Will Windows 8 Be Ready For Release In 2012?


MrSeb writes with an excerpt from an Extreme Tech article on the Windows 8 release timeline: “…A Microsoft vice president announced that the Windows 8 beta would begin in late February 2012. The beta will be feature-complete and will allow developers to begin listing their apps in the Store. The timing of the beta is curious, and ultimately quite telling. … The first public build of Windows 8 … emerged in mid-September 2011; by the time the beta rolls around, it will have been ruminating for more than five months. If we follow the timeline forward — it took 10 months for Windows 7 to go from beta to public release — then it’s possible that Windows 8 might arrive just in time for Black Friday 2012, or perhaps not in 2012 at all. Will its late arrival affect its chances of cutting out a swath of the tablet market from Apple and Android? Or will Windows 8 be different enough that it will do well, no matter when it arrives?”

In related news, an anonymous reader notes that IDC predicts Windows 8 will be irrelevant to the traditional PC market.

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Will Windows 8 Be Ready For Release In 2012?

New All-Sky Map Shows the Magnetic Fields of the Milky Way


An anonymous reader writes “With a unique new all-sky map, scientists at MPA have made significant progress toward measuring the magnetic field structure of the Milky Way in unprecedented detail. Specifically, the map is of a quantity known as Faraday depth, which among other things, depends strongly on the magnetic fields along a particular line of sight. To produce the map, data were combined from more than 41,000 individual measurements using a novel image reconstruction technique. The work was a collaboration between scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), who are specialists in the new discipline of information field theory, and a large international team of radio astronomers. The new map not only reveals the structure of the galactic magnetic field on large scales, but also small-scale features that provide information about turbulence in the galactic gas.”

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New All-Sky Map Shows the Magnetic Fields of the Milky Way

Toshiba 55X3 4K 3DTV launches December 10th in Japan, no glasses necessary

Toshiba is finally ready to bring its 55-inch, 4K res 3DTV home in Japan, and buyers will have their first chance to part with 900,000 yen ($11,578 US) on December 10th. The 55X3 (ZL2 in Europe) still doesn’t have a North American ship date, but we can still drool over its high res display and autostereoscopic (no glasses) 3D screen that adjusts for its viewers’ location based on face tracking technology, although that results in a resolution drop down to 720p. Our last time getting eyes-on with a prototype panel was at CES and we probably won’t see it again until we’re back in Las Vegas in a few weeks, let’s hope all that CEVO Engine technology Toshiba’s plugged in for image processing makes it worth the wait… and the price.

Toshiba 55X3 4K 3DTV launches December 10th in Japan, no glasses necessary originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba 55X3 4K 3DTV launches December 10th in Japan, no glasses necessary

Artifact for iOS puts the power of Photoshop in the palm of your hand

So, you got a shiny new iPhone 4S, and with its spiffy new camera, you’re itching to dabble in some Dada-esque picture composition. But, what if you’re an on-the-go type with no time to fix your pics on a laptop? Worry not photog friend, Artifact is here to let you photoshop right on your phone and give Adobe some competition. The app works on any device running iOS 4.1 or later, and lets you splice photos together with the greatest of ease. Once you’ve got two images to combine, simply open one to create a canvas layer, then open the second to have it it appear as a transparent layer on top. You can adjust them –individually or locked together — by rotating or with pinch to zoom, and painting selected areas of the top layer with your fingers combines them for good. It’s a really slick interface, and one you should see for yourself, so head on past the break so see Artifact in action.

Continue reading Artifact for iOS puts the power of Photoshop in the palm of your hand

Artifact for iOS puts the power of Photoshop in the palm of your hand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | sourceArtifact for iOS, Artifact (Facebook) | Email this | Comments

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Quantum Coherence Found Fueling Photosynthesis


Gaygirlie writes “Ars Technica has posted an interesting article about new findings regarding quantum physics and photosynthesis. Their excerpt for the article: ‘Physicists have found the strongest evidence yet of quantum effects fueling photosynthesis. Multiple experiments in recent years have suggested as much, but it has been hard to be sure. Quantum effects were clearly present in the light-harvesting antenna proteins of plant cells, but their precise role in processing incoming photons remained unclear.’ Here’s a little background info for those unaware of what coherence and quantum coherence are.”

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Quantum Coherence Found Fueling Photosynthesis

There I Fixed It: World Electrical Outlets – A Visual Guide

white trash repairs - There I Fixed It: World Electrical Outlets - A Visual Guide

Click the image to join There I Fixed It’s discussion and for a hi res version!

A few notes: This is meant to be a visual guide, as many similar outlets have different voltages. Just because a plug fits doesn’t mean it will work. Always double check before you blow up your cell phone/hair dryer/discount lightsaber.

The outlet widely-used in continental Europe is known as the Schuko and varies between countries; Germany’s earth connector is on the clips as opposed to France’s middle-pin. The ungrounded version is called the Europlug and is becoming more common around the world.

And lastly, this doesn’t cover every single country or sub-type of outlet; just the largest lands and most common interfaces.

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There I Fixed It: World Electrical Outlets – A Visual Guide

Ocean Energy Tech To Be Tested Off Australian Coast


cylonlover writes “The researchers at Australia’s BioPower Systems evidently looked at kelp, and thought, ‘what if we could use that swaying action to generate power?’ The result was their envisioned bioWAVE system: ‘At the base of each bioWAVE system would be a triangular foundation, keeping it anchored to the sea floor. Extending up from the middle of that foundation would be a central column, topped with multiple blades — these would actually be more like a combination of the kelp’s blades and floats, as they would be cylindrical, buoyant structures that just reach to the surface. The column would join the foundation via a hinged pivot, allowing it to bend or swivel in any direction. Wave action (both at the surface and below) would catch the blades and push them back and forth, in turn causing the column to move back and forth relative to the foundation. This movement would pressurize fluid within an integrated hydraulic power conversion module, known as an O-Drive. The movement of that fluid would spin a generator, converting the kinetic energy of the waves into electricity, which would then be delivered to shore via subsea cables.'”

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Ocean Energy Tech To Be Tested Off Australian Coast

Graphene Spun Into Meter-Long Fibers


ananyo writes “Nano-sized flakes of graphene oxide can be spun into graphene fibers several meters long, researchers in China have shown. The strong, flexible fibers, which can be tied in knots or woven into conductive mats, could be the key to deploying graphene in real-world devices such as flexible batteries.”

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Graphene Spun Into Meter-Long Fibers