NASA has confirmed a surprising, counterintuitive discovery. The burning hell known Mercury—the closest planet to the Sun—has water. Frozen water. Three new research papers, based on data obtained by the Messenger spacecraft, show undeniable evidence. More »
Apple’s slightly overdue update to iTunes is out. Finally. It’s a sizable re-imagining of a piece of software used by a massive amount of people. So you should probably take a minute or two to acquaint yourself with the new stuff. Here’s what’s changed. More »
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iTunes 11 Is Finally Out: Here’s What’s New
Details on the Pro variety of Microsoft’s Surface tablet have been hard to come by since the company first announced it back in June , but it’s filled in some big ones today. It’s confirmed in a blog post that the device will start at $899 for the 64GB model, with the 128GB version setting you back $999. Both of those are what’s Microsoft’s dubbing the “standalone” model, which means you’ll get a Surface pen/stylus, but have to shell out extra for a Touch or Type Cover (each over $100). Both will be available in January, although there’s no specific date or word on pre-orders yet. As you can see, the device looks similar to the Surface RT , including the same “VaporMg” casing and built-in kickstand, and it also boasts a 10.6-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. A key difference with that latter bit, though, is that the screen packs a full 1920 x 1080 resolution as opposed to the 1366 x 768 found on the RT model. You’ll also get a third-gen Core i5 processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000 (no more specifics on that just yet), 4GB of RAM, a Mini DisplayPort that can output a 2560 x 1440 resolution, a full-size USB 3.0 port and, of course, Windows 8 Pro with support for all your traditional desktop applications. All that expectedly makes the tablet itself a bit heftier than its RT-based counterpart — it’s just over half-an-inch thick and weighs in at two pounds on the nose. Update: The spec list confirmed that the Surface Pro will have a 42 W-h battery, but Microsoft has now also expanded on that in a tweet , saying that the device is expected to “have approximately half the battery life of Surface with Windows RT.” Based on our testing of the RT version, that should translate to just over four-and-a-half hours. Filed under: Tablets , Microsoft Comments Source: Official Microsoft Blog , Microsoft
Apple’s newer, thinner iMacs are due to be released tomorrow , with the 21-inch models showing up in stores and shipping immediately, and 27-inch models shipping some time in December. While base model pricing and configuration options have been known ever since the new models were announced in October, Apple has not yet officially announced the pricing of any of the add-on options like video cards and extra storage, so potential purchasers haven’t yet been able to nail down their total pocketbook impact. Enlarge / Base pricing for the new iMacs. Image from store.apple.com However, earlier this week MacRumors posted news from an Apple reseller named Expercom , which reportedly contains the entire set of iMac build-to-order upgrade prices. According to that list, a fully loaded 27-inch iMac will cost an eye-watering $4,249, before tax: Base price, 27-inch iMac, 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX video card, 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM: $1,999 Upgrade to 3.5GHz Intel Core i7: $200 Upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX video card: $150 Upgrade to 768GB SSD: $1,300 Upgrade to 32GB of RAM: $600 Tossing in 6 percent for a guess at sales tax (obviously, this varies by state and even city) yields a grand total of $4,503.94 for an iMac with every single upgrade box checked. Hope you brought a second pair of underwear… preferably one stuffed with $100 bills. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Fully loaded new 27-inch iMac will cost over $4,200—before tax
Google has added a new feature to Drive: You can now serve up web content from within your Google Drive folder, even ones that run JavaScript. All you need to do is upload your HTML files and assets (e.g., images) and make them public. More »
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Host Web Pages on Google Drive
This is pretty darn cool. It’s called Popslate — an iPhone 5 case with a four-inch E Ink screen on the back — and it’s launching right now on Indiegogo for $79 in two colors. Combined with a bespoke social imaging app, it lets you take and share pics, then “pop” them to the back of your phone. Better yet, the always-on, ultra low-power, black and white display becomes a canvas for notifications, sports scores, maps, lists and notes, all just a glance away. An open API allows third-party developers to design custom apps for Popslate — including accelerometer support to interact with the backside screen by tapping on it. Imagine a micro e-reader app which uses the E Ink display instead of the main panel to conserve battery. The company is still in the early stages of development and sadly didn’t have a prototype to show us, but it’s already gathered a team of talented designers, engineers and developers. It’s also secured a partnership with E Ink to use the latest in ruggedized e-paper technology and is hoping to raise enough funds to make Popslate a reality. Two colors are available at launch (black and white) with prices starting at $79 for the first 500 supporters, then $99 and up. Hit the break for the demo video and IndieGogo link. Continue reading Popslate launches iPhone 5 case with four-inch E Ink screen (video) Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments
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Popslate launches iPhone 5 case with four-inch E Ink screen (video)
Lights out, rebels: it looks like the Syrian government just blacked out almost the entire country’s access to the web. This is cyber warfare. More »
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Did Syria Just Turn off The Internet? (Updated)
garymortimer writes “Earlier this month, Iran’s news agency provided visual evidence that its government had figured out to make a fancy new drone that could take off and land vertically. What they didn’t tell us is that they used Photoshop to make it stop taking off from the roof of Japan’s Chiba University, which built the aircraft and never had anything to do with Iran’s alleged version of it.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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The Secret To Iranian Drone Technology? Just Add Photoshop
Vintage ad scanned and Flickr’d by James Vaughan . Wouldn’t it be nifty if the newest iteration of iTunes , which in my opinion is one of a great company’s poorest products, looked like this? The Ping-less iTunes 11 is set to launch this month, likely today, according to hints dropped in this Wall Street Journal profile of Apple exec Eddy Cue. It’s not that big a secret, anyways; the Apple.com iTunes splash page says it’s “coming in November,” and there aren’t many days left in November. Below, *actual* screenshots of the new interface. Come to think of it, the new UI resembles the vintage ad more than iTunes 10 does! But I don’t like it. I wish iTunes were a skinnable, interpret-able service with an API, like Twitter is (for now, anyway)—imagine if you could use any third-party client you wanted to access the service, as cleanly and free of cruft as you please. Library view Album view
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New Apple iTunes 11 interface revealed
More than a year after the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai) received construction approval to get going on its maglev railways, it has finally unveiled a Series L0 prototype that would put its current bullet train system to shame. Designed to travel at 311 mph, a single one of these high-speed marvels is designed to carry about 16 carriages, which translates to about 1,000 commuters. While Japanese travelers already enjoy a speedy 90-minute trip from Tokyo to Nagoya, this new maglev system promises to cut that journey to just 40 minutes. Announced nearly five years ago , the project has since been extended to include an Osaka-Tokyo leg and will cost around nine trillion yen (approximately $112 billion) when all is said and done. Don’t pack your bags just yet though; the maglev’s Nagoya rail isn’t scheduled to go live until 2027, and the boarding call for Osaka isn’t until 2045. Of course, if you need to ride electromagnetic rails now , there’s always China’s Shanghai Transrapid, which has been ferrying passengers to and fro the Pudong airport since 2004 — it once reached speeds of 501km/h (311mph). China’s even planning a whopping 1,000 km/h vacuum-tube maglev train in just a year or so. Of course, those of us on the other end of the Pacific are still waiting for that long-delayed California-Nevada maglev project to work out. Sigh. Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: Inhabitat Source: Phys.org
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Japan unveils prototype of new maglev train, promises speeds of up to 311 mph