Mark Zuckerberg is so rich and incredible that he's not only running the universe's most beloved social network, but is the most beloved person on Google+—his competition! What a guy. He's even beating Google's own CEO.
According to Google+ stat-tracking site SocialStatistics, Zuck's topping out the Google+ popularity contest with over 29,000 followers. Google CEO Larry Page is a distant second with almost 20,000, and everyone he works with has to follow him, or else they get thrown into the giant Google people-masher that powers their data centers. So, that's pretty sad right? Furthermore, isn't 29,000 a pretty paltry number?
Concrete isn't usually associated with elegance and beauty but Israeli designer Shmuel Linski wants to change that. His "Exposed" concrete speakers are the latest in a series of high-end concrete product concepts.
It is worth pointing out that concrete is an awful medium for making traditional speakers. Its stiffness distorts any sound it comes in contact with. That's why most speakers tend to be made of wood or plastic which can vibrate with the sound waves.
Linski embraced this "problem" by selecting special Horn drivers which work with the material rather than against it. The sound is channeled from the Horns through the hollowed out body and out the bottom, resulting in what he refers to as "a sense of nirvana for concrete lovers and audiophiles."
People love visualizing internet usage, mostly because it's very pretty. But photographer and NYT tech editor Eric Fischer's outdone himself with perhaps the prettiest one of all, mesmerizingly mapping Flickr and Twitter use across the dark surface of the Earth.
The data from North America is pretty surprising! Twitter use is heaviest on in the Southeast and Eastern Seaboard, with much less action on the typically tech-heavy west coast. The central states are, unsurprisingly, something of a dead zone.
The rest of the world is mostly dark—according to this visualization, Twitter and Flickr are almost entirely an activity of the Western World. Oh, and New Zealand. Which loves Flickr.
Hard to say how long WD's going to keep its My Book line. Thy just announced a gently refreshed version of its My Book Studio, now available in capacities reaching 3TB and sporting a flashy new exterior that should blend right into your Mac Pro + Cinema Display setup.
These new models are equipped with a brushed aluminum casing and rely on Western Digital's Caviar Green HDDs to handle the ints and outs. You'll also find FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces, meaning that Thunderbolt aficionados should probably be turning their nose up right about now. The new guys are available with pricing set at $149.99 (1TB), $199.99 (2TB) and $249.99 (3TB).
You learn very quickly that most over the counter medicines only mask the agonizing pain of a sunburn for a short time. Medicines can't remove this terrible discomfort, because, until now, scientists didn't what caused it.
In a significant discovery, researchers from Kings College London may have identified one protein responsible for this searing pain. Called CXCL5, it shows up in large quantities in the sunburned skin of human and mice test subjects.
When the researchers injected this protein back into the mice, it caused a level of pain similar to the original burn. The team then added an antibody that neutralizes CXCL5 and the pain went away. This discovery is not a panacea for those who fall asleep while worshipping the sun, but it could lead to the development of medicines that block, not just dull the pain of a sunburn.
For the first time in history, a patient has been implanted with a synthetic windpipe that was created using the patient's stem cells and a replica of his original windpipe. It's amazing even though it kinda looks like PVC piping
It's the future of medical science: there's no donor needed and no depressingly long wait times. Scientists from London created the replica using 3D scans of the 36-year-old patient. The material was made from polymers with a spongy and flexible texture with stiff rings around the tube to recreate a more human-like trachea. They coated and soaked the trachea model in a solution of stem cell's taken from the patient's bone marrow and after two days, the patient's own tissues had grown to cover replica.
According to the Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, a professor at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm that performed the surgery, said the "stem cells from the own patient were growing inside and outside. This structure was becoming a living structure." It's been a month since the surgery and the patient's body has accepted the synthetic organ and he should be released soon. The doctors hope that it can lead to more artificial organs for future transplants. Not cloning!
FiveFingers running shoes and the rest of the quasi-barefoot movement are a pretty zealous bunch—they wear a pretty polarizing shoe. But the debate is now quashed in the military, with an official ban. Why? They look too silly.
According to an official Army memo, FiveFingers and any similar shoes "that feature five separate, individual compartments for the toes" are banished from military footsies on the grounds that they "detract from a professional military image."
Acer has started pushing out an update for its Iconia Tab A500 that will upgrade the 10-inch slate to Android 3.1. The update actually leaked late last month, but would have required folks to take the risk of flashing their tablets.
The Zilch by Teva is a sport sandal for minimalists, and it lives up to its name. With a thin footbed and highly flexible design, you'll want them mostly for casual hiking and camping. Plus you can fold them away at a whim.
Don't expect to do anything too out of the ordinary in these, though. They're just a step above walking barefoot, even if they're more than your average flip-flop. $80. You can find them here: GearJunkie
This is surely the sort of thing Apple likes to see -- it might not be the prettiest graph in the world, but it certainly drives home the fairly consistent growth of the iPad's global web browsing share. Back in April of last year, the company's "magical" tablet had nabbed 0.03 percent of global web traffic in its first week.
The decimal point has moved a couple of places, according to NetMarketShare, with the device now making up more than one percent of worldwide web browsing. That number is even higher in the US, at 2.1 percent, with the iPhone and Android devices pulling in 2.9 and 2.6 percent, respectively. As for Apple's share of tablet traffic -- well, there's not a heck of a lot to report on that front.
The Nokia 700 "Zeta," with the 1GHz, Symbian Belle opting for a white front and chrome back instead of the black and candy-apple combo. This could mean that, like many Nokia handsets before it, a rainbow of various hues will be available to choose from the moment the device launches.
Veho's entry into the reasonably saturated market sits just above the pricing sweet spot at $110, but it does sport some nice features like touch controls on the side for manipulating your iDevice or smart phone, and a mic for use as a hands-free headset.
The lithium-ion battery inside can keep these folding over-ear phones pumping out Springsteen bootlegs and Joell Ortiz mixtapes (gotta cover all your bases, right?) for up to ten hours. And, if all black isn't you're thing, the Gumball 3000 edition adds some bright orange flair.
These bad boys also promise up to 85,000 random write IOPS and are rated for impressive read / write speeds of 550 MBps and 525 MBps -- a shade higher than the specs being bandied-about when Corsair showed it off back in March. The drive also supports SATA 3, is backward-compatible with SATA 2, and ships with a 3.5-inch adapter that'll work with both desktops and laptops. Look for it this month in two sizes: 60GB ($149) and 120GB ($279).
Toshiba just unveiled what it claims is the world's first glasses-free 3D laptop, the Qosmio F750. It's a heavy-set beast dedicated to gaming and movies, with a 15.6-inch Full HD lenticular screen that can display 2D and 3D simultaneously in separate windows.
It also rocks an HD webcam that follows your movements and adjusts the 3D effect accordingly, so you can peek at the that lovely third dimension from almost any angle you like. Innovative stuff indeed, but how well does it all stack up? As for pricing and release, the laptop would be on the shelves in early August, with a price of £1300 ($2100).
Look at this young man! Look at how happy he is! The can, which retails for about $2.50 US, might remind you something of a Cheez Whiz container.
That's fine, we should all be thinking about Cheez Whiz as much as possible. But the real breakthrough, the one I'd like to see in my lifetime, is a foam soda that's Cheez Whiz-flavored. That's the grail, science. Seek it.
Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype hasn't closed yet, but it looks like Redmond is already working behind the scenes to make the service even more ubiquitous. According to an anonymous source interviewed by TechCrunch, Facebook is going to introduce video chat next week, and that service will be powered by none other than Skype. And while the service will be browser-based, it's also said to include a desktop component.
What's more, Facebook sent out invites for an event next week, where Mark Zuckerberg was clear the outfit would unveil a new product from its Seattle team. That's in Microsoft's backyard, of course, the invites themselves have chat icons on 'em, and, most tellingly, that Seattle office has been snapping up engineers specializing in desktop software.
Samsung sold three million of its original Galaxy S phone in 85 days. A few months later, a full ten million had been moved. Now, it looks as if the superphone's proper successor may put that latter statistic to shame. The outfit just announced that it took but 55 days to move three million Galaxy S II handsets, which works out to one phone every 1.5 seconds.
It's Sammy's briskest-selling smartphone ever, and if it'll keep up the pace once that AT&T variant lands on US soil. Which iscoming soon, right Samsung?
The oft-leaked Motorola Droid 3 is dripping information yet again, this time over on Droid-Life where an internal flyer confirms it will be available at retail locations July 14th, with direct fulfillment orders starting a week earlier. Iis a confirmed price for Verizon's QWERTY slider w/ 1080p camera and dual core processor.
Happy birthday, dear Global System for Mobile Communications! 20 years ago today, on July 1 1991, the world's first GSM call was made by Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. The historic call used Nokia gear on GSM's original 900MHz band. Today GSM is all grown up and ruling the world -- connecting 1.5 billion people in 212 countries and serving 80% of the planet's mobile market.
It was the first fully digital cellular system using TDMA to cram more information into less spectrum and provide better sounding, more reliable calls using less power. It introduced the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), the idea of switching handsets at will (something carriers have sought to subvert by locking phones), and the reality of international roaming.
Short Messaging Service (SMS) was first launched on GSM networks, along with packet data (GPRS and later EDGE), which made internet access practical on mobile devices. Eventually, GSM expanded to the 400, 800, 1800 and 1900MHz bands and evolved into WDCMA-based UMTS (3G) and later HSPA and HSPA+, followed byLTE (4G) networks.
So next time you're at the coffee shop sipping on that latte while uploading that video to YouTube at 10Mbps using your LTE phone, remember to be thankful for that first GSM call 20 years ago -- that's when the mobile revolution really started.
If you're really into fireworks, maybe you should move your butt to any square state. But whatever you do, don't move to New York, New Jersey, Delaware or Massachusetts. They have a total ban. The awesomerest state is South Carolina.
There they have prohibited any small rockets less than 3 inches long and half an inch thick. That's right: They have a ban on ridiculously sized fireworks.
The nation's capital is, ironically, the lamest when it comes to celebrate the 4th of July. It doesn't have a total ban, but look at their description: Prohibited products include, but are not limited to, "firecrackers of any kind of description. Any fireworks that explode [...] or intended to move after the piece is placed and fires."
It's not just Apple's App Store striding past milestones today, Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace has also rounded a notable marker in its development. Specifically, it's now reported to have passed 25,000 apps by one site tracking comings and goings within it, though that figure's up for debate as the other WP7 apps tracker still lists the total at just under 25k.
The main point is that the WP7 ecosystem is growing, and faster than previously at that -- it took until the end of March to accrue 11,500 apps, a span of five months from its launch, whereas the last 13.5k have come in the brisker period of three months. Provided this acceleration continues, and there's no reason to expect it'll slow down with Mango on the horizon, Microsoft's mobile OS reboot promises to be in pretty competitive shape in time for its first anniversary.
Been lusting after the Galaxy S II, but aren't willing to break the bank? Apparently Samsung does too. Billed as a more affordable spawn from its Korean progenitor. The Gingerbread-toting handset will sport a 4.2-inch Super Clear LCD, 1GHz dual core processor (rumored to be Tegra 2), and 8GB of onboard storage, extensible with microSD.
Fret not camera junkies, also present is a 5 megapixel sensor plus flash and "HD" video recording. All that stands between you and this little Galaxy, are 4,000 kronor (about $630) and your undying love of Swedish meatballs.
No, she's not in a state of shock, nor is she hunting for plankton -- she's simply waiting for the dentist to polish her pearly whites, just like any other conscientious robot. Known as the Showa Hanako 2, this humanoid was originally developed last year as a tool for dentists looking to practice new procedures.
Now, engineers at Japan's Showa University have updated their dental denizen, adding a motorized head and replacing her PVC skin with a more realistic silicon coating. She also boasts speech recognition capabilities and can execute freakishly natural movements, including blinking, sneezing, coughing and, under more unsavory circumstances, even choking.
Don't you hate it when your friends with Android phones loaded with games asks to borrow your iPhone to play something? Then they bleed the battery dry and you feel like a used tool. Crappy!
Play Dead is an app that fakes like your iPhone is dead with a loop of the shutdown screen. That way the next time your friend asks to borrow your iPhone, you just fire up the app, flash the screen and say sorry dude, phone's dead. Get it here.
Bell and Virgin Mobile -- neither of then are confirming a price at the moment -- plus regional carrier SaskTel, which plans to offer the phone for $79.99 on a three-year contract. SaskTel and Virgin Mobile both also say that the phone will be available in the coming weeks, while Bell isn't offering much more than a chance to win the phone in a contest that ends July 19th -- it was previously heard that the phone will be hitting Bell on July 14th. Perhaps not surprisingly, it's looking like the phone will also alternatively be known as the "Galaxy S II" or "Galaxy S II 4G" depending on the carrier.
The HTC Status (formerly known as the ChaChaCha, the ChaCha, and "the Facebook phone that's not a Facebook phone") is inching ever closer to its AT&T debut. Now it's been revealed for all the world to see, appropriately enough, on Facebook.
This social networking-focused, QWERTY candybar has had its CPU bumped up to 800MHz -- price and availability are still as much of a mystery as ever.
Months after taking a victory lap to flaunt the world's fastest SDHC card, Delkin is back, this time with a superlatively speedy SDXC. The 64GB Elite633 card promises read and write speeds of 95 MBps and 45 MBps, respectively -- that compares with 95MBps and 80MBps for the company's 32GB SDHC.
With a price of $539.99, of course, it wasn't exactly intended for those of you who are too lazy to dump some 17,000-odd photos onto a hard drive. Rather, it'll come in handy for the enthusiast crowd, especially folks with a penchant for high-def and 3D video. As for the rest of you casual shooters, we're quite partial to a game we like to call, "How much camera could I get for that $540?"
Nowadays, you can't really claim to have a mobile OS worthy of the title if your users can't run Angry Birds on it. Good news from Microsoft, then, as Windows Phone 7 can finally be admitted at the grown-up table now that it has released its port of Rovio's epic bird-launching experience. $2.99 is the Marketplace price for the full version, though there's also the option to try out the first few levels for free.
Because, you know, there might still be people out there who haven't yet been exposed to the charms of this perniciously addictive little game.
Social networking has long been Google's white whale. The company has done plenty of dabbling in the space, snatching up Orkut, which has failed to catch on in the US, and rolling out Buzz to the relative indifference of its massive user base. Announced today after seemingly endless leaks, Google+ represents a major push for the software giant. The service began showing itself to a smattering of users last night, as a black bar across the top of various of the company's properties. A "+You" button on the far left of the bar currently brings you to the service's landing page, offering a tour of the many features that fall under the Google+ umbrella.
Among the sub-services is Circles, which lets users divide up which of their friends / followers can see which content, assuring that only your "Epic Bros" and not your boss sees what you were up to at last night's bachelor party. Hangouts, meanwhile, offers up multi-person video chat with members of your Circle. Sparks is a customized feed aggregator of content you curate from across the web -- remember when RSS feeds were a thing? This is kind of like that.
There's also, not surprisingly, a mobile element to the service. Huddle offers up group messaging, largely targeted at arranging real-world meetups for those times you actually want to, you know, socialize with humans in the flesh. The Instant Upload feature makes it easy to transfer photos to private albums in the cloud. Google+ is still in a limited trial mode and has a few "rough edges," according to the company.
As far as most of us are concerned, if we're going to pay a lot for a phone -- you know, like, $350 on contract -- it had better come with the works. We're talking a qHD display, dual-core processor, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p recording, NFC, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 4G radio, to boot. If you're someone who buys things made by Tag Heuer, you've got different priorities. The company just introduced the Link Phone, a darling clunker of a handset festooned with steel, 18K rose gold, or titanium, topped off with leather, alligator- and lizard-skin, rubber, and diamond accents -- a medley that'll set you back no less than €4,700 ($6,712).
What's that you say? You want specs? The Link, named after the Swiss outfit's storied watch line, runs Android 2.2 -- a clear step up from its feature phone predecessor. Other ho-hum features include the 3.5-inch (800 x 480) display, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, 256MB internal memory, an 8GB memory card, 1400 mAh battery, and EDGE / HSUPA connectivity.
LG is talking up its forthcoming DM50D 3D monitor -- not a lot, mind you, but just enough to get people interested. It has "Flicker Free" capabilities borrowed from its Cinema 3D TV line, and double the brightness of conventional 3D sets. The display has a built-in DTV turner, HDMI capabilities for connecting with 3D-capable consoles and the like, and the ability to view images and videos directly from a USB flash drive. It'll be hitting Europe in July, with more of the world getting a crack at it later.
Samsung's Series 5 Chromebook too expensive? Fear not, Acer just announced that its Chromebook, dubbed the AC700, will go on sale in the states this month for $349.99, to be followed by a 3G-equipped version later this summer.
If you're part of the niche market that would happily live in Chrome OS in exchange for instant-on access, be advised that it runs on an Atom N570 processor and 2GB of RAM, and has 16GB of flash storage, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, and a 4-in-1 memory card reader.
Shortly after MasterCard announced plans to become entangled with Google Wallet, it looks as if the company is diving into yet another mobile payment arena. And this time, it's personal. MasterCard and CSI Enterprises already offer a smattering of customized business cards for those with highly specific needs, and soon that partnership will extend to iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS.
The CSI Virtual MasterCard app is currently scheduled to launch in July, presumably enabling folks with a GlobalVCard to use their mobile device of choice to make payments. What's interesting here is the inclusion of RIM and iOS; there's no BlackBerry device (nor iOS device) on the market today with NFC, which leads to one of two things: that's either changing by July, or this here service won't rely on NFC at all.
It's only been a few days since Apple released iOS 5 beta 2, but developers spent some quality time with the update and uncovered a few of its more salient features. Here are some highlights.
It looks like Apple has blocked Applenberry's Gevey SIM software, which allowed users to unlock devices running iOS 4.3 or iOS 5 beta 1 without having to jailbreak.
According to Dev Team member MuscleNerd, iOS 5 beta 2 can still be jailbroken using the RedSn0w 0.9.8b1 tethering tool, released earlier this month.
The beta refresh also brings a few tweaks to iOS 5's notifications system. Traditional alerts and reminders now pop up on the lock screen in larger typeface, alongside their appropriate icon. If left unattended, the notifications will eventually be added to the Android-like banner menu, at the top of the lock screen.
Users can now create and curate photo albums directly from their iDevices.
The next beta release might be issued over the air. When a tipster checked for updates on an iPad running beta 2, he received a "No updates were found" message, suggesting that users may be able to find future refreshes without syncing their devices with iTunes.
Friends over at the FCC have somehow both scored and already torn asunder Nokia's new flagship MeeGo development phone. Slicing and dicing Espoo's latest confirms the watered-down N9 spec with a 12-megapixel camera.
An intriguing addition, as the N950's official specs list an 8-megapixel shooter, which the Finnish firm touted as "different" than the unit in its brother. Perhaps different means the additional 4-megapixels we spotted earlier this year?
After starting off with what looks like a jaunt through the dunes of Tatooine, this3D printer uses the immense power of the sun to turn sand into glass.
The 3D printer, called the Solar Sinter, was conceived of by Kayser to create shapes from the vast nothingness of the Sahara Desert, specifically the portion that runs through Egypt.
Monster seemingly has headphones for every niche, music genre, and usage scenario you could ever imagine. So it makes sense they worked with legendary funk/soul group Earth, Wind and Fire to churn out a headphone specially-tuned for live music.
According to CrunchGear, the Gratitude earbuds are designed to replicate sound and instruments as accurately as possible (as opposed to, say, the Beats headphones, which emphasize bass). Price for the Gratitude earbuds is unknown, but they're expected to launch in September.
This massage chair by Panasonic has everything you'd want. 3D mapping! It creates a map of the body-height, weight, dimensions—and then massages accordingly. There's even hot stones! It can heat itself up to 108 degrees.
Yeah, you dont get massages there but the chair, called the Panasonic EP-MA70 Real Pro Ultra Luxury massage chair, has every other trick in the book: shoulder massage, hand and arm massage, waist and back, thigh and hip, and even calf and foot. And the 'hot stone' therapy can increase your blood flow, lessen your anxiety and bring you to your happy place. Gotta count for somethin'. $8,000.
Some of you enjoy flaunting the beauty of a naked iPad, but Pad and Quill's gorgeous birch wood Contega for iPad 2 gives your device both rugged protection and good looks, without losing any of your device's functionality.
RIM's BlackBerry 9900 is the device that the BlackBerry diehards have been hoping, wishing, and waiting for since the original Bold launched way back in 2008. However, this time around the company has added in a capacitive touchscreen, swapped the trackball of yesteryear for an optical trackpad, and slimmed the whole thing down into a 10.5mm thick package.
The Bold 9900 bears a striking resemblance to the original "big Bold" 9000, and fans of that device's large but sturdy form factor will absolutely love the 9900. Gone is the faux-leather back cover, which has been replaced with a slick carbon fiber-esque flat battery door. Interestingly, whereas the entire back of the device could be removed and swapped on the 9000, only the part of the housing that covers the battery itself comes off on the 9900. The carbon fiber midsection is surrounded by soft touch black rubber finishes that taper the outer edge of the device slightly, resulting in a really nice overall form factor.
Voltaic makes tons of solar-charging gear, from laptop bags to backpacks, the company just unveiled its Spark Tablet Case -- a thin, padded case designed for your iPad or other slate that can generate 8-watts of power in sunlight. In addition to directly charging your iPad in about 10 hours, it can also bank the Sun's rays in a universal battery pack, for use when those fluffy things in the sky don't cooperate with your outdoor computing schedule. Optionally, the included V39 USB Battery can be charged (as you may have guessed) via USB, for extra insurance. The Spark is available now for $299 and extra battery packs can be had for $99.
If you're using a standard mouse or a trackpad, there's a good chance you've got a finger or two going to waste, and really, what's the point of having all of those digits if you're not going to put them to work? Japan's Double Research & Development Co. is showing off the Amenbo, a new input device that doesn't waste a single finger. Each gets its own pad with a mouse sensor, all connected to a single base with a flexible material that allows for movement.
The device can detect pressure and motion of the fingers, and is ideal for interfacing with things like 3D CAD data, which usually requires two hands. It's also apparently great for use with robot hands and getting androids to flash the metal sign.
Say hello to the Mermaid, a self-propelled endoscopy device used to photograph your digestive tract. The Mermaid was created by a team of researchers from Ryukoku University and Osaka Medical College in Japan. Not only is it kinda cute in a medical device sort of way, the Mermaid is a testament to Japanese engineering.
It's less than a half-inch in diameter, two inches long and has a magnetic propulsion system. Once it enters your stomach or colon, the Mermaid snaps two photos each second and is controlled remotely with a joystick. The entry point for the Mermaid is either your mouth or your—well, you know. The whole trip from stem to stern takes only a few hours and is minimally invasive when compared to the traditional colonoscopy.
Looking for a display that can do justice to all that 4K footage? Okay, perhaps not. But if you were, then the DuraVision FDH3601 from Eizo Nanao could handle it easily with 4096 x 2160 pixels spread over 36.4-inches of LED-backlit real estate. It comes with another big number too: a price tag of ¥2.88 million ($36,000), which gently hints at the fact that this beast is primarily aimed at specialist industrial applications. Eizo claims it's perfect for air traffic control, where staff can make full use of specs like "Digital Uniformity Correction" circuitry to compensate for uneven color or brightness, motion sensors to power the monitor on or off as needed, and a stand that can be minutely adjusted to get the perfect angle. Suddenly, despite the heavy burden of responsibility and the fact that you have to keep your phone switched off all the time, that career choice seems almost worth it.
Loving your Galaxy Tab 10.1 but just itching for some accessories? Samsung knows you are, and today helpfully unveiled a "premium accessory suite" to soothe your jones for both add-ons and premium prices. The collection (parts of which appeared earlier on Sammy's German site) includes a full-size keyboard dock ($70) and a multimedia dock ($35) enabling HDMI pass-through – you can have Tab video on your TV, as long as you buy the separate HDTV adapter ($30).
You have your choice of cases, as well: a book cover model ($60) you can leave on while using the tablet, or a leather pouch edition ($30) that is, you guessed it, a leather pouch. A few miscellaneous items round out the collection, including various chargers, a conductive stylus and the already-released USB adapter. The company also promises a Bluetooth keyboard and SD card adapter to come "mid-summer"
Ukranian sapphire blade that stays sharp for a year. Iridium handle. Magnetic connectors. There are many unnecessary aspects about this razor, but none moreso than the price. $100,000.
Traveling the 515 km (320 miles) from Tokyo to Osaka by Shinkansen bullet train currently requires 2 hours and 25 minutes (and costs a small fortune, too). Come 2045, travel between Japan's two largest metro areas will take just over one hour, following the launch of the country's longest maglev track, which just received construction approval from Tokyo. The nine trillion yen project (approximately $112 billion) was first proposed in the 1970s, but was tabled indefinitely due to its astronomical costs, most of which stem from an extensive network of tunnels that will represent 60 percent of the route.
You'll be able to get your Japanese Maglev fix beginning in 2027, when the Central Japan Railway launches its high-speed route between Tokyo and Nagoya. One notable neighbor to the west is already operating its own maglev train. China's Shanghai Transrapid has been blasting riders to Pudong airport since 2004, and once achieved a top speed of 501km/h (311 mph). The country is also constructing a 1000km/h vacuum-based train that it plans to launch within the next few years.
To any of our Japanese readers who've been impatiently awaiting Toshiba's Regza AT300 tablet, you're going to have to hold your breath a touch longer. The 10.1-inch, Japan-only slate is going to miss its expected June arrival, and ship in late July instead. That extra tedious trip to market could be worth it, though: when the AT300 finally does land in Akihabara, it'll come with Android 3.1 and all of its resizable widgets on board.
But don't expect any surprises, hardware-wise: it'll still pack Tegra 2, a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, and those full-sized HDMI and USB ports that can make a nerd's heart sing.
