Starfish have eyes — not just light-sensitive “eye spots”, but real, honest-to-Poseidon eyes, one at the end of each of their arms. They probably see the world differently than we do (for instance, they’re likely colorblind and can’t see at near the level of detail), but they can see. And they know about that time you poked them with a stick.
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The eyes of the starfish
This laptop might not have the sleek looks of a shiny ultrabook, but what does that matter when Gigabyte has managed to cram some crazy powerful gaming guts into its 0.9-inch frame ? Read more…
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Gigabyte’s Squeezed Amazing Gaming Guts Into a 0.9-Inch Thick Laptop
Despite its unassuming looks and gentle temperament, the humble red breasted robin ( Erithacus rubecula ) boasts a superhero-like ability. They can see magnetic fields, giving them an almost perfect sense of direction. Read more…
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Robins Can Actually See Magnetic Fields (But Only in One Eye)
Behold, the world’s fastest memory card. Lexar’s 3333x CFast 2.0 ratchets up the read speed of Compact Flash cards to a dizzying 500MB/s—and that is very, very fast. Read more…
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This Is the World’s Fastest Memory Card (For a Little While)
When designing a smartwatch, the general trend is to start with a basic timepiece and add features until physics or budgets get in the way. That’s not the approach taken by 19-year-old Canadian Simon Tian when he developed the Pine by Neptune. Instead, he took to Kickstarter with the idea of just shrinking a last-generation smartphone down to watch-size proportions. The result isn’t really a watch in any sense of the word, but considering that the Pine raised eight times its goal on Kickstarter, there’s clearly a desire for this sort of hardware. We got to spend some time with it at CES and want to share some impressions with you. Even with the pictures, it’s hard to get a sense of the scale of this thing. Imagine something the size of a deck of cards that’s strapped along your wrist and you’re almost there. The three Android navigation buttons run down the right side of the 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 TFT screen. Powering this thing is a 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 paired with 512MB RAM and when using it, it’s certainly swift enough to play Angry Birds without any stutter or lag. Considering that it is a smartphone that’s been shrunk in the wash, you’ll also find a microSIM card slot, speakerphone and forward and rear-facing cameras. The VGA forward-facer is fine for video calls, but to use the primary lens, you’ll actually have to unclip the device from the wrist clip to use it. Because of the size of the display, it’s entirely possible to use a full size software keyboard, meaning that it’s feasible, if not comfortable, to use this for email and texting. In fact, the phrase “feasible, if not comfortable” probably sums this device up in its entirety. While we’re sure there are plenty of people who will overlook its size in favor of having full smartphone functionality attached to their wrist, we can’t imagine this selling beyond its niche. Still, if you remain determined to snaffle one, the 16GB edition will cost $335 and the 32GB edition will set you back $395 when they launch in March. Filed under: Cellphones , Wearables , Mobile Comments Source: Neptune Pine
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Neptune’s Pine isn’t a smartwatch, it’s a smartphone that sits on your wrist
dcblogs writes “The technology industry has been coasting along on steady, predictable performance gains, as laid out by Moore’s law. But stability and predictability are also the ingredients of complacency and inertia. At this stage, Moore’s Law may be more analogous to golden handcuffs than to innovation. With its end in sight, systems makers and governments are being challenged to come up with new materials and architectures. The European Commission has written of a need for ‘radical innovation in many computing technologies.’ The U.S. National Science Foundation, in a recent budget request, said technologies such as carbon nanotube digital circuits will likely be needed, or perhaps molecular-based approaches, including biologically inspired systems. The slowdown in Moore’s Law has already hit high-performance computing. Marc Snir, director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at the Argonne National Laboratory, outlined in a series of slides the problem of going below 7nm on chips, and the lack of alternative technologies.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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End of Moore’s Law Forcing Radical Innovation
Despite announcing plans to flood the market with a number of new HD and Ultra HD TVs , Samsung still found room in its CES booth for the first 8K TV we’ve seen from the manufacturer. Labeled as QUHD or Quad Ultra HD, it’s also only the second flatscreen with 7, 680 x 4, 320 pixels that we’ve seen, period. Still, our eyes may be getting jaded as a result of all the super high-res displays we’ve seen lately because this one didn’t have the shock value Sharp’s 8K Super Hi-Vision screen garnered with its debut a couple of years ago. Another reason could be the demo content, as Samsung opted for a Robin Sparkles-ish mall scene that was impressive in its sharpness and realism, but didn’t exactly draw us in as viewers and the crowded booth gave little room to take it all in. The demo video even magnified specific sections at time to emphasize the 8K res, but we’d prefer a reel with more action. Check after the break for a few more close up pictures and let us know if you can see the 8K difference. Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD , Samsung Comments
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Samsung’s 98-inch 8K TV lets us go to the mall without leaving CES
ananyo writes “From a few fragments out of a collection of 23-century-old Chinese bamboo strips, historians have pieced together what they say is the world’s oldest example of a multiplication table in base 10. Each strip is about 7 to 12 millimeters wide and half a meter long, and has a vertical line of ancient Chinese calligraphy painted on it in black ink. The bamboo pieces constitute 65 ancient texts and are thought to be among the most important artifacts from the Warring States period before the unification of China. But 21 bamboo strips contained only numbers and, on closer inspection, turned out to be a multiplication table. As in a modern multiplication table, the entries at the intersection of each row and column in the matrix provide the results of multiplying the corresponding numbers. The table can also help users to multiply any whole or half integer between 0.5 and 99.5. The researchers suspect that officials used the multiplication table to calculate surface area of land, yields of crops and the amounts of taxes owed.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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World’s Oldest Decimal Multiplication Table Discovered
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has announced that the McAfee brand name will be phased out in favor of a new name, Intel Security. John McAfee said of news: “My elation at Intel’s decision is beyond words.” Read more…
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Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has announced that the McAfee brand name will be phased out in favor of a n
Mophie ‘s line of Juice Packs and Powerstations have proven invaluable to anyone who needs their handsets to keep on ticking from dawn ’til dusk, especially at a show like CES. Now the company behind those popular external batteries have introduced the Space Pack, a battery case for the iPhone that also incorporates built-in storage. Designed for the iPhone 5 and the 5s, the Space Pack not only packs a 1, 700mAh backup battery, it also comes in either 16GB or 32GB iterations that could potentially double or triple your iPhone’s storage capacity. Any file type can be stored and managed on it, from photos and videos to your iTunes library. Mophie also introduced a free iOS app called Space that organizes the files into easy to view Collections so you can see what’s stored in your Space Pack. The 16GB version retails for $149.95 while the 32GB version will cost you $179.95. So if you’ve ever been stymied by your iPhone’s poor battery life and fixed storage, you can go ahead and pre-order Mophie’s Space Pack today as it starts shipping on March 14, 2014. Filed under: Cellphones , Peripherals , Storage , Mobile Comments Source: Mophie
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Mophie Space Pack for iPhone is a battery case with built-in storage