Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:The real long term plans unfold... (Score 1) 97

by snowball21 (#42376731) Attached to: Google Skunkworks Working on 'X Phone,' Reports WSJ
Oh ok, so something like this from 2006? I can't find a video, but that's the phone, and Android version details, they apparently revealed during the Oracle trial. I agree the prototype phone *looks* like a generic Blackberry but the OS implemented "functional apps included the dialer, home screen, messaging app, contacts, and an early example of Android's ubiquitous WebKit-based browser; implementations of Google Talk, Gmail, Calendar, MMS, "chat-based SMS" (presumably a threaded messaging app), and POP email".

Considering this was before the iPhone was released I suppose you could technically say that it was developed as a competitor to the Blackberry.

Comment Re:The real long term plans unfold... (Score 1) 97

by snowball21 (#42375497) Attached to: Google Skunkworks Working on 'X Phone,' Reports WSJ
I'm sure Google only open sourced Android due to the length of time to market it would have taken them to produce a competitor to the iPhone all on their own. It certainly worked a treat in stunting the iPhone's considerable growth, but just imagine what Apple's mobile market share would have been without stable/functional Android wielding devices being available ~2009. HTC should take as much, if not more, credit as Google for Android's success.
Science

Submission + - Wood Pulp Extract Stronger Than Carbon Fiber or Kevlar (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: The Forest Products Laboratory of the US Forest Service has opened a US$1.7 million pilot plant for the production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from wood by-products materials such as wood chips and sawdust. Prepared properly, CNCs are stronger and stiffer than Kevlar or carbon fibers, so that putting CNC into composite materials results in high strength, low weight products. In addition, the cost of CNCs is less than ten percent of the cost of Kevlar fiber or carbon fiber. These qualities have attracted the interest of the military for use in lightweight armor and ballistic glass (CNCs are transparent), as well as companies in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, consumer products, and medical industries.
NASA

Submission + - 35 years later, Voyager 1 is heading for the stars (ajc.com)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "Thirty-five years after leaving Earth, Voyager 1 is reaching for the stars.

Sooner or later, the workhorse spacecraft will bid adieu to the solar system and enter a new realm of space — the first time a manmade object will have escaped to the other side.

Perhaps no one on Earth will relish the moment more than 76-year-old Ed Stone, who has toiled on the project from the start.

"We're anxious to get outside and find what's out there," he said.

When NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 first rocketed out of Earth's grip in 1977, no one knew how long they would live. Now, they are the longest-operating spacecraft in history and the most distant, at billions of miles from Earth but in different directions.

Wednesday marks the 35th anniversary of Voyager 1's launch to Jupiter and Saturn. It is now flitting around the fringes of the solar system, which is enveloped in a giant plasma bubble. This hot and turbulent area is created by a stream of charged particles from the sun.

Outside the bubble is a new frontier in the Milky Way — the space between stars. Once it plows through, scientists expect a calmer environment by comparison.

When that would happen is anyone's guess. Voyager 1 is in uncharted celestial territory. One thing is clear: The boundary that separates the solar system and interstellar space is near, but it could take days, months or years to cross that milestone.

Voyager 1 is currently more than 11 billion miles from the sun. Twin Voyager 2, which celebrated its launch anniversary two weeks ago, trails behind at 9 billion miles from the sun."
Crime

Submission + - Anonymous Leaks 1M Apple Device UDIDs (net-security.org) 1

Submitted by
Orome1
Orome1 writes: "A file containing a million and one record sets containing Apple Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) and some other general information about the devices has been made available online by Anonymous hackers following an alleged breach of an FBI computer. "During the second week of March 2012, a Dell Vostro notebook, used by Supervisor Special Agent Christopher K. Stangl from FBI Regional Cyber Action Team and New York FBI Office Evidence Response Team was breached using the AtomicReferenceArray vulnerability on Java," the hackers claim."

Slashdot Top Deals

"When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical." -- Jon Carroll

Close