Tag: minipost

Bluestacks for Mac hits beta, injects a little Google in your Apple

If you’re one of those folks that like to bridge the divide — rocking an Android handset, but rely on a Mac for heavy lifting — we’ve got some good news. Bluestacks , the emulator that lets you run Android apps on your desktop has hit beta on OS X. The tool launched in beta form on Windows in March and an alpha version for Mac landed in June. Now there should be a little more parity between the major desktop ecosystems when it comes to getting your Flipboard and Bad Piggies on. To download it for yourself hit up the source link. Filed under: Software , Apple , Google Comments Via: Android Central Source: Bluestacks

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Bluestacks for Mac hits beta, injects a little Google in your Apple

MIT demos new form of magnetism that could lead to quantum communication, storage

It’s not often that researchers can verify a discovery that could change how we approach basic principles of technology, not just build on what we know. Nonetheless, MIT might have accomplished just such a feat in demonstrating a new state of magnetism . They’ve shown that a synthetically grown sample of herbertsmithite crystal (what you see above) behaves as a quantum spin liquid: a material where fractional quantum states produce a liquid-like flux in magnetic orientations, even if the material is solid. The behavior could let communications and storage take advantage of quantum entanglement , where particles can affect each other despite relatively long distances. MIT warns us that there’s a wide gap between showing quantum spin liquids in action and developing a complete theory that makes them useful; we’re not about to see Mass Effect ‘s quantum entanglement communicator, if it’s even possible. To us, realizing that there may be a wholly untapped resource is enough reward for now. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Source: MIT

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MIT demos new form of magnetism that could lead to quantum communication, storage

Windows Phone now home to 120k apps, downloads and dev revenue rising post-WP8

Windows Phone 8 is a roaring success! That is if you ask the platform’s Senior Director, Todd Brix, who tweeted today that developer revenues and downloads have doubled since its launch in November. While this sounds all good, what does it really mean? Back in June, the former Windows Phone Marketplace surpassed 100,000 published apps . To further gauge the platform’s progress, Nokia recently announced that the Windows Phone Store now has over 120,000 apps, with 46 of the top 50 iOS and Android applications being available for WP8. While today’s vague declaration of success didn’t reveal any specific numbers, a 20 percent software increase in under six months is definitely something to smile about. As much as we’d like to slap Microsoft a high-five, we’ll have to save our jubilation until we get a little something more concrete — hopefully a set of official statistics will Surface sooner than later. Filed under: Software , Mobile , Microsoft Comments Source: Todd Brix (Twitter) , Nokia

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Windows Phone now home to 120k apps, downloads and dev revenue rising post-WP8

MediaPortal posts 2.0 alpha media hub and new remote apps, teases 1.3 beta with Titan

Home theater PC owners only just recovering from their turkey or tofu comas will have some updating to do — MediaPortal has been busy. The experimenters among us will most likely want to jump straight into the promised MediaPortal 2.0 Alpha Autumn , which carries new visual layouts and video backgrounds, a news plug-in and a party-friendly music player. New versions of remote tools like aMPdroid, MPExtended, WebMediaPortal and WifiRemote bring their own slew of upgrades, such as HTTP Live Streaming in MPExtended or a “what’s new” interface in aMPdroid. We’ll readily admit that our eye is most drawn to the yet-to-be-launched MediaPortal 1.3 beta’s addition of the Titan skin you see up above: going beyond what we saw in October, the extra-polished look goes a long way towards accommodating newcomers and the style-conscious. We’re still waiting on publicly accessible 1.3 beta code, but everything else is waiting for open-source media hubs at the included links. Filed under: Cellphones , Home Entertainment , Software , HD Comments Via: Missing Remote Source: MediaPortal (1) , (2) , (3)

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MediaPortal posts 2.0 alpha media hub and new remote apps, teases 1.3 beta with Titan

Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants

Most of the attention surrounding 3D printers in medicine has focused on patching up our outsides, whether it’s making skin to heal wounds or restoring the use of limbs . The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has just detailed a technique that could go considerably deeper. By mixing natural gel put through an inkjet printer with thin and porous polymer threads coming from an electrospinner, researchers have generated constructs that could be ideal for cartilage implants: they encourage cell growth in and around an implant while remaining durable enough to survive real-world abuse. Early tests have been confined to the lab, but the institute pictures a day when doctors can scan a body part to produce an implant that’s a good match. If the method is ultimately refined for hospital use, patients could recover from joint injuries faster or more completely — and 3D printers could become that much more integral to health care. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Gizmag Source: Institute of Physics

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Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants

Google Now awarded Popular Science’s Innovation of the Year

Popular Science has given Google Now its “Innovation of the Year” award, putting it alongside past winners like the Large Hadron Collider , the Toyota Prius and the Mars Curiosity Rover . It’s august company to be sure, and the reasoning behind the decision is that it’s “the first virtual assistant that truly anticipates your needs.” The service has grown quite a bit since its initial launch — from personalized recommendations to public safety alerts and the addition of a pedometer , it seems that these are early days yet for the context- and location-aware app. Hit the Android G+ source link to read a Q&A between PopSci and part of the Google Now team to get some behind-the-scenes insight of the award-winning service. Filed under: Cellphones , Internet , Google Comments Source: Android (Google+) , Popular Science

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Google Now awarded Popular Science’s Innovation of the Year

Harwell Dekatron revived as the world’s oldest working, original digital computer

Over 60 years since the first digital computers switched on, the chances of seeing one of these pioneers in action have grown incredibly slim as time (and recycling) takes its toll. Take a visit to Britain’s National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park as of today, however, and you’ll see one working. A finished 3-year restoration effort lets the Harwell Dekatron — at one point renamed the Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computation from Harwell, or WITCH — claim the title of the world’s oldest functional digital computer still using its original design. Aside from its room-filling dimensions, the 1951-era mainframe may be worth the trip just for recalling a time when there were no hard and fast rules in computing: the Dekatron operates in its namesake decimal system, not binary, and puts most of its components on full display. The computer is part of the regular exhibit lineup and should be easy to see; the daunting part may be realizing that virtually any chip in a 2012 smartphone could outmuscle the Dekatron without breaking a sweat. Filed under: Desktops , Misc , Alt Comments Via: Slashdot Source: National Museum of Computing

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Harwell Dekatron revived as the world’s oldest working, original digital computer

BitTorrent lands deals with 20 TV makers for peer-to-peer video

The file sharing crew at BitTorrent has so far taken only tentative footsteps into the living room with its certification program . If CEO Eric Kinkler’s comments to Multichannel News are any indicator, though, the company is ready to make itself at home. He reveals that BitTorrent has signed pacts with 20 electronics makers to include its peer-to-peer service for media streaming in new TV sets, some of which will ship as soon as the end of 2012. Kinkler isn’t naming the partners, but he notes that most of the torrent-ready screens are destined for Asia and Europe rather than the US — many TV builders in American shops already have a raft of streaming video deals with the likes of Netflix, the executive says. Don’t anticipate seeing a row of BitTorrent TVs in the local big-box store, then, but do expect the firm to make a name for itself beyond software and the occasional router . Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD BitTorrent lands deals with 20 TV makers for peer-to-peer video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink    |  Multichannel News  |  Email this  |  Comments

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BitTorrent lands deals with 20 TV makers for peer-to-peer video

Everspin throws first ST-MRAM chips down, launches commercial spin-torque memory era

Who says scientific breakthroughs never amount to anything? Everspin has followed up on research developed by IBM, TDK and German researchers years back and released the first commercial spin-torque magnotoresistive RAM (ST-MRAM) onto the market. The technology works by taking advantage of electron “spin” to store data in a magnetic, rather than electronic state, providing non-volatile memory that doesn’t wear out. The company said the first chips were about 50 times the cost of flash memory by size, but where a typical NAND module can perform about 800 iOPS, ST-MRAM is capable of 400,000 — making it ideal for SSD caching and other demanding applications. Everspin has started shipping working samples of the 64MB DIMMS in a DDR3 form factor, saying that future versions will scale to gigabyte capacities and faster speeds — keeping Moore’s Law hurtling inexorably forward. Check the PR after the break for the company’s spin on it. Continue reading Everspin throws first ST-MRAM chips down, launches commercial spin-torque memory era Filed under: Peripherals , Storage Everspin throws first ST-MRAM chips down, launches commercial spin-torque memory era originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink   Computerworld  |   |  Email this  |  Comments

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Everspin throws first ST-MRAM chips down, launches commercial spin-torque memory era

Potentially inhabitable super-Earth discovered in 6 planet solar system

When we do eventually reduce the Earth to an uninhabitable wasteland through our careless consumption of natural resources and inevitable nuclear wars, we’ll need someplace else to go. We haven’t picked a successor yet, but a new candidate has been identified a mere 44 light years away, orbiting dwarf star HD 40307. The super-Earth orbits its host star right at the edge of the so-called habitable zone , where a stable atmosphere and liquid water are possible. We don’t know for sure the planet is, in fact, capable of supporting life, but there’s at least a chance. And given that it’s roughly seven-times the mass of Earth, it shouldn’t have much trouble playing host to our exploding population. Filed under: Science , Alt Potentially inhabitable super-Earth discovered in 6 planet solar system originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink    |  Astrobiology Magazine  |  Email this  |  Comments

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Potentially inhabitable super-Earth discovered in 6 planet solar system