Jul 23
Jul 23
(Credit: INAH)
Buried for up to 72 million years, one of the world’s largest intact dinosaur tail fossils is now almost fully visible.
Paleontologists from Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) and National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have been brushing away sand and gravel for nearly 20 days, slowly revealing a record 50 connected vertebrae on the 16-foot tail.
The fossil is believed to belong to a hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, though the exact species is still being determined. The remains were reported to the INAH in June 2012, and excavation began earlier this month.
“For the biological study of dinosaurs this finding is important because we will have a sequence that will reveal the characteristics of the vertebrae. How they will be seen differentiating in size depending on their position in the spine,” paleontologist Angel Ramirez Velasco said in a press release.
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Jul 23
Motorola Clears The Pipes With New Verizon Droids – Time For The Google Era To Begin In Earnest
Posted in: Today's Chili
Motorola released a trio of devices today at a special press event for its line of Verizon phones in New York City. The company showed off phones that in many ways resembled their Droid devices of the past, and these keep the Droid branding, too. They’re looking mostly like successors to Razr devices, but with tweaks that could signal what we’ll see now that Google is more directly taking the reins at the company.
The new Droids likely represent the last vestiges of Motorola’s pre- Google acquisition product pipeline, which Google has said repeatedly needed to be worked through before it could get to the devices Google was planning to build with its new hardware division. But it’s not all “out with the old” – there are a few new noteworthy tricks up Motorola’s sleeve with these Droids, and these could be signs of what’s next for the company as Google’s in-house Android device maker.
Chief among those is the Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System, a new 8-core system-on-a-chip that Motorola is customizing based on a Qualcomm processor, instead of just using a standard design. Consider these Motorola Droids both a closing and an opening act, then, ejecting all the dross that’s left over from the company’s previous life, and bringing in the kernel of the new.
The Droid is being promoted with the pomp and circumstance of a flagship line of devices, but it’s key that this is a Verizon event – this is likely a commitment made to Verizon by Motorola long before Google got involved. Don’t expect the Droids to come anywhere close to playing in the same ballpark with Samsung’s Galaxy devices, or maybe even the HTC One. But these Droid devices are definitely worth watching if only for the X8 eight-core mobile SoC, and the features that come with them.
The X8 chip allows touchless control for hands-free operation, an active display that selectively lights up to display just notifications and other features previously leaked in a Moto X demo. The Kevlar involved is also something that the Droids share in common with the Moto X, but I don’t think we’ll see the X as just a rebranded Droid when it’s unveiled next week. For one, they share the Moto X’s patriotic place of manufacturing origin, but without any further details there’s little else to draw on for comparison.
Motorola once had brand leverage through trade names like “Droid” and “Razr” (the latter of which has been notably dropped here) but in recent years those brands haven’t meant much next to more successful rivals like Samsung. X is the future of the brand, and we’ll likely see differences between those devices and the past highlighted over potential similarities
Jul 23
Every day, millions of people enjoy the simple luxury of a blue and grey-clad letter carrier showing up at their house and dropping the day’s mail on their doorstep. But if some Republican lawmakers get their way, this luxury may be short-lived.
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Jul 23
Verizon reveals new Droid accessories, includes SOL Republic headphones, speakers and external batteries (eyes-on)
Posted in: Today's Chili
What do you need after getting your very own Droid Mini / Ultra / Maxx? Why, accessories to go along with them, of course. Big Red introduced a slew of add-ons to accompany the newly announced phones this morning, which include cases from Speck, Incipio and Otterbox, a set of SOL Republic headphones, a SOL Republic Bluetooth speaker and matching 4,000mAh and 2,000mAh external batteries to extend the life of your just procured handsets. The speaker features something called Heist mode, which lets up to five people log on via Bluetooth. Unfortunately that’s all we can share about these for now, as they’ve yet to announce pricing, availability or anything else for that matter. We’ll be sure to share more once we have more information. To get a closer look at some of these accessories, have a peek at our eyes-on gallery below.
Update: We’ve learned that the battery packs have been out for awhile now, and run anywhere from $39.99 to $79.99 depending on desired capacity.
Gallery: Motorola Droid accessories eyes-on
Zach Honig contributed to this report.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Jul 23
A great artist can make beauty out of any medium, no matter how limited. 97-year-old Hal Lasko embodies this concept. Instead of painting with dozens of expensive brushes or high-end software suites, Lasko uses a tool most of us have used and abandoned years ago—Microsoft Paint from Windows 95.
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Jul 23
Computer cloth gets a realism boost.
(Credit: Carnegie Mellon)
Computer-generated graphics for video games have had quite a few challenges thrown at them over the years. Smooth surfaces have gotten pretty darn good, but things like hair, fur, and cloth have been much more difficult to re-create in a realistic fashion. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California at Berkeley, pressed some computers into six months worth of service, all in the name of creating better digital cloth.
It took 4,554 CPU hours to generate 33 gigabytes of data aimed at figuring out the many ways a piece of cloth can move. This research could end up boosting the quality of things like wizard’s robes and superhero capes blowing in the wind in video games. The paper that outlines the results is titled “Near-exhaustive Precomputation of Secondary Cloth Effects.”
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Jul 23
While the last memorable cat in a video game was probably Bubsy, that doesn’t mean cats don’t want to get in on the action. Here’s a fun way for your cat to play a little Super Mario Bros., IRL.
This Super Mario Cat Complex was made by Etsy artist CatastrophiCreations, and is the perfect place for cats named Mario or Luigi to hang out.
The wall-mounted box has a hidden set of portals inside the pipes, and their insides are lined with sisal, which cats just love to climb. The question mark block is made from screen so kitty can see out, though I don’t know if catnip drops out of it when punched.
So skip the scratching post, gather up some gold coins, and head over to Etsy, wher you can pick up the Super Mario Cat Complex for $200(USD).
Jul 23
If you’re anything like us, you’ve been wringing your hands jealously at the few thousand Google Glass-enabled humans wandering around commanding “OK Glass” as their bidding is done. We’d like to say that the solution we’ve found is to give everyone a free set of Google’s latest indulgence, Oprah-style, but that’s not the case — instead, Verizon’s new trio of Droid phones enables very similar voice-powered functionality on its Droid Mini, Ultra and Maxx handsets.
Employing Google’s popular (and delightful) Now app, Droid owners can enact a variety of (unnamed) operations, including waking up the Droid by saying “OK Google Now.” It’s also targeted at folks who are prone to losing their mobiles, as the command, “OK Google Now, call my Droid” will do just that. It’s also possible that people nearby will think you’re a crazy person, but perhaps they already did considering you’re prone to losing such an expensive and important device to your life, eh?
The Verizon-created software enhancements don’t stop there, with the trio also getting “Touchless Controls” and “Active Display”; the duo apparently work together to “let users make calls, send texts, get directions, play music, set a reminder and preview notifications hands-free without having to unlock the phone, giving Droid users a whole new way of interacting with their phones.” All three phones are available for pre-order starting today and arrive at Verizon starting on August 20th (the Mini lands August 29th).
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Software, Mobile, Verizon
Source: Verizon Wireless
Jul 23
With the release of HP’s next-generation workstations in the HP Z230 Tower and SFF, the company brings a combination of compact bodies and energy efficient constructs to keep them current in today’s business environment. The HP Z230 comes in two main configurations, both of them with a set of possible configurations therein. Both units are being pushed at the same time as a series of Z Displays that’ll compliment their next-generation abilities.
The HP SFF (Small Form Factor) works with a body that’s a full 57% smaller than the Tower that shares its name. You’ve got a single 3.5-inch internal bay here, 1x 2.5-inch bay to keep it company inside, and a single internal/external 3.5-inch bay to boot. And just in case you need another, you’ve also got a single external Half-Height 5.25-inch bay as well. Expansion slots on this machine include 1 PCIe Gen3 x16, 1 PCIe Gen2 x4 slot/x16 connector, 1 PCIe Gen2 x1 slot/x4 connector, and 1 PCIe Gen2 x1 slot, the whole lot of the Low Profile.
With the Tower you’ll get six available drive bays, one of which is a versatile 2.5-inch HD bay for high speed solid state drive integration, along with optional external slim ODD bay. This optional bay allows rather easy installation of SSD Hard Drives for quick-changes and expansion. Expansion on this machine includes 1 PCIe Gen3 x16, 1 PCIe Gen2 x4 slot/x16 connector, 1 PCIe Gen2 x1 slot/x4 connector, 1 PCIe Gen2 x1 slot, and 1 PCI 32-bit.
Both of these devices work with 2x USB 3.0 ports up front alongside at least one USB 2.0 port and a headphone out. The Tower adds a single microphone in and a second USB 2.0 Charging Data Port. Both machines have 2 USB 3.0 ports on their back, 4 USB 2.0, and a variety of Display Ports – they’ve both got 1x USB 3.0 inside, these joined by 3 USB 2.0 ports under the hood as well.
The Tower in this family rings in at 15.7 x 6.7 x 17.4 in (39.93 x 17.04 x 44.25 cm) while the SFF is just 3.95 x 13.3 x 15.0 in (10.5 x 33.83 x 38.15 cm). Both work with Intel’s newest Xeon processor E3-1200 v3 family with choices for either 2D or 3D graphics. These units start at $999 USD for quad-core configurations and are expected to be available worldwide inside August of this year.
HP Z230 Tower and SFF Workstation designed for expansion is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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