Hasta La Gadget!

You have to love the boy and girl icons.

(Credit: Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Sometimes my CNET handlers like to challenge me. Or perhaps they’re sending me a discreet message.

Today, for example, one of my knowing leash-pullers sent me details of an app he thought might interest me.

I took one look and wondered what he might have meant, for this was not something I would ever Pinterest.

You see, I now have set indelibly in my mind that there exists an app called STD Triage.

I know you’re already slightly ahead of me in understanding what service this app might offer. For it aims to lift the embarrassment from your need to know right now where you’ve been.

The idea is that you photograph your fears and discomforts. Next, they are reviewed within 24 hours by a licensed dermatologist.

About 20 million Americans a year discover they have contracted a sexually transmitted disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us (PDF). But the CDC has also noted (PDF) that STDs are a “hidden epidemic,” with many people being too sheepish to report infection.

With STD Triage, your anonymity is guaranteed — but, of course. Moreover, when … [Read more]

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Stratasys, an Israeli-based 3D printer and additive manufacturer has just agreed to acquire 3D printing company MakerBot for a proposed amount of $403 million in stock. They’ve announced a “definitive merger agreement” where MakerBot would converge with a subsdiary of Stratasys in a stock-for-stock transaction. After selling more than 22,000 3D printers since its inception in 2009, MakerBot is seen as a leader and pioneer in the 3D printing space, and about 11,000 of those sales were due to the Replicator 2 alone. MakerBot will operate as a separate entity with its own branding and marketing as part of the deal, and will provide an affordable 3D printing market for Stratasys. If all goes well with the regulators, it should be done by the third quarter of 2013.

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It’s often been rumored that Microsoft had an eye on Nokia’s handset business. It made perfect sense for both companies — one a struggling pioneer of the mobile industry and the other a struggling stalwart from the first wave of smartphones. According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, the two were actually quite close to striking a deal and were having “advanced talks” in London as recently as this month. But, according to the all-too-familiar “people familiar with the matter,” those talks have broken down. Those same sources say it was Microsoft that walked away from the table over concerns about Nokia’s asking price, especially in light of its continued failure to put a significant dent in Apple and Samsung’s market share. Though it seems like dreams of a Microsoft-Nokia merger are dead for the moment, don’t expect the disagreement to severely affect the duo’s partnership. Nokia is still reliant on Microsoft’s help to stand out in the market and Microsoft needs the Finnish manufacturer to keep pumping out flagship handsets with Windows Phone on them.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

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Source: Wall Street Journal

While the Curiosity rover is chugging along on the surface of Mars, NASA is making other discoveries from samples taken from other Mars rovers. This time around, looking at rock samples from NASA’s Spirit rover, scientists have discovered that Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere some four billion years ago, which was long before when Earth

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Microsoft’s next game console, the Xbox One, is perhaps best known for its complex used game system and once-per-24-hour online check-in requirement. Today, Microsoft is rolling back those policies, and the company took to its Xbox blog to explain. “I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360,” Xbox head Don Mattrick writes. He then states:

“An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.”

Mattrick further explains that this is a direct response to gamer outcry. “Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback. I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One,” he says. Further, he confirms that Xbox One games will be region-free, and that disc-based games will have to be kept in the disc tray rather than ripped to the console and played digitally (a previously touted Xbox One feature).

Though the One’s down a couple features — Mattrick specifically says, “These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One” — it sounds like gamers won this round.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Source: Xbox Wire