Hasta La Gadget!

As rumored earlier, Facebook has taken off the wraps of a new data center that will begin construction this summer in Altoona, Iowa. This will be the social network’s fourth self-owned and operated data center. The company already has data centers in Prineville, Oregon; Forest City, North Carolina; and Luleå, Sweden.

The new data center will feature the same Open Compute Project server designs and outdoor-air cooling system that the other Facebook data centers boast, but the new center will also include overall improvements to the building’s design and networking architecture than the other data facilities. Facebook claims that the new Iowa facility “will be among the most advanced and energy efficient facilities of its kind.”

As far as why Facebook chose Iowa to plop down a new data center in, the social networking giant said that the state is full of wind-generated power, and has “a great talent pool that will help build and operate the facility.” Of course, there’s also plenty of flat and open land there, making it ideal for a large facility that relies on outdoor air for cooling

The company didn’t reveal any statistics on the new facility, but the Des Moines Register reports that the new data center will cost $1.5 billion to construct. There’s no official say as to how large this new data center will be, but the Des Moines Register says that the facility will be 1.4 million square feet. Facebook’s one billion users are uploading a lot of content to the social network, and it all has to go somewhere.

Facebook unwraps plans for new data center in Iowa is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Tumblr has finally released a dedicated app for Windows Phone 8, being the last of the major mobile platforms to get a Tumblr app. This will give Tumblr users the opportunity to experience the social blogging platform on Microsoft’s mobile operating system, complete with live tiles as well as most of the features that other mobile Tumblr users have been enjoying.

The new app includes the ability to follow users and post in all formats that Tumblr allows, including GIFs. Users will also be able to share photos, videos, links, text, etc. The user interface looks like any other Windows Phone 8 app, and it also supports Windows Phone 8′s lock screen and live tiles, meaning that you can have the app display the latest images from your dashboard on your lock screen or Tumblr live tiles.

Tumblr has been taking its time rolling out mobile apps to various mobile operating system. Case in point: Android tablet support as well as iPad support arrived back in December, which is a bit late compared to most other popular services. However, it’s out in full force now on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 8.

Tumblr is also just starting to roll out ads to its mobile apps, giving the company another way to bring in the bacon. Tumblr announced just yesterday that they would start doing this. It’s not yet known how this will affect users, or whether or not users will make a big fuss over it, but it’s usually a common convention that people don’t like ads, so many users may not take this lightly.

Tumblr shows faith in Windows Phone 8 with dedicated app is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Neuromancer author and arguably the father of wearable tech in fiction William Gibson finally met up with Google Glass at the weekend, donning the headset and finding – to his frustration – himself left intrigued by it. Gibson – whose 1984 novel coined the term “cyberspace” as well as kickstarted the cyberpunk genre – got to try out Google’s developer-version of the wearable at an event at the New York Public Library, after one member of the audience brought along their new unit.

As fitting meetings go, the intersection of Gibson and Glass is a hugely appropriate one. In Neuromancer, Gibson described a wearable display embedded in eye-lenses fused to central character Molly Millions, and through which a cyberspace-immersed hacker could communicate through text messages.

Although former MIT researcher Steven Mann is best known for translating augmented and mediated reality concepts to real-world hardware, having spent several decades refining his wearable techn, Gibson’s role in describing “the dystopian future in which humans are augmented with computer implants,” as MIT described it, makes him equally important. However, Gibson is also known for being only tangentially interested in technology, a fact which apparently led to some consternation after he had a chance to wear Glass.

“I also got to try Google Glass, if only for a few seconds” Gibson tweeted after the event. “Was faintly annoyed at just how interesting I found the experience.” Asked how well it worked, Gibson commented that the “focal-point tech was impressive.”

The headset itself was brought to the NYPL by Dow Jones consumer technology head Erin Sparling, who was himself surprised that he was the first to help Gibson experience Glass. The Explorer Edition began shipping earlier this month to those who put down $1,500 at Google I/O last year, though Google chairman Eric Schmidt has said that it is likely to be 2014 before a consumer version hits shelves.

[via BoingBoing; Image used by permission of Joe Kendall]

Gibson meets Glass: Cyberpunk creator dons Google’s wearable is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In a bid to take on the top contenders in the smartphone market this season in the USA, Pantech will be bringing a device by the name of Perception, complete with 3D gesture sensing technology onboard. The Samsung GALAXY S 4 will be in the hands of users by the end of the month on several carriers (and Verizon before Summer begins), it being issued with a technology that allows users to “hover” over their display to activate several features. Pantech’s bid for the 3D sensor trend is being delivered this month with what they call “Motion Sense.”

This Motion Sense technology will be appearing on the Verizon-exclusive smartphone Pantech Perception, this device also including several specifications that push it to the top tier smartphone category. The Pantech Perception includes a 4.8-inch touchscreen with HD Super AMOLED technology, its back features an 8 megapixel camera, and its front uses a 2 megapixel camera. Pantech will be delivering this device with a 16GB bit of internal storage as well.

The 3D sensor technology Motion Sense will allow users to wave their hand over the phone without touching it to activate several features. When the Pantech Perception rings for a phone call, the user will be able to wave their hand over the face (without touching it) to answer said call. Users will also be able to scroll through songs in the smartphone’s basic music app, look through photos, or move through contacts with this new technology.

The Pantech Perception will not be delivered with the most recent version of Google’s mobile operating system Android Jelly Bean. Instead the Perception will be delivered with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with a guarantee from Verizon that it will be upgraded to Jelly Bean “soon”. So says Verizon Wireless representative Albert Aydin along with a note on how this device will be sold for 99 dollars and 99 cents just so long as users agree to 2-year mobile contract and send in a 50 dollar mail-in rebate.

This effort will be appearing in the USA this month, starting no earlier than the 25th day of the month. Have a peek at SlashGear’s Pantech tag portal for more information on what this manufacturer is doing to come in full force to the North American mobile device market with smartphones galore.

Pantech brings 3D gesture control to Verizon in newest smartphone effort is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A 3D touchscreen display prototype that can be pinched, pulled, and pushed around might represent the future of digital interaction, allowing immersive data to be physically manipulated. The concept, Obake, is named after Japanese shapeshifting folklore and the handiwork of an MIT Media Lab team led by Dhairya Dand, combining a flexible rubber surface, a Kinect sensor for motion tracking, and a projector for creating a dynamic image your fingers can dig into.

In a way, Obake is similar to a drum head, only one which is considerably more flexible than you’d find on the average snare. By pulling and pushing on the silicone surface, the user can navigate through the projected image, with Kinect sensors tracking where the layer is flexed to.

However, an array of linear actuators underneath the surface are also present, and used to maintain shapes even when the user stops pinching and twisting them. So, you could pull out a “mountain” peak and have it stay protruding, with the projected data – which could be mineral content, for instance, or geographical level lines – adjusting to suit the 3D worksurface.

The team behind the prototype has also had to come up with a new palette of touches and gestures
to suit the touchscreen’s new abilities. That includes “intrude” and “extrude”, where you can push through the screen or pull it up, and “S bend” which – though it sounds like a Samsung plumbing tool – involves pulling in one area and pushing in another simultaneously. “Stitch” is where two points are pulled out and stretched together, linking data, and there’s the ability to make more complex shapes by, for instance, “extruding” a mountain and then “prodding” an “intrude” indent into it. More moderate use of the actuators can introduce friction, too.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen touchscreen technology that tries to escape from two-dimensions, though it’s certainly the most complex. Nokia demonstrated its Kinetic concept smartphone back in 2011, for instance, which mounted a flexible display in a rubberized chassis that could be bent and twisted to navigate the interface, though no production version ever arrived.

Meanwhile, other companies are working on the sensation of touch, if not the physical movement. Senseg uses an electrical field to fool the user’s fingertips into feeling different textures on what is in fact a smooth glass screen, and at one point was rumored to be included in Apple’s iPad. Rather than deforming the display, Senseg’s “tixels” stimulate the nerves in the fingers which normally register vibration, giving the feeling of sandpaper, silk, or anything else the UI designer requires.

Obake is currently a working prototype, though there’s no telling when it might ever cross over into a commercial product.

[via Phys]

Obake stretchy touchscreen concept lets you pinch, prod and pummel data is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.