China clears Google, Motorola merger: Deal to close ‘within days’

By doris | Published: May 20, 2012

Full Story at news.CNET.com

Chinese antitrust and competition regulators have cleared Google’s move to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, completing the worldwide regulatory review process.

A Google representative confirmed that the Chinese government had given the merger the green light. The deal is set to close early in this coming week.

The deal had to be approved by a series of regulators around the world, not limited to the United States and Europe.

Posted in Google, Merger, Motorola | Leave a comment

SpaceX launch aborted at last second

By doris | Published: May 19, 2012

Full Story at CBSNews.com

(CBS/AP) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX never got off the pad.

A new private supply ship for the International Space Station remained stuck on the ground Saturday after rocket engine trouble led to a last-second abort of the historic flight.

All nine engines for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life Saturday morning. But with a mere half-second remaining before liftoff, the onboard computers automatically shut everything down. So instead of blasting off on a delivery mission to the space station, the rocket stayed on its launch pad amid a plume of engine exhaust.

Even NASA’s most seasoned launch commentator was taken off-guard.

Posted in Computer, Mission, Rocket, Space | Leave a comment

Rumor: Windows 8 upgrade discounts to start June 2

By doris | Published: May 12, 2012

Full Story at Technolog.msnbc.msn.com

The launch of a new Windows OS is always a big event, but one unfortunate side effect is that sales drop severely in the months previous to the release, in anticipation. In order to prevent this, Microsoft has in the past offered a reduced OS upgrade price for people who bought PCs immediately before launch time. They did it in 2009 before 7 replaced Vista, and rumor has it that a similar promotion will take place starting next month.

Posted in Microsoft, PC, Upgrade, Windows 7 and others | Leave a comment

Intel wants to plug a smartphone into your brain

By doris | Published: May 6, 2012

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Show off a new gadget to your friends or family and inevitably one person in the group will declare, “Soon they’ll just plug these things directly into your brain!” And everyone will laugh, as if they’ve never heard that joke before.

It’s no joke.

An Intel-commissioned white paper released Wednesday on the future of mobile technology concludes that connected devices interfacing with the human brain is an inevitability.

Here’s how the paper’s authors, from consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton, put it: “As convergence continues across device types, functions, and capabilities, the melding of mobile technologies directly into the human body becomes the logical next step.”

Posted in Brain, Intel, Plug In, Smartphones | Leave a comment

RIM Offering Developers $10,000 For BlackBerry 10 Apps

By doris | Published: May 2, 2012

Full Story at Geeky-Gadgets.com

Yesterday RIM announced their new BlackBerry 10 platform, and now it looks like RIM is attempting to attract developers to the platform, with a $10,000 guarantee for apps which meet a certain criteria.

RIM will give the $10,000 guarantee to developers apps which meet a certain criteria, and the apps will be tested for this criteria by a third party, if the app is deemed as high quality then RIM will guarantee that the revenue from the app will be $10,000 in the first year.

Posted in Apps, BlackBerry, Money, Rim | Leave a comment

Tablets to become ‘primary’ computer for many: Forrester

By doris | Published: April 26, 2012

Full Story at Technolog.msnbc.msn.com

Tablets will become the “preferred, primary device for millions of people around the world” by 2016, as not only consumers, but businesses gravitate toward convenience over computing power, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

“There will still be lots of personal computers sold and in use — in fact our casual estimate is that there will be 2 billion PCs in use by 2016, despite growing tablet sales,” said Frank Gillett, a Forrester analyst who focuses on predicting future scenarios, on his company’s blog.

Posted in Computer, Primary, Tablet | Leave a comment

Windows 8 will come in three flavors

By doris | Published: April 22, 2012

Full Story at FoxNews.com

There will be three versions of the new Windows, Microsoft revealed on Monday while confirming Windows 8 to be the official product name.

The Redmond-based company is looking to simplify its product line, cutting the number of editions by more than half since the 2009 release of Windows 7 which came in seven different versions. Windows 8 will arrive in three flavors: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and Windows 8 RT.

“We have worked to make it easier for customers to know what edition will work best for them when they purchase a new Windows 8 PC or upgrade their existing PC,” the company wrote in a blog post.

Posted in Microsoft, New Release, Windows 7 and others | Leave a comment

Cellphone that sees through walls closer to reality

By doris | Published: April 20, 2012

Full Story at FutureofTech on.msnbc.com

A cellphone-like gadget that sees through walls, paper, plastics and, well, just about anything you might want to see through, may soon be more than a staple of science fiction, according to researchers experimenting with a largely unused range in the electromagnetic spectrum and a new imaging chip.

The team is tapping into terahertz waves, a band that falls between microwave and infrared and is used in places such as airports to see what people packed in their suitcases or strapped to their chests.

Kenneth O and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Dallas think they’ve found a way to send out terahertz waves with a cellphone-like gadget, bounce the waves off an object, and process them with a new chip they made with Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology.

Posted in Cellphone, Gadget, Research, See Through | Leave a comment

tupac hologram The Tupac Hologram and Our Fascination With Resurrection pr_2012-19-hi-res Scientists on Earth Spot Aurora Around Uranus cispa2 header New Draft Modifies CISPA’s Holes But Doesn’t Exactly Patch Them quantum internet Scientists Establish First Working Quantum Network, Quantum Internet On The Way twitterverification Twitter Has Been Verifying Accounts of Fictional Characters Because who doesn’t love business law? Court Rules That Code Isn’t Physical And Cannot Be Stolen, Only Copied

By doris | Published: April 18, 2012

Full Story at Geekosystem.com

In December of 2010, former Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov was convicted of theft of trade secrets when he took some exclusive code out the door with him. This past February however, Aleynikov’s conviction was overturned due to a ruling in 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, the court’s opinion has finally been published and it’s been made clear exactly why this conviction was overturned; code is not a physical object and cannot be stolen. The code was not stolen from Goldman Sachs, only copied. Since Goldman Sachs was not deprived of its use, it wasn’t theft.

Posted in Code, Copy, Court, Stolen | Leave a comment

DHS hires hackers to crack video game consoles

By doris | Published: April 9, 2012

Full Story at RT.com

The US Department of Homeland Security might soon take the “joy” out of “joystick.” The country’s top counterterrorism unit has awarded a California company $177,235 to hack video game consoles under the guise of cracking down on criminal activity.

San Francisco-based Obscure Technologies is the recent recipient of a government contract for $177,235.50. For a small computer forensics firm with less than half-a-dozen employees, it’s a significant sum being awarded by Uncle Sam. The only catch, however, is that the small-time Silicon Valley company will be in charge of prying into the video game consoles used by millions of Americans during their personal pastime that was thought to be otherwise free of federal interference. According to the Department of Homeland Security, uncovering online communications conducted over video game networks could be key in thwarting terrorism.

Posted in Government, Hack, High-tech, Homeland Security, Video Games | Leave a comment

LightSquared: The wireless industry’s biggest gamble is failing

By doris | Published: April 6, 2012

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The end appears near for LightSquared, one of the wireless industry’s grandest and riskiest gambles.

It’s odd to think of a company backed by $5 billion as a startup, but that’s what LightSquared is. It wanted to become the country’s fifth nationwide wireless carrier by going toe-to-toe with giants like Verizon and AT&T — an ambitious vision it had a real shot at pulling off.

Now, after a series of potentially fatal regulatory setbacks, it’s mulling bankruptcy. Philip Falcone, head of LightSquared’s majority owner Harbinger Capital Partners, told Reuters the company is “seriously considering” the option.

Posted in AT&T, Business, Company, Electronics, Verizon | Leave a comment

Self-sustaining solar reactor creates clean hydrogen fuel

By doris | Published: April 4, 2012

Full Story at Geek.com

t may sound too good to be true, but a mechanical engineer working out of the University of Delaware has come up with a way to produce hydrogen without any undesirable emissions such as carbon dioxide.

The totally clean fuel production is made possible due to a new solar reactor created by Erik Koepf that only relies on concentrated sunlight, zinc oxide, and water to produce hydrogen.

The reactor is capable of using sunlight to increase the heat inside its cylindrical structure above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Zinc oxide powder is then gravity fed through 15 hoppers into the ceramic interior where it converts to a zinc vapor. At that point the vapor is reacted with water separately, which in turn produces hydrogen.

As well as a lack of emissions, the other good news is that the zinc oxide can apparently be reused, meaning the solar reactor is theoretically self sustaining as it only relies on materials and energy that are renewable.

Posted in Energy, Engineer, Hydrogen, Solar Power | Leave a comment