Futrure IT

මෙන්න නියම ගුවන් යානා

2010-02-05T16:34:00.001-08:00

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. The largest passenger airliner in the world, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse, France, and made its first commercial flight on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development phase, but the nickname Superjumbo has since become associated with it. The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, and its width is equivalent to that of a widebody aircraft.

2010-01-18T15:00:00.000-08:00

Sony Ericsson Satio U1i camera 'among the best'

Sony Ericsson's Satio U1i has a camera "among the best you can get", according to Trusted Reviews. The 12.1-megapixel camera with Xenon flash "marks itself out from the crowd" by being "very quick in operation".

Sony Ericsson T250i Silver Clearance

It takes two seconds to start up and can take three pictures every ten seconds, according to the review.

The touchscreen handset has a 3.5-inch 360 x 640 pixel screen for "great multimedia viewing" and the website notes that the screen has enough browsing space to feel that surfing the internet is not "like too much of a chore".
A multimedia interface makes browsing through media files "easy and looks quite pretty", and taking photos is made easy by the "very good" viewing angles.
The phone has a solid slide mechanism to avoid being accidentally opened and uses a Symbian S60 operating system.
Trusted Reviews added that Sony Ericsson make a "decent effort" with implementation by having a facility to sift through five desktops, rather than just having one as standard.
Sony Ericsson has been around since October 2001 and claims it inspires people to "do more than just communicate".
The Sony Ericsson Satio handset is available in black and silver.

2010-01-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

Graphics Evolves Beyond Gaming With New NVIDIA Geforce GTX 200 GPUs

SANTA CLARA, CA—JUNE 16, 2008—Imagine instead of taking over five hours to convert a video for your iPod, it only takes 35 minutesⁱ. Imagine using your PC to simulate protein folding to help find a cure for debilitating diseases. Imagine that your PC can dramatically accelerate everyday tasks, and deliver an exciting visual experience in the process. Today that imagination becomes a reality now that the leader in visual computing technologies, NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), has introduced its new family of GeForce® GTX 200 graphics processors (GPUs)—which includes the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs—taking graphics beyond gaming and gaming beyond anything that’s ever been possible before on a consumer computing platform.
“The advances NVIDIA continues to make in visual computing are simply incredible, and we are excited to be one of the first companies in the world to offer the technology in the new Exhilaration Edition of the award-winning HP Blackbird 002,” said Rahul Sood, chief technology officer, HP Voodoo Business Unit. “Exceptional graphics quality and performance is important to our customers, and now the GeForce GTX 200 GPUs are bringing something else into the mix. By using the GPU to enhance everyday applications such as video encoding and manipulating photos, HP Blackbird 002 is one of the most cutting-edge PC platforms ever designed.”
Graphics Beyond Gaming
One of the most powerful processors in the PC is the GPU. Rendering 3D images in real-time is just about the most mathematically intensive task your PC will ever undertake, but it’s not the only one. As PC applications become increasingly visual, many ordinary tasks will benefit from the graphics horsepower provided by the GPU, including encoding and playing high-definition videos, editing photos, getting driving directions off the Internet, or simply running a new operating system like Windows Vista.
“Millions of users around the world know how time consuming it is to convert their home videos for use on video sharing sites such as YouTube or for downloading to popular media players such as the iPod,” said Sam Blackman, CEO of Elemental Technologies. “Elemental has developed the BadaBOOM™ Media Converter, a consumer video application scheduled for release in August. By taking advantage of the massively parallel, general-purpose computing architecture of a GeForce GPU, we are able to transcode high-quality video 18 times faster than with CPU-only implementations. This unprecedented performance scaling is the reason why we have made sure that our RapiHDTM Video Platform takes advantage of NVIDIA GPUs.”
By recognizing that the value of a GPU transcends gaming, an increasing number of applications are also being written that use the GPU for straight, non-graphical computational tasks. For example, Stanford University’s distributed computing computational program Folding@Home, combines the computing horsepower of millions of consumer GPUs to simulate protein folding to help find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. With the computing processing power of the GeForce GTX family, applications such as Folding@Home and others can run upwards of 140 times faster on an NVIDIA general-purpose parallel processor than on some of today’s traditional CPUs.
“GeForce GPUs will soon deliver the biggest boost in processing power we’ve seen in the history of Folding@Home,” said Vijay Pande, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University. “The GeForce GTX 280 GPU runs Folding@Home 45 times faster than the latest 3GHz Core2 Quad CPU. If just one percent of the world’s GeForce 8- and 9-Series GPUs ran Folding@Home, we would have 70 petaflops of processing power to help find cures for disease. That’s 10 times more processing power than the world’s top 100 supercomputers combined.”

2010-01-09T01:19:00.000-08:00

Google wants to buy, sell electricity in US

Internet search giant Google is seeking government authority to buy and sell electricity in the United States, a further expansion of its operations aimed at boosting renewable energy.

In a document filed last month with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and obtained by AFP, Google indicated that its Google Energy unit asked for "market-based rate authority."

Under that authority, "Google Energy will engage in wholesale electric power and energy transactions as a marketer," the filing said.

The move marked an additional step by the California-based Internet giant to reduce its carbon footprint.

Google announced in 2007 that it would invest in renewable energy. It has already launched a free software, PowerMeter, that allows individuals and businesses to monitor their energy consumption.

The company in mid-December pledged on its blog "Going green at Google" that it was going to make its operations carbon-neutral and reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Niki Fenwick, a Google spokeswoman, told specialist website CNET that the company wanted to become a player on the power grid.

"Right now, we can't buy affordable, utility-scale, renewable energy in our markets," Fenwick said.

"We want to buy the highest quality, most affordable renewable energy wherever we can and use the green credits," she said.

"We don't have any concrete plans. We want the ability to buy and sell electricity in case it becomes part of our portfolio."

2010-01-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

Intel Unveils Details on Arrandale and Clarkdale Processors

All eyes will be on Las Vegas later this week when the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off, but major vendors seem anxious to one-up each other with early announcements preceding the event. Lenovo unveiled its new line of AMD-powered laptops, and Intel has released details of its latest Arrandale and Clarkdale processors.

Both the Arrandale and Clarkdale processors are based on Intel's new Westmere architecture. The array of Arrandale and Clarkdale processors is staggering. The chips come in dual-core Corei7, Corei5, and Corei3 models, which are then further diversified by clock speed and operating voltage.

The Clarkdale chips are aimed at desktop systems, while the Arrandales are targeted for mobile computers. The processors are designed around Intel's new architecture which incorporates graphics processing and memory controller functions into the CPU. This eliminates the need for a separate graphics processor, as well as the Northbridge component of traditional Intel motherboard chipsets.

Like the recently unveiled Atom processors built on the Pinetrail architecture, the Arrandale chips will enable OEM hardware vendors to build smaller mobile computers that consume less power and require less cooling than current mainstream notebooks.

The Arrandale processors improve performance by including a "Dynamic Frequency" feature that allows the processor to vary the clock speed of the GPU function as well as the CPU. For scenarios where you might be watching a Blu-ray disc or watching something in HD, the Arrandale processor can dynamically adjust resources in favor of the graphics processing function to optimize performance.

Intel has also upped the ante on mobile entertainment by including native Blu-ray dual-stream support as well as lossless 7.1 channel audio. The combination may not meet the needs of hardcore HD or audio enthusiasts, but should more than suffice for the needs of mainstream consumers.

Intel has already been producing and shipping these chips to OEM hardware vendors, so we can probably expect to see a wave of associated desktop and notebook product launches over the next week in conjunction with the 2010 CES event in Las Vegas.

Intel President Paul Ottelini is slated to present a keynote speech at the 2010 CES later this week. Now that the details have already been leaked on the Arrandale and Clarkdale processors, it will be interesting to see if that takes the wind out of Ottelini's sails, or if there are additional surprises up Intel's sleeve.

2010-01-04T00:35:00.001-08:00

The future of brain-controlled devices

Games such as Mindflex use headsets with simple electrodes to monitor levels of concentration and relaxation

In the shimmering fantasy realm of the hit movie "Avatar," a paraplegic Marine leaves his wheelchair behind and finds his feet in a new virtual world thanks to "the link," a sophisticated chamber that connects his brain to a surrogate alien, via computer.

This type of interface is a classic tool in gee-whiz science fiction. But the hard science behind it is even more wow-inducing.

Researchers are already using brain-computer interfaces to aid the disabled, treat diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and provide therapy for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Work is under way on devices that may eventually let you communicate with friends telepathically, give you superhuman hearing and vision or even let you download data directly into your brain, a la "The Matrix."

Researchers are practically giddy over the prospects. "We don't know what the limits are yet," says Melody Moore Jackson, director of Georgia Tech University's BrainLab.

Adds Emory University neuroscience professor Michael Crutcher, "Anything can happen."

At the root of all this technology is the 3-pound generator we all carry in our head. It produces electricity at the microvolt level. But the signals are strong enough to move robots, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs -- with the help of an external processor.

Harnessing that power "opens up a whole new paradigm for us as human beings," says neuroscientist Rajesh Rao of the University of Washington.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) come in two varieties. Noninvasive techniques use electrodes placed on the scalp to measure electrical activity. Invasive procedures implant electrodes directly into the brain. In both cases, the devices interact with a computer to produce a wide variety of applications, ranging from medical breakthroughs and military-tech advances to futuristic video games and toys.

Much of the research focuses on neuroprosthetics, which offer a way for the brain to compensate for injuries and illness. Jackson helped develop an intelligent wheelchair called the Aware Chair, which can be guided by neural activity.

She is also working on communication programs for people who have been paralyzed by strokes or spinal-cord injuries. Implanted electrodes allow "locked in" patients to spell out messages by manipulating a computer cursor with their thoughts alone.

Rao is tapping into that same concept to help paralyzed people manipulate robots to fetch items or move things around the house. With cameras to provide visual feedback, the patients and robots don't even need to be in the same room, or the same city. Rao says the technology "frees the mind from the constraints of the body."

Cochlear implants are the most common neuroprosthetic. They help the brain interpret sounds and are sometimes called "bionic ears" for the deaf. Other researchers are looking for similar ways to help blind people see. Neurobiologist Ed Boyden of MIT says miniature optical devices can be implanted to convert photoreceptors into workable cameras for the brain.

None of this comes cheap. Most research is funded by deep pockets such as the National Institutes of Health, the defense department and NASA.

But every breakthrough brings the most advanced BCI technologies closer to the mass market. Jackson says she foresees a day when people with disabilities can spend a few hundred dollars instead of $20,000 on a workable system.

Mainstreaming the technology raises some troubling issues for Crutcher, who teaches a course at Emory in neuro-ethics. He fears that expensive eye and ear implants could produce a computer-enhanced elite.

"If only the rich can afford it, it puts everyone else at a disadvantage," says Crutcher, who believes many aspects of BCI are ripe for abuse. Just the idea of mucking about with a person's brain "raises questions about safety and efficacy," he says.

One of the more controversial uses under development is telepathy. It would require at least two people to be implanted with electrodes that send and receive signals back and forth.

DARPA, the Pentagon's technology research division, is currently working on an initiative called "Silent Talk," which would let soldiers on secret missions communicate with their thoughts alone. This stealth component is attractive, but naysayers fear that such soldiers could become manipulated for evil means.

Telepathy implants won't replace Facebook and Twitter anytime soon, but that possibility is problematic as well.

"You can imagine communicating with your friends through the devices, and that opens up a lot of ethical issues," Rao says. Would you want your friends and family to know everything you are thinking? Would little white lies become obsolete?

These questions of morality and liability are not a huge factor for the toy makers and video game developers who are already bringing the most basic BCI technology to consumers.

Games like Mindflex and the Star Wars Force Trainer use headsets with simple electrodes to monitor levels of concentration and relaxation. The signals trigger a fan that can move a ball up or down, depending on how hard you're thinking. Jackson calls it a "fascinating application of a very sophisticated technology in a very cheap package."

The headsets used in both games were designed by the California company Neurosky. Its corporate partners are working on games that help Alzheimer's patients improve memory techniques, teach concentration skills to kids with ADHD and let stressed- out CEOs work on relaxing.

Software entrepreneurs and executives are streaming into Boyden's neuro-ventures class at MIT, looking for ways to capitalize on the array of potential uses for brain-computer interfaces.

Some ventures are already up and running. NeuroVigil in California is working on iBrain, designed, in part, to help provide instant feedback to drivers who start falling asleep at the wheel. Eos Neuroscience is developing light-sensitive protein-based sensors that can treat blindness.

Numerous companies are developing video games based on direct brain-computer interfacing. Neurosky sells a wireless headset that connects to any computer for a series of brain-training games. NeuroBoy lets you set targets on fire just by concentrating on them. Relax, and your character levitates. Another application lets you see a colorful visualization of your brain-wave activity.

Boyden expects to see many more such products hitting shelves sooner rather than later. He says the possibilities are endless if just a "fraction of the business leaders" taking his class start "bringing the technology into the world."

2010-01-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Avatar Review: James Cameron's World of Wonder

In the last shot of Avatar, someone's closed eyes snap open. That's the climax and the message of James Cameron's first fiction feature since 1997s Titanic: Look around! Embrace the movie - surely the most vivid and persuasive creation of a fantasy world ever seen in the history of moving pictures - as a total sensory, sensuous, sensual experience. The planet Pandora that Cameron and his army of artist-technicians have created - at a budget believed to be in excess of $300 million - is a wonder world of flora and fauna: a rainforest (where it never rains) of gigantic trees and phosphorescent plants, of six-legged flying horses, panther dogs and hammerhead dinosaurs. Living among these creatures is Pandora's humanish tribe, the Na'vi: a lean, 10-ft.-tall, blue-striped people with green eyes, or what mankind might have been if it had evolved in harmony with, not opposition to, the edenic environment that gave rise to its birth.

It's the year 2154, and Pandora, a moon of the Alpha Centauri star, is the reluctant host to an expedition of Americans seeking to mine an incredibly valuable rock called unobtainium - a joke term, coined in the 1950s referring to any kind of material that's unavailable or impractical to use, that Cameron employs to locate his movie among science-fiction adventures of the period. The expedition, headed by sleazy entrepreneur Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), contains scientists, working for Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), and a Blackwater-type security force led by the malevolently macho Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). The scientists have hatched "avatars," which look like Na'vi but blend their DNA with that of humans, who will steer them by remote control; "dreamwalkers," they're known as. Grace is entranced by the Na'vi's aristocratic gentility, but to Selfridge and Quaritch they are "blue monkeys", "savages," "an aboriginal horde." Or for want of a better word: Disposable. (See the top 10 movies of 2009.)

The new guy in this program is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, last seen going up against machinery in Terminator Salvation), a paraplegic ex-Marine whose dead identical twin brother had been in the project. Since Jake has the same DNA, he's chosen to man his late brother's avatar. Grace wants Jake to befriend the Na'vi and help her unearth precious biological samples; Quaritch orders him to become a secret spy, as part of the company's plan to drive the tribe away from a sacred tree, under which can be found vast reserves of unobtainium. In this double role, Jake meets Neyfiri (Zoe Saldana), daughter of the tribal chief. At first suspicious of his motives, and contemptuous of his clumsiness - "Ignorant, like a child," is the way she puts it - Neyfiri is nevertheless impressed by Jake's adaptability. Somehow he has an affinity for this place, for the Na'vi and for her. Some day he will be their savior.

For me to say that Avatar is better than Titanic is not the highest possible praise. I was no ardent fan of Cameron's grafting of a poor-boy/rich-girl love story tacked onto the true saga of that doomed ship which set sail from Southampton back in 1912. But it became a night to remember with enough moviegoers to become the all-time top-grossing film with a take of just over $1.8 billion (though it ranks sixth in real dollars, after Gone With the Wind, Star Wars, The Sound of Music, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and the 1956 version of The Ten Commandments). What Cameron earned from Titanic's enormous success was the cachet (11 Oscars, tying the record with Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) and cash, to actually make Avatar, which has been called the most expensive picture ever made (though, again in real dollars, that record is probably held by 1963s Cleopatra). That shouldn't matter to viewers. The democratizing principles of the box office is that moviegoers pay the same amount to see Avatar, in its 2-D form, as they did for Paranormal Activity with its $11,000 budget. The only question they need have is: Is the movie worth it? (See TIME's Holiday Movie Preview.)

I say yes; for Avatar is a state-of-the-art experience that, for years to come, will define what movies can achieve, not in duplicating our existence but in confecting new ones. The story may be familiar from countless old movies, from those made out of Hollywood such as Dances With Wolves (an American grows sympathetic to the tribes he was meant to annihilate) to Apocalypse Now (and any number of anti-imperialist war epics), through to those made abroad, like this year's District 9 set in South Africa (where a human becomes part-alien and is hunted down by his old own kind). Some of the dialogue in Avatar's opening sequences may be on the starchy side - Cameron was never a great director of actors nor sympathetic to their sensitive needs - but objections shrink to quibbles, and then simply disappear, in the face of the picture's unprecedented visual flourishes.

Once again Cameron has devised a romance similar to Titanic's - an American grunt falls in love with a Na'vi princess - but this time with far more emotive power. Instead of embracing on a ship's prow, they ride their banshee steeds in ecstatic communion across the Pandoran sky. Think of them as the prince and princess of the world. Worthington, an Australian actor who had the second lead in the recent Terminator movie, has little of Leonardo DiCaprio's star power; but the resolve and good nature he radiates make Jake one of those ordinary heroes who rise to extraordinary heights. Saldana, though encased in CGI blue throughout the movie, manages to be the movie's driving force: yet again in a Cameron film, we find a strong woman seeking a man whose strength she can tap. But unlike the tryst between DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, this love affair has consequences. It is not a footnote to history; it makes history, as two species merge to save a planet. (Read: "King of the (Blue) World".)

And by a planet, Cameron clearly means our planet. Among his activities in the dozen years since Titanic, the director made two underwater documentaries (Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep) that marked him as both an explorer and a conservationist. Avatar brings his social concerns to the surface. This is not only the most elaborate public-service commercial for those of the tree-hugger persuasion; it's also a call to save what we've got, environmentally, and leave indigenous people as they are - an argument applicable to the attempt of any nation (say, the U.S.) to colonize another land (say, Iraq or Afghanistan). The rooting interest in Avatar is for the Na'vi, and against the American ex-soldiers whose job it is to police the planet. When some of them die, in the battle that consumes the final third of this 2hr.42min. extravaganza, you're meant to cheer. And you will. (Read Techland on Avatar.)

That climactic face-off is stage-managed for maximum thrills, as the creatures we met in the first part of the film join the Na'vi in opposing the rotten humans. But the supreme joy of Avatar is in its long central portion: a safari through the luscious landscape of Pandora. After all those years on the water (with Titanic) and underwater (with The Abyss and his two documentaries), Cameron has surfaced to put his vision of Pandora on screen. It's an impossible but completely plausible and seductive world that invites your total immersion. Don't resist it; sink in and fly with it. All Cameron asks is that you open your eyes

2009-12-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

5 Fabulous New Features Google unveiled

Google is holding a major demo event at the Computer History Museum today and unveiled a number of incredible new features. It was the kind of event that restores a person's faith in Google as a major innovator.

From voice search and translation, to location and visual search, here are the five most impressive technologies unveiled so far.

The demos are all being done by Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering for Google.

Near Instant Voice Translation

A new prototyped product allows not just search by voice, but near instant translation between English and Spanish in the cloud, via your mobile phone. Gundotrpha spoke a paragraph's worth of words into his phone and within seconds the phone recited a translated version back in Spanish. It was amazing. Google hopes to have support for all the world's major languages completed sometime in 2010.

Customized Suggest Based on Location

Google Suggest is a very smart, if under-appreciated, feature. The feature will soon make use of location information when searches are performed on mobile devices. Gundrotrpha demonstrated on one phone that believed it was in Boston and one that believed it was in San Francisco. Upon typing the letters "RE" the Boston phone suggested searches for Red Sox, the local baseball team. The San Francisco phone suggested a search for REI, the outdoor gear outfitter.

Google Product Search Combined With Inventory Feeds from Local Retailers

Local mobile product search will soon tell you where the nearest store with a product is and whether that product is in stock.

Near Me Now

Next: Google Launches Real-Time Search Now

Google.com on mobile, starting today on Android phones, will offer top-level search categories like restaurants or stores on the front page. Click that button and you'll see the closest-by search results ranked by user rating.

Google Goggles

Visual search. Take a photo, click a button and Google will analyze imagery and text in the photo for your search query. Pretty exciting. 1 billion images are included in the index today but Google says it has made the decision not to include facial recognition until privacy concerns are figured out.

2009-12-24T22:02:00.000-08:00

Sony's PlayStation 3 Got Sales Boost From Final Fantasy XIII

Sony's PlayStation 3 got a boost from last week's launch of "Final Fantasy XIII" as Japanese consumers snapped up special-edition consoles to give the PS3 its best week since a relaunch several months ago, according to data released on Friday.

Sales of the PS3 totaled 237,086 units in the week of Dec. 14 of which about 92,000 units were a "Final Fantasy XIII" special edition offered by Sony, said Media Create. "Final Fantasy XIII," the latest installment in the long-running Final Fantasy series, launched on Dec. 17 so the figures cover its first four days on sale.

The weekly sales easily outpace those of recent weeks and are higher than those of early September when Sony relaunched the PlayStation 3 in a slimmer case and with a lower price tag. The PS3 sold 152,000 units during its relaunch week, according to Media Create.

The relaunch helped breath new life into the PlayStation 3 platform and push sales higher in the last three months. The PlayStation business remains a money loser for Sony but the company has targeted 2010 as the year it will return its gaming operations to profitability. The launch of games like "Final Fantasy XIII" plays an important role in this plan.

The "Final Fantasy XIII" software scored a major success for Square Enix with sales of just over 1.5 million copies over its first four days, said Media Create.

Sony is also attempting to widen the console's appeal.

Services such as movie rentals are being added to the PlayStation 3 and will be expanded next year with the addition of TV shows and other content. Sony has also pledged to offer a software update that will bring the capability to play back 3D content on Blu-ray Disc.

Sony's chief rival in the Japanese market, Nintendo, scored second place for the week. In the software chart its "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" ranked with 567,890 copies sold while the Wii console chalked up sales of 191,915 units, said Media Create.

Media Create estimates game software and hardware sales from point-of-sales system data gathered from around 3,000 retailers across the country.

Apple Tablet Finally Arriving in January?

2009-12-24T03:41:00.000-08:00

Apple Tablet Finally Arriving in January?

With the news that Apple has rented a stage at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for a major January announcement comes renewed speculation that the debut of the long-awaited Apple tablet device is at hand.

It doesn’t take much to get the Apple rumor mill spinning at full tilt, especially when it comes to hints and suggestions over the company’s long anticipated, never-officially-confirmed tablet device. While speculation has grown (and peaked, and subsided, and grown again) over the past couple of years, Apple has managed to successfully suppress any official details of the supposed tablet. However, the news that Apple has rented out a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco has generated speculation that Apple is gearing up to announce a tablet-like device.

The report in the Financial Times blog quoted unnamed inside sources that said Apple rented the stage for several days toward the end of January, in preparation for “a major product announcement” on January 26, a Tuesday. Other recent reports, including a research note by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who said there is a 75 percent likelihood that Apple will have an event in January and a 50 percent chance that it would be held to launch the Apple Tablet, and a report in The Wall Street Journal which said Apple is briefing major media companies like CBS and Disney on a tablet-like device, suggest Apple may release the device during the first quarter of 2010.

Earlier this year, Munster issued a report suggesting that the tablet would feature a 7- to 10-inch screen and retail for between $500 and $700, effectively filling a strategic gap for Apple between the iPod Touch and its low-end Mac desktops. Munster wrote, "We believe an Apple tablet would be priced 30 to 50 percent below the $999 MacBook, and would offer best-in-class Web, e-mail and media software. In other words, we believe Apple's tablet would compete well in the netbook category even though it would not be a netbook."

Munster suggested that an Apple tablet's operating system would resemble either the iPhone OS, with multitasking capability and applications designed specifically for a device with a larger screen, or else a multitouch-enabled version of Mac OS X. However, he wrote, "We expect Apple to build on the multitouch technology built into the iPhone and iPod Touch along with the App Store ecosystem, with an OS more comparable to the iPhone's, not the Mac's."

Apple may also integrate a mobile data feature such as 3G wireless into the device, and could even subsidize the device through a wireless carrier, Munster added. He cited the trend toward subsidized netbooks, for example Verizon's partnership with Hewlett-Packard to carry the HP Mini 1151NR. The Apple tablet could also challenge Amazon.com's Kindle e-reader if Apple accompanies the device with a push to sell digital books through the iTunes store.

OLPC unveils slimline tablet PC

2009-12-23T05:36:00.001-08:00

OLPC unveils slimline tablet PC

In Pictures: Designing the OLPC

The group behind the $100 laptop has revealed the design for its latest computer aimed at connecting children in the developing world.

The XO-3, as it is known, is a slim-line touchscreen tablet PC.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) said it would be "available in 2012" and would cost "well below $100".

The new design replaces the proposed XO-2, a foldable e-book that was first shown off in 2008 but has since been scrapped by the organisation.

The XO-3 will eventually replace the original XO laptop that first went into production in 2007.

The innovative machines, which have been designed for use in remote and harsh environments, were designed for use by school children and featured a sunlight readable display and open source software.

'Bigger appeal'

OLPC originally aimed to sell the low-cost laptops in lots of one million to governments in developing countries for $100 each.

However, the non-profit organisation had difficulty getting governments to commit to bulk orders. The machines - which are able to run both Linux and Microsoft Windows - are now offered in single units and cost around $200.

The XO-2 has been scrapped in favour of the XO-3

So far the XO has been distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries.

The high-price has not however put off all governments. Uruguay and Peru are have bought a computer for every one of their school children.

Walter de Brouwer, CEO of OLPC Europe said that these "saturation projects" were the future of the organisation both in the developed and the developing world.

"I'm talking to three four countries in the EU at the moment," he told BBC News. "Once one says yes, the others can't say no."

The organisation believes the new design will cost significantly less.

Mr Brouwer said that because of the pace of technological change and the ever decreasing prices of electronics he could imagine the design selling for "50, 60 or 70 euros".

He said governments could pay this back over a number of years, allowing pupils to have a laptop for less than one euro per month.

"This is very realistic," he said.

The concept shows a touchscreen, a camera, induction charger, and a carrying ring on one of its corners.

Its inner workings - including a chip form UK firm ARM - will come from an interim design - the XO 1.75 - set for launch in 2011.

The 1.75 will merge elements of the current machines with technologies - such as a touchscreen - intended to be included in the XO-3.

OLPC recently said that the organisation would just focus on promoting the organisations concepts and educational aims, rather than manufacturing laptops.

"We are not a laptop company," said Mr Brouwer. "Manufacturing a laptop is not such a big deal. The bigger appeal for us is deploying them and integrating them with education systems to transform a society."

Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the group, said that he hoped that industry would now copy the design for XO-3

First Solar opens utility-scale power plant

2009-12-21T18:08:00.000-08:00

First Solar opens utility-scale power plant

First Solar employees work on the solar power station in Blythe, Calif.

Solar module maker First Solar on Monday opened the largest photovoltaic solar power station in California, which the company plans to replicate in order to expand its utility business.

The plant in Blythe, Calif., which First Solar purchased from energy developer NRG, will have the capacity to generate 21 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about 17,000 homes. It will supply electricity to Southern California Edison under a 20-year purchase power agreement.

It's one of a number of projects that First Solar is pursuing as it seeks to expand in the utility-scale solar business. A deal to build a 48-megawatt plant in California to supply Pacific Gas & Electric was approved last week. "The development, project finance and construction of this solar plant demonstrate First Solar's capabilities in utility scale projects," Bruce Sohn, president of First Solar, said in a statement.

First Solar's panels, which use thin film solar cells made from cadmium telluride, are considered the lowest cost solar panel in the industry. The company's relatively low cost and the technology's track record make it attractive to utilities that need to meet the California renewable energy mandate.

Automotive X Prize contestants power up

2009-12-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

Top performers

If this is the future of green motoring, sign us up. The electric hybrid eVaro, developed in Canada by Future Vehicle Technologies of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, can accelerate to 60 miles per hour in around 5 seconds, and drives at least 165 miles on the equivalent of a US gallon of fuel.

The eVaro (pictured) is one of the contenders in the Automotive X-Prize contest starting in May. At stake is a share of $10 million, to go to the best-performing cars to maintain at least 100 miles per US gallon (42.5 kilometres per litre) or the equivalent in electricity usage.

More than 40 teams from around the world are set to compete in a number of performance trials, culminating in a stage race across the US in June or July. The contestants include small custom shops, well-known start-ups such as Tesla Motors and Aptera, and the giant Indian car maker Tata. No major US or European manufacturer is competing.

The contest features two classes. Mainstream cars must carry four passengers on four wheels and have at least 10 cubic feet (280 litres) of space for groceries. Alternative entrants, of which the eVaro is one, can have fewer seats and wheels, and need not have any carrying space.

Futuristic concept cars and one-offs need not apply. The X-Prize Foundation, which is organising the competition, stipulates that the vehicles must be capable of being mass-produced at the rate of 10,000 units per year by 2014. Expect to see one coming up fast in your rear-view mirror soon.

Intel: New graphics, 'Core' chips coming

2009-12-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

Intel: New graphics, 'Core' chips

coming

Intel on Thursday previewed new Core processors and graphics technology that will become the pillar of its mainstream chip offerings.

As reported previously, Intel said it will roll out new Intel Core i processors on January 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, including the new i3 chip. These will be based on 32-nanometer technology for the first time. The smaller the geometry, the faster and more power-efficient the processor. Intel's main CPU processors are currently based on 45-nanometer technology.

Intel will introduce 17 new processors in all.

And the chipmaker restated the Core i series lineup. The i7 is its the top-of-the-line processor, the i5 is the midrange, and the new i3 will be the low end.

Intel also discussed its upcoming integrated graphics technology for laptops, which has been referred to as "Arrandale." This will be the first mainstream Intel laptop processor to integrate two processor cores and a graphics function in a single chip package, to deliver better overall power efficiency.

The graphics silicon is based on 45-nanometer technology for the first time, Intel said. The technology will also support Blu-ray playback, and Intel claimed that it is capable of "mainstream gaming."

Intel's integrated graphics chip technology is a focus of the Federal Trade Commission's complaint filed on Wednesday.

Intel is also moving its "Turbo Boost" technology into more Core i5. Turbo Boost speeds up and slows down individual cores to meet processing and power-efficiency needs, respectively.

2009-12-17T17:36:00.000-08:00

iPhone beats Windows Mobile in market

Apple's iPhone has topped Microsoft's Windows Mobile in U.S. market share of smartphone operating systems for the first time, putting it in the No. 2 spot, according to a report from ComScore released Thursday.

In February, 5.2 million respondents to ComScore's survey reported using Apple's iPhone, while 6.8 million reported using phones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile, according to a report on FierceDeveloper. ComScore, a market research firm, averages results in a three-month period.

In May, Apple's number rose to 5.7 million, then 6.6 million in July, and finally to a high of 8.9 million for October, the most recent period for which results are available. In comparison, Microsoft rose in May to 7 million, dropped in July to 6.6 million, and went back up in October to 7.1 million.

The highest market share numbers in the survey go to Research In Motion's BlackBerry. It registered 9.6 million in February, 12.2 million in May, 13 million in July, and 14.9 million in October.

It's interesting to note that Palm's number rose from 2.3 million to 2.8 million in 2009, and Google's Android operating system rose to a high of 1 million by October.

The survey asked U.S. mobile subscribers, who had to be over the age of 13, what type of phone they use. ComScore then figured out what operating system they were using and calculated the data for the report.

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2009-12-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

This illustration shows how the newly discovered planet may look orbiting its nearby star, which is smaller than Earth's சன்

(CNN) -- Astronomers announced this week they found a water-rich and relatively nearby planet that's similar in size to Earth.

While the planet probably has too thick of an atmosphere and is too hot to support life similar to that found on Earth, the discovery is being heralded as a major breakthrough in humanity's search for life on other planets.

"The big excitement is that we have found a watery world orbiting a very nearby and very small star," said David Charbonneau, a Harvard professor of astronomy and lead author of an article on the discovery, which appeared this week in the journal Nature.

The planet, named GJ 1214b, is 2.7 times as large as Earth and orbits a star much smaller and less luminous than our sun. That's significant, Charbonneau said, because for many years, astronomers assumed that planets only would be found orbiting stars that are similar in size to the sun.

Because of that assumption, researchers didn't spend much time looking for planets circling small stars, he said. The discovery of this "watery world" helps debunk the notion that Earth-like planets could form only in conditions similar to those in our solar system.

"Nature is just far more inventive in making planets than we were imagining," he said.

In a way, the newly discovered planet was sitting right in front of astronomers' faces, just waiting for them to look. Instead of using high-powered telescopes attached to satellites, they spotted the planet using an amateur-sized, 16-inch telescope on the ground.

There were no technological reasons the discovery couldn't have happened long ago, Charbonneau said.

The planet is also rather near to our solar system -- only about 40 light-years away.

Planet GJ 1214b is classified as a "super-Earth" because it is between one and 10 times as large as Earth. Scientists have known about the existence of super-Earths for only a couple of years. Most planets discovered by astronomers have been gassy giants that are much more similar to Jupiter than to Earth.

Charbonneau said it's unlikely that any life on the newly discovered planet would be similar to life on Earth, but he didn't discount the idea entirely.

"This planet probably does have liquid water," he said.

2009-12-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

The best video games of 2009

-- Now that video game sales have eclipsed Hollywood box office revenues and sales of music CDs, you can bet your bitmaps some extraordinarily good games were released in 2009.

In fact, therein lies the problem. With more than 1,500 games released each year -- for computers, consoles and handheld devices -- it's hard to narrow them down to a "Best of" list, let alone choose one as a holiday gift.

Video game trends for 2009 included sequels (which isn't a bad thing in the gaming world), co-op play (working together rather than against one another), social games (though the music/rhythm genre is getting saturated) and of course, the growth of handheld gaming.

But how do you know which games are worth getting blisters over and which ones will quickly become drink coasters?

Fortunately, you've come to the right place.

The following are the top picks for the best video games of the year (each of which cost $59.99 unless otherwise specified), divided by genre for your convenience.

Best shooter

Activision's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" (for Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, PC; rated M) is a gripping near-future military shooter that challenges you to face off against a Russian terrorist organization in locations such as Afghanistan, Rio de Janeiro and Washington. Along with the single-player campaign are a handful of cooperative and competitive multiplayer maps and modes that give this first-person game plenty of replayability.

Runners-up: Valve/EA's "Left 4 Dead 2" and 2K Games' "Borderlands."

Best action/adventure

"Uncharted 2: Among Thieves," from Sony's Naughty Dog studio, provided the most memorable adventure in 2009. This outstanding PlayStation 3 sequel (rated T) once again stars Nathan Drake as he searches for a legendary jewel with extraordinary power. With excellent dialogue, huge set pieces and plenty of action (including multiplayer modes), this cinematic third-person tale makes you feel like the star of an interactive movie. It also just won game of the year at Spike TV's Video Game Awards.

Runners-up: Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed II," Warner Bros./Eidos' "Batman: Arkham Asylum" and Electronic Arts' "Brutal Legend."

Best platformer

For kids and kids at heart, Nintendo's "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" ($49.99; rated E) reinvents the classic "side-scroller" -- whereby characters run, jump and battle from the left side of the screen to the right -- by letting up to four gamers play at the same time. Collect coins, don special suits and discover hidden passages as you race to save the kidnapped princess. This Nintendo Wii exclusive is simply one of the year's most fun party games.

Runner-up: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's "Scribblenauts."

2009-12-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

'Battlefield Heroes' tops 3 millon players

A scene from the free-to-play shooter 'Battlefield Heroes.'

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Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts' free-to-play military shooter Battlefield Heroes has reached 3 million registered players, the publisher has revealed.

The game is part of EA's Play 4 Free model, where players can download the browser-based shooter for free and spend small amounts on upgrades such as weapons or outfits.

As part of the announcement, EA and Battlefield developer DICE have released a new map called Sunset Showdown.

Launched last summer, Battlefield Heroes is a simpler take on the franchise's multiplayer component, featuring cartoonish graphics and a handful of maps and weapons. Read our preview for more details on the game.

Readers, are you still playing Battlefield Heroes?

2009-12-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

Microsoft brings Bing to iPhone, RedLaser tops $1M in revenue

Microsoft's search engine, Bing, now has its own application on the App Store that allows voice search, location finder, maps access and more; and the popular RedLaser app has earned more than $1 million in revenue.

Bing arrives on iPhone

The Redmond, Wash., software giant announced the new application's release on its Bing blog. Much like the browser-based Bing.com, the application shows the image of the day and clickable hotspots that include trivia.

It offers search of images, movies, maps, businesses, news and directions. Users can even check their flight status on the go.

"Make decisions and get where you need to go with Bing," the official description reads. "See the Bing daily image and related trivia on the home screen. Search maps or the Web with your voice -- even say an address. Use Image Search and flick through previews. Download Bing today to find stuff nearby and get there fast."

Initial response to the Bing application has been positive, as 191 of 247 reviewers have given the software five stars. It has an overall score of 4 and a half stars.

The free application (iTunes link) is a 1.9MB download that requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Bing is the third application on the iPhone and iPod touch from Apple's rival to the north. Its previous releases are Tag Reader, an application that reads barcode-like Microsoft Tags, and Seadragon, which allows easy zooming and panning of large images.

Microsoft has tried for years to gain a strong presence in the online search business. The market is currently dominated by Google, which has its own iPhone application: Google Mobile. Last year, the software was updated to allow its own voice searches.

RedLaser's App Store success story

Occipital, a development team with just two employees, has managed to earn more than $1 million from the success of its $2 iPhone application RedLaser. The software uses the iPhone's camera to scan the barcode of an item, and then searches online to find better deals for the product.

After a slow start with no publicity, RedLaser (iTunes link) became one of the best-selling applications on the iPhone by the end of September. Currently, according to MobileCrunch, the software is selling about 6,000 copies per day, and has earned well over $1 million in revenue from more than 750,000 downloads. It has been consistently in the top 5 paid applications of the App Store for the last three months.

"Co-Founder Jeff Powers says that though the app hit the market in May, it wasn’t getting any traction," the report said. "After releasing an update to the app which made it 'actually work,' according to Jeff, they saw a dramatic increase in sales. This was despite the fact that they did nothing different upon the re-launch and got almost zero press pickup when they updated the app. The hypothesis is that this came entirely from word-of-mouth sales, which is probably a good bet. Who wouldn’t want to show off to their friends the cool new barcode-scanning price-checking app on their phone?"

This week alone, the application has been featured on Martha Stewart Living and in The Wall Street Journal. Occipital plans to release more App Store software in the future.