Jan 02
This robot may not look like much—it is, after all, just a cube—but despite its simple geometry, it’s capable of balancing, jumping, and even walking.
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Jan 02
Samsung Stock Closes Down 4.6%, Cutting $8B Off Its Market Value As Investors Worry
Posted in: Today's Chili
Samsung isn’t off to a great start for 2014 – during its first full day of trading of the new year, it lost 4.6 percent of its stock price value, which amounts to a more than $8 billion drop in market value, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The drop is likely attributable to increasing lack of investor confidence in Samsung’s ability to continue to grow its mobile business.
Outlook for the company’s upcoming quarterly results are good – analysts estimate that they will see an increase in profit derived from their mobile business, which is the big powerhouse at the company when it comes to driving earnings. But that increase will be off the pace from the previous quarter, and the fear is that in general Samsung’s ability to continue to see increasing gains in its mobile business has come to an end.
The problem for Samsung comes from a number of developments in the mobile market over the past year. First, there’s the fact that smartphone penetration at the top-end of the market is now pretty wide-reaching, meaning there’s theoretically much less opportunity to sell high-end devices than there might have been previously.
There’s also ample price pressure making its way into the world of smartphone sales. Google’s Nexus devices continue to set examples for high quality hardware at lower, contract free prices, and now Motorola is also offering extreme value for money with the $179 Moto G, and the just-reduced Moto X at $399, a price drop made permanent earlier this week. To compete with Google and Google-owned Motorola on price, Samsung would inevitably find margins on its products lower than usual since budget devices becoming more important drives down mobile profit overall.
Samsung held a conference designed specifically to address the concerns of analysts and investors back in November last year, where it tried to reassure its backers and market watchers that it had the right plans in place to continue growth. However investors seem unconvinced. Its stock price was mostly flat coming out of that event, and both for the last day of 2013 and now the first day of 2014, price has dipped considerably.
Jan 02
This is how the Great Spiral Galaxy of Andromeda would look in the sky if it were bright enough. Sadly, its light is too faint. But imagine seeing that every night. Would you get tired of it? I know I wouldn’t.
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Jan 02
Last month rumors started to circulate that Asus was working on a new Windows tablet. The rumors claim the device is called the VivoTab Note 8. Along with the name … Continue reading
Jan 02
The fourth annual rankings of the use of social media among world leaders has been published by the Digital Policy Council. The report looks at the number of world leaders … Continue reading
Jan 02
According to reports, LG will be unveiling their webOS-based smart television come CES 2014. One of the unique aspects of the upcoming device would be its cards interface and thanks to a recently leaked photo from the ever-reliable @evleaks, we now know what we might able to expect from LG next week. Pictured above appears to be the upcoming smart TV from LG running the webOS operating system, and true to the rumors, it looks like the cards interface is present and does give off a rather unique and interesting vibe. Considering that smart TVs these days share a somewhat similar interface to smartphones, which we guess is understandable given the experience that most of us have navigating smartphone, this new UI is a big departure in terms of design.
The leaked interface also shows off apps from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, assuming of course these apps will be available and weren’t simply throw in there as mockups. As to how well this interface will perform versus the more traditional look remains to be seen, and it will be interesting to see if LG’s take on the new UI is more function than form. Either way we expect we will learn more come CES 2014, so if you’re interested in seeing what LG’s upcoming smart TV and its new user interface has to offer, check back with us then for the details.
LG webOS TV Cards User Interface Leaked original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jan 02
Depending on where you are living, and depending on which time you are looking at, the PS4 and the Xbox One appear to be outdoing one another, but given that we’re now in 2014, which console is doing better? Well according to a recent report by MCV, it would appear that as far as the UK is concerned, the PS4 is leading the Xbox One in terms of sales. In its first five weeks of sales, the PS4 managed to sell a whopping 530,000 units, versus the Xbox One which managed 364,000 units, giving the PS4 a lead of 166,000 units. In terms of revenue generated by sales, the PS4 managed to nab Sony £181.8 million, while the Xbox One managed earn Microsoft about £144.5 million.
Granted these are pretty big figures and definitely no joke, but for now it does appear that the PS4 is winning. In terms of hardware, both consoles have their differences, although it does not appear that neither console outperforms the other by a considerable margin. Game selection is also fairly even since developers typically release their games on the PS4 and Xbox One, unless of course we are talking about platform exclusives. It is possible that the Xbox One’s higher price (due to the inclusion of the Kinect) could be putting gamers off, but it is still a bit too soon to tell. Perhaps when sales and stocks have been normalized we will be able to get a better picture. After all the Xbox 360 was the best selling console in the US for an extended period of time for a reason, right?
PS4 Leading Xbox One Sales In UK By 166,000 Units original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jan 02
There is always a first time for everything, and when it comes to the folks over at Lenovo, the Lenovo Vibe Z will be the first LTE smartphone from the company which is more famous for their range of notebooks and desktops than anything else. Sure, they have had some smartphones in the past that ran on Intel’s architecture, but those did not really manage to catch on with the crowd. This time around, the Lenovo Vibe Z would join in the ranks of the high end smartphone segment, so it will be interesting to see just what kind of reception it will get when it hits the market later this February. On to the details, then!
First of all, it is best to describe the Lenovo Vibe Z as a gorgeous razor-thin, blazing-fast device that comes with gesture controls, photo enhancement software and various premium technologies. Being the first smartphone from Lenovo that features LTE capabilities, the Vibe Z will be able to deliver data upload at up to 50 Mbit/s and downloads at up to 150 Mbit/s, on paper at least. Playing nice with GSM/UMTS networks up to 2100, other connectivity options will also include 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.
As for the exterior, expect the svelte Vibe Z to arrive in a thin 7.9mm silver or titanium body, where it tips the scales at just 147 grams. The laser-etched, fabric-feel rear cover is a beauty to behold, being comfortable in your hands, while it has a 5.5” Full HD (1920×1080 resolution) IPS wide angle display that boasts of a pixel density of 400 pixels per inch. Underneath the beautiful exterior, you will find a quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor that is able to deliver extreme performance, 2GB RAM, up to 16GB of internal memory, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice, a 13-megapixel shooter at the back and a 5-megapixel camera in front for those video calls and great looking selfies.
The asking price? $549 a pop this February as it debuts first in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.
Company Page
[ Lenovo Vibe Z LTE smartphone launched copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Jan 02
[CES 2014] Gamers are probably well-aware of the brand SteelSeries who are known as a manufacturer of gaming accessories and peripherals, such as headphones, gaming mice, keyboards, and have even sponsored gaming teams, such as DotA 2’s Na’Vi. Now SteelSeries will be teaming up with Tobii, which for those unfamiliar is a company that specializes in eye tracking technology. With SteelSeries and Tobii involved, the end result is an eye-tracking gaming peripheral which they are calling the world’s first mass-market consumer eye-tracking device for gamers. (more…)
Tobii And SteelSeries Team Up For Eye-Tracking Gaming Accessory original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jan 02
The Science of Chocolate
Posted in: Today's ChiliOK, so you’ve spent the last week stuffing your face with the stuff, so now how about learning about it, too? In this video, the Science Show explains everything you need to know about chocolate.
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