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Are Windows PCs already falling to smartphones and tablets?

2011-10-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Summary: Many of us see personal technology moving from Windows PCs to Android smartphones, Apple iPads and other tablets, but has it actually already happened? According to Download.com, Windows is failing fast. When I look into my technology crystal ball, I see people moving from desktops to smartphones and tablets. I’m not the only one who sees a post-PC world coming. What I didn’t expect was

An artificial 'super skin' for androids

2011-10-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Summary: Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor that could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics, and touch displays. Credit: Steve Fyffe, Stanford News Service The wrinkle-smoothing wonder of Botox could some day be a thing of the past. Stanford researchers have built a new transparent skin-like sensor that can stretch out to more than twice

Is Facebook already more profitable than Amazon?

2011-10-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

Summary: Facebook’s financial details may not be public, but estimates show it could already be more profitable than Amazon. Revenue is a different story.How profitable is Facebook? Since the young company is still private, nobody knows for sure. Still, estimates indicate the social networking giant could already be pulling in more profits than the online retail giant Amazon. If it isn’t already,

Google looking to build European high-speed fiber network

2011-10-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Summary: After an experimental trial in the U.S., a Google executive hinted that Europe could be the next home for a high-speed fiber network.The Wall Street Journal reports that Google senior vice president David Drummond said on Friday that the search giant is considering deploying a high-speed fiber network to Europe, in a bid to widen high-speed Internet access across the continent. In a

Sencha Launches Mobile HTML5 Cloud, Sencha.io

2011-10-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Javascript Web app framework provider Sencha is today announcing the public beta launch of Sencha.io, its new HTML5 mobile cloud service. The service will allow Sencha app developers to build “shared experiences” in the browser, without having to write server code or manage hosting. At launch, Sencha.io will provide a set of cloud services, including Sencha.io Data, Sencha.io Messages, Sencha.io

Amigakit Brings The Amiga Into The 21st Century With New X1000

2011-10-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Amiga, Amiga… why does that name sound familiar? Ah yes, that Amiga. A strong early competitor in the PC wars, Commodore’s influential and graphics-heavy OS was unfortunately more or less made extinct by Windows by the early 90s. Yet a core group of enthusiasts has kept a candle burning, and here and there you can still find a functioning machine, zealously maintained by someone who insists that

Weapon of Ice Destruction: A Snowball Launching Crossbow

2011-10-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

There was a time when all a man needed for a good snowball fight was dry gloves and some fresh powder. These days you need to step up your game, with weapons specifically engineered for winter warfare like this crossbow designed to hurl balls of snow instead of arrows. It's been a while since something from the Sharper Image has caught our attention, but that's because an iPod dock is useless

How To Make Your Apartment Buzzer Ring Every Phone in Your Home

2011-10-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

You ditched your landline years ago. Smart! Because the one thing it was good at—buzzing people into your building—can be done better with your smartphone anyway. Here's how to have that buzzer ring any phone you want. First, you'll need a Google Voice account. If you already have one, you're halfway there. If you don't have an account, here's a handy guide on how to get one. Once you've got a

Scientists Have Fun With Quantum Levitation

2011-10-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

So, has the technology finally arrived that will permit the manufacturing of genuine Marty McFly hoverboards? Don't hold your breath. Despite researchers' intriguing work in quantum levitation, hoverboards won't be showing up on store shelves anytime soon -- at least not on planet Earth. "It would be practical only in an already cooled environment like outer space or a planet like Neptune," noted

Will Microsoft Get Lucky With Yahoo?

2011-10-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Microsoft may have been "lucky," as CEO Steve Ballmer put it, that its 2008 bid to buy Yahoo for $47 billion fell through. But what he might have really meant was that now, Microsoft may be able to scoop up Yahoo for a fraction of that sum, a venture it's reportedly pursuing. Meanwhile, Google shows Ice Cream Sandwich, RIM shows BBX and Apple shows its teeth. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) CEO Steve

A Jam-Packed, Reality-Augmenting Key to the Sky

2011-10-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

SkyView uses the iPhone's compass and gyroscope, along with the camera, to reveal on an "augmented reality" screen that shows and identifies what's in the sky in the direction the camera is pointing. While SkyView works best at night when the stars are visible, the app will reveal what's above no matter what time of day, light or dark. Even if you don't care about stars, planets, satellites and

All About Jobs and Hiring in Linux Land

2011-10-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

"Most developer jobs require current knowledge of non-open software," said blogger Barbara Hudson, "but it's a safe bet to say that most jobs are not 'open' jobs. ... The most reliable way to get a job that uses open source exclusively is to create your own. The bad news is that, as in every previous recession, we're seeing a lot of this 'involuntary entrepreneurship.' The good news is that this

Google Not Reciprocating On IFrame Usage? 90

2011-10-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

"Over at the Google Web Search Community, posters are questioning why Google feels free to IFrame others' web pages, yet blocks attempts to IFrame pages on its own sites. 'Google has so much contradiction in what it wants for itself and what it does with other websites [e.g., Google frames Slashdot],' quipped one poster. 'Do no evil, right?' And over at the Google Maps Help Forum, developers are

Android ICS Will Require 16GB RAM To Compile 114

2011-10-23T20:43:00.001-07:00

"New smartphones may be lightweight, compact objects, but their OSs are anything but. Ice Cream Sandwich will need workstations with no less than 16 GB RAM to build the source code, twice the amount Gingerbread needed. It will take 5 hours to compile on a dual quad-core 2+GHz workstation, and need 80GB disk space for all AOSP configs. Android developers are also being warned to be cautious of

Mesa Robotics' mini-tank is perfectly happy on point (video)

2011-10-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

The Acer ground-bot from Mesa Robotics does way more than your average 4,500-pound semi-autonomous mule. In addition to carrying kit and providing that extra bit of ballistic steel-deflecting cover, it also scans for IEDs using ground-penetrating radar and then autonomously switches into "flail" mode when it finds one -- digging up and detonating that critter with barely a break in its 6MPH

Nikon D300s travels to the edge of space, survives to share the results

2011-10-23T20:40:00.001-07:00

If you're going to go to the trouble of sending a camera to the edge of space, you might as well send one capable of doing the trip justice, right? That hasn't always been the case with similar DIY attempts (for obvious reasons), but the team behind the so-called Cygnus "spacecraft" decided to go all out when they sent their weather balloon / beer cooler contraption aloft this month to photograph

Chromebooks now available to enterprise and education customers with a pay-once option

2011-10-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

Google made a big splash when it revealed plans to offer Chromebooks to enterprise and education customers under a subscription model. What's not clear is how much of a splash it actually made in those markets. While the notion of paying a monthly fee for three years, instead of buying a machine up front sounds like a game changer, some people just like the comfort of the familiar. To that end

How would you change Apple's OS X 10.7 (Lion)?

2011-10-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Apple's most highly sophisticated OS yet? Cupertino would have you think so, but as with any major update, there have been plenty of quirks to work through in the months following the introduction of Lion. For those of you who've made the 0.2 leap from 10.6.8 (or from further back, actually), we're interested in learning how your overall experience has been. A good move? Still regretting it? What

Microsoft's YouTube channel hacked

2011-10-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's YouTube channel has been hacked by someone who has removed all the software giant's videos and is soliciting subscribers for sponsorships. The background on the channel has been changed to one that includes the title "Predator Cinema," and a message has been posted that says: "I DID NOTHING WRONG I SIMPLY SIGNED INTO MY ACCOUNT THAT I MADE IN 2006 :/" The channel's archived

Apple posts Steve Jobs celebration video

2011-10-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

Following an employees' memorial to its late co-founder, Apple is posting a video recording of the event on its Web site. Apple held the Steve Jobs celebration for its employees at its headquarters and at its retail locations on October 19. The video was visible just a little bit ago, but now the Celebrating Steve page says "Available soon. Please check back later." Former Vice President

'60 Minutes' on Steve Jobs: Hear icon's last pitch

2011-10-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Even if you have no opinion on the Apple co-founder, the man who gave us some of the most culture-changing devices of our times, the show is worth watching. Included in the broadcast are tapes of the hyper-secretive Jobs discussing intimate details of his life and character as well as his impending death with Walter Isaacson, author of the Jobs' biography that goes on sale this week. Jobs died

Mango now flowing to most Windows Phone users

2011-10-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

Mango in action.(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET) Microsoft's Mango update is now fully ripe and available for almost all Windows Phone users. The company confirmed yesterday via its Windows Phone blog that it's now made Mango available to "nearly everyone in the current delivery pool," meaning that Windows Phone 7.5 is being delivered across most of the major carriers in the U.S. and abroad. As one

Android super smartphones: Too much of a good thing?

2011-10-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

If I'm a Droid Bionic owner, I have to be pretty peeved. The Bionic was supposed to be positioned as Verizon Wireless' flagship 4G LTE smartphone--the first with a dual-core processor--when it launched in early September. But its reign barely lasted a month, and following several recent announcements, it may not even rank as the third-best Android phone in Verizon's lineup by November. The

Nokia confines Windows Phone launch to 'select countries'

2011-10-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Nokia is excited about Windows Phone--but rather than a grand global launch, the Finnish company said today it will launch its first phones using Microsoft's mobile operating system only in selected markets this year. Given Nokia's global scale and the Windows Phone's pivotal importance to the company, that measured debut might come as a surprise. But Chief Executive Stephen Elop defended

How can Apple replace Steve Jobs' celebrity? It can't

2011-10-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

The future of Apple's executive leadership continues to be of intense focus to onlookers as the company forges ahead without its late co-founder Steve Jobs in the picture. Apple celebrated Jobs' life yesterday in a private employee tribute filled with executive speeches, live performances by famous musicians, and multi-story banners of Jobs at various points in his life that hung within