Jan 29
In a match that seems made in heaven, Internet radio and recommendation service Last.fm has gone into a partnership with music streaming service Spotify. Together the two companies aim to … Continue reading
Jan 29
Nintendo is taking a lot of heat at the moment, namely due to the poor performance of the Wii U which has many, investors, fans, gamers, worried about the company’s future. Well it looks like Nintendo has a new plan for 2015-2016 and that is to release a new platform. This seems to be in line with the rumors that we have heard on how Nintendo could be prepping new consoles, but if you were thinking that their new platforms are for gaming, think again. According to The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata announced that they will be exploring a new platform that will be health-related, not game related.
With the market already flooded with wearable technology, such as smartwatches, fitness bands, and so on, Nintendo will instead be headed in the opposite direction with “non-wearables” that will help to monitor your health. For those wondering what on earth are non-wearables, Iwata stated that they will be sharing additional details about their new business later on during the year of 2014, and will launch it for the fiscal year through March 2016. This is an interesting approach and it looks like Nintendo could be branching out of the games industry into something else. Will this work out for them? We guess we will just have to wait and see.
Nintendo’s Plans For The Future Could Be Health Related original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jan 29
So remember how I said writers might soon be replaced by machines? Apparently, it’s already happening. A PhD student at MIT has created an artificial intelligence capable of analyzing the work of famous poets and creating new works which could have been written by said poets.
Jan 29
Sure the constant bzz bzz buzz of a drone would get annoying. And of course the invasion of privacy thing is a little bit of a concern. But man, it sure looks fun to see all your life’s exploits get recorded from the angle of the all seeing eye of the drone. Just watch this video captured with a Cinedrone by Antimedia. Life never looked so fun.
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Jan 29
Is driving with Google Glass the same as talking on the phone, or texting while driving? While it would seem that the courts dismissed the ticket a woman in California got while driving with Google Glass would have set some kind of legal precedent, it seems that there are still many out there who aren’t enamored by the idea of someone wearing Google Glass while on the road. A new bill introduced by the Wyoming Senator, Floyd Esquibel, aims at banning the use of Google Glass and all other wearable computers during the operation of a vehicle.
According to Esquibel, “Common sense would tell you that you really don’t need to look at a little computer while driving, that it endangers you, your passengers and other drivers.” It would also seem that Wyoming is not alone in looking to ban the use of wearable computers while operating a vehicle. States such as Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia have reportedly expressed their interest in a similar ban as well. This kind of resistance is to be expected when introducing new technology as its uses and purpose have yet to be fully fleshed out. Perhaps down the line the ban could be lifted if Google’s self-driving cars ever get commercialized, but in the meantime what do you guys think? Do you agree with this ban?
Seven States Look To Ban Google Glass On The Road original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jan 29
The Nintendo Wii U is not doing very well at the moment. According to the latest figures, Nintendo only managed to sell 2.4 million Wii U units in the last 9 months, a number which was dwarfed by the likes of Sony and Microsoft who sold just as many, if not more, of their next-gen consoles in a much shorter time span. It was to the point where Nintendo executives agreed to take pay cuts as an apology of sorts for the company’s poor performance. That being said, what’s wrong with the Wii U that is causing it to not sell well? According to Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata, he believes that not catering enough for children could be the reason.
Speaking to a Japanese newspaper (translated by Cubed3), Iwata felt that Nintendo was not targeting children enough with the Wii U, unlike the Nintendo 3DS which has been doing pretty well for itself. This is likely due to the diverse range of software available for the 3DS and probably the way the Wii U has been marketed as well, which Iwata feels has strayed too far from the kids demographic. Iwata has mentioned that Nintendo is exploring new strategies which he will be sharing with the public in the near future. In the meantime what do you guys think? Is not targeting kids one of the reasons the Wii U is failing?
Not Targeting Children Could Be Why The Wii U Is Failing original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jan 29
Good news gamers! If you have been looking forward to getting Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U, you might be interested to learn that Nintendo has officially announced that the game will be making its way onto the console in May. Previously it was reported that the game along with Super Smash Bros. would see a release in Spring, but we guess we’ve got a more concrete date at the moment, although a specific release date has yet to be given. However given that gamers have been waiting a long time for the game, we guess a few more months of waiting can’t hurt.
Unfortunately Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata did not mention as to which region the May launch date might apply to. For all we know the game could see a release in Japan first, or Europe first, or US first, before it makes its way onto other markets, but hopefully more details will be revealed in the coming weeks and months. Mario Kart 8 is probably one of the more highly anticipated titles coming to the Wii U. If there is one criticism that the Wii U has faced is its lack of games compared to other consoles, and hopefully with more first-party releases like Mario Kart 8, perhaps things will start to turn around for Nintendo.
Mario Kart 8 For Wii U Will Be Released In May original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jan 29
Google today sold Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion. While many speculated that Google would release phones after it bought Motorola in 2011, it didn’t happen — Motorola remained a partner like other Android OEMs. Recently, Google acquired Nest, and TechCrunch has learned that Google has big plans for the team behind the connected device company.
Google will keep the Nest group intact inside the company. The new division will still work on hardware devices, but not necessarily thermostats or smoke detectors. In fact, Google would like Fadell to work on gadgets that make more sense for the company. Will it be a phone or a tablet? It’s unclear for now.
While Nest first became popular with its thermostats, Google didn’t buy the company for these devices. First and foremost, the company wanted to snatch the great product team.
Nest founder and CEO Tony Fadell used to work for Apple on the iPod and was a founding member of the iPhone development team. Many people working in hardware consider him one of the best executives that understand both hardware and software — he is comfortable working at the intersection of the two.
Moreover, Fadell managed to attract great Apple engineers when he started working on Nest. They wanted to follow Fadell’s plans and were good engineers. And that’s exactly what Google was looking for when it acquired Nest.
When it comes to budget, Google is willing to let the Nest team use as many resources as it needs. In other words, the company is getting serious about consumer hardware, and Motorola was just a false start.
Google will keep Motorola’s patents, and it seems pretty clear now that Google only wanted that from the get-go.
Acquiring Nest and selling Motorola now make more sense when you put these two things side by side. Something was missing with Motorola. With Nest, Google finally has the right team and mindset to create and produce gadgets.
Jan 29
This article was written on September 14, 2007 by CyberNet.
Google most certainly has a fascination with the space beyond the atmosphere of the Earth. After all, they recently launched the new addition to Google Earth called Google Sky (a virtual telescope), and they routinely work closely with NASA on various projects. Now they’re getting involved in outer-space another way, through a robotic race to the moon which they’re sponsoring called Google Lunar X Prize. The winner of the race will receive a whopping $20 million dollar prize with a $5 million dollar second prize, and $5 million in bonus prizes.
Getting a robot to the moon is no easy task, and Google along with the X Prize Foundation realize this. That’s why the first place prize can be awarded anytime between now and December 31st, 2012 – over 5 years from now. To obtain the first place prize, a team "must successfully soft land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon, rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters, and transmit a specific set of video, images, and data back to Earth." If no one is able to accomplish that task before the given date, the award will drop to $15 million until December 31st, 2014 when the contest would end.
After Google announced the race to the moon, Gearlog sat down with Google co-founder Larry Page to ask him about visiting space. He was asked if the race would be a "fulfillment of childhood fantasies" to which Page responded that he’d love to go to space. He said "I think everyone wants to go into space… if it’s easy, efficient, and affordable." Page was also asked how Google could contribute to this race other than sponsoring it, and he said "Our engineers are really excited about this. They put up this Moon product; you can see the old Apollo data really well, and that’s just great – as our technologists get excited about things…"
It makes sense now why Google launched a new version of Google Moon without the cheese. Remember the cheese? Not too long ago Google’s sense of humor was found on the surface of the moon. If you zoomed it as far as you could – this is what you’d see:
No joking anymore! Getting to the moon is serious business now, and Google along with the X Prize Foundation are hoping that this international competition will end up introducing us to low-cost ways of getting robots into space for exploration. As XPGeek said in the forum, the last time we were at the moon was "almost 40 years ago. That’s the farthest we have gone, and we haven’t been back since." I think it’s about time, don’t you?
Source: Reuters
Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com
Jan 29
The crew of Apollo 1, which caught fire on January 27, 1967, killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.
(Credit: NASA)
NASA said Wednesday that it is planning to celebrate a day of remembrance for its fallen astronauts on Friday.
In a release, the space agency said that it will commemorate astronauts who died in the ill-fated Apollo 1, and Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia missions.
NASA said that the day of remembrance will honor “members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery.”
The crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which exploded just after liftoff on January 28, 1986.
(Credit: NASA)
On January 27, 1967, a fire erupted in the Apollo 1 capsule as astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were still on the launch pad. All three were killed. “The investigation into the fatal accident,” according to NASA, “led to major design and engineering changes, making the Apollo spacecraft safer for the coming journeys to the moon.”
On January 28, 1986, a mere 73 seconds after liftoff, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded whe… [Read more]
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