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Showing posts from October 20, 2013

'Electronic Blood' Could Power Next-Gen Computers

As reported by the BBC , IBM is looking for a solution. One idea is to cool computers the way the human body cools its brain — by using a fluid, i.e. blood. IBM’s Patrick Ruch and Bruno built a proof-of-concept computer chips that contains tiny channels that would circulate a fluid past electronic components, cooling them down. They think an electrolyte similar to what goes inside a battery would work best for the “electronic blood.” As it passed through the channels, it would not only dissipate heat, but would also deliver energy to the chips. It would work because as the fluid traveled through ever-smaller channels, it would pass electrodes that would pick up the electrons from the fluid and use them to create a current.

QX10 : Expensive Lens Camera for Your Smartphone

Sony's QX10 is a $250 lens-shaped camera that connects to iPhones and Android smartphones through Wi-Fi or NFC. It has its own 18.2-megapixel image sensor and a 10x optical zoom lens. It's designed to take better image quality with the convenience of a smartphone's touchscreen controls.Although the QX10 only weighs 3.7 ounces, its soft plastic is light enough that it can easily be knocked out of your hand. Be smart and use the included lanyard.As you can see, the QX10 lens camera is quite bulky when attached to a smartphone.The QX10 comes with a removable 630mAh battery. Sony says the battery lasts around 220 shots (or about 110 minutes), but we were only able to get around 150 shots and between 80-90 minutes of usage on a single charge. The battery is charged via a micro USB port.

One-third of US adults get news through Facebook: study

One in three Americans get news through Facebook, according to a study from the Pew Research Center released on Thursday.  Almost 80% of those surveyed happen upon news when they are checking up on friends or sharing photos. Heavy news consumers did not describe Facebook as an important source of news, the study found. "People go to Facebook to share personal moments — and they discover the news almost incidentally," Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research at Pew, said in a statement. The survey is the first part of a series of studies that the Pew Research Center in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation are conducting to examine social media and news consumption. 

The interactive chopping board Tablet

Bringing smartphones and tablets into the kitchen can be just as helpful as having your own sous chef. You can use them to cross reference recipes, look up cooking terms and convert ingredient measurements. What’s not so helpful is always having clean up before interacting with the device, to say nothing of dropping it in that simmering pot of Bolognese sauce. That’s why Sharp rewarded Siobhan Andrews with a two-month internship for her winning entry into the #GetItDownOnPaper design competition. Andrews whipped up the Chop-Syc, a high-tech chopping board prototype embedded with a touch-screen LCD tablet reinforced with special glass that can withstand knives, food and liquid.

NASA Laser Breaks Space Communications Record By Shooting laser at Moon

 NASA has set a new record for communication in space, beaming information to and from a probe named LADEE that is currently flying around the moon 380,000 kilometers away. Aboard LADEE is the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD), which achieved super-fast download speeds of 622 megabits per second (Mbps) and an upload rate of 20 Mbps. In comparison, the internet at WIRED’s office in San Francisco gets download rates of 75 Mbps and uploads at 50 Mbps. NASA’s typical communications with the moon are about five times slower than what LLCD provided. Until now, NASA has used radio waves to communicate with its spacecraft out in the solar system. As a probe gets farther away, you need more power to transmit a signal. Earth-based receiving dishes have to be bigger, too, so that NASA’s most-distant probe, Voyager 1, relies on a 70-meter antenna to be heard. LLCD relies on three ground-based terminals at telescopes in New Mexico, California, and Spain to communicate.

iPad becomes iPad Air, Mini gets Retina screen

 Apple's big press event Tuesday brought news for lovers of Macs and iPads alike, with the latter receiving not just a big bump in power, but a new name. The company felt that the new iPad was so light and thin it deserves to be called the "iPad Air." This new version has been in the works for years, said Apple's Jony Ive in a video shown at the event, and it shows in the design. At 7.5mm thick, it's 1.9mm thinner than the latest full-size iPad, and somehow the engineers managed to drop its weight down to a pound, flat. Must have been all the stuff they took off the side of the device: now it resembles the iPad Mini with thin side-bezels.

Apple's new OS X 'Mavericks' Available for Free

The newest desktop operating system from Apple, OS X 10.9 or "Mavericks," will be available to download Tuesday — for free. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president for software engineering, announced the details at an Apple special event on Tuesday. Apple first showed off "Mavericks," its latest version of OS X (and the first to be named after a killer waverather than a killer cat) at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The OS has a few new security and power-saving and energy efficiency features, but the big change is how the system blends the edges between the iOS and OS X experience, porting in apps like Maps and iBooks.  Apple says there are 200 new features crammed into this update. Here are a few you can look forward to: Maps :   Directions, searches, restaurant and attractions reviews and phone numbers, and more can be accessed on your desktop, in the regular maps view, or a 3D "Flyover" view. When you're do

Apple Launches New Ipad Mini And Air

Apple Aipad far the most 'thin and light' Aipad air-launched version. The company claims that these are the lightest device in the range of full-size tablets. Nearly nine ½ inch (9.7 inch) of the tablet is just 0.3 inches thick and weighs 0.45 kilograms. Air is pumped into the A7 chip company Aipad click Aifon 5 s in use. In addition to its seven-inch tablet Air Aipad Aipad Apple has launched a new version of the Mini. Aipad Mini is the new Retina display. Apple launched the product in the market at a time when experts were saying that Google's Android, Apple's iOS in the tablet category is close to scoring. Eight-inch (7.9-inch) display resolutions for the new Aipad Mini has been increased to 2048 x 1536 pixel Retina display that is being said. Market price of U.S. $ 499 Aipad Air will start the New Aipad the cheapest version of the Mini will be available for $ 399.   November Aipad Air will be available in the U.S. market, while New Aipad Mini

Nokia launches its first tablet, Lumia 2520

Nokia announced its first tablet -- Lumia 2520 -- at Nokia World in Abu Dhabi. Lumia 2520 is a Windows RT-based tablet with a 10-inch 1080p HD display layered with Gorilla Glass 2. The tablet has a 6.7MP rear camera with Zeiss lens and a 2-megapixel shooter on the front. The 2520 runs on the 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and has an 8,000mAh battery. The tablet also sports Nokia's Storyteller and Video Director apps. Nokia 2520 has 2GB RAM, 32 GB internal memory, micro SD card support up to 32GB and SkyDrive cloud storage. Nokia 2520 is 4G LTE-enabled and comes with Microsoft Office pre-installed.Similar to Microsoft Surface, Lumia 2520 pairs with a Nokia Power Keyboard. The keyboard with a touchpad also contains an extra battery for up to five hours extra use, plus two USB ports.Nokia claims Lumia 2520 comes with fast-charging capability, which can go from zero to 80% charged in an hour. The Windows RT 8.1 device priced at $499 will ship later this year. The

Google launches uProxy, toolkit against cyberattacks

 Google will begin to shield news organizations and human rights groups from cyberattacks as part of a new package of services designed to support "free expression" on the web, the internet giant said. At a presentation in New York, the company also unveiled a new technology called uProxy that allows citizens under some regimes to bypass government censorship or surveillance software to surf the Web. The software will be available for Google's Chrome browser and Firefox but not for rival Microsoft's Internet Explorer, at least initially. The world's No. 1 search engine presented the two services - as well as a new map that highlights cyberattacks taking place around the world in real time - as some of the most significant software products to emerge from Google Ideas, a think-tank established by the company in 2010. Known for its "Don't Be Evil" corporate motto, Google has a well-established reputation for resisting authorities around the world w

BlackBerry rolls out BBM to Android, iPhone users

BlackBerry said that it has begun to roll out its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service to users of Android and iPhone devices. The long-awaited cross-platform offering, which was delayed after issues arose following the initial launch last month, is now being rolled out in a phased manner. "To help manage this unprecedented pent-up demand for BBM, we are implementing a simple line-up system to ensure a smooth rollout," Andrew Bocking, who heads the BlackBerry's BBM business, said in a blog post on the company's website. BlackBerry said last week that 6 million Android and iPhone customers had pre-registered for the launch.The company said those that had already signed up for the service at BBM.com are being allowed to use the platform right away, while others will be signed on as fast as possible.

Jambox mini: Terrific Sound in a Tiny Package

In consumer tech, we may remember this as the year Bluetooth speakers finally outnumbered insects on the earth. Every company and its brother has been cranking out compact, colorful, battery-powered wireless speakers. And no wonder: these things really are awesome. Every time some company offers a new tablet, laptop or phone, you can bet that it has a better, sharper, brighter screen — but what about the sound? It’s stuck in 2004: tinny and weak. A Bluetooth speaker neatly remedies that enormous quality difference between audio and visual. The Jawbone Jambox was one of the earliest hits. It’s a sharp-edged rectangular box, $150, that comes in a choice of colors. It pumps out surprisingly loud, clear sound — for its size, which is 6 by 1.6 by 2.8 inches. Then came the Big Jambox, a shoebox-size $300 version with big enough sound for a backyard. And now comes the Jambox Mini, at $180.