Techno-News Blog

by Matt Brian, the Next Web

Opera Software’s lightweight mobile browser Opera Mini continues to enjoy significant growth across the world, posting an 83% increase in usage over the past year to account for more than 140 million users in October, the company’s new State of the Mobile Web report reveals. Opera’s new figures now highlight that the Opera Mini browser has not only replaced the desktop browser for many, it has become so popular that for the first time since its release, 22 countries now have at least 1 million people actively using the browser every month – half of which passed the milestone in 2011. Impressive when you consider that since its launch in 2006, Opera Mini has doubled its userbase a total of 8 times, with October’s increase marking the eighth time its users have doubled.

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/11/23/opera-mini-rockets-past-140m-users-22-countries-now-have-1m-users-per-month/

by Jon Russell, the Next Web

China has overtaken the US to become the world’s largest smartphone market for the first time, according to new research, reported by Bloomberg. Data from Strategy Analytics shows that, over the last quarter, smartphone shipments to China have grown by 58 percent to reach a record 23.9 million units, that’s compared to the 23.3 million devices that shipped to the US, which represents a drop of 7 percent.

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2011/11/23/smartphone-market-in-china-now-bigger-than-the-us-says-report/

by Nancy Messieh, the Next Web

No one can deny that services like Bambuser have played an important role in the Egyptian uprising, as tools used by citizen journalists and activists to broadcast scenes from the heart of Tahrir, and other cities around the country, as they are happening. Through the Sweden-based service, we have witnessed not only the brutal violence used to quash the protests, but have also watched as activists record their own arrests, unbeknownst to their captors. While YouTube has of course seen countless videos shared with the world, Bambuser’s live-streaming feature has ensured that protesters were, and still are, able to broadcast events as they occur.

http://thenextweb.com/me/2011/11/23/bambuser-to-be-used-to-monitor-upcoming-parliamentary-elections-in-egypt/

by Technology Review

Teaching new employees the ropes, or bringing existing employees up to speed with changes in policy, can be expensive and time consuming—especially if employees don’t pay attention to what they may consider tedious busywork. In hopes of both increasing effectiveness and reducing costs, some corporations and government agencies have turned to so-called serious games, which aim to make training sessions more memorable. Ribbon Hero 2, an experimental game from Microsoft Labs, trains people on often overlooked features of Microsoft Office. It displays a healthy sense of humor by featuring Microsoft’s much-maligned “Clippy” character. Players help the now-unemployed Clippy get a new job by completing tasks in programs like Word and PowerPoint.

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/39033/?p1=BI

BY TOM SIMONITE, Technology Review

As mobile phone use soars in Africa, even Kenyan lions are sending SMS messages. Collars worn by the lions send out messages to a computer system that maps their location. The project is aimed at cutting conflict with local Maasai herders to keep locals, lions, and livestock safe. But it also demonstrates a novel approach to getting the benefits of wireless data in areas that lack data services, and where even phone calls are still relatively expensive. Research company Ground Lab, based in New York City, made the collars and worked with nonprofits Living with Lions and Lion Guardians to fit them to lions and cattle in southern Kenya.

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/39175/?p1=A1

by DAVID ZAX, Technology Review

The smart phone has delivered blows to entire industries: I don’t reckon I’ll ever be buying a stand-alone GPS unit again, for instance. A report in the New York Times shows how the smart phone is disrupting that most quiet of businesses: the museum. Museums aren’t known as the most high-tech of places. But for years, visitors to museums have enjoyed virtual tours using “audio wands,” those funny phone-receiver-shaped devices you hold up to your ear, plugging into it the code next to that Caravaggio for the backstory on all that splattering blood. The audio wand, though, might just be an endangered species. Two New York museums have just debuted mobile apps paired with new exhibitions: the American Museum of Natural History’s free “Beyond Planet Earth” app, and the Guggenheim’s $3.99 “Maurizio Cattelan: All” app. According to a source of the Times, fully half of the members of the American Association of Museums “will be using mobile devices in some way” by the end of this year, and a “cottage industry of technology companies focused on museum apps” appears to be emerging (fewer than one in 20 museums say they have designed their own apps, though both the AMNH and Guggenheim are among them).  Museum apps can do a variety of things audio wands can’t, adding animations, video, or even a level of augmented reality. Pointing your phone at an illustration of the solar system causes a 3-D model to pop up in the “Beyond Planet Earth” app, which the Times calls “kind of cool,” if not so informative.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27365/?p1=blogs

By Clint Boulton, eWeek

Amazon started shipping its Kindle Fire tablet Nov. 15, and now reviewers are able to compare the evolution of the Kindle e-reader product line to other tablets on the market. That’s exactly what is happening here, as eWEEK evaluated the 7-inch, custom Google Android-based Kindle Fire head-to-head with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet. The Plus, whose display is a crisper WSVGA (1024 x 600) Plane-to-Line Switching (PLS) LCD compared to the Fire’s IPS (In-plane Switching) screen, weighs 12.2 ounces compared to 14.6 ounces for the Fire. The Plus also employs a speedy 1.2GHz processor versus the Fire’s 1GHz dual-core chip, and has 16GB of internal storage compared to just 8GB for the Fire. The Plus beats the fire in many ways, but that’s understandable given that the Plus costs twice as much. A premium tablet, the WiFi-only Plus costs $399 compared to $199 for the Fire, which is only available in WiFi.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Kindle-Fire-Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-70-Plus-7inch-Android-Tablets-Face-Off-235898/

by the BBC

A US-based team of scientists claims to have invented a material that releases over two weeks of night-vision light after just one minute’s exposure to the sun. The University of Georgia team says the near-infrared emitting substance could offer the military “secret” illumination at nighttime. It says the all-weather material could also revolutionise diagnostic medicine. The details are published in the latest issue of the Nature Materials journal. The material combines the well-known near infrared-light emitter trivalent chromium ion with zinc gallogermanates – a complex oxide compound.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15824288

By Michelle Roberts, BBC News

A new generation of contact lenses that project images in front of the eyes is a step closer after successful animal trials, say scientists. The technology could allow wearers to read floating texts and emails or augment their sight with computer-generated images, Terminator-syle. Researchers at Washington University who are working on the device say early tests show it is safe and feasible. But there are still wrinkles to iron out, like finding a good power source. Currently, their crude prototype device can only work if it is within centimetres of the wireless battery.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15817316

by David Zax, Technology Review

How does it measure up to the Kindle Fire? A few weeks back, Barnes and Noble announced it would be launching a new tablet for $249 to compete with the Kindle Fire. We knew the most basic specs of the device–memory, size, and reported battery life, all of which measured up favorably when compared to the Fire. Now that reviewers across the country are getting their versions of the tablet, does it seem worth running out to buy? Overall, the reviews out there are favorable, with caveats. There is excitement over some of the things the Nook does better–its video performance, for instance–while there’s frustration over the things it does worse–its lack of a direct music and video store.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27358/?p1=A3

by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

The gamification of labor has begun — and its pioneers are borrowing heavily from everything from World of Warcraft to Twitter. RedCritter is a Dallas-based startup that is succeeding at the gamification of software development in a way that no one else is. But this is just the beginning, RedCritter CEO Mike Beaty told me last week when I wrote about his company here on Technology Review. Beaty was able to reveal that the next products he plans on rolling out will gamify customer relations management and sales — which is how the now-mighty Salesforce.com got started. He also hinted that the future could hold much more. In general, he implied, there is no reason that gamification can’t be expanded to countless areas of white-collar work.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27356/?p1=blogs

by kfc, Technology Review

In China, paid posters are known as the Internet Water Army because they are ready and willing to ‘flood’ the internet for whoever is willing to pay. The flood can consist of comments, gossip and information (or disinformation) and there seems to be plenty of demand for this army’s services. This is an insidious tide. Positive recommendations can make a huge difference to a product’s sales but can equally drive a competitor out of the market. When companies spend millions launching new goods and services, it’s easy to understand why they might want to use every tool at their disposal to achieve success. The loser in all this is the consumer who is conned into making a purchase decision based on false premises. And for the moment, consumers have little legal redress or even ways to spot the practice.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27357/?p1=blogs

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Now that Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet is nearly a week out the door, the high-tech media can drool over the next hot gadget rumor: the Kindle Phone. Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney told clients in a research note that hardware checks in Taipei indicate the e-commerce giant will launch a smartphone in the fourth quarter of 2012. The phone may only cost between $150 and $170 to manufacture, with the company likely to sell it for something close to that price, Mahaney wrote. That makes sense, considering that the Kindle Fire sells for $199 and components analysts from IHS peg that tablet’s manufacturing cost at $201.70. No word yet on what operating system Amazon would use for its phone, though smart money suggests Google’s Android platform because it’s free and the company has a great comfort level with it after using it for the Fire and building an entire application store around it.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Amazon-Kindle-Phone-On-Tap-Says-Citigroup-261598/?kc=rss

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Amazon is on track to sell 4 million Kindle Fire tablets for the fourth quarter, according to a prominent financial analyst who boosted his outlook for the device. The e-commerce giant began shipping the Fire Nov. 14 to those who pre-ordered it, and early reviews have been largely mixed. However, most analysts believe the custom Android tablet’s $199 price point will make it too hard to ignore among cost-conscious consumers who balked at paying $499 or more for Apple’s iPad, or other higher-priced Android tablets.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Amazon-to-Sell-4M-Kindle-Fires-For-Holiday-Quarter-659111/?kc=rss

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google is experimenting with some of the prettier, eye-candy elements of HTML5 for its Chrome Web browser. Chrome Experiments is a showcase for creative Web experiments, most of which are built with the HTML5, Canvas, SVG and WebGL. “The Wilderness Downtown” is an interactive interpretation of Arcade Fire’s song “We Used To Wait” and was built with HTML5 video, audio and canvas. “3 Dreams of Black” is an interactive film by Chris Milk and Google that showcases WebGL, a context of the HTML5 canvas element that enables hardware-accelerated 3D graphics in the Web browser without a plug-in. You can’t do this stuff with Flash, folks. Still, IDC analyst Al Hilwa told eWEEK that as committed to HTML5 as Google is going forward, it will soften the blow for Flash developers.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Google-Quietly-Supportive-of-Adobes-Move-to-Muffle-Flash-381794/?kc=rss

By Kenrick Vezina, Technology Review

About 12 percent of Americans suffer from some form of hearing loss, according to the Center for Hearing and Communication, an organization that offers hearing tests and speech therapy. And yet aiding those people is far more complicated than simply increasing the volume on a device, because no two people have the same kind of hearing loss, explains Barbara Kelly, deputy director of the Hearing Loss Association of America. “Every hearing loss has a different fingerprint,” she says. A new smart-phone app called ACEHearing aims to address this via a simple test that diagnoses a user’s specific form of hearing loss and customizes the output of a mobile device to better match the listener’s ability to hear.

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/39149/?p1=A3

by kfc, Technology Review

Napoleon famously remarked that an army marches on its stomach. So it’s no surprise that the U.S. military carries out a significant amount of research on food science. In the past, this has produced classic dishes such as the indestructible sandwich and the vitamin patch. Today, Chun-Yuen Teng at the University of Michigan and colleagues use funding from the U.S. Air Force and Army to distill the world’s collective wisdom on how to combine ingredients. They’ve done this simply by studying the relationships between some 46,000 recipes on the Allrecipes.com website. These guys used this data to create two networks.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27352/?p1=blogs

by David Zax, Technology Review

Google TV’s next iteration—a software update making it more navigable, pretty, and generally user-friendly—has rolled out, and is getting rave reviews. “For current Google TV users, the update is nothing but good news,” says MediaBeat’s Devindra Hardawar, who’s been test-driving it for weeks. Hardawar cautions, though, that it probably doesn’t make sense to buy a Google TV device right away; the latest update was only a software update, and new hardware is expected on the horizon. How much new hardware, though? Last week, Logitech, which had been a hardware partner for Google TV, had harsh words for the service.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27353/?p1=blogs

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

Google and Microsoft don’t share a stage often, being increasingly fierce competitors in areas such as Web search, mobile, and cloud computing. But the rivals can agree on some things—like the importance of artificial intelligence to the future of technology. Peter Norvig, Google’s director of research, and Eric Horvitz, a distinguished scientist at Microsoft Research, recently spoke jointly to an audience at the Computer History Museum in Palo Alto, California, about the promise of AI. Afterward, the pair talked with Technology Review’s IT editor, Tom Simonite, about what AI can do today, and what they think it’ll be capable of tomorrow. Artificial intelligence is a complex subject, and some answers have been edited for brevity.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/39156/?p1=A2

 by Tom Simonite, Technology Review

If anyone foresaw the technologically enabled political tsunami dubbed that Arab spring, it was Jared Cohen, now head of Google’s think tank Google Ideas, and previously of the U.S. state department. In 2004 he witnessed strange crowds of silent young people assembled in the marketplace of the city of Shiraz in southern Iran. They were studiously ignoring one another and intent on their cell phones. Cohen soon found out that they had assembled in an attempt to reinvent the Internet in a place where Internet use was seriously limited by the government. The crowd were using short range Bluetooth connections to communicate with strangers in ways that in other places would involve the Web: searching for a bassist for a band, promoting club nights or selling personal goods. When Cohen asked members of this peer-to-peer human Web if they were worried about being caught, they laughed. No one over thirty understands this is even possible, they said.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/27345/?p1=blogs

by David Zax, Technology Review

In its recent post-mortem on Borders, BusinessWeek suggests that that chain’s lackluster e-reading strategy was one reason for its demise: “If you didn’t know Borders had an e-reader called Kobo, you’re not alone,” writes Ben Austen. But Kobo didn’t die along with Borders, which only owned an 11 percent stake in the independent company. In fact, just as Kindle Fires begin shipping all over the place, Kobo would like you to know that it’s alive and very well, thank you, and to that end has been releasing a steady pulse of news this week. A Japanese e-commerce firm plans to buy it for $315 million. An ad-supported “Kobo Touch with Offers” will have a price tag of under $100, Amazon-style.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27350/?p1=blogs