Tag: the-end

3D? Feh. MIT has already moved on to 4D printing (video)

The bad news: just as much of the world is starting to get excited about the prospects of 3D printing , science is moving on to the world of 4D. The good news: in the future, you might not have to assemble that Ikea chair yourself. “4D printing” is the term cientists are using to refer to a technology that MIT’s Skylar Tibbits talked up during a recent TED appearance. The fourth “d” here is time, referring to an object that, once printed, is capable of changing shape (over time, naturally). “Essentially the printing is nothing new,” Tibbits told the BBC. “It is about what happens after.” So far the concept has been demonstrated with thin strands of plastic, which, once added to water, form into a predetermined shape, using energy from the absorption. Suggested future applications involve furniture, pipes, bikes and buildings. First, however, scientists will have to demonstrate the technology on a larger structure, of course, and they’ll explore the possibility of other energy sources, like heat, sound and vibration. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Source: BBC

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3D? Feh. MIT has already moved on to 4D printing (video)

China claims its defense sites face constant US hacking attacks

China is routinely accused of launching concerted hacking campaigns against the US, many of them reportedly tied directly to the army’s Unit 61398 in Shanghai. If you believe the Ministry of Defense’s spokesman Geng Yansheng, however, just the opposite is true. Along with claiming that China would never hurt (or rather, hack) a fly, he asserts that the Ministry and China Military Online sites faced an average of 144,000 hacking attempts per month from foreign sources in 2012, 62.9 percent of which allegedly came from the US. The Ministry’s man stops short of leveling cyberwarfare charges, although he notes the US’ recent plans to expand and formally define its cyberwar strategy. There’s some ‘splainin to do, he argues. While there isn’t a formal US response, we suspect that neither side is an innocent dove here — China is just the most recent to cry foul. Filed under: Internet Comments Via: Reuters Source: Ministry of National Defense (translated)

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China claims its defense sites face constant US hacking attacks

Pandora establishes 40 hour mobile listening cap for free users

Remember the good ol’ days of Pandora ? Well, it turns out that you were living in it until today. Just this afternoon, the music streaming service revealed that it’s become necessary to return to the 40 hour caps from times long ago — only this time around, it applies only to mobile users. If you may recall, Pandora dropped these caps in September 2011, but steeper royalty costs have forced the company’s hand in the matter. What does this mean for you? Well, unless you fit within the four percent of Pandora listeners that jam out on a mobile device for more than 40 hours per month, you’re unlikely to ever notice the change. Meanwhile, heavy users will need to pay $0.99 to continue listening for the remainder of the month. Naturally, you can also lay down $3.99 per month (or $36 per year) for Pandora One, which will kick both those limits and pesky ads to the curb. Filed under: Internet Comments Via: TechCrunch Source: Pandora Blog

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Pandora establishes 40 hour mobile listening cap for free users

Instagram tops 100 million active users per month: what policy uproar?

Instagram started reporting its active user base in what many saw as an attempt to quell talk of an exodus following its terms of service debacle . It has a better reason to post hard numbers today, however: there’s now a neat, tidy 100 million active Instagram users every month. The milestone suggests that another 10 million mobile photographers got hooked on square-shaped photography in about five weeks, and it implies that the Facebook-owned company isn’t about to slow down just yet. Not that everyone is in a position to join the party , mind you. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , Facebook Comments Source: Instagram

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Instagram tops 100 million active users per month: what policy uproar?

MYO senses your muscles, brings yet another way to control devices (video)

With visions of Minority Report , many a user’s wildly waved at a Kinect in the hopes of controlling gadgets like a symphony conductor. Now there’s another way to make your friends laugh at you thanks to the Thalmic Labs’ MYO armband, which senses motion and electrical activity in your muscles to let you control your computer or other device via Bluetooth 4.0. The company says its proprietary sensor can detect signals right down to individual fingers before you even move them, which — coupled with an extremely sensitive 6-axis motion detector — makes for a highly responsive experience. Feedback to the user is given through haptics in the device, which also packs an ARM processor and onboard Lithium-Ion batteries. MYO is now up for a limited pre-order with Thalmic saying you won’t be charged until it ships near year’s end, while developers can also grab the API. If you’re willing to risk some ridicule to be first on the block to grab one, hit the source. Filed under: Wearables Comments Via: Macrumors Source: Myo

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MYO senses your muscles, brings yet another way to control devices (video)

StickNFind Bluetooth tracking stickers to ship next week, get extended range

StickNFind managed to raise a grand total of $931,970 through IndieGoGo since we first caught up with it , and now it’s set to start shipping next week. In case your memory requires a bit of jogging, the quarter-sized disc can help you hunt down whatever it’s attached to thanks to a smartphone app that keeps tabs on its distance via Bluetooth. Mobile World Congress also brings news that the miniature homing tags have gotten a redesigned companion application, an extended range of up to 150 feet (ratcheted up by 50) and a tracking accuracy of within two inches. StickNFind is being geared up for an arrival on retail shelves this April, but there’s still no word regarding which shops will carry it. Comments

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StickNFind Bluetooth tracking stickers to ship next week, get extended range

Visa and Samsung ink worldwide NFC deal, practically guarantees payWave on your Galaxy S IV

First, the good news. It appears that Visa and Samsung’s Olympics trial went over so well, that it’s expanding those mobile payment dreams to a global audience. Now, the rough news — Visa has convinced Samsung to pre-load the payWave app onto every future Samsung smartphone with an NFC module. Granted, you’d be using that anyway for contactless payments… but only if you had a Visa card. At this point, it’s practically a given that the impending Galaxy S IV will boast not only an NFC chip, but payWave integration from the factory. The deal also gives banks the ability to load payment account information over-the-air to a secure chip embedded in Samsung devices (thanks, Mobile Provisioning Service), but neither company is coming clean on what devices in particular will be taking advantage. Unfortunately, this news may be even gloomier for non-Visa users — it’s unlikely Samsung’s contract will allow it to announce similar deals with competing mobile payment services, but we suppose we’ll see in time. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , Samsung Comments Via: TechCrunch Source: Visa

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Visa and Samsung ink worldwide NFC deal, practically guarantees payWave on your Galaxy S IV

NVIDIA Tegra 4 benchmarked, breaks all sorts of speed records (video)

When NVIDIA unveiled Tegra 4 back at CES, we scrambled to get hands-on with a reference device. And though our initial performance impressions were positive — it runs 1080p video and games smoothly — there was only so much we could say to illustrate how fast the performance is. After all, Tegra 3 already does a fine job handling games and full HD movies. What we really needed were benchmarks, some quantitative data to help show the difference between Tegra 4 devices and whatever’s currently on the market. Fortunately for all of you, we just got our chance: here at Mobile World Congress, the company has reference tablets set up expressly for the purpose of running tests. So, we did just that… over and over and over until we had a long list of scores. Meet us after the break to see how it fared. Filed under: Tablets , Mobile , NVIDIA Comments

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NVIDIA Tegra 4 benchmarked, breaks all sorts of speed records (video)

AMD Turbo Dock promises better performance and cooling for hybrids, we go hands-on (video)

Here’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves for a while: what if the dock for a hybrid tablet could offer not only a keyboard and battery, but also increased performance? Wouldn’t that provide the best of both worlds, with long battery life when you’re in tablet mode and true laptop productivity when you have a place to sit down? Turns out AMD is on the same wavelength. In fact, the company has already implemented the idea in a prototype device here at MWC , destined to appear in commercial products around the middle of this year. As you’ll see if you check out the video after the break, it’s built by Compal and includes a 13-inch 1080p display with a quad-core Temash chip, which when combined with its Turbo Dock delivers some serious power — going from 8 W to 15 W, with extra air flow delivered through the connector to keep it cool. AMD says that the docked tablet offers general computing performance broadly at the level of a full-fledged 17 W Intel Core i3 notebook. Judging from Microsoft’s Fish Bowl HTML5 benchmark, we’re looking at a gain of 50 percent — and yes, that’s pretty impressive. Next stop, a dock with an extra discrete GPU for CrossFire gaming? Who knows, but it’s the logical progression. Gallery: AMD Turbo Dock prototype hands-on Filed under: Laptops , Tablets , AMD Comments

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AMD Turbo Dock promises better performance and cooling for hybrids, we go hands-on (video)

Office Web Apps update brings web image pasting, PowerPoint slide editing and more

Microsoft’s Office Web Apps are great for those with a SkyDrive account and any device with an IE, Firefox, Chrome or Safari browser who don’t want to lug the full Office 365 suite around. Since functionality can be a tad limited, however, Redmond’s just added more features with the latest update. For starters, you can now copy and paste pictures from the web into Word, PowerPoint and OneNote Web Apps. Other new functions include cursor-following tools in all the programs, the ability to rearrange slides in PowerPoint Web App along with comment viewing, touch-based chart resizing and more in Excel Web App. Microsoft’s posted some sample files that work without a SkyDrive account, so if you want to give it a whirl, hit the source. Filed under: Internet , Software , Microsoft Comments Source: Office Web Apps

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Office Web Apps update brings web image pasting, PowerPoint slide editing and more