Caffeine has previously been correlated with a reduced risk of cancer. But the latest research-aided theory coming out of Rutgers University is that putting caffeine intosunscreen will reduce that risk even more.
The Guardian UK says that when combined with sunscreen, caffeine, which inhibits a gene crucial to melanoma growth, will actually promote the death of cells damaged by UV rays.
Allan Conney of the department of chemical biology at Rutgers University in New Jersey wanted to find the specific molecular mechanisms behind it. He suspected that the response might involve a gene called ATR, which is suppressed when caffeine molecules are around. This suppression encourages the death of DNA-damaged cells.
Conney tested the idea by creating genetically modified mice whose ATR genes were deficient and exposing them to ultraviolet light until they developed skin cancer. After 19 weeks of UV exposure, he found that these mice developed 69% fewer tumours than those that had fully functioning ATR genes. In addition, tumours in the GM mice developed three weeks later than in standard mice.
Life would be so much easier if you could just switch operating systems depending on what you need, wouldn't it? That's the thinking behind ViewSonic's ViewPad 10pro, a "dual OS" tablet that runsWindows 7 and Android 2.3. The Wi-Fi enabled device comes with Intel's new 1.5 GHz Atom Z670 CPU, a 1024 x 600 display, 2GB of memory, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, HDMI capabilities and a microSD slot.
The base model comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and a 16GB SSD for $599, while some extra bucks gets you Windows 7 Professional and a 32GB SSD. If you want one soon, best get a move on, as "limited numbers" are currently available. Get it here.
There may not be many people willing to pay over $1,000 for an Xperia Play, but it turns out there's at least a few willing to go nuts when there's some Minecraft involved. That limited edition model pictured above will be given away to a few lucky winners at the upcoming Gamescon conference in Germany, but Minecraft developer Mojang has decided to let one loose on eBay beforehand, where the bidding has already topped a grand with a full six days left.
Adding a bit of extra incentive for those with deep pockets, Mojang says that it will also donate all the proceeds from the auction to an as yet unnamed charity. Get it on eBay
Happy Monday to you, and happy Monday to Motorola Mobility, which Google has announced is about to become its next acquisition. This comes hot on the heels of a $56 million Q2 net loss for Moto -- and CEO Sanjay Jha's less than subtle hints about going fishing for Android-related patent royalties. Now, at a price of $40 per share for a total of about $12.5 billion, Big G will be making Moto a "dedicated Android partner" to "supercharge the Android ecosystem" and "enhance competition in mobile computing."
Larry Page had this to say about the deal:
Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.
What happens next? While this will of course strengthen the ties between hardware and software, Google is pledging to continue offering Android as an open platform -- Moto will license it and others will be able to as ever. Additionally, Google will continue to operate its new toy as a separate business and not morph it into an in-house hardware wing. But, one has to wonder what this means for companies like Samsung, which partnered closely with Google on the Nexus S, and of course HTC, which released the Nexus Oneand the iconic G1. And then there's the big question: just where does Moto Blur fit into this equation?
Peter Chou, CEO, HTC:
We welcome the news of today's acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.
Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson:
I welcome Google's commitment to defending Android and its partners.
Jong-Seok Park, President & CEO, LG:
We welcome Google's commitment to defending Android and its partners.
This Diesel SBA Black Out Watch is for those that prefer their watches big, bold, and black. With a unique angled case design and plenty of analog dials, this watch can enhance your style with an audacious flair. It is water resistant to 5 ATM of pressure (50 meters deep in water), which is cool because the main dial is reminiscent of a submarine sonar display.
It's been more than two years since SteelSeries unveiled its Xai and Kinzu gaming mice, but the peripheral maker has now returned with a brand new sword in hand -- the sleek and presumably sage Sensei. The device is powered by a 32-bit ARM processor that can digest images at up to 12,000 frames per second and rocks up to 5,700 CPI, with a Double CPI option that extends to 11,400 DCPI, for users gaming across multiple screens.
The ambidextrous controller also comes outfitted in a metal coating that won't slip from your hands and connects to computers via a gold-plated USB. Best of all, PC gamers can use SteelSeries' Engine software to customize their experience even further, with pre-set configurations and user profiles. The Sensei is slated for release next month, when it will retail for $90 (or €90).
ASUS' Eee Pad Slider is fast becoming just as mythical as the flying horse the company's named after. Well, judging by a recent report from Notebook Italia and the tab's new product page, it looks like we may actually see a September launch for the 10.1-incher -- in Italy. Contrary to prior rumors, the company will be offering the Slider in two storage configurations -- 16GB and 32GB at potential €479 ($400) and €599 ($550) price points, respectively.
It should ship with Android 3.1 installed, with a promised 3.2 upgrade to follow. The QWERTYfied tablet packs a 1280 x 800 WXGA display, dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of memory, 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera, 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, USB 2.0, mini-HDMI, microSD card reader, WiFi and Bluetooth.
In keeping with new changes Google's rolling out for their services, all their login pages will soon follow suit. Hence the new layout for Gmail's page. Altogether airier and cleaner. The "Gmail" in plaintext. All the functionality you'd expect.
It looks like the sly fox is ready to make its worldwide debut a few days early. In typical Mozilla fashion, a complete build of Firefox 6 is now unofficially available for your downloading pleasure, three days ahead of schedule.
If you're looking for a major facelift to the desktop edition, you won't find one here -- most of the new features aren't cosmetic. Perhaps most visibly, you'll find the domain name of the page you're parked on highlighted in the address bar.
Technically, the Snow Peak SnowMiner LED Headlamp is for hiking in the dark. But when you see the words snow and headlamp together, can you think of anything besides snowboarding in the dark?
But you shouldn't snowboard in the dark because even if you managed to find a way to do that, it's probably insanely dangerous. In any case, the SnowMiner is now slouch. The LED lamp emits 60 lumens worth of light. When strapped to your head, it shoots out a 35 meter focused beam. Awesome. But there'smore.
The lamp dome is made of a shape-shifting silicone material. When you squeeze the sides, the concave lens of the headlamp pops out into a dome-shaped form factor, effectively turning the SnowMiner into a lantern. For $50, what more could you ask for from your outdoor gear?
For the modern dental enthusiast, I present to you the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean USB toothbrush -- because keeping your stank breath fresh at your computer is essential for early morning Skype calls. Long since gone are the days where brushing your teeth was limited to the bathroom.
Nowadays, you'll need to keep those chompers fresh no matter where you might find yourself, including (but not limited to): the computer lab at school, your home office, your boss' office, or maybe even the Apple Store. Claiming up to 100 percent plaque removal and 44 percent more bristles, some are going so far as to call this £250 ($405) teeth gleamer the "iPod of toothbrushes."
Kodawarisan, a Japanese web site, is reporting that Apple's Fall Event, which previously focused on iPods but will likely include the iPhone 5 announcement this year, is scheduled for Wednesday Sepetember 7th, 2011. The rumored date jives well with previous years.
Apple has always targeted early September for their Fall Events. Last year, the Fall Event was held on September 1st. In 2009 and 2008, it was held on September 9th. So it does make sense from a historical perspective. This year is a little different though because it will be the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on September 11th; it seems unlikely, perhaps, that Apple would want to compete with such an emotional and all-encompassing event for the type of media attention their product launches usually command.
Trend hunters in Japan say the island nation's latest fad is for people to stick temporary tattoos to their teeth. If these pics are any indication, it looks as if someone's teeth are falling apart.
You might argue that it would make sense when you got a closer look at someone's grill. But how often do you examine the teeth of a friend, let alone some random stranger? And though they wear off in a few days, the idea of repeatedly gluing something to the front of my teeth just doesn't seem right.
This is Steve Jobs' wardrobe evolution since 1998, the year he returned to command Apple as interim CEO. You gotta admire a man who is loyal to his style no matter what. But my favorite Jobs is the old school Jobs.
After he returned to Apple, it was all Levi's, New Balances and black sweaters. One day I saw him wearing a suit—kind of—in a MacWorld Japan keynote, but that was it.
Back in the 70s and 80s his wardrobe used to be a mix of everything, from walking around the Apple campus barefoot in a t-shirt and shorts to old school three-piece suits to show his computers in fairs and keynotes.
The Federal Communications Commission or FCC started talking about its intention to allow for 911 texting (and even photos and videos) last year, and now Chairman Julius Genachowski is out with a detailed plan for a "next generation" 911 service. The standout feature of it is just that -- the ability to send a text, photo or video in the event of an emergency -- but that also brings with it a complete overhaul of the backend of the service, and a switch to an IP-based architecture from the current circuit-switched system.
That, the FCC says, should provide more flexibility and resiliency, and the agency has a number of other improvements in mind as well, including increased accessibility for people with disabilities, and new measures to improve the accuracy of location gathering (including new rules for wireless carriers). Of course, it all still is just a plan at the moment, but the FCC says it will consider a move to accelerate adoption of the plan next month.
Just in case you were thinking of buying one of those 40 iPhone 4s that were most likely looted in the UK riots and put on Craigslist, don't—UK networks are blocking all stolen phones, so they'll be worthless.
Macworld spoke to several UK networks about the issue of the stolen phones, with the general answer being that they'll simply check stock records for each ransacked store, and add the IMEI number associated with each phone to the Equipment Identity Register which will block them from working with SIM cards in under a day. Within two days the phones will also be banned from being used on any UK network.
Sellers of stolen phones will likely still try and shift them onto unsuspecting buyers, meaning anyone who's been thinking about buying a brand new iPhone, BlackBerry or other recent model should probably go by official means only for a while, unless they want to end up with a very expensive door-stopper.
Got a Windows Phone 7 and an addictive personality? Well then today's your lucky day, as the Xbox Live versions of both Minesweeper and Sudoku have now landed in the US Marketplace.
With these new additions, users can now sweep for virtual landmines in either Classic or Speed mode, or put their logic skills to the test by playing Sudoku in Lightning mode -- all while racking up achievements and powerups. Both are available for free and either will do a great job of destroying your productivity.
The earth's orbit is littered with about 20,000 pieces of space junk measuring four inches or larger. Pieces smaller than that are in the tens of millions, according to NASA.
To prevent the Earth's atmosphere from becoming a full-on junkyard, Italian Space Agency scientists have proposed an elegant way to remove space debris: launch a satellite that seeks out the garbage, then using a robotic arm attaches a propellant to it. The propellant escorts the junk to the earth's atmosphere where it burns up.
Sounds pretty neat, kind of like if Wall-E were a garbage collector when he propels himself through space with an aerosol can. The problem is the proposed technique is not so efficient. The Italian scientists report in the journal Acta Astronautica that one of their space junk collectors could take out five pieces of garbage per year. That means if space junk stopped proliferating now (although it's predicted to triple by 2030), the problem would be remedied in about 4,000 years.
Scientists say space junk doesn't pose an immediate threat, but it could quickly become one. That's because of the Kessler syndrome: as space junk proliferates, so does the likelihood of collisions, which quickly multiply the amount of crap in orbit. Space junk instantaneously increased by 25 percent when China detonated a weather satellite in 2007. Just two years later, an American and Russian satellite collided in 2009, throwing even more debris into the mix. If this happens enough times, the earth's atmosphere could become impassable, making space travel impossible.
Other proposed solutions to space junk include lasering threatening garbage out of the way or or employing service stations to lengthen the lifespans of existing satellites instead of launching new ones. But at a space conference in May, Gen. William Shelton, commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command said there's no practical solution in sight for the space junk problem.
Well, at least for the foreseeable future we can still look forward to fireballs of space junk falling from the sky.
Wow. Five years after it launched, Twitter has finally added native photo-sharing to its service. Starting now, all Twitter.com users have a camera icon that lets you add a photo to your tweet.
Images that are 3MB or less in size can be uploaded and embedded into a tweet. If a user follows you they will see the image and a pic.twitter.com link. If they don't follow you, they will see a "Click to Display Media" message. You can even add a hashtag to your image so others can find it using Twitter's photo and video search feature. In the future, Twitter will enable image galleries and add this upload feature to its mobile apps.
