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Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Google Search Results Can Pull From Your Gmail Now [Google]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5932994/google-search-results-can-pull-from-your-gmail-now

Google Search Results Can Pull From Your Gmail Now Google's going to start showing you relevant information from your Gmail when you perform a regular old Google search soon. But you can try it out now before it's official.

Your email is basically a huge repository for information that you need. That's where you store travel itineraries, party details, package tracking numbers, phone numbers, and countless other important bits of data. If you enable the trial, Google will pull relevant information from your emails and display it alongside your search results. Researching an upcoming trip, for example? Your airline confirmation email will pop up in a right-hand pane.

With the launch of Knowledge Graph earlier this year, Google's whole approach to search changed. Folding Gmail into search results fits right in with the new mantra. Before, Google wanted to provide you links to information. Now it wants to scrape the sources and provide you with the information itself.

It's a further uniting of your Google identity, which could be seen as a further depletion of your privacy. But Google heading this direction is inevitable, so the best we can all do is maybe sit back and enjoy the benefits while doing our best to forget the creepy negatives.

The trial is limited to users with @gmail.com email addresses, and it will only be available on Google.com in English. If you sign up and you don't like it, you can later opt-out of the trial. No word on when a wider roll out might show up. [Google via The Next Web]

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Microsoft patents contextual ads in e-books, whether we like it or not

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/07/microsoft-patents-contextual-ads-in-e-books/

We have ad-supported e-reading today, but the ads always sit on the periphery at most. That makes us more than slightly nervous about a newly-granted Microsoft patent for contextual e-book ads. The development would make the pitch based on not just targeted pages but the nature of the book in question: a sci-fi novel might try to sell lightsabers, and characters themselves might slip into the ads themselves if there's a fit. Promos could be either generated on the spot or remain static. Before anyone mourns the end of unspoiled literature, just remember that having a patent isn't the same as using it -- Microsoft doesn't have its own dedicated reading app anymore, let alone any warning signs that it's about to pepper our digital libraries with marketing. If the Newco partnership results in copies of War and Peace bombarded with Black Ops II ads, though, we'll know where to place the blame.

Microsoft patents contextual ads in e-books, whether we like it or not originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plextor M5 Pro bulges SSD envelope with 94K IOPS and 540MB/s

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/07/plextor-m5-pro-high-performance-ssd/

Plextor's newly launched M5 Pro is angling to be the top dot on the SATA III SSD spec charts -- and looks like it will mostly succeed. The Marvell Monet controller lets the unit hit a continuous 540 MB/s read and 450 MB/s write speeds for the larger models, as well as a hefty 94,000 read and 86,000 write IOPS. Those figures would put it ahead of or alongside most of its competitors except in steady write speeds, but Plextor claims that hustle is not the model's only trick. It also makes use of "True Speed" tech to minimize performance drops with age, uses 128-bit error correction to eliminate data inaccuracy and offers 256-bit full-drive encryption. The 128GB, 256GB or 512GB drives will be available mid-August for prices that have yet to be determined, but it's likely to be well north of its budget namesake, the M5S. You'll find the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Plextor M5 Pro bulges SSD envelope with 94K IOPS and 540MB/s

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Plextor M5 Pro bulges SSD envelope with 94K IOPS and 540MB/s originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, ! 07 Aug 2 012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How This Small Machine Turns Human Waste Into Clean Water Vapor

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/zero-liquid-discharge-system-works-2012-7

Namon Nassef's Zero Liquid Discharge system uses engine heat to convert wastewater into water vapor. It's an invention seven years and several hundred thousands dollars in the making that could revolutionize how we dispose of sewage on buses, cruise ships, trains and airplanes.

Nassef has set up a demonstration trailer (pictured below) to show how the eco-friendly sewage elimination system works.

First, sewage moves through a pipe into a small equalization tank. The equalization tank keeps the waste completely mixed. It also starts the grinding process, which reduces solids down into very tiny particles that are about 0.065 inch or less in diameter.

The mixture of liquid and small particles then moves from the receiving tank to the machine's homogenizer (the white plastic cylinder on the right next to the equalization tank). This component dissolves the tiny particles into even smaller particles. Nothing that leaves the homogenizer is larger than the ball in a ball point pen.

The fluid is then sent to an injection pump (the white plastic module on the left). The injection pump pressurizes the fluid and sends it through a nozzle into the hot exhaust stream of the heat source. In the demonstration trailer, a diesel generator is used for the heat source.

In the final stage, the engine's exhaust heat flash evaporates the fluid, killing 99.9 percent of the bacteria without chemicals. What's produced is water vapor and a little bit of mineral ash, which goes out with the exhaust. There's nothing to dump from the holding tank.

The current ZLD unit can eliminate up to 300 gallons of sewage per day, which is more than capable of handling the 20 gallons of waste produced on a 65-passenger bus, says Nassef.

Below is a picture of the current ZLD production! unit on its own, equipped for buses.

ZLD proudction unit

Meet Namon Nassef, the man behind the machine >

See our list of Game Changers: 30 Innovations That Will Change The World >

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Korean scientists solve flexible battery riddle (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/07/korean-scientists-solve-flexible-battery/

We've got flexible displays, printed circuits, memory and even chargers -- why not batteries? So far, this has eluded manufacturers, but now researchers from the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have got the ball rolling with a high performance bendable lithium-ion version. As the video after the break (no sound) shows, the peel-and-stick type manufacturing process they devised allows the cell to provide constant juice, no matter how much it's deformed. Now the scientists are looking at ways of upping the capacity, so they can power more than just Christmas tree lights and ultimately bring "the next-generation of fully flexible" devices to market. That's no small thing, considering what some products are willing to do to fit into those tight aluminum jea! ns.

< p>Continue reading Korean scientists solve flexible battery riddle (video)

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