Hasta La Gadget!

In the SF Bay Area, the cities of San Mateo and San Carlos have announced the deployment of their network of sensors aimed at helping drivers find parking spots with ease thanks to the Parker app (by Streetline Inc). Parker helps user find available parking spots, and the overall idea is to make parking more efficient, whether it is for users, or for the city.

In cities like the ones above (and Los Angeles), users can see parking availability in near-realtime, and drivers can head to a parking with a good level of confidence that parking spots are available. Streetline Inc executives were pointing out that car parking was one of the area that had seen very little progress when compared to other services. “It has not changed in 80 years”, they said. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Solar Impulse Plans To Fly Around The World, Formula E Championship Goes To Rome,

This morning we’re seeing the Nexus re-approach in the form of a Nexus 7 subsidized by a newspaper as well as a fresh Nexus 4 stock for the UK. The AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III will be getting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean this week via Kies – see how right this minute! Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for Android and iOS has been teased once more, with full-on screenshots for your chomping-on.

Microsoft is bringing on another Xbox 360 packaging, this time fully prepared for the holidays with Training on its mind. Apple has once again filed a patent application for wireless iPhone charging. The Amazon Lovefilm service has been launched for Nintendo Wii.

Facebook Messanger has been re-released without need for Facebook – allowing you to register with just your name and cell-phone number. Meanwhile Facebook has been working with a Sponsored Stories settlement offer, this being found to have “no obvious deficiencies” by a judge this week. Facebook Messenger has also been released for Firefox believe it or not.

Don’t forget your Sean John video sweater for that perfect Christmas gift. Velocity Micro has revealed a brand new Edge AIO computer for the future of touch on your desktop. The folks at Nokia have sold their Espoo, Finland headquarters this week, but are now renting it back – imagine that! Don’t forget to check out our Verizon iPad mini 4G review as well!

SlashGear Morning Wrap-up: December 4, 2012 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Plucky space spider Nefertiti, nicknamed “Spidernaut” after accompanying astronauts on a 100-day trip to the International Space Station, has died shortly after her return to Earth. On show at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since Thursday last week, the museum confirmed the intrepid explorer had been found dead earlier this week, as Insect Zoo staff completed a pre-opening check of the department.

Thankfully, the museum says that Nefertiti’s death wasn’t spider suicide triggered by post-return depression, but instead from natural causes. The phidippus johnsoni species – known as the redback jumping spider – can life for up to a year, in general, though the spidernaut was a spritely 10 months old.

“Jumping spiders have very good vision that they use to track and stalk prey. Unlike orb weavers, the jumping spider does not spin a web to capture food. Jumping spiders are hunters. They move around during the day seeking prey. Once it visually identifies prey, it may stalk it for some distance prior to catching it. Once the jumping spider is within close proximity of its prey, it will secure a drag line using its silk and then jump with great speed onto the prey securing it with a lethal bite. The drag line acts as a safety harness in case the spider should miss its target and fall. This experiment seeks to determine if the jumping spider alters its predation technique in a microgravity environment” SpaceLab experiment overview

“The loss of this special animal that inspired so many imaginations will be felt throughout the museum community” the museum wrote. “The body of Neffi will be added to the museum’s collection of specimens where she will continue to contribute to the understanding of spiders.”

Putting the spider into orbit had been the suggestion of a team of students, investigating the effects of microgravity on arachnids. A report from space by Suni Williams earlier this year described how Nefertiti – along with fellow spidernaut Cleopatra – was acclimatizing to life in space, with no apparent issues capturing prey.

[via Smithsonian]

Spidernaut Nefertiti dies after space hunting experiment is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

News Corporation’s iPad-exclusive digital newspaper, The Daily, may have went the way of the dodo, but UK-based The Times seems to be staying alive with a new offer that will hopefully get more paying subscribers on board. The newspaper is offering a 32GB version of the Nexus 7 for only £50 if you buy 18 months worth of a £4-per-week subscription.

The subscription will get you access to the full site, as well as the mobile apps, but you can also bump up your subscription to include the physical newspapers if you want. The subscription alone would cost you £300, but if it’s worth getting a Nexus 7 for 75% off, we don’t see what the problem is, especially if you actually plan on using the subscription and getting all your money’s worth.

The Times, which is one of the only major UK newspapers to keep its content behind a paywall, offers three different types of subscriptions. The Digital Pack is their basic plan at £4 per week, and it gives you access to the full site, as well as tablet and smartphone apps. The Classic Pack costs £6 per week, and that gives you physical copies of the paper, access to the full site, and access to the smartphone app. The Ultimate Pack costs £8 per week, and that comes with everything, including access to the tablet app.

If you were already planning on getting a subscription to The Times, we can’t think of a good enough reason not to take the deal and run while you still can. The Nexus 7 is one of the most popular Android tablets on the market right now, and for good reason. It comes packing with Jelly Bean, and a beautiful 7-inch display with a 720p resolution.

[via Android Community]

The Times offering subsidized Nexus 7 32GB for £50 with purchase of subscription is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google has promised fresh Nexus 4 stock for the UK from 5pm local time today, though supplies of the Android 4.2 handset are expected to go fast. The official Google smartphone will be put on sale through the Play store in just a few hours time, according to an email sent to would-be buyers in the UK who had registered for availability details, priced from £239 SIM-free and unlocked.

Sales of the Nexus 4 began in the UK on November 13, but supplies were exhausted within around thirty minutes time. More frustrating was the general unresponsiveness of the Play store itself, with Google seemingly unprepared for the amount of interest in the new phone.

Users complained of payment processes that would not work properly, baskets that would inadvertently empty with no warning, and sluggish responsiveness in general. The fiasco was then repeated when US sales of the Nexus 4 began.

Thus followed several weeks of no availability, barring more expensive carrier-subsidized deals. Some new stock appeared in the US Play store in late November, but again quickly sold out, and the next estimated shipping date slipped into 2013.

So, if you want to bag a Nexus 4 in the UK before Christmas, it’s probably worth crossing your fingers while you click refresh on the Play store. Find out more on the Nexus 4 in our full review.

Fresh Nexus 4 stock due in UK Play store at 5pm GMT is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.