If you ever wondered why blueprints were blue and not black or red or white or brown or any other color than blue, well, it’s not because architects really like the color but because the technique in making blueprints caused the paper to turn blue. More »
NEW YORK — President Barack Obama on Thursday gave a spirited and funny speech at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner in Manhattan, an evening hosted by the Archdiocese of New York and attended by many of the nation’s most prominent Catholic citizens and clergy. Both presidential candidates have traditionally attended the dinner and given lighthearted speeches, and neither Obama nor Mitt Romney disappointed audiences Thursday.
There was one moment, however, that few people expected — a deadpan joke from the president.
“Of course, the economy’s on everybody’s minds,” Obama began. “The unemployment rate is at its lowest level since I took office.” Here, typically, audiences might have expected a funny line. Instead, Obama looked dead-serious. “I don’t have a joke here,” he said. “I just thought it would be useful to remind everybody that the unemployment rate is at the lowest it’s been since I took office. And we’re getting to that time when folks are making up their minds.”
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A display expert has refuted Microsoft’s claim that the Surface RT display is sharper than the iPad. This denouncement comes after Raymond Soneira, President of DisplayMate Technologies, compared the technology used by the two devices. According to him, it is “very unlikely that [the Surface] will turn out to be visually sharper than the new iPad 3.”
The comparison was made using an Asus netbook that uses a ClearType 768p display, which Soneira feels is comparable to the upcoming Surface’s display, and the iPad 2 and 3. The results? The Windows ClearType display in the netbook was “significantly sharper” than the iPad 2′s display, but “significantly less sharp” than the iPad 3′s.
The comparison was performed by displaying the New York Times website on the iPad 2, iPad 3, and Asus netbook. The text on each display was then compared and contrasted. Each display had the same height, reducing any edge one display may have had over another. Soneira acknowledged that the Surface’s display could end up being sharper than the Asus display used in the comparison.
Microsoft’s ClearType display utilizes sub-pixel rendering, while the iPad display uses standard pixel rendering. Says Soneira, red, green, and blue pixels are treated as independent image elements in sub-pixel rendering, rather than being smooshed together into specific pixels in standard rendering. Sub-pixel rendering can “make the screen appear to have up to 3 times the resolution” in comparison with standard rendering.
This comes after a claim by Microsoft engineer Steven Bathiche that the Surface RT’s display, which has a 148ppi 1366×768 display, is sharper than the iPad 3′s 264ppi 2048×1536 display. Said Bathiche, “Doing a side by side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the iPad with more resolution.” While Soneira doubts that the Surface RT’s display will trump the iPad 3, he says that the Surface Pro, with a 208ppi 1920×1080 ClearType display, might have a shot.
[via Apple Insider]
Expert says Microsoft Surface display isn’t sharper than the iPad is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
WAUSAU, Wis. — Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Tommy Thompson sold his stock in companies that do business with Iran on Thursday, after The Huffington Post reported his significant investments.
Thompson’s revelation came during his debate against Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon Center for Civic Engagement on Thursday night. Thompson has accused Baldwin of being too soft on Iran during their bitter campaign for Wisconsin’s open Senate seat.
“I didn’t know about the fact that my stockbroker had purchased two shares, two company’s stocks. I sold it. I sold it today,” said Thompson, when Baldwin brought up the issue. The audience reacted audibly in surprise. “I do not — I found out today, and I sold it today. I do not tolerate — I do not agree with anybody doing business with Iran — none whatsoever.”
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In the fast moving world of smartphones, giant HD displays just aren’t enough anymore. The new hot commodity in the land of mobile is “HD Voice.” Sure, the technology isn’t exactly brand new, but using it over post-3G high speed networks is. The selling point here is high quality noise cancellation, which allows a phone’s user to be heard clearly in the noisiest of environments. The latest device to hop on the bandwagon is Sony’s Xperia T. When describing this feature, the herculean consumer electronics maker got downright emotional saying, “you feel closer to the person you are talking to.” While we’re not too sure about that, HD Voice did impress during our ears-on session. The major caveat here is that this feature requires that both parties have HD Voice capable handsets. So, until this concept becomes more mainstream, Xperia T owners’ phone calls are likely to be close, but no cigar.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Bring the noise! Sony confirms HD Voice support for Xperia T originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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McDonald’s french fries are so incredibly addicting that they can’t be from this world, right? Wrong! Check out how McDonald’s makes its delicious french fries in the video above, you’ll see the farms the potatoes grow on, the massive machinery used to break them down and the good ol’ fashioned frying that makes ’em pop. I can smell the fries through YouTube. More »
The Republican nominee for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat, state Treasurer Josh Mandel, was booed at the second debate Thursday evening after telling his Democratic opponent, Sen. Sherrod Brown, to “calm down.”
The contentious, hour-long debate also featured Mandel calling Brown “a liar.” The “calm down” outburst came after Brown exceeded his time limit answering a question on trade practices, prompting a warning from the moderator and an apology from Brown. Mandel pounced.
“Calm down, Senator, calm down,” Mandel said, bringing boos from the audience.
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On Wednesday, Apple released a Mac update for Lion and Mountain Lion that strips all Mac browsers of the Java plugin, another move in the company’s effort to distance itself from Oracle’s Java software. Once the update is installed, users presented with Java content will see a placeholder that reads “Missing Plug-in.” After which point, users can then download the plug-in directly if desired.
Earlier this year, Apple had a bit of battle going on with the Flashback malware that threatened OS X users by exploiting a vulnerability in Java. In April, the company was forced to release a second software update for Lion 10.7 to solve the problem. Previously, Apple ceased including pre-installed version of Java in its OS, and then later released an update that disabled Java if it hadn’t been used in a certain period of time.
This isn’t the first time Java has come under fire for its vulnerabilities. Oracle’s software framework is one of the most exploited pieces of software you can run, and Oracle has been forced to address vulnerabilities in the recent past. One of the latest examples happened back in August, when exploits were produced and released for Java 1.7, forcing Oracle to cobble together a patch.
According to the Apple Support page, this update is for OS X 10.7 and later. In addition to stripping browsers of the Java plug-in, it also removes the Java Preferences application, which it says is not required for applet setting configuration. Some tech experts recommended that you disable Java if you don’t use it, thusly reducing the odds of your machine being infiltrated.
[via Engadget]
Apple removes Java from OS X browsers with Mac update is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Though it looks like a weapon from a generic machines vs man sci-fi movie, the Mine Kafon is actually a genius landmine clearer. Designed by Massoud Hassani, all you have to do is push the tentacle ball into a field of landmines and it can trigger mines to safely explode. More »
Galaxy has introduced a new graphics card to its line-up, the MDT GeForce GT 610. Adopting the multi-display technology (1 card 4 displays), the card is packed with 48 CUDA Cores, a 64-bit memory interface, a core clock of 810MHz, a shader clock of 1620MHz and a 1GB of DDR3 memory set @ 1000MHz, and features 2x DMS59 outputs (supports up to 4 displays using 2x DMS59 to Dual DVI cables). Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing yet. [Galaxy]
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