Techno-News Blog

BY Ryan Kim, Gigaom

A new report says Apple will give the iPhone and iPad Mini their own press events, with the iPhone going first in September followed by the iPad Mini a month later. The move would give Apple plenty of press attention without diluting coverage.

http://gigaom.com/2012/08/25/report-ipad-mini-to-get-its-own-launch-event-in-october/

By Michael Gorman, Engadget

With a 20-page verdict form and 100 pages of instructions to explain it, many figured it would take longer for the jury to render a decision. But, the tech trial of the century has concluded, with Apple scoring a not-quite-flawless victory over its rival Samsung. While the company didn’t win on every count, its cadre of lawyers did convince the nine jurors to award Apple over $1 billion in damages for Samsung’s IP transgressions. Join us after the break and we’ll hit you with the legal math that gave Apple a ten-figure bump to its bottom line — and served as a shot across the bow of every other mobile phone manufacturer.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/25/breaking-down-apples-1-billion-courtroom-victory-over-samsung/

ANTONE GONSALVES, ReadWriteWeb

For years, Windows PC makers won customers by selling low-priced systems that were good enough for most computing needs. That business model no longer works, and finding a new one is going to be painful. That suffering has already begun. This week, Hewlett-Packard and Dell cut this year’s profit forecasts, partly due to low PC demand. Acer, the world’s third largest PC maker, has also lowered its sales expectations for the rest of the year. Very little is expected to change when Windows 8 PCs hit the market in the fall. Even the most important upgrade in years to Microsoft’s nearly 30-year-old operating system has failed to excite people who in the past would have been heading to retailers in droves to buy the latest PCs during the holiday shopping season. IDC projects less than a 1% increase in PC sales this year.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2012/08/new-reality-no-one-wants-a-cheap-pc-anymore.php

by the BBC

Sony has been struggling to compete with rivals Samsung and Apple Sony Corporation, the loss-making Japanese electronics and entertainment company, is cutting 1,000 jobs from its mobile phone division. Nearly two-thirds of the job cuts will fall on its Sony Mobile division in Lund, Sweden, the company said in a statement. The cuts form part of its previously-announced plan to reduce its workforce by 10,000 by March 2013. For the year to 31 March 2012, Sony made a record loss of $5.6bn (£3.5bn). And in August it reported net losses for the April-to-June quarter of 24.6bn yen ($314m; £202m), compared with a loss of 15.5bn yen a year earlier. As a result, Sony slashed its net income forecast for the year to 31 March 2013 from 30bn to 20bn yen. Sony blames the losses on slowing demand for TVs and a strengthening yen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19357353#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

by the BBC

A robot named Nico could soon pass a landmark test – recognising itself in a mirror. Such self-awareness would represent a step towards the ultimate goal of thinking robots. Nico, developed by computer scientists at Yale University, will take the test in the coming months. The ultimate aim is for Nico to use a mirror to interpret objects around it, in the same way as humans use a rear-view mirror to look for cars. “It is a spatial reasoning task for the robot to understand that its arm is on it not on the other side of the mirror,” Justin Hart, the PhD student leading the research told BBC News. So far the robot has been programmed to recognise a reflection of its arm, but ultimately Mr Hart wants it to pass the “full mirror test”.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19354994

By Jane Wakefield, BBC

Just like their human equivalents, having the right trainers is vital for a sports robot. London may be host to the Olympics and paralympics but Bristol is the place to be if you are a sporty robot. 26 teams from around the world are currently competing in the FIRA RoboWorld Cup. They are taking part in a range of games, including football, basketball and weightlifting. It is the first time that the event has been hosted in the UK and organisers say that they have had a record number of entries. The robots have also smashed a few world records along the way.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19359372

by the BBC

Technology that could lead to the creation of glasses-free 3D films at cinemas has been developed by researchers in South Korea. It uses a barrier with slats so that when a viewer looks at the screen each of their eyes sees the image differently. As a result their brain creates an illusion of depth. TV makers have tried to use a similar approach, but require viewers to be in a particular spot to see a 3D image. This would not be possible in a cinema where the audience needs to be able to watch the screen from a wide variety of angles. The study was carried out at Seoul National University and appears in the journal Optics Express.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19333872

by the BBC

The first mainstream digital camera to be powered by Google’s Android system has been released by Nikon. The Japanese company’s point-and-shoot Coolpix S800c model is being marketed as a “social imaging device”. Demand for compact cameras has suffered because of the rise of smartphones. However, Nikon says its latest model offers superior picture quality thanks to the size of its lens, as well as the opportunity to install photo-editing apps and other software. A statement from Nikon said the combination of the camera’s wi-fi connectivity and new software would make it easier for users to upload their shots to social networks.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19342708

by Dean Takahashi, Venture Beat

Sleek, fast and slim notebook computers are coming as early as this fall. But that might be the last hurrah of the laptop, as tablet computers are expected to overtake sales of notebook computers by the end of 2016. That’s the forecast for the changing computing landscape, according to Richard Shim, senior analyst for mobile devices at DisplaySearch. The change reflects a shift in consumer preferences, Shim said at the Emerging Display Technologies conference on Tuesday in Santa Clara, Calif. Tablets have screen sizes ranging from 5 inches to 10 inches, while notebook computers range from 10 inches to 17 inches. Tablets are focused on convenience, while notebooks are built for performance. Tablets are selling strong in mature markets like the U.S., while notebooks are selling better in emerging markets. That’s because notebooks are often the only computing devices in a household and they have to be used for high-performance tasks and productivity apps.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/15/tablet-computer-sales-will-overtake-notebooks-by-2016/

by Don Reisinger, eWeek

Apple and Google have long since become bitter rivals in the mobile market. In fact, Apple announced on Aug. 6 that it would not offer a native YouTube app in iOS 6. Users hoping to access YouTube videos will be forced to watch them from within the browser. Google will also likely launch a YouTube app in the App Store. Apple’s decision to keep YouTube out of iOS 6 comes just a few months after it announced that the native Google Maps app would also be stricken from iOS 6 and be replaced by its own Maps application. It’s not immediately clear if Apple will come up with something to replace YouTube. Still, it’s clear that Apple wants nothing to do with Google in iOS 6.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Apple-Is-Banishing-Google-From-iOS-6-10-Reasons-Why-648515/

By Brian T. Horowitz, eWeek

Motion Computing has rolled out the next-generation of its F5 and C5 Series tablet PCs for health care, field service, construction, retail and other industries. Although the specifications appear the same, the F5t is marketed mainly in field service industries and the C5t for health care. These new models, starting at $2,236, feature Intel’s Ivy Bridge third-generation Core processors, which allow workers to optimize mobility and power saving. Motion wasn’t looking for an extensive redesign in the F5t and C5t, according to Lee Hinkle, vice president of product development. “What we’ve done from an engineering perspective is we’ve adopted Intel’s latest-generation core technology, and that gives you more processing power, more graphics power and more efficiency, which translates into longer battery life and the ability to execute workloads more effectively on the endpoint,” Hinkle told eWEEK.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/New-Motion-Computing-F5t-C5t-Tablets-Aid-Health-Care-Field-Workers-543126/

By: Michelle Maisto, eWeek

Microsoft’s new Windows 8 is now just weeks away from its Oct. 26 debut, but the company has begun telling users not to put off buying their next PC. Anyone who purchases a Windows 7 PC between June 2, 2012, and Jan. 31, 2013, can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99 the company has announced. (The price varies slightly across the 140 countries the offer is valid in.) “The promotional price is limited to one upgrade per qualified PC purchased, and a maximum limit of five upgrade offers per customer,” Microsoft said on a site explaining the terms of the offer.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Applications/Microsoft-Windows-8-Pro-Upgrade-Priced-at-1499-523158/

by the BBC

Apple – the world’s most valuable firm – is now the most valuable company of all time, with a market value of approximately $623bn (£397bn). The consumer gadget and computer maker has now surpassed Microsoft’s record of $620.58bn set in 1999. However that figure is not adjusted for inflation. The news comes ahead of the anticipated launch of the iPhone 5, and possibly a smaller and cheaper iPad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19325913#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

by The Physics arXiv Blog

Oscillating circuits are the workhorses of many electronic devices. In particular, oscillating electrons emit electromagnetic waves, a mechanism that has lead to one or two applications that readers may have come across. Now Seth Caliga and pals at the University of Colorado and National Institute for Standards and Technology in Boulder have built a version of this kind of circuit that works with atoms rather than electrons. Their atomtronic circuit generates an oscillating atom current that emits matter waves in which atoms carry energy through space. The heart of their device is an atomtronic transistor–an optomagnetic trap with three compartments that can hold a Bose Einstein Condensate of rubidium atoms cooled almost to absolute zero.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428929/first-atomtronic-radio-broadcasts-matter-waves/

by Martin Lamonica, Technology Review

An IBM-led research teams says that a combination of copper, zinc, tin, and selenium (CZTS) could meet current thin-film efficiencies with more abundant materials. IBM says it has made technical progress on a solar technology that researchers hope will yield efficient thin-film solar cells made from abundant materials. IBM photovoltaic scientists Teodor Todorov and David Mitzi on Friday detailed the findings of a paper that showed the highest efficiency to date for solar cells made from a combination of copper, zinc, tin, and selenium (CZTS). Published in Advanced Energy Materials, the technical paper described a CZTS solar cell able to convert 11.1 percent of solar energy to electricity. That level of efficiency is a significant jump from the 10.1 percent efficiency Mitzi and colleagues showed last year.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428946/ibm-breaks-efficiency-mark-with-novel-solar/

By Michelle Maisto, eWeek

As the analysts promised, the tablet market is changing and growing and will soon be joined by a smaller, lighter iPad—which even in rumor form has seemingly played as large a role in shaping these changes as Apple’s third-generation iPad. While Apple was once firmly against the 7-inch form factor—Steve Jobs, during a 2010 earnings call, famously called the size “dead on arrival”—times have changed. Dell’s 2010 launch of the 5-inch Streak was a failure, with analysts criticizing its not-quite-a-phone, not-quite-a-tablet physique. Two years later, consumers and enterprise users in particular jumped at the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note, and in a matter of months, Samsung sold more than 10 million of them. Consumers, now comfortable with the tablet form factor and well-acquainted with paperback-sized e-readers, are ready for a smaller, lighter, less-expensive iPad, and by all accounts but Apple’s, they’ll soon get one.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/iPad-Mini-Faces-No-Shortage-of-Small-Light-or-Cheap-Competitors-811589/

By Chris Preimesberger, eWeek

Facebook, which is closing in on 1 billion registered users and is pounded by billions of transactions each minute, realized early on that it was going to need to build its own data centers. Its first one, located in the north central Oregon town of Prineville, about 80 miles south of the Columbia River and the Washington border, opened in April 2011 after a two-and-a-half-year construction period. It is custom-built for Facebook’s purposes and uses the company’s Open Compute Project architecture. Until this spring, Facebook has co-located virtually all its servers with hosting services. As part of the Open Compute Project, Facebook is publishing the specifications and mechanical designs used to construct the motherboards, power supply, server chassis as well as the server and battery cabinets for its data center. That’s unprecedented enough for a company of Facebook’s scale. But the social networking giant is also open-sourcing the specifications for its data center’s electrical and mechanical construction.  

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/Facebooks-First-Open-Compute-Project-Data-Center-Is-Now-Complete-424451/

By Darryl K. Taft, eWeek

While NASA’s most advanced Mars rover Curiosity successfully landed on the Red Planet, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is offering mere mortals a chance at experiencing their own Mars landing with a Java-powered simulator. The JPL’s Java-based simulator, known as Eyes on the Solar System, takes users through the details of the landing procedure that NASA officials have termed the “Seven Minutes of Terror.” The Web-based simulator is available to anyone with a browser and enables users to go back and forward in time to get a better sense of what the Curiosity mission is like. NASA said the one-ton rover, hanging by ropes from a rocket backpack, touched down onto Mars Sunday to end a 36-week flight and begin a two-year investigation. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft that carried Curiosity succeeded in every step of the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars, including the final severing of the bridle cords and flyaway maneuver of the rocket backpack. This slide show takes a look at the Curiosity rover from a simulation perspective as well as some up-close images of the unit.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/NASAs-Curiosity-How-Java-Other-Tech-Powered-the-Latest-Mars-Mission-649767/

by the BBC

A new threat targeting infrastructure in the energy industry has been uncovered by security specialists. The attack, known as Shamoon, is said to have hit “at least one organisation” in the sector. Shamoon is capable of wiping files and rendering several computers on a network unusable. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company said an attack had led to its own network being taken offline. Although Saudi Aramco did not link the issue to the Shamoon threat, it did confirm that the company had suffered a “sudden disruption”. In a statement, the company said it had now isolated its computer networks as a precautionary measure. The disruptions were “suspected to be the result of a virus that had infected personal workstations without affecting the primary components of the network”, a statement read. It said the attack had had “no impact whatsoever” on production operations.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19293797

By Katia Moskvitch, BBC News

A new high-speed undersea data cable has opened to traffic in Asia. The 7,800km Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE) connects Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. It transfers data via an optical fibre system at 40 gigabits per second, and is three milliseconds faster than any other cable between Singapore and Tokyo. The gain in speed may sound small, but could prove critical to financial trades made out of the region. So-called “high frequency trades”, controlled by computers, involve making what may be hundreds of thousands of transactions in less than a second – all determined by a program that tracks market conditions.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19275490

by Jeff Dunn, edudemic

Boundless just launched the public beta version of its brand new site. What is Boundless? It’s a way to easily turn all of the open source information that exists in the world into a simple easy-to-use digital textbook. And it’s free. This is one of the most exciting announcements that came across my inbox over the past few weeks. Boundless is shaping up to truly disrupt the digital textbook industry and the newly launched tools are robust enough to do just that. But enough hyperbole and hot air, here’s what you should know.

http://edudemic.com/2012/08/boundless-textbooks-free/