26166414
submission
ProbablyJoe writes:
AllThingsD is running a series of stories this week about a possible new Facebook phone, codenamed 'Buffy'.
The phone is said to be in development by HTC, who collaborated with Facebook earlier this year for the Salsa and ChaCha/Status phones, which both had physical Facebook buttons, and a degree of integration with the social network.
While these rumours have been going around for quite a while, the article contains some new information, and neither Facebook or HTC are denying the rumours.
The phone will be based on Android, but like Amazon's Kindle Fire, will be heavily modified to integrate with Facebook, potentially using Facebook's HTML5 platform.
While we're unlikely to see any official announcements or releases any time soon, Facebook are eager to compete with Google and Apple, and are likely to want a phone of their own on shelves as soon as possible.
26165406
submission
dartttt writes:
Not many people know that Kernel releases have their codenames. Most of the Linux 2.6 and 3.x kernels include a name in the Makefile of their source trees, which can be found in the git repository. They are not publicized as such but some of them are really hilarious. How does 'Pink Farting Weasel' sounds?
26164124
submission
ProbablyJoe writes:
The BBC reports that researchers at Washington University have made a breakthrough in developing a contact lens that will be able to overlay text and images on top human vision.
The research is still in early stages, so far just being able to light one LED on the lens, and requiring a battery no more than 1cm away. But researchers claim the main problem has already been overcome — getting the human eye to focus on an image generated on its surface.
While a long way from completion, the team hopes to soon increase the display to hundreds of pixels, and overlay text on the lens. The technology could eventually be used in future augmented reality applications, allowing futuristic 'Terminator' style vision.
26125816
submission
FBeans writes:
The BBC reports:
"Hackers are alleged to have destroyed a pump used to pipe water to thousands of homes in a US city in Illinois."
"Hackers with access to the utility's network are thought to have broken the pump by turning it on and off quickly."
"The comments by the DHS prompted a hacker using the handle "pr0f" to claim he had access to the control systems for a second US water utility.
In an interview with the Threat Post website, Pr0f said the hack of the South Houston network barely deserved the name because only a three-character password had been used to protect the system."
Pr0f's evidence that he has access to the second Water utility can be found on pastebin here
26124690
submission
ProbablyJoe writes:
The LA Times reports on a new ultra lightweight material developed by scientists at UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and Caltech.
"Ultralight metallic microlattice" is said to be 100 times lighter than styrofoam. It's so light, that it can supposedly be balanced on top of a delicate dandelion plant without crushing the seeds.
The material has been made from hollow, interconnected tubes of nickel, which are 1000 times thinner than a human hair. Possible applications include "impact protection, uses in the aerospace industry, acoustic dampening and maybe some battery applications."
The full scientific details can be found in the paper, published in the (paywalled) Science magazine
25867072
submission
25866110
submission
souperfly writes:
The INQUIRER has gone big on its coverage of the anniversary of Intel's 4004 chips, and in two articles has discussed the history of the microprocessor and some of its landmark events.
“To call Intel's 4004 just a microprocessor is to do the microelectronics world a great disservice,” says the first. “Not only was the Intel 4004 the first commercial microprocessor, shattering what people thought of computers, it signaled Intel's shift away from manufacturing memory and into what was going to become the industry that changed the world forever.”
From its humble beginnings, when no one would really call it powerful, but in the chip Faggin, Hoff and Shima created the ability to commoditise computing by adding the micro in microprocessors.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/2124781/microprocessor-development
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/2124944/intel-marks-4004-microprocessor
25865838
submission
ProbablyJoe writes:
InfoQ reports that Adobe is to donate it's web application SDK, Flex, to an "an established open source foundation" — suspected to either be the Open Spoon Foundation (who have been working on an open source fork of Flex), or the more established Apache Foundation
Adobe has stated on it's blog that they consider HTML5 to be a better technology for the future than it's own Flex platform, causing frustration among developers who have used the platform for enterprise applications
Is this a generous contribution to the open source community, or just Adobe offloading another failing technology?
25865112
submission
hypnosec writes:
The BBC has asked Ofcom for permission to broadcast DRM locked TV programming in the UK, it has been revealed. According to reports, in 2009 the BBC had asked Ofcom for permission to put DRM locks on its high definition video content, which is produced by the license fee that the UK public pays. The secret documents unearthed by the Guardian revealed that the UK public along with several public interest groups and activists and consumer organizations were against the proposal. However, even after the BBC put up an unconvincing case for offering DRM locked video content, Ofcom approved it nonetheless. The two organizations believe that the DRM locking is in favor of the UK public despite its mass opposition and have even failed to clarify why they choose to go ahead with the proposal, claiming that it was in public interest not to know so. The BBC proposal to Ofcom was made public but both the organizations had removed some parts of the proposal, which they later deemed as ‘commercially sensitive'.
25864386
submission
SharkLaser writes:
Minecraft, the most widely known and best selling indie game in the history, is now finished. Minecraft creator Notch tweeted yesterday that Minecraft has gone gold and will be released at the end of the week at the first Minecon, a gathering of Minecraft fans. So far over 4 million people have bought the game, generating over 50 million dollars in revenue. Minecraft has also had a rapid modding community around the game, developing gems like the Millenaire mod, Builders and Tornadoes. Minecraft also brought back the interest in voxel based engines, introducing games like Ace of Spades (build, make tunnels, capture the flag FPS) and Voxatron. It also opened up many ways for new indie developers, as Minecraft showed development can be funded solely by making something new and giving out early access to the game for those who are interested in the project. The upcoming Steam-like IndieCity-platform will also employ similar feature where, in addition to normal indie game store, players can look at unfinished projects and choose to support their development.
25864342
submission
FBeans writes:
The BBC Reports: "Cult BBC TV show Doctor Who is set to be made into a Hollywood movie, a leading director has said."
"David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films, told Variety magazine he is working on developing a feature film with the BBC."
However, "The project is unlikely to reach cinemas for several years and as yet there is no script, cast or production crew in place."
"He said the film would take a fresh approach to the show, which first appeared on TV in 1963."
So it looks as though the infamous Doctor is in for a new regeneration that could see the already large following become worldwide.
25815670
submission
FBeans writes:
From an article at theguardian.co.uk:
"London will begin to switch on 4G high-speed mobile internet with the launch of the first large-scale public trial in Britain."
"Initiated by O2, Britain's second largest operator with 22 million customers, the trial involves more than 25 masts covering 15 square miles in Canary Wharf, Soho, Westminster, South Bank and Kings Cross. It will run for nine months, and the equipment installed will eventually become part of O2's first commercial 4G network."
So the new generation of mobile technology is set to go live near the end of next year.
"The new technology is capable of speeds of up to 150 megabits per second. During the trial, users will be more likely to experience average speeds between 25Mbps and 50Mbps. When 4G is introduced nationally the average speeds are likely to drop to between 10Mbps and 15Mbps. This is faster than 3G, which averages between 1Mbps and 1.5Mbps, and compares well with the average household, fixed line broadband connection, which rose to just under 7Mbps this year."
"Live gaming against other players and video calling without delays will become possible from phones, because the speed at which new information loads onto the screen will be reduced from 1 second to 0.07 seconds."
With the new technology clearing a network bottleneck for phones, tablets and dongles, will we start to really see differneces in Browser, OS and phone performances?
