drag2share: New Construction Material Is Lighter Than Water And Stronger Than Steel

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-material-is-lighter-than-water-stronger-than-steel-2014-3

Researchers in Germany have made a significant advance in creating lightweight, tough materials by taking a note from bone, wood and honeycombs.

A Karlsruhe Institute of Technology team fabricated polymer and alumina composites in a regular framework structure using 3-D laser lithography. Their hierarchical microarchitecture achieved extremely porous materials with strength-to-density ratios higher than bone, aluminum or steel.

"The novel lightweight construction materials resemble the framework structure of a half-timbered house with horizontal, vertical, and diagonal struts," said Jens Bauer, a microarchitecture expert who lead the research, in a statement.

Their samples contained 45 percent to more than 90 percent air, making them extremely lightweight while also withstanding more than 46,000 pounds per square inch of pressure. They published their work recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

SEE ALSO: A Colorado Man Is Connected To 700 Sensors That Record Every Detail Of His Life

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drag2share: Singapore's Airport Was Just Named The World's Best — Again

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/singapore-changi-airport-photos-2014-3

Singapore's Changi Airport was just named the world's best airport in 2014 by the World Airport Awards. 

This is the second year that Changi took the top spot in Skytrax's World Airport Awards, the most prestigious airport award in the industry.

Skytrax evaluates over 400 airports around the world for service, check-in, transfers, shopping, security, immigration, and more. 

It's no surprise that Changi took the number one spot. The international transit hub has incredible amenities, like a butterfly garden, rooftop pool, movie theaters, hotels, spas, and showers, and even a four-story slide.

Last year, I visited the airport during a trip to Singapore and had a chance to explore. The bottom line: This is a place where you'll actually enjoy having a long layover.

Disclosure: Our trip to Singapore, including travel and lodging expenses, was sponsored by the Singapore Tourism Board. 

The airport is an architectural marvel. The newest terminal, Terminal 3, was designed by CPG Consultants, in collaboration with Woodhead, Tierra Design and SOM, Bartenbach LichtLabor and Hugh Dutton & Associates.

Most passengers enter the airport at Terminal 3, the newest and largest terminal at Changi, which is where Singapore Airlines is based. At 380,000 sq. m., the terminal is spacious, with high ceilings and an open, airy feel.

There's also a lush vertical garden here called the "Green Wall." It has more than 20 varieties of plants, vines, and flowers growing on it.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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drag2share: The Futuristic Liquid Nitrogen Machine That Makes Ice Cream To Order

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-futuristic-liquid-nitrogen-machine-that-makes-ice-c-1551782945

Despite the warm wood and cheery red accents, Smitten Ice Cream can feel a bit like a mad scientist's shop. There's the industrial-sized tank of liquid nitrogen that greets you inside the entrance of its new flagship location in Oakland. And there's the billowing clouds of nitrogen when the stainless steel ice cream machines churn out personalized scoops to order.

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drag2share: Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 range inbound, likely with thinner bezels and upgraded displays

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/27/samsung-galaxy-tab-4-fcc/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

We've been hearing scraps of information about Samsung's next batch of Galaxy Tabs since February, but now we have something that helps us piece them all together: An FCC filing for what looks to be the 10-incher, with the model number "SM-T805." The official paperwork doesn't reveal much, but the same model has also appeared on internal Samsung documents that suggest it possesses a 2,560 x 1,600 display -- which would be a huge upgrade over the existing Tab 3 10.1. Smaller Tab 4 models have also leaked elsewhere, with a press render of the 7-inch version (shown above, courtesy of @evleaks) showing thinner bezels than the current Tab 3 7.0, presumably resulting in a cheaper version of the highly portable (and generally very good) Tab Pro 8.4. We could be due for an official launch event pretty soon, especially with the press renders showing a date of April 24th, so stay tuned for more numerical branding fatigue.

Update: The SM-T801, likely the 8.4-inch model, just hit the FCC as well.

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drag2share: Many Consumers Still Don't See The Value Of Tablets

Source: https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome

A majority of U.S. consumers who don't yet own a tablet still say they won't buy one this year. And most of them say it's because they're happy with their PC or laptop.

• Roughly 53% of consumers who don't already own a tablet reported that they will not be buying a tablet in the next 12 months, according to a new Kantar Worldpanel ComTech survey. 
• Another 34% responded that they were unsure if they would be buying a tablet. Among consumers who were unsure whether they wanted to buy a tablet or not, 47% claimed tablet prices were too high. 
• Only 13% of those consumers who don't already own a tablet said they would buy one this year.
• Among respondents with no plans to buy a tablet, a whopping 72% claimed that they were happy with their current laptop or PC, while 42% also said they were simply not interested in a tablet.

That last statistic is the most telling, and it indicates that tablet vendors have failed to drive home the message of what the tablet's true value is.

Most tablet-averse consumers likely look at tablets as expensive entertainment devices that are supremely lacking in productivity capabilities compared to PCs.

But it's not just PCs that are taking away from the value of the tablet.

Advancements in smartphone screen size and quality are making the tablet less attractive as an entertainment device. Why would consumers pay a few hundreds dollars for an extra, only slightly bigger device when they likely already have a perfectly good smartphone in their pocket?

One of our mobile predictions for 2014 was that more tablet-friendly productivity software would become available, making the tablet a more respectable productivity tool. With Microsoft launching Office for iPad this week, and Google building a full-fledged enterprise suite of apps for Android, expect the tablet's value to consumers and businesses to rise soon.

Click here to download the charts and data in Excel

Here is a look at some of the biggest reasons why consumers will not be buying a tablet over the next 12 months.

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drag2share: V-Moda XS Headphones Review: Indestructible Cans With Runway Looks

Source: http://gizmodo.com/v-moda-xs-headphones-review-indestructible-cans-with-r-1551890986

V-Moda, the decade-old veteran of the new-wave of headphones is just launching a fresh set of impressively over-engineered cans. They fit you snug like a tailored suit and last as long as a tank.

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drag2share: ZTE's giant Nubia X6 has 13MP cameras on the front and back

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/zte-nubia-x6-13-megapixel-dual-camera/

If you believe that China gets all the good phones, this won't change your mind. ZTE's premium Nubia brand has just launched the X6, a handset-cum-tablet with a 6.44-inch, 1080p screen. As with Oppo's Find 7, ZTE lavished it with top-notch specs, including a Snapdragon 801 chip, 3GB max RAM, up to 128GB storage and a 4,250 mAh battery. The kicker, though, is the pair of 13-megapixel cameras on the front and back -- a rare setup for a non-monkey phone. The front shooter puts many smartphones' main cameras to shame with backside illumination, video auto-focus and an f/2.2 lens. The back-facing camera ups the ante with an f/2.0 lens, optical image stabilization and dual flashes. Alas, if you were looking to wrap your (presumably large) mitts around one in the US or Europe, the Nubia X6 will likely stay put in China. It's now up for pre-order at $HK 5,010, or around $640 for the top model.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Engadget Chinese

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drag2share: Drobo's new storage box is faster, better at Mac backups

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/drobo-gen-3/

Drobo is kicking off its "biggest year" yet with an update to its eponymous flagship. The Drobo Gen 3 gains super-charged internals and Time Machine support that'll banish your bad memories of trying to use Apple's backup utility on older versions of the hardware. Rather than it eating a whole drive, users can now create a dedicated partition in the admin panel without any complicated tweaking. Pre-orders begin from today to ship at the end of April, with the base model setting you back $350 and running all the way to $1,450 if you want a 16TB unit. Unless, that is, you already own a first-or-second-gen Drobo, in which case you'll get a $50 discount if you order before June 9th.

Filed under: Storage

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Source: Drobo

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Article: Bottlenose Adds Real-Time TV And Radio Data To Its Social Trend Monitoring

Bottlenose, a startup that helps large brands find emerging trends, is expanding beyond social media today with the addition of Broadcast Analytics, which allows customers to see TV and radio data as well. In order to accomplish this, Bottlenose has partnered with media monitoring company Critica...

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/25/bottlenose-tv-and-radio-data/

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Article: Batteries to Make Comeback in Wearable Devices

And you thought batteries were old news. The booming wearables market –devices that can be worn in the form of glasses, jewelry and watches – is expected to lead to a projected 1,100% surge in battery sales over the next four years, according to new data from IHS (IHS). Worldwide revenues for wea...

http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2014/03/25/batteries-to-resurrect-in-wearable-devices/

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Article: Google blows up cloud pricing; your move, Amazon

So the most commonly heard comment at Google Cloud Platform Live was: How will Amazon respond? It has a chance to do so Wednesday at its Amazon Summit in San Francisco, just up the street from the Google event. The quick story out of Google’s event Tuesday is it cut prices across most major servi...

http://gigaom.com/2014/03/25/google-blows-up-cloud-pricing-your-move-amazon/

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Article: Chrome Show: Run Android on a Chromebook thanks to Android-x86

Back in 2009, we had Android 1.6 running on a touchscreen Windows tablet. Fast forward to today and you can run Android 4.4.2 on a Chromebook Pixel or other Chrome OS device. It’s not a merger of Chrome and Android but it’s an interesting option, especially if you have a touchscreen laptop. And s...

http://gigaom.com/2014/03/26/chrome-show-run-android-on-a-chromebook-thanks-to-android-x86/

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drag2share: MIT develops new platform to spy-proof websites

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/mit-mylar-nsa-proof-platform/

You're all likely aware by now that identity thieves and hackers aren't the only ones who surreptitiously collect people's private info. In an effort to keep them (and you know, certain government agencies) at bay, a group of MIT researchers have created Mylar -- a new platform for building secure websites, services and applications. According to MIT's Technology Review, anything built using Mylar keeps your data encrypted all the time in its servers. That data's only decrypted when it's accessed from your computer with the right password, though Mylar can also issue encryption keys if you want to share data with other people.

Raluca Popa, the project's lead researcher, claims that method prevents anyone, even the NSA from snooping on your info: "If the government asks the company for your data, the server doesn't have the ability to give unencrypted data." (Of course, encryption won't do you any good if the government ends up forcing the websites and services you use to surrender their users' information.) Right now, a group of patients are testing a Mylar website to share medical info with their doctors. Popa and his team are also testing their own chat, photo sharing and calendar applications. The group still has to overcome a lot of hurdles before we can see Mylar-built services in the wild, though. After all, web companies might not be keen on using the technology, especially those who rely on accessing user data to serve targeted ads.

[Image credit: Simon Cocks/Flickr]

Filed under: Internet

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: MIT Technology Review, Mylar

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drag2share: Lenovo's new smart TV system grants greater processing power, more memory through swappable modules (hands-on)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/lenovos-new-smart-tv-system-grants-greater-processing-power-mo/

Lenovo is best known for its ThinkPad laptops and newly acquired phone business, but the Chinese firm started making TVs a couple years ago, too. And now, it's the first one to build a set utilizing NVIDIA's new Tegra K1 chip. It's that super-powered silicon that explains the TV's presence at GTC 2014, so naturally, we had to spend some time with it while we were at the show. Called the Terminator S9, it's a 50-inch 4K smart TV that runs a Lenovo-skinned version of Android 4.2 natively, but the real magic happens courtesy of a small plug-in module round the back called a Smart Card.

It's roughly the size of a deck of cards (though half as thick), with a micro USB port and microSD slot on one end and a proprietary 70-pin connector on the other. That connector is how it plugs into the TV, while the USB and SD ports are for adding storage or connecting peripherals. Within the Smart Card's relatively bland exterior lies the aforementioned Tegra K1, and other hardware (currently unknown) needed to run Android 4.4. All Lenovo smart TVs moving forward will ship with a 70-pin port built in, but only higher-end models will come with Smart Card hardware. That means the Smart Card is a way for Lenovo -- and any other OEM who licenses the tech -- to keep customers running the latest and greatest software and hardware on their TVs.

The Smart Card comes with a slick motion Bluetooth remote that has a pair of physical buttons: a red power button at the end and a spun metal voice control key in the middle, plus a circular touchpad located in a thumb friendly location. Navigation works using gesture control (a la LG's Magic remote) to make selections, while swiping left and right on the touchpad scrolls through the menus. And, you adjust the volume via touchpad using the Seinfeld/Costanza special: clockwise or counter-clockwise swirl gesture. It's simple and intuitive to use, and the remote's shape and soft touch finish make it a pleasure to fondle.

Ready to plunk down your hard earned cash for Lenovo's new TV system? Unless you call China home, alas, you don't have the option to do so -- though Lenovo's looking at expanding to other regions should the Chinese market returns supply sufficient incentive to do so. Regardless, for those in the Far East, the Terminator S9 will set you back around 6,000RMB ($970), while the Smart Card costs less than 1,000RMB ($160).

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Lenovo

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drag2share: The new HTC One vs. the competition: the battle of Android flagships rages on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/the-htc-one-2014-vs-the-competiton/

We all knew it was coming, and after a lengthy list of leaks, the new HTC One is finally official. This time of year is known for its gaggle of new handsets, so we've lined up the latest offerings so you can see for yourself how they stack up. Flagships from Samsung, Sony and LG are all here to see which mobile device will nab an edge on paper. Want to compare these to your current daily driver? Mosey on over to our comparison tool to do just that. Otherwise, head past the break for our neatly compiled list of specs and form your own analysis of the lot.

	HTC One (2014)	Samsung Galaxy S5	Sony Xperia Z2	LG G Pro 2
Starting price	$199-$249 (on-contract)	N/A	N/A	N/A
Known Dimensions	5.76 x 2.78 x 0.37 inches (146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35mm)	5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 inches (142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm)	5.78 x 2.89 x 0.32 inches (146.8 x 73.3 x 8.2mm)	6.22 x 3.22 x 0.33 inches (157.9 x 81.9 x 8.3mm)
Weight	5.64 oz. (160g)	5.11 oz (145g)	5.75 oz. (163g)	6.07 oz. (172g)
Screen size	5.0 inches	5.1 inches	5.2 inches	5.9 inches
Screen resolution	1,920 x 1,080 pixels (441ppi)	1,920 x 1,080 (432ppi)	1,920 x 1,080 pixels (424ppi)	1,920 x 1,080 pixels (373ppi)
Screen type	S-LCD3	Super AMOLED Full HD	Triluminos Full HD (IPS)	Full HD IPS
Battery	2,600mAh (non-removable)	2,800mAh (user removable)	3,200mAh	3,200mAh (user removable)
Internal storage	16GB/32GB	16GB/32GB	16GB	16GB/32GB
External storage	microSD (up to 128GB)	microSD (up to 128GB)	microSD (up to 64GB)	microSD
Rear camera	4MP, UltraPixel sensor, Duo Camera, dual LED Smart Flash, BSI sensor	16MP, LED flash	20.7MP, LED flash	13MP, LED flash, OIS+
Front-facing cam	5MP	2MP	2.2MP	2.1MP
Video capture	1080p	4K	4K	4K
NFC	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bluetooth	v4.0	v4.0	v4.0	v4.0
SoC	2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (2.5GHz variant in Asia)	2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801	2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801	2.26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
GPU	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	Unspecified
RAM	2GB	2GB	3GB	3GB
WiFi	802.11a/ac/b/g/n, dual-band	802.11a/ac/b/g/n, dual-band	802.11a/ac/b/g/n, dual-band	802.11a/ac/b/g/n, dual-band
Operating system	Android 4.4	Android 4.4	Android 4.4	Android 4.4
Standout features	UltraPixel sensor, Duo Camera, HTC Sense 6, Zoe, BoomSound, BlinkFeed, Extreme Power Saving Mode	Fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor, Ultra Power Saving Mode, IP67 certified, 4K video	IP58 certified, BRAVIA screen tech, Exmor RS camera, 4K video	KnockCode, Backside buttons, Mini view, Multi Window

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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