How To Tell When Gmail Is Back Online For Good (GOOG)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tell-when-gmail-is-back-online-for-good-2012-12

Google acknowledged today that several services, most notably Gmail, experienced outages.

So far, it looks like Gmail is coming back for a lot of people, but some are still having trouble using the chat feature and other basic functions. 

Google has a very handy chart that shows what services are currently operational. You can get the latest updates using the official Apps Status Dashboard. Green means you're good to go. Gmail is still listed as "orange" as of this writing.

Here's what it looks like:

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This Custom Datacenter Rack Has 160 Mac Minis Crammed Inside of It

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5967189/this-custom-datacenter-rack-has-160-mac-minis-crammed-inside-of-it

If you're hankering for an Xserve, you've been out of luck since 2011. But there's always an alternative. You can make your own by squeezing a whole 160 Mac Minis into a custom rack, for instance. That's what a fellow named Steve did, and the results are staggering.

Working with a vendor to get some custom shelving, Steve got his hands on 40 special 1U shelves that hold 4 Minis each. Of course, that wasn't the only challenge. Each Mini had to be fit with a special plastic insert to insure it wasn't drawing intake air from the 159 other Minis' exhaust ports, and the door of the rack was fitted with four car radiator fans, all hooked up to a 40A DC motor controller.

The result is this impressive—if crowded—tower of power, packing some 640 cores, double the amount of the 40 Xserve setup it's replacing. While Steve's reluctant to say who he works for, he's stated on his blog that the monster is part of a huge server farm, building and testing software 24/7. How's that for a Mac hack? [Steve's Blog via Hackaday via 9to5Mac]

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Researchers devise contact lens with built-in LCD (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/10/researchers-contact-lens-lcd-display/

Another day, another step towards technologically tricked out contact lenses. The latest development comes from researchers at the Centre of Microsystems Technology at Ghent University, who've developed a prototype lens with an embedded, spherical curved LCD that isn't limited to a paltry amount of pixels. As opposed to LED-based solutions which could only muster a few pixels, the newly-developed screen can pack enough to display graphics that cover a contact. In its current form, the display can show simple patterns, and demonstrates the technology with a simple dollar sign. What appears on the lens wouldn't be visible to folks who wear it, however, since eyes can't focus at such a close range. Despite the limitation, researchers are tying to tackle the focusing issue and are assessing the feasibility of a version that would effectively act as a heads-up display. In the future, the tech could be leveraged for medical purposes, such as controlling light transmission to the retina when the iris is damaged, cosmetic uses and -- you guessed it -- HUDs. With the technol! ogy's fo undation established, it's expected that real-world applications are potentially a few of years away. Hit the jump to catch a video of the tech in action.

Continue reading Researchers devise contact lens with built-in LCD (video)

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Via: Liliputing

Source: Imec

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Arduino Esplora helps you learn microcontrollers without the pesky breadboard

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/10/arduino-esplora-learn-microcontrollers-without-the-breadboard/

Arduino is the go to board for most folks looking for an introduction to microcontrollers. That's largely thanks to its sizable community, ease of use and surprising versatility. But, there is one small stumbling block for those just looking to dip their toes in the ATmega-powered waters: you'll need to provide your own sensors, components and breadboard. (At least you will unless you're satisfied just making the built-in LED blink.) The Esplora bakes some of those essential bits and pieces right on to the board. It's crafted around the same core as the Leonardo, but adds an accelerometer, microphone, analog joystick, four buttons, a light sensor, temperature sensor, linear potentiometer and a buzzer to the mix. While the gamepad-like layout means you wont be able to connect to any of the dozens of Arduino shields out there, it does have a pair of TinkerKit inputs and outputs for expanding the Esplora's capabilities. There's also a place to connect an upcoming LCD module. The Esplora is available now direct from Arduino for €41.90.

Continue reading Arduino Esplora helps you learn microcontroller! s withou t the pesky breadboard

Filed under: Misc

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Source: Arduino

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Silicon Image reveals Ultragig 6400 wireless HDMI output for next-gen phones and tablets

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/10/silicon-image-ultragig-6400-wirelesshd/

Up 'til now, the WirelessHD standard has been best suited to large, thirsty devices like laptops, AV adapters and projectors. If we wanted video output from a battery-powered weakling of a mobile device, then we'd either be looking at a WiFi-based option, which can sacrifice bandwidth and latency, or at a wired connection like MHL, which effectively means tethering ourselves to the TV. However, Silicon Image claims it's come up with a new WirelessHD transmitter, the Ultragig 6400, which allows for gaming and full 1080p60 video and yet is easily light-footed enough to fit into a smartphone or tablet.

The company's optimistic photoshop above shows off the compactness of the module relative to the type of flagship phone it'd one day like to be part of: the silicon itself is 10mm x 7mm in area, or a fifth the size of the older WirelessHD Gen3. Just as importantly, the 60GHz transmitter consumes less power than a smartphone's own local display (around 500mW, with a 30-foot line-of-sight range), has a mere 5ms latency to allow for interactivity, and shouldn't add more than $10 to the cost of manufacture. Of course, we'd have to add a little more to th! at sum i n order to purchase the mains-connected HDMI receiver box -- but in return we'd get to enjoy all our mobile vices at something much closer to life-size.

Continue reading Silicon Image reveals Ultragig 6400 wireless HDMI output for next-gen phones and tablets

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD, Mobile

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IBM manufactures light-based 'nanophotonic' chips to let the terabytes flow

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/10/ibm-manufactures-light-based-nanophotonic-chips/

IBM's taken a large step toward computer chips that use photons instead of electrons by manufacturing the first 90nm silicon-based optical processing modules. It did so using the CMOS nanophotonics technology we first saw back in 2010, creating tranceivers capable of 25Gbps transfer speeds. By multiplexing a large number of those streams to a single fibre, "terrabytes of data" per second could flow between distant computer systems," according to IBM. The 90 nanometer light circuits should allow data-hungry servers or supercomputers to scale up rapidly in speed "for the next decade, and at the desired low cost," according to the researchers. It's now primed for commercial development, meaning we could see an end to bottlenecks in systems "a few centimeters or a few kilometers" apart from each other. Check the PR for the detailed technical skinny.

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Google Now Is Coming Soon To A Desktop Near You

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5966819/google-now-is-coming-soon-to-a-desktop-near-you

Since its introduction earlier this year, Google Now has quickly become one of the stand-out features of having a (current version) Android phone or tablet. It looks like Google Now-age won't be exclusive to mobile for long, however; Google Now is coming to Chrome.

While the transition hasn't been officially announced, the addition of several items to the Chromium project code site with titles like "Show Google Now notifications in Chrome" and "Creating a skeleton for Google Now for Chrome implementation" confirm it's in the works. Spotted by François Beaufort, the code site additions herald a big move for the service, one that could serve to rope non-mobile users in.

While you can't argue with Google Now being more widely available, you kind of have to wonder how useful it can actually be on a desktop. Still, it'll serve as another vector for users to cram data into Google and get some functionality back for it. Get ready, the cards are coming. [François Beaufort via Engadget]

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Netflix 1080p streams no longer called X-High, company credits improved encodes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/08/netflix-1080p-streams-no-longer-called-x-high-company-credits-i/

While Netflix Watch Instantly movie streams are mostly useful for casual viewing, if you're interested in the actual quality of the video provided you may have noticed a few changes recently. Chronicled in a thread on AVS Forum and reported to us by several tipsters, more than a few users have noticed their streams on 1080p-capable hardware (PlayStation 3, WDTV Live) no longer rock the "X-High" notification (on PS3, hit select to view more information bout your streaming details) that had previously let them know they were getting the highest quality possible. We checked with Netflix, and according to the company, it's rolling out better encoding that improves picture quality despite using a lower bitrate. That means 1080p works even for people with slower connections, and increases detail on "textures, shadows, skies, and particularly faces." As a result, what was previously called "X-High HD" is now being labeled a tier lower.

While it wasn't mentioned specifically, some are theorizing the move is tied into Netflix's use of eyeIO's video encoding tech, which it announced earlier this year, to shrink the size of streams. eyeIO claims it can chop bandwidth by more than half for a 720p stream, something we're sure a company that's pushing as much data as Netflix would appreciate. Still, some viewers in the thread are claiming a noticeably softer picture as a result. Check afte! r the br eak for the statement from Netflix, then take some time for "research" and let us know if you're noticing any changes in picture quality lately.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Netflix 1080p streams no longer called X-High, company credits improved encodes

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: AVS Forum, Tech of the Hub

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LG's first 55-inch OLED HDTV pops up in the FCC's database

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/07/lgs-first-55-inch-oled-hdtv-pops-up-in-the-fccs-database/

Although LG and Samsung exhibited dueling OLED HDTVs at CES earlier this year neither has been able to put a model on US shelves yet. that may change soon since we just spotted this 55EM9700-UA from LG in the FCC's database. Flashing WiFi and Bluetooth modules as well as a December 2012 build date, our only picture of the unit is from behind, powered off, although the photographer makes a cameo via reflection. An appearance in what remains of 2012 seems unlikely, but the odds that next thing in television display technology will actually arrive soon are getting better -- assuming lawsuits don't put the breaks on everything. While you look for an extra $10,000 or so in that holiday budget, check out better pics in the gallery, and a promo video plus a pic of the label after the break.

Gallery: LG 55EM9600 press shots

Continue reading LG's first 55-inch OLED HDTV pops up in the FCC's database

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD, LG

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Source: FCC

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Samsung product page confirms Galaxy Camera coming to Verizon LTE

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/07/samsung-galaxy-camera-verizon-lte/

Well, it was all but confirmed at Photokina, but the release of AT&T's HSPA+ Galaxy Camera threw a few doubts our way. Still, it looks like an LTE version of Samsung's Jelly Bean shooter will be in fact making its way stateside, landing on Verizon's 4G network no less. From a quick glance at the EK-GC120's spec sheet, most of the features seem to be in line with the global variant, with an obvious exception in the network field -- this flavor lists only 700 MHz compatibility, so you might have some trouble hooking up overseas.

Pricing and availability info is still up in the air (the "Shop" link currently lands us at a 404), but we've reached out to Verizon and Samsung for those still-pending deets, and we'll pass along the good word as soon as it hits our inbox. For now, at least you can rest assured that the most compelling Android-powered shooter will be getting an LTE boost, so if you're currently in line to snag that lesser-equipped AT&T variant, you might want to step aside and wait for the 16-megapixel shooter to hit Big Red.

Update: Just moments after our post went live, Samsung pulled the product page. The specifications list is still active though (for now), so if you want to sneak a peek at the official sheet, you can hit up that respective source link below.

Filed under: Cameras, Samsung

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Via: Android Community

Source: Samsung, Samsung (specifications)

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The 25 Most Disruptive Apps Of 2012

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/e-g-4-SUpoM/the-top-25-most-disruptive-apps-2012-12

This was a huge year for apps.

Apple's App Store surged to more than 700,000 apps and is still growing. Google's Android Play Store also swelled to around 700,000 apps as of October 2012, significantly closing the gap between the two rivals.

As the year nears a close, we took a look at some of the industry game changers of 2012.

Brewster changes the way we look at our address book and relationships

Brewster is a personalized address book that understands your social networking relationships and merges everything into a beautifully-designed app. The goal is to make it easier to manage your contacts. And to that end, the app delivers.

Our favorite feature is the ability to mass email or text a group of friends.

Price: Free

Available for: iPhone

The Fancy challenged us to think outside of the box when it comes to e-commerce apps

The Fancy is changing how we discover and purchase things that we like. Think of The Fancy as a social version of Amazon or a shopper-friendly version of Pinterest.

The Fancy was so cool this year that there were even talks of Apple buying the service.

Check out our walkthrough of the Fancy >

Price: Free

Available on: Android and iOS

Fantastical made a better iPhone calendar than Apple's built-in app

Fantastical's goal is to be fast and friendly. It realizes that people are always on the go and makes it very easy to quickly pull up the app, check your appointments, and avoid complications.

The team built Fantastical for iPhone from the ground up because they didn't want to just port a desktop app to the iPhone and be done with it.

Price: $1.99 (launch price). Flexibits plans to raise the price to $3.99 at some point, so if you want an alternative to the iPhone's built-in calendar, now's a good time to try it out. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Weird New Substance Flows Like a Liquid Then Remembers Its Shape In Water

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/weird-substance-solid-liquid-2012-12

An awesome new metamaterial created by researchers at Cornell University can flow like a liquid  then when put in water it returns to its original shape.

A matematerial is a material that is man made and can not be found in nature.

Biologist and environmental engineer, Dan Luo, created this hydrogel using synthetic DNA. Single strands of DNA will lock onto other strands with a complimentary sequence, serving as a great building block for self assembling materials.

The hydrogel was created by using a mixture of synthetic DNA and a polymerase enzyme, which is what makes DNA chains longer and weaves them with other DNA strands.

"During this process they entangle, and the entanglement produces a 3-D network," Luo explained in a release from the university.

The researchers described their new substance as working like a rubber band, which has a shape but can be twisted, stretched, and deformed.

The material also has small empty spaces that can absorb water, and resembles a sponge. Because of this hydrogels may one day be used to deliver drugs slowly into patients as it degrades in the body.

The new hydrogel was published Dec. 2 in the journal Nature Nanotechology. An awesome video of the gel being hydrated and returned to its original shaped can be seen here.

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Hands-on with Transporter, the peer-to-peer social storage solution

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/07/hands-on-transporter-peer-to-peer-social-storage/

You may have missed Transporter's unveiling on Kickstarter earlier today, so let us provide a quick refresher -- it's a device that, when used in tandem with one or more other Transporters, enables simple and secure peer-to-peer file sharing. Unlike many Kickstarter projects, however, Transporter's already in the beta testing stage of development and the hardware is ready for prime time. We had a chance to see the thing in person this evening, so we figured we'd open it up and give you a glimpse of what lies beneath its onyx exterior. Join us after the break for our impressions.

Gallery: Transporter hands-on

Continue reading Hands-on with Transporter, the peer-to-peer social storage solution

Filed under: Storage

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Source: Transporter (Kickstarter)

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Amazon's Silk Browser Can Be Hacked to Provide Free Grid Computing

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5966502/amazons-silk-browser-can-be-hacked-to-provide-free-grid-computing

Cloud computing is big business. Companies and individual users rent bandwidth from large cloud services to perform all manner of tasks, from hosting small websites to churning through large, computing-intensive tasks like modelling new drug compounds. But what if you could gain access to all that computing power for free?

It turns out that you can, using a loopholes in a new type of browser which taps the cloud to boost web page load speeds. Amazon's Silk browser as well as Opera Mini and another browser called Puffin all use this trick to help render web pages on mobile devices, which can lack the computational punch to handle complex web scripts or graphics-heavy pages, for instance.

William Enck at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and colleagues found a way to use those cloud browsers to perform free computations of their choosing. They used bit.ly links to exchange data between different cloud browsers, so as to stay below a data threshold built into the browsers to prevent buggy web pages using up too many resources. With multiple cloud-browser instances linked, they were able to process data for free, running processes for which Amazon charges $0.08 per hour.

They tested their method using just 100 megabytes of data so as not to overload browsers' cloud, getting the browsers to count and sort words in a document.

The hack performed as well as legitimate cloud computing techniques. Although Enck's team tested the loophole only with mundane tasks, it could be put to nefarious uses, such as launching denial-of-service attacks or cracking passwords, they write in a paper due to be presented this week at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference in Orlando, Florida.

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New Scientist reports, explores and interprets the results of human endeavour set in the context of society and culture, providing comprehensive coverage of science and technology news.

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Google gives WWF $5 million to fund wildlife-observing drones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/06/google-gives-wwf-5-million-to-fund-wildlife-observing-drones/

Most of the drone-related news these days may focus on military or police use, but those are far from the only applications for the unmanned aerial vehicles. Case in point: the World Wildlife Fund, which has now received a $5 million grant from Google's Global Impact Awards program to fund UAVs designed to monitor endangered species. Details on the drones themselves remain light, but the WWF says they'll be used to detect poachers and tagged animals on the ground, and then relay that information to a command center and mobile law enforcement units. What's more, while that initial funding will only provide something of a testbed, the WWF says it's focusing on "easily-replicable technologies," with its ultimate goal being to create an "efficient, effective network that can be adopted globally."

[Image credit: WWF]

Filed under: Misc, Google

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Via: BBC News

Source: WWF

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