OpenBSD 5.0 Offers More Hardware Compatibility, Less Bugs

Fans of the Unix-based OpenBSD can crack open a bottle of their favorite open-sourced champers because the operating system has launched version five-point-oh. More evolutionary than revolutionary, this version has been given plenty of nudges in the right direction, with broader hardware support, OpenSSH 5.8 and improved network capabilities. The full change log also includes a plethora of stability improvements and bug fixes too. The volunteer-run OS can now be grabbed from OpenBSD's FTP servers or as a paid-for CD set if you're feeling a little noughties.

 

 

Internet Explorer Does Less than 50 Percent of World's web Surfing

It's been a long and winding road for Internet Explorer, Microsoft's venerable web browser, and for over a decade it's been the browser of choice for most netizens. According to Net Marketshare's latest numbers, however, IE now enables just under half of the world's total -- meaning mobile and desktop combined -- web traffic after owning 95 percent of the browsing market seven years ago. The decline is at least partially due to a rise in mobile web browsing and an increasing Chrome user base. Of course, Microsoft's finest still has a healthy 52.63 percent desktop market share, which gives it a sizable lead over the competition from Firefox (23 percent), Chrome (18 percent), and Safari (five percent). There's plenty more graphs and charts to show you exactly how the browser war is going, so hit the links below for the full pie-chart treatment.

 

 

Apple Admits Battery Problems: It’s iOS 5’s Fault

All those problems with evaporating iPhone batteries? Looks like it's not the hardware's fault—Apple's 'fessing up to a buggy iOS 5 release that's sucking more juice than it should, The Loop reports.

Apple confirmed the problem in a message to The Loop, stating "A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."

Looks to us like it's more than "a small number of customers," but either way, we hope the battery-fixing update arrives ASAP. I've got so many stupid Siri video ideas I need to execute!

 

 

The Cleanest Way to Get Pomegranate Seeds into Your Mouth

Every pomegranate is composed of exactly 840 seeds. To extract every last sweet morsel, you could either spend a half hour picking at the husk with crimson-stained fingers or just knock them clean out of their skin with the ART.

The Arils Removal Tool (ART) from the Shoham company comprises a collection cup, grate, and cover. After splitting and de-crowning a pomegranate, you set the half on a grate that sits over the collection bowl, cover it, and rap the top soundly with a heavy spoon. This knocks the arils (the seed itself and the red, fleshy sac it sits in) free of the pith, allowing them to pass through the grate to the collection cup. The ART retails for $16 on EBay. 

 

 

A Majestic Bench That Records Your Ass Heat

You! You're full of body heat. Your blood is boiling. Maybe just figuratively. But you're not just a pile of molecules, you're throbbing with vitality. This bench by Australiandesigner Jay Watson shows it to the world. Thermochromatic assprint.

It's a handsome modern bench set, sure, but the thermochromatic coating is why we care. Any body part that touches the surface will change its color, leaving a mark behind. From the photos, this looks cool and frankly kind of gross.

 

 

Nokia Lumia 800 to hit the UK on November 16th

The Lumia 800 will be making its way to the UK in November, the confirmation that Nokia's "first real Windows Phone" will indeed be available within the UK on November 16th, just a day before Samsung unleashes its Galaxy Nexus handset to British users. Last month, the company confirmed that the device would be priced at €420, though there's no word yet on what that price tag may look like in sterling.

 

 

Varley's evR450 All-Electric Supercar set to hit Australian Roads Next Year

As Autoblog Green points out, Australia's Varley Electric Vehicles is known more for bulky industrial vehicles than high-end sports cars, but the company's now looking to change that perception with its new all-electric evR450 supercar. While it'll no doubt turn a few heads simply standing still, it also looks to measure up reasonably well under the hood, boasting a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour (or 124 MPH) and a zero to 100 km/h time of 3.8 seconds. 

The company's also promising a range of 150 kilometers (or 93 miles) that can be doubled with an optional range-extension pack, although its not letting anyone actually drive the car just yet (or even look under the hood, for that matter). As for a price, Varley's saying that the base package will come in "below" $200,000 Australian dollars (or about $213,000 US), and it says it could roll out "as early as January 2012."

 

 

Ubuntu Coming to Tablets, Phones, Cars and Smart TVs by 2014

We've already seen Ubuntu running on tablets and smartphones, but not in any official capacity. Rumors had it that Canonical would be making a serious push into the tablet space in early 2011, but that effortnever materialized, or at least was never acknowledged. Still, Unity has some finger-friendly streaks and Oneiric added ARM support -- so it's not much of a stretch to see the popular Linux distro on your mobile devices. 

Well, at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth made that move official by issuing a challenge to the Ubuntu community to start pushing beyond the traditional PC form factor. There were no products to announce, but Shuttleworth was confident the OS would be ready and in shipping consumer electronics by the time version 14.04 arrived in April of 2014.

 

 

Productivity Future Vision

Garmin Announces FR70 Fitness Watches to Keep you on Track

Looking to keep those New Year's resolutions past the first week of January in 2012? Garmin's out to help you stay the course with its FR70 fitness watches for both guy and gals. Using this trainer's timepiece, you'll be able to track your workout time, heart rate and calories burned right on your wrist. Powered by ANT+ technology, the FR70 can connect to compatible devices like treadmills, bikes, elliptical machines, your boyfriend's Segway, etc.

For avid runners, pairing the watch with a wireless foot pod will clue you in on speed, distance and cadence during your training sessions. If biking is more your style, a pace sensor is available for you as well. Combine an FR70 with the Tanita BC-1000 system and you can track weight, water levels, body fat and a handful of other measurements that will be stored right on the device. Once all the data is collected, it can be sent to Garmin Connect whenever you return with range of your PC. The pair will be available in the UK, starting in November, for £129 / €139 ($197).

 

 

Do You Think This New Urban Camo Will Fool Anyone?

It goes without saying Western soldiers haven't seen a lot of jungle and woodland shooting these days. The arid climes of the Middle East—and their urban centers—have been warfare hotspots. So how about some crazy new urban camouflage?

This experimental piece of kit, by camo firm HyperStealth, might look like a hideous screen printed dress. 

This is the unconventional pattern in field trials, previous computer simulations showed this pattern to be quite effective for both outdoor and indoor urban environments. The perceived depth within the pattern throws off the ambient and focal vision from noticing the target.

So, you think this would work? It's hard to say without actually being out there, but it's fascinating to see the psychology behind something as simple as a shirt.

New High-Precision eye Surgery Robot Helps Doctors Stay Sharp

A researcher at the Netherland's Eindhoven University of Technology has invented a new type of eyesurgery robot designed to steady the ophthalmologist's hands and minimize error -- always a good thing when it comes to having needles and knives near your peepers. Kind of like an Igor to a mad scientist, the robot is considered a "slave" to its "master" doctor, who controls the automaton's arms using two joysticks.

The doctor is still in charge of the cuts, but the technology makes sure the MD jabs that needle in at the exact same entry point each time without shaking to minimize ocular marring. Another notable feature is the robot's ability to switch between tools quickly, ensuring that if this whole doctor thing doesn't work out, it'll at least have a job at Hibachi waiting.

 

 

Are Stars the Origin of Organic Life?

Our Sun's energy is the source of all life on the planet, sure. But what if it was also the source of the first organic compounds that gave rise to life itself? A team of Hong Kong researchers believe they've proved just that.

The team from the University of Hong Kong have published a report that apparently explains the phenomena of Unidentified Infrared Emission features. These features cause observable infrared emissions in stars and were originally thought to have been caused by simple polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules comprised of carbon and hydrogen. However, this report pins the source of the UIE features as complex organic compounds—structurally akin to coal—that are made naturally by stars and ejected into space. Trace amounts of these compounds can be found in interstellar dust clouds.

This isn't the discovery of extraterrestrial life, mind you, as these compounds are organic but can't be classified as either alive or dead. However, they are the first evidence that stars can naturally generate compounds on this scale of complexity—and quickly, producing them in a matter of weeks.

"Our work has shown that stars have no problem making complex organic compounds under near-vacuum conditions," said Prof. Sun Kwok, of the research team. "Theoretically, this is impossible, but observationally we can see it happening."

A Volcano Casts a Shadow on the Sky Itself

Volcanoes are incredible sights on their own—but toss in a stupendous sunset, and you've got yourself a photo, homie. This shadow scene looks like the world turned upside-down.

What you're seeing here is just the shadow of Mount Rainier cast up upon low clouds. No magic, no strange natural phenomenon. Just a fantastic find by photog Nick Lippert. Half apocalyptic, half idyllic.

600,000 Facebook Logins Are Hijacked Every Day

Facebook thought it was bragging when it announced recently that just 0.06% of its 1 billion daily user logins were made by hijacked accounts. But that's a hell of a lot of logins by hackers and spammers: 600,000/day, according to Sophos. Their new incredibly complicated super-friends scheme should fix this.

Apple's Lossless ALAC Goes Open Source, it's like FLAC for iPods

Well, it's not nearly as exciting as a new iPhone, but Apple recently announced a bit of news that will set people in certain circles abuzz. The company's lossless audio codec, ALAC, is going open source. Similar to FLAC, the Apple Lossless Audio Codec offers some file compression while still delivering a bit-for-bit recreation of the original source material. The primary difference being that Apple devices and software do not support FLAC (at least without some tinkering) but can handle the Cupertino developed ALAC. The decision to release the code under the Apache license won't have much of an immediate impact on your digital audio routine, but expect support for ALAC to start popping up in more media players (both hardware and software) soon.

 

 

Google+ Now Displays "What’s Hot" Trending & Post Sharing Data

Nerd Facebook Google+ has added another collection of decent features to its web interface, now showing "What's Hot" on the network and building "Ripples" infographics to show how posts have been shared with other users.

The changes aren't immediately noticeable. The What's Hot section appears at the bottom of your Stream and consists of a slightly irrelevant collection of updates from people you don't know, which Google's system has somehow decided are popular. It's a little strange seeing nonsense from strangers sitting in your Stream, to be honest.

As for the Ripples post sharing data, that's found within the drop-down menu to the right of each post. Click on that and an infographic appears, illustrating how your photograph of your shoes has spread around the world — and if any popular, big-time Google+ users have stumbled across it.

 

 

Three Eyed Fish Caught Outside a Nuclear Power Plant

Fishermen in Córdoba, Argentina caught athree-eyed wolf fish in a reservoir fed by a local nuclear power plant, which will surely hinder the plant's owner's attempt to run for local office.

The fishermen say their discovery, which actually bears no resemblance to Blinky the three-eyed fish from The Simpsons, has begun to worry local residents who live near the reactor. And instead of feasting on their catch, and presumably gaining superpowers from its probable high levels of radiation, the men have decided to let it be tested to see if the mutation was actually a result of it being exposed to the water from the nuclear plant. After that they plan to have it embalmed for posterity, or sell it to Fox as a promotional item for their long running, and eerily prophetic, animated series.

 

 

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Only Fortified Glass, Not Gorilla Glass

Looks like Google's latest flagship Android phone is slightly less awesome than it was — no Corning Gorilla glass, just 'fortified glass'. Of course Samsung didn't actually speak about the glass originally, we just hoped-and-wished it was furnished in Gorilla.

Sony to Buy out Ericsson's Stake in Joint Venture, call it Quits After Ten Years

We all saw it coming and, sure enough, it's finally happened. After all the rumors and opaque comments, Sony has just bought out Ericsson's share of Sony Ericsson, effectively assuming ownership of the entire venture. Ericsson confirmed the buyout this morning, adding that it will receive a cash consideration of €1.05 billion in exchange for its 50 percent stake. Sony, meanwhile, will now have the chance to integrate smartphones more tightly within its arsenal of tablets, laptops and gaming devices. The agreement also gives Sony an IP cross-licensing agreement and ownership of "five essential patent families" pertaining to wireless tech, though the breadth of this coverage remains unclear. The separation won't be finalized, however, until January 2012, pending regulatory approval.