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‘technology’ Stories

.XXX domains available for general sale

Shane McGlaun, Dec 7th 2011 Discuss [0]

ICANN started the process of approving the new .xxx domain name back in March of this year. After months of waiting people that wanted to buy the new domains can now officially get them. The addresses ending in .xxx are specifically for porn sites and was intended to allow people to identify and avoid porn sites or make it easier to find them depending on your perspective. Read The Full Story

Auction nabs $380,000 for Apollo 13 checklist

Shane McGlaun, Dec 1st 2011 Discuss [0]

During the space race in the 60's and 70's NASA sent several mission to the moon. Of all those manned moon missions, the only one that wasn’t successful was Apollo 13. This is the mission where the oxygen tank exploded after the ship had been on path to the moon for two days. This is also the mission where the infamous "Houston, we've had a problem" comes from. Read The Full Story

Displair puts images onto fog that are touch interactive

Shane McGlaun, Nov 23rd 2011 Discuss [0]

If you thought Kinect was cool and an interesting way to have gesture interaction with all sorts of devices, check this out. A company called Displair is showing off a very interesting new display system that has very fine motion control of what is projected. It looks like some sort of magic cloud controlled by a wizard. Read The Full Story

Lightest material on Earth is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam

Shane McGlaun, Nov 18th 2011 Discuss [36]

In the tech world it's not, uncommon to see firms touting their device is the lightest this or that and often there are caveats to their claims. A group of researchers has invented a new material that has no caveats. It’s simply the lightest material on earth. What's it going to be used for? No one knows at this point. Read The Full Story

Apple patent reveals airbags as possible iPhone glass protection

Rue Liu, Nov 17th 2011 Discuss [6]

An Apple patent application has surfaced, revealing one of the ideas the company has in mind for creating crack-resistant glass screens for its iPhones and other portable devices. The invention involves the use of a tunable shock mount which acts like an airbag between the glass screen and the body of the device. Read The Full Story

Smartphone, laptop battery life to see 10X increase

Rue Liu, Nov 15th 2011 Discuss [19]

Smartphone and laptop batteries could soon see a ten-fold increase in both the charging speed as well as battery life. Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a lithium-ion electrode that enables conventional lithium-ion batteries to get ten times more capacity and would still run five times as efficient as current batteries after 150 charging cycles or about a year of use. Read The Full Story

MOD and MOD Live clip on LCD displays for skiers now available

Shane McGlaun, Nov 9th 2011 Discuss [1]

With winter almost here, there are some in colder climates that are already getting snow and ready to hit the slopes for some winter sports. If you are a skier or snowboarder, you may want to check this out. The MOD and MOD Live micro displays are now available and they are the first microdisplays to be compatible with alpine ski goggles. Read The Full Story

Greenpeace unveils greenest tech firms for November 2011

Shane McGlaun, Nov 9th 2011 Discuss [0]

The green beatniks at Greenpeace have been putting together the rankings of the greenest firms in the tech world. It's obvious from the latest rankings that there are no major tech firms that are anywhere near as green as Greenpeace wants. The highest ranking firm is HP at 5.9 on the 10-point scale. Read The Full Story

Periodic table gets three new lab created elements

Shane McGlaun, Nov 8th 2011 Discuss [13]

The thing I hated most in high school was learning the periodic table. Remembering all those elements and their symbols was not a good time. The students that are having to learn the periodic tablet today have three new elements they need to memorize. These new elements are all super heavy and can only be lab created. Read The Full Story

IBM to spend another $7B on stock buyback

Shane McGlaun, Oct 26th 2011 Discuss [1]

This has been a big week for IBM. The company has appointed Virginia M. Rometty as CEO of the company, making her one of the highest profile female CEOs in the business world. When Rometty took the CEO spot, the former CEO Samuel J. Palmisano moved over to the Chairman position. While a new CEO and Chairman are in play, IBM has announced something else interesting today. Read The Full Story

Amazon lands patent on gift cards that can restrict purchases

Shane McGlaun, Oct 26th 2011 Discuss [6]

Amazon has been granted a patent on a new tech for gift cards that will help the giver limit exactly what the person they gift the card to can purchase. Amazon applied for the patent titled "customizing gift instrument experiences for recipients" back in 2008 and the patent was granted recently. In a nutshell, the patent boils down to parental controls for the products the gift card can be used to purchase. Read The Full Story

Texas Instruments unveils more efficient boost charger for harvesting energy

Shane McGlaun, Oct 25th 2011 Discuss [0]

The idea of little nano-generator chips inside all sorts of products for harvesting small amounts of energy to operate low power circuits is very appealing. This is a particularly important technology for sensors in things like security systems and other uses that only need tiny bits of power to operate. Being able to harvest that power from solar energy or vibration makes the sensors much easier to install. There are a myriad of uses for this sort of tech other than sensors. Read The Full Story