Google Ice Cream Sandwich

"One OS that runs everywhere." There you have it, folks! Google intends to meld its Honeycomb tablet wares and Gingerbread smartphone software into one delicious Ice Cream Sandwich. Maybe that's why the "sandwich" bit is in the name? Either way, it'll be a universal OS that runs on everything from teeny tiny Android phones to 10-inch tablets and will intelligently adapt to each form factor with things like a resizable status bar. Some other fancy new additions were added, including face-tracking and camera focus shifting based on voice recognition, but most of the salient details remain under lock and key for now. 

 

 

This iPhone Finds Landmines

Your iPhone can find a lot of stuff: taxis, toilets, cafés, nearby sexual partners. How cute! And pitiable. While you've been scouting the best place to poop, Harvard researchers are working on an app that finds landmines.

Landmines detection is still surprisingly rudimentary: a human being waves a metal detector over the ground, and listens for audible cues that's there's something metal underground. But that poses a lot of problems. There's a lot of metal junk in the ground where stuff is blowing up all the time. Worse, operators have to be able to pick out mines from debris without losing life or limb. They do that by listening to beeps as they make passes trying to figure out what shape that metal thing underground is. It's hard!

Enter PETALS: pattern enhancement tool for assisting land mine sensing. The basic idea is that it allows anyone, even an inexperienced sweeper, to determine if there's a landmine and where it is. The app receives data from a metal detector and creates a visualization of the spatial pattern below ground. It helps reduce judgement calls in determining if something is or isn't a mine, making de-mining easier, safer and faster.

ASUS Eee PC 1015PX Netbook Now Shipping

Heads up, netbook enthusiasts: the ASUS Eee PC 1015PX is now available for stateside delivery. Essentially an upgrade to last year's 1015PEM, this puppy rocks a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 display and houses a 1.66Ghz Intel Atom N570 dual-core CPU. It also comes equipped with a 250GB hard disk, up to 2GB of DDR3 memory, Bluetooth 3.0 capabilities, LAN and VGA ports, and a 0.3-megapixel camera.

Buyers have the choice between two models: the MU17, which promises a ten hour battery life and the PU17, designed for an eleven hour run. Despite their battery-related differences, both models weigh 2.76-pounds and are available on Amazon for $320 and $390, or on Newegg for $330 and $350, respectively.

Julian Assange Thinks Facebook Is the "Most Appalling Spy Machine That Has Ever Been Invented”

In an interview with Russia Today, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange went all conspiracy theorist on Facebook. He says:

Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented. Here we have the worlds most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their location their communication with each other, their relatives all accessible to US intelligence.

Assange didn't out and declare Facebook was working in cahoots with US intelligence but said that:

Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies, and building this database for them

Julian Assange! What a guy. Watch the whole interview at Russia Today.

Samsung's 75-inch D9500 3D TV Announced in Korea

3D is best served on a large plate, this 75-inch platter, dubbed D9500, has stolen the short-lived crown off LG's 72-inch LZ9700 to become the world's largest LED-backlit 3D LCD HDTV, and obviously Samsung's still staying faithful to its active shutter 3D technology following its recent price drop on its glasses. 

The 240Hz display will also come with the usual Smart TV features, garnished by a QWERTY flip remote for your web-browsing and SNS needs on that large screen. Oddly enough, only an ex-factory price of a whooping ₩19,000,000 ($17,600), so customers will have to pay a bit more than that during the pre-sales at the end of the month.

 

 

Easily Distracted People May Have Too Much Brain

Those who are easily distracted from the task in hand may have "too much brain". So says Ryota Kanai and his colleagues at University College London, who found larger than average volumes of grey matter in certain brain regions in those whose attention is readily diverted.

To investigate distractibility, the team compared the brains of easy and difficult-to-distract individuals. They assessed each person's distractibility by quizzing them about how often they fail to notice road signs, or go into a supermarket and become sidetracked to the point that they forget what they came in to buy. The most distractible individuals received the highest score.

The team then imaged the volunteers' brains using a structural MRI scanner. The most obvious difference between those who had the highest questionnaire scores – the most easily distracted – and those with low scores was the volume of grey matter in a region of the brain known as the left superior parietal lobe (SPL). Specifically, the easily distracted tended to have more grey matter here.

 

 

Charge Your Gadgets With Solar Panels and Moving Furniture

Wander through MIT's Killian Court and you'll spot something distinctly modern nestled amongst its classical buildings -- a set of solar-powered lounge chairs called SOFT Rockers. These curved, solar-panel-covered seats rotate on an axis to keep them facing the sun, generating additional energy from the rocking motion created when people climb inside. All that harvested electricity can be used to recharge gadgets plugged into the three USB ports and to illuminate a light strip on the inside of the loop.

 

 

Take iPhone Photos, Get Paid

That's what Gigwalk promises at least, providing you the chance to make some money for snapping some street shots with your phone if you're in the right place.

It's simple: you sign up, enter your PayPal info, and look on the map to pick up a nearby "gig." TechCrunch uses Gigwalk's client TomTom as an example, explaining that the navigation company could use the photos from GigWise users to verify information about streets, such as signs, lights, points of interest or one-way paths. Small gigs pay as little as $3. Others pay as much as $90.

PQI’s USB 3.0 Is the World’s Smallest Flashdrive

We're living in the Dropbox era-I can beam an album, text, or naked pictures to anyone in the world without the need for barbaric physical media. Still, when it comes time for heavy lifting—say, swapping TV seasons with an office buddy or collaborating with obese HD video files, having a blazing, tiny USB drive can be a godsend. This little sucker just might be the logical conclusion of the flashdrive.

World's Biggest CMOS Sensor Could Help Doctors Detect and Treat Cancer

Move over, Canon, because scientists at the University of Lincoln have just seized the crown for world's biggest CMOS image sensor with their new Dynamic range Adjustable for Medical Imaging Technology microchip -- or 'DyNAMITe,' for short. Measuring a hefty 12.8 square cm (or about five square inches), DyNAMITe is roughly 200 times bigger than the chips you'd find in most PCs, making it the largest imager ever made on a wafer of standard, eight-inch diameter. This extra girth allows the active pixel sensor to capture images in high detail, with a 100-micrometer pitch boasting 1280 x 1280p aligned next to a 50-micron layer, carrying 2560 x 2560p. 

It can also run at up to 90fps and withstand high levels of radiation for several years, making it ideal for medical imaging, including radiotherapy and mammography. Researchers say these enhanced images could help doctors detect cancer in its earliest phases, while allowing them to monitor radiotherapy treatments more closely.

 

 

Creative ZEN M300

Secretly want an iPod nano? Creative's ZEN M300 is like a slightly jumbo-er nano—but it plays video, has a microSD card slot, is Bluetooth and doesn't force you to use a thumbnail-sized touchscreen.

What matters most, though, is that it isn't made by Apple, right? Out in June, it starts at $50 for 4GB, and goes up to $90 for 16GB. 

 

 

Google Searches Around the Globe Visualized

Using WebGL and different color crayons for each language, the coders at Mountain View have put together the above Search Globe, which presents a single day's worth of Google queries in a beautiful, skyscraper-infused visualization.

 

 

A Weather-Proof Sneaker

The outer layer is hand-crafted using an updated form of Ventile, a densely-knit cotton fabric invented by the British Navy to protect pilots shot down in the North Sea during WWII. That, along with a construction process that employs only two exterior stitches, should keep your feet dry and warm no matter what weather you're riding through.

The inner is made from a double layer of French calf leather (because socks are for hobos) and the outsole uses Vibram rubber over vegetable leather to maintain a solid grip on the pedals. You can find them  here.

 

 

Jaguar Million-Dollar C-X75 Hybrid Supercar in 2013

The British automaker has just announced its intention to produce a limited run of 250 C-X75 supercars in partnership with Formula 1 team Williams, however the retail model will eschew the craziest aspect of the original design -- the twin turbine engines at the back. Those will be replaced with a four-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine, which will aid the four electric motors (one attached to each wheel). Don't worry, though, this tweak has actually made the C-X75 accelerate even faster, as it's now rated to go from 0 to 60mph in under three seconds. 2013 is when the earliest production of this road-faring beast is expected to commence, with prices starting at £700,000 ($1.15 million), and there's even a glimmer of hope that a version with the gas turbines will also be built at some point down the line.

 

 

Samsung's Shutter Glasses Fets a Price Cut

Following its pledge to make 3D TV experience more affordable, Samsung's just announced a price drop on the rest of its active shutter glasses lineup.

 The entry-level SSG-3100GB went from $129.99 down to just $49.99 last month; and now the better-looking SSG-3300CR plus SSG-3300GR reduced by $50 down to $129.99, along with the swanky SSG-3700CR(pictured above) getting a $70 discount to just $149.99. Of course, these premium spectacles are still far from affordable compared to their passive counterparts, so it'll be interesting to see if Samsung's attempt to lure more 3D viewers will work at all.

Osama’s Hideout on Google Maps

Osama bin Laden was camped out in a Pakistani mansion—and in typical internet fashion, it's already pinpointed on Google. The mapper's anonymous, but they reveal strange things—police station neighbors?

 

 

Sony Ericsson Announces new Generation of Xperia Smartphones

Sony Ericsson has just outed a brand new pair of compact Xperia smartphones. The new Xperia Mini will run Android Gingerbread (2.3) on a 3-inch, multitouch, scratch-resistant display, which comes with Sony's proprietary Bravia Engine with Reality Display. There's a 1GHz processor inside, access to Android Market, and home screen customization with custom shortcuts available in the four corners of the screen. A 30 percent improvement in battery life is also touted, courtesy of a larger cell. SE is also pretty jolly about having the world's smallest smartphone capable of recording video in 720p HD. You'll be able to grab yours in one of four different colors this August.

 

 

Samsung SENS-240 Navigation Tablet

According to Akihabara News, the SENS-240 uses Bluetooth to take over your voice, data, voice search, and even "video features" from your smartphone when driving. You can then control the SENS-240 using your smarpthone or tablet as an "advanced" remote when idle. Tthe SENS-240 comes packing 256MB of RAM, USB-host mode, and an SD slot in addition to a 1.43GHz processor said to be powerful enough to handle 3D maps, video, or DMB TV on that 7-inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, it's Korea-only for now.

World’s Tiniest Video Camera

Just a few weeks ago, the world's tiniest video camera was as small as a grain of rice. Today, the world's nanoest camera is even smaller.

It's made by medical device company Medigus, and it's only 0.99mm wide. The measly fraction of a millimeter doesn't seem like much, but it means a lot in the world of endoscopic/medical procedures. Using a 0.66 x 0.66mm CMOS sensor, this puniest of cameras produces images with a resolution of 45,000 pixels (just under 1/20th of a megapixel).

 

 

This Mousepad Never Wears Out

Say what you will about the silliness of gaming mousepads, but Razer's new Goliathus has a serious selling point: A new textured weave and anti-fraying stitched frame allows you to tear ass without tearing up your mousepad. The smaller pad starts at $15, and they go up to $25 for larger surfaces.