Archive for the ‘Science & Research’ Category

NASA is taking final steps to get mission STS-131 off the ground. At the time of this writing, 3:01 am, the fuel tanks are fully loaded and the seven crew members are beginning to board the space shuttle. The lift off is scheduled for 6:21 am EDT and will be broadcasted live via NASA’s public TV service.

Giving Apple credit for reshaping the way we use computers, well at least attempting it, would be a bit too much. Apple simply built a device that was imagined and described in detail in a research paper 38 years ago. Reading that paper is a spooky experience – it is fascinating how closely the author describes what the iPad is today. He even got the price right – almost four decades ago.

Some believe it is the greatest physics experiment ever made by human hand. Some believe it is pure insanity. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is now, some 16 months later than initially planned, officially online and is running first tests at substantial energy: Proton and anti-proton beam collisions were conducted at a massive 7 trillion electron volts (TeV), which more than seven times the energy that could be created in similar experiments on earth so far. And it is only the beginning; The LHC runs only at half of its potential, but is already taking a journey into matter, space and time. Extra: Slideshow

It seems that we never get tired of research that tells us that talking on a cell phone and driving simply do not mix very well. Yet, if you firmly believe that you can do both, then here is the reason why: You fall into a category of “supertaskers”, which would be an elite group that represents only 2.5% of the population.

Briefly noted today: Europe rules in favor of Google, Firefox 3.6.2 released, Apple iPhone/iPad capture video game console market share, Dell Mini with WiMax, Intel has a many-core test result, Clearwire announces more WiMax locations, and a new security solution promises to beat hackers.

Read elsewhere this morning: Bing gets a view to the stars, Sprint  has a 4G iPhone and an eco-friendly LG cellphone, and Facebook and Twitter users are prone to burglaries (surprise).

Here is our headline selection of news not to miss this morning:Desktop sales explode with double-digit growth, Google has a Buzz widget for Android, Sony gets Move to PAX East, Sony invades shopping malls and Apple files for social patent.

Here is our headline selection of news not to miss this morning: Microsoft extends Windows XP mode for Windows 7 Pro PCs, Netflix cancels Friends feature, Mobile App revenue estimated at $11 billion per year by 2014, Smartphones take 31% share of cell phone market and HTC’s response to Apple’s iPhone patent claims.

Newsbyte – Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Pennsylvania have identified graphene as a “promising material” for storing hydrogen. According to the study, layers of graphene could safely store hydrogen in, for example, fuel cells.