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Submission + - Verizon's Plan To Turn The Web Into Pay-Per-View

Submitted by snydeq
snydeq writes: InfoWorld's Bill Snyder writes of Verizon's diabolical plan to to charge websites for carrying their packets — a strategy that, if it wins out, will be the end of the Internet as we know it. 'Think of all the things that tick you off about cable TV. Along with brainless programming and crummy customer service, the very worst aspect of it is forced bundling. ... Now, imagine that the Internet worked that way. You'd hate it, of course. But that's the direction that Verizon, with the support of many wired and wireless carriers, would like to push the Web. That's not hypothetical. The country's No. 1 carrier is fighting in court to end the Federal Communications Commission's policy of Net neutrality, a move that would open the gates to a whole new — and wholly bad — economic model on the Web.'

Submission + - Controlling Light with an Optical Event Horizon (aps.org)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Two German scientists have developed the theory for an all-optical transistor. In their words: 'This concept relies on cross-phase modulation between a signal and a control pulse. Other than previous approaches, the interaction length is extended by temporally locking control and the signal pulse in an optical event horizon, enabling continuous modification of the central wavelength, energy, and duration of a signal pulse by an up to sevenfold weaker control pulse.'"
Power

Submission + - Solar Breakthrough Could Make Solar Cells Obsolete (inhabitat.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at the University of Michigan have made a discovery about the behavior of light that could change solar technology forever. Stephen Rand, a professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Physics and Applied Physics and William Fisher, a doctoral student in applied physics, discovered that light, when traveling at the right intensity through a material such as glass that does not conduct electricity, can create magnetic fields that are 100 million times stronger than previously thought possible. In these conditions, the resulting magnetic field is strong enough to rival a strong electric effect. The result is an “optical battery, which could lead to “a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation”, according to Rand.
Microsoft

Submission + - MS Global Strategy Chief: Tablets Are A Fad (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "Wondering why Microsoft isn't jumping in to the red-hot tablet market? Well, maybe it's because Craig Mundie, the man in charge of the company's global strategy, isn't sure if the "big screen tablet pad category" has staying power. Of course, it's possible that tablets will go the way of the netbook, but blogger Chris Nerney calls Microsoft's seeming total inaction in the face of a hot market "mind-boggling.""
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft begins distributing Windows 8 to OEMs (winrumors.com)

Submitted by siliconbits
siliconbits writes: Microsoft has begun to distribute early copies of Windows 8 to key OEM partners, WinRumors has learned. The software giant is distributing build 7971.0.110324-1900 via the company’s Connect external testing system. Key OEMs, including HP, are now able to access the Milestone 3 build from Connect. The program is advertised as Windows 8 and Server vNext Pre-Release Program, on Microsoft’s connect site and requires a special invite code, according to one poster at the My Digital Life forums.
Android

Submission + - A Deeper Look Into Android 3.0

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: Google is getting ready to show off Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb later today and it's definitely going to give iOS a run for its money. Google's new OS carries a completely overhauled user interface. Not only does the interface have deeper, darker colors to increase battery life but also the home screen now provides the ability to view multiple widget as well as the functionality of stacking items within a widget like pictures or videos. Along with the UI, Google has also improved the multitasking functionality. The existing method of accessing running or recently opened applications has been grown to display in-app screens instead of just the name of the app and an icon. One of the biggest differences between Honeycomb and other operating systems running on tablets is that, Honeycomb along with the apps running on it are optimzed for dual core processing. Natively, Android will run the garbage collector on one core and an app on another. However, the tools are there to utilize both cores for your app, and to benefit from the performance gains that will occur. To take a shot at Blackberry's market, Google has ensured that the tablet carries business features like password expiration and encrypted storage tools. Finally the OS adds support for legacy Bluetooth devices which is not available on most of the other tablets in the market today.

Submission + - China starts molten salt nuclear reactor project (energyfromthorium.com)

Submitted by greg_barton
greg_barton writes: The blog Energy From Thorium blog reports, "The People’s Republic of China has initiated a research and development project in thorium molten-salt reactor technology, it was announced in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) annual conference on Tuesday, January 25." The liquid-fluoride thorium reactor is an alternative reactor design that 1) burns existing nuclear waste, 2) uses abundant thorium as a base fuel, 3) produces far less toxic, shorter lived waste than existing designs, and 4) can be mass produced, run unattended for years, and installed underground for safety.

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