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| NASA Tests GPS-Based Earthquake Monitoring System | |  NASA is planning to test a GPS-based system that could rapidly pinpoint the location and magnitude of earthquakes across the western U.S. The Real-time Earthquake Analysis for Disaster (READI) uses real-time GPS measurements from nearly 500 stations in California, Oregon and Washington to quickly calculate the location, magnitude and other details about an earthquake. The same system could also aid in faster disaster response for tsunamis, since it provides exactly the type of detailed data about an earthquake that's needed to calculate the strength of a tsunami. The system, which was first introduced in 2004, works by measuring ground displacements with high precision using GPS. The result is a far more rapid and accurate estimate of the earthquake's strength compared to conventional seismic networks. "By using GPS to measure ground deformation from large earthquakes, we can reduce the time needed to locate and characterize the damage from large seismic events to several minutes," said Yehuda Bock, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Orbit and Permanent Array Center in La Jolla, California. READI Mitigation Network will undergo testing throughout this year; if it proves to be successful, it will be used in various natural disaster detection agencies in the U.S. |
| Sharp Transistors Could Enable Cheap, Retina-Style Displays | | 5:18:31 AM | Technology Review |
|  Japanese electronics giant Sharp announced recently that it has begun producing high-resolution liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) featuring metal-oxide transistor arrays. Metal oxides are expected to help bring down the price of high-resolution LCDs, which are similar in sharpness to the retina displays found in the latest iPad and iPhone, and may also cut the cost of making organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, a newer type of screen that is richly colored and energy-efficient, but which remains expensive to produce at large sizes. Sharp has said that it will use indium gallium zinc oxide arrays to make LCDs for tablets, notebooks, and monitors. Some industry watchers have speculated that the company would provide metal-oxide displays for the next iPad, but the production specifications that Sharp has announced so far don't match any Apple products. To make high-resolution LCDs like the retina display, manufacturers currently rely on expensive processing steps, transforming amorphous silicon into higher quality polysilicon by treating it with lasers. Electrons zip through the treated material, which means smaller transistors can be packed more closely together to enable greater pixel densities. Smaller transistors also block less light, so LCDs built on polysilicon can use smaller, less power-hungry backlights. Polysilicon is also normally necessary for OLED displays, which offer richer colors and lower power consumption than LCDs. OLEDs cannot be driven by amorphous silicon backplanes because their pixels require high current, which burns out the transistors. Sharp would not comment on whether it will develop the backplanes for OLED displays. LG has demonstrated OLED screens based on metal oxides, but no company has yet announced any products based on the technology. The OLED market is growing, but polysilicon backplanes are still "too expensive," says Stephen Forrest, a materials scientist and vice president for research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. A number of other companies—including industry leaders Samsung and LG—have been developing displays based on metal oxides, but Sharp is the first company to announce that it's using the technology in production. A Sharp spokesperson says the company's indium gallium zinc oxide backplanes have 20 to 50 times higher electron mobility than those made from amorphous silicon. This quality enables smaller transistors and greater pixel densities, though not as great as those in the iPad's retina display. Metal-oxide backplanes should also mean less power consumption and better touch-screen responsiveness, according to the spokesperson. Unlike silicon, metal oxides are transparent, so these backplanes impede the backlight less. When displaying a still image, some of the transistors can "pause" to save power; this cuts down on the electronic noise that can interfere with touch-screen sensors. And metal-oxide backplanes can be manufactured with fewer steps than polysilicon backplanes, which should lead to cost advantages. Sharp's move comes as the display market undergoes a significant shift, says Paul Semenza, a senior vice president at market research firm Display Search, which is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Large television screens have become cheap to produce, and Japanese manufacturers cannot compete with the low prices offered by manufacturers in China and Taiwan. Competitors have responded to the pressure by merging—for example, Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba's mobile-display subsidiaries joined together to form Japan Display Incorporated on April 1, and the company has announced it will spend $1.85 billion on research and development over the next five years. In late March, Sharp, headquartered in Osaka, announced a strategic partnership with Taipei manufacturing giant Foxconn. It also plans to research new display technologies. "They absolutely have to find a way to drive revenues, so they are compelled to go for the cutting edge," says Semenza. Sharp may be trying to get there by manufacturing high-end displays at lower costs, he says. Metal-oxide backplanes offer a potentially profitable middle ground between inexpensive but low-performance amorphous silicon, and high-performance, high-price polysilicon. Sharp is making the metal-oxide LCDs at its full-scale production line in Kameyama, Japan, rather than starting them on a pilot line. Moving from one-off demo screens to full-scale production shows that metal-oxide technology has legs, says Semenza. "That's a big commitment," he says. |
| 20 'Edible' iPhone Covers | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 11:03 PM | Amy-Mae Elliott |
|  Do you love your grub? Then why not get an iPhone cover that celebrates your favorite foodstuff? We have found 20 cases, covers and skins that offer "edible" decoration. From beverages to bacon, we're sure there's a scrumptious design to suit your palate and make your mobile more mouthwatering. Mmmmmm, iPhone. SEE ALSO: 20 Retro iPhone Covers That Celebrate Vintage Tech Take a look through our tasty gallery above. Link us in the comments below to any delicious decals you've seen that we haven't included. |
| Self-Publisher Lulu Announces Google Drive Integration | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:31 PM | Emily Price |
|  While Google's Drive's feature list is making headlines, one feature many may not be aware of is Drive's integration with self-publisher Lulu. Lulu announced integration between the Lulu One-Click Publishing app and the newly released Google Drive on Tuesday -- a combination that will allow you to create and collaborate on a project in Google Drive and then publish that project through Lulu with a single click. "Integrating the Lulu One-Click Publishing app with Google Drive is just another way Lulu is working to remove limitations for creators and making publishing easier than ever before," says Bob Young, CEO and founder of Lulu.com. "Now people can edit content or collaborate on a project with a friend or colleague, then seamlessly publish it so we can all benefit from their remarkable works." The app supports an array of different file formats including PDF, DOC, DOCX, and TXT, and can accept multiple files simultaneously -- so you can upload your next literary masterpiece one chapter at a time if you'd like. Documents on Google Drive can be published as PDF e-books, or be converted into print books on Lulu.com that can then be sold on the site. Writers keep 90% of the proceeds of each book sold, and keep full creative and copyright control over those publications. Lulu is also working on expanding its content creation and distribution options for the app, with plans to add the ability to create print books directly from Google Drive, as well as sell titles created on Google Drive through other outlets such as Amazon.com, iBookstore, and the Nook Bookstore. You can check out and install the app by following a link on Lulu's webpage. What do you think about Lulu's Google Drive integration? Can you see yourself publishing directly from Google Drive? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, http://www.istockphoto.com |
| Are Brain Waves and Heartbeats the Future of Passwords? [VIDEO] | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 9:49 PM | Kate Freeman |
|  James Bond who? As badass as retinal scanners and fingerprint IDs are in movies, the next generation of password technology is even more advanced -- it reads your brain. Numerous researchers are looking into ways to use brain waves and heartbeats to identify individuals. "There will come a time when a lot of current input devices won't be necessary," Dr Ken Revette, a professor of computer science at the British University in Egypt, told to ABC Science. Revette is the founder of the International Journal of Cognitive Biometrics which focuses on the development of high-tech identification systems. We already know that passwords are not fool-proof and some people still choose ones that are not secure. Navin Cota and Ramaswami Palaniappan, of the Mind Research Network in New Mexico and the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, respectively, are studying how different individuals might be identified by their brains' reactions to various images, such as one's mother. Brain activity is different when comparing someone who is viewing a familiar image to someone who doesn't know what they're looking at. The challenge, however, is utilizing this technology without making users wear a cap. Currently, brain wave-reading technology needs to make contact with the head to function. Another group of researchers is seeing how individuals might be detected by their heartbeat. Each person's heartbeat has different identifiers -- even when their heart is pumping fast. There's also been talk about being able to ID someone using their keystroke patterns. Are these new personal identification technologies more scary or cool? Tell us in the comments. Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ktsimage |
| Coming Soon: Planet Earth, Live-Streamed from Space [VIDEO] | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 8:51 PM | Sam Laird |
|  Wouldn't it be amazing to sit aboard the International Space Station, watching Earth's continents and oceans pass by as you orbit the planet? If a startup called Urthecast has its way, you'll soon be able to replicate that experience from your computer, thanks to HD cameras mounted on the station to stream near real-time video of Earth 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It will be the first-ever HD streaming video feed of Earth from space, and will let viewers discern objects as small as one meter wide. The company's cameras are being built right now, says co-founder Scott Larson, and will be completed in early summer. Then they'll be shipped to Russia, where the Russian Federal Space Agency will schedule them for transport to the station. Larson says the system should be fully up and running early next year. The cameras will continuously film Earth as the station orbits the planet about 15 times per day. Footage will be downlinked to ground stations, then immediately streamed via Urthecast.com. Larson expects to provide footage every second for five to ten years. "Because we know where the space station is, you'll be able to enter your address and find out when it will be on you next or see past images from your area," Larson told Mashable in an interview. "Then you can walk outside and organize an event for when it will be over you again." The company staged a 170-person flashmob in San Francisco this weekend (see video below). It was filmed from helicopters as a promotional example of what people will be able to do with Urthecast's high-resolution feeds. Larson says events similar to the flash mob are one way Urthecast will monetize its technology: Companies will be able to pay for Urthecast to train its cameras on certain locations at designated times and then, for example, organize logs on a beach to spell out a real-time advertisement streamed from space. Urthecast also plans to sell exclusive images and video to groups such as mining and agriculture companies for which the big-picture data will be extremely useful. The company's third revenue stream is to open its API for developers to build apps and games on top of the Urthecast platform. How did something like this come to be? Larson says he was connected by mutual friends to the Russian space agency, which was looking for publicity and a way to promote its work. "All space agencies need to justify their budgets and so forth," Larson says. "They were looking for something exciting and educational to put on the International Space Station." An agreement was soon hashed out, and Larson believes Urthecast's streaming platform will help reshape how people relate to places and the world around them. The company also plans to aggregate other content from around the web to augment its footage. For example user pictures taken from near the Eiffel Tower will be viewable when looking for Eiffel Tower footage shot from the space station. "The idea is like Facebook and Twitter where you follow a person, but here you'll follow a location instead of a person," Larson says. "Anything to do with a location will be aggregated into Urthecast.com." Do you think Urthecast will be a success and are you excited to check it out? Let us know in the comments. Also, check out the video below for a recap of the Urthecasts flashmob event in San Francisco: |
| How Does Google Drive Compare to the Competition? | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 8:22 PM | Christina Warren |
|  Now that Google Drive is finally a reality, how does it stack up against the cloud competition? Google's new cloud-based document and storage solution is priced aggressively and boasts best-in-class integration with other Google services -- including Google Docs. As you can see from our hands-on, Google Drive is an impressive product. Still, the cloud storage and collaboration space is more competitive than ever before. Google faces competition not just from cloud companies such as Box and Dropbox, but from Apple, Microsoft and Amazon as well. Storage and Pricing Google is pricing Google Drive at a VERY aggressive level. For $30 a year ($2.50 a month), users get 25GB to use for Google Drive and Picasa, plus 25GB of Gmail storage. This is more than what Amazon and Microsoft charge for an additional 20GB, but less than the price of Dropbox, Apple and Box.net. For $60 a year ($5 a month), Google offers 100GB of Drive and Picasa storage (plus 25GB for Gmail), which clocks in below Amazon, Apple, Dropbox and Box.net. For penny pinchers, Microsoft's offer of 100GB of additional storage -- on top of the 7 or 25GB that users already get with the service -- is just $50 a year. Dropbox and Box are among the more expensive services. In the case of Box, the company's real focus is on business users. In fact, the company has told us on multiple occasions that its focus isn't so much on Dropbox, but on Microsoft SharePoint. A 100GB Dropbox account costs more than three times what a Google Drive account costs. In this area, Google is clearly trying to undermine its competition on a per-GB pricing basis. Box's pricing is also significantly higher than Google Drive; however, that differentiation is also part of the company's focus. As Box has told us on multiple occasions, it wants to replace Microsoft SharePoint in the SMB and Enterprise space. While Google is also looking in this direction, Box has a bevy of services and integrations that are focused on replacing a company's central file server. Upload Limit The most limiting factor of the majority of cloud storage and collaboration services isn't the total amount of storage -- it's the limitations on upload size. Google has an impressive 10GB limit on files or folders. This is significantly more than the 2GB limit imposed by most cloud services. Only Dropbox's desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux do better. With Dropbox, the only limitation is the size of a storage plan. Collaboration and Sharing Like Microsoft's SkyDrive and Box, Google Drive offers in-browser access to files and folders, including document editing via Google Docs. And like SkyDrive, Box and iCloud, third-party applications can plug into Google Drive to retrieve or store files. This makes keeping apps synchronized across devices and platforms much more seamless. Mobile Integration Although Google Drive's Android app is already around, Google is making iOS users wait for access to the app. This is in contrast to Dropbox, Box and SkyDrive, which all offer official or unofficial solutions for multiple mobile platforms. Amazon and Apple are behind in the mobile access game. Apple makes iCloud exclusively available to iOS 5 users, and Amazon's Cloud Drive only integrates with Android (and the integration is limited at that). Desktop Integration Part of the reason that Dropbox has such a loyal following is because of its fantastic Desktop integration. Mac, Windows and Linux users can automatically sync and share files from their native file systems without having to bother with desktop uploads. This is a similar approach to the one Box has taken with its Box Sync service for Windows, and to what Microsoft employs for SkyDrive for Windows and Mac. Google Drive's desktop app works essentially the same as SkyDrive -- in other words, it isn't as tightly coupled with the file system as Dropbox, but it does the job. Final Thoughts Which cloud storage service an individual or business decides to use is a decision that should encompass more than just comparing specs and pricing. Take time to use a service and see how it integrates into your workflow before plunking down cash on an upgrade. For users and businesses heavily tied to Google Docs, Google Drive will likely make sense. For those that love Dropbox or need some of Box's more robust features, Google Drive might not fit the bill. For Microsoft Office users, consider giving Microsoft SkyDrive a try -- it works well and also offers online access to basic web and editing apps. Ultimately, neither offering from Apple nor Amazon is likely to compete with Google Drive -- the products are focused on different use cases. We'd also like to give Canonical's Ubuntu One a shout-out. We didn't include it in our direct comparison because of its more limited options, but for Windows and Ubuntu users, its free service is worth a look as well. Tell us your thoughts on the cloud storage and collaboration space. Does Google Drive have the goods to compete? Let us know in the comments. |
| Ubooly Plush Toy Uses Your iPhone or iPad to Teach Children [VIDEO] | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 6:50 PM | Kate Freeman |
|  What's orange, furry, adorable and can teach your kids Spanish? Meet the new plush toy Ubooly. It combines teddy bear cuteness with a voice recognition app to become an interactive educational tool for kids. Just slip your iPhone or iPad into the zippered pouch on the fuzzy Ubooly's head, so the speaker is at the top, and let your kids have at it. The product was originally created by husband and wife team Carly Glodge and Isaac Squires, along with by co-founder Gavin Lee, last August. Ubooly's Kickstarter page exceeded its funding goal of $25,000 by topping $28,000 on Tuesday. "What we really wanted to do was make a smart toy," Gloge told Mashable. "We realized there's a lot of great technology out there and not a lot of toys utilizing that." Ubooly is today's Teddy Ruxpin or Furby. The Ubooly app has voice recognition technology, so it can understand kids and respond back to them. Ubooly also has memory, so it can be nostalgic about past playtimes. In addition to being cute, the stuffed toy is also an "edu-tainment" tool, according to Gloge. The ongoing updates to the app mean Ubooly can always have something new to talk about or teach a child. "The toy evolves from what they initially buy at the store," Gloge says. "If a kid is not engaging with the toy, it will adjust its content." Parents can download learning software to the Ubooly app, so children can enhance their math abilities or learn a new language. A weekly report card sent to parents' email accounts will show how their child scored on educational activities. Ubooly is a bit heavier than a typical stuffed toy, but Gloge said the pluses to this are that it feels like a pet because of the heftier weight, and it's pretty tough -- children can drop it and the iPhone or iPad inside won't break. The plush toy feels "like a little creature," thanks to its material insides. Glodge said when building the little furball, they knew they didn't want kids to squeeze it and feel a box inside where the Apple device goes -- it would ruin the illusion that it could be alive. So they created Ubooly using silicon. Gloge said 85% of the backers on the Kickstarter campaign were male, making the team eager to also reach out to its intended audience of mothers. Anecdotal evidence they collected shows mothers tend not to buy new toys online. Usually, they go into stores and see what their children gravitate toward. But with Ubooly, the mothers may gravitate toward it themselves. The Kickstarter page says the toy could also be fun for adults. Currently, 60 families are the team's beta testers, and Gloge said they get feedback from the children and their parents. For example, Gloge recently met with an 8-year-old in the beta test group who said she wanted the toy to play music from iTunes, so they added that feature. The company is currently taking pre-orders for Ubooly plus the app for $50. The app is not live in the app store yet, but will go live around the time the toy is released, Gloge said. Ubooly is expected be in specialty retail stores by October 2012 and in mass retailers by spring 2015. Would you buy Ubooly for your kids or yourself? Tell us in the comments. Photo courtesy of Ubooley |
| July 9: Doomsday for Your PC or Mac If It Has This Malware | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 5:05 PM | Pete Pachal |
|  There's a trojan out there that tricks computers -- both PCs and Macs -- into redirecting all their Internet traffic through malicious servers. Even though the trojan's creators have been stopped and arrested, millions of PCs could still be infected. For those machines, the Internet will cease to exist on July 9. The reasons are technical, and they go back to 2007. That was the year the trojan first surfaced, according to PC World. The malware, which can infect both Windows and Mac computers, essentially creates a botnet by changing how the machine accessed DNS. DNS (Domain Name Service) is how the web organizes its addresses. It's the system that lets you simply type in "mashable.com" instead of some kind of long and incomprehensible IP address filled with letters, decimals and numbers. Your computer talks to a DNS server operated by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to find all the websites that you visit every day. The trojan, called DNS Changer, redirects your computer's DNS queries from your ISP's server to one created by the trojan's creators -- essentially hijacking all Internet traffic from your machine. That way, the bad guys can send you to hacker-created websites filled with ads whenever they want. SEE ALSO: 1 in 5 Macs Has Malware/a> The good news: The FBI shut down the operation, called Rove Digital, last November when they arrested six Estonian nationals behind the botnet and shut down their malicious servers. To ensure infected computers wouldn't be cut off from the Internet entirely, the FBI set up its own DNS servers. The bad news: Those friendly servers will soon be shut down. They were originally going to run only four months, but a judge ordered an extension of their operation until July 9 since it's estimated that hundreds of thousands of computers are still infected. If a machine is still has the trojan and tries to access the web on July 9, it won't be able to access anything. With Internet access cut off, it would be very inconvenient to download and install anti-virus software. If you suspect you're infected, go to the DNS Changer Check-Up website, which should let you know if your computer's DNS is working properly. Should your machine test positive, an organization called the DNS Changer Working Group has a list of anti-virus tools for cleaning it up. The FBI has an even more comprehensive to-do list. Even with the extra time and cleanup tools, however, it's likely a few machines will slip through and not get the update by July 9. What do you think should happen to reach those computers in time? Sound off in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alengo |
| Google Drive Goes for a Spin [HANDS-ON] | | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 4:29 PM | Sarah Kessler |
|  After weeks of rumors, Google has finally launched its cloud-storage service, Drive. Like Microsoft SkyDrive, Dropbox and Amazon Cloud Drive, the service syncs users' offline files with an online storage space that can be accessed from anywhere. Unlike these other services, however, it has Google Docs built right into it. Just like before, users can collaborate and comment on docs. But now those files will also automatically be backed up offline, and content added to the offline Google Drive folder will automatically show up in the online Google Drive tab among their Google Docs (up to 5GB of free storage). All files can also be accessed through a Google Drive Android app. Google also brought some bells and whistles to the game, such as technology that makes PDFs and scanned books searchable. Stuff on your Drive is easy to access from Google+; the company says it will soon make it just as easy to attach that content to Gmail messages. Meanwhile, the company is working with third-party companies such as fax machine replacement HelloFax and video editor WeVideo that will incorporate Drive into their products. Bottom line? Google Drive is Dropbox with double the free space (Dropbox offers 2.5GB) and added Google Docs functionality. Its 5GB of storage space isn't the largest the industry has to offer -- for that, you'll have to turn to Microsoft's SkyDrive. But it will probably end up being the most widely integrated, and thus most useful, cloud service out there. For our full walk-through of the new product, click through the gallery above. Google wrote in its announcement for Drive that "there's a lot more to come." What features would you like them to add? Let us know in the comments. |
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