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‘research’ Stories

Yellow slime mold may hold the key to bio-computers

Shane McGlaun, Dec 29th 2011 Discuss [2]

A Japanese scientist named Toshiyuki Nakagaki, a professor at the Future University Hakodate, is working with amoeboid yellow slime mold. That sounds gross, but what he is saying about the slime mold is very interesting. Nakagaki says that the simple yellow slime mold might hold the key to designing bio-computers that are capable of solving very complex problems. Read The Full Story

Founder of Xerox PARC Jacob Goldman dies at 90

Rue Liu, Dec 22nd 2011 Discuss [15]

Founder and chief scientist of Xerox's renowned Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) Jacob "Jack" Goldman has died at age 90. Goldman has been credited with spearheading many of the technological breakthroughs that are at the core of modern computing and that have been a huge influence on the success of Apple and Microsoft in personal computing. Read The Full Story

Self-healing electronics are possible thanks to liquid metal capsules

Shane McGlaun, Dec 22nd 2011 Discuss [3]

If you have some sort of circuit board that is bent enough to crack the wires inside that are hiding on the board, your day is over. Once a normal circuit has broken wires, the conduction of signals stops. In the future, that broken wire or connection may not mean the end of being able to use your gear. Scientists at the University of Illinois have developed a cool new self-healing electronic circuit. Read The Full Story

Apple App Store sees 6x revenue versus Android in top apps

Chris Davies, Dec 21st 2011 Discuss [47]

Apple’s App Store generates six times the revenue of Google’s Android Market for the top 200 grossing titles, app analysis firm Distimo has calculated, while in-app purchases account for 65-percent of revenues for the top grossing 200 Android software. The findings, part of Distimo’s January to November 2011 report, also include news that the Windows Phone Marketplace, Microsoft’s mobile download store, has overtaken Nokia’s Ovi Store and RIM’s BlackBerry App World for games, and is now the fourth largest app store in that category.

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iPhone explodes in holiday sales as Nokia struggles to penetrate

Chris Davies, Dec 19th 2011 Discuss [12]

Nokia's multi-million efforts to push its Windows Phone based Lumia 800 still hasn't resulted in strong holiday sales, according to the latest UK stats, with Apple's iPhone continuing to dominate the mobile market. Although the newest iPhone 4S was an unsurprising success, sales tracking firm GfK says, the aging iPhone 3GS still managed to make it into the top 15 handsets chart despite dating back to mid-2009. Android was also a winner, with Samsung's Galaxy S II a particular star. Read The Full Story

Samsung beats iPhone in consumer buzz

Chris Davies, Dec 14th 2011 Discuss [17]

Nokia's suggestions that the iPhone may be falling from fashion-grace could be correct, though it seems Samsung's Android devices not the Finn's new Lumias are the buzz beneficiaries. New research into "consumer perception" by stats firm YouGov suggests Samsung has edged ahead of the Cupertino smartphone when it comes to being at the forefront of peoples' minds, a finding that's attributed to Samsung's snarky adverts. Read The Full Story

3G Tablets fall from favor say researchers

Chris Davies, Dec 13th 2011 Discuss [8]

Integrated data connections in tablets along with mobile hotspot connected slates are falling from favor, new research suggests, with WiFi-only use proliferating among owners of iPads and other models. While 60-percent of tablet owners used WiFi only and 5-percent reported some intent of subscribing to a mobile broadband plan within the next six months back in Apri, NPD Group discovered, cellular use has actually shrunk in intervening period. Read The Full Story

Researchers discover what makes a twin rainbow

Shane McGlaun, Dec 12th 2011 Discuss [0]

We have all seen what happens when some people run across double rainbows out in the wild. I don’t even what to know what that dude would have done had he happened on a twin rainbow. A double rainbow is when there are two separate rainbows over the top of each other. A twin rainbow is when one splits in to two separate bows. Read The Full Story

LHC may have observed Higgs boson for the first time

Shane McGlaun, Dec 12th 2011 Discuss [7]

One of the things that the Large Hadron Collider or LHC has been trying to observe has been the Higgs boson particle. There have been rumors floating around for a while now that the Higgs boson particle had been observed at the LHC and the CERN folks running the LHC are set to make an announcement tomorrow. There is no official detail on what the announcement will be, but with the rumors, the thought is the announcement will be on the Higgs boson. Read The Full Story

Ancient Anomalocarids had compound eyes with 16k lenses

Shane McGlaun, Dec 9th 2011 Discuss [2]

I can only imagine how violent it was to live in ancient times where the giant dinosaurs and sea creatures roamed the Earth's oceans and landmasses. One of the creepiest of the sea creatures I have seen is this big creature called an Anomalocarids that had gigantic pear shaped eyes. Apparently, scientist could only guess at what the eyes of the animal looked like until recently when a very well preserved fossil of the eyes was found. Read The Full Story

AT&T ranked worst US carrier again by Consumer Reports

Rue Liu, Dec 6th 2011 Discuss [11]

Consumer Reports has released its latest survey of US wireless customers, revealing once again that AT&T scores the worst in customer satisfaction, repeating its last place ranking from the previous year. And once again, of the four major US wireless carriers, Verizon takes the top spot. Read The Full Story