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Friday, March 16, 2012

SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Linsanity Is Coming Back Down To Earth

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/sports-chart-of-the-day-linsanity-is-coming-back-down-to-earth-2012-3

Whether it was over-hype, or Carmelo Anthony, or Mike D'Antoni, the Linsanity over Jeremy Lin has disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived on the scene.

Below is a look at the Google Search volume of "Jeremy Lin" over the last few months and it doesn't paint a pretty picture. It doesn't help that the Knickerbockers have only one win in the last seven games. And even worse when one considers that the Knicks are just 3-8 since Carmelo Anthony returned to the lineup.

Everybody's greatest fear has been realized: Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony cannot coexist. The Knicks need to pick one and stick with him...

Jeremy Lin

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Social Networking versus Email

time spent on social networks versus email

number of global users on social networks versus email

New Bi-Plane Design Promises All of the Sonic, None of the Boom [Planes]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5893768/new-bi+plane-design-promises-all-of-the-sonic-none-of-the-boom

New Bi-Plane Design Promises All of the Sonic, None of the Boom The Concorde became the premiere transport across the Atlantic in part because it was precluded from flying over populated areas due to the sonic boom it created on takeoff. A new two-wing design, however, may hold the secret to silently breaking the sound barrier. Guile does not approve.

As a plane moves through the air, it stacks up air pressure in front of the plane and creates a vacuum in its wake. When the plane hits super sonic speeds—actually travelling faster that the sound wave it's creating—the plane will drag and compress the leading and trailing pressure waves together to form a single big shock wave moving at the speed of sound. The wave from this hits the ground is what's considered the sonic boom.

A team of researchers from MIT and Stanford University developed the bi-plane design based on a design devised in the 1950's by German engineer Adolf Busemann. He figured that a design using triangular wings connected at the tip would effectively cancel out the boom. His original design wasn't quite efficient—the inner channel prevented sufficient air flow— so the researchers had to tweak the design a bit.

And man what a tweak. The design they settled on—with a smooth finish on the inner edge of the triangle and small bumps on the outer—could reduce the plane's fuel consumption by 50 percent and allow speeds in excess of Mach 5. Not to mention they'd be able to fly over the country and not just the oceans. Get ready for two-hour jaunts across the continent if this design reaches the market. [Sonic Boom Wiki - LiveSciences]

TED expands its reach with streaming talks on Netflix

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/16/ted-expands-its-reach-with-streaming-talks-on-netflix/

You can already watch TED talks on any number of devices via the web or the various apps available, but the oft-debated conference / organization has now added another fairly big feather to its cap: it's streaming on Netflix. That includes around 200 talks to start with, which have been grouped into 14 different "shows" with titles like Space Trek, Cyber Awe, Building Wonder and Video & Photo Mojo. Those are naturally all available in HD, and they can be seen in Canada, Latin America, the UK and Ireland in addition to the US.

TED expands its reach with streaming talks on Netflix originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Earth for Android and iOS reaches version 6.2, supports custom KML overlays and more

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/16/google-earth-for-android-and-ios-reaches-version-6-2-supports-c/

Good news for fans of the iOS and Android ports of Google Earth: the apps are getting updated to version 6.2, which brings more customizable experience with it. Just like the browser and desktop variants, Keyhole Markup Language files are now accessible, meaning you'll be able to open up information overlays you find on websites, or from the app itself now that Google Earth Gallery's been added. Better yet, Android users will be pleased to know that their even gets baked-in screenshot functionality, while both versions feature "improvements in navigation." Although the iOS version will get released sometime soon, those of you running Google's goods can download the update from Google Play right now to get exploring. As per usual, make your way over to the source link below for all the details.

Google Earth for Android and iOS reaches version 6.2, supports custom KML overlays and more originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These Are The Killer Apps For Your iPad's New Retina Display (AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-best-apps-to-use-on-your-ipads-new-retina-display-2012-3

infinity blade 2

The new iPad launches at the Apple Store in just a couple hours.

TechCrunch's MG Siegler has rounded up a list of apps that will make the best use of the new tablet's impressive high definition screen.

Here's a brief selection of what we're most excited about, but click over to Siegler's article for the full list.

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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Gross Fluorescent Green Goo Spills In Dallas [Pollution]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5893630/mysterious-fluorescent-green-goo-spills-over-dallas-water

Gross Fluorescent Green Goo Spills In Dallas Yesterday, a mysterious green fluorescent substance took over the White Rock Creek, in Dallas, way ahead of St. Patrick's Day. The Simpsons bright green-colored goo was coming from Medical City Dallas Hospital, which is located across the street, and nobody knew what it was.

An emergency crew appeared at the scene and quickly proceeded to block the green goo flow. Then, hazardous material experts were called. Was it a biological attack? Alien bodily fluids? Mutant blood? No. It was non-toxic fluorescent green dye used to detect leaks in the hospital cooling tower number 3.

Nothing to see here except a cool river of green crap, folks. Carry on. [WFAA]

PayPal Here mobile card reader: it's like Square, but with way more frozen accounts

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/paypal-introduces-mobile-card-reader-square-rival/

Hear that? That's the sound of coins hitting the mental floor at a breakneck pace, and if PayPal's meteoric success is any indication of how it'll do in mobile... well, stockholders should be pleased. Nearly three years after first hearing of Jack Dorsey's Square (formerly 'Squirrel') project, the most hated division of eBay is coming out with a rival. President and CEO of eBay John Donahoe took the wraps off of the device at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco today, with an aim to bring PayPal to "merchants in the offline world." The plastic triangle module plays a familiar role: pop it into an iPhone, load up an app and swipe until you just can't sell anything else. We're hearing that PayPal will charge merchants 2.7 percent (just 0.05 percent less than Square), but further details -- and even the thing's name -- are still developing.

As much as we jest about PayPal's polarizing nature, we've been victim to one too many unjustified account freezes to become overly joyous here, but we won't kvetch about a little competition. Here's hoping we see rates and fees on the decline thanks to another major player stepping up to bat, but something tells us those kinds of dreams are dreamt only by fools. That aside, the fact that famed designer Yves Behar (profiled here on The Engadget Show) and Fuseproject were tapped to engineer it gets a major thumbs-up from us.

Update: Looks like it'll go by the name Here. PayPal Here. Moreover, the hardware and app will be gratis, and shipments will begin to go out in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and Australia today. Everyone else will need to sit tight for a few weeks, and we're still digging for information on compatibility beyond the iPhone.

Update 2: Look like Android support will be here at launch, but iOS devices will need to run iOS 4.0 or higher.

Continue reading PayPal Here mobile card reader: it's like Square, but with way more frozen accounts

PayPal Here mobile card reader: it's like Square, but with way more frozen accounts originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

mike_isaac (Instagram), The Verge |

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Google to switch on 'semantic search' within months, emphasize things as well as words

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/google-semantic-search/

Google to switch on

A search engine should be about more than just keywords. MC Hammer believes that passionately and Google must do too, because over the next few months and years it'll gradually adjust its own algorithms to put greater emphasis on "semantic search". Under this system, search queries are run through a vast knowledge database that discovers relationships with other words and facts. A Mountain View exec explained it thus: If you search for "Lake Tahoe", you won't just get ranked websites containing those two words but also key attributes about the lake, such as its location, altitude, average temperature and Bigfoot population. If a piece of knowledge isn't the in the ever-expanding database, the search engine will still use semantic search to help it recognize and evaluate information held on websites. In doing this, Big G hopes to compete with social networks that are amassing their own valuable (and sometimes intrusive) databases full of personal information, while also encouraging people to stay longer on its site and see more targeted ads. Google, who is Viviane Reding?

Google to switch on 'semantic search' within months, emphasize things as well as words originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 brings an NVIDIA Kepler GPU to the ultrabook party

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/13/acer-aspire-ultra-timeline-m3-brings-an-nvidia-kepler-gpu-to-the/

Acer unveiled several new Ultrabooks at CeBIT last week (we spent time with the V5 and V3) but its M3 may be the most special one of all. NVIDIA mentions it will not only be the first with a discrete GPU -- beating Lenovo's T430u to the punch -- but that the included GeForce GT640M is based on the long-awaited 28nm Kepler architecture. That should give it enough power to run the latest games while still remaining true to the ultrabook tag with a 20mm thick frame and (promised) 8 hours of battery life thanks to Optimus technology. The 15-inch Aspire Timeline M3 Ultra also breaks the mold by squeezing in a DVD drive for games you can't get from Steam, along with options for either a hybrid hard drive / SSD or SSD-only storage setup. Neither company has included a pricetag in their joyful announcements, but these no-compromise packages are expected to begin shipping later this month.

Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 brings an NVIDIA Kepler GPU to the ultrabook party originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung considering Android-based digital camera

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/14/samsung-researching-android-based-digital-camera/

Android on a mainstream digital camera? Yes, you could live to see the day. We're at Samsung's Korean headquarters this week, where we had an opportunity to sit down with the company's research and development team to talk about the past, present and future of digital imaging. One interesting bit of discussion: Samsung is considering an "open" camera operating system. It's still early days and nothing is confirmed but, given the company's support for Android on other platforms, that OS would be a logical choice. What we know is that Samsung R&D has been researching bringing Android to its digital cameras -- a move that would be far from shocking, considering that development teams do tend to collaborate, and the company clearly has experience with the Google OS. And while there are likely to be such open OS prototypes buried deep within Sammy HQ, they're mere experiments at this point -- at least from a production perspective.

What exactly would an OS like Android mean for digital camera users? It could be a major breakthrough from a usability standpoint, opening up the in-camera ecosystem to third-party developers. We could see Twitter and Facebook apps that let you not only publish your photos directly with a familiar interface, but also see photos shared by your friends. A capacitive touchscreen would let you type in comments directly as well. You could publish to web-based services, utilize apps that enable post-capture creativity or receive firmware updates directly over WiFi. That hotshoe or USB port could acc! ommodate a variety of different accessories, like a microphone or 4G modem that could be used with several models, including those from other manufacturers. While there's nothing making Android integration impossible from a technical standpoint, there are obvious disadvantages as well -- especially for camera makers. Stability would become an issue -- your camera could need a reboot just as often as your smartphone -- and such a powerful imaging device could theoretically cannibalize tablets and smartphones, though on a limited scale. Sadly this is merely educated speculation at this point, pending a product announcement from Samsung, though we wouldn't be surprised to come to fruition -- perhaps even before the next CES.

Update: Samsung reached out to us asking to clarify that this is simply something under consideration; nothing is confirmed yet. We've updated the post above to match.

Samsung considering Android-based digital camera originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

ARM's Super-Efficient New Chip Can Get "Years of Battery Life" [Guts]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5892873/arms-super+efficient-new-chip-can-get-years-of-battery-life

With processors, it's easy to get caught up in gigahertz and petaflops and the top-end specs. But blazing fast speed doesn't mean all that much for, say, your refrigerator. ARM's says its Cortex-M0+ chip will connect your dumb appliances to a smart grid, and offer "years" of battery life on some of them.

The Cortex-M0+ chip is capable of 32-bit processing, measures 1mm x 1mm, and is based on Flycatcher architecture. ARM says it's the world's most energy-efficient design. It's even more efficient than the 8- and 16-bit MCUs it's replacing.

The idea is that if the "Internet of Things"—that near-future sci-fi aspiration where your toaster knows when your dishwasher is using too much power—is ever going to happen, we'll need super low power chips to make it possible. [ARM via Geek, BBC]

Rdio rolls out redesigned website and desktop apps, promises to make things more social

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/13/rdio-rolls-out-redesigned-website-and-desktop-apps-promises-to/

If you've checked into Rdio's website this afternoon (and are a web or unlimited subscriber) you've probably noticed a message prompting you to try out the "new Rdio." Clicking on it will take you to the redesigned website that the music streaming service has rolled out today -- something the company claims is "faster, simpler, and more social." That includes a completely overhauled layout that puts it slightly more in line with the likes of Spotify and iTunes, and social networking features that are brought to the fore, including a new "People Sidebar" where you can see who's online and what they're listening to (along with suggestions of people to follow). You can also now simply drag tracks to the People Sidebar to share them with friends, or drag entire albums to add them to a playlist. What's more, that overhaul also carriers over to Rdio's desktop apps, which now mirror the web interface quite closely. Hit the links below to take a closer look or try it for yourself.

Continue reading Rdio rolls out redesigned website and desktop apps, promises to make things more social

Rdio rolls out redesigned website and desktop apps, promises to make things more social originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel: Optical Thunderbolt cables arriving this year

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/13/optical-thunderbolt-this-year/

Intel's Dave Salvator has been talking about Thunderbolt's future, promising that optical versions of the high-speed interconnect will arrive this year. The copper version currently available is cheaper and can carry 10 watts of power, but it can only be run a maximum distance of six meters. While the fiber version loses the ability to power devices, it's reportedly far faster and capable of running to the "tens of meters." ~~Dave~~ Mr. Salvator wouldn't commit to a release date, or how much more we'll be expected to pay for the cables, but given that we're also expecting to see PCI-Express 3.0 bolted on to the standard soon, we'll start saving today.

Intel: Optical Thunderbolt cables arriving this year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ARM Cortex-M0+ is a low-power, low cost 32-bit processor for the 'internet of things'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/13/arm-cortex-ultra-low-power-32-bit-processor/

Cortex-M0+

The "internet of things" is quite the buzzed about phenomena these days and everyone wants in on the action. But, much of the hype so far has been associated with that DIY staple, the Arduino, and its admittedly under-powered 8-bit MCU. ARM is looking to put more power at developers fingertips, though, with the Cortex-M0+, an ultra low-power processor designed for embedded applications. The 32-bit chip is based on the existing M0, but with significant tweaks that greatly improve performance while keeping power draw to a minimum. Freescale and NXP should be first out the box with licensed processors and, while we wouldn't anticipate these showing up in a refrigerator or printer just yet, we wouldn't be shocked if they drew some interest from hobbyists. Check out the complete PR after the break.

Continue reading ARM Cortex-M0+ is a low-power, low cost 32-bit processor for the 'internet of things'

ARM Cortex-M0+ is a low-power, low cost 32-bit processor for the 'internet of things' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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