The end of April this year, a book in Yangzhou summit, Hanwang Technology for the first time position, 6-inch mainstream book should be a wholesale accseeories shop reasonable price is 500 yuan up or down, so to robust growth. In May, LASER POINTERS the price adjustment notice issued Hanwang Technology, part of the consumer-oriented electronic paper book sales prices, based on the current market price down 15% to 40%.
Announcements, the price adjustment related to the wholesale accseeories shop product model now accounts for a full range of electronic paper models of 38% of its sales revenue in 2010, electronic paper products for 42% of the total wholesale computers sales revenue. However, the price Hanwang technology, relative to its competitors and there is not much advantage. Prior to the Kingship, Shanda announced that its 6 inches e-book price raised to 499 yuan from 998 yuan, and then re-launch the terminal with the gift amount purchased content initiatives. And the lowest price for the products of HW 599 yuan, and only 5-inch products, in the face of absolutely no advantage at all grand. And what's worse than the market price of thousand books, about 50% market share.
However, careful study of electronic products on the market, wholesale battery more manufacturers will find that by "selling terminal" rather than "selling content platform." And this is precisely the reason why the price is difficult to become a permanent solution of the wave of the reason.
Monday 11 July 2011
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Sprint ties Verizon in customer satisfaction survey
Running more of a marathon than a dash, Sprint Nextel Corp. has caught its top customer satisfaction rival in a national survey of wireless users.
The Overland Park-based wireless carrier overcame its also-ran status from three years ago to stand alongside Verizon Wireless. They tied for top score, 72 out of 100, in Tuesday’s release of the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Sprint’s strong showing marks a shift in the company’s attention to its customers’ experience. Three years ago, the focus was on fixing problems with billing, dropped calls and other issues that had pushed Sprint’s ratings below its competitors. wholesale electronics suppliers
Now it’s working to improve on its widely recognized service quality.
“As we’ve gone literally from worst to first in many of these competitive benchmarks … it’s going to be more difficult because our performance has gotten so good,” said Bob Johnson, chief service officer.
Sprint’s improved score was only two points ahead of last year.
The company had posted enormous gains in the 2009 and 2010 surveys, years in which its score jumped more than 10 points each year from a rock-bottom 56 in 2008.
Sprint’s improvements have boosted its rankings in other customer-focused surveys. wholesale Android Tablets
In February, the company won a J.D. Power 2011 Customer Service Champion award in a broader survey of customer satisfaction. An April survey by Vocalabs put Sprint in a virtual tie with T-Mobile and AT&T Inc. in their handling of customer care calls.
In the recent ACSI survey, Sprint was the only major carrier to post an increase from last year, gaining two points while Verizon lost one.
T-Mobile USA fell three points to 70 and AT&T Inc. again finished lowest among the major four, falling three points to 66.
ACSI LLC, which surveyed 8,000 households during the first quarter, reported that T-Mobile’s score was within the three-point margin of error from the two leaders.
AT&T’s score was its worst since 2006, the year before it launched the wildly popular iPhone, ACSI said.
Verizon now also offers the iPhone and rumors are that Sprint may get it soon, too. A Sprint spokeswoman declined to comment on those rumors.
AT&T may find a silver lining in its slipping customer service rankings. Better customer service is one of the reasons it wants to acquire T-Mobile in a controversial $39 billion deal.
AT&T has said the merger would help it solve service problems related to high volumes of data traffic over its iPhones, tablet computers and other devices.
The company also said that buying T-Mobile would instantly provide the additional wireless capacity, increased cell tower density and broader network infrastructure to improve call quality and other service improvements.
ACSI read the survey results differently.
“It is common to find a reduction in customer satisfaction after mergers, but it is rare for customer satisfaction to drop ahead of a merger,” ACSI founder Claes Fornell said in the announcement of scores. “Assuming the deal is approved, it remains to be seen if a much larger AT&T can regain the strength of its customer relationships.”
Sprint has challenged the merger as anti-competitive, anti-innovation and bad for consumers.
Customers looking for still greater satisfaction might consider all their options.
ACSI gave its best score in the wireless category, a 77, to “All others.”
This is a compilation score for several smaller carriers that includes TracFone and U.S. Cellular. The surveyors said that they don’t have enough data to provide individual scores for these companies.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse made “improved customer experience” one of the company’s three goals when he became top officer in December 2007. At the company’s shareholders meeting last week, he noted significant gains as part of an overall turnaround plan.
“Everybody in the company understands that they have a role in improving the customer experience because Dan (Hesse) as the CEO has set that as the priority,” Johnson said.
At the shareholders meeting, Hesse had said better customer care has bolstered gains in the other two priorities he set.
It has rebuilt Sprint’s badly damaged brand, which had been a victim of the 2005 merger with Nextel Partners. Sprint’s improved brand, in turn, has begun to attract new customers, nearly 3 million in six months. And the added customers have helped Sprint generate the cash it needs to operate, pay its debts and invest in its network.
The Overland Park-based wireless carrier overcame its also-ran status from three years ago to stand alongside Verizon Wireless. They tied for top score, 72 out of 100, in Tuesday’s release of the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Sprint’s strong showing marks a shift in the company’s attention to its customers’ experience. Three years ago, the focus was on fixing problems with billing, dropped calls and other issues that had pushed Sprint’s ratings below its competitors. wholesale electronics suppliers
Now it’s working to improve on its widely recognized service quality.
“As we’ve gone literally from worst to first in many of these competitive benchmarks … it’s going to be more difficult because our performance has gotten so good,” said Bob Johnson, chief service officer.
Sprint’s improved score was only two points ahead of last year.
The company had posted enormous gains in the 2009 and 2010 surveys, years in which its score jumped more than 10 points each year from a rock-bottom 56 in 2008.
Sprint’s improvements have boosted its rankings in other customer-focused surveys. wholesale Android Tablets
In February, the company won a J.D. Power 2011 Customer Service Champion award in a broader survey of customer satisfaction. An April survey by Vocalabs put Sprint in a virtual tie with T-Mobile and AT&T Inc. in their handling of customer care calls.
In the recent ACSI survey, Sprint was the only major carrier to post an increase from last year, gaining two points while Verizon lost one.
T-Mobile USA fell three points to 70 and AT&T Inc. again finished lowest among the major four, falling three points to 66.
ACSI LLC, which surveyed 8,000 households during the first quarter, reported that T-Mobile’s score was within the three-point margin of error from the two leaders.
AT&T’s score was its worst since 2006, the year before it launched the wildly popular iPhone, ACSI said.
Verizon now also offers the iPhone and rumors are that Sprint may get it soon, too. A Sprint spokeswoman declined to comment on those rumors.
AT&T may find a silver lining in its slipping customer service rankings. Better customer service is one of the reasons it wants to acquire T-Mobile in a controversial $39 billion deal.
AT&T has said the merger would help it solve service problems related to high volumes of data traffic over its iPhones, tablet computers and other devices.
The company also said that buying T-Mobile would instantly provide the additional wireless capacity, increased cell tower density and broader network infrastructure to improve call quality and other service improvements.
ACSI read the survey results differently.
“It is common to find a reduction in customer satisfaction after mergers, but it is rare for customer satisfaction to drop ahead of a merger,” ACSI founder Claes Fornell said in the announcement of scores. “Assuming the deal is approved, it remains to be seen if a much larger AT&T can regain the strength of its customer relationships.”
Sprint has challenged the merger as anti-competitive, anti-innovation and bad for consumers.
Customers looking for still greater satisfaction might consider all their options.
ACSI gave its best score in the wireless category, a 77, to “All others.”
This is a compilation score for several smaller carriers that includes TracFone and U.S. Cellular. The surveyors said that they don’t have enough data to provide individual scores for these companies.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse made “improved customer experience” one of the company’s three goals when he became top officer in December 2007. At the company’s shareholders meeting last week, he noted significant gains as part of an overall turnaround plan.
“Everybody in the company understands that they have a role in improving the customer experience because Dan (Hesse) as the CEO has set that as the priority,” Johnson said.
At the shareholders meeting, Hesse had said better customer care has bolstered gains in the other two priorities he set.
It has rebuilt Sprint’s badly damaged brand, which had been a victim of the 2005 merger with Nextel Partners. Sprint’s improved brand, in turn, has begun to attract new customers, nearly 3 million in six months. And the added customers have helped Sprint generate the cash it needs to operate, pay its debts and invest in its network.
Tuesday 17 May 2011
HP's Pavilion Desktop PCs Enter a Mobility-Centric World
Nonetheless, businesses and some consumers continue to purchase desktops. You can pack a lot of processing power into a sizable tower, which makes them useful for both cutting-edge games and industries that require a lot of modeling and rendering. That puts the onus on manufacturers to keep making them—while taking the latest trends into account.wholesale electronics suppliers
Enter Hewlett-Packard, whose new line of HP Pavilion desktop PCs seeks to thread the needle between giving workers and consumers the under-the-hood power they expect from a desktop, along with the design cues and slimmer sizing more recently associated with the laptops and tablets that have come to dominate the market in recent quarters.
These desktops feature glossy panels over a matte metallic base, creating a look totally different from the beige box of yesteryear. Those panels also slide up to disguise the various ports and drives. As with HP’s new line of laptops, the company seems determined to introduce a design language that connotes sleek—its bid to compete not only with Dell and Lenovo, but also Apple.
HP’s offerings include the HP Pavilion p7 series PCs, with massive hard-drive space and built-in support for multichannel surround sound. There’s also the HP HPE h8 series PCs, offered with up to three internal hard drives, AMD Phenom or Intel Core i7 processors, high-end Nvidia or ATI graphics, and support for multiple displays.wholesale Android Tablets
For those who want their desktop tower a bit more on the portable side, there’s also the HP Pavilion Slimline s5 series PCs, which HP claims are half the size of conventional PC towers. The devices in this line certainly look compact, the sort of tower suited for a particularly cramped office or dorm room. As with seemingly all of the higher-end devices in its various hardware lines, HP is offering Beats Audio for select desktop models, along with HP LinkUp.
A company as large as HP can roadmap products that speak to both the mobility and power sides of the equation. That being said, the manufacturer is also taking additional steps to enter the cloud. In March, newly minted CEO Leo Apotheker suggested that his company was on the verge of introducing a new PAAS (platform as a service) business, which would include a new applications store. HP is also planning to import webOS, its mobile operating system acquired last year along with Palm, into a variety of devices, ranging from tablets to PCs.
“The webOS is an unbelievably attractive piece of technology in that it can interconnect seamlessly a number of various devices,” Apotheker told a gathering of analysts and media March 14. “It is simply an outstanding Web operating system.”
But HP is offering no definitive timeline for when webOS will find its way into more earthbound products like its newest towers.
Enter Hewlett-Packard, whose new line of HP Pavilion desktop PCs seeks to thread the needle between giving workers and consumers the under-the-hood power they expect from a desktop, along with the design cues and slimmer sizing more recently associated with the laptops and tablets that have come to dominate the market in recent quarters.
These desktops feature glossy panels over a matte metallic base, creating a look totally different from the beige box of yesteryear. Those panels also slide up to disguise the various ports and drives. As with HP’s new line of laptops, the company seems determined to introduce a design language that connotes sleek—its bid to compete not only with Dell and Lenovo, but also Apple.
HP’s offerings include the HP Pavilion p7 series PCs, with massive hard-drive space and built-in support for multichannel surround sound. There’s also the HP HPE h8 series PCs, offered with up to three internal hard drives, AMD Phenom or Intel Core i7 processors, high-end Nvidia or ATI graphics, and support for multiple displays.wholesale Android Tablets
For those who want their desktop tower a bit more on the portable side, there’s also the HP Pavilion Slimline s5 series PCs, which HP claims are half the size of conventional PC towers. The devices in this line certainly look compact, the sort of tower suited for a particularly cramped office or dorm room. As with seemingly all of the higher-end devices in its various hardware lines, HP is offering Beats Audio for select desktop models, along with HP LinkUp.
A company as large as HP can roadmap products that speak to both the mobility and power sides of the equation. That being said, the manufacturer is also taking additional steps to enter the cloud. In March, newly minted CEO Leo Apotheker suggested that his company was on the verge of introducing a new PAAS (platform as a service) business, which would include a new applications store. HP is also planning to import webOS, its mobile operating system acquired last year along with Palm, into a variety of devices, ranging from tablets to PCs.
“The webOS is an unbelievably attractive piece of technology in that it can interconnect seamlessly a number of various devices,” Apotheker told a gathering of analysts and media March 14. “It is simply an outstanding Web operating system.”
But HP is offering no definitive timeline for when webOS will find its way into more earthbound products like its newest towers.
Monday 16 May 2011
Sony Hits Restart on Games Network
Sony Corp. restored access to its videogame networks for many users. Now the company needs to fix its reputation.
The Japanese electronics company said Saturday that it began reopening its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment services in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Mideast. Service to Japan and elsewhere in Asia will take longer to restore.wholesale electronics suppliers
Sony's progress was a relief to customers eager to virtually punch, stab and kick one another online in popular new games such as Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.'s "Mortal Kombat."
But branding experts agreed that Sony's image has taken a blow.
"Sony not only has to take technological steps to fix its security, but it also has to communicate what it has done," said Marc Rudov, a branding consultant based in Silicon Valley. "They need to over-secure the network and over-communicate what they've done." wholesale Android Tablets
The Japanese electronics company said Saturday that it began reopening its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment services in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Mideast. Service to Japan and elsewhere in Asia will take longer to restore.wholesale electronics suppliers
Sony's progress was a relief to customers eager to virtually punch, stab and kick one another online in popular new games such as Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.'s "Mortal Kombat."
But branding experts agreed that Sony's image has taken a blow.
"Sony not only has to take technological steps to fix its security, but it also has to communicate what it has done," said Marc Rudov, a branding consultant based in Silicon Valley. "They need to over-secure the network and over-communicate what they've done." wholesale Android Tablets
Saturday 14 May 2011
Netflix Android App Highlights Need for Google's Antifrag Group
Netflix May 12 launched its Netflix application for Android smartphones, allowing users to watch content instantly via WiFi or 3G connection.
The application will let users watching a movie on, say, the train ride home, continue watching it from their Web-connected TV or computer when they get home. Users may also browse content and manage their instant queue right from their phones. wholesale electronics suppliers
However, there is a big, glaring caveat: the Netflix Android application is limited to five handsets. Those include the HTC Incredible with Android 2.2, HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2 and 2.3, the HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2, the HTC G2 with Android 2.2 and the Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3.
Considering that there are now more than 300 Android devices on the market, and that most of them are smartphones, that is an incredibly limited launch.
According to Netflix Product Manager Roma De, Android's rapid adoption and evolution made it challenging to build a streaming video application at all.
There just isn't a DRM (digital rights management) standard for secure, streaming playback Netflix can adhere to for rolling its app out to every Android phone.
"In the absence of standardization, we have to test each individual handset and launch only on those that can support playback," De explained. "We are aggressively qualifying phones and look forward to expanding the list of phones on which the Netflix app will be supported." wholesale Android Tablets
De said he expected many of the technical challenges will be resolved in the coming months so that Netflix may bring its streaming app on a "large majority of Android phones."
Compared to the current small minority of Android phone owners, that's a relief, but note that De hasn't guaranteed the app will work across all Android phones.
Ironically, the fragment-friendly Netflix Android app comes just two days after Google Android Vice President of Product Management unveiled a group geared to curb such fragmentation.
The as-yet-unnamed group, which includes top U.S. carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and phone makers Motorola, Samsung and HTC, will convene to ensure that Android smartphones they pump out will be eligible for software updates 18 months into the future, provided the hardware allows for it.
The goal is to head off the gross inconsistency associated with Android build upgrades. Samsung's Galaxy S handsets have been the most abused here, with updates to the Android 2.2 "Froyo" taking months to roll out.
Case in point: Froyo has been out for almost 11 months now and Verizon's Samsung Fascinate is still running Android 2.1.
Ideally, the Google-led coalition will curb this fragmentation, but industry analyst Jack Gold said he has to see it to believe it.
"With all the various devices, manufacturers and carriers, it's going to be hard to enforce this," Gold told eWEEK. "It would be beneficial to users, but I don’t think it will happen anytime soon, at least not until Google decides to stipulate exactly what a device has to have to be upwards compatible and/or upgradeable, which it is unlikely to do given the open nature of Android."
Meanwhile, owners of the five Android phone types Netflix currently supports can head to the Android Market and download the free Netflix app to enjoy movies streamed on their phones this weekend.
The application will let users watching a movie on, say, the train ride home, continue watching it from their Web-connected TV or computer when they get home. Users may also browse content and manage their instant queue right from their phones. wholesale electronics suppliers
However, there is a big, glaring caveat: the Netflix Android application is limited to five handsets. Those include the HTC Incredible with Android 2.2, HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2 and 2.3, the HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2, the HTC G2 with Android 2.2 and the Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3.
Considering that there are now more than 300 Android devices on the market, and that most of them are smartphones, that is an incredibly limited launch.
According to Netflix Product Manager Roma De, Android's rapid adoption and evolution made it challenging to build a streaming video application at all.
There just isn't a DRM (digital rights management) standard for secure, streaming playback Netflix can adhere to for rolling its app out to every Android phone.
"In the absence of standardization, we have to test each individual handset and launch only on those that can support playback," De explained. "We are aggressively qualifying phones and look forward to expanding the list of phones on which the Netflix app will be supported." wholesale Android Tablets
De said he expected many of the technical challenges will be resolved in the coming months so that Netflix may bring its streaming app on a "large majority of Android phones."
Compared to the current small minority of Android phone owners, that's a relief, but note that De hasn't guaranteed the app will work across all Android phones.
Ironically, the fragment-friendly Netflix Android app comes just two days after Google Android Vice President of Product Management unveiled a group geared to curb such fragmentation.
The as-yet-unnamed group, which includes top U.S. carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and phone makers Motorola, Samsung and HTC, will convene to ensure that Android smartphones they pump out will be eligible for software updates 18 months into the future, provided the hardware allows for it.
The goal is to head off the gross inconsistency associated with Android build upgrades. Samsung's Galaxy S handsets have been the most abused here, with updates to the Android 2.2 "Froyo" taking months to roll out.
Case in point: Froyo has been out for almost 11 months now and Verizon's Samsung Fascinate is still running Android 2.1.
Ideally, the Google-led coalition will curb this fragmentation, but industry analyst Jack Gold said he has to see it to believe it.
"With all the various devices, manufacturers and carriers, it's going to be hard to enforce this," Gold told eWEEK. "It would be beneficial to users, but I don’t think it will happen anytime soon, at least not until Google decides to stipulate exactly what a device has to have to be upwards compatible and/or upgradeable, which it is unlikely to do given the open nature of Android."
Meanwhile, owners of the five Android phone types Netflix currently supports can head to the Android Market and download the free Netflix app to enjoy movies streamed on their phones this weekend.
Tuesday 10 May 2011
Flammable Methane in Drinking Water Near Fracking Wells, Study Finds
For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire.
The peer-reviewed study, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the contentious debate over whether drilling is safe and begins to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks.wholesale electronics suppliers
The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells. They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself.
"Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide," the article states.
The group tested 68 drinking water wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale drilling areas in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York State. Sixty of those wells were tested for dissolved gas. While most of the wells had some methane, the water samples taken closest to the gas wells had on average 17 times the levels detected in wells further from active drilling. The group defined an active drilling area as within one kilometer, or about six tenths of a mile, from a gas well. wholesale Android Tablets
The average concentration of the methane detected in the water wells near drilling sites fell squarely within a range that the U.S. Department of Interior says is dangerous and requires urgent "hazard mitigation" action, according to the study.
The researchers did not find evidence that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing had contaminated any of the wells they tested, allaying for the time being some of the greatest fears among environmentalists and drilling opponents.
But they were alarmed by what they described as a clear correlation between drilling activity and the seepage of gas contaminants underground, a danger in itself and evidence that pathways do exist for contaminants to migrate deep within the earth.
"We certainly didn't expect to see such a strong relationship between the concentration of methane in water and the nearest gas wells. That was a real surprise," said Robert Jackson, a biology professor at Duke and one of the report's authors.
Methane contamination of drinking water wells has been a common complaint among people living in gas drilling areas across the country. A 2009 investigation by ProPublica revealed that methane contamination from drilling was widespread, including in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In several cases, homes blew up after gas seeped into their basements or water supplies. In Pennsylvania a 2004 accident killed three people, including a baby.
In Dimock, Pa., where part of the Duke study was performed, some residents' water wells exploded or their water could be lit on fire. In at least a dozen cases in Colorado, methane had infiltrated drinking water supplies that residents said were clean until hydraulic fracturing was performed nearby.
The drilling industry and some state regulators described some of these cases as "anecdotal" and said they were either unconnected to drilling activity or were an isolated problem. But the consistency of the Duke findings raises questions about how unusual and widespread such cases of methane contamination may be.
The peer-reviewed study, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the contentious debate over whether drilling is safe and begins to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks.wholesale electronics suppliers
The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells. They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself.
"Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide," the article states.
The group tested 68 drinking water wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale drilling areas in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York State. Sixty of those wells were tested for dissolved gas. While most of the wells had some methane, the water samples taken closest to the gas wells had on average 17 times the levels detected in wells further from active drilling. The group defined an active drilling area as within one kilometer, or about six tenths of a mile, from a gas well. wholesale Android Tablets
The average concentration of the methane detected in the water wells near drilling sites fell squarely within a range that the U.S. Department of Interior says is dangerous and requires urgent "hazard mitigation" action, according to the study.
The researchers did not find evidence that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing had contaminated any of the wells they tested, allaying for the time being some of the greatest fears among environmentalists and drilling opponents.
But they were alarmed by what they described as a clear correlation between drilling activity and the seepage of gas contaminants underground, a danger in itself and evidence that pathways do exist for contaminants to migrate deep within the earth.
"We certainly didn't expect to see such a strong relationship between the concentration of methane in water and the nearest gas wells. That was a real surprise," said Robert Jackson, a biology professor at Duke and one of the report's authors.
Methane contamination of drinking water wells has been a common complaint among people living in gas drilling areas across the country. A 2009 investigation by ProPublica revealed that methane contamination from drilling was widespread, including in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In several cases, homes blew up after gas seeped into their basements or water supplies. In Pennsylvania a 2004 accident killed three people, including a baby.
In Dimock, Pa., where part of the Duke study was performed, some residents' water wells exploded or their water could be lit on fire. In at least a dozen cases in Colorado, methane had infiltrated drinking water supplies that residents said were clean until hydraulic fracturing was performed nearby.
The drilling industry and some state regulators described some of these cases as "anecdotal" and said they were either unconnected to drilling activity or were an isolated problem. But the consistency of the Duke findings raises questions about how unusual and widespread such cases of methane contamination may be.
Monday 9 May 2011
Best options for tablet birding
Spreadsheets and word processors persuaded people to buy early PCs. Messaging and mobile browsers did the same thing for smartphones.
If you haven't bought an iPad or tablet computing device yet, maybe it's because you're not yet hooked on "Angry Birds." wholesale electronics suppliers
The addictive slingshot game is the killer app for these touch-screen gadgets filling the gap between smartphones and portable computers.
People buy tablets thinking they'll use them instead of computers, but most don't. They end up playing "Angry Birds." wholesale Android Tablets
Last week a Nielsen survey said most tablet owners are using their PCs as much or more than they did before buying their tablet. Earlier, the firm said games are the most downloaded mobile application, and the best-selling app, is "Angry Birds."
The game, made by a small Finnish company called Rovio, has been downloaded more than 140 million times, and at least 40 million people per month are playing. They're collectively spending more than 200 million minutes per day tapping and flinging birds across the screen, trying to knock down a series of structures built by obnoxious pigs.
"Angry Birds" was originally designed for the iPhone in 2009, but it's best on a tablet, where you can see more of it and have more room to control the aiming.
"It's certainly the most dominant game on tablets. There's nothing close to it, I believe," said Rich Wong at Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture firm that backed Facebook and invested in Rovio in March.
It makes you wonder if Microsoft hooked up with the right Finnish company to resuscitate its mobile business. Maybe it thought Nokia was behind the birds.
After handling more tablets than an Egyptian librarian, I've come up with a shopping guide, for those willing to spend $250 to $800 for the best "Angry Birds" experience.
Motorola Xoom,
$599-$800
"Angry Birds" is prominently featured on the Xoom packaging, and the game works well on the device.
The Xoom's 10-inch screen is a good size for displaying both the launch area and target structure, even on upper levels with passages, outbuildings and stashed explosives on the far right side of the screen.
Although it's the first Android tablet with a dual-core processor, there wasn't a noticeable difference in loading. Nor did it reduce the wait time between levels.
On a bus, the Xoom's considerable heft steadies the device enough to play on bumpy roads.
The Xoom did cause one embarrassing birds incident.
During a discreet session Friday, before my deadline, the app abruptly froze. When I restarted it, it launched with the mute button off. There was no warning of this changed setting, and I was busted by the loud theme music.
Frantically tapping the screen and pressing the power button didn't stop the telltale flute. It took forever to power off, and paused to ask "are you sure?" before it stopped.
Otherwise, the Xoom scored well in the "quick exit" test. I could close the game and pretend to be working with a single click.
Barnes & Noble Nook
Color, $249
After updating the Nook's operating system, you can download the original version of "Angry Birds."
The Nook market offers only the original "Angry Birds," for $2.99. Later versions and the free, ad-supported ones aren't available yet.
The Nook is the most economical option for tablet birding and doubles as a browser and electronic book with a 7-inch touch screen.
It also fits in a large pocket and weighs just less than a pound. However, this portability made it difficult to hold the device steady on the bus, where I experienced a number of misfires and errant shots.
Resolution on the Nook didn't seem as crisp as on higher-end tablets. I could see jagged edges on the blades of grass.
The Nook fared the worst in the "quick exit" test, requiring six clicks to exit in the middle of a game.
Apple iPad 2, $499-$829.
The iPad's big, bright screen is terrific for "Angry Birds" and provides plenty of room to aim.
Action is crisp and Rovio seems to put extra sparkle into the iPad version, highlighting edges of structures, for instance.
Both free and paid versions are available from iTunes, where the latest version of the game is the best-selling paid app. Two earlier versions are in the top 10.
There are a few niggles, though. The iPad version takes it upon itself to adjust the horizontal scroll mid-game, which gets annoying.
Also, every time you start a game, the iPad suggests creating or signing in to an account with Apple's "Game Center" service. There isn't an obvious way to disable this nagware, so you have to hit "cancel" every time. Then you get a message saying that "Game Center" is disabled, and you have to hit "OK" to start playing. This reminds me of Windows Vista.
It takes one click on the iPad to exit a game, return to the home screen and appear to be working.
BlackBerry PlayBook,
$500 to $700
The PlayBook is a pocketable, 7-inch touch-screen device that's widely available. But "Angry Birds" is not yet available on the BlackBerry market. An emulator that will run Andoid apps is being developed.
T-Mobile G-Slate, $530.
The G-Slate has an unusual 9-inch widescreen display format that's particularly well suited for "Angry Birds."
However, the screen also partly cuts off the information displayed on the Android Market, including the "more" button listing additional version of "Angry Birds" available from the store.
Like the Xoom, the G-Slate is based on Google's new Android 3.0 software.
Currently, only free versions of "Angry Birds" are available for Android but paid versions are expected later this year.
Loading the game via T-Mobile's 4G network was significantly faster than it was on the Xoom over Verizon Wireless' 3G network, but the Xoom should be upgradeable to 4G before new "Birds" are released.
It takes a single click to exit a game and return to the home screen of the G-Slate.
Dell Streak 7, $200-$450.
The Streak has a 7-inch screen that's just a hair smaller than the Nook, but overall the device is smaller and fits easier in a pocket for portable play.
It's more like a computer than a Nook, and both its launch area and target can be displayed at a reasonable size. That makes the game more enjoyable than on a smartphone with a 3-inch or 4-inch screen.
However, the Streak resolution isn't as crisp as the larger tablets and the device would re-size the game between levels, requiring a tedious extra pinch to get the game properly aligned in the screen.
The re-sizing isn't a game-breaker, but these little design decisions lead to wasted time that adds up fast.
Seriously, how do they expect us to get any work done with these things?
If you haven't bought an iPad or tablet computing device yet, maybe it's because you're not yet hooked on "Angry Birds." wholesale electronics suppliers
The addictive slingshot game is the killer app for these touch-screen gadgets filling the gap between smartphones and portable computers.
People buy tablets thinking they'll use them instead of computers, but most don't. They end up playing "Angry Birds." wholesale Android Tablets
Last week a Nielsen survey said most tablet owners are using their PCs as much or more than they did before buying their tablet. Earlier, the firm said games are the most downloaded mobile application, and the best-selling app, is "Angry Birds."
The game, made by a small Finnish company called Rovio, has been downloaded more than 140 million times, and at least 40 million people per month are playing. They're collectively spending more than 200 million minutes per day tapping and flinging birds across the screen, trying to knock down a series of structures built by obnoxious pigs.
"Angry Birds" was originally designed for the iPhone in 2009, but it's best on a tablet, where you can see more of it and have more room to control the aiming.
"It's certainly the most dominant game on tablets. There's nothing close to it, I believe," said Rich Wong at Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture firm that backed Facebook and invested in Rovio in March.
It makes you wonder if Microsoft hooked up with the right Finnish company to resuscitate its mobile business. Maybe it thought Nokia was behind the birds.
After handling more tablets than an Egyptian librarian, I've come up with a shopping guide, for those willing to spend $250 to $800 for the best "Angry Birds" experience.
Motorola Xoom,
$599-$800
"Angry Birds" is prominently featured on the Xoom packaging, and the game works well on the device.
The Xoom's 10-inch screen is a good size for displaying both the launch area and target structure, even on upper levels with passages, outbuildings and stashed explosives on the far right side of the screen.
Although it's the first Android tablet with a dual-core processor, there wasn't a noticeable difference in loading. Nor did it reduce the wait time between levels.
On a bus, the Xoom's considerable heft steadies the device enough to play on bumpy roads.
The Xoom did cause one embarrassing birds incident.
During a discreet session Friday, before my deadline, the app abruptly froze. When I restarted it, it launched with the mute button off. There was no warning of this changed setting, and I was busted by the loud theme music.
Frantically tapping the screen and pressing the power button didn't stop the telltale flute. It took forever to power off, and paused to ask "are you sure?" before it stopped.
Otherwise, the Xoom scored well in the "quick exit" test. I could close the game and pretend to be working with a single click.
Barnes & Noble Nook
Color, $249
After updating the Nook's operating system, you can download the original version of "Angry Birds."
The Nook market offers only the original "Angry Birds," for $2.99. Later versions and the free, ad-supported ones aren't available yet.
The Nook is the most economical option for tablet birding and doubles as a browser and electronic book with a 7-inch touch screen.
It also fits in a large pocket and weighs just less than a pound. However, this portability made it difficult to hold the device steady on the bus, where I experienced a number of misfires and errant shots.
Resolution on the Nook didn't seem as crisp as on higher-end tablets. I could see jagged edges on the blades of grass.
The Nook fared the worst in the "quick exit" test, requiring six clicks to exit in the middle of a game.
Apple iPad 2, $499-$829.
The iPad's big, bright screen is terrific for "Angry Birds" and provides plenty of room to aim.
Action is crisp and Rovio seems to put extra sparkle into the iPad version, highlighting edges of structures, for instance.
Both free and paid versions are available from iTunes, where the latest version of the game is the best-selling paid app. Two earlier versions are in the top 10.
There are a few niggles, though. The iPad version takes it upon itself to adjust the horizontal scroll mid-game, which gets annoying.
Also, every time you start a game, the iPad suggests creating or signing in to an account with Apple's "Game Center" service. There isn't an obvious way to disable this nagware, so you have to hit "cancel" every time. Then you get a message saying that "Game Center" is disabled, and you have to hit "OK" to start playing. This reminds me of Windows Vista.
It takes one click on the iPad to exit a game, return to the home screen and appear to be working.
BlackBerry PlayBook,
$500 to $700
The PlayBook is a pocketable, 7-inch touch-screen device that's widely available. But "Angry Birds" is not yet available on the BlackBerry market. An emulator that will run Andoid apps is being developed.
T-Mobile G-Slate, $530.
The G-Slate has an unusual 9-inch widescreen display format that's particularly well suited for "Angry Birds."
However, the screen also partly cuts off the information displayed on the Android Market, including the "more" button listing additional version of "Angry Birds" available from the store.
Like the Xoom, the G-Slate is based on Google's new Android 3.0 software.
Currently, only free versions of "Angry Birds" are available for Android but paid versions are expected later this year.
Loading the game via T-Mobile's 4G network was significantly faster than it was on the Xoom over Verizon Wireless' 3G network, but the Xoom should be upgradeable to 4G before new "Birds" are released.
It takes a single click to exit a game and return to the home screen of the G-Slate.
Dell Streak 7, $200-$450.
The Streak has a 7-inch screen that's just a hair smaller than the Nook, but overall the device is smaller and fits easier in a pocket for portable play.
It's more like a computer than a Nook, and both its launch area and target can be displayed at a reasonable size. That makes the game more enjoyable than on a smartphone with a 3-inch or 4-inch screen.
However, the Streak resolution isn't as crisp as the larger tablets and the device would re-size the game between levels, requiring a tedious extra pinch to get the game properly aligned in the screen.
The re-sizing isn't a game-breaker, but these little design decisions lead to wasted time that adds up fast.
Seriously, how do they expect us to get any work done with these things?
Saturday 7 May 2011
IBM celebrates tech behind first U.S. manned space flight
As NASA marks the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned space flight, IBM is celebrating the mathematicians and engineers who helped make it happen.
While people around the world held their breath and watched astronaut Alan Shepard blast off on May 5, 1961, workers at IBM sat on the edge of their seats watching their technology go to work. IBM not only had been in charge of installing and maintaining three "large-scale" computers for the mission, it also was also responsible for developing the technology that enabled NASA to track the spacecraft and provide real-time information to Mission Control.wholesale electronics suppliers
"Alan Shepard was the bravest of the brave, and his flight ushered in America's space age," said Arthur Cohen, the mathematician who led IBM's Project Mercury Team. "The IBM team had the honor of applying computing power and mathematics to support the project.... We experienced an unforgettable sense of excitement when Alan Shepard safely accomplished his mission. I will forever remember May 5, 1961, and the incredible team of NASA and IBM men and women I had the opportunity to work with." wholesale Android Tablets
Cohen, in an email to Computerworld noted that IBM's work involved an early manifestation of real-time and predictive analytics. What IBM technicians put together for NASA helped to usher in the days of real-time communication.
According to IBM, its team of more than 75 employees working on the Mercury Project from 1959 to 1963 developed a "real-time channel" called the IBM 7281, which could receive up to 1,000 bits of data per second.
They also created advanced software programs and mathematics models to analyze incoming data and provide mission-critical information to NASA flight controllers throughout the space flight.
"The real-time aspect -- receiving asynchronous data -- was new and breakthrough," said Cohen. "The 7281 real-time channel and the data that was streaming in had to be received and evaluated in real time to be able to use information to drive displays at [Cape Canaveral]. That was brand new. It had never been done before. Of course, real time then was 1,000 bits of data per second. Today, it's, of course, trillions of bits per second."
Cohen noted the monitor that took in all the real-time information was particularly challenging to develop, but its creation also had long-term benefits on the advancement of computing.
"The monitor accepted information real-time and decided which software needed to be addressed to proceed so Mission Control would get the information it required," he added.
He said that the other technology that had a big impact on the future of computing was the mathematics IBM developed specifically for the mission. Cohen said IBM's team had to create the math needed to determine the spacecraft's trajectory, correct the trajectory, and track the capsule into re-entry or abort.
To provide real-time information to Mission Control, the IBM team built and ran three large-scale computers that funneled in all flight information. There were two 7090 transistorized computers installed at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and a 709 computer at the Bermuda Control Center, which acted as a backup to the project's Mission Control facility at Cape Canaveral.
Cohen remembers the entire project as an incredible amount of painstaking work.
"It was a tremendous amount of work," he said. "We sometimes worked 36 hours straight or more. As we got closer to launch, we were waiting for liftoff to occur and we couldn't leave the computing centers, so sometimes we had to sleep there with the computers.... There was a lot of suspense involved as we anticipated a man going on top of a rocket. We knew the computer systems would work, but we were in suspense of the first U.S. man going to space."
While people around the world held their breath and watched astronaut Alan Shepard blast off on May 5, 1961, workers at IBM sat on the edge of their seats watching their technology go to work. IBM not only had been in charge of installing and maintaining three "large-scale" computers for the mission, it also was also responsible for developing the technology that enabled NASA to track the spacecraft and provide real-time information to Mission Control.wholesale electronics suppliers
"Alan Shepard was the bravest of the brave, and his flight ushered in America's space age," said Arthur Cohen, the mathematician who led IBM's Project Mercury Team. "The IBM team had the honor of applying computing power and mathematics to support the project.... We experienced an unforgettable sense of excitement when Alan Shepard safely accomplished his mission. I will forever remember May 5, 1961, and the incredible team of NASA and IBM men and women I had the opportunity to work with." wholesale Android Tablets
Cohen, in an email to Computerworld noted that IBM's work involved an early manifestation of real-time and predictive analytics. What IBM technicians put together for NASA helped to usher in the days of real-time communication.
According to IBM, its team of more than 75 employees working on the Mercury Project from 1959 to 1963 developed a "real-time channel" called the IBM 7281, which could receive up to 1,000 bits of data per second.
They also created advanced software programs and mathematics models to analyze incoming data and provide mission-critical information to NASA flight controllers throughout the space flight.
"The real-time aspect -- receiving asynchronous data -- was new and breakthrough," said Cohen. "The 7281 real-time channel and the data that was streaming in had to be received and evaluated in real time to be able to use information to drive displays at [Cape Canaveral]. That was brand new. It had never been done before. Of course, real time then was 1,000 bits of data per second. Today, it's, of course, trillions of bits per second."
Cohen noted the monitor that took in all the real-time information was particularly challenging to develop, but its creation also had long-term benefits on the advancement of computing.
"The monitor accepted information real-time and decided which software needed to be addressed to proceed so Mission Control would get the information it required," he added.
He said that the other technology that had a big impact on the future of computing was the mathematics IBM developed specifically for the mission. Cohen said IBM's team had to create the math needed to determine the spacecraft's trajectory, correct the trajectory, and track the capsule into re-entry or abort.
To provide real-time information to Mission Control, the IBM team built and ran three large-scale computers that funneled in all flight information. There were two 7090 transistorized computers installed at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and a 709 computer at the Bermuda Control Center, which acted as a backup to the project's Mission Control facility at Cape Canaveral.
Cohen remembers the entire project as an incredible amount of painstaking work.
"It was a tremendous amount of work," he said. "We sometimes worked 36 hours straight or more. As we got closer to launch, we were waiting for liftoff to occur and we couldn't leave the computing centers, so sometimes we had to sleep there with the computers.... There was a lot of suspense involved as we anticipated a man going on top of a rocket. We knew the computer systems would work, but we were in suspense of the first U.S. man going to space."
Friday 6 May 2011
Flexible phone made from electronic paper to debut
The PaperPhone can do all the things bulkier smartphones can do such as make and take calls, send messages, play music or display e-books.
The gadget triggers different functions and features when bent, folded and flexed at its corners or sides.wholesale electronics suppliers
"Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years," said creator Dr Roel Vertegaal.
The device emerged from a collaboration between researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University, Canada and Arizona State University's Motivational Environments Research group.wholesale Android Tablets
"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said Dr Vertegaal in a statement. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."
The millimetres thick prototype is built from the same e-ink technology found in Amazon's Kindle e-book reader and this is bonded to flex sensors and a touchscreen that interprets drawings and text written on it.
The prototype was created in order to investigate how easy it is for people to use bending and flexing to control such a device. The early version is connected to a laptop to interpret and record the ways test subjects flexed it.
Dr Vertegaal predicted that widespread use of larger versions of the PaperPhone might make the paperless office a reality.
The PaperPhone prototype will be on display on 10 May at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Vancouver.
At the same show the research team plan to show off a device they called the Snaplet. This device takes on different functions depending on how it is worn and bent.
The wristband is a watch when convex, a PDA when flat and a phone when concave.
The gadget triggers different functions and features when bent, folded and flexed at its corners or sides.wholesale electronics suppliers
"Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years," said creator Dr Roel Vertegaal.
The device emerged from a collaboration between researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University, Canada and Arizona State University's Motivational Environments Research group.wholesale Android Tablets
"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said Dr Vertegaal in a statement. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."
The millimetres thick prototype is built from the same e-ink technology found in Amazon's Kindle e-book reader and this is bonded to flex sensors and a touchscreen that interprets drawings and text written on it.
The prototype was created in order to investigate how easy it is for people to use bending and flexing to control such a device. The early version is connected to a laptop to interpret and record the ways test subjects flexed it.
Dr Vertegaal predicted that widespread use of larger versions of the PaperPhone might make the paperless office a reality.
The PaperPhone prototype will be on display on 10 May at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Vancouver.
At the same show the research team plan to show off a device they called the Snaplet. This device takes on different functions depending on how it is worn and bent.
The wristband is a watch when convex, a PDA when flat and a phone when concave.
Thursday 5 May 2011
Two New Stamps Celebrate 50th Anniversary Of First U.S. Manned Spaceflight
The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday-- the eve of the 50th anniversary of America's first manned spaceflight-- issued two new stamps that commemorate firsts in space exploration and science. wholesale electronics suppliers
One depicts Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space on May 5, 1961.
The second depicts NASA's unmanned MESSENGER, which on March 17, 2011 became the first ever spacecraft to enter Mercury's orbit.wholesale Android Tablets
NASA officials and Shepard's family members were among those who attended the unveiling ceremony at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The stamp designs, based on NASA images, were worked on by Donato Giancola of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Phil Jordon of Falls Church, Va.
One depicts Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space on May 5, 1961.
The second depicts NASA's unmanned MESSENGER, which on March 17, 2011 became the first ever spacecraft to enter Mercury's orbit.wholesale Android Tablets
NASA officials and Shepard's family members were among those who attended the unveiling ceremony at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The stamp designs, based on NASA images, were worked on by Donato Giancola of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Phil Jordon of Falls Church, Va.
Wednesday 4 May 2011
Online Dating Going Wireless Bucks Privacy Concern Over Apple, Google Apps
Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) are trying to reassure iPhone and Android handset users they aren’t tracking their locations. Online dating companies are betting their bottom lines on doing just that. wholesale electronics suppliers
Meetic SA, the French owner of the European operations of Match.com, is joining start-ups including New York-based MeetMoi LLC in offering location-based dating services. Meetic will introduce features this year that let handset users find out real-time who’s around them and interested in meeting, and match potential soulmates who, for example, frequent the same gym, Managing Director Philippe Chainieux said in an interview. wholesale Android Tablets
Taking advantage of smartphones’ location data is a logical step for dating services, whose users are increasingly accessing their matches from handsets. The number of European Web users visiting a dating service “almost every day” through a mobile device rose 49 percent between February 2010 and the same month this year to 2.8 million, according to researcher comScore Inc. The number doing so at least once a week climbed 44 percent.
“As soon as mobile services are made available, uptake is usually faster than on the traditional Internet,” said Luca Benini, vice president and commercial director for comScore in Europe. “You can expect that everything that can be geo- localized will be eventually.”
The boom in mobile dating coincides with increased regulatory scrutiny of location data on smartphones. Germany, France and Italy said last month they are checking whether Apple’s iPhone and iPad products violate privacy rules by tracking, storing and sharing data about users’ locations. Cupertino, California-based Apple said it isn’t tracking users’ locations and plans to cut the amount of data the iPhone stores.
Flirt Charts
Meetic (MEET), Europe’s largest online-dating service, plans to use geo-location to shore up offerings for its 860,000 subscribers at the “flirt” end of a chart it uses to plot relationship types and the amount users are willing to pay to find them. “Love” and “long-term” matchmaking rely more heavily on existing, Internet-based access.
“Instead of going to find Mr. Right or Ms. Right at the other end of the world, maybe he or she is someone you go by every day,” Chainieux said. “We want to be able to say whether people who correspond to your criteria are in the same place as you.”
Convenient mobile services will give dating sites a chance to boost their “conversion rate,” or the frequency at which users migrate from free to paid services, the executive said.
Stock Performance
Meetic offers a range of prices for an online subscription, with promotions starting at 14.95 euros ($22) per month. Mobile access will be free for these subscribers. The company charges 10 euros a month for mobile-only service. Meetic’s profit reached 24 million euros in 2010, an increase of 23 percent a year earlier.
The website operator, based in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, has declined 6 percent this year, compared with a 17 percent jump at Edinburgh-based Cupid Plc and a 26 percent increase at IAC/InterActiveCorp, which owns Match.com’s U.S. operations.
In some ways, traditional dating sites like Meetic have lagged more specialized services in bringing location-based dating to the masses, which have tracked the rising popularity of more general location services like Foursquare.
Location-based iPhone and Android app FlirtMaps topped 500,000 downloads last month, with that figure expected to double by the end of the year, according to Marco Franciosa, the chief technology officer of parent Zodiak Active. Grindr, a location-based app for gay men that started operations in 2009, boasts 62,000 users in London alone, according to its website, and is planning a version for straight daters.
Background Checks
Still, safety concerns may slow the adoption of location- based dating. Last month, a Los Angeles woman who said she’d been sexually assaulted by a date she met online sued Match.Com. This and similar incidents may prompt calls for background checks by dating sites that would “incur significant additional cost and time delay,” said Fiona Orford-Williams, an analyst at Edison Investment Research in London.
To ease some of those concerns, FlirtMaps limits geo- localization to a one-kilometer radius, leaving any more specific co-ordinates for users to reveal themselves. Meetic is considering making only men visible on its pending real-time “flirting” service, keeping women’s locations at a given moment mostly off the map.
One major group of sites for singles is holding back from geo-location. Higher-end “matchmaking” sites, which pair partners looking for long-term love based on complicated personality profiles, “haven’t figured out how to make it useful,” said Peter Schmid, the chief executive officer of Germany-based Parship.com. “We have to be very careful about the use of new technologies.”
Parship, ElitePartner
Even so, matchmaking sites -- which promote an electronic, less expensive version of “concierge romance services” like those offered by London’s Gray & Farrar International -- are moving gingerly toward mobile services. Parship, which operates in countries including Italy, the U.K., and France, will roll out an application for Android devices this year, complementing an existing iPhone app, Schmid said.
Rival ElitePartner, which says it has about 2 million members, is betting mobile applications will push more users to sign up for paid services, rather than sticking with a basic free platform. “Mobile will increase the activity of the member, that’s clear,” said CEO Jost Schwaner. “Our perspective is that when activity rises, you will migrate into that second level. I’m totally convinced.”
Virtual Roses
In the longer term, mobile dating and matchmaking apps may become hubs for the sort of virtual currencies now common within Facebook games like Zynga Inc.’s FarmVille, with star-crossed daters sending each other virtual roses, for example, Schwaner said. FlirtMaps is already in this business, with features like “FlirtBombs,” a single message sent to the nearest 100 members, available in exchange for purchased “FlirtCoins.”
Although moving dating to mobile devices may involve peculiar challenges, there’s no reason it can’t eventually grow even more than its traditional desktop counterpart, according to FlirtMaps’ Franciosa.
“It used to be Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan falling in love over the Internet in ‘You’ve Got Mail,’” he said. “But we’re in a different era now.”
Meetic SA, the French owner of the European operations of Match.com, is joining start-ups including New York-based MeetMoi LLC in offering location-based dating services. Meetic will introduce features this year that let handset users find out real-time who’s around them and interested in meeting, and match potential soulmates who, for example, frequent the same gym, Managing Director Philippe Chainieux said in an interview. wholesale Android Tablets
Taking advantage of smartphones’ location data is a logical step for dating services, whose users are increasingly accessing their matches from handsets. The number of European Web users visiting a dating service “almost every day” through a mobile device rose 49 percent between February 2010 and the same month this year to 2.8 million, according to researcher comScore Inc. The number doing so at least once a week climbed 44 percent.
“As soon as mobile services are made available, uptake is usually faster than on the traditional Internet,” said Luca Benini, vice president and commercial director for comScore in Europe. “You can expect that everything that can be geo- localized will be eventually.”
The boom in mobile dating coincides with increased regulatory scrutiny of location data on smartphones. Germany, France and Italy said last month they are checking whether Apple’s iPhone and iPad products violate privacy rules by tracking, storing and sharing data about users’ locations. Cupertino, California-based Apple said it isn’t tracking users’ locations and plans to cut the amount of data the iPhone stores.
Flirt Charts
Meetic (MEET), Europe’s largest online-dating service, plans to use geo-location to shore up offerings for its 860,000 subscribers at the “flirt” end of a chart it uses to plot relationship types and the amount users are willing to pay to find them. “Love” and “long-term” matchmaking rely more heavily on existing, Internet-based access.
“Instead of going to find Mr. Right or Ms. Right at the other end of the world, maybe he or she is someone you go by every day,” Chainieux said. “We want to be able to say whether people who correspond to your criteria are in the same place as you.”
Convenient mobile services will give dating sites a chance to boost their “conversion rate,” or the frequency at which users migrate from free to paid services, the executive said.
Stock Performance
Meetic offers a range of prices for an online subscription, with promotions starting at 14.95 euros ($22) per month. Mobile access will be free for these subscribers. The company charges 10 euros a month for mobile-only service. Meetic’s profit reached 24 million euros in 2010, an increase of 23 percent a year earlier.
The website operator, based in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, has declined 6 percent this year, compared with a 17 percent jump at Edinburgh-based Cupid Plc and a 26 percent increase at IAC/InterActiveCorp, which owns Match.com’s U.S. operations.
In some ways, traditional dating sites like Meetic have lagged more specialized services in bringing location-based dating to the masses, which have tracked the rising popularity of more general location services like Foursquare.
Location-based iPhone and Android app FlirtMaps topped 500,000 downloads last month, with that figure expected to double by the end of the year, according to Marco Franciosa, the chief technology officer of parent Zodiak Active. Grindr, a location-based app for gay men that started operations in 2009, boasts 62,000 users in London alone, according to its website, and is planning a version for straight daters.
Background Checks
Still, safety concerns may slow the adoption of location- based dating. Last month, a Los Angeles woman who said she’d been sexually assaulted by a date she met online sued Match.Com. This and similar incidents may prompt calls for background checks by dating sites that would “incur significant additional cost and time delay,” said Fiona Orford-Williams, an analyst at Edison Investment Research in London.
To ease some of those concerns, FlirtMaps limits geo- localization to a one-kilometer radius, leaving any more specific co-ordinates for users to reveal themselves. Meetic is considering making only men visible on its pending real-time “flirting” service, keeping women’s locations at a given moment mostly off the map.
One major group of sites for singles is holding back from geo-location. Higher-end “matchmaking” sites, which pair partners looking for long-term love based on complicated personality profiles, “haven’t figured out how to make it useful,” said Peter Schmid, the chief executive officer of Germany-based Parship.com. “We have to be very careful about the use of new technologies.”
Parship, ElitePartner
Even so, matchmaking sites -- which promote an electronic, less expensive version of “concierge romance services” like those offered by London’s Gray & Farrar International -- are moving gingerly toward mobile services. Parship, which operates in countries including Italy, the U.K., and France, will roll out an application for Android devices this year, complementing an existing iPhone app, Schmid said.
Rival ElitePartner, which says it has about 2 million members, is betting mobile applications will push more users to sign up for paid services, rather than sticking with a basic free platform. “Mobile will increase the activity of the member, that’s clear,” said CEO Jost Schwaner. “Our perspective is that when activity rises, you will migrate into that second level. I’m totally convinced.”
Virtual Roses
In the longer term, mobile dating and matchmaking apps may become hubs for the sort of virtual currencies now common within Facebook games like Zynga Inc.’s FarmVille, with star-crossed daters sending each other virtual roses, for example, Schwaner said. FlirtMaps is already in this business, with features like “FlirtBombs,” a single message sent to the nearest 100 members, available in exchange for purchased “FlirtCoins.”
Although moving dating to mobile devices may involve peculiar challenges, there’s no reason it can’t eventually grow even more than its traditional desktop counterpart, according to FlirtMaps’ Franciosa.
“It used to be Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan falling in love over the Internet in ‘You’ve Got Mail,’” he said. “But we’re in a different era now.”
Saturday 30 April 2011
Governments probe Sony PlayStation Network hack
The United States, Britain, Australia and Hong Kong are investigating the hacking and theft of personal data from Sony's PlayStation Network, which has 77 million users worldwide.wholesale electronics suppliers
The PlayStation Network and Qriocity streaming music service were shut down on April 20 after what Sony described as an "external intrusion" and remain offline as the company upgrades security and works with Federal investigators.
A US House of Representatives panel Friday sent a letter to Sony chairman Kazuo Hirai with questions on the data breach.
"Sony's statement describes information illegally obtained to include account information as well as potentially profile information," said the letter from a panel of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which was posted on the Internet.
"Given the amount and nature of personal information known to have been taken, the potential harm that could be caused if credit card information was also taken would be quite significant."
The committee, which has scheduled a hearing on May 4 to discuss data theft issues, also asked Sony to explain why it believes credit card information was not taken despite being unable to determine the exact scale of the theft.
The Japanese electronics giant has said users' credit card data was encrypted but could not rule out the possibility that card data was obtained by hackers.
In Britain, the Information Commissioner's Office said it had contacted Sony and will make "further enquiries to establish the precise nature of the incident before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken."
Australia's Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim also said he had launched an investigation.wholesale Android Tablets
"We're seeing more and more now information being held globally, and it's more incumbent upon organisations to make sure they do have strong security systems in place to protect that information," he told broadcaster ABC earlier this week.
Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner Allan Chiang said he was probing the breach and met with local Sony official Katsuhiko Murase who told him 400,000 Hong Kong PlayStation Network user accounts were involved.
He said Murase told him the account information compromised includes the name, address, country, email address, birthdate, PSN password and login, and PSN online ID of users but there was no evidence that credit card data was taken.
Sony is being sued in a US court by gamers who have accused the company of being negligent and breaching its contracts with PlayStation Network users.
The company has not indicated whether it has identified a culprit in the intrusion.
Internet vigilante group Anonymous had vowed retribution against Sony for taking legal action against hackers who cracked PS3 defences to change console operating software.
Sony has sold about 48 million PS3 consoles worldwide since they hit the market in November of 2006.
The PlayStation Network and Qriocity streaming music service were shut down on April 20 after what Sony described as an "external intrusion" and remain offline as the company upgrades security and works with Federal investigators.
A US House of Representatives panel Friday sent a letter to Sony chairman Kazuo Hirai with questions on the data breach.
"Sony's statement describes information illegally obtained to include account information as well as potentially profile information," said the letter from a panel of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which was posted on the Internet.
"Given the amount and nature of personal information known to have been taken, the potential harm that could be caused if credit card information was also taken would be quite significant."
The committee, which has scheduled a hearing on May 4 to discuss data theft issues, also asked Sony to explain why it believes credit card information was not taken despite being unable to determine the exact scale of the theft.
The Japanese electronics giant has said users' credit card data was encrypted but could not rule out the possibility that card data was obtained by hackers.
In Britain, the Information Commissioner's Office said it had contacted Sony and will make "further enquiries to establish the precise nature of the incident before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken."
Australia's Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim also said he had launched an investigation.wholesale Android Tablets
"We're seeing more and more now information being held globally, and it's more incumbent upon organisations to make sure they do have strong security systems in place to protect that information," he told broadcaster ABC earlier this week.
Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner Allan Chiang said he was probing the breach and met with local Sony official Katsuhiko Murase who told him 400,000 Hong Kong PlayStation Network user accounts were involved.
He said Murase told him the account information compromised includes the name, address, country, email address, birthdate, PSN password and login, and PSN online ID of users but there was no evidence that credit card data was taken.
Sony is being sued in a US court by gamers who have accused the company of being negligent and breaching its contracts with PlayStation Network users.
The company has not indicated whether it has identified a culprit in the intrusion.
Internet vigilante group Anonymous had vowed retribution against Sony for taking legal action against hackers who cracked PS3 defences to change console operating software.
Sony has sold about 48 million PS3 consoles worldwide since they hit the market in November of 2006.
Friday 29 April 2011
Sleep Can Wait. The Birds Are Angry.
YOU didn’t play Donkey Kong with your dad.
Mine wouldn’t have known what it was. And even if he did, it would have felt like a transgression of the respect/dignity boundary that used to separate men from boys.
The iPad has changed all that. It’s the ultimate generational equalizer. Take Angry Birds. The game phenomenon from the Finnish company Rovio, with 40 million active users, 75 million paid and ad-supported downloads and 2 million plush dolls sold, has become among the man-boys in our house a furious competition for power, points and digital “Achievement,” a word that flashes rewardingly on the Angry Birds screen.
The game’s principles are simple: you slingshot red, yellow or whatever birds at smug green pigs who in the game’s narrative have stolen the birds’ eggs. Hence their anger. The goal is to kill the pigs and destroy as much of their protective housing as possible with as few birds as possible.
The birds chirp and squawk. The pigs grunt and snicker as the game’s Tchaikovsky-lite musical stings insinuate their way into your brain.
Like everyone else, I was sucked in by the easy early levels, challenged by the later, trickier ones, then driven mad by Level “It’s 2 a.m. and I’m Wasting My Life.”
My wife now falls asleep to the sound of glass breaking, TNT exploding and digital farm animals meeting their violent demise, mystified by the simpleton she now finds herself married to. wholesale electronics suppliers
And mother to. Because our two boys have joined their role model into this mind-numbing insanity.
“What level are you on?” became shorthand around the apartment. Diego, my older boy, soon eclipsed me with his 6-year-old reflexes. Meaning I had to stay up till all hours to catch up. And if I surpassed him, he freaked out.
“Don’t play Angry Birds,” he’d admonish me before going to bed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I’d say, in reassuring tones.
Then, of course, I did. wholesale Android Tablets
So now Angry Birds was making me lie to my own children. Pitting father against son, as we tried to yank the iPad out of one another’s hands. It’s like the world’s cheapest crack.
I found my older spawn under the covers of his Ikea bunk bed with my iPad, sneaking in late-night Angry-Birding of his own.
His younger brother, Kingsley, fights bitterly for Angry Bird time, too, then plays the game in a completely noncompetitive way. He just likes shooting the birds.
When I wasn’t around, the little addicts talked their clueless mom into blurting out my iTunes password, allowing them to buy the Mighty Eagle, a giant bird that, when activated, wipes out all the pigs.
The Eagle is a cheat. I refuse to use it on principle. Just like I wouldn’t watch the YouTube or Bing hints.
My friend Chris fell into that. Because he has girls. With no one to compete against at home, he had to make the game his enemy. It wasn’t enough to clear every level; he craved the Golden Eggs.
At one point, the sound went out on the game, a glitch that the diabolical Finns at Rovio claim to be working on. I immediately lost interest in playing. Turned out I was playing for the sound effects. Then, “for the children,” I went online and found out how to get the sound back. And sure enough, the monkey (or the Mighty Eagle) was on my back again.
There’s no Cold Turkey in the Angry Birds aviary. Addicts are on their own. My friend Jonathan forced himself to remove the game from his iPad. Like my college roommate who could stop watching TV only if he stuck it in his closet.
I’ve never had that kind of addictive personality. Which is why it mystifies me now, being trapped in these fugue states of pig-killing — porcicide. I get the attraction for the boys. What’s in it for me? Blowing stuff up? Mastering “levels”? Just having a mindless activity to shut down my brain at the end of the day?
Then I realized this is what my father did in the Spanish Civil War. When he joined the Republican army against Franco’s fascists, they assigned him to the artillery because he could calculate the trigonometric arc to fire a shell into the air and have it hit a target several hundred meters away. Which is exactly the skill required to slingshot those vengeance-bent birds at those fat (dare I say fascist?) pigs.
So I could claim it’s in my genes. But that doesn’t quite explain the death match I’m locked in with my boys over a 99-cent game. I’m talking about physically yanking the iPad out of their hands.
When Diego was ordering me not to sneak in any Angry Birds after bedtime, I asked why he cared if I got ahead of him. “I’m proud of you when you do something I can’t,” I told him.
“Yeah,” he had to explain to his slow-witted old man. “But I’m not proud when you do it.”
That this elemental Oedipal dramedy had to be explained to me by someone four feet tall is proof that not only is he better at Angry Birds than I — he may be smarter. And for that I bought him the $11.95 yellow-bird plush toy. And for his brother, the “bomb.”
My father died 15 years ago. He never knew his grandsons. But as I watch them execute their own trigonometric calculations to skillfully, passionately combat their foes, that word lights up on my screen, too.
Mine wouldn’t have known what it was. And even if he did, it would have felt like a transgression of the respect/dignity boundary that used to separate men from boys.
The iPad has changed all that. It’s the ultimate generational equalizer. Take Angry Birds. The game phenomenon from the Finnish company Rovio, with 40 million active users, 75 million paid and ad-supported downloads and 2 million plush dolls sold, has become among the man-boys in our house a furious competition for power, points and digital “Achievement,” a word that flashes rewardingly on the Angry Birds screen.
The game’s principles are simple: you slingshot red, yellow or whatever birds at smug green pigs who in the game’s narrative have stolen the birds’ eggs. Hence their anger. The goal is to kill the pigs and destroy as much of their protective housing as possible with as few birds as possible.
The birds chirp and squawk. The pigs grunt and snicker as the game’s Tchaikovsky-lite musical stings insinuate their way into your brain.
Like everyone else, I was sucked in by the easy early levels, challenged by the later, trickier ones, then driven mad by Level “It’s 2 a.m. and I’m Wasting My Life.”
My wife now falls asleep to the sound of glass breaking, TNT exploding and digital farm animals meeting their violent demise, mystified by the simpleton she now finds herself married to. wholesale electronics suppliers
And mother to. Because our two boys have joined their role model into this mind-numbing insanity.
“What level are you on?” became shorthand around the apartment. Diego, my older boy, soon eclipsed me with his 6-year-old reflexes. Meaning I had to stay up till all hours to catch up. And if I surpassed him, he freaked out.
“Don’t play Angry Birds,” he’d admonish me before going to bed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I’d say, in reassuring tones.
Then, of course, I did. wholesale Android Tablets
So now Angry Birds was making me lie to my own children. Pitting father against son, as we tried to yank the iPad out of one another’s hands. It’s like the world’s cheapest crack.
I found my older spawn under the covers of his Ikea bunk bed with my iPad, sneaking in late-night Angry-Birding of his own.
His younger brother, Kingsley, fights bitterly for Angry Bird time, too, then plays the game in a completely noncompetitive way. He just likes shooting the birds.
When I wasn’t around, the little addicts talked their clueless mom into blurting out my iTunes password, allowing them to buy the Mighty Eagle, a giant bird that, when activated, wipes out all the pigs.
The Eagle is a cheat. I refuse to use it on principle. Just like I wouldn’t watch the YouTube or Bing hints.
My friend Chris fell into that. Because he has girls. With no one to compete against at home, he had to make the game his enemy. It wasn’t enough to clear every level; he craved the Golden Eggs.
At one point, the sound went out on the game, a glitch that the diabolical Finns at Rovio claim to be working on. I immediately lost interest in playing. Turned out I was playing for the sound effects. Then, “for the children,” I went online and found out how to get the sound back. And sure enough, the monkey (or the Mighty Eagle) was on my back again.
There’s no Cold Turkey in the Angry Birds aviary. Addicts are on their own. My friend Jonathan forced himself to remove the game from his iPad. Like my college roommate who could stop watching TV only if he stuck it in his closet.
I’ve never had that kind of addictive personality. Which is why it mystifies me now, being trapped in these fugue states of pig-killing — porcicide. I get the attraction for the boys. What’s in it for me? Blowing stuff up? Mastering “levels”? Just having a mindless activity to shut down my brain at the end of the day?
Then I realized this is what my father did in the Spanish Civil War. When he joined the Republican army against Franco’s fascists, they assigned him to the artillery because he could calculate the trigonometric arc to fire a shell into the air and have it hit a target several hundred meters away. Which is exactly the skill required to slingshot those vengeance-bent birds at those fat (dare I say fascist?) pigs.
So I could claim it’s in my genes. But that doesn’t quite explain the death match I’m locked in with my boys over a 99-cent game. I’m talking about physically yanking the iPad out of their hands.
When Diego was ordering me not to sneak in any Angry Birds after bedtime, I asked why he cared if I got ahead of him. “I’m proud of you when you do something I can’t,” I told him.
“Yeah,” he had to explain to his slow-witted old man. “But I’m not proud when you do it.”
That this elemental Oedipal dramedy had to be explained to me by someone four feet tall is proof that not only is he better at Angry Birds than I — he may be smarter. And for that I bought him the $11.95 yellow-bird plush toy. And for his brother, the “bomb.”
My father died 15 years ago. He never knew his grandsons. But as I watch them execute their own trigonometric calculations to skillfully, passionately combat their foes, that word lights up on my screen, too.
Thursday 28 April 2011
Endeavour's cargo fuels excitement of shuttle mission
Commander Mark Kelly may get all the glory heading into Friday's launch, but he's essentially a truck driver for the real bonanza aboard space shuttle Endeavour, a scientific experiment to probe the depths of the heavens.
The universe is awash in rapidly moving particles called cosmic rays, the product of everything from the inner workings of stars to as yet unknown explosions at the edge of the universe.wholesale electronics suppliers
The experiment hauled to orbit by Endeavour will give scientists their first extended look at some of these particles, possibly allowing them to unravel some of the cosmos' most closely kept secrets.
"The most exciting objective of this science experiment is to probe the unknown, to search for phenomena that exist in nature that we have not yet imagined nor had the tools to discover," said Samuel Ting, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who leads the experiment.
Built over the past 17 years, the $2 billion machine, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), almost never flew.
As recently as a few years ago NASA administrator Michael Griffin removed the AMS from the shuttle launch schedule because it did not have the funds for an additional flight and was unwilling to risk a space shuttle crew. wholesale Android Tablets
17-year saga
After intense pressure from Congress, which in turn kept hearing from scientists about the significance of the AMS, the mission made it back onto the launch schedule after Charlie Bolden became NASA administrator in 2009.
"It's been quite a saga over the years," said Peter McIntyre, a physicist at Texas A&M University, which is among five dozen institutions that contributed to the project.
"I like to say that professor Ting knows many things, but he's never learned the meaning of the word 'no.' It's thanks to his unswerving persistence that this is going up."
Although space is a vacuum, cosmic rays are constantly zipping around as the by-products of all manner of cosmic phenomenon, from pulsar stars to gamma ray bursts. The 15-foot-wide AMS detector should collect about 25,000 hits per second from cosmic rays.
But scientists really want to see the rare cosmic rays, such as antimatter — electrons with a positive charge - or stranger material still.
Finding them is no small feat.
"In the city of Houston during a thunderstorm you have about 10 billion rain raindrops falling per second," Ting said. "If you want to find one that's of a different color it's somewhat difficult. This illustrates the precision this detector is going to achieve."
'Just the delivery guys'
The AMS has a large magnet and eight different detectors to measure the charge and energy of particles, which will pass through the machine within a few billionths of a second. It is a highly complex device, with more than 300,000 cables and data channels.
Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, the AMS won't be fixable once launched into space, so scientists have to get it right. And Ting says that's just what he's been doing for the past 17 years. Every electronics system has at least three back-ups.
"My biggest concern every day is to make sure the instrument is correct," he said. "I spend an enormous amount of time thinking about what could go wrong. If it doesn't work you only have one person to blame - me."
The astronauts ferrying the instrument to the space station, where it will be attached and which will provide power to the 15,000-pound AMS, are eager to safely install it on the fourth day of the flight.
"We're just the delivery guys," Endeavour astronaut Mike Fincke said. "We're going to take really good care of this precious commodity."
Like the Hubble Telescope the AMS could open up new vistas to scientists.
Antimatter, dark matter
In space there are two types of cosmic rays. One doesn't carry a charge, like light rays from the sun and distant stars and galaxies. The Hubble instrument afforded scientists a grand view of these rays above Earth's atmosphere for two decades.
At present nearly all of scientists' understanding of the universe comes from the observations of light rays and neutrinos.
But besides light rays and neutrinos there are particles which carry a charge, and therefore have a mass. Earth's 60-mile-thick atmosphere effectively absorbs these charged particles, so scientists haven't been able to effectively observe them from the ground.
Until now. They're hoping to find answers to basic questions like why there's very little antimatter in the universe, when at one point there was probably equal amounts of matter and antimatter, and what exactly dark matter is.
This is a truly important question because, from the rotation of galaxies, scientists know that about 90 percent of the "stuff" in the universe is dark matter, so-called because its nature is wholly unknown.
These are questions that absorb some of the world's most brilliant minds. Among those eagerly awaiting results from the AMS is physicist Stephen Hawking.
"The results may provide the answer to the question, what makes up the universe's missing mass," he said.
The universe is awash in rapidly moving particles called cosmic rays, the product of everything from the inner workings of stars to as yet unknown explosions at the edge of the universe.wholesale electronics suppliers
The experiment hauled to orbit by Endeavour will give scientists their first extended look at some of these particles, possibly allowing them to unravel some of the cosmos' most closely kept secrets.
"The most exciting objective of this science experiment is to probe the unknown, to search for phenomena that exist in nature that we have not yet imagined nor had the tools to discover," said Samuel Ting, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who leads the experiment.
Built over the past 17 years, the $2 billion machine, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), almost never flew.
As recently as a few years ago NASA administrator Michael Griffin removed the AMS from the shuttle launch schedule because it did not have the funds for an additional flight and was unwilling to risk a space shuttle crew. wholesale Android Tablets
17-year saga
After intense pressure from Congress, which in turn kept hearing from scientists about the significance of the AMS, the mission made it back onto the launch schedule after Charlie Bolden became NASA administrator in 2009.
"It's been quite a saga over the years," said Peter McIntyre, a physicist at Texas A&M University, which is among five dozen institutions that contributed to the project.
"I like to say that professor Ting knows many things, but he's never learned the meaning of the word 'no.' It's thanks to his unswerving persistence that this is going up."
Although space is a vacuum, cosmic rays are constantly zipping around as the by-products of all manner of cosmic phenomenon, from pulsar stars to gamma ray bursts. The 15-foot-wide AMS detector should collect about 25,000 hits per second from cosmic rays.
But scientists really want to see the rare cosmic rays, such as antimatter — electrons with a positive charge - or stranger material still.
Finding them is no small feat.
"In the city of Houston during a thunderstorm you have about 10 billion rain raindrops falling per second," Ting said. "If you want to find one that's of a different color it's somewhat difficult. This illustrates the precision this detector is going to achieve."
'Just the delivery guys'
The AMS has a large magnet and eight different detectors to measure the charge and energy of particles, which will pass through the machine within a few billionths of a second. It is a highly complex device, with more than 300,000 cables and data channels.
Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, the AMS won't be fixable once launched into space, so scientists have to get it right. And Ting says that's just what he's been doing for the past 17 years. Every electronics system has at least three back-ups.
"My biggest concern every day is to make sure the instrument is correct," he said. "I spend an enormous amount of time thinking about what could go wrong. If it doesn't work you only have one person to blame - me."
The astronauts ferrying the instrument to the space station, where it will be attached and which will provide power to the 15,000-pound AMS, are eager to safely install it on the fourth day of the flight.
"We're just the delivery guys," Endeavour astronaut Mike Fincke said. "We're going to take really good care of this precious commodity."
Like the Hubble Telescope the AMS could open up new vistas to scientists.
Antimatter, dark matter
In space there are two types of cosmic rays. One doesn't carry a charge, like light rays from the sun and distant stars and galaxies. The Hubble instrument afforded scientists a grand view of these rays above Earth's atmosphere for two decades.
At present nearly all of scientists' understanding of the universe comes from the observations of light rays and neutrinos.
But besides light rays and neutrinos there are particles which carry a charge, and therefore have a mass. Earth's 60-mile-thick atmosphere effectively absorbs these charged particles, so scientists haven't been able to effectively observe them from the ground.
Until now. They're hoping to find answers to basic questions like why there's very little antimatter in the universe, when at one point there was probably equal amounts of matter and antimatter, and what exactly dark matter is.
This is a truly important question because, from the rotation of galaxies, scientists know that about 90 percent of the "stuff" in the universe is dark matter, so-called because its nature is wholly unknown.
These are questions that absorb some of the world's most brilliant minds. Among those eagerly awaiting results from the AMS is physicist Stephen Hawking.
"The results may provide the answer to the question, what makes up the universe's missing mass," he said.
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Which Tablet Is Best for You?
You'll go to your tablet's home screen again and again, so it's critical for the screen to look good and work efficiently. wholesale electronics suppliers
The elegantly simple BlackBerry Tablet OS home screen smoothly transitions as you swipe among open apps in the navigator pane that appears in the upper two-thirds of the screen. RIM has built gesture navigation into the bezel, so a simple swipe up reveals context-sensitive menus, while a swipe down reveals the full app screen. The navigator screen and gesture-swipe combo makes moving among open, multitasking apps particularly intuitive. BlackBerry's home screen also deserves props for allowing one-tap access to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, battery, and general-settings info. The BlackBerry's notifications are subtle: Messages appear in the upper-right corner to tell you that the battery is running low, for instance.
Android 3.0's home screens (you get six of them) are very different from the BlackBerry offering, but perfect for people who want detailed control over how their tools are organized and presented. The new home-screen design is cleaner than that of previous Android versions, and it makes moving app icons and widgets across the six screens easy. Widgets are a compelling addition to Android, too: Google and app developers can use them to put regularly refreshed wholesale Android Tablets information--such as your calendar, your most recent e-mail messages, or the latest weather--directly on your screen. Tap the widget, and you'll proceed directly to the related app itself. These shortcuts are finger friendly, but the frequently winking updates could become more clutter than convenience.
The three core Android 3.0 navigation buttons (back, home, and recently accessed apps) appear at the lower left of the screen, while the status bar is situated at the lower right. Both sets of buttons are built into the display, and will rotate accordingly as you turn the tablet from horizontal to vertical.
Oddly, the back button doesn't behave as you might expect: Nowhere does Android note that using the back button exits an app entirely, but that's the action it performs. The button for recently accessed apps, often erroneously referred to as the multitasking button, brings up thumbnails of the five apps you've used most recently; but even though this is intended as a shortcut, it can make your finger travel more, not less, to return to an app.
I especially like the redesigned notifications, which you reveal with the tap of a finger. The Android status bar is where you'll see notifications pop up, and where you'll get easier access to oft-used settings such as airplane mode and Wi-Fi.
The Apple iOS home screen is way behind the competition in many respects. It's staid and consistent, but not at all dynamic. The bottom area has room for a maximum of six docked apps, while the rest of your apps spread across one of the multiple (up to 11) home screens. App icons are static, and unlike Android 3.0, iOS doesn't allow for widgets. iOS has no set location for notifications, either; instead, it passes along alerts in intrusive pop-up boxes. Organizing apps on different screens or into folders is tiresome, whether you're trying to do so on the iPad itself or in the iTunes desktop software. And unlike other mobile OSs, iOS buries oft-used settings under the layers of the settings menu; you'll find no shortcut here.
The elegantly simple BlackBerry Tablet OS home screen smoothly transitions as you swipe among open apps in the navigator pane that appears in the upper two-thirds of the screen. RIM has built gesture navigation into the bezel, so a simple swipe up reveals context-sensitive menus, while a swipe down reveals the full app screen. The navigator screen and gesture-swipe combo makes moving among open, multitasking apps particularly intuitive. BlackBerry's home screen also deserves props for allowing one-tap access to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, battery, and general-settings info. The BlackBerry's notifications are subtle: Messages appear in the upper-right corner to tell you that the battery is running low, for instance.
Android 3.0's home screens (you get six of them) are very different from the BlackBerry offering, but perfect for people who want detailed control over how their tools are organized and presented. The new home-screen design is cleaner than that of previous Android versions, and it makes moving app icons and widgets across the six screens easy. Widgets are a compelling addition to Android, too: Google and app developers can use them to put regularly refreshed wholesale Android Tablets information--such as your calendar, your most recent e-mail messages, or the latest weather--directly on your screen. Tap the widget, and you'll proceed directly to the related app itself. These shortcuts are finger friendly, but the frequently winking updates could become more clutter than convenience.
The three core Android 3.0 navigation buttons (back, home, and recently accessed apps) appear at the lower left of the screen, while the status bar is situated at the lower right. Both sets of buttons are built into the display, and will rotate accordingly as you turn the tablet from horizontal to vertical.
Oddly, the back button doesn't behave as you might expect: Nowhere does Android note that using the back button exits an app entirely, but that's the action it performs. The button for recently accessed apps, often erroneously referred to as the multitasking button, brings up thumbnails of the five apps you've used most recently; but even though this is intended as a shortcut, it can make your finger travel more, not less, to return to an app.
I especially like the redesigned notifications, which you reveal with the tap of a finger. The Android status bar is where you'll see notifications pop up, and where you'll get easier access to oft-used settings such as airplane mode and Wi-Fi.
The Apple iOS home screen is way behind the competition in many respects. It's staid and consistent, but not at all dynamic. The bottom area has room for a maximum of six docked apps, while the rest of your apps spread across one of the multiple (up to 11) home screens. App icons are static, and unlike Android 3.0, iOS doesn't allow for widgets. iOS has no set location for notifications, either; instead, it passes along alerts in intrusive pop-up boxes. Organizing apps on different screens or into folders is tiresome, whether you're trying to do so on the iPad itself or in the iTunes desktop software. And unlike other mobile OSs, iOS buries oft-used settings under the layers of the settings menu; you'll find no shortcut here.
Monday 25 April 2011
Vick, Humane Society say app glorifies dogfighting
Michael Vick and the Humane Society said on Monday that an application built to run on Google Inc.'s Android software glorifies dogfighting.
The cellphone app is called "Dog Wars" and lets players feed, water, train and fight their virtual dogs against others. wholesale electronics suppliers
"I've come to learn the hard way that dogfighting is a dead-end street," Vick said in a statement posted on the Humane Society's website. "Now, I am on the right side of this issue, and I think it's important to send the smart message to kids, and not glorify this form of animal cruelty, even in an Android app."
The app is by Kage Games, whose website features an illustration of a pit bull with a bloody muzzle next to the 'Dog Wars' logo.
A website where the app can be downloaded stresses that it is only a video game. "Perhaps one day we will make gerbil wars or beta fish wars for people who can't understand fantasy role play games," it says.wholesale Android Tablets
Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said, however, the game could be used as virtual training ground for would-be dogfighters.
"Android should drop 'Dog Wars' from its online market and join the national movement to save dogs from this violent practice," Pacelle said in a statement.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other groups also called for the app to be pulled.
Vick was once the NFL's highest-paid player but was arrested in 2007 and convicted on dogfighting charges, for which he served 18 months in federal prison. He returned to the league in 2009 and is now a star quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Google did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The cellphone app is called "Dog Wars" and lets players feed, water, train and fight their virtual dogs against others. wholesale electronics suppliers
"I've come to learn the hard way that dogfighting is a dead-end street," Vick said in a statement posted on the Humane Society's website. "Now, I am on the right side of this issue, and I think it's important to send the smart message to kids, and not glorify this form of animal cruelty, even in an Android app."
The app is by Kage Games, whose website features an illustration of a pit bull with a bloody muzzle next to the 'Dog Wars' logo.
A website where the app can be downloaded stresses that it is only a video game. "Perhaps one day we will make gerbil wars or beta fish wars for people who can't understand fantasy role play games," it says.wholesale Android Tablets
Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said, however, the game could be used as virtual training ground for would-be dogfighters.
"Android should drop 'Dog Wars' from its online market and join the national movement to save dogs from this violent practice," Pacelle said in a statement.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other groups also called for the app to be pulled.
Vick was once the NFL's highest-paid player but was arrested in 2007 and convicted on dogfighting charges, for which he served 18 months in federal prison. He returned to the league in 2009 and is now a star quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Google did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Sunday 24 April 2011
Jailbreak iPhone 4 confirmed on iOS 4.3.2 Unlock iPhone 3GS , iPad 2 update released
Redsnow just been updated. Jailbreak for iPhone 4 iOS 4.3.2 is ready and a new unlock for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3Gs/3G is now available at UnlockGuide website .
This new version corrects the problem of Redsnow 0.9.6rc14 meet on the iPhone 4 which was the only remaining tethered soluion to iDevice once jailbroken. Now all iDevice except iPad 2, can be jailbroken and the new software is aple to provide untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4/3GS and 3G . wholesale electronics suppliers
Just weeks after the availability of untethered iOS 4.3.1 jailbreak created by the hacker i0n1c (Stefan Esser whose real name), Apple released last Thursday a new version of its firmware for all iDevice, the iOS 4.3.2. i0n1c had very quickly realized that Apple had not closed the loophole for the jailbreak of untethered iOS 4.3.1 and Stefan Esser in partnerhip with UnlockGuide released a new software version .wholesale Android Tablets
The jailbreak is untethered and quickly emerged from the statements of i0n1c itself, untethered version would soon follow for iPad 2 . Well, it’s done! i0n1c and UnlockGuide.org gives us today the new version of Redsnow 0.9.6rc13 that will allow you to jailbreak all iDevice iOS under 4.3.2 with the exception of the iPad 2.
For now, only the iPhone 3G, iPod 4G, iPod 3G, Apple TV iPad 1 and iPhone 4 can be jailbroken with Redsnow 0.9.6rc13 and the solution is untethered. Beware, the jailbreak is always risky and should be done at your own risk. If you want my advice, wait until a more stable Redsnow be available as it would appear soon.
The current software version is stable version allowing untethered jailbreak to iOS 4.3.2 on iPhone 4/3Gs/3G under any baseband .
You’re an ace jailbreak, a pro and you can not imagine rooting for a moment you satisfied with the features offered by Apple. No, you want to go further, place your hands dirty and enjoy everything that can be found on Cydia and others.
Well exactly, my friend, you’ll be glad to learn that redsn0w just updated will now allow you to jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 .
That said, you were probably suspecting it even before reading these lines. Apple has made sure to maximum secure its new touch pad so it will be another few weeks to the jailbreak.
This new version corrects the problem of Redsnow 0.9.6rc14 meet on the iPhone 4 which was the only remaining tethered soluion to iDevice once jailbroken. Now all iDevice except iPad 2, can be jailbroken and the new software is aple to provide untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4/3GS and 3G . wholesale electronics suppliers
Just weeks after the availability of untethered iOS 4.3.1 jailbreak created by the hacker i0n1c (Stefan Esser whose real name), Apple released last Thursday a new version of its firmware for all iDevice, the iOS 4.3.2. i0n1c had very quickly realized that Apple had not closed the loophole for the jailbreak of untethered iOS 4.3.1 and Stefan Esser in partnerhip with UnlockGuide released a new software version .wholesale Android Tablets
The jailbreak is untethered and quickly emerged from the statements of i0n1c itself, untethered version would soon follow for iPad 2 . Well, it’s done! i0n1c and UnlockGuide.org gives us today the new version of Redsnow 0.9.6rc13 that will allow you to jailbreak all iDevice iOS under 4.3.2 with the exception of the iPad 2.
For now, only the iPhone 3G, iPod 4G, iPod 3G, Apple TV iPad 1 and iPhone 4 can be jailbroken with Redsnow 0.9.6rc13 and the solution is untethered. Beware, the jailbreak is always risky and should be done at your own risk. If you want my advice, wait until a more stable Redsnow be available as it would appear soon.
The current software version is stable version allowing untethered jailbreak to iOS 4.3.2 on iPhone 4/3Gs/3G under any baseband .
You’re an ace jailbreak, a pro and you can not imagine rooting for a moment you satisfied with the features offered by Apple. No, you want to go further, place your hands dirty and enjoy everything that can be found on Cydia and others.
Well exactly, my friend, you’ll be glad to learn that redsn0w just updated will now allow you to jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 .
That said, you were probably suspecting it even before reading these lines. Apple has made sure to maximum secure its new touch pad so it will be another few weeks to the jailbreak.
Friday 22 April 2011
Smartphone privacy fears raised
Amid global outrage over reports that Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad keep records of users’ movements without their knowledge, the giant Internet company Google Inc. wholesale electronics suppliers is now grappling with a privacy controversy of its own.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that smartphones using Google’s popular Android operating system constantly transmit user location data to Google. The news quickly led to new calls for federal legislation to protect the privacy of smartphone users. But Google says the practice is not a threat to privacy.
“We provide users with notice and control over the collection, sharing, and use of location in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices,’’ the company said in a statement.wholesale Android Tablets
During the process of setting up a new Android phone, a prominent message appears on screen asking users if they are willing to let Google “collect anonymous location data.’’ That means Google would record the whereabouts of the phone, but not the identity of its owner. The information can be analyzed to help the company provide more accurate location services, such as by providing the addresses of nearby restaurants and stores.
A second message asks for permission to share location data with various Google programs, including those for maps and turn-by-turn driving instructions. The data is used only while the programs are in operation, and no information is recorded by Google, a spokeswoman said. Android owners can use the phone’s location-based services even if they opt out of letting Google collect location data.
Still, the report on Google’s data collection policy yesterday prompted advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, based in Washington, D.C., to ask for a law to ensure that phone users can choose not to be tracked.
“These aren’t smartphones, they are spy phones,’’ said John Simpson, director of the group’s privacy project.
The Google debate comes as privacy advocates are criticizing rival smartphone company Apple. Earlier this week, computer security researchers found that iPhones and iPads automatically store a record of their users’ locations. The information is kept in a file on the phone, and is copied to the user’s personal computer when it is synchronized with an iPhone. The file is unencrypted, so anyone who gained access to the phone or computer would have a virtual roadmap of the user’s movements over a period of months.
Congressman Edward J. Markey, a Malden Democrat, on Thursday sent a letter to Apple executives demanding an explanation. Markey said he is especially concerned that location files could be accessed by child predators to track potential victims. “Increasingly, children have iPhones and Androids at age 13, 14, 15, 16, when they are still very vulnerable to predators,’’ he said. “It makes it a lot easier for a predator if they can actually know where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re likely to go.’’
Meanwhile in Europe, where countries have much stricter privacy laws than in the United States, the governments of Italy, France, and Germany have started investigating Apple, to decide whether its collection of location data is legal.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that smartphones using Google’s popular Android operating system constantly transmit user location data to Google. The news quickly led to new calls for federal legislation to protect the privacy of smartphone users. But Google says the practice is not a threat to privacy.
“We provide users with notice and control over the collection, sharing, and use of location in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices,’’ the company said in a statement.wholesale Android Tablets
During the process of setting up a new Android phone, a prominent message appears on screen asking users if they are willing to let Google “collect anonymous location data.’’ That means Google would record the whereabouts of the phone, but not the identity of its owner. The information can be analyzed to help the company provide more accurate location services, such as by providing the addresses of nearby restaurants and stores.
A second message asks for permission to share location data with various Google programs, including those for maps and turn-by-turn driving instructions. The data is used only while the programs are in operation, and no information is recorded by Google, a spokeswoman said. Android owners can use the phone’s location-based services even if they opt out of letting Google collect location data.
Still, the report on Google’s data collection policy yesterday prompted advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, based in Washington, D.C., to ask for a law to ensure that phone users can choose not to be tracked.
“These aren’t smartphones, they are spy phones,’’ said John Simpson, director of the group’s privacy project.
The Google debate comes as privacy advocates are criticizing rival smartphone company Apple. Earlier this week, computer security researchers found that iPhones and iPads automatically store a record of their users’ locations. The information is kept in a file on the phone, and is copied to the user’s personal computer when it is synchronized with an iPhone. The file is unencrypted, so anyone who gained access to the phone or computer would have a virtual roadmap of the user’s movements over a period of months.
Congressman Edward J. Markey, a Malden Democrat, on Thursday sent a letter to Apple executives demanding an explanation. Markey said he is especially concerned that location files could be accessed by child predators to track potential victims. “Increasingly, children have iPhones and Androids at age 13, 14, 15, 16, when they are still very vulnerable to predators,’’ he said. “It makes it a lot easier for a predator if they can actually know where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re likely to go.’’
Meanwhile in Europe, where countries have much stricter privacy laws than in the United States, the governments of Italy, France, and Germany have started investigating Apple, to decide whether its collection of location data is legal.
Thursday 21 April 2011
ACLU concerned over Michigan State Police extracting data from cellphones
"For more than two and a half years the ACLU of Michigan has attempted to obtain information about the use of these devices through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act," the ACLU letter said. "Specifically, we have asked for records, reports and logs of actual use. The MSP's estimated cost of $544,680 for retrieval and assembly of these documents for the entire period that five of these devices have been in the MSP's possession is, wholesale electronics suppliers in our view, extraordinarily high.
"In fact, we were told that no part of that set of documents would be provided unless we agreed to pay a $272,340 deposit."
The ACLU said that it has filed nearly 70 records requests for the use of two of the devices for shorter time periods, in an attempt to narrow the scope of the data request and make it easier to get -- but still, the MSP hasn't handed over any information.wholesale Android Tablets
"We were told in each case that there were either no documents available for the period we identified, or that we would be required to pay in advance for MSP personnel to ascertain whether requested documents exist," the ACLU said.
After the ACLU of Michigan posted the letter on its website and a few news outlets covered the story, the Michigan State Police issued a statement on the data extraction devices, which it calls DEDs.
"The MSP only uses the DEDs if a search warrant is obtained or if the person possessing the mobile device gives consent," said Tiffany Brown, a state police spokeswoman, in a statement. "The department's internal directive is that the DEDs only be used by MSP specialty teams on criminal cases, such as crimes against children."
Brown said the DEDs are not being used to extract anyone's personal information during routine traffic stops.
"The MSP does not possess DEDs that can extract data without the officer actually possessing the owner's mobile device," she said. "The DEDs utilized by the MSP cannot obtain information from mobile devices without the mobile device owner knowing."
Brown also said the DEDs the agency is using have been adapted for law enforcement use because of an increasing use of such devices by criminals to steal data from others, noting that such technology has become "a powerful investigative tool used to obtain critical information from criminals."
The ACLU said the MSP has refused to help narrow the records requests to get data on the devices and their use by police, a claim that Brown denied.
"Since 2008, the MSP has worked with the ACLU to narrow the focus, and thus reducing the cost, of its initial Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request," she said. "To date, the MSP has fulfilled at least one ACLU FOIA request on this issue and has several far-lower cost requests awaiting payment to begin processing."
"In fact, we were told that no part of that set of documents would be provided unless we agreed to pay a $272,340 deposit."
The ACLU said that it has filed nearly 70 records requests for the use of two of the devices for shorter time periods, in an attempt to narrow the scope of the data request and make it easier to get -- but still, the MSP hasn't handed over any information.wholesale Android Tablets
"We were told in each case that there were either no documents available for the period we identified, or that we would be required to pay in advance for MSP personnel to ascertain whether requested documents exist," the ACLU said.
After the ACLU of Michigan posted the letter on its website and a few news outlets covered the story, the Michigan State Police issued a statement on the data extraction devices, which it calls DEDs.
"The MSP only uses the DEDs if a search warrant is obtained or if the person possessing the mobile device gives consent," said Tiffany Brown, a state police spokeswoman, in a statement. "The department's internal directive is that the DEDs only be used by MSP specialty teams on criminal cases, such as crimes against children."
Brown said the DEDs are not being used to extract anyone's personal information during routine traffic stops.
"The MSP does not possess DEDs that can extract data without the officer actually possessing the owner's mobile device," she said. "The DEDs utilized by the MSP cannot obtain information from mobile devices without the mobile device owner knowing."
Brown also said the DEDs the agency is using have been adapted for law enforcement use because of an increasing use of such devices by criminals to steal data from others, noting that such technology has become "a powerful investigative tool used to obtain critical information from criminals."
The ACLU said the MSP has refused to help narrow the records requests to get data on the devices and their use by police, a claim that Brown denied.
"Since 2008, the MSP has worked with the ACLU to narrow the focus, and thus reducing the cost, of its initial Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request," she said. "To date, the MSP has fulfilled at least one ACLU FOIA request on this issue and has several far-lower cost requests awaiting payment to begin processing."
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Tablets vs. Laptops
Laptop shoppers now need to consider if a tablet will suffice—especially if they are looking for a highly portable, secondary machine, wholesale electronics suppliers as I noted in my last guide. The new iPad 2, which still starts at $499, has at least twice the horsepower of the original model, and now boasts 65,000 tablet-optimized apps. It is gradually morphing into a productivity platform—able, for instance, to edit videos. And it has now been joined by similarly powerful competitors running a new tablet version of Google's Android operating system and by the $499 PlayBook, the first tablet from Research in Motion, which boasts speedy hardware and a new operating system. Hewlett-Packard's new tablet, based on Palm technology, is coming soon.wholesale Android Tablets
Tablets tend to beat small, low-cost laptops in weight, start-up speed and battery life. And they are competitive for lots of common tasks, such as Web browsing, email, social networking, and viewing or playing documents, photos, videos and music.
But laptops still win for intensive work like creating long documents, or doing anything that requires precision and benefits from a physical keyboard. They also are more compatible with printers and external disks.
If you can't wait, or don't want a tablet, you'll find relatively little has changed in laptop-land in the past six months or so. Here's a rundown of what you should look for in a laptop.
Tablets tend to beat small, low-cost laptops in weight, start-up speed and battery life. And they are competitive for lots of common tasks, such as Web browsing, email, social networking, and viewing or playing documents, photos, videos and music.
But laptops still win for intensive work like creating long documents, or doing anything that requires precision and benefits from a physical keyboard. They also are more compatible with printers and external disks.
If you can't wait, or don't want a tablet, you'll find relatively little has changed in laptop-land in the past six months or so. Here's a rundown of what you should look for in a laptop.
Tuesday 19 April 2011
Map your own neighborhood
Google Map Maker, the crowdsourced mapping Web app launched in 2008 and available in 183 countries, is finally coming to the United States.wholesale electronics suppliers It's an important addition to Google's mapping services here and could make for maps that are vastly more detailed and useful than they are currently.
In some countries (like Romania, Tech Lead Lalitesh Katragadda told me) Map Maker users have been responsible for creating whole maps from nothing. Here in the U.S., the editing features will allow the addition of more commercial data (stores and other businesses locations) and highly specific street information that's currently missing, like temporary closures due to construction projects. Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google's mobile products will all use this data. Google's route-planning services will take traffic-related updates into consideration.
Katragadda envisions small-town property or business owners taking an interest in how Google represents their location, wholesale Android Tablets adding features like nearby park paths to maps to possibly make their neighborhoods look more attractive.
Any logged-in Google user can edit a map, but changes from newbies aren't automatically reflected on live maps that the world can see. Users' updates go through a vetting process that asks previously blessed users to approve or deny edits (or send them back for revision). As users get better at getting edits posted without edits, they get closer to unlocking the capability to update public maps without having to go through an approval process, and to becoming moderators themselves to other users' edits.
The idea, Katragadda says, is to make "living and breathing" Google Maps. Fully approved users will see their updates go live "in minutes," and see traffic direction use the updates shortly after that. So owners of mobile businesses, like the new hotness in dining, food trucks, will want to get approved quickly. However, today's announcement does not have a mobile map editor component; the editor requires a full Web browser.
He adds that an update to the Map Maker tool will also bring in Google Street View images, from which community cartographers can use to construct or edit map data. A new live update viewer will also show what the community is editing at the given moment.
In some countries (like Romania, Tech Lead Lalitesh Katragadda told me) Map Maker users have been responsible for creating whole maps from nothing. Here in the U.S., the editing features will allow the addition of more commercial data (stores and other businesses locations) and highly specific street information that's currently missing, like temporary closures due to construction projects. Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google's mobile products will all use this data. Google's route-planning services will take traffic-related updates into consideration.
Katragadda envisions small-town property or business owners taking an interest in how Google represents their location, wholesale Android Tablets adding features like nearby park paths to maps to possibly make their neighborhoods look more attractive.
Any logged-in Google user can edit a map, but changes from newbies aren't automatically reflected on live maps that the world can see. Users' updates go through a vetting process that asks previously blessed users to approve or deny edits (or send them back for revision). As users get better at getting edits posted without edits, they get closer to unlocking the capability to update public maps without having to go through an approval process, and to becoming moderators themselves to other users' edits.
The idea, Katragadda says, is to make "living and breathing" Google Maps. Fully approved users will see their updates go live "in minutes," and see traffic direction use the updates shortly after that. So owners of mobile businesses, like the new hotness in dining, food trucks, will want to get approved quickly. However, today's announcement does not have a mobile map editor component; the editor requires a full Web browser.
He adds that an update to the Map Maker tool will also bring in Google Street View images, from which community cartographers can use to construct or edit map data. A new live update viewer will also show what the community is editing at the given moment.
ESRB Ratings to be Assigned by Computer
In order to ensure that companies don't outright lie to receive more attractive ratings (thereby increasing the potential number of customers), the ESRB will test all downloadable games "shortly after they are made publicly available." Ratings will be "promptly corrected" if that's deemed to be necessary, and in "egregious cases of nondisclosure" where the ESRB is lied to (an allegation that's been mentioned in the past), the game and any associated marketing will be pulled from stores until the situation can be resolved. wholesale electronics suppliers
"Our rating system is widely considered to be among the most effective in the world, and ESRB continues to be an exemplary model of self-regulation," Vance added. "We serve a rapidly growing and evolving industry, and it is incumbent upon us to continually adapt along with it.wholesale Android Tablets This new process for downloadable games helps position ESRB for a future that promises an ever-expanding market for games while allowing us to continue empowering parents with the ability to determine which ones are OK for their children to play."
The question has to be asked if a series of forms on a website can accurately determine an appropriate rating for a game where context can be so critical. If enough questions are asked, it may turn out to be a good solution that reduces costs for all involved. But while Vance is positioning this as a good thing, it could serve to be used as ammunition against the videogame industry -- particularly with regards to the ongoing Supreme Court case. That's not to pass judgment on the new method, but it's not difficult to imagine this being construed by some as "violent games can be sold with an 'Everyone' rating before a human at the ESRB lays eyes on it."
The process goes into effect for all digital games beginning today, so it shouldn't be long before we hear about any major issues that developers and publishers encounter with the new system.
"Our rating system is widely considered to be among the most effective in the world, and ESRB continues to be an exemplary model of self-regulation," Vance added. "We serve a rapidly growing and evolving industry, and it is incumbent upon us to continually adapt along with it.wholesale Android Tablets This new process for downloadable games helps position ESRB for a future that promises an ever-expanding market for games while allowing us to continue empowering parents with the ability to determine which ones are OK for their children to play."
The question has to be asked if a series of forms on a website can accurately determine an appropriate rating for a game where context can be so critical. If enough questions are asked, it may turn out to be a good solution that reduces costs for all involved. But while Vance is positioning this as a good thing, it could serve to be used as ammunition against the videogame industry -- particularly with regards to the ongoing Supreme Court case. That's not to pass judgment on the new method, but it's not difficult to imagine this being construed by some as "violent games can be sold with an 'Everyone' rating before a human at the ESRB lays eyes on it."
The process goes into effect for all digital games beginning today, so it shouldn't be long before we hear about any major issues that developers and publishers encounter with the new system.
Monday 18 April 2011
Mizco Unveils Platform-Specific Chargers For Smartphones
Mizco International’s Digipower division introduced a new generation of platform-specific charging devices for iPhone, wholesale electronics suppliers Android and BlackBerry smartphones.
Maurice Mizrahi, president of Digipower, said the products are the first of their kind to address the specific power requirements of each major smartphone platform.
“Until today, virtually every universal charging device was designed to perform optimally for one smartphone platform and that’s the iPhone,” Mizrahi said in a release. “These devices will charge Android and Blackberry phones but not optimally. In fact, the new Digipower portable chargers we are introducing today will charge Android and BlackBerry smartphones faster than conventional universal chargers -- and that’s a fact.” wholesale Android Tablets
The line includes a home and car kit ($29.99), a home charger ($24.99), a car charger ($19.99), and a combination Power & Sound kit that comes with a set of ear buds ($39.99). The chargers are offered in black with green for the Android platform, black with white for the BlackBerry platform, and black with silver for the iPhone platform. All four models are currently available.
Maurice Mizrahi, president of Digipower, said the products are the first of their kind to address the specific power requirements of each major smartphone platform.
“Until today, virtually every universal charging device was designed to perform optimally for one smartphone platform and that’s the iPhone,” Mizrahi said in a release. “These devices will charge Android and Blackberry phones but not optimally. In fact, the new Digipower portable chargers we are introducing today will charge Android and BlackBerry smartphones faster than conventional universal chargers -- and that’s a fact.” wholesale Android Tablets
The line includes a home and car kit ($29.99), a home charger ($24.99), a car charger ($19.99), and a combination Power & Sound kit that comes with a set of ear buds ($39.99). The chargers are offered in black with green for the Android platform, black with white for the BlackBerry platform, and black with silver for the iPhone platform. All four models are currently available.
Friday 15 April 2011
Budget woes bring NASA back to Earth
wholesale electronics suppliers Houston's Johnson Space Center confronts mounting long-term uncertainty as the White House and Congress flat-line NASA's spending and elected officials cast about for a galvanizing rationale to expand manned space exploration.
The showcase shuttle program that relies on JSC's Mission Control is down to its last two flights. On Friday, the primary shuttle contractor, United Space Alliance, announced it will lay off 800 of its 2,200 employees in the greater Houston area shortly after NASA retires the fleet later this summer.
And the job cuts come on the same week that Texans, who lost a bid to "bring the shuttle home" for public display in Houston, have been reduced to fashioning a quixotic campaign to wrest a retired shuttle orbiter from one of the four rival locations that won the competition on Tuesday. wholesale Android Tablets
The compromise on spending that worked its way through Congress on Thursday promised $18.5 billion to NASA for the current fiscal year, less than what the space agency got last year and what Congress initially authorized for this year.
And it was a precursor to White House plans to begin each year's budget bargaining for the next five years with the same steady request for $18.7 billion.
The measure cleared the way for the Obama administration to formally end the back-to-the-moon Constellation program and turn to developing commercial spacecraft to service the International Space Station so NASA can focus on next-generation technology for astronauts' eventual deep-space exploration to asteroids and Mars.
The showcase shuttle program that relies on JSC's Mission Control is down to its last two flights. On Friday, the primary shuttle contractor, United Space Alliance, announced it will lay off 800 of its 2,200 employees in the greater Houston area shortly after NASA retires the fleet later this summer.
And the job cuts come on the same week that Texans, who lost a bid to "bring the shuttle home" for public display in Houston, have been reduced to fashioning a quixotic campaign to wrest a retired shuttle orbiter from one of the four rival locations that won the competition on Tuesday. wholesale Android Tablets
The compromise on spending that worked its way through Congress on Thursday promised $18.5 billion to NASA for the current fiscal year, less than what the space agency got last year and what Congress initially authorized for this year.
And it was a precursor to White House plans to begin each year's budget bargaining for the next five years with the same steady request for $18.7 billion.
The measure cleared the way for the Obama administration to formally end the back-to-the-moon Constellation program and turn to developing commercial spacecraft to service the International Space Station so NASA can focus on next-generation technology for astronauts' eventual deep-space exploration to asteroids and Mars.
Korean Search Portals File Complaint Against Google
NHN Corp.—the owner of Naver, South Korea's biggest Internet search engine by revenue—and Daum Communications Corp.wholesale electronics suppliers called for the antitrust regulator to investigate their claims that Google is restricting local mobile service providers and Android smartphone manufacturers from preloading some mobile search window applications, including their own, on smartphones.
The companies also asked the regulator whether such a restriction constituted an unfair business practice.
"Through a marketing partnership with major smartphone producers, Google has prohibited other market players from preinstalling their search window or related applications," NHN said in a statement.wholesale Android Tablets
A Google spokesman said the company hasn't yet been contacted by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission. "We...will work with them to address any questions they may have," the spokesman said. "But Android is an open platform and carrier partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android phones."
Android smartphones sold in South Korea provide the Google search engine by default. Korean search portals complained that this makes it very inconvenient for phone owners to switch to a different search window.
Android phone users in South Korea can download and install rival search portal applications on their phones, but Daum and NHN say they aren't able to have these applications installed on the phones prior to purchase.
Naver has a market share of around 56% in the domestic mobile search market, while Daum has around 16% as of last month, according to Korea-based market researcher Metrix Corp.
"Google's market share in the local Internet search market only accounts for around 2% but due to such an unfair act, its share in the mobile market is fast rising in Korea, and it stands at around 15%," a NHN spokesman said.
Daum confirmed it jointly filed the complaint Friday with its South Korean rival.
U.S.-based Skyhook Wireless Inc. filed a similar complaint against Google in the Massachusetts Superior Court in September, alleging the search giant cost it tens of million of dollars by interfering with a contract to put its mapping technology on Motorola Inc. phones.
In March, Microsoft Corp. submitted an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, claiming Google restricts the ability of Microsoft's Bing search engine and its Windows Mobile phone apps to find and return links to YouTube videos. Google owns YouTube.
The companies also asked the regulator whether such a restriction constituted an unfair business practice.
"Through a marketing partnership with major smartphone producers, Google has prohibited other market players from preinstalling their search window or related applications," NHN said in a statement.wholesale Android Tablets
A Google spokesman said the company hasn't yet been contacted by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission. "We...will work with them to address any questions they may have," the spokesman said. "But Android is an open platform and carrier partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android phones."
Android smartphones sold in South Korea provide the Google search engine by default. Korean search portals complained that this makes it very inconvenient for phone owners to switch to a different search window.
Android phone users in South Korea can download and install rival search portal applications on their phones, but Daum and NHN say they aren't able to have these applications installed on the phones prior to purchase.
Naver has a market share of around 56% in the domestic mobile search market, while Daum has around 16% as of last month, according to Korea-based market researcher Metrix Corp.
"Google's market share in the local Internet search market only accounts for around 2% but due to such an unfair act, its share in the mobile market is fast rising in Korea, and it stands at around 15%," a NHN spokesman said.
Daum confirmed it jointly filed the complaint Friday with its South Korean rival.
U.S.-based Skyhook Wireless Inc. filed a similar complaint against Google in the Massachusetts Superior Court in September, alleging the search giant cost it tens of million of dollars by interfering with a contract to put its mapping technology on Motorola Inc. phones.
In March, Microsoft Corp. submitted an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, claiming Google restricts the ability of Microsoft's Bing search engine and its Windows Mobile phone apps to find and return links to YouTube videos. Google owns YouTube.
Thursday 14 April 2011
Valve Reveals How Steam Will Work for PS3, 'Portal 2'
Valve Software has described how its Steam content-distribution and matchmaking service will work on the PlayStation 3, tied to its upcoming "Portal 2" game. wholesale electronics suppliers
The long-awaited Portal 2, which pits players in a physics-based game against (what is assumed to be) the cheerfully homicidal GLaDOS artificial intelligence, will be released on April 19. Steam started out as an electronic marketplace for games made by Valve Software, allowing Valve games like "Half-Life 2" to be downloaded directly to a PC's hard drive, instead of purchased in a store. As with Portal 2, users can "pre-load" the games before they're officially released, installing them without actually giving the players access to the content before they're released. wholesale Android Tablets
Steam, however, evolved into an application management system, allowing background updates of games registered with the Steam service to be downloaded and updated. Other developers signed on, and Steam now is one of the leading means of electronic distribution of software on the PC. Steam also allows users to transfer content from PC to PC and even allows saved games to be stored in the cloud, as the Steam Cloud tied to Portal 2 does.
In February, Valve suggested that it was working on a "big picture" mode for Steam, which is designed at bringing the app to television. The service hit the Mac last year, and AMD has even used it to distribute drivers.
Although Sony and Valve described how Steam will work in a blog post, a FAQ on the SteamPowered site goes into much more detail.
To take advantage of the Steam features, users need to link their PlayStation Network (PSN) account to Steam, either by selecting a new Steam account or using an established one.
Users won't need to do anything special to access Steam via the Portal 2 game for the PS3; instead, all a user needs to do is to press the "Select" button on the PS3 controller. The overlay will allow users to play cross-platform with their friends who have a copy of the game for the PC; plus redeem downloadable content registered to the PC or Mac, view achievements, news, and friend profiles.
To access Steam Cloud (the saved games) users will need to press the "TRIANGLE" button from the save/load screen, then select the number of saves to back up.
There's also an additional bonus: bundled with the PS3 version of the game is a code to play Portal 2 on a PC. While that will allow users to play Portal 2 on their PC, the additional copy can't be used to play in cooperative mode with the PS3 player, Valve said.
The long-awaited Portal 2, which pits players in a physics-based game against (what is assumed to be) the cheerfully homicidal GLaDOS artificial intelligence, will be released on April 19. Steam started out as an electronic marketplace for games made by Valve Software, allowing Valve games like "Half-Life 2" to be downloaded directly to a PC's hard drive, instead of purchased in a store. As with Portal 2, users can "pre-load" the games before they're officially released, installing them without actually giving the players access to the content before they're released. wholesale Android Tablets
Steam, however, evolved into an application management system, allowing background updates of games registered with the Steam service to be downloaded and updated. Other developers signed on, and Steam now is one of the leading means of electronic distribution of software on the PC. Steam also allows users to transfer content from PC to PC and even allows saved games to be stored in the cloud, as the Steam Cloud tied to Portal 2 does.
In February, Valve suggested that it was working on a "big picture" mode for Steam, which is designed at bringing the app to television. The service hit the Mac last year, and AMD has even used it to distribute drivers.
Although Sony and Valve described how Steam will work in a blog post, a FAQ on the SteamPowered site goes into much more detail.
To take advantage of the Steam features, users need to link their PlayStation Network (PSN) account to Steam, either by selecting a new Steam account or using an established one.
Users won't need to do anything special to access Steam via the Portal 2 game for the PS3; instead, all a user needs to do is to press the "Select" button on the PS3 controller. The overlay will allow users to play cross-platform with their friends who have a copy of the game for the PC; plus redeem downloadable content registered to the PC or Mac, view achievements, news, and friend profiles.
To access Steam Cloud (the saved games) users will need to press the "TRIANGLE" button from the save/load screen, then select the number of saves to back up.
There's also an additional bonus: bundled with the PS3 version of the game is a code to play Portal 2 on a PC. While that will allow users to play Portal 2 on their PC, the additional copy can't be used to play in cooperative mode with the PS3 player, Valve said.
Wednesday 13 April 2011
Nokia's Ovi Store grows despite doubts about its future
Nokia's Ovi Store app wholesale electronics suppliers downloads have reached 5 million per day, and the number of apps in the store exceeds 40,000, which represents an eightfold increase in its first year, Nokia said Tuesday.
While Nokia touted its app store's success, wholesale Android Tablets it did so even as the store's future seems doomed because of the cellphone maker's agreement to work with Microsoft in selling Windows Phone smartphones starting in 2012.
Microsoft also has an app store, called Windows Marketplace, and analysts say it is unlikely that both stores will continue when Nokia begins selling Windows Phones next year. Symbian smartphones will be almost totally replaced by Windows Phones by 2013, according to Gartner and IDC forecasts.
A Nokia spokeswoman said Tuesday that details of the Microsoft agreement are still being finalized, adding, "That said, with up to 5 million downloads a day, Ovi Store is extremely important to Nokia and its current and future Symbian customers, and Nokia will continue to support it in order to provide consumers with the best experience possible."
Analysts said that even if the Ovi Store and Symbian devices continue as expected for two more years, that is well within the average life span of a smartphone and would require Nokia to offer a full range of support with plenty of applications for sale. Nokia on Tuesday also announced an update to the Symbian OS and two new smartphones, the E6 and the X7.
Nokia clearly sees continuing momentum for its Ovi Store and Symbian, noting that 1,000 more apps are added each week to the store's current listing of 40,000. In comparison, the first and biggest app market, Apple's App Store, has more than 350,000 apps for its iPhone.
While Nokia touted its app store's success, wholesale Android Tablets it did so even as the store's future seems doomed because of the cellphone maker's agreement to work with Microsoft in selling Windows Phone smartphones starting in 2012.
Microsoft also has an app store, called Windows Marketplace, and analysts say it is unlikely that both stores will continue when Nokia begins selling Windows Phones next year. Symbian smartphones will be almost totally replaced by Windows Phones by 2013, according to Gartner and IDC forecasts.
A Nokia spokeswoman said Tuesday that details of the Microsoft agreement are still being finalized, adding, "That said, with up to 5 million downloads a day, Ovi Store is extremely important to Nokia and its current and future Symbian customers, and Nokia will continue to support it in order to provide consumers with the best experience possible."
Analysts said that even if the Ovi Store and Symbian devices continue as expected for two more years, that is well within the average life span of a smartphone and would require Nokia to offer a full range of support with plenty of applications for sale. Nokia on Tuesday also announced an update to the Symbian OS and two new smartphones, the E6 and the X7.
Nokia clearly sees continuing momentum for its Ovi Store and Symbian, noting that 1,000 more apps are added each week to the store's current listing of 40,000. In comparison, the first and biggest app market, Apple's App Store, has more than 350,000 apps for its iPhone.
Tuesday 12 April 2011
The Patent That Refuses To Die
Back last June I wrote about the infamous "600 Patent" being asserted by Trend Micro. The patent granted in 1995 was used by Trend to extract licensing fees from just about every vendor who sought to offer a gateway AV product. wholesale electronics suppliers Some of the battles over the 600 patent were legendary. Many believed that the patent was invalid and that there was prior art of the technology before Trends use. However, some of the biggest names in the security industry found it easier to pay than fight.
One of the biggest battles was between Trend Micro and Fortinet. But even that ended in a settlement prior to a definitive finding on the validity of the patent. But the beginning of the end for patent 600 was when Trend went after Barracuda Networks for their use of the open source ClamAV in their UTM appliance (BTW, Barracude joined the growing list of security companies being hacked yesterday. I wrote about it in my Ashimmy, After all these years blog, wholesale Android Tablets and you can read about it here).
Barracuda appealed to the open source community for help in proving prior art and the community responded. The folks at Groklaw did a great job gathering and presenting the evidence. The International Trade Commission (where Trend sued Barracuda) had a staff attorney issue an opinion that the patent was indeed invalid. Based on that opinion Fortinet applied to the US Patent and Trademark office to have the patent formally declared invalid.
According to Patrick Bedwell's post on the Fortinet blog, in December 2010 the USPTO"issued office actions on the two related Trend Micro patents (5,623,600 and 5,889,943), rejecting every claim as invalid". So finally it would appear that the 600 patent would die.
But no like a bad Hollywood sequel, Trend is going back one more time. This past month they have filed a response to the office action that claims the USPTO, the ITC, Fortinet, Barracuda and the open source community are all wrong. Trend has hired an "expert" that claims the prior art that has been turned up is not valid.
One of the biggest battles was between Trend Micro and Fortinet. But even that ended in a settlement prior to a definitive finding on the validity of the patent. But the beginning of the end for patent 600 was when Trend went after Barracuda Networks for their use of the open source ClamAV in their UTM appliance (BTW, Barracude joined the growing list of security companies being hacked yesterday. I wrote about it in my Ashimmy, After all these years blog, wholesale Android Tablets and you can read about it here).
Barracuda appealed to the open source community for help in proving prior art and the community responded. The folks at Groklaw did a great job gathering and presenting the evidence. The International Trade Commission (where Trend sued Barracuda) had a staff attorney issue an opinion that the patent was indeed invalid. Based on that opinion Fortinet applied to the US Patent and Trademark office to have the patent formally declared invalid.
According to Patrick Bedwell's post on the Fortinet blog, in December 2010 the USPTO"issued office actions on the two related Trend Micro patents (5,623,600 and 5,889,943), rejecting every claim as invalid". So finally it would appear that the 600 patent would die.
But no like a bad Hollywood sequel, Trend is going back one more time. This past month they have filed a response to the office action that claims the USPTO, the ITC, Fortinet, Barracuda and the open source community are all wrong. Trend has hired an "expert" that claims the prior art that has been turned up is not valid.
Sunday 10 April 2011
Apple or Android?
wholesale electronics suppliers“An operating system is what determines what features your phone will have, and what it will cost,” says Nikhil Pahwa, editor of Medinama.com, a tech and IT industry e-publication. “It is what determines, for example, whether the phone is a touch screen or keypad based, or what kind of apps it can run. A more advanced operating system will allow more features, which will in turn determine how much the phone will cost.”
The three most widely available mobile phone platforms wholesale Android Tablets for touch screen smart phones in India right now are Apple’s iOS which runs on the iPhone and iPad, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone line. Unlike the iOS, which is only found on Apple’s iPhone, the Android OS can be found on a variety of phones, including Samsung, HTC, Dell, and even the Delhi-based Micromax.
Worldwide, Androids have become the fastest selling phones today. So much so that London-based industry watcher Informa Telecoms and Media have predicted in a report that Android phone sales will soon outstrip that of iPhone, despite the Android platform coming out a year and a half after iPhone.
The three most widely available mobile phone platforms wholesale Android Tablets for touch screen smart phones in India right now are Apple’s iOS which runs on the iPhone and iPad, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone line. Unlike the iOS, which is only found on Apple’s iPhone, the Android OS can be found on a variety of phones, including Samsung, HTC, Dell, and even the Delhi-based Micromax.
Worldwide, Androids have become the fastest selling phones today. So much so that London-based industry watcher Informa Telecoms and Media have predicted in a report that Android phone sales will soon outstrip that of iPhone, despite the Android platform coming out a year and a half after iPhone.
Friday 8 April 2011
Gabe Newell and Valve's Possibly
A Valve-launched alternate reality game kicked off at the beginning of the month with the release of The Potato Sack bundle on Steam. Since then, various clues have been pieced together, with the latest development coming from a series of emails sent out to various media members with portions of an image that come together to show what appears to be a diving bell. wholesale cool gadgets store
The image above is the assembled version of the nine pieces that were emailed out by Valve boss Gabe Newell. The titles of the individual pieces are anagrams for each other; the phrase "reboot process" seems to be the most logical version when scrambling the letters, and it's been suggested that this is connected to GLaDOS and Portal 2. (Just today, the first part of the Portal webcomic, filling in the story gap between Portal and Portal 2, happened to be posted online.)
A deciphered version of the numbers seen in the emailed images translate into talking about GLaDOS-style statements: "[T]he system is in lockdown. I still have access to thirteen off-site chambers and am installing a test in each one. I am going to need a lot more test subjects to move forward." Players assume the role of an Aperture Science test subject named Chell in Portal, so the pieces do seem to fit that this is somehow Portal-related. wholesale Android Tablets
It's exciting to think it might be connected to the ever-elusive Half-Life 2: Episode 3, but with Portal 2's release less than two weeks away, Portal makes a lot more sense. We know the ship Borealis plays into both the Portal and Half-Life stories in some way, and the photo above is of a diving bell -- maybe there is a connection?
A wiki dedicated to the so-called Potato Fools Day ARG is located here. It features a timeline of everything that has happened thus far and is staying updated with the latest developments.
Whatever this turns out to be, hopefully it's something a bit more substantial than an Ovaltine commercial.
The image above is the assembled version of the nine pieces that were emailed out by Valve boss Gabe Newell. The titles of the individual pieces are anagrams for each other; the phrase "reboot process" seems to be the most logical version when scrambling the letters, and it's been suggested that this is connected to GLaDOS and Portal 2. (Just today, the first part of the Portal webcomic, filling in the story gap between Portal and Portal 2, happened to be posted online.)
A deciphered version of the numbers seen in the emailed images translate into talking about GLaDOS-style statements: "[T]he system is in lockdown. I still have access to thirteen off-site chambers and am installing a test in each one. I am going to need a lot more test subjects to move forward." Players assume the role of an Aperture Science test subject named Chell in Portal, so the pieces do seem to fit that this is somehow Portal-related. wholesale Android Tablets
It's exciting to think it might be connected to the ever-elusive Half-Life 2: Episode 3, but with Portal 2's release less than two weeks away, Portal makes a lot more sense. We know the ship Borealis plays into both the Portal and Half-Life stories in some way, and the photo above is of a diving bell -- maybe there is a connection?
A wiki dedicated to the so-called Potato Fools Day ARG is located here. It features a timeline of everything that has happened thus far and is staying updated with the latest developments.
Whatever this turns out to be, hopefully it's something a bit more substantial than an Ovaltine commercial.
Thursday 7 April 2011
Android market share to near 50 percent
The Android operating system may soon own nearly 50 percent of the smartphone market, Gartner said today.wholesale cool gadgets store
According to the market researcher, more than 296 million smartphones shipped last year. Out of that, Symbian secured 37.6 percent market share, followed by Android's 22.7 percent share, and BlackBerry OS with 16 percent of the market. In 2011, the number of smartphone shipments around the world will explode to nearly 468 million units. That growth will help Android snag 38.5 percent market share by the end of the year, followed by Apple's iOS at 19.4 percent, and Symbian at 19.2 percent, Gartner said.wholesale Android Tablets
But it's next year that might just be the most eye-opening find in Gartner's analysis. According to the company, more than 630 million smartphones will ship worldwide in 2012, and Android will own 49.2 percent of the market, easily dominating its second-place competitor, iOS, with 18.9 percent share. Research In Motion's BlackBerry operating system will nab the third spot with 12.6 percent share of the smartphone space.
Gartner offered up another surprise in its forecasts: in 2015, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform will secure the second spot in the smartphone space with 19.5 percent market share. It will follow Android's 48.8 percent market ownership.
Gartner said it pushed Windows Phone sales up "solely by virtue of Microsoft's alliance with Nokia," which the companies entered into earlier this year. Likely starting next year, Nokia will use Windows Phone 7 as the "principal" operating system on its smartphones.
Debate rages over Windows Phone's future market share.
Last week, IDC released its own forecasts for the 2015 smartphone market and reported that Android would secure 45.4 percent of the space. It believes Windows Phone will follow with 20.9 percent market share. Like Gartner, IDC said the deal between Microsoft and Nokia will be enough to push Windows Phone to greater heights.
"Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences," Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst on IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team, said in a statement at the time. "The new alliance brings together Nokia's hardware capabilities and Windows Phone's differentiated platform...By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be the No. 2 operating system worldwide behind Android."
However, ABI Research wasn't so quick to agree. That research firm said last week it expects Android to grab 45 percent of the smartphone market by 2016 and be followed by Apple's 19 percent market share. It pegged Windows Phone's share at 7 percent.
Speaking to CNET last week, ABI Research senior analyst Michael Morgan said that customers around the world are moving away from Nokia devices and they won't even consider going back. That belief, he says, makes the difference between his estimates and those of the other research firms.
"In 2011, Symbian is going to start to deflate rapidly," Morgan said. "I believe that a lot of Nokia users will convert to a new OS platform and stay there--they won't go back."
Either way, 2015 is shaping up to be a big year for every major smartphone maker, regardless of market share. According to Gartner, a whopping 1.1 billion smartphones will ship in 2015 alone.
According to the market researcher, more than 296 million smartphones shipped last year. Out of that, Symbian secured 37.6 percent market share, followed by Android's 22.7 percent share, and BlackBerry OS with 16 percent of the market. In 2011, the number of smartphone shipments around the world will explode to nearly 468 million units. That growth will help Android snag 38.5 percent market share by the end of the year, followed by Apple's iOS at 19.4 percent, and Symbian at 19.2 percent, Gartner said.wholesale Android Tablets
But it's next year that might just be the most eye-opening find in Gartner's analysis. According to the company, more than 630 million smartphones will ship worldwide in 2012, and Android will own 49.2 percent of the market, easily dominating its second-place competitor, iOS, with 18.9 percent share. Research In Motion's BlackBerry operating system will nab the third spot with 12.6 percent share of the smartphone space.
Gartner offered up another surprise in its forecasts: in 2015, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform will secure the second spot in the smartphone space with 19.5 percent market share. It will follow Android's 48.8 percent market ownership.
Gartner said it pushed Windows Phone sales up "solely by virtue of Microsoft's alliance with Nokia," which the companies entered into earlier this year. Likely starting next year, Nokia will use Windows Phone 7 as the "principal" operating system on its smartphones.
Debate rages over Windows Phone's future market share.
Last week, IDC released its own forecasts for the 2015 smartphone market and reported that Android would secure 45.4 percent of the space. It believes Windows Phone will follow with 20.9 percent market share. Like Gartner, IDC said the deal between Microsoft and Nokia will be enough to push Windows Phone to greater heights.
"Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences," Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst on IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team, said in a statement at the time. "The new alliance brings together Nokia's hardware capabilities and Windows Phone's differentiated platform...By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be the No. 2 operating system worldwide behind Android."
However, ABI Research wasn't so quick to agree. That research firm said last week it expects Android to grab 45 percent of the smartphone market by 2016 and be followed by Apple's 19 percent market share. It pegged Windows Phone's share at 7 percent.
Speaking to CNET last week, ABI Research senior analyst Michael Morgan said that customers around the world are moving away from Nokia devices and they won't even consider going back. That belief, he says, makes the difference between his estimates and those of the other research firms.
"In 2011, Symbian is going to start to deflate rapidly," Morgan said. "I believe that a lot of Nokia users will convert to a new OS platform and stay there--they won't go back."
Either way, 2015 is shaping up to be a big year for every major smartphone maker, regardless of market share. According to Gartner, a whopping 1.1 billion smartphones will ship in 2015 alone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)