NASA showed images of the lunar landing sites in 2009, punching all moronic conspiracy theorists a new stupid face, Buzz Aldrin style. Now they have released new higher resolution shots taken again by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
These images were taken with the low-altitude Narrow Angle Camera, according to Arizona State University researcher Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC):
You can also clearly see the Lunar Modules' descent stages. Now, if they can get it any closer, we would like photos of Aldrin's used underpants.
On the streets, in crowded restaurants, and even in movies, you've likely heard the same song ad nauseam for the last seventeen years: the rockin' default ringtone used on virtually every Nokia device since 1994. And while it's evolved over the years, Espoo's always taken upon itself to choose the next version of the iconic tune. For the next iteration, however, the company is leaving it up to you to be the creative genius, and is offering a reward of $10,000 for the best one.
Five submissions will be chosen as runner-ups, each getting their entry offered in the Ovi store as well as a smaller cash prize for their efforts. So if you've always wanted to hear your own creation blasting out of millions of phones each and every day, now's your chance -- you have until October 2nd to get that spark of musical innovation.
The Guppie is basically a streamlined, stainless steel multi-tool combined with a carabiner. Need to open a bottle? There's the Guppie, hanging from your belt loop. Need to do something besides drinking? The Guppie packs a 2-inch blade, an adjustable wrench, a high-intensity LED light, and a hex driver with storage space for four bits into a 4 ounce package that's very flat. Not for every task, but it's a smart little tool for $40. Get it here
Netflix promised our friends in Central and South America would soon be able to enjoy the pleasures of Watch Instantly. Starting today with Brazil, and with 43 other Latin American countries to follow before September 12th, the pioneering streaming video service is making good on that promise.
Customers in the land of Carnival can enjoy a free one-month trial, after which a subscription will run $14.99 a month in Brazilian dollars. The roll out will be staggered over the coming days, with most areas getting a price point equivalent to $7.99 in American currency and some having both English and Spanish language options.
The 1982 Lockheed Sea Shadow may be rusting away in Suisun Bay, but its Commie-spooking contours haven't been forgotten. They apparently inspired the design of the Asus G74SX-A1, which just won a HotHardware recommendation for its cheese-eschewing looks as well as its performance, efficient cooling and realistic $1749 price tag.
For once, the Core i7-2360QM CPU coupled with a GeForce GTX 560M and generous 12GB dollop of DDR-1333 RAM actually conspired to surpass the manufacturer's 3DMark benchmark claims. It wasn't flawless though: overall computing performance was middling compared to rivals; the speakers were shoddy when it came to producing music rather than explosions; and the 17.3-inch Full HD display was slightly wasted on some games that only ran smoothly with high quality settings at 1280x720.
Apple has opened up a series of corporate-level jobs, reports observe. These include positions for two "new product security" managers, to be based in Apple's home in Cupertino. The people will be responsible for "overseeing the protection of, and managing risks to, Apple’s unreleased products and related intellectual property," according to a description. The company is known to go to extreme lengths to keep products secret, even requiring veils over hardware in its own secure labs.
It is also hiring three new iOS software developers to work with the Maps team. "We want to take Maps to the next level and rethink how people use maps, location and geo information," Apple says in one listing. The page mentions that a successful candidate will be responsible for "implementing high-level user interfaces, new and innovative features, fixing problems and enhancing the performance of Maps."
Apple has been hiring new help for iOS Maps and geolocation technology for several months. The company may be hoping to come up with its own alternative to Maps Navigation, a Google app common on Android smartphones but which hasn't arrived on iOS as originally promised. Apple has said it will roll out a "crowd-sourced traffic" service within the next two years.
I really can't tell if this model's beautiful life is about to be saved or snuffed out by some kind of bulbous brain sucker.
The description makes it sound like an inflatable bike helmet but that could be because the writer had one on his or her head as well, and it was controlling their actions, because that's what these bulbous brain suckers do.
I'll err on the side of sanity and say this is a bike helmet, and that it was one of five projects that won an award at INDEX this year. Called Hövding, the design is the work of Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, and apparently erupts from the scarf around your neck when "it senses abnormal movement."
Yeah, anyway, for some reason or another I have this little suspicion that this helmet could be an example of form over function. Just a tad.
Windows Media Center fans can finally breathe again. After seemingly endless will they / won't they speculation Steven Sinofsky, the President of the Windows Division has confirmed in a blog post thatMedia Center will return for yet another go 'round in Windows 8. There's no word on any possible changes, only that the company has "work to do" concerning the quality and compatibility of add-ins. Wondering why it hasn't been in some pre-release builds?
Between the potential for multiple SKUs (no details until closer to release, but it seems like you'll be looking for an Ultimate pack or something similar again to get everything) and simple engineering decisions as features are added and removed that's just the way it is. Another factor is that WMC isn't exactly mass market, as he cites stats indicating only 6 percent of Windows 7 users launched the app in July, with over half of those sessions lasting less than a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, IE apparently pops up on 88 percent of Windows 7 desktops.
According to Inside Facebook, Facebook is currently testing a translate button for international users to getting around the language barrier. Facebook will provide a button to translate users' comments on the fly.
Inside Facebook reports that only a few languages, including Spanish, French, Hebrew, and Chinese, are currently supported, but that's just the start. The benefit of such a feature is pretty obvious; the people you couldn't talk to because the spoke another language can now be brought into the conversation. Cool. You potentially have the opportunity to broaden your circle of friends. But what about the privacy issue? Supposing you don't want people to translate the conversation you have with family members in your mother tongue? No word on that just yet. Hopefully Facebook gets it right.
Lasers make everything better, including (but not limited to): microphones, kidneys and Audi's electric A2 concept. This newest flight of fancy uses a laser diode as the rear fog lamp, which projects a red triangle onto the road to let other drivers know you're there. The German car-maker has tricked out the rest of the EV's lighting system as well by implementing matrix beam technology using LEDs and microreflectors -- giving it high resolution, non-glaring beams and intelligent tail lights that change in intensity based on weather conditions. Claiming other state-of-the-art features like gesture controls instead of keys, and brake lights that glow brighter the harder you press, it sounds like this would be a pretty sweet ride -- if it ever makes it to market.
Much ink has been spilled in the rumor mill about a coming Amazonian tablet, and now those rumors look to be confirmed. Amazon is making the last few software tweaks before it goes on sale this November. The tablet is running a heavily skinned version of Android that was developed without any help from the folks in Mountain View. It apparently has a Cover Flow-esque UI, and is deeply integrated with all of Amazon's services (Cloud Player, Instant Video Player, Appstore, and of course the Kindle app). Best of all, it will reportedly cost a scant $250 -- not quite TouchPad territory, but well underneath the iPad's $500 price. Let the next great tablet war begin.
Is the act of crunching numbers a daily task for you, and do you use a Magic Trackpad? Well, if actual keys or a calculator / mouse hybrid just aren't magical enough for you, then Mobee's Magic Numpad may just be. Despite its name, the Numpad is a $29 set of films that allows you to morph your Trackpad into one of three numeric "keypad" layouts, with software for enabling an on-screen calculator and setting macros. Adding Splenda to the strawberries, you'll also get a cleaning kit and erasable marker to customize your films even further. The Magic Numpad is available for pre-order now and should ship come this October.
The edition available will boast a 160GB hard drive, a single Dual Shock controller and a glorious icon on the lower-left of the machine. It'll be available in Japan this November for ¥33,780 ($440), but only in "limited quantities." So much for magic that lasts forever, huh?
Wireless SD cards are a smart product for forgetful/lazy/busy people. Toshiba's new FlashAir card is the first which allows you to transfer data both to and from the card—an idea that's got a lot of potential.
Eye-Fi's wireless cards are awesome. They allow you to automatically beam photos to your computer over Wi-Fi, and in the absence of a wireless network, to blast them directly to any device that can connect to Wi-Fi. Toshiba's FlashAir card does the same, but can both send and receive data wirelessly. If the technology catches on and there are two compliant devices—cameras for example—in range, they'll be able to exchange data as well.
The FlashAir is a logical evolution of wireless SD. The question is what exactly would you use it for? Toshiba clearly envisions people sharing photos between cameras, but that's actually not the best idea. Pro photographers will tell you that shooting photos with multiple cameras on one card can lead to corrupt files. Wireless hard drives already exist. Perhaps these cards could be useful as more tablets with expandable memory are released. Get it here.
Philips hasn't really been a high-end manufacturer of anything for awhile now, so who knows how good they'll actually sound. But the company says that their semi-open-back headphones will have 40mm drivers that were designed and calibrated by the Philips Golden Ears panel of specialists.
But there's a bit of a conceptual issue with these things: the inline iPhone remote/mic suggests they're to be used outside of the house. But unless you enjoy the general public hearing everything spilling forth from your phone, who would use a semi-open headphone anywhere but the privacy of one's own home? Expected to retail in the UK soon for somewhere around £250.
If you've been waiting for someone to take the glasses part out of the current 3D TV viewing experience, Toshiba has finally put a launch date on its glasses-free 3D TV.
The world's first to be available to the public at the size, the ZL2 will take its place at the top of the company's range of sets when it launches this December in Germany complete with an LED-backlit QuadHD resolution (3,840 x 2,160) LCD panel and Cell-processor basedCEVO engine technology within. The set will cost 7,999 euros when the 55-inch version launches.
CNBC is now confidently reporting that Facebook is set to launch a music service of some sort on September 22nd, which conveniently lines up with the company's F8 developer conference. Could that service also include a dash of Spotify? Maybe some Vibes?
The Sony Reader isn't all that much presence in the States, where the market is largely dominated by Amazon, and, to a lesser extent, Barnes & Noble. The Sony Reader Wi-Fi does go a ways toward keeping up with the competition, offering up WiFi, an touchscreen, and the Pearl E-Ink display seen on past versions.
The hardware is nice, though it doesn't feel quite as natural in the hand as the Nook or Kobo. The software also zips along quite nicely, and pinch to zoom functionality is certainly a welcome addition in the e-reader market. Unlike many other Sony Readers, the thing also does well for itself pricewise, at $149.
Samsung has had its sights set on a PMP with MP3 HD support for some time now -- first announcing (and later killing) the IceTouch in 2010, and now launching the YP-R2 and YP-Z3 in markets including Russia and Korea. Claiming that the lossy/lossless HD MP3 sound is five times better than the standard variety, the company will put it to the test with access to Melon, Korea's largest 2.2 million song music store.
So far, Samsung has only confirmed the R2 has a 3-inch WQVGA full touch display, is .3-inches thick and weighs around 52 grams, while the Z3, on the other hand has a 1.8-inch display and measures in at 36 grams. The music players also support photo and text viewing, FM radio and 5.1-channel surround sound.
The R2 comes in black and silver and costs 149,000 KRW ($140) for 4GB, and 169,000 KRW ($160) for 8GB. The Z3 comes in white, pink and blue and costs 89,000 KRW ($83) for 4GB, and 119,000 KRW for 8GB ($110).
You know what's great? Mechanical keyboards -- what with their satisfying clicks. You know what's less awesome? Having to listen to that obnoxious racket all day. Razer claims you can have your cake (in this case, tactile feedback) and eat it too (blessed silence!) with its BlackWidow Stealth Editions.
These are, more or less, the same boards that debuted last August, but with quieter switches and a matte finish. Both models are available now, with the same programmable keys and on-the-fly macro recording, while the Ultimate version adds "extreme anti-ghosting" to its already impressive noise pwnage. The standard model will run you a cool $80, while the Ultimate weighs in at a hefty $140.
Are you settling for non-3D sound to go with all of your 3D movies? You should be ashamed of yourself. Thankfully, Sony's looking out for you. The company's new MDR-DS7500 headphones promise 3D surround sound, thanks in part to the inclusion of Dolby Pro Logic IIz technology.
The headphones have a number of different sound settings, serving different audio needs, including Cinema Mode, Game Mode, and Voice Mode. Also, that extra padding assures that they'll play nicely with your 3D glasses. The headphones will be hitting Japan on October 10th, running ¥49,350 ($643) for the full package and ¥24,675 ($321) for additional headphones. Extra dimensions don't come cheap, after all.
Lots of things are getting tweaked, if not completely overhauled, for Windows 8. That includes the ever-present Windows Explorer. Just like many other Microsoft apps, the file manager will be adopting the slightly more finger-friendly ribbon interface.
But don't freak out about your precious screen real estate, the next version of Explorer will actually display more files than Windows 7 could by moving the details pane to the right-hand side and tweaking the padding. The up button has also returned and a slew of new keyboard shortcuts are being introduced.
Someone could cobble together a solid DIY iPhone 5 kit with all the purported next-gen parts leaked. The latest? A front panel part labeled N94, like previous supposed prototype parts. It looks just like the iPhone 4.
Which keeps the question alive: Is this for the true iPhone 5—which'll bear striking resemblance to the iPhone 4, at least from the front—or the expected cheap-o iPhone 4?
Twins, like cupcakes, are universally regarded as a good thing. So, it stands to reason that GScreen's attempt to double your laptop's screen size would be an equally appealing idea. Turns out, duping a display took the Alaska-based company a wee bit longer to fully flesh out, but the time has finally arrived for its debut. Shipping this November, the aptly-named Spacebook will bring a capacious, portable desktop solution to on-the-go creative professionals.
The girthy, 10-pound rig won't be winning any style points from the svelte is better crowd, but that's easy to overlook given its dual 17-inch 1920 x 1080 screens, choice of a Core i5 or i7 processor, up to 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB of storage, NVIDIA's GeForce GTS 250 (1GB) and DVD burner -- all encased in a magnesium alloy frame. You can grab the entry level model for $1899, but the higher-end, two-headed beast will cost you $2099. Get it here.
The ten-year anniversary of the World Trade Center bombing is approaching fast and writer-director Steve Rosenbaum is preparing his 9/11 Memorial app to commemorate this occasion.
Rosenbaum made a semi-controversial decision to develop the 9/11 Memorial: Past, Present and Future app for the iPad only. Rosenbaum believes the iPad "was simply the best device on which to display it." Apple may have appreciated this exclusivity as Rosenbaum's app made it through the App Store approval process in a record 36 hours.
The 9/11 Memorial app will be free from September 1st to the 12th and will jump up to $9.95 when this promotion is over. It has hundreds of photographs and hours of video that details the event itself and the creation of Michael Arad's World Trade Center Memorial and 9/11 museum.
Well, if you thought Samsung was done tweaking the Galaxy S II, you were very mistaken. The Korean company is getting ready to unveil the Galaxy S II LTE at IFA in Berlin this week, alongside an LTE version of its still elusive Galaxy Tab 8.9 -- and we'll be there to get some hands on time. Both devices are sporting an updated dual-core processor running at 1.5GHz, while the S II is also getting a size bump and moving up to a 4.5-inch screen. The Tab remains otherwise unchanged, rocking the same 1200 x 800 screen and super-svelte (8.6mm thick) design.
If you thought Kim Kardashian's engagement ring was a ridiculous rock, you haven't seen the ludicrously large diamond planet, J1719-1438. Scientists at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne recently spotted this celestial body that's so dense, it's believed to be crystalline carbon -- i.e. a ginormous diamond similar in size to Jupiter. Since the 60s, astrophysicists like Marc Kuchner have theorized that carbon-heavy stars can burn out, crystallize and form diamonds under the right pressure.
Supporting the idea, a white dwarf star spotted in 1992, BPM 37093, had cooled and crystallized over the course of 12 years -- even copping the nickname "Lucy" after the Beatles jam. Although astronomers in Australia, Britain and Hawaii have all identified the newly spotted precious planet J1719-1438, they are still unsure if the crystallized carbon rock will be all sparkly mountains up close -- dashing the hopes and dreams of material girls everywhere.
At 8 x 10 inches, the Maxback is the biggest camera sensor in the world. It was commissioned by professional photographer Mitchell Feinberg and it costed as much as "a good size house." Why spend so much money? He explains:
The development and production of two backs (I wanted to have a spare) was equal to the cost of a good size house – before the housing crash. I know it sounds insane, but the financials on it are not so bad: I used to shoot on average 7.5 Polaroids per photo, and I shoot between 400 to 500 images a year. That's at least 3000 Polaroids. At 15 bucks a pop. Or about 50K per year, minimum. Polaroid was at one point my highest single cost. I am depreciating the back, charging clients for its use, and I was eligible for the technology investment credit. I also took out a loan based on the projected income from the back, so I did not have a huge hit on my bank account.
It is certainly not a fantastic rate of return, but the back is designed to last a very long time, so it should generate a strong profit over the long term (And that is not including the all-important photo-related issue that my clients love receiving 8×10 film).
If you are wondering how big this thing really is, compare it to the largest digital camera back in the market today, which is only 1.77 x 2.36 inches. The difference is absolutely ridiculous. Feinberg says that now he has the quality of film with the immediacy of digital film—at these sizes, the immediacy of digital film is 30 seconds to take a photo!
Abbreviation loving multinationals Lucky Goldstar and General Motors have entered into an "Electric Vehicle Cooperation" agreement to build the next generation of EVs. The partnership follows a successful dating phase where LG supplied the batteries for the Chevy Volt.
Now, teams from both companies will collaborate on key components, vehicle structures and architectures -- it's a more substantial proposition than just battery sharing. The plan is to meet the new US fuel economy targets by 2025, so the design phase for the new autos will kick off soon. Let's hope this new venture bears some fruit that's faster than a flying banana.
Apple has pulled the plug on TV episode rentals via iTunes, abruptly leaving customers with only the option of purchasing per episode -- good thing you can watch those on your Apple TV streamed from the cloud -- or a Season Pass where available.
This was in response to customers that "overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows." Making the timing of the move particularly curious are once-again renewed rumors of an Apple HDTV and a WSJprofile of new CEO Tim Cook that indicates the company is "working on new technology to deliver video to televisions, and has been discussing whether to try to launch a subscription TV service."
Like Google, any move depends on its success in negotiating a new delivery model from the networks, who so far have been averse to anything that threatens their existing relationship with pay-TV providers.
Google+, the antisocial social network, just got another tool to keep annoying people and their vapid crap out of your virtual life. You can now Ignore people who you have in your circles instead of blocking or unfollowing them.
Ignoring someone isn't a total friendship embargo—they can still comment on your posts and tag you in stuff—but it's a good way to deal with friends you added in the nascent days of the network and don't quite have the heart to banish completely.
The new iPhone release is near! REPENT and prepare your DOLLARS! And, in the meantime, take a look at the inevitable leaked photos of parts already arriving to the Chinese part resellers.
Some of them are labeled N94, suggesting an evolution from the original iPhone 4 (N90) and Verizon's iPhone 4 (N92). Would this be the fabled cheap iPhone 4 that would complement an all-new, all-amazing, all-magical iPhone 5 with built-in lasers, teleporting unit and burger synthesizer? Perhaps. Would Apple release an iPhone 4s and get done with it? Maybe.
What you can be sure of is that these parts, from the batteries to the backs to the new antennas, are real.
If you ever wanted to start a conversation with an iPhone case, here's a sure-fire way: buy this giant ear case for the iPhone 4. It'll look like you have elephantiasis on your ear.
I can appreciate a cleverly hilarious idea and I don't see anything more OMG CLEVER than rolling down the street, smoking endo, talking on my earphone case (or sipping gin and juice, whatever). It's a case for everybody!
For normal people: a conversation starter. For the hipsters: irony. For the suits: a sense of humor. For the old people: humor. For the jocks: a giant ear to match their giant hands. For the nerds: because it's geektastic. For the freaks: it's a giant ear, what's more freaky than that.
What now Instagram? You wouldn't sell to Facebook and now ol' Zucks is moving on without you. That's right, friends... the social network genius himself is scheming alongside his engineers to integrate photo filters within the company's mobile application.
The CEO hopes to lure users away from the popular photography app and keep them tethered to his site via mobile handset. Apparently the tech has been ready for a bit, but the boss wants his team to add more editing options before the feature is released into the wild.
LG is taking its Cinema 3D Gaming Festival on the road and delivering demos of it three-dimensionalprowess to 20 different countries. To celebrate, the Korean company is unleashing a brand new laptop for those with itchy virtual trigger fingers. The LG A530 sports a 15-inch 3D, HD display with up to a 1920 x 1080 resolution, your choice of Core i3, i5, or i7 processors, an NVIDIA GeForce GT 555 GPU, up to 8GB of RAM and either an HD webcam or dual cameras for capturing 3D video.
There's also one of those fancy hybrid hard drives with 4GB of solid state storage packed in to help bolster the performance of its 750GB worth of platters. The company was strangely mum on price, but the new notebook is expected to land in Europe, the Middle East and Africa this month -- American consumers will just have to wait.
A team of researchers at the University of Leeds' School of Chemistry is developing a pain-free method to combat cavities.
The technique uses a fluid called P 11-4 that has a fiber-like peptide. When the fluid is applied to a damaged tooth, it fills the tooth's cavities and forms a gel matrix that attracts calcium.
Slowly, this matrix will rebuild the damaged part of the tooth. Best of all, there's no Novocaine, no drilling and no maniacal dentists involved.
The only thing surprising about Steve Jobs's resignation—which Apple had telegraphedseveral times already—was the timing. Why now? Because of health concerns, maybe. Or maybe because now, right now, is the perfect time for the company to transition.
Apple has literally never been stronger. A month ago they reported record quarterly earnings in a period with no significant product releases, no back to school or holiday boost, all amid what turned out to be a grotesquely challenging three months for competitors like Dell and HP. They were, for a brief period, the most valuable company in the world. Incredible.
And a month from now? They'll be releasing their next iPhone on America's three major carriers. And very possibly something altogether new: an affordable iPhone, a handset for the masses. If that device does emerge, Apple will have transitioned from yuppie luxury to unprecedented populist value.
So that's where Apple sits now, cratered between two mountainous achievements. If they'd waited any longer, the iPhone 5 announcement would've been fully shrouded in memories of Jobs; with a month's distance, new CEO Tim Cook has a chance to stand on his own. He can bask in the reflected glory of the iPhone instead of languishing in Jobs's shadow. The company will feel like it's in good hands. Because it is.
What's easy to forget is that companies have long, long product cycles. The iPhone 5's been done for months; ditto, likely, iPad 3. And iPhone 6 plans are well underway. They'll all have a touch of Jobs in them. Even products with a longer horizon, future generations of MacBooks with sick-skinny bodies and flash storage and no optical disc, AppleTVs teeming with apps, will have Jobs's imprimatur. Especially since, uh, guys? He's staying on as Chairman of the Board. He's involved.
So yes, there is a chance that Steve Jobs is resigning now because his medical situation has become so severe that he has no other choice. Because this feels calculated, in the best possible way, to happen at the best possible time. Now.
A major development out of Cupertino: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the board naming Tim Cook as his replacement. The company said "Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company."
Steve himself published the following letter:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
Apple has confirmed that Jobs will stay on as Chairman.
Back in late March, NASA's Swift satellite detected a strange and unusual energy explosion in the constellation Draco. NASA now knows what it was: "the awakening of a distant galaxy's dormant black hole as it shredded and consumed a star."
This simulation shows how it works:
As a star falls toward a black hole, it is ripped apart by intense tides. The gas is corralled into a disk that swirls around the black hole and becomes rapidly heated to temperatures of millions of degrees.
The innermost gas in the disk spirals toward the black hole, where rapid motion and magnetism creates dual, oppositely directed "funnels" through which some particles may escape. Particle jets driving matter at velocities greater than 80-90 percent the speed of light form along the black hole's spin axis. In the case of Swift J1644+57, one of these jets happened to point straight at Earth.
According to the researchers, the black hole may be "twice the mass of the four-million-solar-mass black hole lurking at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy".
What happens when you mix a relatively mild seismic event with an extremely dense population of the tech-savvy and self-centered east coast? Twitter-splosion! Yesterday's quake let loose 5,500 tweets per second, beating Dead Osama and tying Fukushima's 9.0. Priorities!
Between the marble and brick federal egocentrism of DC and the media self-fellation of New York, it's no wonder there were 40,000 tweets regarding the 5.8 tremor within one minute of it happening—and that they reached us in New York before the ground started to shake. People love talking about themselves, especially when they are shaking because of an earthquake.
But still—the fact that yesterday trumped the surprise killing of the most wanted, most heinous terrorist in the history of the world and a unfathomably powerful earthquake that triggered an ongoing nuclear disaster says something about Twitter. It's at its most popular when it gives us a mirror to look into. And next to that mirror is a megaphone to scream at everyone about it. And nothing makes for a good ego screamin' like a non-dangerous earthquake.
Simply by holding the Smart Scan button, you'll be able to save or drag and drop scanned images as large as A3 paper size in a variety of formats -- PNG, JPEG, TIFF, and PDF, just to name a few -- by swiping the mouse over it.
If that wasn't enough to entice you, the peripheral also features Optical Character Recognition that converts text from said images into an editable Word document. Perhaps lost in all this is the fully functioning mouse bit which you'll probably need as well. This bad boy is already available the UK for £89.98 (around $148), get it here.
Dentists and moms alike might agree you're supposed to floss after every meal, but there isn't a patient or descendant in the world who has ever enjoyed flossing. More often than not, it's painful and uncomfortable, despite how important it is for your gums. Luckily, the new doesn't use a single piece of terrifying string, but is just as effective and way more comfortable.
By forcing a burst of both air and water directly between teeth, plaque, film and other disgusting things that just don't belong there are blown away without any of floss' painful tug and pull. The microburst technology is designed specifically to act like a miniature power washer and strip away all the grime while still leaving your enamel intact. AirFloss' reservoir can even accommodate mouthwash so the microburst is even more powerful.
An on-board Lithium ion battery means it's easy to charge and use, while the angled nozzle guarantees clean gums in every part of your mouth in less than 60 seconds.
The mythological "cheap iPhone" is coming, according to equally mythological "people with knowledge of the matter," reports Reuters. And it's coming soon, they say: a less expensive 8 GB version within weeks.Run, rumor, run!
Does an 8 GB version make sense? Sure—Apple already sells a budget 8 GB 3GS for a mere $50, so when the new hotness arrives, they'll probably want to phase out that old bag and replace it with a new econo-phone. And an 8 GB iPhone 4 would sit nicely beside a shiny, expensive new iPhone 5. But we'll wait and see! Only those "with knowledge of the matter" know for sure.
Why some moments can sometimes painfully drag on is still a mystery to brain scientists. But a recent study found some neurons seem to develop expectations that can make time pass more slowly.
In a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, scientists identified channels of neurons that adapt to perceive certain lengths of time. The researchers exposed study subjects to a series of beeps and flashes of the same duration. When they increased the duration just slightly, the subjects perceived that the signals were way longer than they actually were.
When the beeps and flashes were significantly longer, the subjects were better at predicting the duration.
The study seems to reinforce the idea that expectations often lead to disappointment and frustration. It does not, however, explain why an hour-long massage always seems too short.
Along those lines, a researcher named David Eagleman looks at how to slow time down when it feels like the days are flying by too fast. One suggestion: keep new experiences in your life. Familiar information is easy for our brains to process, and the harder we make our brains work the slower time seems to pass.
How cute is this little-widdle whale speaker? It wraps around iPhones, and plugs right into the audio jack with its trusty 3.5mm jack. Unfortunately he's native to the Korean waters, but hopefully he'll swim over to the US where he'll sell for around $30. Get it here.
Following the devastation wrought by the recent Japanese earthquake, Apple has hooked the country's early warning system into iOS 5. The tectonically-volatile nation has the most sophisticated alarm in the world, delivering life-saving warnings seconds or minutes before disaster strikes.
iOS users already had access to this functionality via apps like Yurekuru, but iOS 5 will bring it directly into the operating system. The service can be activated in the Notification Center settings pane, accompanied by a warning that the constant connection will deplete your battery faster -- a fair exchange if it saves your life.
Four months after unveiling the relatively bare bones W8, Sony Ericsson has now taken the wraps off yet another Walkman phone, known as the Live with Walkman. Powered by a 1GHz processor, this Android handset features a 3.2 inch, capacitive touchscreen, a five megapixel AF shooter with 8x digital zoom, and a front-facing VGA camera capable of capturing HD video in 720p.
The petite, Gingerbread-equipped device also packs a lackluster 320MB of RAM, provides up to 32GB of microSD storage, and offers either tri-band 3G support (HSPA+) at 850, 1900 and 2100MHZ, or dual-band 3G at 900 and 2100MHz, depending on the model. And, as you'd expect, Sony Ericsson has placed a special emphasis on the music phone's media capabilities, beefing it up with enhanced audio and Qriocity integration.
Hot on the heels of releasing its new device arsenal, RIM is prepping to roll out a brand spanking new BlackBerry App World. Scheduled to launch Monday, version 3.0 features a retooled interface for quick perusal of apps, games and themes -- if the beta release is any indication. Another added feature is the My World storage folder that keeps all of your downloads on the home screen and lets you wirelessly reinstall them should you accidentally delete one or upgrade devices.
Sure, there are rumblings that the BB music service will be a part of this release, but as Reuters reported, that announcement isn't expected until early September. Although, this update would complete the new smartphone trifecta rather nicely: new device, new OS and new app store. Well done, RIM, now if you could just get your advertising in order, you'll be all set.
Looks like Google+ is following Twitter's lead on the whole "Verified Account" thing, letting you know for sure if you have the real Kim Kardashian in your circle or not. But, considering their stringent "real names" policy, what's the point?
The new feature gives the network's big names a "verified user" badge next to their name. CNN wrote last month that celebs might have to send a copy of their driver's license to get the new badges. First, it doesn't look like Robin Wauters at TechCrunch did anything of the sort to get his new cred. Second, do you really think Mark Zuckerberg or Bono is sending a copy of his ID to Google? Now, it could also be PR folks and consultants working with Google to get the perks, which is probably more likely.
But the reasoning? My only guess is that this is a grab for popularity on Google's part. A larger, more obvious celebrity presence would bring more people in. And those same celebs could make Google+ seem less like a wasteland to new users. If that's the case, then it's shrewd on Google's part. Shallow, but shrewd.
Well, it looks like BlackBerry's banking on another BBM to pull it out of the enterprise-only lurch, and this one should be like music to your ears. Earlier this week, RIM was readying a new music service, and now the tentatively titled BlackBerry Music. The publication says $5 a month will give users access to 50 songs that they can share with their BlackBerry-toting friends (also signed up for the service).
What's more, it could be officially pumping the jams to the UK, US, and Canada as soon this fall, with other territories to follow in 2012. Rumor also has it that users won't be able to port the music to other devices, unless they happen to have a PlayBookhandy.
