Networking, Technology, Telecommunications and Mobi stuffs

Engineers Solve Longstanding Problem in Photonic Chip Technology: Findings Help Pave Way for Next Generation of Computer Chips

2011-08-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

Stretching for thousands of miles beneath oceans, optical fibers now connect every continent except for Antarctica. With less data loss and higher bandwidth, optical-fiber technology allows information to zip around the world, bringing pictures, video, and other data from every corner of the globe to your computer in a split second. But although optical fibers are increasingly replacing copper wires, carrying information via photons instead of electrons, today's computer technology still relies on electronic chips.

Now, researchers led by engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) are paving the way for the next generation of computer-chip technology: photonic chips. With integrated circuits that use light instead of electricity, photonic chips will allow for faster computers and less data loss when connected to the global fiber-optic network.

"We want to take everything on an electronic chip and reproduce it on a photonic chip," says Liang Feng, a postdoctoral scholar in electrical engineering and the lead author on a paper to be published in the August 5 issue of the journal Science. Feng is part of Caltech's nanofabrication group, led by Axel Scherer, Bernard A. Neches Professor of Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, and Physics, and co-director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech.

In that paper, the researchers describe a new technique to isolate light signals on a silicon chip, solving a longstanding problem in engineering photonic chips.

An isolated light signal can only travel in one direction. If light weren't isolated, signals sent and received between different components on a photonic circuit could interfere with one another, causing the chip to become unstable. In an electrical circuit, a device called a diode isolates electrical signals by allowing current to travel in one direction but not the other. The goal, then, is to create the photonic analog of a diode, a device called an optical isolator. "This is something scientists have been pursuing for 20 years," Feng says.

Normally, a light beam has exactly the same properties when it moves forward as when it's reflected backward. "If you can see me, then I can see you," he says. In order to isolate light, its properties need to somehow change when going in the opposite direction. An optical isolator can then block light that has these changed properties, which allows light signals to travel only in one direction between devices on a chip.

"We want to build something where you can see me, but I can't see you," Feng explains. "That means there's no signal from your side to me. The device on my side is isolated; it won't be affected by my surroundings, so the functionality of my device will be stable."

To isolate light, Feng and his colleagues designed a new type of optical waveguide, a 0.8-micron-wide silicon device that channels light. The waveguide allows light to go in one direction but changes the mode of the light when it travels in the opposite direction.

A light wave's mode corresponds to the pattern of the electromagnetic field lines that make up the wave. In the researchers' new waveguide, the light travels in a symmetric mode in one direction, but changes to an asymmetric mode in the other. Because different light modes can't interact with one another, the two beams of light thus pass through each other.

Previously, there were two main ways to achieve this kind of optical isolation. The first way -- developed almost a century ago -- is to use a magnetic field. The magnetic field changes the polarization of light -- the orientation of the light's electric-field lines -- when it travels in the opposite direction, so that the light going one way can't interfere with the light going the other way. "The problem is, you can't put a large magnetic field next to a computer," Feng says. "It's not healthy."

The second conventional method requires so-called nonlinear optical materials, which change light's frequency rather than its polarization. This technique was developed about 50 years ago, but is problematic because silicon, the material that's the basis for the integrated circuit, is a linear material. If computers were to use optical isolators made out of nonlinear materials, silicon would have to be replaced, which would require revamping all of computer technology. But with their new silicon waveguides, the researchers have become the first to isolate light with a linear material.

Although this work is just a proof-of-principle experiment, the researchers are already building an optical isolator that can be integrated onto a silicon chip. An optical isolator is essential for building the integrated, nanoscale photonic devices and components that will enable future integrated information systems on a chip. Current, state-of-the-art photonic chips operate at 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) -- hundreds of times the data-transfer rates of today's personal computers -- with the next generation expected to soon hit 40 Gbps. But without built-in optical isolators, those chips are much simpler than their electronic counterparts and are not yet ready for the market. Optical isolators like those based on the researchers' designs will therefore be crucial for commercially viable photonic chips.

Source : Daily science web

Novel Artificial Material Could Facilitate Wireless Power

2011-05-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Electrical engineers at Duke University have determined that unique artificial materials should theoretically make it possible to improve the power transfer to small devices, such as laptops or cell phones, or ultimately to larger ones, such as cars or elevators, without wires.

This advance is made possible by the recent ability to fabricate exotic composite materials known as meta materials, which are not so much a single substance, but an entire human-made structure that can be engineered to exhibit properties not readily found in nature. In fact, the metamaterial used in earlier Duke studies, and which would likely be used in future wireless power transmission systems, resembles a miniature set of tan Venetian blinds.

Theoretically, this metamaterial can improve the efficiency of "recharging" devices without wires. As power passes from the transmitting device to the receiving device, most if not all of it scatters and dissipates unless the two devices are extremely close together. However, the metamaterial postulated by the Duke researchers, which would be situated between the energy source and the "recipient" device, greatly refocuses the energy transmitted and permits the energy to traverse the open space between with minimal loss of power.

"We currently have the ability to transmit small amounts of power over short distances, such as in radio frequency identification (RFID) devices," said Yaroslav Urzhumov, assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering. "However, larger amounts of energy, such as that seen in lasers or microwaves, would burn up anything in its path.

"Based on our calculations, it should be possible to use these novel metamaterials to increase the amount of power transmitted without the negative effects," Urzhumov said.

The results of the Duke research were published online in the journal Physical Review B. Urzhumov works in the laboratory of David R. Smith, William Bevan Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Pratt School of Engineering. Smith's team was the first demonstrate that similar metamaterials could act as a cloaking device in 2006.

Just as the metamaterial in the cloaking device appeared to make a volume of space "disappear," in the latest work, the metamaterial would make it seem as if there was no space between the transmitter and the recipient, Urzhumov said. Therefore, he said, the loss of power should be minimal.

Urzhumov's research is an offshoot of "superlens" research conducted in Smith's laboratory. Traditional lenses get their focusing power by controlling rays as they pass through the two outside surfaces of the lens. On the other hand, the superlens, which is in fact a metamaterial, directs waves within the bulk of the lens between the outside surfaces, giving researchers a much greater control over whatever passes through it.

The metamaterial used in wireless power transmission would likely be made of hundreds to thousands -- depending on the application -- of individual thin conducting loops arranged into an array. Each piece is made from the same copper-on-fiberglass substrate used in printed circuit boards, with excess copper etched away. These pieces can then be arranged in an almost infinite variety of configurations.

"The system would need to be tailored to the specific recipient device, in essence the source and target would need to be 'tuned' to each other," Urzhumov said. "This new understanding of how matematerials can be fabricated and arranged should help make the design of wireless power transmission systems more focused."

The analysis performed at Duke was inspired by recent studies at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL), an industrial partner of the Duke Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics. MERL is currently investigating metamaterials for wireless power transfer. The Duke researchers said that with these new insights into the effects of metamaterials, developing actual devices can be more targeted and efficient.

The Duke University research was supported by a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grant through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the U.S. Army Research Office.

Source: Daily science website

Fundamental Question on How Life Started Solved: Supercomputer Calculates Carbon Nucleus

2011-05-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

For carbon, the basis of life, to be able to form in the stars, a certain state of the carbon nucleus plays an essential role. In cooperation with US colleagues, physicists from the University of Bonn and Ruhr-Universität Bochum have been able to calculate this legendary carbon nucleus, solving a problem that has kept science guessing for more than 50 years.

The researchers published their results in the coming issue of the scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

"Attempts to calculate the Hoyle state have been unsuccessful since 1954," said Professor Dr. Ulf-G. Meißner (Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik der Universität Bonn). "But now, we have done it!" The Hoyle state is an energy-rich form of the carbon nucleus. It is the mountain pass over which all roads from one valley to the next lead: From the three nuclei of helium gas to the much larger carbon nucleus. This fusion reaction takes place in the hot interior of heavy stars. If the Hoyle state did not exist, only very little carbon or other higher elements such as oxygen, nitrogen and iron could have formed. Without this type of carbon nucleus, life probably also would not have been possible.

The search for the "slave transmitter"

The Hoyle state had been verified by experiments as early as 1954, but calculating it always failed. For this form of carbon consists of only three, very loosely linked helium nuclei -- more of a cloudy diffuse carbon nucleus. And it does not occur individually, only together with other forms of carbon. "This is as if you wanted to analyze a radio signal whose main transmitter and several slave transmitters are interfering with each other," explained Prof. Dr. Evgeny Epelbaum (Institute of Theoretical Physics II at Ruhr-Universität Bochum). The main transmitter is the stable carbon nucleus from which humans -- among others -- are made. "But we are interested in one of the unstable, energy-rich carbon nuclei; so we have to separate the weaker radio transmitter somehow from the dominant signal by means of a noise filter."

What made this possible was a new, improved calculating approach the researchers used that allowed calculating the forces between several nuclear particles more precisely than ever. And in JUGENE, the supercomputer at Forschungszentrum Jülich, a suitable tool was found. It took JUGENE almost a week of calculating. The results matched the experimental data so well that the researchers can be certain that they have indeed calculated the Hoyle state.

More about how the Universe came into existence

"Now we can analyze this exciting and essential form of the carbon nucleus in every detail," explained Prof. Meißner. "We will determine how big it is, and what its structure is. And it also means that we can now take a very close look at the entire chain of how elements are formed."

In future, this may even allow answering philosophical questions using science. For decades, the Hoyle state was a prime example for the theory that natural constants must have precisely their experimentally determined values, and not any different ones, since otherwise we would not be here to observe the Universe (the anthropic principle). "For the Hoyle state this means that it must have exactly the amount of energy it has, or else, we would not exist," said Prof. Meißner. "Now we can calculate whether -- in a changed world with other parameters -- the Hoyle state would indeed have a different energy when comparing the mass of three helium nuclei." If this is so, this would confirm the anthropic principle.

The iTracking "Scandal"

2011-04-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Wondering why your iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad are storing your general location in an easily accessible database on your PC? It's simple. Apple uses this information to build a cell tower and Wi-Fi access point location database, and the company admitted as much last year. At least that's my theory. Let's take a look.

The iTracking "Scandal"

On Wednesday, two researchers released an open source application called iPhone Tracker that pulls data from a hidden location history database contained in your iOS device's backup files saved on your PC. The app then plots this location information on a map allowing you to see your phone's travels over the past year. Your iOS devices have been building this location database since iOS 4 was released in June of last year, the researchers say.

The data appears to be based on cell tower triangulation and not GPS. This means the location information is not pinpoint accurate, but only shows your general location. The researchers also discovered in the database a list of Wi-Fi access points that your device has been in range of during the past year.

The researchers don't believe this data is leaving your custody, but I disagree. My best guess is that it is leaving your device as anonymized and encrypted information that Apple then uses to build its cell tower and Wi-Fi access point database.

New iPhone 5 Mockup Is Ultra Sexy

2011-04-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

Stay calm, it's only a mockup. But Apple's iPhone 5 will be either a thing of beauty or the ugliest phone in existence -- depending on your tastes -- should any element of a new but credible Photoshopped suggestion make it into the end product.

The image was created by former Engadget chief Joshua Topolsky based on a sketched design from one of his sources as well as credible rumors he's heard. Topolsky admits the sketch might be little more than one of many prototype designs, but what the hey--it's fun to speculate!

Rumors have already suggested a virtually bezel-free screen, for example, courtesy of glass bonding breakthroughs at Apple HQ. Topolsky claims this allows for a slightly larger screen area of 3.7 inches -- 0.2 inches larger than the iPhone 4, but still retaining the ultra high-resolution Retina Display of over 300 pixels per inch.

It's even suggested that, somehow, the microphone and speaker might be behind the glass, although this isn't shown in the mockup. Apple has made much of how it carves MacBooks out of solid aluminum using lasers, including making microscopic holes for microphones and for power lights to shine through. It's possible the same techniques might have evolved so they can be used on glass, allowing sound to pass through.

In profile, Topolsky's iPhone 5 has a teardrop shape, rather like the MacBook Air, tapering towards the bottom, although Topolsky says this might not be as extreme as his mockup suggests, due to his lack of Photoshop skills.

One big change is the home button, which is expanded to become a "gesture area." How this works isn't clear, and in Topolsky's mockup the home button area is wide but not tall, indicating only side-to-side swipe gestures are possible. It's possible this is a labor-saving trick so users can simply swipe to activate the phone, rather than hit the home button first, and then swipe across the screen.

Although not featured in the mockup, the sketch Topolsky saw also showed induction-based power, which is to say, wire-free battery charging. This is already possible using third-party products so it isn't a leap of imagination, and there's been long-term rumors of Apple being interested in such technologies

The sketch also showed what Topolsky calls a "swipe area," which he suggests could be a near field communication (NFC) area. It's been rumored that NFC will be coming to the iPhone 5, although it would be strange of Apple to draw attention to a small area of the phone for NFC purposes. NFC payments are designed around the idea of simply tapping any part of a device against a receiver.

Creating rumors and even mockups is a crime with no consequences. Nobody's going to chide Topolsky when the iPhone 5 arrives and his mockups turn out to be bunkum. In fact, many Apple-watchers suggest that the iPhone 5 won't look much different from the iPhone 4. However, there's little doubt that Topolsky's sexy imagery pours petrol onto the flames of the iPhone 5 hype machine.

Coca-Cola Camera

2011-03-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Coca-Cola Camera ($60)

Although the Real Thing may rot your teeth and make you fat, this fructose-free fake can wreck your career. A video camera tucked inside a Coke can, it records your not-for-prime-time moments in 352-by-288-pixel resolution at 25 frames per second. And with 4GB of memory, a rechargeable battery, and up to 15 hours of continuous recording time, this aluminum-clad snoop is nothing to burp at.

Covert Cameras Designed to Spy on You

2011-03-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Sneaky Cams

What do calculators, cola cans, vacuum cleaners, houseplants, and neckties all have in common? Each might hide a miniature video camera that’s watching and recording your every move. These sneaky spy cameras are inexpensive and easy to buy online, too. We’ve compiled a gallery of covert cameras commercially available for spies, wannabe gumshoes, and (probably) creeps.

Covert Plant Camera

Beware the potted fern--it may be a government plant. Nothing brightens up an office or a home more than a spot of greenery, but this undercover weed has darker intentions. Equipped with a wired or wireless, color or black-and-white spy cam, the Covert Plant Camera is well hidden and watches your every move. It doesn't capture audio, however, so feel free to speak openly in its presence.

New Kinds of Superconductivity? Physicists Demonstrate Coveted 'Spin-Orbit Coupling' in Atomic Gases

2011-03-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

A new microscope invented by scientists at Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus will let researchers use an exquisitely thin sheet of light -- similar to that used in supermarket bar-code scanners -- to peer inside single living cells, revealing the three-dimensional shapes of cellular landmarks in unprecedented detail. The microscopy technique images at high speed, so researchers can create dazzling movies that make biological processes, such as cell division, come alive.

The technique, called Bessel beam plane illumination microscopy, is described in a research article published online on March 4, 2011, in the journal Nature Methods.

A major goal of biologists is to understand the rules that control molecular processes inside a cell. If one is trying to learn the rules of a game, it is better to have a movie of people playing the game than it is to have still photos -- and the same is true for cells, says Janelia Farm group leader Eric Betzig. He has been inventing and improving microscopes for more than 30 years. Despite having seen huge advances in microscopy during that time, Betzig says the field is still hindered by the fact that many microscopy techniques require that cells be killed and fixed in position for imaging. There is only so much one can learn from studying dead cells -- the equivalent of still photos, he says.

Betzig wanted to create a microscope that would let researchers see the dynamic inner lives of living cells. The notion of studying live cells, stippled with fluorescently labeled proteins and other molecules, is not new. But live-cell techniques can be problematic because light produced by microscopes can damage the cell over time. Besides cell damage, light causes the fluorescent molecules --of which there are only so many -- to wink out over time. In other words, the longer you study the cell to uncover its properties, the more damage you do to the cell and the more likely you are to spend your "photon budget," Betzig says.

What's more, the light of a microscope exposes more of the sample than just the small portion that is in focus. Illuminating the out-of-focus regions produces blur, making small intracellular features appear as lengthened blobs rather than sharp dots. "The question was, is there a way of minimizing the amount of damage you're doing so that you can then study cells in a physiological manner while also studying them at high spatial and temporal resolution for a long time?" Betzig says.

Long before arriving at Janelia Farm in 2006, Betzig began thinking about ways to improve live-cell microscopy. He put those thoughts on hold while he focused on designing new microscopy techniques that would ultimately shatter the limits of spatial resolution (imposed by the laws of diffraction). Until recently, microscopes could see objects no smaller than 200 nanometers in size. Several years ago, Betzig and his Janelia Farm colleague Harald Hess invented photoactivated localization microscopy, PALM, which can produce images of objects only 10-20 nanometers in size.

PALM and most other microscopes -- even the ones college students use in their biology classes -- work by exposing the sample through one objective lens and then collecting the light that comes back through that same lens. That approach causes light to damage the sample and induces blur, making it difficult to observe live cells.

In 2008, Betzig began working on ways to overcome these challenges. One idea he had was to use plane illumination microscopy. First proposed about 100 years ago, plane illumination involves shining a sheet of light through the side of the sample rather than the top. To do that, microscopists use two different objective lenses that are perpendicular to one another. "Because you come from the side, plane illumination confines the excitation much closer to the part that's in focus," Betzig says.

Although other researchers, including Janelia Farm Fellow Philipp Keller, have used plane illumination to great effect to study multicellular organisms hundreds of microns in size, the light sheets were still too thick to work effectively for imaging within single cells only tens of microns in size. The main problem is that the wide swath of light used in plane illumination exposed more of the cell than Betzig's group wanted. This caused excessive blur and light toxicity. To circumvent this problem, his group used a Bessel beam, a special type of non-diffracting light beam studied by physicists in the late 1980s, and used today in applications including bar-code scanners in supermarkets. Sweeping the beam across the sample creates a thinner light sheet, his group found.

Bessel beams behave a bit strangely, though, and this is what has kept Betzig's postdoctoral researchers -- Thomas Planchon and Liang Gao -- busy over the past few years. Although they produce a very narrow light beam, Bessel beams also create somewhat weaker light that flanks the focal point, making the pattern of illumination look like a bull's eye. The extra light lobes are a hindrance because they excite too much of the sample. To compensate for this problem, Betzig's group used two tricks. The first is a concept called structured illumination, where instead of sweeping the beam continuously, they turned it on and off rapidly, like firing a machine gun. This creates a periodic grating of excitation that can be used to eliminate any out-of-focus blur. (Structured illumination, used by Janelia Farm Group Leader Mats Gustafsson, is also one way of achieving super-resolution.)

Another strategy Betzig's group used is two-photon microscopy, a method commonly used in neuroscience to visualize thick pieces of brain tissue. One of the advantages of two-photon microscopes is that very little fluorescence signal is generated from weakly exposed regions. Thus, when they applied two-photon methods, the background from the Bessel side lobes was eliminated, and all that remained was the light from the narrow central part of the Bessel beam.

They then set out to image as fast as possible. The Bessel beam sweeps quickly through the sample, allowing the group to take nearly 200 images/second and build three-dimensional stacks from hundreds of two-dimensional images in one to 10 seconds. As they had hoped, they found that they could take hundreds of such three-dimensional image sets without harming the cell, generating amazing movies of cellular processes such as mitosis, where chromosomes divide as one cell becomes two. "There's no other technique that comes close to imaging as long with such high spatial and temporal detail," Betzig says.

Last summer, as soon as they got their first live cell images, Betzig, Planchon and Gao packed up the new instrument in a rented sport utility vehicle and took it to the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts for a physiology course, where they worked with co-authors Jim and Cathy Galbraith from the National Institutes of Health. "We learned a lot about what works and what doesn't and ways to treat the cells in a way that maintains their physiological state while we're doing the imaging," he says. "Like every microscope, the instrumentation is only part of the puzzle. A lot of it is finding the right samples, and right preparation methods to make it work."

The new microscope is also exciting because it may be used in the future to improve super-resolution microscopy. PALM and other super-resolution techniques are limited to looking at thin, dead samples, and can be very damaging when looking at live ones. "That's what's really great about the Bessel -- we can confine that excitation and really start to think about applying super-resolution microscopy to study structure or dynamics in thicker cells," says Betzig. Even without super-resolution, Bessel beam plane illumination microscopy will be a powerful tool for cell biologists, Betzig says, since it noninvasively images the rapidly evolving three-dimensional complexity of cells.

The videos can be viewed at:http://www.hhmi.org/news/betzig20110304.html

Source: Daily science web

Android Apps to Grab and Pandora Radio for Android

2011-03-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about Google's Android mobile OS is the vast collection of crafty developers constantly working away on new mobile applications for Android phones and tablets. In other words, Android is all about the software. And there's certainly no shortage of Android apps.

As such, navigating Google's Android Market can be intimidating for new or beginner users, to say the least. So we handpicked 15 free Android apps that every Google phone or tablet owner, whether you're a newbie or power-user, could benefit from installing.

Pandora Radio for Android

A variety of cool, free Internet radio applications exist for the Android platform, but none offer the same quality music catalogue and customization options as the free Pandora for Android app. Pandora is easy to setup and use: Create and account, log in, simply pick an artist or band you like and the application creates a custom "station" based around that artist, with similar tunes, selected by other like-minded listeners.

Download it Here

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.pandora.android&feature=search_result

Ufone New Package: Uth package stylish offer

2011-02-16T12:56:00.000-08:00

Ufone New Package: Uth package stylish offer

Stylish Offer!


	An Offer SO STYLISH kay soch hai aapki!

Forget the blah and bring on the bling! Ufone U^th introduces its Stylish Offer! Are you interested in winning amazing prizes like designer tshirts, iPads, and the latest in mobile gadgets?! Wait no more and start making as many calls with your U^th number as physically possible… because every 6 calls you make in a day count as ONE entry into our awesome lucky draw.

You can be the brand new owner of:

	Amazing designer tshirts (100 daily)
	Apple® iPhone
	Apple® iPad
	BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone
	Nokia® N8
	Android® handset

(Items 2-6 will be awarded at the end of the Lucky Draw)

The more calls you make the more entries you will get and the more chances to win one of the totally awesome prizes above! SO start calling everyone U know right now before your friends do!

If you’re not on the U^th Package, then go get your Ufone SIM today and dial *22# to get on it right now,because you can get so much here kay soch hai aapki!

Terms & Conditions:

	Subscriber has to make at least 6 calls in a day to qualify for that day’s lucky draw
	Subscriber has to be on Uth Package, Uth Non Stop Offer or Uth Full Time Mufta Offer to participate in the offer.
	Daily Charges of Uth Package & Uth Non Stop Offer are Rs 1+tax/Day
	Daily Charges of Uth Full Time Mufta Offer are Rs 1.99+tax/Day
	SIM has to be in the name of subscriber in order to obtain the prize.
	Prize will be made available to the subscriber at the nearest service center
	Prize will be made available within 7 days of the lucky draw.
	Lucky draw for 100 T Shirts will be done on daily basis for 30 days from the launch of the promotion.
	Lucky draw for Grand Prize of iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone, Nokia N8 and Android mobile device will be done at the end of the promotion.
	Subscriber will be called and informed to pick the prize from the nearest service center.
	Terms and Conditions apply.
	Using SIMS without proper documentation is a crime – PTA
	19.5% FED on usage and 10% withholding tax at recharge or bill applies.

Ufone New Package: Ufone introduces Lady’s Package

2011-02-16T12:50:00.000-08:00

Ufone New Package: Ufone introduces Lady’s Package

Mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, friends… they brighten every day of our lives. But all too often their roles in our lives and their efforts go unnoticed or under-appreciated. That’s why… we at Ufone want to thank our ladies and would like to give something that’s tailored especially for you… Ufone Lady’s Package.

Ladies, keeping your needs in mind, we have devised Ufone Lady’s Package. Now talk to your heart’s content because with Lady’s Package, as our special female customer, U can avail great deals on Call & SMS rates:

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Ufone + PTCL Numbers	(Rs 1.25/minute)	(5pm to 10am)

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SMS (Ufone to Ufone)	(50 Paisas)

SMS (Ufone to other networks)	(Re 1 )

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	Calls to Ufone and PTCL numbers will be charged at Rs.2+tax per hour
	Daily subscription fee of 50 paisas+tax will be applicable
	Calls made to free numbers and short codes are not included in hourly call rate
	UAdvance of Rs. 20 will be offered against a service charge of Rs. 0.75 + tax
	One recipe or beauty tip will be shared, once a week, free of cost
	19.5% FED on usage and 10% withholding tax at recharge or bill applies
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	Using SIMs without proper documentation is a crime – PTA

Ultrafast Quantum Computer Closer: Ten Billion Bits of Entanglement Achieved in Silicon

2011-02-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Scientists from Oxford University have made a significant step towards an ultrafast quantum computer by successfully generating 10 billion bits of quantum entanglement in silicon for the first time -- entanglement is the key ingredient that promises to make quantum computers far more powerful than conventional computing devices.

The researchers used high magnetic fields and low temperatures to produce entanglement between the electron and the nucleus of an atom of phosphorus embedded in a highly purified silicon crystal. The electron and the nucleus behave as a tiny magnet, or 'spin', each of which can represent a bit of quantum information. Suitably controlled, these spins can interact with each other to be coaxed into an entangled state -- the most basic state that cannot be mimicked by a conventional computer.

An international team from the UK, Japan, Canada and Germany, report their achievement in the journal Nature.

'The key to generating entanglement was to first align all the spins by using high magnetic fields and low temperatures,' said Stephanie Simmons of Oxford University's Department of Materials, first author of the report. 'Once this has been achieved, the spins can be made to interact with each other using carefully timed microwave and radiofrequency pulses in order to create the entanglement, and then prove that it has been made.'

The work has important implications for integration with existing technology as it uses dopant atoms in silicon, the foundation of the modern computer chip. The procedure was applied in parallel to a vast number of phosphorus atoms.

'Creating 10 billion entangled pairs in silicon with high fidelity is an important step forward for us,' said co-author Dr John Morton of Oxford University's Department of Materials who led the team. 'We now need to deal with the challenge of coupling these pairs together to build a scalable quantum computer in silicon.'

In recent years quantum entanglement has been recognised as a key ingredient in building new technologies that harness quantum properties. Famously described by Einstein as "spooky action at distance" -- when two objects are entangled it is impossible to describe one without also describing the other and the measurement of one object will reveal information about the other object even if they are separated by thousands of miles.

Creating true entanglement involves crossing the barrier between the ordinary uncertainty encountered in our everyday lives and the strange uncertainties of the quantum world. For example, flipping a coin there is a 50% chance that it comes up heads and 50% tails, but we would never imagine the coin could land with both heads and tails facing upwards simultaneously: a quantum object such as the electron spin can do just that.

Dr Morton said: 'At high temperatures there is simply a 50/50 mixture of spins pointing in different directions but, under the right conditions, all the spins can be made to point in two opposing directions at the same time. Achieving this was critical to the generation of spin entanglement.'

Source: Daily Science

New Device May Revolutionize Computer Memory

2011-01-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new device that represents a significant advance for computer memory, making large-scale "server farms" more energy efficient and allowing computers to start more quickly.

Traditionally, there are two types of computer memory devices. Slow memory devices are used in persistent data storage technologies such as flash drives. They allow us to save information for extended periods of time, and are therefore called nonvolatile devices. Fast memory devices allow our computers to operate quickly, but aren't able to save data when the computers are turned off. The necessity for a constant source of power makes them volatile devices.

But now a research team from NC State has developed a single "unified" device that can perform both volatile and nonvolatile memory operation and may be used in the main memory.

"We've invented a new device that may revolutionize computer memory," says Dr. Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. "Our device is called a double floating-gate field effect transistor (FET). Existing nonvolatile memory used in data storage devices utilizes a single floating gate, which stores charge in the floating gate to signify a 1 or 0 in the device -- or one 'bit' of information. By using two floating gates, the device can store a bit in a nonvolatile mode, and/or it can store a bit in a fast, volatile mode -- like the normal main memory on your computer."

The double floating-gate FET could have a significant impact on a number of computer problems. For example, it would allow computers to start immediately, because the computer wouldn't have to retrieve start-up data from its hard drive -- the data could be stored in its main memory.

The new device would also allow "power proportional computing." For example, Web server farms, such as those used by Google, consume an enormous amount of power -- even when there are low levels of user activity -- in part because the server farms can't turn off the power without affecting their main memory.

"The double floating-gate FET would help solve this problem," Franzon says, "because data could be stored quickly in nonvolatile memory -- and retrieved just as quickly. This would allow portions of the server memory to be turned off during periods of low use without affecting performance."

Franzon also notes that the research team has investigated questions about this technology's reliability, and that they think the device "can have a very long lifetime, when it comes to storing data in the volatile mode."

The paper, "Computing with Novel Floating-Gate Devices," will be published Feb. 10 in IEEE's Computer. The paper was authored by Franzon; former NC State Ph.D. student Daniel Schinke; former NC State master's student Mihir Shiveshwarkar; and Dr. Neil Di Spigna, a research assistant professor at NC State. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Larry Page replaces Eric Schmidt as Google CEO in surprise move

2011-01-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

Internet search giant Google has revealed that its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is to be replaced by co-founder Larry Page. Page, 37, is reclaiming the CEO job he relinquished to Schmidt nearly 10 years ago when investors asked for a more experienced business leader at the helm.

The news was announced along with Google's quarterly results which recorded net profits of $2.54bn in the last three months, ahead of analyst expectations.

Eric Schmidt is to continue as executive chairman focusing on "deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationship", according to Google. In a blog post, Schmidt stated: "In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I'm excited about working with both him and Sergey [Brin] for a long time to come". Sergey Brin, 37, is Google's other founder.

The management changes are set to take effect on April 4. Industry followers are interpreting the shake-up as a move to help Google re-gain lost momentum, particularly in competition with Facebook which is threatening to redefine the very notion of internet search. Meanwhile, Schmidt is set to focus on a role also dealing with the attention from regulatory authorities the search giant has been increasingly attracting due to its dominant market position, analysts are speculating.

Artist's impression of a dark gamma-ray burst

2011-01-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

This artist’s impression shows a dark gamma-ray burst in a star forming region. Gamma-ray bursts are among the most energetic events in the Universe, but some appear curiously faint in visible light. The biggest study of these dark gamma-ray bursts to date, using the GROND instrument on the 2.2-meter MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla in Chile, has found that these gigantic explosions, while puzzling, don't require exotic explanations. Their faintness is now fully explained by a combination of causes with the most important being the presence of dust between the Earth and the explosion.

Did Apple Surpass Microsoft In Profit Last Quarter? Or Will It Be Next Quarter?

2011-01-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

Earlier today, Apple announced their earnings for Q1 2011. The record-breaking numbers saw revenue surge to $26.7 billion — over $6 billion ahead of their previous best quarter (which was Q4 2010). But even more impressive may have been how much profit grew. Apple's net income was also a new record for them at $6 billion for the quarter. That's a full $1.7 billion above their previous record (again, Q4 2010). And it begs the question: could Apple have passed Microsoft in the one remaining financial stronghold this quarter as well? For years, we've all heard how Apple was so pitifully small compared to the behemoth that is Microsoft. Then something funny started happening: Apple started growing. Fast. But instead of focusing on market share growth, Apple focused on bottom-line growth. And soon Microsoft wasn't laughing anymore.

Now, an iPhone app that can read minds!

2011-01-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

Experts have come up with a new application for the iPhone that has the ability to read minds.

The XWave enables users to control on-screen objects with their minds as well as train their brains to control attention spans and relaxation levels.
It works via a headset strapped around the user's forehead, plugging into the iPhone jack.
A state-of-the-art sensor within the device can then read the user's brainwaves through the skull, converting them into digital signals before displaying them in various colours on the iPhone screen.
And as the mind focuses on a particular task the graphics change, indicating the user's level of concentration or relaxation.
The device is the latest in the field of emerging mind-controlled games and devices.
Innovations giant PLX Devices developed the high-tech sensor using technology that has for years been used by doctors to treat epilepsy and seizures in patients.

Zong new offers: M9 Whats Your Plan

2011-01-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

M9, an industry first service that no one has yet thought of! Keeping the tradition alive and touching new heights of customer satisfaction and service innovation, Zong is bringing to subscribers a new Package plan that will appeal to the internet users of Pakistan in general and the educated, smart mobile user in particular.
Specifically designed for our young at heart entertainment lovers, M9 is not just a package but altogether a new experience. The core values of the M9 plan being Flexibility & Lifestyles, combined with the product offering endow a new personality to the Package.
With M9 you can not only choose you own M9 calling plan as well as free benefits as it suits you. On top of this, you will further receive daily free minutes based on yesterday’s usage. Means with M9 you don’t have to wait for special scheme to put your SIM back and enjoy free benefits rather keep using M9 and enjoy daily! So what’s your plan?

Experience M9

M9 can be activated by either of the following choices

Dial *247# from you cell phone and follow the plan
Browse through your mobile and go to wap.m9.com.pk
Visit www.m9.com.pk

2.20

Call Rate: Rs. 2.20 plus tax per min

SMS: Rs. 1 plus tax per SMS

GPRS: 11 Paisas per 8 KB

Daily Benefit: One free min on using 1 min (Daily benefit is for on net use only and has a validity of 1 calendar day)

This plan comes with following free monthly SMS and minutes, you can choose any one out of following options:

31 Free Minutes
23 Free Minutes + 23 Free SMS
16 Free Minutes + 45 Free SMS
8 Free Minutes + 68 Free SMS
90 Free SMS

Note:

Monthly free resources will be refreshed automatically. Monthly free min are applicable for on net use only whereas SMS can be used on any local network

2.0

1.90

1.80

1.70

1.60

1.50

1.40

1.30

1.20

1.00

0.90

Zong M9 Services:

Besides the basic package plans, you can avail following services as well:

Hourly Internet
Daily Internet
4 GB Internet
Unlimited Internet
Content Club
Call Block Service
Music Channel
Activate Dial Tunes
Edit/View your Dial Tunes
SMS Bundles

Gomez’s Twitter & Facebook Hacked

2011-01-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

Selena Gomez has warned fans to ignore a series of hateful messages posted on her Twitter and Facebook.com pages, after her online accounts were targeted by hoaxers.
The Wizards of Waverly Place star’s pages on the social networking sites were taken over by hackers earlier this week.
Imposters confused fans with a series of profanity-riddled messages, including, “THE KID ON 4CHAN.ORG IS A LIEN F**KER HE DIDNT HACK S**T!!!!,” and, “This message is for puha, YOU SUCK B**CH!!!”
The unauthorised posts have since been deleted.
And Gomez has taken to her Facebook page to warn fans to ignore the mean messages, assuring them the problem is being fixed.
She wrote, “Sorry everyone. My Facebook Page and Twitter account has been hacked and we are cleaning it up.”

Hubble Zooms in on a Space Oddity

2011-01-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

One of the strangest space objects ever seen is being scrutinized by the penetrating vision of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. A mysterious, glowing green blob of gas is floating in space near a spiral galaxy. Hubble uncovered delicate filaments of gas and a pocket of young star clusters in the giant object, which is the size of our Milky Way galaxy.

The Hubble revelations are the latest finds in an ongoing probe of Hanny's Voorwerp (Hanny's Object in Dutch), named for Hanny van Arkel, the Dutch teacher who discovered the ghostly structure in 2007 while participating in the online Galaxy Zoo project. Galaxy Zoo enlists the public to help classify more than a million galaxies catalogued in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The project has expanded to include the Hubble Zoo, in which the public is asked to assess tens of thousands of galaxies in deep imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope.

In the sharpest view yet of Hanny's Voorwerp, Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys have uncovered star birth in a region of the green object that faces the spiral galaxy IC 2497, located about 650 million light-years from Earth. Radio observations have shown an outflow of gas arising from the galaxy's core. The new Hubble images reveal that the galaxy's gas is interacting with a small region of Hanny's Voorwerp, which is collapsing and forming stars. The youngest stars are a couple of million years old.

"The star clusters are localized, confined to an area that is over a few thousand light-years wide," explains astronomer William Keel of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, leader of the Hubble study. "The region may have been churning out stars for several million years. They are so dim that they have previously been lost in the brilliant light of the surrounding gas."

Recent X-ray observations have revealed why Hanny's Voorwerp caught the eye of astronomers. The galaxy's rambunctious core produced a quasar, a powerful light beacon powered by a black hole. The quasar shot a broad beam of light in Hanny's Voorwerp's direction, illuminating the gas cloud and making it a space oddity. Its bright green color is from glowing oxygen.

"We just missed catching the quasar, because it turned off no more than 200,000 years ago, so what we're seeing is the afterglow from the quasar," Keel says. "This implies that it might flicker on and off, which is typical of quasars, but we've never seen such a dramatic change happen so rapidly."

The quasar's outburst also may have cast a shadow on the blob. This feature gives the illusion of a gaping hole about 20,000 light-years wide in Hanny's Voorwerp. Hubble reveals sharp edges around the apparent opening, suggesting that an object close to the quasar may have blocked some of the light and projected a shadow on Hanny's Voorwerp. This phenomenon is similar to a fly on a movie projector lens casting a shadow on a movie screen.

Radio studies have revealed that Hanny's Voorwerp is not just an island gas cloud floating in space. The glowing blob is part of a long, twisting rope of gas, or tidal tail, about 300,000 light-years long that wraps around the galaxy. The only optically visible part of the rope is Hanny's Voorwerp. The illuminated object is so huge that it stretches from 44,000 light-years to 136,000 light-years from the galaxy's core.

The quasar, the outflow of gas that instigated the star birth, and the long, gaseous tidal tail point to a rough life for IC 2497.

"The evidence suggests that IC 2497 may have merged with another galaxy about a billion years ago," Keel explains. "The Hubble images show in exquisite detail that the spiral arms are twisted, so the galaxy hasn't completely settled down."

In Keel's scenario, the merger expelled the long streamer of gas from the galaxy and funneled gas and stars into the center, which fed the black hole. The engorged black hole then powered the quasar, which launched two cones of light. One light beam illuminated part of the tidal tail, now called Hanny's Voorwerp.

About a million years ago, shock waves produced glowing gas near the galaxy's core and blasted it outward. The glowing gas is seen only in Hubble images and spectra, Keel says. The outburst may have triggered star formation in Hanny's Voorwerp. Less than 200,000 years ago, the quasar dropped in brightness by 100 times or more, leaving an ordinary-looking core.

New images of the galaxy's dusty core from Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph show an expanding bubble of gas blown out of one side of the core, perhaps evidence of the sputtering quasar's final gasps. The expanding ring of gas is still too small for ground-based telescopes to detect.

"This quasar may have been active for a few million years, which perhaps indicates that quasars blink on and off on timescales of millions of years, not the 100 million years that theory had suggested," Keel says. He added that the quasar could light up again if more material is dumped around the black hole.

Keel is presenting his results on Jan. 10, 2011, at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle, Wash.

Source: Daily Science

GSM phones vulnerable to hacking, claim researchers

2010-12-31T11:10:00.000-08:00

Don't bother with a lengthy ring-round of your friends to wish them a happy new year. Just leave one of them a message on their mobile and wait for everyone else to hack into it.

A little premature, you might think. And you'd be right. But a pair of security researchers have told a Berlin conference how they were able to eavesdrop on mobile phone calls and texts made on any GSM network – used by around 80% of the world's phones – using four cheap phones, a laptop and some open source software.

Karsten Nohl and Sylvain Munaut spent a year perfecting their eavesdropping technology, which begins by sending a "ghost" text message to a target phone that does not show up on the handset but enables the hacker to seize its unique identification number.

The pair, who gave a live demonstration to the Chaos Computer Club Congress in Berlin this week, said the whole process takes about 20 seconds, enabling phone conversations and SMS messages to be recorded and decrypted.

"Any GSM call is fair game," Nohl told the BBC. ""Now there's a path from your telephone number to me finding you and listening to your calls. The whole way."

Nohl said commercially available equipment capable of eavesdropping on other people's phone calls and text messages would previously have cost more than £35,000. He said the four Motorola phones used in their demonstration cost £9 each.

He told the conference that while computing power had continued to evolve, GSM phone software had become out of date.

"This is all a 20-year-old infrastructure, with lots of private data and not a lot of security," Nohl said. "We want you to help phones go through the same kind of evolutionary steps that computers did in the 1990s."

Nohl said there were no plans to make the eavesdropping kit available for others to use, but suggested it would not be difficult for a keen amateur to follow their lead. "I expect people to do it for the fun of doing it," he added.

The 10 most disappointing games of 2010

2010-12-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

Alan Wake (Remedy Entertainment, Xbox 360)
This noir-esque "psychological action thriller" from Max Payne
developer Remedy emerged blinking into the sunlight after no less
than five years of development and vast hype. But despite its inclusion in the Guardian's Top 20 Games of 2010, I felt that a mediocre game hid beneath its pretentious literary epidermis. Sure, it was atmospheric, scary and cinematic, but it didn't half rub your face in it with a smug sense of self-satisfaction. The fight scenes were repetitive, the hyper-addictive gameplay that made Max Payne so special was nowhere in evidence, and between action sections you were force-fed vast chunks of sludgy and cliché-ridden story in video or sometimes even text format. In trying too hard to be an interactive literary experience, it totally forgot that it was supposed to be a game. Or even fun.

Alpha Protocol (Obsidian Entertainment, PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Ugly and generic to look at, and annoying to play, this RPG from the makers of Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights and Fallout: New Vegas completely failed to live up to its pedigree. The concept was unusual and interesting, and there were a few genuinely neat touches sprinkled around. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else about it let it down, especially the clunky combat and the ludicrous AI.

APB: All Points Bulletin (Realtime Worlds, PC)
Basically Grand Theft Auto, except online and massively multiplayer. How could any developer possibly screw that up? Well, APB, in planning since as early as 2005, and a long-time pipedream of GTA lead developer David Jones, comprehensively answered that question. The driving dynamics were appalling: buggy, unsatisfying and constantly irritating. Gunfights weren't much better, and while occasionally completing missions with big groups of friends could be satisfying, the gameplay mechanics hamstrung the experience. After a very poor public and critical response, APB was shut down in September, about three months after it was launched. It may reappear in 2011 as a free-to-play, but it is more likely that it has been flushed for good.

Clash of the Titans (Game Republic, Xbox 360, PS3)
Developer Game Republic pretty much went at the God of War franchise with tracing paper to make this. It is therefore a mystery to me how they managed to miss God of War's fun factor by a matter of miles. Combat was fiddly and complicated and repetitive and frankly terrible, the story felt like a child's My First Greek Myths And Legends book translated from the original Greek by someone who didn't speak Greek with no interest in Greek myths or legends, or writing of any kind, and the characters were blander than homeopathic soup.

Dark Void (Airtight Games, PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
This game had a very promising idea: a 1930s-era fighter pilot gets sucked into an alternative reality through the Bermuda Triangle and finds a jet pack. Unfortunately, everything about the execution of this sub-par shooter just lacked spark. It purloined bits from much better games – the jungle from Uncharted 2, the cover mechanism from Gears of War – but then clumsily ruined them all, amalgamating them into a single messy lump.

Fighters Uncaged (AMA Studios, Xbox 360 Kinect)
Remember all that fuss about Kinect changing the way we interact with games forever? Well, this lame beat-'em-up showed that we shouldn't always believe the marketing. Buggy, agonisingly slow to respond and unsatisfying when your movements finally translated to the screen, it was a total let-down. To add insult to considerable injury, it was also cursed with one of the worst soundtracks any game has ever had, and its lack of any multiplayer – a beat-'em-up without a multiplayer! – was the icing on the cowpat.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (EA Bright Light Studio, PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)
A change of direction from the previous games led EA's Bright Light Studio to stray from its comfort zone, and it showed. Buggy, difficult to control and packed with side-missions that were poorly-disguised filler, its attempt to become more of a darker, combat-oriented game floundered helplessly on poor combat, worse duck-and-cover mechanics, and level design that it would be charitable to call uninspired. It doesn't help that there's also a Lego Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows coming out, which is probably going to blow this completely out of the water with all the usual Lego-y brilliance.

Iron Man 2 (Sega Studios San Fransisco, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)
This execrable game wins extra disappointment points for having two battle-suits on the box and then failing to provide a multiplayer: just an alternate suit to play the one-player mode with. Not that a two-player option would have rescued Iron Man 2. This charmless – in fact, spectacularly dreadful – movie tie-in actually managed to screw up in every category: controls, combat, movement, camera, graphics and story (despite a stellar cast of voice actors drafted in from the movie). A repulsor blast to the face would be preferable to ever encountering Iron Man 2 again.

Saw II: Flesh and Blood (Zombie Studios, Xbox 360, PS3)
After the first game, which was a sort of greyed-out and watered-down version of Arkham Asylum peppered with arbitrary quick-time sequences, the second did not have much to live up to. Somehow it still managed to disappoint. Elements that were even the slightest bit promising in the first game – the puzzles and the tense atmosphere – were washed away in a putrid flood of lazy design and cheap shock'n'gore. Saw II manages to make its predecessor appear almost competent in comparison.

Sonic Free Riders (Sonic Team, Xbox 360 Kinect)
Another launch title for the Kinect that let everyone down. This time it featured our favourite blue spiky flea-bitten ringworm-riddled woodland bug-eater and his friends riding hover-boards. This game doesn't really belong on the "disappointments" list because the last few titles in the series have been critically savaged and expectations were sub-zero. However, though we don't know why Microsoft decided despite universal disapproval that Free Riders was to be a launch game on the Kinect, we might at least have expected them to make it work properly. They didn't. Control was achieved more by luck and flailing than by positive activity on the part of the player, and the game was hilariously limited in scope.

HEX Watch Band Joins the 'iPod nano – Watch' Trend

2010-12-30T12:15:00.000-08:00

Apple's 2010 products have managed to stay in the spotlight for quite a while, either due to their various features and functions or (mostly) due to the very large number of accessories designed specifically for them that have made their way onto the market, such as the one we'll talk about as follows, namely the HEX Watch Band for iPod nano Gen 6.

As you might have guessed by simply taking a look at this thing's name, the HEX Watch Band is one of those protective cases designed specifically for the latest-gen iPod nano that's meant to be worn around the wrist, turning the device into a multi-function electronic watch, for all intends and purposes.
The HEX Watch Band features a “Pop-in, Pop-out” design which allows for easy placement of the iPod nano.
With premium silicone and integrated control buttons, the Watch Band provides maximum protection and full access to all controls on the iPod nano, as one would actually expect from such a protection solution.
Additionally, the inline orientation of the Watch Band allows headphone cords to run straight up the user’s arm or discretely through a sleeve keeping the cords from tangling or getting in the way while on the go.
The HEX Watch Band is available now in 9 fun colors including red, pink, orange, green, blue, clear, black, grey and white, which means that most users shouldn't have much of a problem finding the exact model that best suits their needs and style.
The HEX Watch Band for iPod nano Gen 6 sells for somewhere in the vicinity of $29.95, which is actually quite an OK price point, taking into account the average price points of some of the other similar solutions available on the market (and there are really plenty of them to choose from).

Skype Video Call on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

2010-12-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

Skype today announced that the new version of its iPhone application adds Video call support, allowing users to make video calls over 3G and Wi-Fi networks. This means that users of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are now able to make and/or receive free video calls with one another, as well as with anyone else running Skype software that supports video calling.

“With video calling representing approximately 40% of all Skype-to-Skype minutes for the first 6 months of 2010, our users have been eager to get Skype video calling on their mobile phones,” said Neil Stevens, general manager of Skype’s consumer business. “By bringing video to mainstream users at their home or work via their desktops, on the go with their mobiles, or into their living room via their TV, Skype has made it possible for millions of people to share video moments wherever they are.”

The new Skype for iPhone app is able to make and receive video calls with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and 4th generation iPod touch with i0S 4.0 or above. The iPad and 3rd generation iPod touch are now able to receive, not send, video calls. Calls can be made between any device using the new Skype for iPhone app and desktop computers including Skype for Windows 4.2 and above, Skype for Mac 2.8 and above, Skype for Linux, and the ASUS Videophone.
Video calls use QVGA video and are reported to average 15 frames per second on received video and 12 frames per second on sent video. But these numbers are very much dependent on the quality of the 3G or Wi-Fi environment being used to make and receive the video calls.
When asked if they plan to add video call support to Android-based devices in the future, a representative from Skype said, “Mobile is a huge priority for us and you will see a lot more updates on the mobile front—including Android—in the new year.”

Apple's iPhone most popular item on eBay in 2010

2010-12-29T10:53:00.000-08:00

Apple's iPhone beat out Barbie and the World Cup to take the coveted spot of most popular item on eBay's Top Shopped 2010 list, while the iPad came in fifth.

eBay compiles the annual list by analyzing sale and search data from the year to track top shopping trends.
Over 1.63 million iPhone 4 related items were sold on eBay in 2010, according to eBay. The iPad and its related items saw over 600,000 sales this year, enough to take fifth place for the year.
Barbie came in second with 1.17 million sales. "Military jackets" took third place, while the classic Hot Wheels toys came in fourth. Rounding out the list were the World Cup, The Beatles, Silly Bandz, Alice in Wonderland and the New Orleans Saints.
The list demonstrates significant gains by Apple, as last year's list did not include any technology items. Sales of iPhone items this year nearly tripled the sales of last year's top seller, "The Yankees," which sold 551,230 items in 2009.
Apple's products have topped several year-end lists as 2010 comes to a close. Time magazine gave the iPad the title of No. 1 gadget of 2010, while the MacBook Air, iPhone 4 and Apple TV all made the top 10 list.
The iPad, iOS and iPhone were three of the top four tech topics on Twitter this year. Apple rival Google took second place with its Android mobile operating system.
And journalist Walt Mossberg ranked the iPad as his best reviewed product of 2010, calling it "amazing." The iPhone 4 tied for third place with the Android-based Samsung Galaxy S.