Hasta La Gadget!

We wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of Mail.ru — after all, it’s huge in Russia, but not in the US. In an effort to carve out a space for itself in America, the company has launched a trio of products under its US-based My.com brand (no, not Me.com), including an Android and iOS email client called myMail. Its clean looks and features are reminiscent of the Dropbox-owned Mailbox app, and it includes real-time notifications and a slide-out menu. myMail takes things further, however, by adding avatars and an auto-night mode that disables pings during times you specify. Next on the list is an IM app named myChat that also offers free voice and video calls à la Viber and Tango.

Both of the aforementioned services are free, but My.com aims to subsidize the costs of running them with revenue from its new mobile gaming portal called myGames. Its roster of games is looking short at the moment, but titles range from Texas Hold ‘Em to combat strategy and farm simulation. Obviously, the company’s facing some very tough competition, and it needs to claw its way up to earn significant name recognition stateside — a feat even its acquisition of ICQ couldn’t help it accomplish.

Filed under: Misc, Mobile

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Via: TheNextWeb

Source: myMail, myChat, myGames

It sure is good that Microsoft’s Xbox One controller doesn’t have a “Share” button dedicated to pushing live broadcasts of gameplay to the internet, because that functionality is being delayed beyond the console’s November 22nd launch date. Microsoft confirmed as much this morning in a cursory footnote in a larger piece about the Twitch.tv app, which reads, “We are working to ensure the initial Twitch on Xbox One broadcasting experience meets the expectations of the Twitch community.” It sounds like, as it stands now, broadcasting via Xbox One isn’t up to snuff for release.

“While this feature won’t be available right away, we’ll let you know as soon as it is ready,” the note continues. “Our goal is to deliver it during the first part of 2014.” We’ve yet to use the Xbox One’s broadcasting since first hearing about it during the console’s debut event last May. To be clear, the Twitch.tv app is different from the ability to broadcast gameplay through Twitch.

In addition to the delay news, Microsoft released a video of Twitch.tv’s app in action, which enables viewing of gameplay broadcasts (it’s below the break). Hilariously, this will allow Xbox One players to watch live gameplay from other game platforms, just not the one they’re using. Womp womp.

Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Source: Xbox Wire

In the race to create a better battery, scientists have gazed longingly at silicon, prized for its ability to hold copious energy during charging. The material has a significant drawback, however: it likes to expand during said charging, causing it to eventually crack and become useless. However, scientists at Stanford’s SLAC laboratory have developed silicon electrodes that repair themselves, inspired by — of all things — the latest research into robotic skin. They created a silicon polymer with weak chemical bonds which attract each other when the material cracks, allowing it to regain its shape in a few hours (as pictured above). The team managed a respectable 100 discharge cycles with a battery that used the material, a promising start but still far from their goal of 3,000 cycles for an electric vehicle. You can add that to the growing pile of promising battery tech that may amount to something, some day — but at least the odds keep getting better.

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Alt

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Via: Forbes

Source: Nature

Remember that Apple / PrimeSense deal that was rumored to be going down in July? It may have just gone through: according to Israeli news source Calcalist, Cupertino acquired the motion sensing technology firm for $345 million this weekend. If true, it could hint at future Apple products with natural, motion controlled interfaces, integrating the same kind of technology that PrimeSense used to help Microsoft build the first Kinect. In a statement to the TheNextWeb, PrimeSense refers to the report as a “recycled rumor,” saying only that it “does not comment on what any of our partners, customers or potential customers are doing.” According to the report, Apple is hounding after the motion sensing tech to improve Apple TV, noting that the original deal was delayed due to legal issues. Hungry for more? Brush up on your Hebrew and check out the source link below – but keep your salt shaker handy.

Filed under: Misc, Apple

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Source: Calcalist, TheNextWeb

Despite recent successes in the field, creating a quantum computer is really hard. For one thing quantum bits in a super positioned state (or qubits, the basic unit of data for quantum computing) have a hard time surviving at room temperature. Typically, these superposition states last for only a few seconds, but in a recent experiment at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby , researchers were able to keep a quantum system alive for a full 39 minutes.

“These lifetimes are at least ten times longer than those measured in previous experiments,” explained Stephanie Simmons from the University of Oxford’s Department of Materials. “Having such robust, as well as long-lived, qubits could prove very helpful for anyone trying to build a quantum computer.” Even so, they aren’t particularly active ones – all of the qubits in the experiment shared the same quantum state. To perform actual calculations (and thus build a functioning quantum computer), a system would need to put multiple qubtis in different quantum states. Sound complicated? It sure is, but it’s a significant step forward to building the ultrafast computing platforms of tomorrow. Eager to learn more? Check out the official press release at the source link below.

[Image Credit: Stephanie Simmons, University of Oxford]

Filed under: Misc, Science

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Source: University of Oxford