Jun 28
NBC News/Marist
6/24-25/12; 1,029 registered voters; 3.1% margin of error
Mode: Live telephone interviews
Jun 28
Supreme Court Health Care Ruling: CNN, Fox News Wrong On Individual Mandate
Posted in: Today's ChiliCNN and Fox News were left with egg on their faces on Thursday, as they got the Supreme Court’s ruling on President Obama’s health care law wrong.
CNN’s congressional correspondent Kate Boulduan read out part of the Court’s ruling, which said that the individual mandate could not be upheld using the Commerce Clause. Disastrously, though, it failed to pick up the other part of the ruling, which said that it could be upheld as a tax.
“Wow, that’s a dramatic moment,” Wolf Blitzer said, as a chyron saying “SUPREME CT. KILLS INDIVIDUAL MANDATE” flashed on the screen.
Jun 28
Thermaltake’s new Black Element Cyclone Gaming Mouse isn’t the first PC gaming accessory to cool a player’s hand during intense FPS battles. But it certainly boasts the laziest fan design. More »
Jun 28
The long-standing belief that dinosaurs were cold-blooded may have been premature, if new research into herbivorous mammals is anything to go by, potentially overturning dino theory. Dinosaurs had long been assumed cold-blooded because bone microstructures identified in fossilized remains showed portions of slowed development also seen in lizards and crocodiles today. However, Nature reports, a new study has discovered that same pattern in warm-blooded animals.
The so-called lines of arrested growth (LAGs) had previously only been spotted in cold-blooded reptiles, usually connected to periods when resources are in short supply. A team led by palaeontologist Meike Köhler at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Bellaterra, Spain, however, found the same LAGs in ruminants across the globe.
The study, published in Nature this week, suggests that slowing down body development is a method of energy conservation shared by warm- and cold-blooded animals, implemented when conditions become harsh.
“LAGs cannot be used as an argument that dinosaurs could not have been endothermic”, Köhler says of the study’s finding. In actual fact, dinosaurs are more likely to have grown rapidly and demonstrate high metabolic rates, the study concludes, with their bone tissue indistinguishable from that endothermic ruminants today.
Dinosaurs are hot say palaeontologists is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jun 28
If you use your smartphone a lot and are looking for a more hassle-free way of using it, then you might want to look into getting a pair of DELTA415 Wearcom pants – jeans that have been specially-tailored for the average smartphone user.
They basically look like every other pair of jeans you have hanging in your closet, except for one thing: its ultra-special pocket with the transparent window, so you can read messages, edit your playlist, and do whatever on your smartphone while it’s still in your pocket.
The pocket fits devices that have dimensions that fit into an an area of 3 by 5 inches. The jeans themselves are available in sizes 28 to 38, which is a bit limited in range, but covers the most popular sizes out there. So if you do have a device that fits in the pocket, and have a waistline that’ll fit the jeans, then lucky you!
Alphyn Industries’ DELTA415 Wearcom jeans are available for $160 (USD) here.
[via Mashable]
Jun 28
Smart HDMI Cables Tell You If You’re Getting an SD, HD, or 4K Signal [Video]
Posted in: Today's Chili
It’s no secret that you don’t have to spend a small fortune on the HDMI cables connecting your home theater gear. But that doesn’t stop Monster from charging hundreds of dollars for its cords, justifying the costs with features like glowing signal indicators. More »
Jun 28
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review: a look at what’s changed in Google’s mobile OS
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Google’s next iteration of Android wasn’t quite the full-point release jump that many of you were perhaps anticipating. Rather than using Google I/O 2012 as the launching pad for Android 5.0, we’re being formally introduced to v4.1 — a mere 0.1 ahead of where Ice Cream Sandwich placed us around six months ago. Aside from grabbing a name change, the minor numerical bump also provides Jelly Bean the opportunity to usher in a few new features for Nexus owners to enjoy.
If you missed yesterday’s keynote, Google revealed that Android 4.1 would arrive on Nexus devices in “mid-July,” but there’s no clear word on when partner companies will begin pushing it to their products. Moreover, pundits are quick to point out the legions of Android products that still haven’t made the leap to 4.0, leaving us to wonder if those Froyo and Gingerbread laggards will simply take the fast track to 4.1 now that it’s (almost) available. Care to see if the latest and greatest will live up to your expectations once it lands in a few weeks? Head on past the break as we discuss some of the larger changes that Jelly Bean has to offer.
Continue reading Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review: a look at what’s changed in Google’s mobile OS
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean review: a look at what’s changed in Google’s mobile OS originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jun 28
Jun 28
Ready for some more LCD monitors from Acer? The company has taken the wraps off additional entries into the V5 series, bringing the total number of monitors up to six. The three new sizes on offer include 18.5-inches, 20-inches, and 23-inches. Acer say that the V5 series is perfect for those who don’t have a lot of room to play with, and you’ll find all the usual array of ports.
The V195HQL 18.5-inch model comes with a 1366×768 resolution, response time of 5ms, and includes VGA and DVI ports. The DVI port also supports HDCP, so you can feed the monitor with a signal from a set top box or Blu-ray player without content protection kicking in. The V205HL, meanwhile, comes with a 1600×900 resolution, and the V235HL steps it up to 1920×1080.
All the monitors come with a 100 million:1 dynamic contrast ratio, but Acer didn’t provide real world numbers. Brightness is said to be 250 cd/m2, and viewing angles come in at 170 degrees for the horizontal and 160 degrees for the vertical planes. Power consumption varies between the three models, with the monitors consuming between 0.28W and 0.51W when off, and 16.5W and 28.2W when active.
There’s no word on when you’ll be able to pick up these new models, or how much they’ll cost either, but keep an eye out if they sound like a good fit.
Acer adds three new monitors to V5 LCD series is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jun 28
Apple has opened its purse and swiftly paid the $2.6m bond required to block sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US, after a court granted a preliminary injunction against the Android slate. The bond – a drop in the ocean given Apple’s current financial status – will be subject to forfeit to Samsung should the injunction be subsequently deemed improper. However, Samsung has requested that the block on sales be held off until its appeal can be heard.
Samsung’s argument is that it is likely to have Apple’s complaints thrown out when its appeal is heard, suggesting that the preliminary injunction will not only damage its relationship with carriers in the US, but that the public will be negatively impacted as well. The request for a stay is limited only until Samsung’s request to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to admit additional evidence has been heard, where the company will argue that it has further examples of why Apple’s allegations are unfounded, but which were not considered by Judge Lucy Koh who granted the preliminary injunction.
Whether that is granted remains to be seen. Samsung is pushing for an expedited decision on Friday this week, while Apple would have preferred until Monday to ready its counter-arguments; there’s still the possibility that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will not accept Samsung’s new evidence, in which case the company might struggle to prevent the injunction for the moment.
As for the actual impact of the ruling on Samsung’s business in the US, that could be mixed. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has already been superseded by the newer Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, but the LTE versions of the original model are still available through US carriers. Samsung could tweak them aesthetically them to bypass the design patent Apple alleges has been infringed, but that would introduce a delay in sales and, in the end, might not be considered an efficient use of time when the model is already old.
[via FOSSPatents]
Apple coughs up $2.6m to block Samsung tablet sales is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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