MILAN – A pair of fender-benders, two technology-loving hitchhikers and 22 hours blocked at the Russian border. That's the balance sheet so far for a team of driverless vehicles on a 13,000-kilometer (8,000-mile) roadtrip from Europe to China.
A group of Italian engineers from the University of Parma's Vislab are testing sensory technology that allow unmanned vehicles to avoid obstacles on the longest-ever roadtrip of driverless technology.
One month into the three-month journey, most errors have been human.
"We were trapped in customs for one long day. We had a small accident — well, two small accidents, caused by human error. As far as the technology is concerned, everything has been smooth. We are very happy," project leader Alberto Broggi said Tuesday.
The first accident occurred a couple of days into Russia, when the group stopped for the day and got out of the vehicles. One team of engineers turned off the sensory equipment, but neglected to switch off the automatic driving mechanism.
"So it was able to steer and drive, but it had no perception. It couldn't see anything," said Broggi, who is monitoring the journey and troubleshooting from Parma. The vehicle drove right into the rear of another driverless van parked three meters (yards) away.
"The second accident is even more stupid than the first," Broggi said. One of the battery-powered vehicles, was being loaded on to a truck to be recharged, and it banged into a truck, taking off a bumper.
The Italian scooter and vehicle maker Piaggio, which owns the four driverless vehicles, is sending spare bumpers, Broggi said. And now the team has a check list to make sure all systems are off when they stop for a break.
Vislab's goal is to log 13,000 driverless kilometers (8,000 miles) by the time the convoy arrives in Shanghai on Oct 28, for a final demonstration at the World Expo. So far, the vehicles have logged 2,300 autonomous kilometers (1,400 miles) of the total 4,100 kilometers (2,500 miles) traveled by the convoy to date, the balance in tow.
Still, Broggi is optimistic they will make up the mileage on the zigzagging route through Asia.
The departure from Italy was delayed by logistics, so the vehicles were towed to Belgrade. Then the team got stuck on the Russian border for 22 hours waiting for proper authorization to bring the vehicles into the country — not because of concerns over the unmanned technology but for proof of vehicle ownership, Broggi said.
To make up the time, the vehicles were towed again.
And Moscow drivers, it turns out, are not ready to share the roads with autonomous vehicles — so the automatic driving mechanism had to be turned off.
For the journey, the driverless vehicles travel in pairs, with the driverless vehicle taking cues from a lead van being driven normally. But in Moscow, drivers cut in between the vehicles, blocking the signal, and the unmanned vans' impulse to stay within the traffic lines was futile given the chaotic driving patterns, Broggi said.
"It was impossible. In crowded areas, if no one is respecting the rules, there is no way to navigate. The only thing you can do is avoid hitting someone," Broggi said. Yet, he would not rule out autonomous vehicles in chaotic situations in the future: the rules for the driverless vehicles would just have to be rewritten to match the environment.
The convoy has been logging roughly 200 to 230 kilometers (143 miles) a day, and was somewhere between Niznij Novogorod and Saratov on Tuesday, two days after leaving Moscow where a pair of enterprising hitchhikers flagged them down with a banner endorsing future technology. They got a short 15-minute ride for their effort.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
technology is the real power: What is your Google Analytics IQ?
technology is the real power: What is your Google Analytics IQ?: "We found about the online course in web analytics techniques and Google Analytics implementation from the Google Analytics Blog. The course..."
Collaboration Between Microsoft and Merck & Co. Inc.
In order to acquire certain assets of Rosetta Biosoftware, a business unit of Rosetta Inpharmatics LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc. Microsoft Corp. revealed that it has signed an agreement with Merck & Co. Inc. To enable enhanced translational research capabilities, the deal allows Microsoft to incorporate genomic, genetic, metabolomic and proteomics data management software into the Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences platform, while,in order to enhance the Amalga Life Sciences platform to meet emerging pharmaceutical research needs, Microsoft will establish a strategic relationship with Merck.Merck will become, based on this agreemnt, a customer of the Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences 2009 platform, while will provide strategic input to Microsoft on the direction and evolution of new solutions incorporating Rosetta Biosoftware technologies. This software platform will help drive improvements in Merck’s already advanced research capabilities.
Vice president, Merck Research Laboratories, Rupert Vessey, declared: “This agreement establishes a stable and sustainable platform for the Rosetta Biosoftware technology. In addition, we look forward to collaborating with Microsoft to develop new bioinformatic solutions to enable and expedite drug discovery and development.” He added: “This is part of our previously announced strategy designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our Basic Research operations to ensure long-term pipeline productivity.”
Corporate vice president, Health Solutions Group, Microsoft, Peter Neupert, stated: “We’re excited to collaborate with Merck and augment the capabilities of Amalga Life Sciences with the complementary assets of Rosetta Biosoftware.” He continued: “The newly combined offering will enable customers to improve the management and analysis of genomic, biological and research data, helping to bring lifesaving drugs and therapies to market faster and accelerate the realization of personalized medicine.”
Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences, released in April 2009, is a new software platform designed to transform health and life sciences research data into the critical knowledge needed for the discovery of new treatments. By automating the management and analysis of massive, heterogeneous research data, the platform is helping organizations across the life sciences spectrum to accelerate research and discovery efforts, giving scientists and researchers the opportunity to redesign, manage and control research processes to increase productivity, reduce errors and improve decision-making.
VISION Technology and Microsoft Windows 7
Microsoft Corp. has been congratulated by AMD for the significant achievement of bringing the much expected Windows® 7 operating system to consumers and businesses worldwide. Windows 7, which is optimized for AMD processing technologies and launching along with VISION Technology by AMD in retail outlets worldwide, on AMD-based PCs allows consumers from all over the world to enjoy an exceptionally rich, intuitive and stable computing experience.AMD is the only one who delivers expertise and innovations that cover areas from high-end graphics and video processing to multi-core CPUs in designing balanced PC platforms. Combined with the collaboration with Microsoft during the development of the Windows 7 operating system, this unique capability offers a visibly superior experience to consumers: from video playback to game play to enabling the speeding of processor-intensive tasks like transcoding.
Including features such as Windows 7 drag-and-drop, upscaling DVD videos to near-HD quality on HD-capable monitors, and touch-screen operation, PC buyers have the advantage of the enhancements in Windows 7 for their PC by using VISION Technology from AMD. Enabling a superior visual PC experience and enriching virtually everything PC users see, share, and create, VISION technology by AMD helps simplify the consumer buying experience.
Being already available and sold along with Windows 7 installed at leading retail and online outlets, second-generation AMD Ultrathin and 2009 AMD Mainstream Notebook platforms, leverage VISION Technology from AMD to address the needs of today’s PC lifestyle. Today’s PC users, having a growing focus on new entertainment capabilities such as rich and vivid HD video, music and photos, available Blu-ray playback, 7.1 surround audio and HDMI output with multi-tasking performance, will find all these features in notebooks with Vision Technology from AMD.
The ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series, being the most powerful PC graphics and video processors ever created until now, offer immersive gaming experiences with support for ATI Eyefinity Technology and DirectX® 11, the first processor to do so3.
By using the combined power of CPU and graphics, ATI Stream technology is taking advantage of AMD’s balanced platform approach in order to drastically accelerate computing performance with enabled applications, like converting video to portable media players with Windows 7 drag-and-drop.
Small and enterprise businesses can be more efficient with the help of AMD Business Class Technology by using desktop PCs supporting Windows 7 and AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) technology. Businesses can leverage their investment in Windows XP applications by taking advantage of features like Windows XP Mode, as well as industry standards like Desktop and Mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) 1.1 for out-of-band manageability and TPM 1.2 for security.
VP, Product Marketing, AMD, Leslie Sobon, declared: “The availability of Windows 7 represents an important step for the PC industry, enabling an improved user experience focused on what users care about most today – PC entertainment that spans video, photos, music and gaming, as well as everyday consumer and business applications.” Leslie continued: “AMD has worked closely with Microsoft to help them optimize the necessary processing technologies that bring this exciting operating system to life for users, and we look forward to continued collaboration in pushing the envelope on the future of computing.”
Integrated Utility of the Future
The fact that is has developed a reference architecture based on familiar, cost-effective Microsoft platforms that can be used as the basis for development of the “integrated utility of the future” has been revealed by Microsoft.Microsoft’s first comprehensive reference architecture addressing technology integration throughout the full scope of the smart energy ecosystem is called the Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA). Having the capability to provide a method of testing the alignment of information technology with their business processes to create an integrated utility, the Microsoft SERA can help utilities. Following the presentation of an online application developed to enhance the experience of utilities’ customers and provide further insight into the supply and demand of residential energy use, called Microsoft Hohm, this is the second utility offering revealed by Microsoft in just four months.
Utilities will need sound, tested technologies to help them proceed because they attempt to develop new projects that are funded by national smart grid stimulus programs. Utilities will be able to implement solutions faster and more reliably than they could with solutions offered by competitors thanks to Microsoft and industry partners’ technologies.
From the power grid to the home, the Microsoft SERA has been adopted by a number of global solutions providers whose energy industry solutions cover the entire energy ecosystem. Accenture, Alstom Power, AREVA, ESRI, Itron Inc. and OSIsoft Inc. are some of the Microsoft Gold Certified Partners who support SERA.
In order to ensure that SERA addresses power utilities’ IT infrastructure needs Microsoft collaborated with key power industry partners. One example is Alstom Power who has demonstrated its commitment to Microsoft along with the fully embrace of SERA and thinks of this move as the first step in providing solutions for the new challenge raised by smart grids.
Senior vice president of Alstom Power’s Energy Management Business, Laurent Demortier, declared: “Alstom has established a long-term relationship with Microsoft in order to provide cost-efficient, scalable architectures for electrical producers like solar, hydro, wind, coal, steam or nuclear power plants.” He continued: “This Microsoft reference architecture accelerates solution development to enable developers to provide enhanced, more cost-effective, secure and scalable solutions.”
Other customers such as Fujairah F2 O&M Company Ltd. are seeing the benefits of solutions built according to an architecture that provides the alignment of IT with their business processes. Production manager, Fujairah F2 O&M Company, Soloman Premline Prince, declared: “Developing a quality ALSPA Series DCS system for such a large and complex plant like ours is not that easy, and the Alstom team has responded to that great challenge in an exceptional manner.”
Worldwide Utilities Industry technology strategist/architect, Microsoft, Larry Cochrane, declared: “Utility industry executives who are concerned about changing their business models to ones that enable a smarter energy ecosystem will view Microsoft as a partner of choice because of its current strengths within their technology regimes as well as our solutions’ adaptability to future, sometimes unknown, conditions and business environment needs.” He further added: “The Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture represents our continuing commitment to our utility industry customers and our holistic vision of how the smart grid fits into the much larger energy ecosystem that’s evolving daily.”
Exactly how the plug-and-play model allows thousands of devices to seamlessly plug into PCs today, the Microsoft SERA for the smart energy ecosystem can create a world in which thousands of smart devices can seamlessly plug into the grid with the help of common standards and interoperability frameworks.
The result of all of this is that the grid and the broader energy ecosystem can achieve the vision of becoming smarter once companies will inject Microsoft and industry partners’ software into the various control points in the power system, which will allow households and businesses to have ready access to timely, user-friendly information that eventually can help them make more rational choices about their energy use.
Sony Ericsson W995
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At the Mobile World Congress Sony Ericsson has introduced the new Walkman music phone W995. The W995 has a 8.1-megapixel camera with 16x digital zoom and a 2.6-inch QVGA scratch-resistant display. Sony Ericsson W995 also has DLNA certification, 118MB internal memory, an 8GB M2 card slot, aGPS with Google Maps, WiFi, shake control, integrated Walkman player, auto focus, flash and video recording. Sony Ericsson W995 features Media Go functionality. "This unique Sony application makes its worldwide debut on the the W995 Walkman and lets you effortlessly and automatically transfer any audio, photos and videos between your phone and computer. You can even find podcasts with exciting content easily from the directory – just two clicks and you’re away, and watch the action in all its glory on the bright clear 2.6” screen."Sony Ericsson W995 supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UTMS/HSPA 900/2100.
The Sony Ericsson W995 will be available in selected markets from Q2 and will come in Progressive Black, Cosmic Silver and Energetic Red. The price for Sony Ericsson W995 has not been revealed yet.
What is your Google Analytics IQ?
We found about the online course in web analytics techniques and Google Analytics implementation from the Google Analytics Blog. The course is offered free of charge to everyone who is interested. You can use this lessons to prepare for the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) test or to simply become a more knowledgeable Google Analytics user. Test yourself and register as a qualified Google Analytics user!
The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) is a proof of proficiency in Google Analytics. After passing the Google Analytics IQ test, you'll be effective at leveraging Google Analytics within your organization and helping others to do the same. An in-depth, step-by-step curriculum is provided free of charge from Google to help you prepare for the test.
The test is not free, it costs $50. Once you pass, you'll be registered as Google Analytics qualified. You must receive a score of at least 75% to pass, so even if you already consider yourself an expert, be sure to at least review the online course before taking the test. If you pass the test you will receive a certificate that is valid for 18 months from date of issue. Your certificate will be available for you to download from your test account, you can view or print if from Adobe Reader (v. 9)
iPhone 3G S Revealed by Apple
The fastest, most powerful iPhone to be reavealed, the new iPhone™ 3G S has been announced by Apple. It has some new features which include longer battery life with up to twice as fast improved speed and performance as iPhone 3G, a high-quality 3 megapixel autofocus camera, easy to use video recording capability and hands free voice control. The world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 100 new features such as Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard and more, the new iPhone OS 3.0 is available with iPhone 3G S. The biggest application store in the world where customers have already downloaded over one billion apps, App Store, offers iPhone 3G S customers access to more than 50,000 applications. With an iPhone 3G S 16GB model for just $199 and a new 32GB model for just $299, it offers twice the capacity for the same price, Apple is now offering the iPhone 3G at the breakthrough price of just $99 for the 8GB model.Apple’s senior vice president of WorldWide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller, declared: “iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet and we think people will love the incredible new features including autofocus camera, video recording and the freedom of voice control.” He continued: “And with a breakthrough price of $99, we are thrilled to get iPhone 3G into the hands of even more users who want them.”
Averaging up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S offers more speed and performance, allowing you to render web pages quicker and launch applications faster. Mobile gaming and other graphic intense applications are better than ever with iPhone 3G S as it takes advantage of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for stunning high-quality 3D graphics. Along with being faster, iPhone 3G S also offers longer battery life so you can watch more videos, listen music much longer, browse the Internet or keep using your favorite apps more than ever until now. 7.2 Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds is a new feature of the new iPhone 3G S.
Now, its easier than ever to capture, edit and share pictures and videos instantly with family and friends with the new 3 megapixel autofocus camera from iPhone 3G S. Coming with an automatic macro focus for extra close up shots, the new autofocus camera adjusts focus, exposure, color and contrast to render the best possible image. The “tap to focus” feature allows you to select an object or area of interest and the camera automatically re-adjusts focus and exposure only by touching the display.
You have hand free operation for iPhone and iPod® functions with the new voice control feature in iPhone 3G S. You just have to say the appropriate commands into the built-in microphone or headset microphone and you are able to dial by name or number. You can listen to your favorite music sorting it by artist, album or playlist with voice control. You can use the command to pause the music, play the next track, turn on shuffle or to find out what song are you listening to right now by just saying it to your iPhone.
A very cool feature of the iPhone 3G S is the built-in digital compass for instant navigation, showing you which way you are headed and rotating as you change direction. The digital compass it automatically orients any map to the direction you are facing because is also integrated within Maps.
People with disbilities have new tools in their hands with a screen reader that speaks what appears on the iPhone 3G S display, called VoiceOver, a new universal Zoom function which can magnify the entire screen, a new feature called White on Black which reverses the colors on screen to provide higher contrast for people with low vision, and the Mono Audio function which combines left and right audio channels so that they can be heard in both earbuds for those with hearing loss in one ear.
More than 100 new features including: Cut, Copy and Paste; Spotlight Search to search across iPhone or within Mail, Contacts, Calendar and iPod; MMS; landscape keyboard for Messages, Mail, Notes and Safari®; expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app are available on the iPhone 3G S with iPhone OS 3.0 software. The software is offering a new feature called Find My iPhone which works together with MobileMe to help you locate your lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen, and even play a sound to help you find it even if your phone is set to silent. The new Remote Wipe feature allows you to erase all data and content on your iPhone in the case you cannot find your iPhone.
New Addition to the MacBook made by Apple
Apple® introduced a brand new MacBook® equiped with a durable polycarbonate unibody design featuring a brilliant LED-backlit display, a glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad and Apple’s unique built-in battery which offers up to seven hours of battery life. Available at a price point of $999, the new MacBook is perfect for students and new Mac® users as it carries the technology and design features from the MacBook Pro line.Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller, stated: “The new MacBook includes many of the great features found on the innovative MacBook Pro, such as an LED-backlit display, glass Multi-Touch trackpad and built-in long-life battery.” He continued: “With the only lineup of notebooks all featuring unibody enclosures, LED-backlit displays and long-life battery technology, there’s never been a better time to switch to a Mac.”
Thanks to its unibody, polycarbonate enclosure the new MacBook is lighter and more durable. This new design offers a unique non-skid bottom surface and at a wheig of only 4.7 pounds, this sleek MacBook fits easily into a backpack or briefcase. A bright, LED-backlit display which has the same wide-angle viewing technology used in the MacBook Pro is also available with the new MacBook. This new offering from apple is equiped with a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics.
Apple’s unique built-in notebook battery which allows up to seven hours of wireless productivity on a single charge, and up to 1,000 recharges is offered with this new MacBook. Apple’s built-in battery, offering almost three times the lifespan of traditional notebook batteries, results in fewer depleted batteries and less waste. For only $129, including installation and environmentally responsible disposal of your old battery, you can replace a depleted battery .
With every Mac notebook achieving EPEAT Gold status and fulfiling Energy Star 5.0 requirements being something usual, the energy-efficient MacBook becomes one of the industry’s greenest series of notebooks. Apple equiped al the new Mac notebook line with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Every Mac notebooks is built without brominated flame retardants, without internal cables and components that are PVC-free and are constructed of recyclable materials.
The world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® and Apple’s unique suite of applications for photo management, movie making and music creation are preinstalled on all Macs and iLife®.
DirectX 11 Already Available in BattleForge
BattleForge is one of the games which is constantly updated, and this is known by most people and this is why the development team works around the clock to offer you additions on a regular basis. In order to keep the tradition of bringing groundbreaking elements to BattleForge, the development team offers a new addition to the game.
Now, that DirectX 11 with Windows 7 are released and also the new AMD’s ATI HD 5870 with support for DirectX 11, BattleForge has been updated in order to be able to run using Direct X 11 on supported hardware. with this in mind, you can expect a higher level of performance for the same processing power, which in turn allows more to be done with the game graphically and this translates in higher frame rates and new ways of creating graphical effects, such as shadows and lighting. A game that both runs and looks better is what rises from all of this.
It is told that DirectX 11 will ofer new generation of GPU goodness, especially for games. DirectX 11 offers some new features, tessellation being one of them and will enable artists to make smoother and less blocky models in 3D games. DX11 also knows how to take advantage of CPUs with multiple cores.
Seeing the benefit for games, the most important addition to all of this could be the compute shader, which will finally bring in the GPGPU that has been talked about lately.
After we all been waiting for the first DirectX 11 supporting game , it has finally arrived.
There is a new patch available for the EA free-to-play fantasy card game BattleForge which enables DirectX 11 functions and it's said that is offers smoother framerates along with new graphical effects on DX11 systems with DX11 hardware.
Paper-thin Batteries Made from Algae
How would sound to make someone a gift in a form of a piece of paper which lights up showing words like "Happy Anniversary." This thing could be possible thanks a new biodegradable battery made of cellulose.Scientists from all over the world trying to develop thin, flexible, lightweight, inexpensive, environmentally friendly batteries built totally from nonmetal parts. Conducting polymers are among the most promising materials for these batteries but until now this hasn't been quite possible because they couldn't hold a charge for a long time.
A green algae known as Cladophora seems to be the solution for this new battery. This plant can be found on beaches all over the world.
The cellulose made by this algae has a very large surface area which is 100 times bigger than the cellulose found in paper, allowing scientist to increase a couple of times the amount of conducting polymer available for use in the new device, making it possible to better recharge, hold and discharge electricity.
A nanotechnologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, Maria Strømme, declared: "We have long hoped to find some sort of constructive use for the material from algae blooms and have now been shown this to be possible." She continued: "This creates new possibilities for large-scale production of environmentally friendly, cost-effective, lightweight energy storage systems."
The new batteries are made of extremely thin layers of conducting polymer just 40 to 50 nanometers or billionths of a meter wide coating algae cellulose fibers only 20 to 30 nanometers wide that were collected into paper sheets.
They could sustain from 50 to 200 percent more charge than similar conducting polymer batteries, and after the technology is optimized, they can become a serious contender to commercial lithium batteries. Another great thing is the fact that they recharge in a short time, from 11 seconds to eight minutes, while conventional rechargeable batteries take at least one hour.
This new battery showed 6% percent loss through 100 charging cycles, while a comparable polymer battery showed a 50 percent drop in the amount of charge it could hold after 60 cycles of discharging and recharging.
Atom Processors Supported Again by Snow Leopard
Apple announced a few days ago that the Mac OS X 10.6.2 update will not support Intel Atom processors anymore. A few days later on the Internet appeared a newly-hacked kernel which allows Snow Leopard to support Intel Atom processors again.It seems that a Russian hacker managed to find a way to replace the 10.6.2 kernel with a versions that supports Intel Atom. This is not an easy operation and knowing that it comes from a guy who owns a blog in russian might arouse some suspicions.
For now it is not certain if Apple did this on purpose or not but maybe we will find out when the new version will be released. Until then, those of you who are willing to give a try to the hacked kernel should know that a hacked version doesn't guarantee safety at all.
Microsoft Cloud Applications Preferred by Organizations
Stephen Elop , who is Microsoft Business Division President proudly announced that Microsoft Corp.’s business communication and collaboration software delivered as a service, called the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), will be made available in 15 additional countries and regions.Aon Corporation, Aviva PLC, Barry-Wehmiller, Hofstra University, Lions Gate Entertainment, McDonald’s Corporation, Rexel Group, Swedish Red Cross, SkyTeam Alliance, Tyco Flow Control, University System of Ohio, Westcon Group Inc. and hundreds of others new customers implemented the Business Productivity Online Suite during past months.
Elop stated: “Global organizations such as McDonald’s, Rexel Group and Tyco are choosing Microsoft Online Services for the rich capabilities, flexibility and value they deliver.” He continued: “In just a year, we’ve grown to 36 countries and more than a million paying users, and we’re not slowing down. We’ll continue to bring new innovations and deliver the software and services businesses need to succeed.”
Global chief technology officer and senior vice president of Shared Services at McDonald’s, Chris Millington, declared: “Within McDonald’s, collaboration and communication tools are critical to our success and ongoing innovation, and with Microsoft Online Services, we found a cost-effective yet familiar, intuitive solution that we could trust with our business communications.” He further added: “We have already completed over half of the corporate rollout and, by early in the next year, we will be fully deployed throughout our organization. With Microsoft Online Services, we expect to reduce our IT costs and increase our productivity.”
Chief information officer at Rexel Group, Olivier Baldassari, emphasized: “At Rexel, one of our key IT initiatives is to improve collaboration and communication to support the evolution of our business model. We looked at a variety of offerings, and we selected Microsoft Online Services as a cost-effective yet familiar solution that could meet our requirements for reliability, security and ease-of-use.” Olivier adds: “We have already started our rollout, and with Exchange Online, we will consolidate 42 e-mail systems into one, reducing our corresponding IT costs by at least 30 percent.”
1TB Fingernail-Sized Chip Revealed
A group of engineers from North Carolina State University developed a new material which could allow a fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text, which are numbers that exceed by far the storage capacities of today’s computer memory systems.The group of engineers how are led by Dr. Jagdish “Jay” Narayan, John C.C. Fan Family Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and director of the National Science Foundation Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures at NC State, made their discovery by using the process of selective doping, which means that an impurity is added to a material that changes its properties. This process looks promisinf for boosting vehicles’ fuel economy and reducing heat produced by semiconductors, which could translate in more efficient energy production.
When they discovered this new material the engineers were working at the nanometer level — a pinhead has a diameter of 1 million nanometers — and they added metal nickel to magnesium oxide, a ceramic. The new material obtained contained clusters of nickel atoms no bigger than 10 square nanometers which represents a 90 percent size reduction compared to today’s techniques and this means that this material could boost computer storage capacity.
Narayan declared: “Instead of making a chip that stores 20 gigabytes, you have one that can handle one terabyte, or 50 times more data.”
This discovery means a huge leap not only for information storage. Narayan explains that by introducing metallic properties into ceramics, engineers will be able to develop a new generation of ceramic engines capable of sustaining twice the temperatures of normal engines and as a result to achieve fuel economy of 80 miles per gallon. And like any new technology which sees improvements over time, this technique could also be used in applications which harness alternative energy sources like solar energy.
This new discovery also advances knowledge in the emerging field of “spintronics,” which focuses on harnessing energy produced by the spinning of electrons. Almost all the energy produced today is harnessed through the movement of current and is limited by the amount of heat that it produces, but unlike this technique there is no heat produced with the energy which is created by the spinning. The NC State engineers achieved to manipulation of the nanomaterial so the electrons’ spin within the material could be controlled, which could be of great value when harnessing the electrons’ energy.
World’s First Multi-Touch Mouse Revealed by Apple
The first mouse in the world which uses Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ technology, the wireless Magic Mouse, was released by apple. Multi-Touch technology which was introduced by Apple on iPhone®, iPod touch® and Mac® notebook trackpads, permits customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. There are no mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls because the top of the Magic Mouse is all a Multi-Touch surface. The price for the Magic Mouse will be $69 and it will come standard with the new iMac®.Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller, declared: “Apple is the Multi-Touch leader, pioneering the use of this innovative technology in iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads.” He continued: “Apple's Multi-Touch technology allows us to offer an easy to use mouse in a simple and elegant design.”
Magic Mouse is built with a touch-sensitive enclosure which allows it to be used as a single or as a multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. If users apply intuitive gestures they can easily scroll through huge documents, pan across big size images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse is for both left and right handed users and the multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured by accessing System Preferences.
Magic Mouse has a laser tracking engine which provides a smooth, consistent experience on many surfaces, unlike a traditional optical tracking system which requires some adequate surfaces. Bluetooth wireless technology is incorporated into the Magic Mouse in order to offer a clean, cable-free desk top and a secure connection which works from up to 10 meters away. Magic Mouse was built with extended battery performance and for that reason includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS® X in order to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. Two included AA batteries power the wireless Magic Mouse.
Native Development Crack for Zune HD
Although it didn't came out with whistles and fireworks, The Zune HD is a very interesting piece of technology, offering a slick and attractive user interface. If you didn't know, developers can write games for it, but there is a catch to this. Third-party games must be developed using Microsoft's .NET-based XNA Framework. Because XNA normally provides high-performance Direct3D graphics this shouldn't be a problem, but the downside of this is that on the Zune HD, XNA supports only simple 2D graphics with no hardware accelerated 3D and this results in a lackluster graphical performance, although the NVIDIA Tegra which powers the Zune HD is very capable. Because of this restricted environment, third-party applications can't access the Internet through the device's WiFi connection.Get acquintated with OpenZDK. It appears that a possibility to run native applications on the Zune emerged by exploiting a flaw in the Zune's firmware, unleashing the full power of the Zune's hardware to developers: the most important thing is that programs can use the widespread OpenGL ES 2.0 API to take advantage of all the capabilities of the Tegra chip. By doing this, third-party applications aer allowed to achieve the same quality as Microsoft's own Zune games like Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition.
The Zune HD is very capable of providing a first-rate gaming experience as being demonstrated by those Microsoft-published games like PGR, which is extremely good-looking and funny.
From now on, developers should have an easy time to get up to speed on native development with the ZDK. Being based on Windows CE 6, The Zune HD operating system offers development and deployment because it is a widely supported and well understood OS. On the other side, OpenGL is familiar to a lot of game developers.
Don't get to anxious though because Microsoft might opt for fixing the exploit that are being used to enable native Zune development. The Zune HD has a lot of potential but the downside of this is the fact that it requires hacks to live up to it.
New Gaming Mouse Released by Razer
One of the world’s leading manufacturer of high-end precision gaming and lifestyle peripherals, Razer™, presented a right-handed ergonomic mouse for palm and fingertip gamers called Razer Imperator™. Having contours and grooves ideally crafted to enhance aggressive mousing movements made by gamers, the new mouse from Razer was developed with gaming-grade ergonomics in mind.President, Razer Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff, declared: “Ergonomics and control were the key objectives with this mouse”. He continued: “Your grip stays locked and planted no matter how often you lift and swipe your mouse while playing. One of the typical complaints of gamers is the difficulty in reaching the side or thumb buttons on a mouse. We have pioneered adjustable side buttons that slide and lock into your ideal thumb position. You just can’t get a more custom tailored fit than the Razer Imperator.”
Being designed with comfort in mind, this new addition to the Razer family delivers gaming-grade ergonomics that reduces strain during extended gameplay while providing added grip during aggressive mousing movements. In order to ensure customized positioning for a variety of hand sizes and gaming grips, the Razer Imperator also features Razer's first adjustable side buttons. Besides its ergonomically-designed form factor, the Razer Imperator is equiped with the 5600dpi Razer Precision™ 3.5G laser sensor for nothing less than pinpoint precision
LCD Manufacturers Sued by Nokia
One of the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, Nokia Oyj, sued Samsung Electronics Co., LG Display Co., AU Optronics Corp. and some other manufacturers of lcd's saying they colluded to fix prices.Filed Nov. 25 in federal court in San Francisco, the lawsuit is built on federal and state antitrust claims. It sustains arguments AT&T Inc. made in another suit filed last month in the same court against lcd manufacturers.
Nokia is accusing the world’s biggest maker of liquid- crystal displays, Samsung, and other display makers of illegal agreement in order to raise the price of displays above the level in a competitive market. Nokia claims unspecified damages and an order to stop this agreement.
The complaint stated: “The liquid-crystal displays were incorporated into Nokia mobile wireless handsets.” This agreement “artificially inflated the price of liquid crystal displays ultimately incorporated into LCD products purchased by Nokia, causing Nokia to pay higher prices.”
These lawsuits cite and rely on a U.S. Justice Department investigation of display panel price-fixing. A unit of Japan’s Hitachi Ltd., Hitachi Displays Ltd., was the fourth company to plead guilty in the inquiry in March this year, and was named as a defendant in Nokia’s suit but not in the case brought by AT&T.
The world’s second-largest liquid-crystal- display maker, LG Display, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Sharp Corp., who were named in both cases, agreed to plead guilty in November to the U.S. claims and pay $585 million in criminal fines.
In the U.K.’s High Court also has been filled a similar lawsuit by Nokia.
AMD's Reports Record Revenues for this Quarter
After AMD reported a Q1 revenue of $1.57 billion which is a first-quarter record for the company it seems that Intel isn't anymore the only chipmaker to register a record first quarter. The same way as Intel did, AMD reported a big boost in year-over-year processor shipments along with an average sales price jump. Giving all this, the CPU unit's 23 percent year-over-year jump was minor compared to the GPU division which saw a 88 percent year-over-year increase. Along with shipments of mobile GPUs average sales prices also jumped. It seems that having the top GPU on the block is a win-win situation.Along with the general PC market situation and the strength of its smaller and more focused product mix, AMD had seen benefits from the fact that this quarter was was the first one which fully reflected the deconsolidation of the Globalfoundries spinoff, and it was also the first full quarter after the company made a settlement with Intel. Being rid of its fab burden, its legal battles, and the effects of some of the practices that Intel agreed not to engage in, the future looks promising for the company, at least for now.
We have to wait and see how Fusion strategy will take fare for the company as some elements of the strategy are not very clear yer, and also because some of the elements that are clear are new and present some risks. The next high-end Bulldozer core that the company plans to release is different from everything else, and its Llano mobile part represents a bit of a gamble as this level of GPU/CPU integration at this primary stage will certainly pay off. Given all this, for now, things look better for AMD than they have in the last years.
Android Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini and X10 mini pro gets official
We’ve seen Robyn recently, the compact version of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X10 this smartphone has officially come up to be Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini along with QWERTY version XPERIA X10 mini pro. Both SE smartphones run Android 1.6, hit on the continue link for the press release and other details.
Both SE smartphones features a 2.55-inch QVGA touchscreen and 3G models with both 900/2100 HSPA and 850/1900/2100 HSPA, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support along with A-GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi and a 3.5mm headphone socket and 5-megapixel camera with geotagging, autofocus and an LED flash.
There SE XPERIA X10 mini and pro versions will be available in Q2 2010. The X10 Mini will ship in pearl white, black, pink, lime, red and silver color variants while the X10 Pro in staid black and red. Unfortunately, as for now there are still no words on the pricing yet for both.
Press Release:
Sony Ericsson grows its family of Communication Entertainment phones with compact versions of Xperia™ X10 for the first half of 2010
Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro define a new user experience – ultra-compact – whilst still offering best-in-class communication entertainment performance
Smaller than a credit card, smart and unique with Sony Ericsson Timescape™ application and an intuitive 4 corner touch screen user interface
February 14, 2010 – Barcelona – Today sees the announcement of Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro, compact versions of Xperia™ X10, which will deliver powerful and application packed mobile phones into the industry. By introducing mobile phones that are both compact and clever, Sony Ericsson is challenging the norm and defining a brand new offering that combines high specification features with a version of Sony Ericsson’s powerful UX platform specifically designed for smaller devices.
Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro with slide out QWERTY keyboard offer an open and intuitive communication entertainment experience and build on the human curvature design philosophy debuted by the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10. Combining the Android platform with signature applications and a customisable UX platform, communication truly becomes entertainment with these new mobile phones. To enhance the experience, pick and choose from a multitude of applications at Android Market™ and co-create a mobile phone experience that is entirely unique. Users can go one step further and customise the home screen’s four corners and widgets to access the most needed applications for limitless possibilities.
The two sister mobile phones incorporate the signature application Sony Ericsson Timescape™ which brings all communication together in one place so users can see at a glance text messages, missed calls, and Facebook™ and Twitter updates, without having to open lots of different applications. The interactive music player also uses the “infinite button” to pull together all music content from the music store and YouTube™ – a smart way to search for new tracks from a favourite artist.
“There has been an enormous buzz around Xperia™ X10 so it is really exciting to be already unveiling compact versions of this powerful proposition.” Said Rikko Sakaguchi, EVP and Chief Creation Officer, Sony Ericsson. “With the X10 mini and X10 mini pro we have pushed the boundaries of what is possible with smaller devices and are giving consumers exactly what they want; two high performance mobile phones with a fully customisable user experience platform and a stunning ultra-compact design.”
Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro
Sony Ericsson Timescape™ – brings together all communication in one place
Four corner control – applications, calls, web, the consumer decides. Four customisable icons for ultimate control
5 megapixel camera and video – share creations via the web
Music player links to music stores and YouTube™ – access the world of music
Android platform – with Google™ services and Android Market™
QWERTY keyboard – slide and text for quick and easy messaging (Xperia™ X10 mini pro only)
X10 mini and X10 mini pro supports HSPA 900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/1900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.
The X10 mini will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colours Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red and Silver
The X10 mini pro will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colours Black and Red.
Sony Ericsson is also introducing the Portable Stereo Speakers MS450, to deliver rich on-the-go sound and the Hi-Fi Headset MH810 with remote with superior audio and remote media and call handling.
Log on to The Sony Ericsson Product Blog for more information: http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products
Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro
Camera
5 megapixel camera
Auto focus
Geo tagging
Photo and video light
Sony Ericsson Album application
Video recording
Music
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Music player
PlayNow™
TrackID™
Web
Bookmarks
Pan and zoom
WebKit web browser
Communication
Sony Ericsson Timescape™ with…
Facebook™ status updates, friend’s photo, inbox messages and friend requests
tweets, replies and direct messages from people you follow on Twitter™
incoming text and picture messages
missed calls
Messaging
Instant messaging
Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Text messaging (SMS)
Design
Auto rotate
Full slide out keyboard (X10 mini pro only)
Picture wallpaper
Touchscreen
Entertainment
Infinite button
Quadrapop game
Sony Ericsson FM radio
Video player
Video streaming
Organiser
Calendar
Flight mode
Phone book with dialer
Sony Ericsson Home with widget
Tasks
Location-based services
A-GPS
Google Maps™
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation* (free trial version)
Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
Bluetooth™ technology
Micro USB connector
NeoReader® barcode scanning app
Sony Ericsson Sync
USB mass storage support
USB support
Wi-Fi™
Google™ Services
Android Market™
Gmail™
Google Maps™ with Street View
Google Search Widget
Google Talk™
Google Voice Search™**
YouTube™
** The Google Voice Search service is not available in all markets
Screen
16,777,216 colour TFT touchscreen
2.55 inches
240 x 320 pixels (QVGA)
Scratch-resistant
Accessories
In-Box:
Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10 mini/ Xperia™ X10 mini pro with battery
Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
Stereo portable handsfree
2GB microSD™ memory card
User documentation
Optional:
Portable Stereo Speakers MS450
Hi-Fi Headset with Remote MH810
Facts 1)2)
Xperia™ X10 mini:
Size: 83 x 50 x 16 mm
Weight: 88 grams
Phone memory: Up to 128MB
Memory card support: SanDisk microSD™, up to 16 GB
Memory card included: 2GB
Operating system: Google™ Android 1.6
Processor: 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227
Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 4 hours
Standby time: GSM/GPRS: Up to 285hrs
Talk time UMTS: Up to 3.5 hours
Standby time: UMTS: Up to 360 hrs
Xperia™ X10 mini pro:
Size: 90 x 52 x 17 mm
Weight: 120 grams
Phone memory: Up to 128MB
Memory card support: SanDisk microSD™, up to 16 GB
Memory card included: 2GB
Operating system: Google™ Android 1.6
Processor: 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227
Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 4 hours
Standby time: GSM/GPRS: Up to 285hrs
Talk time UMTS: Up to 3.5 hours
Standby time: UMTS: Up to 360 hrs
Availability and versions
Networks
UMTS HSPA 900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
Available in selected markets in Q2 2010
Colour
Xperia™ X10 mini:
Black
Pearl White
Lime
Pink
Red
Silver
Xperia™ X10 mini pro:
Black
Red
Legal
1) Facts and features may vary depending on local variant. 2) Operational times are affected by network
preferences, type of SIM card, connected accessories and various activities e.g. playing games. Kit contents and colour options may differ from market to market. The full range of accessories may not be available in every market.
Inkless metal pen
A stainless steel pen, 8cm long. However when you unscrew the top, the 'nib' is a solid piece of metal. There is no ink, yet this pen will write on virtually any type of paper.
How does it work?
In the Medieval period, artists and scribes often used a metal stylus in order to draw on a specially prepared paper surface. Generally known as Metalpoint, or Silverpoint when the stylus was made of silver, artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer and Rembrandt all used this technique. http://www.silverpointweb.com/index.html gives a lot of information about how it works.
The pens we sell are a modern version (and do not use silver). The solid metal 'nib' consists of a metal alloy, that leaves a mark on most types of paper. If you use the sort of paper typically used in printers and photocopiers, the pen leaves a mark that looks as if it was made by a pencil. However the line will not smudge, and cannot easily be rubbed out.
Since there is no ink, there is nothing to dry out, so the pen will work just as well in 25 years time as it does today.
I would guess that in time the nib would begin to wear down, as you are leaving a small amount of metal on the page. However this has got to be a much slower process than with a pencil, which wears down pretty quickly. The designer tells us that if the point becomes slightly blunt, you can 'sharpen' it again using sand paper.
The metal alloy nib is relatively soft, so it is advisable not to drop the pen onto a hard surface. Otherwise you may snap the nib off.
If you are planning to write the definitive 21st century novel, I would recommend a regular pen. However as a scientific curiousity, we like this pen a lot.
The pen comes in a very smart, circular, silver coloured metal presentation tin, and would make a very unusual gift.
Price: £13.99 [$20.23] ex VAT
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