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Nintendo

Submission + - Nintendo Announces New Console: Wii U (reuters.com)

Submitted by _xeno_
_xeno_ writes: Nintendo has announced the official name for what had been known as "Project Cafe:" the Wii U. It is an HD console, it remains backwards compatibility with the Wii (it's unclear if this includes GameCube software), and the controller does, in fact, have a touch screen on it. Nintendo demoed moving a game off the TV and play it solely on the Wii U controller.
News

Submission + - Tech stories we’re sick of (tumblr.com)

Submitted by Coldeagle
Coldeagle writes: CNN has an interesting list of tech stories that have become a bit repetitive:
"Like Ned Ryerson, there are some irksome stories out there that keep coming back and coming back and coming back and just need to be put out of their misery. Or, like Needlenose Ned, punched in the face."

Maybe /. should think about such list!
Earth

Submission + - NASA finds family of habitable planets (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: NASA's star-gazing space telescope continues to find amazing proof that there are tons of habitable planets in space and we have only scratched the surface of what's out there. The space agency said today its Kepler space telescope spotted what it called its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in what it considers to be the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Kepler also found six confirmed planets orbiting a sun-like star, Kepler-11. This is the largest group of transiting planets orbiting a single star yet discovered outside our solar system.
Graphics

Submission + - AMD's Fastest Mobile GPU Yet, Radeon HD 6970M (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: AMD recently launched their fastest mobile graphics chip yet. Previously code-named Blackcomb, the Radeon HD 6970M is the mobile counterpart to AMD's flagship desktop GPU code-named Cayman. This chip is currently AMD's fastest GPU for mobile applications and it's meant for use in high performance gaming and workstation laptops. Radeon HD 6970M graphics modules have 960 shaders, 2GB of GDDR5 memory and a 256-bit memory bus. Performance-wise, the chip takes on NVIDIA's fastest mobile chip (GeForce GTX 470M) handily, but word is a faster GeForce GTX 485M is right around the corner of course.
Robotics

Submission + - Texas Student Attends School as a Robot (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: Freshman Lyndon Baty’s immune system is so fragile he can’t risk being surrounded by people his own age, yet he attends classes at his high school in Knox City, Texas every day. All thanks to a robot. The Vgo telepresence platform is a four foot tall bot on wheels with a small screen, camera, speakers and microphone at the top. Baty logs into the robot remotely from his home, using his PC and a webcam to teleconference into his classes. Baty can drive Vgo around his school, switching between classes just like regular students. For a boy that has spent much of his life sick and isolated from his peers, Vgo not only represents a chance at a better education, it’s also an opportunity for freedom and comradery.
Intel

Submission + - Asus, Gigabyte to replace all Sandy Bridge boards (techreport.com)

Submitted by J. Dzhugashvili
J. Dzhugashvili writes: In the wake of Intel's announcement that all existing Sandy Bridge chipsets have a bug that causes degraded Serial ATA performance, top-tier motherboard makers Asus and Gigabyte have made public statements regarding their return policy for affected boards. Asus is promising 'hassle-free return and/or replacement', while Gigabyte says owners of affected boards are entitled to a full refund or replacement—and it recommends that users seek refunds. Both companies are advising users to contact the original place of purchase to proceed. On a related note, Gigabyte has announced that new Sandy Bridge motherboards with bug-free chipsets will be available in volume in April.
Idle

Submission + - 19 Year Old Teen Makes Homemade Solar Death Ray (inhabitat.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Concentrated solar power has the potential to generate immense amounts of energy — but it can also be amazingly destructive. American student Eric Jacqmain has assembled over 5,800 mirrors into his own parabolic ‘solar Death Ray’, which can reportedly melt through metal and concrete.
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.

Comment Stupid! (Score 0) 494

by Coldeagle (#34795408) Attached to: California County Bans SmartMeter Installations
This is the most moronic thing I have ever heard:

''the SmartMeters program ... could well actually increase total electricity consumption and therefore the carbon footprint'

Honestly, this is just ridiculous! Since I've had my smart meter installed I've reduced my electrical usage by half! All it takes is a person with the want to decrease their electrical usage and google power meter and boom you can evaluate your energy usage and decrease it, thus reducing consumption!
Google

Submission + - 5 new Android devices that stand out from the rest (infoworld.com)

Submitted by GMGruman
GMGruman writes: About 100 Android tablets and smartphones have been shown at the CES 2011 show this week in Las Vegas. But most — like PCs — are clones of each other. But five devices announced at the consumer show stand out for innovation and could propel the Android platform even further in its competition with Apple's iPhone and iPad: Motorola's Atrix and Xoom, Samsung's Infuse 4G, Asus' Eee Pad Slider, and Vizio's Via Phone. The Atrix also represents a step to the post-PC future. CES this year served as the coming-out pary for 4G networks, though as Galen Gruman blogs, don't expect widespread 4G availability for years yet.
Security

Submission + - SA thieves hit traffic lights for SIM cards (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by arisvega
arisvega writes: Some 400 high-tech South African traffic lights are out of action after thieves in Johannesburg stole the mobile phone SIM cards they contain. JRA (Johannesburg Road Agency) said it is investigating the possibility of an "inside job" after only the SIM card-fitted traffic lights were targeted.

The cards were fitted to notify JRA when the traffic lights were faulty.

JRA believes a syndicate "with links on the inside" is behind the thefts.

"We have 2,000 major intersections in Johannesburg and only 600 of those were fitted with the cards," the agency's spokesperson Thulani Makhubela told the BBC.

"No-one apart from JAR and our supplier knows which intersections have that system."

The thieves ran up bills amounting to thousands of dollars by using the stolen cards to make calls.
Security

Submission + - Visa: New analytics will spot $1.5b more in fraud (threatpost.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: Threatpost is reporting on an announcement by credit card giant Visa Inc. about an update to its anti-fraud technology will make it easier to spot sophisticated credit card fraud that spans national borders. Visa said the upgrade of Visa Advanced Authentication, the company's real time risk scoring technology, will improve overall fraud detection by about 29% and improve detection of certain kinds of sophisticated credit card fraud by 122%. Visa processed around 45 billion transactions in 2010. The updates to Advanced Authentication will allow the company to detect an extra $1.5 billion in fraudulent transactions in the next year by flagging things like rapid-fire fraudulent transactions designed to blind current anti fraud detection systems, and trans-national fraud that originates outside the card holder's country of origin.
Apple

Submission + - Apple: Mac App Store hit 1M downloads in a day (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Apple Friday said that more than 1 million apps were downloaded from the Mac App Store http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/ on its first day.

The store launched Thursday at noon EST with more than 1,000 free and paid apps, and was available as part of Mac OS X 10.6.6 (a.k.a.,Snow Leopard) also released yesterday. The store leverages Apple’s iTunes app buying system that users are already so familiar with using for their iPhones and iPods, though requires a new app for access. Apple's own apps, along with those such as Angry Birds, have been among the most downloaded.

"We’re amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is."

Not surprising: Hackers are already boasting http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000289&subSection=News about finding their way into the Mac App Store as well.

Submission + - College Students Lack Scientific Literacy

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Most college students in the United States do not grasp the scientific basis of the carbon cycle – an essential skill in understanding the causes and consequences of climate change, according to research published in the January issue of BioScience. The study, whose authors include several current and former researchers from Michigan State University, calls for a new way of teaching – and, ultimately, comprehending – fundamental scientific principles such as the conservation of matter.

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