Tag: the-end

Microsoft to provide cloud services for city of Chicago in four year deal

There’s a cloud hanging over the second city and it belongs to Microsoft . In a release issued today, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans to migrate the city’s 30,000 civil servants to a cloud-based solution for email and all desktop applications . Apart from the $400,000 the four-year deal is projected to save taxpayers annually, the move to Microsoft’s cloud computing for government platform will also help to bolster efficiency and streamline communication internally, as the city goes from three conflicting email systems to just one. According to the city’s Department of Innovation and Technology, this department-wide transition should reach completion by the end of 2013. It’s not the Windy City’s first big leap into remote storage — its hosted Department of Aviation data there for some time — but it does mark Emanuel’s commitment to modernization . Hit up the break for the city’s official PR. [Chicago photo credit: Nimesh M / Flickr ] Continue reading Microsoft to provide cloud services for city of Chicago in four year deal Filed under: Internet , Microsoft Comments Source: The Official Microsoft Blog

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Microsoft to provide cloud services for city of Chicago in four year deal

Zenbook Touch U500VZ quietly surfaces on ASUS website, price and availability still MIA

A 15-inch Zenbook Touch U500VZ has quietly appeared on ASUS’ website. Though the company has yet to announce this model officially, it’s hardly a surprise, as its 13-inch UX31A is already available with a capacitive display, and the line’s 11-inch models are confirmed to get touchscreens as well. Essentially, it looks to be the UX51Vz with a touch panel, as this machine’s other specs look familiar. It packs a Core i7-3632QM processor, discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics and dual 256GB SSDs. Naturally, the touchscreen features IPS technology and boasts the same 1080p resolution as other Zenbooks. Though the laptop is listed online, price and availability aren’t yet clear, but for now you can click through to the website and feast your eyes. [Thanks, Bob] Filed under: Laptops , ASUS Comments Source: ASUS

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Zenbook Touch U500VZ quietly surfaces on ASUS website, price and availability still MIA

Magnetically lifted graphite moves by laser, may lead to light-based maglev vehicles (video)

Magnetic levitation is central to the fastest trains we know today, but it’s that dependence on electromagnets and rails that limits how and where it’s used for transportation. Aoyama Gakuin University has a unique alternative: changing the material properties themselves. By floating graphite over a bed of circular magnets, taking advantage of its tendency to generate an opposing magnetic field, researchers can move the graphite just by blasting its edge with a laser. The heat skews the magnetic behavior of that area enough to unbalance the graphite, either in a specific direction or a spin. The research team believes it could lead to maglev transportation or even energy converting turbines that are steered solely by light, with no contact or outside guides: maglev vehicle pilots could have much more control over where they go. Getting to that point will require a much larger scale, but successful development could give technology a very literal lift. Continue reading Magnetically lifted graphite moves by laser, may lead to light-based maglev vehicles (video) Filed under: Transportation , Science , Alt Comments Via: Phys.org Source: JACS

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Magnetically lifted graphite moves by laser, may lead to light-based maglev vehicles (video)

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

Samsung gets go-ahead on $3.9 billion chip production line expansion in Texas

Samsung’s plans for a substantial renovations at hits semiconductor factory in Austin have been approved. Completing talks with the government of Texas, the world’s biggest memory chip-maker will be expanding the capacity of its already substantial production lines, hoping to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for mobile components. Filed under: Misc , Samsung Comments Source: Reuters

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Samsung gets go-ahead on $3.9 billion chip production line expansion in Texas

Google Music gains scan and match feature in the US

It wasn’t very long ago that Google Music landed in Europe — to the delight of local music lovers, we’re sure. On its trip across the pond, the service gained a unique new feature called scan and match, wherein Google scans your local music library and makes the songs it matches instantly available in the cloud — no upload required. Until now the feature, which is similar to iTunes Match , was only available in Europe, but it’s coming to the US starting today. From now on, any US Google Play users who upload their music collection will benefit from this new feature. Over time, the company will also upgrade users with existing cloud libraries. It’s a free service and it’s automatic — you’re unlikely to notice that it’s even happening. The upside is that entire collections will be uploaded faster. We’re not aware of any downsides yet — matched songs will be available for streaming at 320Kbps like regular Google Play purchases, while re-downloaded music will be available at or close to the bitrate of the original file. Update: Google confirmed that any VBR files matched by the service will be re-downloaded as CBR files with a bitrate that’s slightly higher than the average bitrate of the original song. This is obviously a drawback if you’re currently relying on the service to backup your music collection. Filed under: Cellphones , Tablets , Mobile , Google Comments Source: Google Play (Google+)

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Google Music gains scan and match feature in the US

NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor details leaked: 4-plus-1 cores, 28nm, six times the power of Tegra 3

NVIDIA’s next superhero-themed mobile chipset has possibly made an early appearance in a leaked side in China, and it looks like it wants to go toe-to-toe with the latest processors from Samsung and Qualcomm. The Tegra 4 (codenamed Wayne) will apparently offer the same power-efficient 28nm process found on its Snapdragon rival and according to the slide from Chip Hell , there’s a dizzying 72-core graphics setup. That’s apparently 20 times the power found the Tegra 2 and six times that in the last-generation Tegra 3, which powered, among other devices, the Nexus 7 . Those graphics cores will be able to power screens up to 2,560 x 1600, with 1080p output at 120Hz, while the leak also mentions 4K — if only in passing. We won’t see any increase in CPU cores this time, with the same 4-plus-1 setup , but we are likely seeing a move to ARM’s latest design, the Cortex-A15 . It’ll also catch up with USB 3.0, being NVIDIA’s first mobile chip to do so, alongside dual-channel DDR3L memory. We’ve reached out to chipmaker and we’ll let you know when we hear more, but it’s highly likely we’ll be seeing this next-generation processor early next year — say, at a mobile trade show . Filed under: Cellphones , Tablets , Mobile , NVIDIA Comments Via: Mobile Geeks Source: Chip Hell

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NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor details leaked: 4-plus-1 cores, 28nm, six times the power of Tegra 3

Russian site shows off 5-inch Sony ‘Yuga’ with 1080p display, S4 Pro CPU, 12MP camera

The folks at Mobile-review have been dropping hints that they have an unannounced Sony handset in their possession, and now they’ve released a gabble of specs and images to prove it. Sony’s “Yuga C6603” bears all the potential hallmarks of a flagship, sporting a 5-inch screen running at full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080), although some of that real estate is occupied by on-screen buttons. The display is loaded with an impressive 440 ppi, just like HTC’s Droid DNA , and Sony’s Mobile Bravia Engine has been employed for color reproduction. Under that screen we find a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU with Adreno 320 graphics, and 2 gigs of RAM for Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean to take advantage of. In terms of connectivity, it’s got USB host and micro-HDMI ports, Bluetooth 4.0, standard WiFi, NFC and a Qualcomm modem of the LTE variety. A 12-megapixel shooter can be found on the back (perhaps using the same HDR sensor as the Oppo Find 5 ), a microSD slot supporting up to 128GB cards on the side, and a non-removable battery of unknown capacity hiding within. That’s pretty much it for now — but judging by how final this hardware looks, there’s a chance we might see more of it at CES . Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , Sony Comments Source: Mobile-review

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Russian site shows off 5-inch Sony ‘Yuga’ with 1080p display, S4 Pro CPU, 12MP camera

Watch an all-electric Bigfoot monster truck crush cars… quietly (video)

We’re used to a lot of sturm und drang when monster trucks come out to play, so it’s almost a shock when we don’t get any — and that’s what both Ford and EnerSys pulled off earlier this fall. By outfitting Bigfoot 20 with 36 of EnerSys’ batteries as well as a 350HP electric motor, the duo has developed what’s claimed to be the first proper EV monster truck. The resulting prototype is defined more by what you don’t hear than what you do, as you’ll see in the video after the break; despite its giant wheels, Bigfoot is so quiet that the cars being crushed are louder. Our childhood selves would be heartbroken at the lack of vroom-vroom sounds, but we’ll admit to wanting the all-electric process to go beyond parades and reach live monster truck shows — if it preserves the planet, our hearing and a weekend tradition at the same time, we can’t object. Continue reading Watch an all-electric Bigfoot monster truck crush cars… quietly (video) Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: Autoblog Source: Bigfoot 4×4

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Watch an all-electric Bigfoot monster truck crush cars… quietly (video)