Apr 16
One thing that has been common to all platforms for the incredibly popular game Minecraft is that you had to download the game to play it. Minecraft hasn’t been offered … Continue reading
Apr 16
Enough teases. Enough hints. We’ve been waiting months for some real, honest-to-Blob mutant action from X-Men: Days of Future Past. Finally, in the last trailer before the movie finally comes out, we get more than we ever could have hoped for. Snikt!
Apr 16
No, this is not a deleted scene or an abandoned set from a science fiction movie.
Posted in: Today's Chili
No, this is not a deleted scene or an abandoned set from a science fiction movie. But you’re not far off. Actually, this colorful structure is the 50m tall, 1000-ton mobile launch gantry for ESA’s Vega launcher in French Guiana, as seen from the bottom looking up, captured by photographer Edgar Martins. [ESA]
Apr 16
A Japanese court-appointed administrator is now in control of Mt. Gox following an unsuccessful attempt to save the business. The Bitcoin exchange filed for bankruptcy in February after losing 850,000 Bitcoins, though it later found around a quarter…
Apr 16
Google has been showing off its Project Ara modular smartphone in a lot more detail over the past few days, likely because it’s also hosting a developer conference for the device this week. Ara uses interchangeable modules to deliver a smartphone that can be whatever a user wants it to be, complete with first- and third-party components including sensors, cameras, radio antennas and more.… Read More
Apr 16
Apple online stores in several more countries have been updated with a new version of the iPhone 5C smartphone. That new version is the iPhone 5C 8GB and it is … Continue reading
Apr 16
Move over Segway, there’s a new stand-up personal transporter in town. Or there will be come August when the first machines are scheduled to ship to Kickstarter backers. More than 200 users of the crowdfunding website have pledged funds to Me-Mover, a Danish project to rethink the bike as a stand-up exerciser on wheels. Read More
Apr 16
OnePlus One will cost under $400, £290 / €350 in US, UK and Europe (updated)
Posted in: Today's Chili
It’s just seven days until OnePlus launches its first Android flagship, but that hasn’t stopped the company drip-feeding news about the device. Surprisingly, the outfit promises that the unit will cost under £290 in the UK, €350 in Europe and…
Apr 16
The Pentagon has plans to breath new life into old drones, and they will do so by transforming these once loyal servants into Wi-Fi hotspots. Of course, using drones as a Wi-Fi hotspot is not exactly the newest idea on the block, and neither does it elicit an “Eureka!” moment, but it is interesting to see how this might change the face of battle in a war. Normally, the equipment that is required for long-range high-bandwidth Wi-Fi is more often than not unavailable to troops in the field. With some modifications made, engineers do hope that this will change, offering airborne Wi-Fi hotspots which allows isolated troops to have a decent data connection.
This does seem to be pretty much in vein with that of Facebook’s initiative to deliver their Connectivity Lab idea to the world, blanketing even remote areas with Wi-Fi connectivity, although critics of this program have (justifiable) fears that such drones could be the weak point when it comes to security.
On the flipside, if this program takes off successfully (pun not intended), then troops on the battlefield will be able to gain access to a secure, stable and fast internet connection. Dick Ridgway, Darpa programme manager shared, “We’re pleased with the technical achievements we’ve seen so far in steerable millimetre-wave antennas and millimetre-wave amplifier technology. These successes – and the novel networking approaches needed to maintain these high-capacity links – are key to providing forward deployed units with the same high-capacity connectivity we all enjoy over our 4G cell-phone networks.”
The initial phases of this particular drone transformation program would include smaller, steerable antennas; signal boosters; increased power efficiency and a light pod that will allow the device to be carried without burdening the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) itself. It is said that this network could very well hit the 1 gigabit per-second (Gb/s) capacity, making it as fast as Google Fiber’s. Tweets and Facebook updates directly from the battlefield, yo!
Source
[ Pentagon To Recycle Old Drones As Wi-Fi Hotspots copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Apr 16
Is Moore’s Law Dying?
Posted in: Today's ChiliMoore’s Law—the observation that the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years—had held true for 40 years. But can engineers keep up that rate of progress?
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