Research - SlashGear

‘research’ Stories

Gasoline fuel cell might find its way into Volt-like cars of the future

Shane McGlaun, Dec 2nd 2011 Discuss [0]

The Volt has been having its share of issues of late with fires after crash tests. Still it is one of the only cars of its type on the market today. The car is technically an EV with a gasoline generator that is used to power the batteries when they run out of charge. The problem is that the economy when the generator is operating is much less than when the car is on battery power. Read The Full Story

iPhone 4S buyers overwhelming happy; missing 4G a pain point

Chris Davies, Dec 1st 2011 Discuss [12]

iPhone 4S buyers are more content with their smartphone than iPhone 4 buyers were after that handset's 2010 launch, according to a new survey, with Siri most cited as the best feature of the iOS device. 77-percent of iPhone 4S owners told consumer research firm ChangeWave that they were "very satisfied" with the handset, with 19-percent saying they were merely "somewhat satisfied"; only 2-percent of those questioned had drifted out of the honeymoon period and reported that they were dissatisfied. Read The Full Story

Implanted medical devices of the future could be laser powered

Shane McGlaun, Dec 1st 2011 Discuss [1]

Should Dr. Evil ever have the need for an implanted medical device like a pacemaker, pain med pump, or insulin pump he will love this. Researchers looking into batteries that last longer for these implanted devices have hit on a discovery that may allow the devices to harvest power from a laser. This would allow the recharging of the medical device battery without having to cut the person open and place a new battery into the device. Read The Full Story

Research into more virulent and lethal strains of the bird flu worries some scientists

Shane McGlaun, Nov 30th 2011 Discuss [2]

If this sounds a bit like something out of a horror novel, it's because this sounds a lot like what starts the evens of the horror classic from Stephen King called The Stand. Apparently, researchers working on bird flu have created a strain of the bird flu virus that is lethal and easily spread through the air. Some fear that the mutated strain might be used as a bio weapon. Read The Full Story

Creative thinkers are more likely to cheat according to researchers

Shane McGlaun, Nov 30th 2011 Discuss [2]

This interesting study has been conducted on 97 different university students. The study sought to determine if creative thinkers were more likely to cheat than those that were less creative. The reason for the creative types to be more likely to cheat according to those that ran the study is simply because the more creative participants were able to justify their actions. Read The Full Story

Nielsen Q3 data shows Android leading at 43%

Rue Liu, Nov 29th 2011 Discuss [0]

Market research firm Nielsen has released its Q3 report for the US smartphone market, revealing that the Android mobile platform continues to dominate and grow, now reaching 42.8 percent share, up from 39 percent last quarter. Apple's iOS platform comes in second place at 28.3 percent with more modest growth, but takes the lead among smartphone manufacturers. Read The Full Story

Soft robot is designed to move like a starfish

Shane McGlaun, Nov 29th 2011 Discuss [1]

Robots are used for all sorts of different tasks including exploring areas where it is too hazardous for humans to venture due to war or disaster. The problem with many of the robot designs is that wheels and legs can have hard time navigating very rough terrain. To help make robots that are better able to navigate certain types of terrain and are more resistant to bumps and impacts a new bot has debuted that is made from soft materials and resembles a starfish. Read The Full Story

Smartphones still at only 27% of global market share

Rue Liu, Nov 28th 2011 Discuss [4]

Market research firm VisionMobile has released a report, revealing that the worldwide mobile phone market is still dominated by feature phones. Despite all the craze around the latest iPhone or Android device and the spike in smartphone shipments, their global penetration has only reached 27 percent. Read The Full Story

Windows 8 security loophole demoed by researcher

Rue Liu, Nov 25th 2011 Discuss [8]

Microsoft's Windows 8 isn't due out in full until fall of next year, but security researcher Peter Kleissner has already found a way to exploit the platform. Kleissner created a Windows 8 bootkit that can bypass the User Account Control using just 14KB of exploit code. It's said to be the first proof-of-concept to find a vulnerability in Windows 8 and he's posted a demo video of the process. Read The Full Story

Vstone outs small RPC-S1 robot for research

Shane McGlaun, Nov 25th 2011 Discuss [0]

I like robots quite a bit when they are cool. I have aspirations of one day owning a bot that can mow the lawn for me. This new little bot from Vstone won't mow my yard, mostly because it has no legs. The bot is called the RPC-S1 and it is a little child-like robot covered in foam rubber. The bot has a round head with two eyes. Read The Full Story

HP $99 TouchPad edges out Android in non-iPad tablet sales

Chris Davies, Nov 22nd 2011 Discuss [7]

HP's TouchPad fire-sale scored the company the second place in US tablet sales, market stats have shown, with the $99 webOS slate edging ahead of Samsung's entire Galaxy Tab line-up. The Korean firm slipped to third place - behind Apple, in first, and HP, in second - with 16-percent of retail tablet sales between January and October 2011, the NPD Group found, while HP managed 17-percent thanks no doubt to its aggressive discounting. Total non-Apple tablet sales amounted to more than 1.2m units the analysts suggest. Read The Full Story

Less than 6-degrees separate you from Kevin Bacon

Shane McGlaun, Nov 22nd 2011 Discuss [66]

Back in August, I mentioned that Facebook and Yahoo had been testing the six degrees theory where we are all supposed to be connected to each other by no more than six other people. This is commonly known as the six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Scientists at Facebook and the University of Milan have now reported that there are actually less than six people separating us all. Read The Full Story