Michael Crider

Author Archive for Michael Crider

Oracle targets Dalvik VM as Google case continues

Michael Crider, May 8th 2012 Discuss [2]

Though the first portion of the Oracle vs Google case ended on something of a hollow victory for Oracle, the networking giant intends to plow on with its patent claims in the second section. Oracle's attorneys contend that the Dalvik virtual machine used to speed up Android's processes infringes on two of the patents that it inherited from Sun Microsystems after they purchased the company. Damages nad payments, if any are deemed necessary, will be decided in the third portion. Read The Full Story

Huge sunspot forebodes major solar flares

Michael Crider, May 8th 2012 Discuss [4]

An enormous sunspot observed on the sun over the weekend may portend problematic solar activity, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report. The cool area of the sun known as AR1476, which contains multiple sunspots big enough to see with even basic astronomy equipment, displayed complex beta-gamma magnetic fields as it passed within view of the Earth on May 6th. Read The Full Story

Ultrabook-MacBook Air clone hybrids spotted in China

Michael Crider, May 8th 2012 Discuss [1]

Ultrabooks are finally starting to take hold in the PC market, while the original MacBook Air remains as popular as ever. What's an unscrupulous Shenzhen manufacturer to do? Make the best of both worlds, obviously. The knock-off havens in China have recently started spouting models that look uncannily like modern ultrabooks, even down to Intel Core i3 processors - but the distributors still couldn't resist grabbing a community-made Windows skin and making the software look like OS X. Read The Full Story

Dinosaur farts added to prehistoric global warming

Michael Crider, May 8th 2012 Discuss [45]

Every school kid knows that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a massive climate changing event. But according to a team of scientists in the UK, the massive amounts of methane created by the largest dinosaur species could have contributed to global warming millions of years ago, accelerating their own extinction. The scientists theorize that bacteria and other microbes in the digestive tracts of gigantic sauropods could have created up to 520 million cubic tons of gas every year. Read The Full Story

The driverless cars that want to run Google off the road

Michael Crider, May 8th 2012 Discuss [16]

Google gets a lot of digital ink for its driverless car program, which recently got the go-ahead to expand its testing to Nevada highways. But Mountain View isn’t the only horse in this race. New start-ups and old standbys are preparing the cars of the future, and they all want a piece of the driverless car market. Here are five competitors to Google’s program, all trying to be king of the road.

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Samsung unveils media-focused Ivy Bridge laptops

Michael Crider, May 8th 2012 Discuss [1]

Ultrabooks are all the rage, but when you need something with a little more capability, there's nothing like a laptop that's large and in charge. Breaking from their mostly thin-and-light lineup thus far this year, Samsung has revealed multiple entries into the Series 5 family under the 550 P label. These Ivy Bridge models come in 15 and 17-inch varieties, with a collection of media-focused optional features like Blu-ray drives and high-end discrete graphics cards. Read The Full Story

Nintendo Wii U launch games leaked

Michael Crider, May 8th 2012 Discuss [1]

Nintendo's next-generation Wii U is garnering plenty of interest thanks to its non-standard form factor and controller, but any gamer knows that a console lived and dies by its titles. We've already seen a few titles leak through, but a purported Blockbuster inventory screen has revealed a list of no less than 25 new games. Among expected fare like Assassin's Creed III and a new Super Mario Brothers game are surprises like Tekken, Splinter Cell and Just Dance 4. Read The Full Story

Google’s driverless cars approved for use in Nevada

Michael Crider, May 7th 2012 Discuss [0]

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but when it's over it would sure be nice to have a designated driver built into your car. Thanks to Google's driverless car program, you might soon be able to have just that. After three months in safety testing and approval, not to mention considerable legal hurdles, Google's self-driving cars have been approved for driving anywhere in the great state of Nevada. Google's driverless car program has already logged 250,000 miles. Read The Full Story

MasterCard unveils PayPass Button and software

Michael Crider, May 7th 2012 Discuss [1]

MasterCard was one of the first companies to actively pursue contact payments in the US, and today they're announcing plants to incorporate their PayPass system across web and mobile platforms. In addition to the standard contactless PayPass kiosks that you've likely already seen in US gas stations and other retailers, MasterCard is readying the PayPass Button to sync payments for online merchants as well. In practice, it bears a striking resemblance to PayPal, with the benefit of being already integrated with your credit card. Read The Full Story

Concept capacitive tech unlocks doors with a swipe

Michael Crider, May 7th 2012 Discuss [0]

Most of us associate capacitive touch sensors with the screens on our smartphones or tablets, but the technology can be applied to other fields as well. The Touché project illustrates this perfectly, integrating a more contextual method of touch sensitivity into everyday objects like door handles, tables and even water or a person's body. One of the most interesting demonstrations of the technology behind Touché includes setting a door handle to different states by grasping it in different ways. Read The Full Story