Hasta La Gadget!

Physics Professor Klaus Schulten and postdoctoral researcher Juan Perilla are part of a team that used experimental data and computer simulations to determine the precise chemical structure of the HIV capsid.

(Credit: L. Brian Stauffer)

Scientists have been investigating the structure of the HIV capsid for years; the protein shell protects the virus’ genetic material, helps debilitate the infected person’s immune system, and is the target for the development of new antiretroviral drugs. Research teams have turned to a wide range of futuristic-sounding techniques to crack the code, from cryo-electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to cryo-EM tomography and X-ray crystallography.

Now, thanks to a little help from the supercomputer Blue Waters, the mystery finally has been unraveled, according to a research team reporting this week in the journal Nature.

Blue Waters, a relatively new supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a rare breed of petascale supercomputers, which means it can manage one quadrillion floating point operations every second. It was able to piece together the entire HIV capsid — which consists of more … [Read more]

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While the Xbox One is still a number of months from being released, you can now get up close and personal with the console, viewing it from every possible angle. An interactive 3D model of the console has surfaced for you to play with.

The 3D model was built in Sketchfab and lets you move around the Xbox One, its controller and Kinect on all three axes as well as zoom in and out. For the first time, you can really see the proportions between the console and Kinect (which seems downright huge here) and check out all of the connectors on back too. There’s also a mysterious connector on the left side of the console as well. At the end of the day, it’s still just a black box, but you can now get a sense of all of the depth and texture the diagonal ridges add to the console.

You can check out the Xbox One 3D model in the embedded player below, or if you want to see it full-screen, head on over to Sketchfab.

[via Trey Sharp via Kotaku]

Admittedly, this one’s a bit of a snooze, but if you find yourself adding events through Google’s Calendar app on Android, you might give a hoot about these tweaks. First up is a new color tool, which lets you highlight specific appointments and change the color of your entire calendar. Judging by the screenshot above, there are two dozen hues up for grabs, so you’re bound to find one that’s to your liking. There’s also a new date and time picker — functionality hasn’t changed much, but it looks different now. More rounded and playful, you might say. There’s an analog clock, dials and all, for picking the time, and a fairly basic date listing for choosing the date. You can also select the correct time zone by typing in a city name — the app takes care of the rest. You’ll need Android 4.2.1 to take advantage, so if you haven’t yet pulled the trigger on that new handset purchase, you might want to set a date. Using the boring previous-gen Calendar app, of course.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Google, Google Play

Verizon has reportedly confirmed seven devices that will be compatible with its AWS band when it goes live later this year. These devices include BlackBerry Q10 and Nokia Lumia 928 as well.

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A little added interactiveness with living room essentials goes a long way. With that in mind, Comcast today announced it’s boosting its iOS X1 remote control with newly minted voice commands, something the company’s been working on since earlier this year. Xfinity TV subscribers using the X1 platform will now be able to search for content by (quietly) shouting different vocal orders at the application, including, but not limited to, things like “Record,” “Watch Gossip Girl“ or “Find the Yankees game.” While the new feature is only available on iOS at the moment, Comcast says its devs and engineers are “also working on voice control features for Android phones and for traditional remote controls.” The X1 app update doesn’t appear to be live just yet, but be sure to keep an eye on the App Store as it should be arriving pretty soon.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD

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Source: App Store