There’s no denying that graphene is a wonderful material —strong, flexible, and highly conductive—but it’s taking a long time to become a commercial reality. Now, scientists working with a material called cadmium arsenide believe it offers many of the same benefits—but could actually be far easier to use in the real world. Read more…
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Cadmium Arsenide: A 3D Alternative to Graphene That’s Way More Useful
A rat’s nest of cables at the back of a desk is truly the sign of the gadget-obsessed. But Intel plans to end all that, and soon: it wants your desk—hell, your entire digital life—to be completely wireless by 2016. Read more…
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Intel Wants to Make Your Office Entirely Cable-Free By 2016
Google Drive is reportedly down with frequent error messages and long load times. We’re looking into it — have you experienced any issues? (Update: it’s back!) Read more…
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Google Drive is reportedly down with frequent error messages and long load times.
Back in 2006 we learned about the FBI’s ability to eavesdrop on cellphones, even when they’re turned off . And guess what? Edward Snowden reminds us that government agencies can still do just that . Read more…
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The NSA Can (Still) Bug Your Phone When It’s Powered Off
Right now, Apple’s AirPlay media streaming requires an established WiFi network to fly. That’s fine when you’re at home, but do you really want to ask for a friend’s hotspot password just to show vacation photos on their Apple TV? Mercifully, iOS 8 will let you skip that hassle. One of the many under the radar upgrades to the software is peer-to-peer AirPlay support — you can now share content to an AirPlay-capable device as long as you can make a direct connection. The basic concept is old hat, as you might suspect. DLNA has done this for a while, and third-party apps on various platforms can pull this off. All the same, the improved AirPlay technology should be handy both for media-savvy socialites as well as presenters who aren’t always guaranteed network access in the meeting room. Filed under: Cellphones , Home Entertainment , Tablets , HD , Mobile , Apple Comments Via: AppleInsider , Gizmodo Source: Apple
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AirPlay on iOS 8 doesn’t need a network to stream your media
After touring a museum, what do you think is the best gift shop souvenir to commemorate your visit? A post card? A magnet? The online gift shop for the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, has got something far more appropriate: an actual viking boat to stage your own conquests. Read more…
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You Can Buy an Actual Viking Ship at Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum
In case you haven’t heard, California is screwed. The drought has turned our perennially water-challenged state into a desiccated husk. In these dire times, we look toward desalination, an idea long-promised but never quite delivered in the U.S. But a spate of new technologies —graphene, solar mirrors, and more—could finally make desalination viable for our freshwater needs. Read more…
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The Cutting-Edge Tech That Will Finally Bring Desalination to the U.S.
MojoKid (1002251) writes “Last year, Intel launched two new processor families based on the Haswell and Ivy Bridge-E based Core i7 architecture. Both chips were just incremental updates over their predecessors. Haswell may have delivered impressive gains in mobile, but it failed to impress on the desktop where it was only slightly faster than the chip it replaced. Enthusiasts weren’t terribly excited about either core but Intel is hoping its new Devil’s Canyon CPU, which launches today, will change that. The new chip is the Core i7-4790K and it packs several new features that should appeal to the enthusiast and overclocking markets. First, Intel has changed the thermal interface material from the paste it used in the last generation over to a new Next Generation Polymer Thermal Interface Material, or as Intel calls it, “NGPTIM.” Moving Haswell’s voltage regulator on-die proved to be a significant problem for overclockers since it caused dramatic heat buildup that was only exacerbated by higher clock speeds. Overclockers reported that removing Haswell’s lid could boost clock speeds by several hundred MHz. The other tweak to the Haswell core is a great many additional capacitors, which have been integrated to smooth power delivery at higher currents. This new chip gives Haswell a nice lift. If the overclocking headroom delivers on top of that, enthusiasts might be able to hit 4.7-4.8GHz on standard cooling.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Intel Announces Devil’s Canyon Core I7-4790K: 4GHz Base Clock, 4.4GHz Turbo
When Intel announced the new 14nm Core M (Broadwell) processor to enable thinner, fanless convertible devices, I knew the “Llama Mountain” reference design would be impressively svelte. But hearing a spec is different than seeing it; this laptop-tablet hybrid is insanely skinny. At 7.2mm (0.28 inch), the slate is thinner than the iPad Air (7.5mm), and it’s also significantly lighter than two-in-one devices already on the market; it’s a notebook-class PC running Windows 8.1 Pro, yet it weighs just 1.47 pounds, compared to 1.76 pounds for the Surface Pro 3 . The prototype’s light and slim footprint is made possible the Core M’s efficiency and low heat production — the chip allows for a fanless design. Despite its slimness, the slate can fit a 32Wh battery, which should get you at least eight hours of regular use on a full charge. Of course, different OEMs may opt to use a different-sized fuel pack, so once devices running the Core M come to market we could see even longer run times. ASUS announced its own similar computer at Computex yesterday — the Transformer Book T300 Chi — which you’ll actually be able to pick up in stores, unlike Intel’s reference design, which won’t ship to consumers. The ASUS slate, which is only a hair thicker at 7.3 millimeters, also includes a 12.5-inch touchscreen. The Chi’s display features a 2, 560 x 1, 440 display, and while Intel reps were unable to confirm the Llama Mountain reference design’s resolution, it’s not unreasonable to expect a similar pixel density from other manufacturers. Since we’re talking about a device category that’s part-work, part-play, it’s only natural that Intel’s reference design includes a separate media dock. To that end, the base of the device — the only edge that isn’t hair-thin — is just barely thick enough to accommodate the requisite dock connector, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB 3.0 post. It’s kind of hard to imagine tablets getting even skinnier, but with Intel’s ever-evolving technology, they probably will. For now, though, we can all look forward to carrying a tablet (and keyboard base) that’s shockingly thin. Zach Honig contributed to this report. Filed under: Laptops , Tablets , Intel Comments
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Intel’s Windows 8.1 Pro Broadwell tablet is thinner than the iPad Air
Houston resident Lisa Leeson says she paid Comcast nearly $2,000 over seven years for an alarm system, only to find out that it never worked. Comcast, it turns out, installed the alarm system improperly. Even though the alarm made a sound indicating that it was active when Leeson and her family set it each day, “It was unable… to actually call the police and/or Comcast once it was activated,” Leeson told KPRC Local 2 Houston . What did Comcast do after the problem was finally discovered? At first, the company offered only a $20 credit, before eventually agreeing to refund all of the money. “When Davis called Comcast’s corporate office, a spokesman apologized, but not before he pointed to a line in Leeson’s alarm agreement where she agreed to ‘test her system’ on ‘a regular basis,'” the news station reported. “Chances are your alarm company requires the same, putting the onus back on you to make sure your system is functioning properly.” Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Comcast charged $2,000 for alarm system that didn’t work—for 7 years