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Android

Submission + - Will Android knock out Windows 8? (taoofmac.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Android devices are pretty much falling out of the sky here and there, with mini-PCs of all shapes and sizes being announced almost every day.

Sure, they're underpowered and the applications aren't yet up to desktop standards, but what if that changed? Would Android become "smarter" and sophisticated enough to replace laptops (or even desktops) even as Windows 8 is dumbed down into a former shade of itself?

Comment Night trips (Score 1) 648

by Kaki Nix Sain (#39973695) Attached to: How Would Driver-less Cars Change Motoring?

Forget working or web surfing while the car drives you somewhere... why even be conscious and have to remember the time it takes to get somewhere?

I want self-driving sleeper cars.

Everywhere within 8 hours drive would be just a night's sleep away. Get off work on Friday, sleep, wake up in some mid-point town with a dozen friends from different cities, party for the weekend, as I sleep Sunday night the car gets me back to where I work.

Numerous social and economic knock-on effects follow from self-driving sleeper cars.

Comment Re:Because of the kind of people who buy Apple (Score 1) 595

by Kaki Nix Sain (#32413496) Attached to: Why Apple Is So Sticky

Largest app store by an order of magnitude (i seldom pay for anything, tons of free stuff available that do what I want)

Just to be a bit pedantic, "order of magnitude" is false. Android's Market has about 66000 applications, Apple's App Store has something just over 200000. So about three times larger. Three times is not an order of magnitude.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Parrot beats humans in investment contest

Submitted by
Norsefire
Norsefire writes: "A Parrot named Strawberry performed better than many humans in an investment competition. The human competitors were able to select any stock they wanted while the Parrot randomly selected the stocks with its beak. Strawberry had a 13.7% return, the human average was a 4.6% loss. Only two humans outperformed Strawberry."
Earth

Submission + - 3D Images Reconstructed of 300M Year Old Spiders

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Scientists at Imperial College London have created detailed 3D computer models of two fossilized specimens of ancient creatures called Cryptomartus hindi and Eophrynus prestvicii, closely related to modern-day spiders. The researchers created their images by using a CT scanning device, which enabled them to take 3,000 x-rays of each fossil then compile them into precise 3D models, using custom-designed software. Both spiders roamed the Earth before the dinnosaurs during the Carboniferous period, 359 — 299 million years ago when life was emerging from the oceans to live on land. C. hindi's front pair of legs were angled toward the front, suggesting they were used to grapple with prey, an "ambush predator" like the modern-day crab spider, lying in wait for prey to come close. Another finding from the models is that E. prestivicii had hard spikes along its back, probably as a defensive measure making it less palatable to the amphibians that would have hunted it. "Our models almost bring these ancient creatures back to life and it's really exciting to be able to look at them in such detail," says researcher Russel Garwood adding that the technique could be used to return to fossils that have previously been analyzed by conventional means. "Our study helps build a picture of what was happening during this period early in the history of life on land.""

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