APPLE’S CHEAPER IPHONE COULD USE ‘A LESS POWERFUL LOWER-END SNAPDRAGON’ PROCESSOR

So how will Apple (AAPL) release a cheaper version of its iPhone while still maintaining the desirability and high margins of its standard model? Forbes points us to some analysis from research firm Detwiler Fenton that suggests Apple could look outside its own hardware to build a lower-cost smartphone. More specifically, the firm believes Apple could use “a less powerful lower-end Snapdragon” processor from Qualcomm (QCOM) that would deliver inferior computing and graphics capabilities than standard iPhones that use Apple’s in-house A6 processor. The reason for this, Detwiler Fenton writes, is that Apple “would not want a value priced iPhone to offer the same kind of graphics and video support, processing power etc. that its premium priced device would, therefore a less powerful lower-end Snapdragon integrated solution would help segment the product.”

BlackBerry 10 Tablets Confirmed By RIM

We’ve been hearing a remarkable amount of BlackBerry 10 rumors ever since RIM announced its major press event taking place on January 30. We’ve seen a number of BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry X10 articles, but we haven’t heard much in regards any BlackBerry 10 tablets. RIM manufactured its PlayBook tablet, so we should expect a BlackBerry 10 tablet, right?

Earlier today, RIM announced it would be running promotions for BlackBerry 10 during the Super Bowl, which by February 3, they’ll already have announced all of their BlackBerry 10 devices during their New York City press event. But within the press release, RIM used specific wording in its press release that confirms BlackBerry 10 tablets are planned.

The section of RIM’s press release that stood out the most follows:

“RIM confirms that BlackBerry 10, its new mobile computing platform that will power the next generation of smartphones and tablets, will be featured in a commercial during Super Bowl XLVII.”

RIM’s PlayBook did not receive exceptional sales, but the tablet was well-received by BlackBerry enthusiasts, especially for its ability to pair with BlackBerry smartphones. Judging by how much RIM is betting on its BlackBerry 10 devices, we’re sure they also plan to release a BlackBerry 10 tablet that the company believes will change the mobile landscape as much as their smartphones will.

China successfully tests jumbo air-fighter!!

China said it has successfully conducted the test flight of its first country made jumbo air-freighter, capable of handling various air transportation tasks.

The Yun-20, or Transport-20, is a huge, multi-function airfreighter which can perform various long-distance air transportation tasks targeting cargo and passengers, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The successful maiden flight of Yun-20 is significant in promoting China’s economic and national defence buildup as well as bettering its emergency handling such as disaster relief and humanitarian aid, it said.

The giant aircraft will continue to undergo experiments and test flights as scheduled, the report said.

The new plane adds to the new stealth and carrier landing fighters said to have been developed by China in recent months.

Air-Conditioned Bulletproof Vests Keep Police Officers Cool in the Heat

Kevlar vests may be able to stop bullets in their tracks, but they’re also impermeable to water vapor. Translation? The police officers who wear them have to remain cool under pressure, despite the sweat and discomfort warmer weather brings. Scientists from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), however, have devised a new “smart” protective garment that comes with a built-in cooling system. Based on Coolpad technology, originally designed to cool garments in the medical field, the vest features water-filled membranes that bring down the surrounding temperature during evaporation. A mini-fan, which blasts air through a fabric spacer behind the pad, further lowers the risk of overheating. Furnishing a piece of clothing with its very own air-conditioner is as tricky as it sounds. EMPA had to work with Eschler, a local textile manufacturer, to create a fabric spacer that was at once stable, flexible, and amenable to air flow. Because researchers couldn’t find a fan that was small enough to insert into the vest, EMPA ended up designing its own. Likewise, the original Coolpads leaked water if they were subjected to frequent mechanical stress. The engineers decided to weld the membranes together using diode lasers, resulting in a seam that was softer and more pliable.

Test volunteers from the Zürich City police force have also given the vest their seal of approval.

To simplify refilling the Coolpads with water, the EMPA team developed a portable filling station that attaches to the vest with a quick-release fastener. Coupled with a freshly charged set of batteries, the vest lasts for three to four hours of duty.

The vest has already demonstrated its worth. Comparative measurements show that it’s significantly lighter and cooler than current systems on the market. Test volunteers from the Zürich City police force have also given the vest their seal of approval. “The ‘smart’ cooling technology is also suitable for protective suits worn over normal clothing, uniform jackets, camouflage suits, and even for rucksacks,” a spokesman for EMPA says in a statement. “Developments along these lines are already in progress.”

Oris Aquis depth gauge dive watch

Oris Aquis depth gauge dive watch with mechanical depth gauge. Is the “first divers watch which measures depth by allowing water to enter the timepiece.”

Oris Aquis depth gauge functions by applying the Boyle Mariotte Law (aka Boyle’s Law): the absolute pressure and volume of a given mass of confined gas are inversely proportional. Oris notes that “the indicator benefits from no inertia, not delaying the accurate and actual depth indication – particularly useful in decompression breaks in lesser depths.”

Features 46mm steel case, water resistant 500 meters. “The special sapphire crystal, 50% thicker than an average top glass, features a channel milled into the side which runs counterclockwise round the dial, stopping between one and two o’clock. At 12 o’clock, a hole leads to this channel. On descent, the air inside the channel is compressed by the surrounding water pressure, allowing water to enter through the hole at 12 o’clock. The edge, in light grey and dark grey, differentiates between water and compressed air on the scale around the outside of the dial, indicating depth while descending or ascending.”

Available at $3,500.

Sometimes did you feel it inconvenient to use mobile phone for gaming? Here is the solution: PhoneJoy Play

PhoneJoy Play is a portable gaming pad and controller that turns your phone into a portable gaming device. In order bringing best experience into adventurous games, you just have to put your iPhone/Android phone between the stretched out platform of PhoneJoy gamepad.

Eating your own, Microsoft style

Eat your own, or somebody else will. That's the new mantra in the device world.
Here's what Apple said this week on that topic.
In terms of cannibalization and how we think about this, I see cannibalization as a huge opportunity for us. One, our base philosophy is to never fear cannibalization. If we do, somebody else will just cannibalize it and so we never fear it. --Tim Cook.
This was said in response to an analyst's question during the company's first-quarter earnings conference call. Earlier in the call, Apple, in its prepared remarks, said that it sold 4.1 million Macs in the quarter, more than a million less than the 5.2 million sold a year ago in the same period.
But iPad sales appear to be more than compensating: 22.9 million iPads were sold during the quarter compared with 15.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
So, how are PCs faring in comparison? Worldwide PC shipments totaled 89.8 million units in Q4, about 6 million less than the 95.9 million shipped in the same period last year, according to IDC.
Problem is, the PC industry doesn't have -- and didn't have for years -- something like the iPad to cannibalize (a word I use loosely, as its original meaning has been hijacked by analysts) old-school designs, so there is no net gain. It does now have Microsoft, though.
Microsoft (now a PC maker, by the way) isn't so much cannibalizing as trying to eat its customer's lunch. All in a very controlled, civilized way, of course. (And very necessarily, many would argue.)
Here's what Microsoft said this week during the company's earnings conference call about the Surface tablet (via Seeking Alpha). With the broadening of the Surface lineup, we will continue to highlight the power of Windows 8 tightly integrated with fantastic hardware. --Peter Klein, chief financial officer
Translation: more Surface stuff on the way. More nibbling on partners' blue plate specials.
Meanwhile, Windows 8 PC purveyors are desperately trying to replace traditional PCs with designs that don't exactly cannibalize but straddle the old and new. Acer (which isn't fond of Microsoft the PC maker) has, for example, the Aspire S7, which is arguably one of the top, aesthetically speaking, Windows 8 touch-screen laptops out there right now. And it now has a pair of Windows 8 Iconia tablets that become laptops when attached to dedicated docks. And then there's the No. 1 PC maker, Hewlett-Packard. It has a good Windows 8 touch-screen laptop in the Spectre XT TouchSmart and a low-cost touch alternative in the Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook.
And it also offers the detachable Envy x2 tablet and the ElitePad 900 business tablet.
But will those ship in numbers to compensate for the decline in conventional designs? Only future IDC quarterly numbers will tell.
And one final thought. I would suggest that Apple has kind of set up the MacBook as a straw man in its argument about cannibalization.
That is, it's made the MacBook line ripe for cannibalization. Let's see, a 817.47€ MacBook Air or a 244.72€ iPad? Or a 1,263.76€ MacBook Pro Retina or 445.55€ iPad 4? That's a pretty easy decision for a lot of people looking for a second computing device.
Just as importantly, Apple isn't trying to hybridize the MacBook. That would effectively stanch the flow of some buyers to the iPad. No twofer designs, i.e., no touch-screen MacBooks here.
And that could ultimately be an Apple weakness. PC makers will continue to improve their hybrid designs and, I suspect, eventually a few will nail it. And those will become big sellers that might eat Microsoft's lunch.

HTC Butterfly price in India amounts to Rs. 45,990 (669.44€)

The HTC Butterfly price in India makes it one of the most expensive smartphones in the country, though the phone is relatively cheaper as compared to the retail amount of the Asus PadFone. Even supposing that the Taiwanese company has been the first amongst its peers to launch a handset with a 1080p display, the question stands to be – Is the device worth it?
Following certain name changes in different nations, the HTC Butterfly went on to become internationally accessible in the month of December last year. The smartphone kicked off the 5-inch full HD screen frenzy and ever since, this feature has been adopted by various other devices.
It packs Jelly Bean and exhibits the Sense 4+ user interface. It gains steam from a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with a clock speed of up to 1.5GHz which toils shoulder-to-shoulder with 2GB of RAM to contribute towards the handset’s performance.
Everyone from a professional photographer to an enthusiast could enjoy clicking pictures and recording 1080p clips with the incorporated 8MP snapper. The company has embedded a 2.1MP webcam above the screen in order to permit video conferencing and capturing self-portraits.
Features such as Beats Audio and VideoPic may serve to deliver a rich multimedia experience and can be counted as significant highlights. Users may be delighted to know that the smartphone packs an onboard storage capacity of 16GB. On top of this, a microSD card slot has been fixed onto the handset to allow expansion of up to 32GB.
The device has naturally not missed out on Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, though over and above this, it also offers features such as DLNA and a microUSB 2.0 port with MHL support. The OEM lets out that a 2,020mAh battery rests under the hood to facilitate active functioning between charges. The talk time and standby details have been left for users to decipher.
Even though the company has given a thumbs-up regarding the HTC Butterfly availability in India, currently no online store has it in stock. Those interested, can take the phone home for a price of Rs. 45,990 upon its launch.
Significant specifications:
5-inch super LCD 3 display with Corning Gorilla Glass 2
Android 4.1 OS
1.5GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
8MP main camera with auto focus, LED flash and BSI sensor
2.1MP secondary webcam
16GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB
2GB of RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA and GPS
2.020mAh battery

African Scientist, Designer Create Anti-Malaria Bodysuit to Repel Mosquitos!!

Who says you can’t fend off mosquitoes with style? A Cornell University scientist from Kenya and a Gambian designer have developed a purple-and-gold hooded bodysuit impregnated with insecticides at the nano level. Designed to repel mosquitoes infected with malaria, a disease the kills an estimated 655,000 people in Africa each year, the prototype does insecticide-treated nets one better because it can be be worn throughout the day. And unlike skin-based repellants that dissipate easily, the molecular bonds in the fabric are almost impossible to break. ALthough Frederick Ochanda, a postdoctoral associate in Cornell’s Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design, and Matilda Ceesay, who studies apparel design at the university, hail from opposite ends of the continent, they’ve both witnessed family members battle malaria. “Seeing malaria’s effect on people in Kenya, it’s very important for me to apply fiber science to help this problem,” Ochanda says. “A long-term goal of science is to be able to come up with solutions to help protect human health and life, so this project is very fulfilling for me.” Ceesay agrees. “It’s so common back home, you can’t escape it,” she adds.

The problem with mosquito nets, according to Ochanda, is that the insecticides usually wear off after six months.

The problem with mosquito nets, according to Ochanda, is that the insecticides usually wear off after six months. By using metal organic framework molecules to bind the repellant directly to the fibers, he was able to not only maintain the fabric’s long-term efficacy but also load up to three times more insecticide than conventional nets can.

Ceesay transformed the fabric into a mesh hood and cape, pairing it with an underlying bodysuit that she hand-dyed in vibrant shades of purple, gold, and blue. The outfit, which debuted at the Cornell Fashion Collective spring fashion show in April, is one of six in a collection that Ceesay says “explores and modernizes traditional African silhouettes and textiles by embracing the strength and sexuality of the modern woman.”

The duo are planning a fabric that releases repellant in response to fluctuations in temperature or light.

The duo are planning a fabric that releases repellant in response to fluctuations in temperature or light, allowing wearers increased protection at night, when mosquitoes like to hunt. While they hope their ideas will serve as prototypes to drive new technologies for stemming the spread of malaria, they’d settle for longer-lasting insecticide-laced bed nets.

“Although there are already mosquito nets being used, the solution isn’t foolproof,” says Ceesay. “People are still getting sick and dying. We can’t get complacent. I hope my design can show what is possible when you bring together fashion and science and will inspire others to keep improving the technology. If a student at Cornell can do this, imagine how far it could go.”

Did this 15-year-old just change the course of medicine.... Schoolboy invents early test for pancreatic cancer that killed Steve Jobs

A 15-year-old schoolboy could save millions of lives after he invented a new, low-cost test that can detect the early stages of a deadly form of cancer.
Jack Andraka from Crownsville, Maryland, developed a simple dip-stick test for levels of mesothelin, a biomarker for early stage pancreatic cancer found in blood and urine.
It promises to revolutionise treatment of the disease, which currently kills 19 out of 20 sufferers after five years - largely because its so difficult to detect until its final stages. Jack's invention, for which was last month awarded the grand prize of $75,000 in scholarship funds at the 2012 Intel Science Fair, means that patients now have a simple method to detect pancreatic cancer before it becomes invasive.
His novel patent-pending sensor has proved to be 28 times faster, 28 times less expensive, and over 100 times more sensitive than current tests. The test works in a similar way to diabetic testing strips, with his paper strips using only a drop of blood to determine whether patients carry the mesothelin biomarker.
It is said to be over 90 per cent accurate, practically instant - and costs only 3 cents.
And what's more, his simple test can also be used to detect ovarian and lung cancer, and it could be easily altered to detect the biomarkers of a range of other conditions.
'What’s so cool about that is its applicability to other diseases…for example other forms of cancer, tuberculosis, HIV, environmental contaminants like E Coli, salmonella,' Jack told Take Part.
'All for three cents for a test that takes five minutes to run.'
Jack was moved to come up with the test after a family friend passed away from pancreatic cancer, but it was as he surreptitiously read a journal article about carbon nanotubes in a biology lesson that he had his 'epiphany'.
But that eureka moment was not enough; the persistent teenager was rejected by 197 scientists he solicited for help with his research - with some plainly telling him his idea simply would not work. Finally Dr Anirban Maitra, a professor of pathology and oncology at Johns Hopkins University, agreed to give him space in the lab and mentored him through the process of developing the test.
To create the test, Jack mixed human mesothelin-specific antibodies with single-walled carbon nanotubes used the product to coat strips of ordinary filter paper.
The nanotubes make the paper conductive, but when mesothelin is applied the antibodies would bind to the biomarker and enlarge, spreading the nanotubes apart and changing the strips' electrical properties.
The more mesothelin present, the more antibodies bind and grow, and the weaker the electrical signal becomes - allowing scientists to accurately measure the levels of the biomarker.
Now the teenage prodigy has plans to mass-market the tests and make them widely available to the public, which he believes could alter the balance of power in medicine.
'Essentially what I’m envisioning here is that this could be on your shelf at your Walgreens, your Kmart,' he said.
'Let’s say you suspect you have a condition…you buy the test for that. And you can see immediately if you have it.
'Instead of your doctor being the doctor, you’re the doctor.'

Cancer will no longer be 'a death sentence'- DNA-based treatment to transform lives within 10 years, say scientists

Cancer will become a manageable condition rather than a death sentence within a decade, experts boldly predicted yesterday.
Scientists believe they are close to rolling out a radical technique that allows them to develop extremely personalised cancer treatments, that will substantially increase life expectancy.
They think within five to ten years they will be able to sequence the DNA of tumours in every cancer patient – allowing doctors to deliver a highly tailored treatment. The work, due to start at the £3million Tumour Profiling Unit in London this year, is expected to pave the way for radical forms of diagnosis, surveillance and therapy.
Doctors think closely examining the genetic make-up of every individual tumour will revolutionise the effectiveness of the treatments at their disposal.
They say the technique could substantially increase life expectancy, allowing terminally-ill patients to live for a decade or more in good health.
For example, one patient at the Royal Marsden in Chelsea has been taking the breast cancer drug Herceptin for a decade, although this is considered an exceptional case.
Professor Alan Ashworth, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, which is running the project, said: ‘None of this is science fiction. 'One would think in five or ten years this will be absolutely routine practice for every cancer patient, and that’s what we’re aiming to bring about.
‘We should be aspiring to cure cancer, but for people with advanced disease, it will be a question of managing them better so they survive for much longer – for many years.
‘Cancer often appears in people who are old, and if we can keep them alive long enough for them to die of something else, then we are turning cancer into a chronic disease.’
Genetic profiling of cancer is already being investigated at several laboratories around the world, but the new unit will pioneer its use, he said.
For example, patients with advanced breast cancer are tested to determine if their tumours have a particular type of the HER2 gene, responsible for 20 per cent of cases.
Skin cancer patients with a particular type of melanoma may also be prescribed the life-prolonging drug Vemurafenib. Professor Ashworth's team will use the techniques to track cancers as they progress, mutate and develop resistance to drugs.
At the moment, tumour DNA has to be profile using an invasive biopsy. But the scientists now hope to develop a blood test to identify DNA floating around the body from tumours instead.
They hope the programme will shed light on currently intractable problems such as so-called ‘unknown primaries’ – cancers of unknown origin that account for one in 20 cancers.
It may also start to reshape the way trials of cancer treatments are conducted. Currently, all cancer drugs go through a process that ends with a big trial involving several thousand patients. Such trials are designed to look for small success rates across large population. But they often lead to drugs being marketed that only benefit a minority of the patients who take them.
For example, only one in ten women given chemotherapy for breast cancer actually responds to the treatment.
In future, big trials could be replaced by smaller studies providing much more meaningful results.
Each would recruit a few hundred patients whose genetic make-up is likely to suit the treatment being tested.
Professor Ashworth said: ‘Basically, the way we’re developing drugs for cancer is now failing big time. Certainly, the idea of developing old-fashioned chemotherapy is going out the window.
‘Let’s design the trials for success rather than failure.’
The research has been made possible by the rapid reduction in the cost of genetic sequencing.
It took a decade of work and around £2billion to produce the first draft of the human genome, or genetic code, in 2000.

North Korea on Google Maps- Monuments, nuclear complex, gulags

Ever wondered how to drive from the center of Pyongyang, the showcase capital of North Korea, to Yongbyon, the location of the secretive regime's main nuclear complex?
Well, a recent update to Google Maps has the answer for you.
It has filled in the big, largely blank space that previously lay north of the well-mapped South Korea with streets, towns and landmarks.
Users curious to virtually explore one of the world's most reclusive states can zoom into the heart of Pyongyang and pull up photographs of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, which houses the bodies of the revered former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
The availability of photos quickly thins as users scroll into the North Korean countryside and dries up almost entirely around more controversial areas marked on the map, like the Yongbyon nuclear complex and what Google labels the Yodok and Hwasong gulags. Human rights groups say as many as 200,000 people may be being held in North Korea's network of political prison camps.
The Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility, where the regime may be about to carry out a new nuclear test in defiance of international pressure, doesn't appear to be featured on the map at the moment.
'A community of citizen cartographers'
In a blog post Monday announcing the update, Google said that North Korea had been one of the largest places with limited map data in the world.
Unsurprisingly, the details added to the map didn't come from the young North Korea leader Kim Jong Un's regime.
Google said "a community of citizen cartographers" used the Internet search giant's Google Map Maker software over a period of years to pinpoint road and place names. Google Map Maker works in a similar way to Wikipedia, allowing users to add, edit and review information.
The company encouraged people to keep working on the maps, saying, "Creating maps is a crucial first step towards helping people access more information about parts of the world that are unfamiliar to them."
It said the North Korean maps could be particularly useful to South Korean citizens, "who have ancestral connections or still have family living there."
Restrictions inside
But people inside North Korea, where the Internet is extremely restricted, are unlikely to be able to see the mapping information Google is making available.
The company's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, visited North Korea earlier this month along with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in a trip that left many observers puzzled.
Schmidt, who has in the past written at length about the Web's ability to empower citizens oppressed by autocratic governments, urged North Korea to embrace the Internet or face further decline in its impoverished economy.
Schmidt's daughter Sophie, who accompanied him on the trip, said in blog post about the visit that they had been able to take a look at North Korea's national intranet, which she described as "a walled garden of scrubbed content taken from the real Internet."

Red Explosions - Secret Life of Binary Stars Revealed

A University of Alberta professor has revealed the workings of a celestial event involving binary stars that results in an explosion so powerful it ranks close to supernovae in luminosity.

Astrophysicists have long debated about what happens when binary stars, two stars that orbit one another, come together in a common envelope. When this dramatic cannibalizing event ends there are two possible outcomes; the two stars merge into a single star or an initial binary transforms into an exotic short-period one.

The event is believed to take anywhere from a dozen days to a few hundred years to complete. Either length is considered to be extremely fast in terms of celestial events. More than a half of all stars in the universe are binary stars. Up until now, researchers had no idea what a common envelope event would look like.
U of A theoretical astrophysicist Natalia Ivanova analyzed the physics of what happens in the outer layers of a common envelope.

She found that hot and ionized material in the common envelope cools and expands and then releases energy in the form of a bright red outburst of light. Ivanova linked these theoretically anticipated common envelope outbursts with recently discovered luminous red novae, mysterious transients that are brighter than novae and just a bit less luminous than supernovae. Her research provided both a way to identify common envelope events and explained the luminosity generated during the common envelope event.

FCC application reveals Google's plans for campus-wide wireless network

Earlier this month, Google applied with the FCC to create an experimental wireless network on its Mountain View campus. The network will initially cover a 2 mile radius of the Googleplex, and will run on a specific set of frequencies -- 2524 to 2625MHz. The set of frequencies is a bit obscure and isn't actively being used by any major carrier or devices, that is except for Clearwire. So we know Google is making its own cellular network for use around its campus, but what everyone's really wondering is why are they doing it?

One quick speculation is that Googlers will use the network to test new radios made by its recently-acquired Motorola handset division. This seems pretty unlikely, considering making devices that run in the 2500 to 2600MHz range isn't the best way to reach many carriers or customers. No other operator in the U.S. and few operators around the world have networks deployed in this space. Google and Motorola can quite easily test devices for the major networks with cell coverage that covers the campus from major operators currently.

What if Google just wants the network to give reliable internet access to everyone on the campus? We don't see why Google would need to deploy a traditional mobile network to accomplish this. Anyone who's visited the Google campus knows that a solid internet connection isn't exactly hard to find. There's an extensive network of wired and traditional Wifi networking available already, and given the frequencies at play here the cellular network wouldn't offer any better building penetration capabilities than would Wifi.

So, what is it then?

A slightly (and just oh-so-slightly) more likely and much more interesting speculation is that Google is trialing a small-scale network with its employees to test new devices for a larger network in the future. This would explain why Google is choosing such seemingly random (and honestly pretty poor) frequencies to operate on. Clearwire may be the only large network and spectrum holder willing to make deals to operate in the space. If Google is testing a network for a large deployment at a later date, it would test on the same frequencies it planned on using later. Both Google and Clearwire have declined to comment on any deal between the two surrounding the FCC filing, but Clearwire typically partners with companies testing equipment on its network bands. Google itself holds no spectrum licenses in these bands.

Having Clearwire involved adds a whole new level to this network discussion, as the company has had a shaky past and uncertain future ahead of it. Long-term minority shareholder Sprint finally took a controlling interest in the company late last year, and pending regulatory and shareholder approval Sprint will soon own 100-percent of Clear. All the while, wireless network hopeful Dish -- which has reportedly had talks with Google among others to partner in its network launch -- has been in talks to make a bid to buy Clearwire as well.

Let's not jump to conclusions though. Google is creating a network with a 2 mile radius and no more than 60 transmitting towers, each under 20 feet tall. That's not exactly a stone's throw away from a nationwide (or even citywide) wireless network. Just because Google is working to make a wireless network on the campus of an internet company doesn't mean that it's readying its own network for wide-scale deployment. Google does so many weird and seemingly random experiments, the only reason why we're hearing about this now is that it was big enough to require an FCC certification.

Israel upgrades missile-killer Iron Dome

Israel's Defense Ministry is testing an upgraded version of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems' combat-tested Iron Dome counter-rocket system that will have "improved capabilities against an unprecedented range of threats."

The ministry didn't identify the threats but the upgrade, Iron Dome's second in recent months, follows reports that the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have been test-firing a new long-range missile that could threaten cities in southern and central Israel.

The Iron Dome tests were carried out in conjunction with Rafael and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, flagship of Israel's defense sector. IAI subsidiary Elta Systems produces Iron Dome's advanced radar system. The command-and-control system is manufactured by mPrest Systems.

The Israelis are locked in a long-running technological battle, with the Palestinians reportedly aided by Iranian engineers and technicians who are striving to develop rockets with greater range and destructive power to pound Israeli's population centers.

The New York Times recently observed that the "missile versus missile defense campaign is being described as the most intense yet in real combat anywhere -- and as having the potential to change warfare in the same way that novel applications of air power in the Spanish Civil War shaped combat in the skies ever since."

The Americans, who have provided hefty funding for Israel's four main missile defense systems, have taken a keen interest in their capabilities.

Indeed, the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy suggested a few days ago that to "counter the Iranian rocket and missile threat, Washington and its Persian Gulf allies should draw on lessons learned from Israel's experience in Gaza to improve the interoperability and effectiveness of their defense efforts."

That may prove to be a hard sell to the Arabs.

Meantime the Israelis, led by companies like Rafael and IAI, are producing a range of systems to form a defensive shield against everything from short-range rockets, most frequently used by Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and the intermediate-range ballistic missiles possessed by Iran and Syria.

Iron Dome, designed to intercept rockets with a range of 4-23 miles, was operationally deployed in April 2011 and its combat capabilities have steadily improved. It destroyed 84.6 percent of Palestinian rockets it engaged during an 8-day battle in November. It only seeks out rockets whose computer-tracked trajectories indicate they will hit populated areas.

Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza used Iranian-built Fajr-5 missiles, smuggled into Gaza via tunnels from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, for the first time in that clash. These targeted Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel's main cities for the first time. All were shot down before reaching their targets.

But their deployment escalated a periodic conflict that is expected to involve weapons with even greater range and destructive power in the next exchange.

The November clash ended with a cease-fire but tension is mounting again after Israeli troops killed several Gazans in what the military termed "border violations."

Parliamentary elections in Israel Tuesday are also likely to heighten tensions.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to head a new government that's likely to be more hawkish than the coalition he headed after elections in 2009.

The Hebrew-language Yisrael Hayom daily reported that "Hamas is already preparing for the next clash with Israel" by test-firing two of the new rockets, type unspecified, into the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza coast from a Hamas training base at the former Israeli settlement of Gush Katif.

The daily didn't specify a range for these missiles, beyond saying it was "dozens of kilometers."

Iron Dome is the bottom layer of a planned four-tier defense shield.

Rafael and the Raytheon Co. of the United States are developing another system dubbed David's Sling, designed to intercept rockets with a range of up to 75 miles. That's expected to enter service in 2014.

Raytheon developed the system's missile firing unit and overall logistics.

Above David's Sling, also known as Magic Wand, are Arrow-2 and the under-development Arrow-3 systems that are intended to shoot down ballistic missiles. The first Arrow battery was deployed in 2000, but the system has never been tested in combat.

Arrow-2 is currently operational. Arrow-3, which will be able to intercept missiles beyond Earth's atmosphere, is being developed by IAI and the Boeing Co. of the United States.

Huawei shocks smartphone market with 3rd place finish in 2012- IDC

This week we’re having a bit of a double-take on the IDC’s release outlining the fourth quarter mobile device market share breakdown for the end of 2012, with none other than Huawei taking third place. This is absolutely surprising as all get-out as Huawei has never before cracked the top 5 smartphone vendors in the world – it’s only been inside the top 10 before now. Groups like LG, Motorola, and Nokia do not appear in the top 5 for smartphone sales in the quarter, while Nokia sits pretty in second place for total mobile phone “Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share” for 2012 (that includes non-smart phones). According to the IDC, Huawei’s strategy including the high-end Ascend lineup which continues through 2013. IDC also notes that Huawei has “demonstrated its innovative skills” with such releases as the (at that time) world’s thinnest phone with the Ascend P1. The Ascend Mate is also on the way here in 2013 with the world’s first 6.1-inch smartphone display.

You’ll also find Samsung and Apple right up on top of the smartphone market this fourth quarter of 2012, as it was expected, with a 29% and 21.8% market share respectively. Compared to these numbers, the third place entrant (Huawei) brings on a tiny 4.9%, while Sony and ZTE come in fourth and fifth with 4.5% and 4.3% respectively, the all-encompassing “Others” category gathering up the rest with 35.5% of the market total. This is all accounted for with a total of 219.4 million smartphones sold over the fourth quarter of 2012 all around the world, a 36.4% jump from Q4 of 2011.

As for smartphone sales recorded over the entirety of 2012, Samsung and Apple once again reign supreme with 30.3% of the market and 19.1% of the market respectively. Third, fourth, and fifth place may be surprises to you, on the other hand: Nokia, HTC, and Research in Motion (RIM, BlackBerry). Of course it’s only with less than 15% of the market between the three of them that they exist on the list, less that one percentage point separating each of them, but there you have it – they’re still up there!

Google+ Ranked 2nd Place Behind Facebook In Active Users Report

In the world of social media, there’s no doubt Facebook is the absolute king of complete time wasters, which leaves a number of people interested in social media wondering what service follows Facebook. A new report published by Trendstream may surprise you to who exactly is following Facebook in the amount of active users it has.

In Trendstream’s Global Web Index, the fourth quarter of 2012 ended with Facebook having nearly 700 million active users, with second place going to Google+ with 343 million active users. This is extremely surprising news as I’m sure everyone wrote off Google’s attempt at a social network platform a long time ago.

YouTube clocked into the number three spot, although some social media users may question the inclusion of the service in their rankings as we’re sure many of you don’t feel like the service should be considered a social media platform.

Fans of Twitter are probably heart broken to see their platform of choice come into the fourth spot on Trendstream’s report with 288 million active users. What’s probably more heart breaking is the fact Google+ is currently outranking Twitter in the number of active users it has, although we’re sure the actual amount of users subscribed to both platforms is a completely different story.

Feel that Touch Screen Keyboard!

Raise your hand if you went from Blackberry to iPhone or Android devices. The only regret I found after the switch was the lack of tactile keys on the keyboard. You probably knew – or were – a finger keyboarder that could put full keyboarders to shame. Ever see someone type while looking up. Yep. RIM really taught us all the art of tactile mini-keyboard typing. By now typing on the screen we tend to lose that speed. I’m guessing that spell check is the smartphone manufacturer’s way to combat the lack of tactility.

What would it take to make our Galaxys, iPhones, Kindles and the like have this one missing feature? A smart company called Tactus Technology, that’s what. Tactus invented a technology that will take the place of a manufacturers top display layer, things we commonly call the lens/window/cover glass. When the device calls for a keyboard the Tactus Tactile Layer™ Technology injects a proprietary fluid into said top layer enabling raised surfaces to appear over the keys on the display. Using this technology will not interfere with other touch functions on the screen and uses minimal power. Buttons do have some resistance – just enough to prevent the accidental touch from typing a character. Tactus is creating the technology for a variety of screen sizes and types. So expect to see it in phones, tablets and phablets. At this time, OEM is their strategy, rather than producing consumer overlays. No plans have been announced on where you may see Tactus Tactile Layer Technology in a device. But it seems imminent.

DRIVERLESS CARS COULD BE THE BIG THING THAT VAULTS GOOGLE OVER APPLE

Apple (AAPL) may not be the most valuable over company in the world anymore, but it’s still by far the most valuable tech company, as its market cap of around $416 billion easily tops Google’s (GOOG) $248 billion valuation and Microsoft’s (MSFT) $233 billion valuation. Over at Forbes, Chunka Mui makes an interesting case that Google’s investment in driverless car technology will be an absolute goldmine for the company in the coming years that could even vault it past its rivals in Cupertino.

“The driverless car has broad implications for society, for the economy and for individual businesses,” he writes. “Just in the U.S., the car puts up for grab some $2 trillion a year in revenue and even more market cap. It creates business opportunities that dwarf Google’s current search-based business and unleashes existential challenges to market leaders across numerous industries, including car makers, auto insurers, energy companies and others that share in car-related revenue.”

Why does Mui think driverless cars are going to be such an enormous hit? A significant part of it is safety. Car accidents cause almost 34,000 deaths and 240,000 hospitalizations every year. If Google’s self-driving cars can prevent the vast majority of these accidents, as Google claims they can, then we’re talking about a technology that can literally save thousands of lives. And what’s more, Mui notes that “even if Google is way off” in its safety estimates, “the improvement in safety will be startling.” And if driving becomes significantly safer, that means auto insurance will become vastly cheaper as well, which will certainly be a major incentive for consumers to throw down cash for driverless cars in the future.

Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum also thinks that driverless cars could be revolutionary for American transportation, and not just for safety reasons. From a marketing perspective. Drum thinks car companies will be able to pitch driverless cars as the best way to have a stress-free commute — after all, who wouldn’t rather be playing Angry Birds on their smartphone or tablet instead of paying attention to the road? Drum also thinks that driverless cars will reduce the need for car ownership since they’ll make carpooling vastly more efficient.

“I think that genuine self-driving cars will be available within a decade and that they’ll be big game changers,” he writes. “When you’re not actually driving a car yourself, for example, you don’t care much about how powerful it is. So you’ll be happy to chug along in a super-efficient car, reading a book or playing on your phone. You’ll be more willing to share a car, since automated systems will be able to quickly put together carpools with guaranteed maximums on wait time. And of course, driverless cars will be fundamentally more fuel-efficient since computers can drive cars better than humans can.”

While driverless cars still have a lot of hurdles to go through before they become everyday technology, their appeal is plain to see for anyone who’s ever been stuck behind traffic during their morning commute in the wake of a major accident. And if Google positions itself to take advantage of this major shift in technology over the next decade, it could easily become the most valuable company in the entire world.

Clarity's Ensemble- an amplified and captioned phone

Plantronic's Clarity announced a first with the Ensemble at CES 2013, an accessible amplified phone that also telephone-captions your call in near-real time. The set's display is actually a 7-inch Android tablet -- version 2.2 if you must ask -- and the heart of the system. When a call is placed or comes in the caller's speech is passed off to FCC-certified telephone-captioning company ClearCaptions and the results are then written to the phones display -- while the audio is amplified in the Ensemble's earpiece. Font size can be changed on the fly, as can the audio processing which, like a hearing aid makes soft sounds easier to listen to and loud sounds quieter. If a user has trouble Clarity's support folks can actually get in the phone and make changes, Clarity's rationale here is it lower hardware returns and helps out the customer.

Clarity and ClearCaptions have an impressive product in the Ensemble, it is both attractive and quite useful for anybody with hearing issues frustrated with conventional telephony. Interestingly, the final link, the actual speech to text is done by people and not some slice of technology on a server somewhere and the service won't cost you one red cent.

BlackBerry 10 adds ooVoo for 12-person video chat

BlackBerry 10 users will be able to hold multi-person video calls featuring up to twelve participants, thanks to a deal with ooVoo that sees the conference chat service integrated into RIM’s new platform. The ooVoo video and instant messaging service, which is free to use, will hook into BlackBerry 10′s calling system, with the companies claiming it will be straightforward to flick between a voice call and an ooVoo video call. Since ooVoo is a cross-platform service – with clients for PC, Mac, Android, and iOS – those with BlackBerry 10 devices will be able to hold video calls with their counterparts using other devices. There’ll also be integration with the BlackBerry 10 browser.

ooVoo functionality isn’t the only streaming video option RIM is expected to include in BlackBerry 10. According to leaks last month, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) on the new OS will also include full-screen video calls, as well as screen sharing, though it’s not expected to support multiple-user conversations.

Exactly when BlackBerry 10 devices will get the ooVoo app is unclear, with the company only saying that it will be available “later this year”; that could be a concession to RIM, however, which is yet to confirm specific release dates for the first BlackBerry 10 devices. We should know that for sure tomorrow, with RIM set to fully detail its new OS – and the smartphones that run it – at events in North America and Europe.

Do you think it is useful for you?

Microsoft's newest version of Office, available starting Tuesday, is a radical change from the past. Office 365 will be available as a subscription that automatically renews each year and continuously updates program features
Office 365 Home Premium, which costs 73.64€ a year and can be installed on up to five computers, including Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs as well as Macs running Apple's OS X version 10.5.8 or later. Office 365 University, which costs 59.51€ for a four-year subscription, is available for college students, faculty and staff and can be used on two PCs or Macs. Office 365 Small Business Premium works on five PCs or Macs and costs 111.57€ per year.

E-cigarettes 'can cause more harm than smoking,' experts say

They are billed as a healthier alternative to smoking, yet experts now warn that electronic cigarettes may be more damaging than the habit they replace.
The battery-powered tubes, usually styled to look like real cigarettes, contain a heating element that turns nicotine-laced liquid in a cartridge into a vapour mist that is inhaled.
This produces a sensation similar to smoking the real thing but, say manufacturers, without the carcinogenic chemicals found in cigarette tar. To vaporise the nicotine solution, the chemical propylene glycol is put into the cartridges, and accounts for up to 90 per cent of their content.
This can cause ‘acute respiratory system irritation’, claims Dr Elisabeth Pott, director of the Federal Centre of Health Education in Cologne, Germany, who has studied e-cigarettes. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration analysed e-cigarette cartridges and found traces of the carcinogen nitrosamine and other potentially harmful substances in products from several manufacturers, in addition to ethanol and glycerin.
However, e-cigarette firms point out that nitrosamine is found in much higher concentration in cigarettes. Users of the devices are expected to top one million in the UK this year and a leading brand, E-Lites, sells several hundred per day – a fourfold rise in one year.
Many brands available in the UK are imported without inspection. As the devices do not contain tobacco, they are not regulated by Tobacco Product Regulations.
They are also not classed as medical devices, so cannot be regulated in the same way as other nicotine replacement products.
Professor John Britton, of the Royal College of Physicians’ Tobacco Advisory Group, is calling for regulation of e-cigarettes that would ensure a ‘guaranteed standard’.
He added that they should be regulated to a degree to make sure there are reasonable levels of nicotine in them.
E-cigarettes have been banned in Canada, Australia, and some American states. Most recently, their use by civil servants in city offices and vehicles has been banned in Hanover, Germany.

BlackBerry 10: All set

The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone. It's the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.

Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd, will show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday. A marketing campaign that includes a Super Bowl ad will accompany the long-anticipated debut. Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple's trend-setting iPhone and Google's Android-driven devices.

Now, there's some optimism. Previews of the software have gotten favorable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM's stock has nearly tripled to 12.01€ from a nine-year low in September, though it's still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of 109.14€
Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company's long-term viability.

"The old models are becoming obsolete quickly," BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said. "There is still a big user base but it's going to rotate off. The question is: Where do they rotate to?"

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. Corporate information-technology managers like the phones because they're relatively secure and easy to manage. Many employees loved them because of physical keyboards that were easier to type on than the touch-screen iPhone. President Barack Obama couldn't bear to part with it when he took office. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things." People got so addicted that the device was nicknamed "the CrackBerry."

The BlackBerry began to cross over to consumers. But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. They can play games, music and movies. Android came along to offer even more choices. Though IT managers still love BlackBerrys, employees were bringing their own devices to the workplace - a trend Heins acknowledged RIM was slow to adapt to.

Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient.

Even as BlackBerry sales continued to grow in many parts of the world, many BlackBerry users in North America switched to iPhones and Android devices. BlackBerry's worldwide subscriber based peaked at 80 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 1, before dropping to 79 million in the most-recent quarter. In the U.S., according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent of the market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012. Most phones in use today are either iPhones or Android devices.

RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than 51.97€ billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.

Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10's new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday's event. Devices will go on sale soon after that. The exact date and prices are expected Wednesday.

RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today.

"Historically there have been areas that have not been our strongest points," Rick Costanzo, RIM's executive vice president of global sales, said in an interview. "Not only have we caught up, but we may even be better than some of the competition now."

Costanzo said "no one else can touch" what RIM's new system offers.

The new operating system promises better multitasking than either the iPhone or Android. Simply swipe a finger across the phone's display screen to switch to another program.

All emails and notifications from such applications as Twitter and Facebook go to the BlackBerry Hub, a nerve center accessible with a finger swipe even if you have another application open. One can peek into it and open an email, or return to the previous application without opening the email.

"You are not going in and out of applications; you're flowing through applications with one simple gesture of your finger," Costanzo said. "You can leave applications running. You can effortlessly flow between them. So that's completely unique to us."

That said, multitasking will still be limited. If you're watching a video, it will still run while you check for email. But it will pause if you decide to open an email and resume when you are done.

The BlackBerry's touch-screen keyboard promises to learn a user's writing style and suggest words and phrases to complete, going beyond typo corrections offered by rivals. See the one you want, and flick it up to the message area. Costanzo said that "BlackBerry offers the best keyboard, period."

Gus Papageorgiou, a Scotiabank financial analyst who has tried it out, agreed with that assessment and said the keyboard even learns and adjusts to your thumb placements.

The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said it will release a version with a physical keyboard soon after that. That's an area RIM has excelled at, and it's one reason many BlackBerry users have remained loyal despite temptations to switch.

Another distinguishing feature will be the BlackBerry Balance, which allows two personas on the same device. Businesses can keep their data secure without forcing employees to get a second device for personal use. For instance, IT managers can prevent personal apps from running inside corporate firewalls, but those managers won't have access to personal data on the device.

With Balance, "you can just switch from work to personal mode," Papageorgiou said. "I think that is something that will attract a lot of people."

RIM is also claiming that the BlackBerry 10's browser will be speedy, even faster than browsers for laptop and desktop computers. According to Papageorgiou, early, independent tests between the BlackBerry 10 and the iPhone support that claim.

Regardless of BlackBerry 10's advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming: It won't have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM's PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011. Even so, that's just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Papageorgiou said the initial group will include the most popular ones such as Twitter and Facebook. But RIM will have to persuade others to make a BlackBerry version, when they are already struggling to keep up with both the iPhone and Android.

Like many analysts, Papageorgiou recently upgraded RIM's stock, but cautioned that longtime BlackBerry users will have to get used to a whole new operating system.

He said RIM can be successful if about a third of current subscribers upgrade and if the company can get 4 million new users overseas, especially in countries where the BlackBerry has remained popular. IDC said smartphone shipments grew 44 percent in 2012. If those trends continue, it will be possible for the BlackBerry to grow even if iPhone and Android users don't switch.

"This doesn't have to be the best smartphone on the planet to be a success for RIM," he said. "I think the big question though is, if it fails, is it just too late? Are the other two ecosystems just so advanced that no one can catch up? That's a big risk."

Wearable video cam LX2 for iphone & android

The first of its kind, the looxie LX2 is a wear and share hands free video cam that lets you stream live video and share clips instantly. All you have to do set it up facing the same direction you are, and it will automatically capture whatever you are seeing.
You can wirelessly upload clip lasting up to 30 seconds to your favorite site or YouTube. The camera is so convenient that you won't need your normal digital camera and you can capture your favorite moments instantly without the hassle of having to take the camera out of your bag.

iQ Alarm clock – Morning Brain Teasers

It is always hard to get up in winter time, that is one of the reasons we need an effective alarm clock. While ago, we featured 10 interesting alarm clocks which share one common feature: difficult to turn off the alarm. You either need to solve a puzzle or fire the laser directly into the clock’s target, otherwise, your alarm clock will keep making noise. Today, we have a similar design but going even further.The iQ Alarm clock has no snooze button so instead, challenges you with brain teasers to shut the damn thing off! You can set the alarm to incessantly ring until you answer anywhere from 1-3 questions. What’s really clever is the clock has a hard-to-open battery compartment so to power it off you need to press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Like the designer puts it, “This is an alarm you will love to hate.”

Hands Free Facial Muscle Toner

We all know that the beauty industry is a multi-billion dollar one, and while the fabled Fountain of Youth remains elusive to the general public, we will just have to make do with the myriad of beauty creams and cosmetics available over the counter to help us fight the scourge of time (and gravity, of course). Well, here we are with something that might just help you out assuming you have more or less tried just about anything and everything out – the $399.95 Hands Free Facial Muscle Toner.

In a nutshell, the Hands Free Facial Muscle Toner is a practical device that will tighten and tone the face thanks to a comfortable stimulator which is worn like a headset, ensuring that your two hands remain nice and free to do other stuff. There will be gel pads located in the headset to deliver a harmless electrical impulse so that it can stimulate the underlying nerves which will in turn, help control facial muscles. It is said that when you follow a regimen of five 20-minute treatments each week, the device is capable of restoring a more youthful appearance in a matter of three months, now how about that?

You will be able to select from three treatment options and 99 levels of intensity via its tethered controller, and the rechargeable battery delivers up to 20 treatments after a three-hour charge. Each purchase comes with a dozen gel pads, each of which delivers five 20-minute treatments.

Why Scientists Observe the Sun in Different Wavelengths

This collage of solar images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows how observations of the sun in different wavelengths helps highlight different aspects of the sun‘s surface and atmosphere. Taking a photo of the sun with a standard camera will provide a familiar image: a yellowish, featureless disk, perhaps colored a bit more red when near the horizon since the light must travel through more of Earth’s atmosphere and consequently loses blue wavelengths before getting to the camera’s lens. The sun, in fact, emits light in all colors, but since yellow is the brightest wavelength from the sun, that is the color we see with our naked eye — which the camera represents, since one should never look directly at the sun. When all the visible colors are summed together, scientists call this “white light.”

Specialized instruments, either in ground-based or space-based telescopes, however, can observe light far beyond the ranges visible to the naked eye. Different wavelengths convey information about different components of the sun’s surface and atmosphere, so scientists use them to paint a full picture of our constantly changing and varying star. Yellow-green light of 5500 Angstroms, for example, generally emanates from material of about 10,000 degrees F (5700 degrees C), which represents the surface of the sun. Extreme ultraviolet light of 94 Angstroms, on the other hand, comes from atoms that are about 11 million degrees F (6,300,000 degrees C) and is a good wavelength for looking at solar flares, which can reach such high temperatures. By examining pictures of the sun in a variety of wavelengths – as is done through such telescopes as NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) — scientists can track how particles and heat move through the sun’s atmosphere.

NASA’s “Iron Man” Robotic Suit Could Help Paraplegics Walk

For paraplegics looking to gain mobility, NASA’s X1 robotic exoskeleton could be a real-life superhero suit. Designed to help astronauts maintain muscle health in space, the 57-pound device can either assist or inhibit movement in the joints of the leg. But the X1, which NASA compares to the powered armor favored by comic-book crime-fighter Iron Man, has potential applications on Earth, as well, including rehabilitation, gait modification, and offloading large amounts of weight from the wearer. The X1 is a joint project by NASA and The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, with help from engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems in Houston. Worn in microgravity, the suit can serve as an exercise device aboard the space station or during a future mission to Mars without taking up too much space or weight.

Worn in microgravity, the suit can serve as an exercise device aboard the space station and during a future mission to Mars.

The device features 10 degrees of freedom—or joints—with multiple adjustment points that allow it to be used in myriad ways. Besides its ability to replicate common leg exercises, including sidestepping, turning and pointing, and flexing, which are crucial for avoiding muscle atrophy, the X1 also boasts the ability to measure, record, and stream the crew’s vital statistics to flight controllers on Earth.

Coupled with a spacesuit, the X1 could even provide a robotic “power boost” to astronauts working on the surface of distant planetary bodies by improving the ability to walk in a reduced gravity environment.

On land, IHMC is investigating the use of the X1 as an assistive walking device across varied terrain and even stairs. “Robotics is playing a key role aboard the International Space Station and will continue to be critical as we move toward human exploration of deep space,” Michael Gazarik, director of NASA’s Space Technology Program, says. “What’s extraordinary about space technology and our work with projects like Robonaut are the unexpected possibilities space-tech spinoffs may have right here on Earth. It’s exciting to see a NASA-developed technology that might one day help people with serious ambulatory needs begin to walk again, or even walk for the first time. That’s the sort of return on investment NASA is proud to give back to America and the world.

P³i Design Lab Innovates Smart Textiles That Heal Wounds, Signal Seizures

Researchers in the United Kingdom are developing a new breed of smart garments poised to change the way we interact with our bodies. The recently inaugurated P³i research group at Northumbria University aims to marry design with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (collectively known as STEM) to create “intelligent products, services, and experiences” that serve the needs of our future society. Products in the pipeline include a “smartware” line of fabrics that treat chronic wounds caused by diabetes and leg ulcers, “senseware” textiles that alert medical professionals of impending epileptic seizures, and “bioware” surfaces designed to enhance an aging population’s quality of life. While all this may sound like the stuff of science fiction, the university’s investment in cutting-edge technologies,—including a £135,000 “bioplotter” that prints multi-component three-dimensional structures—is proof of its ambition to drive innovation. P³i, which launched in September, describes itself as a “design-led exploration of emerging materials and technologies in, on, and around the human body in the 21st century.”

P³i is a “design-led exploration of emerging materials and technologies in, on, and around the human body in the 21st century.”

Staffed by experts from myriad disciplines, the think tank includes Anne Toomey and Nancy Tilbury, “fashion alchemists” both with extensive experience in design-led innovation. Also on board are Lyndsay Williams, who specializes in biomedical electronics, and Veronika Kapsali, who dabbles in biomimetic textiles.

“Our aim is to be at the forefront of design-led, need-driven, technology-anchored, and solutions-focused innovative products and services with a real purpose,” says Raymond Oliver, chair of P³i and professor of active and interactive materials.

The group recently gave members of the public a peek at its vision at the Future Ways of Living exhibit at the 2012 London Design Festival.

Autorickshaw taking a turn in a curve with 2 wheels

ITU approves the H.265 video format, takes us closer to high-quality mobile video

Any smartphone owner who's ever watched a streaming HD video buffer... and buffer... and buffer on even LTE connections will appreciate the ITU's speediness today. Just months after MPEG proposed the extra-miserly H.265 video codec, the ITU has approved it as an official standard. As it's greenlit so far, the format (also known as High Efficiency Video Coding) includes 8-bit, 10-bit and photo-oriented profiles that should cover most 2D capture and playback. Pros are promised 12-bit and chroma profiles in the future, while there's work on 3D for all of us. We'll have to wait for both software support and hardware acceleration to reap the rewards, but there should be many: the halved bandwidth requirements have obvious benefits for cellular devices as well as 4K media delivery for that rash of giant TVs about to hit the market. Let's hope that camera and mobile device makers are just as impatient as we are.

Hyundai T7 Android Tablet Makes Its Debut

The other day we managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, and today we have managed to get wind of a device by Hyundai (not to be confused with the car manufacturer) called the T7, which based on the photo above, appears to have taken some design inspiration from Samsung. That and the fact that it packs the Samsung Exynos 4412 SoC (found on the Galaxy S3) makes it a pretty interesting device, not to mention its expected price tag of being less than $200 would make it somewhat of a steal.

Like we said earlier, the Hyundai T7 will feature Samsung’s Exynos 4412 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz and will come with 1GB of RAM. It will also sport a 7” 1280×800 display, 8GB of internal storage expandable via microSD, a 2MP camera, a 3,300mAh battery and Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich on board. Considering that it shares some specs with the Galaxy S3, we expect that it should be more than capable of getting the job done, that and its sub-$200 price tag will make it a great buy for those shopping on a budget who don’t really care that much about branding. In any case it is expected to debut at MWC 2013 next month so check back with us then for more details!

Harvard Scientists to Build Endurance-Prolonging Smart Suit for DARPA

It may not quite be the Batsuit, but Harvard engineers are working on a “novel wearable system” that could prolong the physical endurance of soldiers in the field. As the beneficiaries of a Wayne Industries-sized $2.6 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the university’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has been charged with developing a smart suit that improves the body’s resistance to injuries while delaying the onset of fatigue. Lightweight, efficient, and nonrestrictive, the proposed suit will comprise soft, wearable assistive devices that integrate several Wyss Institute technologies, including a stretchable sensor that monitors the body’s biomechanics without the need for rigid, motion-restricting components.
Conor Walsh, an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, will lead an interdisciplinary team that includes Rob Wood, a professor of electrical engineering; Yong-Lae Park, a Technology Development Fellow at Wyss; and chemistry professor George Whitesides.

A similar device could increase stamina in the elderly or increase the mobility of people with physical disabilities.

Walsh’s group will have to overcome several problems associated with current wearable systems, including their large power requirements and unyielding overall structures. The future suit may not give soldiers Batman-like abilities, but efficient actuation and joint support could allow them to walk longer distances and sustain heavy loads.

Although DARPA’s project is focused on assisting members of the infantry, the technologies being developed could have non-military applications, as well. A similar device has the potential to increase stamina in the elderly, for instance, or increase the mobility of people with physical disabilities.

BitTorrent announces cloud storage and sharing service Sync

Cloud backup services are popping up everywhere these days, with even BitTorrent now jumping onto the cloud craze. BitTorrent has announced a new cloud backup service it calls Sync, and though it of course has plenty of similarities with other cloud services out there, Sync offers a couple key differences. By using Sync, you’re actually using BitTorrent’s servers to transfer files from one device to another. This has a number of benefits, as it means you won’t be subject to size restrictions like you are with other services. One of the major headaches with services like Dropbox and SkyDrive is that you’re limited in how much you can have in your synced folders – for Dropbox, for instance, you get 2GB of free space, and that runs out quick when you’re trying to sync multiple video files at once. Once you’ve hit that cap, you’ll need to shell out some cash if you want more space. That’s not a major complaint, as these are companies that exist to make money after all. BitTorrent’s Sync, on the other hand, is free to use. You won’t have to worry about limits on the amount you can transfer from one device to another, which probably sounds like a Godsend to those who constantly have to rely on cloud services to move files between devices.

As cool as it sounds, there’s one slight problem: BitTorrent Sync isn’t available to use just yet (unless you love pre-alpha testing). It’s currently in the testing stages, but it shouldn’t be more than a few months before Sync is available to BitTorrent users. What do you think of this new cloud service from the people behind BitTorrent?

Acer Liquid E1 Announced

Acer is not the first name that comes to the mind where smartphones and tablets are concerned, but they are involved in both markets, just in case you were wondering. Having said that, there is a new mid-range Android-powered smartphone that you might want to consider if you are on the lookout for one that fits nicely down the middle, where it is known as the Acer Liquid E1. Just in case it looks familiar, that is because this is more or less the Acer CloudMobile S500, albeit with lesser specifications.

Underneath the hood, you will find a 1GHz dual-core processor accompanied by 1GB RAM, carrying 4GB of internal memory, with Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean running right out of box. There is a 4.5-inch display at qHD resolution alongside a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera at the back with LED flash, and a front-facing VGA camera. Other features include an FM receiver and a microSD memory card slot for expansion purposes, but it is rather weird that Acer has yet to release information on pricing and availability.

Scientists discover new gene to boost crop yields!!

Scientists have discovered a new gene that could lead to new varieties of staple crops with 50 per cent higher yields, which they say could quell hunger in many countries.

The gene discovered by Cornell University researchers could quell the ever-growing challenge of feeding more humans, whose numbers are likely to bloat to 9.5 billion by 2050, with the same amount of water, fertilisers and arable land available today, scientists say.

Called Scarecrow, the gene is the first discovered to control a special leaf structure, known as Kranz anatomy, which leads to more efficient photosynthesis.

Plants photosynthesise using one of the two methods: C3, a less efficient, ancient method found in most plants, including wheat and rice; and C4, a more efficient adaptation employed by grasses, maize, sorghum and sugarcane that is better suited to drought, intense sunlight, heat and low nitrogen.

“Researchers have been trying to find the underlying genetics of Kranz anatomy so we can engineer it into C3 crops,” said Thomas Slewinski, lead researcher of the study, published in the journal Plant and Cell Physiology.

The finding “provides a clue as to how this whole anatomical key is regulated,” Turgeon said in a statement.

“There’s still a lot to be learned, but now the barn door is open and you are going to see people working on this Scarecrow pathway.

“The promise of transferring C4 mechanisms into C3 plants has been fervently pursued and funded on a global scale for decades,” he added.

If C4 photosynthesis is successfully transferred to C3 plants through genetic engineering, farmers could grow wheat and rice in hotter, dryer environments with less fertiliser, while possibly increasing the yields by half, the researchers said.

The C3 photosynthesis originated at a time in Earth’s history when the atmosphere had a high proportion of carbon dioxide. C4 plants have independently evolved from C3 plants some 60 times at different times and places.