full wp-image-181792" height="330" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Heat-map.png" width="330" /></a><br />
<br />
It
doesn’t require too much imagination to see potential concerns with
this new capability. Bioethicists have pointed out that little would
stand in the way of someone lifting a hair from say, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/01/308737968/provocative-research-turns-skin-cells-into-sperm?ft=1&f=103537970">George Clooney</a>,
and running off to the lab to make Clooney clones. It would also be
conceivable that samples from those long dead and gone could even be
used, perhaps a husband killed at war can still be father. Talk of
establishing new human rights, rights of consent, or of criminalizing
such activities may be premature without any ethical infrastructure to
support them. For example, “ownership” of DNA — particularly for
something like the DNA in our mitochondria — would be tough to
definitively establish. We inherit these sequences from our mothers with
little change, and she in turn inherited it from her mother. Many
people, especially those related, share very similar sequences.<br />
An
innovative group of medical ethicists, The Academy of Medical Ethics in
Bio-Innovation, have been evaluating the clinical and ethical issues
this breakthrough brings to the field of medicine. The President and
Director of AMEBI, Ayden Jacob, stated that ” we are witnessing how life
can not only be altered via genetics and engineering, but how life can
be created from the origins of matter itself. This breakthrough causes
us all to reassess our definitions of the genesis of life, and has
important implications for nearly every domain in medicine.” <br />
<br />
The
idea that mere rules can govern all the ethical situations that arise
seems futile. Like any engineering discipline, physical instruments,
structures, and protocols will need to be designed, implemented, and
operated with an as yet unimagined cohesion. Properly constructed
inter-dependencies among new civil, biomedical, and social tools may
both limit and enable according to precedent and consensus that is newly
laid seemingly as fast as it can be advertised. Included in a new
ethical science then, may be rules that do not deal directly with times
and places, people or events. Instead, it will deal with what we might
recognize as the core problem in ethics: that of predicting and dealing
with contradictions in general. A science of contradictions, in which
they are not just expected, but sought, may be more efficient and
practical than trying to microlegislate specific instances of them as
they arise.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-73788952053932361432014-05-07T04:22:00.002-07:002014-05-07T04:22:47.595-07:00You can finally watch a live video feed of Earth from space, and it’s awesome<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="International Space Station over Libya, as seen by HDEV live stream" class="attachment-full wp-post-image" height="223" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iss-hdev-video-stream-libya-640x358.jpg" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
After being continuously
inhabited for more than 13 years, it is finally possible to log into
Ustream and watch the Earth spinning on its axis in glorious HD. This
video feed (embedded below) comes from from four high-definition
cameras, delivered by last month’s SpaceX CRS-3 resupply mission, that
are attached to the outside of the International Space Station. You can
open up the Ustream page at any time, and as long as it isn’t night time
aboard the ISS, you’ll be treated to a beautiful view of the Earth from
around 250 miles (400 km) up.<br />
<strong>Updated @ 12:15 May 5:</strong> Unfortunately it seems the HDEV experiment has been “temporarily offline” for the last couple of days. There are <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/47048217">some recorded clips on Ustream from last week</a> if you want to see what the footage looks like. Just pretend that it’s real-time<br />
<br />
<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><br />
This rather awesome real-time
video stream (which also includes the ISS-to-mission control audio
feed) comes by way of the High Definition Earth Viewing experiment. HDEV
is notable because it consists of four, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
high-definition video cameras that are each enclosed in a pressurized
box, but otherwise they exposed to the rigors of space (most notably
cosmic radiation). The purpose of HDEV, beyond providing us with <em>a live stream of our own frickin’ planet</em>,
is to see if commercial cameras are viable for future space missions,
potentially saving a lot of money (space cameras have historically been
expensive, custom-designed things).<br />
<br />
HDEV, which consists of just a single enclosure, was delivered to the ISS a couple of weeks ago by <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/178389-spacex-prepares-to-take-the-biggest-step-towards-affordable-space-travel-soft-landing-the-falcon-9-rocket">SpaceX CRS-3</a>.
The box was connected up to the underside of the ISS via EVA/spacewalk,
with one camera pointing forward (Hitachi), two cameras facing aft
(Sony/Panasonic), and one pointing nadir (Toshiba, down towards Earth).
If you watch the stream you will notice that it hops between the four
cameras in sequence, with gray and black color slates in between each
switch. If the feed is permanently gray then HDEV is switched off — or
communications have been lost. Also note that the ISS has an orbital
period of just 93 minutes — for a considerable part of that time the
station is in the Earth’s shadow and can’t see much.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_181753" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HDEV7.jpg"><img alt="Inside the forward-facing HDEV box" class="size-large wp-image-181753" height="274" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HDEV7-640x439.jpg" width="400" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Inside
the HDEV box. The Hitachi camera is in the top left, the Sony and
Panasonic cameras are in the top right, and the Toshiba camera is along
the bottom edge.</div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_181752" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HDEV11.jpg"><img alt="HDEV operations" class="size-large wp-image-181752" height="300" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HDEV11-640x480.jpg" width="400" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
HDEV operational diagram</div>
</div>
The
active video camera is connected to the ISS Columbus module via an
Ethernet link, and then beamed down to the ground. From there, it looks
like the video feed is combined with the current ISS-to-mission control
audio feed, and then simply uploaded to Ustream. It’s an impressively
simple (and <em>cheap</em>) setup.<br />
It’s also worth mentioning that
parts of HDEV were designed by American high school students through
NASA’s HUNCH program. It’s good to see NASA fostering the next
generation of astronauts and scientists!<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_181748" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iss-hdev-cloudy-spain.jpg"><img alt="ISS HDEV, Mediterranean" class="size-large wp-image-181748" height="223" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iss-hdev-cloudy-spain-640x358.jpg" width="400" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
A very cloudy Spain, as seen from the International Space Station</div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_181749" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iss-hdev-mediterranean.jpg"><img alt="ISS HDEV, Mediterranean" class="size-large wp-image-181749" height="223" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iss-hdev-mediterranean-640x358.jpg" width="400" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Just off the east coast of Spain, the Mediterranean. With the north coast of Africa in the distance I think.</div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_181751" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iss-hdev-night-time-north-africa.jpg"><img alt="International Space Station, HDEV, night time" class="size-large wp-image-181751" height="223" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iss-hdev-night-time-north-africa-640x358.jpg" width="400" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
In this photo, the International Space Station is moving into night time (pre-dawn) above Sudan in Africa</div>
</div>
<br />
The
photos in this story are screenshots from the video feed. I think
they’re mostly of Spain and north Africa (the top photo is of Libya). It
seems to be a pretty cloudy on Earth today, though — I watched the feed
for a couple of hours and never really got a clear shot of the ground.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-848585912246292552014-05-07T04:20:00.000-07:002014-05-07T04:20:33.237-07:00Bill Gates hints that Microsoft could sell off its Xbox division<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><br />
<img alt="The giant Xbox One in Vancouver" class="attachment-full wp-post-image" height="298" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/xbox-one-giant-640x477.jpg" width="400" /> <br />
<br /><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><br />
Bill Gates, Microsoft’s newly
appointed “technical advisor,” has reignited the perennial debate about
whether Microsoft should sell off its Xbox and Bing businesses. For
years, analysts and investors have leaned on Microsoft to sell off the
loss-making Xbox division. With <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/175969-microsofts-new-ceo-is-satya-nadella-and-bill-gates-is-officially-coming-back">new CEO Satya Nadella</a>
saying that the company should focus on its core markets, rumors that
Stephen Elop (now Microsoft’s hardware chief) wanted to sell off the
Xbox and Bing businesses, and now Gates’ comments that he would
“absolutely” support the CEO if he chose to sell off Xbox, is a sell-off
or spin-off imminent?<br />
In an <a href="http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3538085981001/liz-claman-interviews-warren-buffett-charlie-munger-and-bill-gates/">interview with Fox Business</a>,
Gates answered some probing questions about the possibility of selling
off the Xbox and Bing divisions — and while he didn’t come out as being
for or against a potential spin-off, his responses strongly hinted that
the company is continuing to ponder the possibility. Gates said he’s
certain that “Satya and the team would look at that [selling the Xbox
division] and it’s up to them.” If the new CEO chose do so, he would
“absolutely” support him. Following Gates’ comments, Microsoft’s
communications chief <a href="https://twitter.com/fxshaw/status/463379786157420545">Frank Shaw was quick to tweet</a>: “Bill’s comments re Xbox reflected support of Satya as CEO” — not support for a possible sale of the Xbox division.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_158138" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ps4-rhombox-cropped.jpg"><img alt="The PS4 Rhombox, with controller" class="size-medium wp-image-158138" height="176" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ps4-rhombox-cropped-300x176.jpg" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
It probably doesn’t help matters that <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/180762-ps4-sales-pass-7-million-units-while-xbox-one-licks-its-wounds-and-plans-a-comeback">the PS4 is massively outselling the Xbox One</a></div>
</div>
<br />
It’s
also worth pointing out that Bill Gates said in the same interview:
“We’re taking PC gaming, Windows gaming and Xbox gaming, and bringing
those a lot closer together.” Here he is probably referring to the fact
that Microsoft now uses <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/168168-windows-9-will-unify-the-smartphone-tablet-desktop-and-console-but-is-it-too-little-too-late">a common Windows 8-based kernel</a>
across PC, smartphone, tablet, and game console — and if these
platforms are intrinsically linked, he says a sell-off is “not as
obvious as you might think.”<br />
<br />
In short, then, while Gates might’ve
spoken out of turn, we should try to keep his comments in context. We
would also be wise to remember that, in a world where tweets and blog
posts can be shared around the world while the truth is still putting
its shoes on, one slightly misspoken word can lead to a whole lot of
exciting, but ultimately superfluous debate.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_176150" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/microsoft-satya-nadella-bill-gates-steve-ballmer-three-ceo.jpg"><img alt="Microsoft's three CEOs on stage: Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer" class="size-medium wp-image-176150" height="165" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/microsoft-satya-nadella-bill-gates-steve-ballmer-three-ceo-300x165.jpg" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
Microsoft’s three CEOs on stage: Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer</div>
</div>
<br />
Still,
when all’s said and done, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if
Microsoft does actually sell off the Xbox and Bing divisions. Stephen
Elop, when he was being considered for the Microsoft CEO position, was
rumored to be considering a sell-off. Now that he’s head of Microsoft’s
hardware efforts, which includes Surface, Xbox, and the newly acquired
Nokia handset businesses, he’s in an ideal position to champion such a
spin-off. As we’ve already covered, I doubt Microsoft cherishes the idea
of <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/181344-microsoft-completes-7-2b-nokia-acquisition-will-now-attempt-a-messy-transformation-into-a-low-margin-hardware-company">inheriting a barely profitable 250-million-handsets-a-year businesses</a>. It will be years (if ever) before the handset business is integrated with the rest of Microsoft’s efforts.<br />
<br />
Outwardly,
as far as we can tell, Microsoft still fancies itself as a
products-and-services company. In a perfect world, I’m sure Microsoft
sees itself selling smartphones, tablets, and game consoles that are
perfectly married to Windows, Office, Bing, and Azure. It isn’t going to
happen quickly, though, and I’m sure there’ll be a <em>lot</em> of pressure to sell off its non-core (i.e. non-software) businesses over the next few years.<br />
<br />
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872833256521634853.post-54940045663906379102014-05-07T04:14:00.001-07:002014-05-07T04:14:58.828-07:00Xbox One to be the first game console sold in China in 14 years, but the PS4 still rules the West<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><img alt="Xbox One available in China (China unbans game consoles)" class="attachment-full wp-post-image" height="300" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/china-unbans-game-consoles-xbox-one-640x480.jpg" width="400" /> </span><br />
<br />
<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt">In an exciting move that could
turn the console war back in its favor, Microsoft’s Xbox One will soon
become the first major game console to be sold in China since they were
banned in 2000 due to concerns they melt the brains of children. The ban
was finally lifted at the end of 2013, but only for consoles produced
in Shanghai’s new free trade zone. It would seem that Microsoft is the
first big console maker to set up a production line there, with a target
domestic release date of September 2014. In case you weren’t aware,
China is now the biggest market in the world for consumer electronics —
if the Xbox One is a success there, it could easily pull ahead of Sony’s
PlayStation 4</span><br />
<br />
<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"></span></span><br />
Way back in 2000, China
banned game consoles that weren’t made by Chinese companies (i.e. all of
the major ones). This was ostensibly due to a parental outcry over
consoles affecting the productivity and mental well-being of their kids.
In reality, it was probably just to keep foreign countries (and
culture) out, which China is rather fond of doing. In September 2013,
Microsoft announced that it had invested $240 million in a joint venture
with BesTV, a domestic technology company — and almost simultaneously
China dropped the console ban. To be fair, China might still be
concerned about the effects of game consoles on children, but it would
seem those those fears, in a pinch, can be assuaged by oodles of money.<br />
<br />
China
is the most populous country in the world, the largest market for
consumer electronics in the world (as of 2013/2014), and according to
Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi there’s “over a half a billion gamers.” BesTV,
explaining why it chose to partner with Microsoft, says that the Xbox
One is the “most amazing family friendly entertainment product in the
world.” All of these factors, in short, could result in millions and
millions of additional Xbox One sales — and thus the closing of <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/180762-ps4-sales-pass-7-million-units-while-xbox-one-licks-its-wounds-and-plans-a-comeback">the widening gap between it and the PS4</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_181603" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/18j0refvt2q1kjpg.jpg"><img alt="Despite being illegal, you can still buy gray market consoles in China [Image credit: Kotaku]" class="size-medium wp-image-181603" height="225" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/18j0refvt2q1kjpg-300x225.jpg" width="300" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Despite being illegal, you can still buy gray market consoles in China [Image credit: <a href="http://kotaku.com/5883693/boy-is-chinas-illegal-gray-market-blatant/">Kotaku</a>]</div>
</div>
<br />
<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt"><span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt">I
think the reality of the situation is a little more complex, though,
especially for Western gamers (i.e. the Xbox One’s core market).
International consoles, despite being banned for the last 14 years, have
always been available through the gray market. In fact, despite the
ban, there are plenty of stores — in bright, public places — that sell
consoles and games that have been imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan,
where the ban doesn’t exist (or isn’t enforced). The domestic production
of Xbox Ones will probably increase sales by some margin (gray market
imports are expensive), but I don’t know if we’re talking about millions
of additional units here.</span></span><br />
<br />
The thornier issue is the matter of
local, domestic games. With the Xbox One now being legally recognized in
China, Microsoft and BesTV will be working hard to get local developers
to produce games that are specifically targeted at the Chinese
audience. This is obviously great for Chinese gamers, but it’s either
neutral or negative for Western gamers depending on your point of view.
The reason the PS4′s sales advantage is so significant is because it
will govern which console is the primary development target for next-gen
games: If the PS4 has 50% more Western users than the Xbox One, then
the PS4 will get all of the best Western games. Even if China puts the
Xbox One way ahead of the PS4 in terms of total sales, it won’t suddenly
mean that Xbox One owners in the West get special treatment.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124023737715005393noreply@blogger.com0