Bit Coin - A Change to printed money

Hi friends, happy to share a information after a long time.Let us see some information regarding a ongoing trend in currency ie.Bit Coins.Bitcoin is a form of digital currency, created and held electronically. No one controls it. Bitcoins aren’t printed, like dollars or euros – they’re produced by lots of people running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems. It’s the first example of a growing category of money known as cryptocurrency.

How it differs from others?

Bitcoin can be used to buy things electronically. In that sense, it’s like conventional dollars, euros, or yen, which are also traded digitally.However, bitcoin’s most important characteristic, and the thing that makes it different to conventional money, is that it is decentralized. No single institution controls the bitcoin network. This puts some people at ease, because it means that a large bank can’t control their money.

Who created it?

A software developer called Satoshi Nakamoto proposed bitcoin, which was an electronic payment system based on mathematical proof. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantly, with very low transaction fees.

Who prints it?

No one. This currency isn’t physically printed in the shadows by a central bank, unaccountable to the population, and making its own rules. Those banks can simply produce more money to cover the national debt, thus devaluing their currency.
Instead, bitcoin is created digitally, by a community of people that anyone can join. Bitcoins are ‘mined’, using computing power in a distributed network. This network also processes transactions made with the virtual currency, effectively making bitcoin its own payment network.

So you can’t churn out unlimited bitcoins?

That’s right. The Bitcoin protocol – the rules that make bitcoin work – say that only 21 million bitcoins can ever be created by miners. However, these coins can be divided into smaller parts (the smallest divisible amount is one hundred millionth of a bitcoin and is called a ‘Satoshi’, after the founder of bitcoin).

What is it based on?

Conventional currency has been based on gold or silver. Theoretically, you knew that if you handed over a dollar at the bank, you could get some gold back (although this didn’t actually work in practice). But bitcoin isn’t based on gold; it’s based on mathematics.
Around the world, people are using software programs that follow a mathematical formula to produce bitcoins. The mathematical formula is freely available, so that anyone can check it. The software is also open source, meaning that anyone can look at it to make sure that it does what it is supposed to.

What are its characteristics?

Bitcoin has several important features that set it apart from normal fiat currencies.

1. It's decentralized

The bitcoin network isn’t controlled by one central authority. Every machine that mines bitcoin and processes transactions makes up a part of the network, and the machines work together. That means that, in theory, one central authority can’t tinker with monetary policy and cause a meltdown – or simply decide to take people’s bitcoins away from them, as the Central European Bank decided to do in Cyprus in early 2013. And if some part of the network goes offline for some reason, the money keeps on flowing.

2. It's easy to set up

Conventional banks make you jump through hoops simply to open a bank account. Setting up merchant accounts for payment is another Kafkaesque task, beset by bureaucracy. However, you can set up a bitcoin address in seconds, no questions asked, and with no fees payable.

3. It's anonymous

Well, kind of. Users can hold multiple bitcoin addresses, and they aren’t linked to names, addresses, or other personally identifying information. However…

4. It's completely transparent

…bitcoin stores details of every single transaction that ever happened in the network in a huge version of a general ledger, called the blockchain. The blockchain tells all. If you have a publicly used bitcoin address, anyone can tell how many bitcoins are stored at that address. They just don’t know that it’s yours. There are measures that people can take to make their activities more opaque on the bitcoin network, though, such as not using the same bitcoin addresses consistently, and not transferring lots of bitcoin to a single address.

5. Transaction fees are miniscule

Your bank may charge you a £10 fee for international transfers. Bitcoin doesn’t.

6. It’s fast

You can send money anywhere and it will arrive minutes later, as soon as the bitcoin network processes the payment.

7. It’s non-repudiable

When your bitcoins are sent, there’s no getting them back, unless the recipient returns them to you. They’re gone forever.
So, bitcoin has a lot going for it, in theory. But how does it work, in practice? Read more to find out how bitcoins are mined, what happens when a bitcoin transaction occurs, and how the network keeps track of everything.

Hope you Impressed with creation of Bit Coins. To learn more about bit coins read in coindesk.com 

Courtesy from coindesk.com

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New High-Tech Plants Could Detect Bombs or Chemical Weapons

Interesting news to share with you friends , Researchers have embedded a tiny structures called carbon nanotubes , which is fixed the energy-making factories of plants, increasing their light-capturing ability by 30 percent. Using other carbon nanotubes, the researchers made plants sensitive to the atmospheric pollutant nitric acid.Plants repair themselves, they were environmentally stable outside, they survive in harsh environments, and they provide their own power source and water distribution.
The researchers were originally working on building self-repairing solar cells based on plant cells, which convert light into chemical energy, in the form of sugars and other compounds, by a process known as photosynthesis. The process relies on chloroplasts, the tiny energy factories inside plant cells.
To protect chloroplasts against the damage, the researchers embedded the chloroplasts with tiny antioxidant particles, or nanoparticles, which scoop up oxygen radicals and other highly reactive molecules. In order to deliver the nanoparticles, the researchers coated them in a highly charged molecule that allowed the particles to penetrate the fatty membranes of the chloroplasts. As a result of the nanoparticles, the amount of damaging molecules plummeted.Next, the researchers coated tiny cylinders called carbon nanotubes in negatively charged DNA and embedded them in the chloroplasts. The nanotubes worked like artificial antennae that allowed the plant to capture more light than usual.The rate of photosynthesis in the chloroplasts with embedded nanotubes was almost 50 percent greater than in isolated chloroplasts that lacked the nanotubes. When the researchers embedded both antioxidant nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes in the chloroplasts, these cells continued to function outside of the plant for even longer.
The researchers also improved the energy efficiency of living plants. They infused nanoparticles into a small flowering plant called Arabidopsis thaliana, improving photosynthesis by 30 percent.
Researchers also found a way to turn the Arabidopsis thaliana plants into chemical sensors, using carbon nanotubes that detect the pollutant nitric oxide, which is produced by combustion.The researchers have previously developed carbon nanotubes that detect the explosive TNT and the nerve gas sarin, so they might be able to turn plants into sensors to detect these toxins at low concentrations. Nanobionic plants could also be used to monitor pesticides, fungal infections or bacterial toxins.
nFinally this invention lead to powerful evolution in the field of Biotechnology. A pollution free bright future is on the way with help of these Engineering plants.

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Sony and Panasonic unveil 300 GB Archival Discs for long-term storage

Sony and Panasonic have jointly announced a new type of optical disc, which they're dubbing the Archival Disc. As the name of the media would suggest, it's aimed at long-term data storage, both through large capacities and durability.

When Archival Discs become commercially available in 2015, they'll sport 300 GB of storage through triple-layer, double-sided discs. Interestingly, the laser wavelength to read Archival Discs is identical to Blu-rays at 405 nm, although the track pitch has decreased from 320 nm to 225 nm. Sony and Panasonic have implemented cross talk cancellation technology, making the discs just as readable despite the narrower tracks.

Each disc is not only water and dust resistant, but also able to withstand significant changes in temperature and humidity. Sony and Panasonic say the Archival Disc will have "inter-generational compatibility between different formats", so the data on the discs can be read as the format evolves, but of course this claim remains to be seen.

In the future, the companies are hoping to increase the capacity of Archival Discs from 300 GB up to 500 GB and 1 TB through inter symbol interface cancelation technology and multi-level recording technology respectively. Archival Discs aren't meant to replace Blu-rays, but they will be promoted in the professional space as an "effective solution for protecting valuable data into the future".

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Rumor: Windows 9 'Threshold' expected in April 2015

Microsoft is reportedly targeting an April 2015 launch for the operating system sequel to Windows 8.1, codenamed 'Threshold'. According to Paul Thurrott, Microsoft is trying to put the less-than-fantastic launch of Windows 8.1 behind it by calling the OS Windows 9, and although it hasn't entered the development phase, the company has already started planning ahead.

In April 2014, which is just a few months away, Microsoft will hold its annual BUILD conference and it's rumored that the company's long term vision will be presented at the show. This will include the first look at what Microsoft has planned for Windows 9, alongside more stuff on Windows Phone and Xbox.

Addressing the criticisms surrounding Windows 8 will be a major focus of Windows 9, and the OS is expected to bring "Metro 2.0", a major update to the design language used from Windows 8 onwards set to fix issues. As previously reported, this update may introduce a feature that allows Metro-style applications to be run on the desktop as floating windows, rather than just full-screen apps.

The Start menu may also return in Windows 9 'Threshold', or even earlier in a second 'Update 2' for Windows 8.1. 'Threshold' updates should also come to Windows Phone and Xbox, but it won't necessarily bring the eventual merge of Windows RT and Windows Phone.

Currently Microsoft is working on 'Update 1' for Windows 8.1, which is essentially a free service pack that will likely debut in April 2014 alongside Windows Phone 8.1. The development of both OSes is nearing completion, so it shouldn't be too long before we'll get our hands on updates for Microsoft's main platforms.

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Google’s Chromebooks overcome its hindrance!!!

According to the latest news, Chromebooks accounted for 21 percent of all laptop sales and almost 10 percent of all computer sales to businesses in 2013. Also, Chromebook’s increased share is coming at the cost of Windows. So, Microsoft was actually right to worry about Google’s Chromebook project.

The story was right opposite few years back, at that time chromebooks couldn’t even do its sole prupose correctly, surf in web. Nobody preferred this despite of its lower price. Even the sales were more than disappointing. The whole project seemed doomed from the start. 

But by some means, Google came back from its hindrance by taking its first step by making chromebook’s purpose relevant from irrelevant in the laptop market. And this is not just in the business market, Amazon announced that two out of its three best-selling laptops during the holiday season were Chromebooks.

During last year, Google even made us to think like its ChromeOS as “real” Operating System. It also overcomes one of its inability, that is Offline capability. Yeah!! While Microsoft loves pointing out that Chromebooks are only useful when you’re, one area Google’s engineers worked hard on was adding more offline capabilities

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Samsung Galaxy S5 may feature fingerprint scanner

While the Apple iPhone drew a lot of attention to the fingerprint sensor embedded in its Home button, Samsung also seems to have similar plans for its upcoming flagship, which according to rumours is soon approaching.

According to sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 would feature a fingerprint scanner. It is alleged that the company has purchased Fingerprint Cards, a company dealing with fingerprint sensors. Sources also believe that Samsung would launch at least two smartphones in 2014 with the fingerprint sensor, our best guess – the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy Note 4.

Meanwhile, Fingerprint Cards has just announced a range of touch fingerprint sensors for Android phones and tablets as well as Windows Phone. The company has already signed deals to provide the cheaper swipe technology to companies like Fujitsu, Pantech and Konka. Not just that the company now aims to be selected as one of the sensor suppliers for Samsung in 2014.

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Jellyfish-Bot Swims Through the Air

Robots take a lot of forms -- from hulking manufacturing devices to humanoid helpmates. Now there's a design that resembles a jellyfish in flight, if such a thing can be imagined. Because it's able to maintain an upright position while hovering, it could be useful for a wide range of monitoring or surveillance activities, but it will be limited by the weight it can carry.

New York University researchers have designed a flying machine that appears to use the same pulsating motions as a jellyfish.

Leif Ristroph and colleague Stephen Childress wanted to create a small robot that could serve practical purposes such as monitoring traffic. Ristroph presented their creation at the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting on Sunday.

One major challenge in the endeavor was achieving stability. Many devices mimic the motion of insects such as flies. However, flies do a lot of work while motoring through the air, constantly adjusting their movements according to wind or other obstacles. It is difficult to pack that complexity into a tiny robotic device.

"In research in this area, turning to the right kinds of new designs are very important," said Ashutosh Saxena, Microsoft Faculty Fellow in Cornell University's Department of Computer Science.

"You want to be open to new ideas in the design world, but you have to think about what is going to happen when these machines have to fly in different kinds of environments, in tiny spaces and in air turbulence,".

Fly Like a Jellyfish

The device has four wings arranged like flower petals, which pulsate up and down. Though it resembles the motion of the jellyfish in water, it is aerodynamically more similar to the flight of a moth. Its tiny motor is tethered to a power cord. The machine can fly and hover.

The model demonstrates that aerial robotics can move beyond simple wing-flapping designs, the researchers pointed out.

The prototype model weighs about two grams -- equivalent to about two paper clips -- and is about eight centimeters wide. It's small size and simplicity could come in handy as researchers further develop the machine.

It could glide into places and where humans or other clunkier gadgets couldn't, potentially making it useful for surveillance or search-and-rescue operations.

Real World Possibilities

How well researchers can continue to develop the machine to one day take on some of those practical tasks will depend on what the machine is able to carry, said Cornell's Saxena.

"Aerial robotics research has multiple applications, and many applications need a camera or some processors to really do a job," he pointed out. "The design is very interesting, but there are more questions about how it can be used."

There is power in the NYU researchers' simple approach, said Subodh Bhandari, professor in Cal Poly Pomona's Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Other researchers in the field will be eager to look further into how the jellyfish-like robot could function going forward.

"The main challenge is its size and the weight that it can carry," Bhandari told TechNewsWorld. "The miniaturization of sensors and motors will play a key role in the success of this kind of device. The sensors and motor have to be small and light enough for this. That being said, research on this kind of device will continue, and the device will one day see practical applications." 

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Snapchat declines $3 bn offer from Facebook

Feeling the pulse of teenagers' inactivity on its social network,Facebook has dangled more than $3 billion in cash to woo Snapchat, the popular photo-messaging start-up used by younger audiences. 

However, the Los Angeles-based messaging app company, founded by 23-year-old Evan Spiegel, recently turned down the offer because it's currently being courted by multiple investors, according to a source familiar with the matter. 

The two-year-old Snapchat has been approached with offers including an investment from China's Tencent Holdings that would value the start-up at $4 billion. 

Snapchat's mobile app allows people to send text and photos that disappear in what has been hailed as all the rage in a next wave of private social sharing. According to various media reports, Facebook made an offer of $3 billion or more, but Snapchat cofounder Evan Spiegel is opting to wait until 2014 in hopes of a better valuation for the company. 

In October, Wall Street Journal put out a similar report, claiming that Facebook had offered to acquire Snapchat for $1 billion. 

Still another report in October indicated that Snapchat was looking to raise a round of funding that would value the company at roughly $3.5 billion. 

Snapchat has joined the list of tech companies such as Tumblr and Instagram with no money coming in but multiple sky-high takeover offers. So far, Snapchats leaders have balked at the offers in the hope of landing an even more lucrative deal. 

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Gogo rolling out new text and call options for in-flight Wi-Fi service

In-flight wireless provider Gogo is in the process of rolling out a new set of features that will allow users to send and receive text messages and phone calls while flying the friendly skies. Known as the Talk & Text service, said texts and calls are routed through the company’s iOS app (Android app coming soon) although all communications will still be coming from your phone number as not to confuse friends and family.

Don’t get too excited (or pissed off) just yet, however, as the new features aren’t available as of writing. What’s more, the Talk & Text plans are only initially launching with a select few business partners. Gogo plans to change that as they are in negotiations with commercial airliners to get the service up and running for the masses. No word on how long that might take, unfortunately.

Gogo's chief marketing officer, Ash ElDifrawi, said they see this as more of a text messaging product for commercial airlines in the US although the phone functionality is something that some international air carriers and business aviation customers have been asking for.

As The Verge points out, it should be relatively easy for Gogo to expand the service to commercial flights since there isn’t a need to install any new equipment. Furthermore, the company said the features could be bundled with their traditional Wi-Fi offering but the wording used gives the impression that pricing will be dictated by each airline.

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Freegate 7.41

Developer: Dynamic Internet Technology Last updated: November 7, 2013 License: Freeware OS Support: Windows (all) File Size: 2.8 MB Downloads: 38,831 ∟ Last week: 13,918 User Rating:     (117 votes)

Download Now

Freegate is an anti-censorship software for secure and fast Internet access. It was developed and maintained by Dynamic Internet Technology Inc. (DIT), a pioneer in censorship-circumvention operation.

Features:

• users access web sites overseas as fast as their local ones;
• requires no installation or change in system setting;
• a single executable file on a Windows platform.

Freegate works by tapping into an anti-censorship backbone, DynaWeb, DIT's P2P-like proxy network system.

Freegate's anti-censorship capability is further enhanced by a new, unique encryption and compression algorithm in the versions of 6.33 and above.



powered by Techspot.

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3D-Printed Bacteria May Unlock Disease Secrets

Bacteria are often social creatures. Suspended in colonies of varying shapes and sizes, these microbes communicate with their brethren and even other bacterial species — interactions that can sometimes make them more deadly or more resistant to antibiotics.
Now, bacterial colonies sculpted into custom shapes by a 3D printer could be a key to understanding how some antibiotic-resistant infections develop. The new technique uses methods similar to those employed by commercial 3D printers, which extrude plastic, to create gelatin-based bacterial breeding grounds. These microbial condos can be carved into almost any three-dimensional shape, including pyramids and nested spheres.
This 3D-printing technique could be used to investigate questions like "how many bacteria have to be clustered together, and in what size and what shape, in order for that microcolony to start acting differently than the cells do on their own," said study researcher Jason Shear, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin

Deadly clusters
Bacterial clustering is important precisely because bacteria bunched together often act differently than a single cell on its own. In some cases, bacteria even cement themselves together and onto surfaces with a gluelike substance, creating biofilms that are stubbornly resistant to antibiotics or the immune system. The plaque dentists scrape off your teeth is a biofilm that can contain dozens of interacting bacterial types, Shear told LiveScience.
More deadly are the biofilms that gather in the lungs of patients with the respiratory disease cystic fibrosis. Antibiotics can halt scattered bacteria that cause lung infections in these patients, but persistent biofilms on the lung tissue lurk, waiting to spit out new bacterial vagabonds. The result, Shear said, is a cycle of infection and treatment that is often fatal for the patient. On average, people with cystic fibrosis live to just their mid-30s, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Understanding biofilms and other bacterial communities is crucial for learning how to breach bacterial defenses, but "really, technologies just haven't been there," Shear said.
Printing bacteria
3D printing may provide a way toward understanding. First, Shear and his colleagues add bacterial cells to a gelatin mixture, which they then cool to solidify, sort of like how Jell-O is made. The bacterial cells are like the fruit in this Jell-O cocktail.
Using a laser, the researchers then carve out capsules around the suspended bacteria. The laser light causes the molecules in the gelatin to link permanently. When the resulting capsules are warmed, most of the gelatin melts away — but the laser-zapped areas stay put, creating hideouts where the bacteria can breed.

To prove that the method works, Shear and his colleagues created spheres of Staphylococcus aureus, a common bacterium that can cause food poisoning and skin infections. They surrounded the Staph bacteria with a shell of another common bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pseudomonas is a pathogen often found lurking in medical equipment.
The researchers then exposed these bacterial spheres to the antibiotic ampicillin. They found that 80 percent of the Staph survived the antibiotic when surrounded by Pseudomonas. In comparison, only 40 percent of the Staph withstood ampicillin when surrounded by an empty shell. The protection is apparently caused by Pseudomonas' ability to produce compounds that resist the bacteria.
Unlike the genetic drug resistance acquired by bacteria when antibiotics are overprescribed, this communal resistance depends on the colony structure. If the protective wall of Pseudomonas were to disappear, the Staph would again be vulnerable to the antibiotics.
The equipment used to custom-create bacterial colony shapes is pricey, Shear said, but the researchers are working on alternatives, including a cheaper laser.
"As with commercial 3D printing, I think there is a strong likelihood that the cost of the equipment could come down dramatically," he said.
The researchers report their work this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Bowflex Boost: Fitness Tracker Review

The maker of Bowflex fitness equipment, Nautilus, recently launched an activity tracker called Bowflex Boost. At $49.95, it's one of the least expensive activity trackers on the market (For comparison, the Jawbone Up will cost you $129.99, and the Fitbit Flex goes for $99.95).
But how well does the Boost perform compared to other, more pricey trackers? I tried it out for a few days to see.
Design/Comfort:  ★★★★☆

The Boost excels in comfort. Made from silicone material, the wristband is flexible, and is designed to coil around the wrist before it is snapped into place with a plastic clasp.
My favorite thing about the Boost has to be the 14 size settings, which allow you to adjust the band so that it fits snuggly around your wrist. Although a simple feature, you'd be surprised at how much less fun a fitness trackeris to wear if it doesn't fit right. I have small wrists, and the Boost fit me much better than some other wristband fitness trackers, such as the Nike FuelBand, which can be only minimally adjusted, and Jawbone Up, which cannot be adjusted at all.
The Boost has just one button on the top of the device, which you press to see your progress — a red, yellow or green light shines to indicates how far you are toward reaching your activity goal for the day — to put the device in sleep mode, or to wirelessly sync the device with your phone.
I found this button somewhat hard to operate. The button needs to be held for three seconds to put into sleep mode, and five seconds to sync. It sometimes took me several tries to get the device into sleep mode, or to sync, even though I was pushing the button down quit firmly. Instead of syncing, the light on the device would simply turn off, and I would have to start over.
User-Friendliness:  ★★★☆☆
The device is simple enough to use. The red, yellow, green lighting system gives you a quick snapshot of your daily activity progress. However, there is no screen on the wristband, so users must look at the app to know exactly how many steps they've taken or calories burned. For people interested in knowing exactly how they're doing "right now," an activity tracker with a screen might be a better fit.

To see your data, you have to download the Boost app, which is currently available only for the iPhone. When you launch the app for the first time, a graphic explains how to use the device, and the meaning of Boost's red/yellow/green lights. (Red means you've reached 0-50 percent of your goal, yellow 51-99 percent and green 100 percent).
Boost tracks the steps you've taken, the calories you've burned and the distance walked. It also tracks your sleep time, and how long it takes you to fall asleep. With the app launched, you simply swipe the screen to switch between viewing your activity and sleep.
Over time, the Boost tracks your weekly, monthly and yearly activity, and can display it in a graph. However, it doesn't store the daily data -- after a day has passed, there's no way for you to view how many steps you took on that day, how many calories you burned, and your distance traveled.

The Boost app shows users their activity and sleep. Above, two separate iPhone screen captures.

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Value of Information: ★★☆☆☆
The default settings for Boost's activity goals are 10,000 steps, 500 calories and three miles, although you can adjust these goals if you so choose.
However, the device does not tell you how much activity you need to "be healthy," or how much sleep you need, and does not provide tips to boost your activity or help you get more shuteye. In other words, there's very little "hand-holding" with the Boost.
The device tracks your activity, but it's up to you to figure out how to improve it. (For comparison, the Withings Pulse tells users that the World Health Organization recommends 150 minutes of activity per week, and that most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep.)
The Boost's light does not shine green until you've reached all three of your goals, for steps, calories and miles. So if you've walked 15,000 steps, but burned only 300 calories, the light remains yellow. This method may help users focus on all three metrics, rather than just one.
A small criticism is that the activity graphs on the app — which show your daily, weekly, monthly or yearly activity — have a Y axis labeled simply as "%." Which begs the question, percent of what?

On the Boost app, the activity bar does not fill with green (indicating you've reached 100 percent of your activity goal) until you've reached all three of your goals, for steps, calories and miles
Credit: Rachael Rettner

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Enjoyment/Inspiration: ★☆☆☆☆
The Boost tracks your activity, but I can't say it was very inspiring. It does not prompt you to get moving when you have a sedentary day, nor praise you when you meet your goal.
The app also does not allow you to compare your daily activity with others, however, you can share your activity to Facebook and Twitter. But if you're looking for a no-frills device, and you simply need to see your activity numbers for a little motivation, the Boost might be for you.
Conclusion: 10 out of 20 stars
The pros of the Boost include its affordable price, adjustable strap and ability to view a month's or year's worth of data on a single graph.
The cons of the Boost are a lack of a screen on the wristband, no tips for how to improve physical activity or sleep, and no way to look up exactly how many steps you took after a day has passed.

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Imagination dispatches Warrior CPU core to battle ARM and Intel

The U.K. chip firm released its first new MIPS CPU design, a 32-bit device with as many as six cores 

Imagination Technologies will deliver its first Warrior CPU core to device makers by the end of the year, beginning a campaign to make the MIPS architecture a more potent rival to ARM and x86.

Imagination's graphics chips are already used in most of the top smartphones and tablets, including the iPhone and iPad, and last year it bought MIPS Technologies to try to build a CPU business as well.

MIPS chips are widely used in network gear such as routers and gateways, and in home media products including TVs and set-top boxes. Imagination wants to bring them to low-power servers as well, and to a wider range of Android smartphones and tablets.
The Warrior chips, also called MIPS Series 5, are part of its effort to do that.
The first product, the MIPS P5600, is a 32-bit design that will be offered with as many as six cores and a clock speed of 2GHz or more, Imagination said Monday. It provides up to twice the performance of the current proAptiv MIPS chips at the same clock speed and manufacturing process, the company said.
Imagination doesn't manufacture chips itself. Like ARM, it comes up with the designs and licenses them to other chip makers. The P5600 will be available for licensing in the current quarter, Imagination said, which means it should appear in consumer products in about 18 months.
Improvements include the ability to handle 128-bit SIMD, which allows more instructions to be run in parallel, improving performance in areas such as video and audio playback, said Mark Throndson, Imagination's director of processor technology marketing.
It's also the first MIPS CPU design to get hardware virtualization capabilities, he said. That should improve security, because multiple operating systems will be able to run on a single core without those data sets being able to interact.
That should be useful for set-top boxes that have to handle security schemes for multiple services, such Hulu, Amazon and Netflix. It could also be useful for banking apps that handle sensitive data, for example.
Despite being a 32-bit chip, the P5600 provides a wider data address space of 40 bits, Throndson said. That will allow it to address more memory than existing 32-bit MIPS processors do.
Paul Teich, an industry analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, said the CPU design is an important first step for Imagination. "It's good to see them doing it, because it means they're locking down their road map and executing," he said.
MIPS Technologies was struggling financially when Imagination bought it, and one of Imagination's first tasks is to convince MIPS customers that the architecture has a good future.
But Teich thinks "the real meat" will come with future Warrior announcements. The company has said it will release further Warrior designs next year, including the first 64-bit Warrior CPU.
The type of smartphones MIPS chips are used in today don't really need the 40-bit address space, he said, and the hardware virtualization will be more useful when a 64-bit chip arrives.
"They can start to use it with network gear now, but frankly, with Intel and AMD already at 64 bits for their small-core architectures, and ARM moving to 64 bits shortly, I see that as more of a forward-looking story for them."

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Microsoft admits causing confusion with Surface RT moniker

Microsoft has admitted to causing confusion among customers with the naming of the 'Surface RT' tablet

The Microsoft Surface RT was launched last year as Microsoft's flagship Windows device, but the company has now admitted to confusing customers with the RT moniker.
During an interview with Australian news site ARN, Jack Cowett Microsoft Surface product manager stated, "We think that there was some confusion in the market last year on the difference between Surface RT and Surface Pro."
Cowett continued, "We want to help make it easier for people, and these are two different products designed for two different people."
The Microsoft Surface Pro runs the Windows 8 operating system as a more powerful sibling featuring a Full HD display.
Last month the Microsoft Surface 2 was unveiled as a thinner, lighter version of Microsoft's original Surface RT tablet.
The new tablet, running Windows RT 8.1, will drop the RT moniker and is due for launch on 22nd October in both 32GB or 64GB sizes starting at £359.
Cowell says changes have been made to suit consumer feedback, "We've added a second angle for the kickstand, so it's much more comfortable to use on your lap."
The Micrsoft Surface Pro 2 running Windows 8.1 will also launch next month in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB starting at £719.

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Lenovo in takeover talks with HTC?

Lenovo is rumored to be in takeover talks with HTC.

 

he Chinese laptop maker is reported to have held a “secret meeting” with HTC in August.

The phone maker is expected to report the first quarterly loss in its history when it announces its financials in the coming weeks.
Executives from Lenovo is understood to be keen to buy the HTC brand in a similar fashion to how Microsoft recently bought Nokia’s mobile business.
Read more: T3 Gadgets Awards 2013: HTC One wins Phone of the Year
The Chinese company has a history of buying existing brands and turning them around.
In 2005, Lenovo bought IBM’s personal computer business. It now forms a large part of the Chinese company’s business. It also bought budget-PC maker Medion in 2011 and continues to use the brand for some products.
Lenovo currently makes smartphones, however its presence outside of China is limited.
In July, analysts warned that mid-sized smartphone makers like HTC were at risk of market consolidation.
Read more: Microsoft buys Nokia’s phone division
Speaking to Bloomberg at the time, IDC analyst Kevin Restivo said: “The market is becoming less about speeds and feeds, and more about price. More people don’t need to be overwhelmed by a phone, so long as it’s good enough.”
He warned that mid-sized companies like HTC, Nokia and BlackBerry were likely to become the Compaqs, IBMs and Gateways of the smartphone world – bought by bigger companies in the market.
Nokia was subsequently bought by Microsoft while BlackBerry – another name mentioned at being squeezed out of the market or bought by a bigger player – is also currently for sale.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Specs showdown

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Camera

Samsung Galaxy S4
The 13MP rear camera is capable of full HD 1080p video recording, and the front facing 2MP camera is an improvement on the S3's 1.9MP effort (though curiously, a return to the 2MP camera that the Samsung Galaxy S2 had on it's front). The new UI provides easy access to a variety of digital camera modes, such as; Dual Shot, which lets you take two photos and then merge them together; Drama Shot, which lets you take a series of burst photos and then merge them together; Sound Shot, which attaches a 9-second sound clip to a photo; and many more as well. Samsung has put a great deal of thought into their on-board camera functions.
Samsung Galaxy S3
The Galaxy S3 has a reasonable but outdated 8MP/1080p camera - exactly the same as that on the HTC One X. In burst mode, the camera takes continuous shots at a rate of 6fps, then picks the best shot based on smile detection, blink detection, contrast and blurring. According to Samsung, the camera also has zero shutter lag along with an improved shot-to-shot time. You'll be able to set up rules for photos to be automatically placed in groups based on faces, contacts or location. There's also Face Zoom which means that you can tap on a face when lining up a crowd shot and the camera will zoom in automatically.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Power

Samsung Galaxy S4
The S4 is making a big splash with a monster Exynos 5, 1.6GHz octo-core CPU, propped up by a solid 2GB of RAM. Like the Galaxy S3, the S4 comes with 16GB of storage as standard, with options for 32GB and 64GB, and a Micro SD card slot for an additional 64GB.
Samsung Galaxy S3
Samsung's quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor powers the Galaxy S3, and it's bolstered by 1GB RAM. There is barely any lag when switching between home screens and firing up apps. Flash memory is available in 16, 32 and 64 GB versions, and there's also a micro SD card slot should you wish to expand the memory.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Specs showdown

he Samsung Galaxy S4 has been unveiled in New York, but how has it improved over last year's critically acclaimed Samsung Galaxy S3?
The time of reckoning is at hand, Androids - Samsung's latest greatest smartphone the Galaxy S4 is here. Lets say that you're not interested in an Apple iPhone 5, and the Android credentials of the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z aren't doing anything for you either. The question is, should you ditch that old, tired looking Galaxy S3 for it's newer, shinier, bigger brother? We've layed out the facts and stats to compare the two.

 

Should you swap your S3 for an S4? Lets take a look.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Build

Samsung Galaxy S4
The confusing colours of last year's Galaxy handset are gone, in favour of a more simple choice - black or white. The Galaxy S4 weighs in at 130 grams, and measures 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm, making it a pretty large handset as things go, managing to pack a whole load of tech into a slimmer body.
The exterior buttons are similarly positioned in comparison with the Galaxy S3, and the same polycarbonate has been used, so the build quality feels about the same as well.
Samsung Galaxy S3
Available in 'Marble White', 'Pebble Blue' (pebble... blue?!) and 'Titanium Grey', the Galaxy S3 is all about the curvaceous body. It's more resemblant of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus than the Samsung Galaxy S2, both in size and contours. Although the plastic finish on the back feels more premium than its predecessor. Measuring 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm, the S3 is a touch wider and fatter than it's younger brother, and it's comfort in the hand is rather a subjective issue. At 133g, the S3 is not particularly heavy given it's size, but it's a tad heavier (3g) than the 130g Galaxy S4.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Screen

Samsung Galaxy S4
This is the bit that many have been waiting for - the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch, full HD, super-AMOLED display that is more than a match for any of it's close rivals, and beats the S3s screen hands down. The pixel density is quite astonishing - an amazing 441ppi, which is the same as the Sony Xperia Z and a little less than the HTC One. As is usual with Samsung's super-AMOLED displays, there glare is minor, if not non-existant, and the viewing angles are extremely wide. Make no mistake, this is a very impressive display.
Samsung Galaxy S3
The S3's enormous 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen still looks and feels as enormous as it did a year ago. The maximum resolution of 720 x 1280 at 306 pixels per inch still looks good, but it's nowhere near the best display on the market anymore, and it is looking dated next to the latest competition from Apple, HTC, Nokia and Sony. That said, it's not like we're looking at a Nokia 3210 - a year is a long time in smartphone technology, but the S3's AMOLED display still holds up pretty well.

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Samsung Galaxy S5: Release date, price, specs, news and rumours

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is set to be one of the biggest smartphone launches of 2014 – even with little known at this point what Samsung even has planned

 

Samsung’s current flagship handset, the Samsung Galaxy S4 went on sale in April 2013. It came packed with a huge number of features and contributed to the opinion that Samsung, rather than Apple, is the main driver of innovation in the smartphone market today.
It also doesn’t hurt that Samsung sold an estimated 20 million Samsung Galaxy S4s within two months of it hitting shelves.
This is an article about the Samsung Galaxy S5. We’ll be rounding up all the latest news and rumors about the handset in the run up to its unveiling next year.
For other Samsung news, check out our Samsung News Hub.

Samsung Galaxy S5 specs

Relatively little is known about the Samsung Galaxy S5’s specs. However, one thing that we do know is that it will come with a 64-bit processor.
Speaking to Korea Times, Samsung’s co-CEO Shin Jong-Kyun has promised the company will match the processor found in Apple’s new iPhone 5s.
It’s probably not an idle threat either. While it hasn’t been confirmed yet by either party, it is widely suspected that Samsung manufactures the A7 processor that powers the iPhone 5s.
Aside from the processor, little is known at the moment. We'll update as soon as we know more.

Samsung Galaxy S5 looks

At the end of August, a rumor broke that claimed Samsung is looking to move away from using polycarbonate back covers for its phones.
According to ET News, the company has sent engineers to Vietnam to investigate the feasibility of making smartphones with aluminium and magnesium backs.
The report claimed that some figures at the Korean manufacturer are concerned that the recent introduction of a plastic-backed ‘budget’ iPhone – the iPhone 5c – could make buyers think all plastic-backed smartphones are budget devices.
Perhaps we can find a clue in the recent Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - on that handset Samsung has replaced the traditional polycarbonate with a new faux-leather, stitched rear cover.

Samsung Galaxy S5 operating system

Will Samsung do the unthinkable? Could it drop Android in favor of the Tizen mobile operating system – co-developed by itself and Intel?
A year ago, such a situation would have been unthinkable.
However, following a period of tension between Samsung and Android-developer Google earlier this year – including not a single mention of Android at the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 – it isn’t as unfeasible as it once was.
Indeed, Samsung co-CEO Boo-Keun Yoon revealed that Samsung plans to connect all of its devices together with the new operating system. That includes its mobile phones.
While he stopped short of suggesting that the company will drop Android, it certainly won’t be easy reading for Google.
That said, we doubt Google would dump Android with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S5. What is more likely is that you’ll see two versions of the Samsung Galaxy S5 on sale: an Android-powered version and a Tizen-powered version.

Samsung Galaxy S5 camera

At the beginning of September, reports began emerging that Samsung is working on a slimline 16 megapixel smartphone camera with optical image stabiliser (OIS) technology.
At the time of writing, there is only one smartphone in Samsung’s range that comes with OIS, and that is the less-than-slimline Galaxy S4 Zoom.
According to GSMarena, who broke the story, the new lens has been designed to fit in its slimline range of smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy S5 release date

There has been no word – rumor or otherwise – about when we will be able to get our grubby little hands on the Samsung Galaxy S5.
However, Samsung is usually consistent when it comes to launching new models of its phones. As such, it is a pretty safe bet that Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S5 in March 2014.
As for when you’ll be able to get your hands on it? If we were betting people, we’d say the last Friday of April – so Friday, April 25th.

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Facebook introduces alpha testing program for Android

Facebook announces Facebook for Android alpha testing program following the announcement that 1 million users actively use Facebook for Android beta

In an official blog post, Facebook has introduced the Facebook for Android alpha testing program following feedback received by users of the Android beta testing program launched back in June.
Christian Legnitto, mobile release engineering leader, states "In addition to quality reports, we get over 1,000 direct pieces of feedback from beta testers per day, including feature requests, bug reports, and posts in our feedback group."
With over 260,000 testers reportedly joining the option Facebook group for feedback exchange this has lead to the introduction of Facebook for Android alpha testing program.
Learn how to become an alpha tester at the bottom of this article.
Legnitto writes, "We started out with beta as we knew it would be a good balance between testing and usability, but we'd love to get feedback as early as testers want to give it."
The Facebook for Android alpha testing program will be at an even earlier stage in it development.
Users can join the alpha program by joining the Facebook for Android Alpha Testers Google group, allow alpha downloads by clicking "Become a Tester" in the Play Store, download Facebook from the Play Store to update your app, turn on automatic updates (alpha will be updated multiple times per week), and finally report problems and give feedback by using the "Report a Problem" menu item.

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3D printer prints prototype 'pizza'

GONE are the days of freeze-dried space meals.
One day astronauts may actually press a couple of buttons on a machine that will print a delicious home cooked dinner for them.

3D printed pizza

Sound crazy? Well it's not. The future is here, with the prototype release of a 3D printer that can print food in the US this week.
The video shows the printer creating a kind of 'pizza pie', complete with dough, tomato sauce and cream cheese, which is then cooked on a heated surface.

The prototype 3D printing machine making ‘pizza’. Source: NewsComAu

While it may not look as good as this pizza, it's a huge step for technology. The printer is in the early stages of development and the process is still imperfect, but the technology is expected to improve quickly. Perhaps it will soon be able to create a roast lamb dinner, with hasselback potatoes, sautéd greens and mint sauce?

It won’t look or taste as good as this pizza. Source: ThinkStock

3D printing was invented in 1984 by Chuck Hall of 3D Systems Corp, but the real boom in this technology has occurred over the past 10 years as the printers continue to become more affordable and can therefore be used in a variety of industries.
Here are some photographs of other objects that have been printed by 3D machines. 3D printers can make machinery, nanotechnology, clothing, footware, jewellery, eyeware and now food. What will they print next?
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Adam Long creates designs on a computer and uses the latest technology including laser cutters and 3D printers to engineer anything from toys to the sunglasses he is wearing. Source: News Limited

A woman admires a 3D printed handgun which was created and fired by Finnish journalist Ville Vaarne. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

These robots made from 3D printers can play soccer. Source: News Limited

Emma Clapham in 3D print spring racing hat. Picture Ian Currie. Source: News Limited

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