“The Droplet creates an AAC audio file from an AIFF or WAVE source file by first generating a CAF (Core Audio File) rendered with an iTunes sound check profile applied to the file. If the sample rate of the source file is greater than 44.1 kHz, it’s downsampled to 44.1 kHz using our mastering-quality SRC. Next, it uses this newly rendered CAF to render a high quality AAC audio file. Once the final AAC audio file is generated, the intermediary CAF is deleted” Apple Mastered for iTunes guide

According to Apple, the droplet is the same tool that its own engineers use to create audio files for iTunes. The rest of the company’s technical brief [pdf link] covers the final checks, tests and tweaks that can be undertaken to make sure music is of its best possible quality.

“Because iTunes Plus is a highly portable format, its files have the potential to be listened to in a wide range of different settings. So while one listener may be using white earbuds while riding in a loud subway car, another may wind up listening intently to a Bach cantata on AirPlay‐equipped Bowers and Wilkins speakers or on a similarly equipped Denon receiver in a home media room. Just as likely, a college student may be deep into Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain while sporting Dre Beats headphones in the campus library. Keep in mind that Apple has sold more than 250 million iOS devices, and that many, many people around the world are listening to music on their iPods, iPhones, or iPads” Apple

The promise for the end user is a better standard of audio quality, of course, with Apple looking to corner the market in top-spec tracks. There’s also an advantage to polishing compressed tracks rather than going straight to lossless, uncompressed ones: they’re smaller files for Apple to host, and require shorter download times, handy given Apple will be distributing them not only at the point of purchase but when streaming via iCloud.

[via Twitter]

The case is designed to hold the iPad securely and it fastens to the little bars underneath the headrests on the front seats. If your car doesn’t have the type of headrests with a button that allows you to adjust their height, this device won’t work for you. Scosche claims that the holder will stay attached your car in the event of an accident.

It is made from rugged aluminum and keeps the iPad within reach, assuming your backseats aren’t really far from the front seats, the holder can be used safely and securely while driving. This would be an awesome holder for road trips with kids if you have the 3G version of the iPad 2 since you could let them watch streaming Netflix or other content while you drive. The holder is available right now for $149.99 and there is a version for the original iPad as well.

“We want to be known for delivering the best value in wireless because of the advanced technology we deliver at an affordable price” Philipp Humm, CEO and President of T-Mobile USA, said in a statement today. “Over the next two years, we’re prioritizing and investing in initiatives designed to get T-Mobile back to growth in the years ahead — beginning with the transformation of our network.”

That network has long used the 4G nomenclature for a service that experts might not call 4G at all. Like AT&T, T-Mobile branded HSPA+ as 4G so that it could market itself as competitive with LTE from Verizon and others. Now, with the chunk of AWS spectrum AT&T was forced to hand over after the collapse of its acquisition plans, T-Mobile finally has the room to build out LTE of its own.

That won’t happen until 2013, however, with HSPA+ still seeing significant investment before then. 37,000 cell sites will get new hardware to improve HSPA+ bandwidth, with a total of $1.4bn in network investment over the next two years. LTE, though, will be provided in the “vast majority” of the top 50 markets, with 20MHz service for 75-percent of the top 25 markets. There’ll need to be some spectrum juggling first, though, T-Mobile retiring some 2G coverage so that it can “refarm” to accommodate LTE.

“As data usage and smartphone adoption accelerate, fewer customers are utilizing 2G services. This enables T-Mobile to refarm existing spectrum holdings, reducing the amount of 1900 MHz PCS spectrum being used for GSM; to deploy HSPA+ 4G services in the PCS band; and to make room in the AWS band for LTE. In addition to creating capacity for LTE in AWS spectrum, deploying HSPA+ in the PCS band will harmonize T-Mobile’s spectrum bands with the U.S. market and international carriers. As the company refarms spectrum, T-Mobile will continue to support its 2G customers” T-Mobile USA

Whether 2013 and T-Mobile USA’s coverage plans will be sufficient remains to be seen. The carrier will be several years behind its big-name rivals, and is seeing valuable income it needs to fund the LTE deployment reduced by pushing its Value plans to distract from the iPhone 4S.

Asus talks a bit about how it intends to continue improving the experience with regular firmware updates. This particular Ice Cream Sandwich update has taken much longer than owners of the tablet would’ve liked. There is no indication of how long it will take before the update comes to Europe and the US.

Asus also mentions in the Facebook post they will be announcing several new “innovations” at Mobile World Congress 2012 kicking off next week. I would expect that we will see the smartphones and tablets from Asus at the show. If you have the new update on your Transformer, be sure and let us know how it works and how the update went.

The speaker will work the Panasonic remote control application for the iPhone simply called Panasonic Stereo System Remote 2012. The speaker is only 59 mm deep making it easy to place wherever you want. It has special sound technology called direct vocal surround in the speakers, and another feature called nano bamboo technology.

Nano bamboo technology uses a speaker made of fine bamboo fibers to produce high-quality sound with renewable materials. The direct vocal sound is designed to provide a three-dimensional sound field allowing you to hear clear vocals and instruments anywhere in the room. The speaker also has an integrated preset equalizer with settings for heavy, soft, clear, vocal, and flat. The speaker has 10 watts of power, measures 430 mm x 128 mm x 59 mm, and weighs about 1 kg. Pricing and availability outside Japan are unknown.

Spotify has announced today that it has added gapless playback and crossfade features. The gapless playback feature allows your playlist of tracks to flow seamlessly from one to the next without any silence in between. Spotify reckons this feature is perfect for classical music fans and live recordings. In fact, gapless playback will be on by default from now on. If you don’t like it, you can turn it off in the preferences area.

The crossfade feature lets you play DJ all you want. With this feature, you can fade out one song can fade another song in, which could be nice if you’re hosting a party and feel like playing DJ. The new features started rolling out today. You will know when your account gets the update with the feature because Spotify will ask you to restart.

Qualcomm is targeting all three of the major electronics markets, Antes explained: mobile, computing and networking. 11ac uses the 5GHz band for increased capacity, and can combine up to eight streams simultaneously for the fastest performance. Only the most advanced versions will see 6.9Gbps-style rates, with 3.5Gbps perhaps more likely as the theoretical maximum for the home. Later, though, will come Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) in early 2014, increasing speeds further as well as ensuring that devices even at the outskirts of range will get higher rates: typically 2-3x what you would get in the same situation with 11n, Antes says.

It could be mobile where some of the biggest improvements are seen. Antes suggests users could get 3x the wireless performance with a single stream/single antenna setup, with data rates going from a theoretical 150Mbps (70-80Mbps in the real-world) with 802.11n to 450Mbps theoretical (roughly 300Mbps in practice) with 11ac. There’ll be battery gains, too: devices will be able to squirt out bursts of data faster and more efficiently, shutting down the radio sooner and thus cutting power consumption.

Qualcomm Atheros’ first product will be the WCN3680, a multimode 11ac/Bluetooth 4.0/FM radio chipset intended to work with the company’s MSM chipsets – such as the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 – for phones and tablets. It’s also seamlessly backward compatible with previous Atheros wireless chipsets, and will work with Android, Windows Phone and other platforms as a drop-in replacement.

We’ll have to wait a while for the first proper 802.11ac hardware, however. Qualcomm expects the WiFi Alliance to approve the new standard from in early 2013, going on to certify the first products from around February. Devices using draft 11ac spec could arrive as early as the second half of 2012, but Qualcomm is trying to dissuade its partners from doing that, even with the potential benefits of being first to market. There’s still the chance that final specs could be tweaked before approval, and of course you’ll need more than just an 11ac router to make the most of the potential speeds.

Until all hardware is brought up to speed with 802.11ac, there’ll be a speed impact if you’re using legacy b/g/n kit. 11ac routers will use a “round robin” distribution method in that case, rapidly connecting and disconnecting with each client in turn, and negotiation the fastest possible speeds each of those clients can support. However, true 11ac supports concurrent operations for a big uptick in rates.

11ac will be an industry-wide standard – terms like “gigabit wireless” will likely be universal branding – but Antes thinks there are still reasons why people should look for Qualcomm chipsets. “We have a track record of delivering the best WiFi performance: throughput, integration, size, battery” he insists. “Products using our solutions will be among the best in benchmarks.”

We’ll be taking a look at Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac in practice – and seeing just how fast it can run – at Mobile World Congress next week.

The trademark applications include names like the Samsung Galaxy Rite, Samsung Galaxy Heir, Samsung Galaxy Awaken, and Samsung Galaxy Axiom. There is a chance that we could see these devices launch at Mobile World Congress 2012 next week. However, I have to wonder if Samsung would’ve waited until only a few weeks before devices were to launch to file the trademark applications, assuming MWC 2012 is the launch target.

All the trademark applications want to secure the individual names for use on mobile phones and smartphones. There is no official announcement of these devices from Samsung, and so far, we haven’t seen any leaked devices using these names.

[via Fusible]

Apple contends that it purchased the iPad trademark from a Proview subsidiary several years ago, and that it is legally entitled to use the name in China. Proview, however, argues that the subsidiary had no legal right to sell the trademark, and claims to still hold the rights; it sought a sales ban in Shanghai, perhaps Apple’s biggest market within China, and hinted that it was chasing an expensive out-of-court settlement.

Apple has threatened Proview with a defamation suit, saying its chairman was fully aware of the transaction despite his current denials, and producing a cache of evidence that would seemingly substantiate that.

Further hints that this is a cash-chase by Proview’s current creditors – who are steering the company through bankruptcy proceedings – continues to arise. The Shenzhen company was owned by Bank of China, China Minsheng Banking Corp. and other high-profile financial institutions, Proview founder Rowell Yang says, at the time of the trademark transaction.”We can’t make any agreements without the creditors” Yang told Bloomberg. Without those banks lending their permission, the sale wasn’t legitimate it’s suggested.

Proview hasn’t said – or, it claims, decided – on how much exactly it will be asking Apple for in a trademark settlement, describing earlier figures of $1.6bn “preliminary.” The company says it is yet to decide a response to today’s Shanghai court decision.

Fusion combines the CPU and GPU onto one part that could’ve been ideal for thin and portable notebook computers like the Air. The source goes on to claim that AMD was unable to make enough early samples that worked appropriately to get to Apple for testing in time. One source is claiming that AMD had the deal and was unable to deliver enough functional parts and therefore lost the deal.

AppleInsider cites other sources claiming AMD had tried to land a deal with Apple to get its Brazos processor into the Apple TV set-top box. Apple obviously didn’t go with the AMD part, but Brazos was able to catch on for netbooks. According to an alleged former employee if Brazos hadn’t succeeded, AMD would have gone out of business.

[via

Spinrad wrote that one episode only, or so most fans thought. It appears that the writer also penned another episode titled “He Walked Among Us” which was intended to be a dramatic episode. The episode was written around Milton Berle as the star. Apparently, a producer named Gene L. Coon didn’t see Berle as a dramatic actor and instead rewrote the episode as a comedy.

Spinrad says that the rewrite was so bad that he begged series creator Gene Roddenberry to kill it. Apparently, Roddenberry read through the episode and agreed, and it was never filmed. At some point, the original script was lost and ended up in the hands of a fan. That fan returned the script to Spinrad 45 years later. If you’re a fan of the original series and that single aired Spinrad episode, you will be positively giddy that Spinrad plans to publish the episode script, as he originally wrote it, as an e-book you can purchase for your Kindle. There is no word on when the book will be available. You can read Spinrad’s version of the events below.

This original version was rewritten into an unfunny comedy by the line producer Gene Coon apparently unaware that Uncle Miltie was also a serious dramatic actor and a good one. It t was so bad that I complained to Roddenberry.

“This is so lousy, Gene, that you should kill it!” I told him. “You can’t, you shouldn’t, shoot this thing! Read it and weep!”

Gene did, and he agreed with me. I killed my second Star Trek, which, down through the years has cost me tens of thousands of dollars in lost residuals.

[via Forbes]

However, the researchers had announced that the recorded neutrinos are able to travel faster than the speed of light. The announcement kicked off a flurry of other studies and research a other physicists tried to figure out if the CERN researchers were correct. There were a number of theories, including one suggesting that the team possibly forgot to take into account time distortions introduced by GPS satellites in orbit. The reason for the incorrect findings is actually much simpler than many might expect.

The physicists at the research facility have announced that a bad connection between the GPS unit and computer is the likely source of particles seeming to travel faster than light. The report was published in Science Insider and the researchers found in testing that after tightening that specific connection data arrived 60 ns earlier than assumed over the fiber optic cable.

“[The] 60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos’ flight and an electronic card in a computer. ”

“After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed.”

[via Telegraph]

The street tasks go heavy on in-built functionality, with the Galaxy Note’s annotation abilities as well as its photo editing tools each put through their paces. In contrast, the poor iPhone owner is left gaping at her Samsung-toting rival.

It makes for a good video, of course, but you could arguably find app alternatives in the iOS App Store to achieve most if not all of what the Galaxy Note manages on the iPhone. Still, by the end she seems convinced enough to plan to upgrade to the Samsung next time around.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so readily convinced. Dilbert creator Scott Adams lampooned “phablets” in his strip today, describing the concept as “a bad tablet and an even worse phone.” It’s a stance shared by many, and the phone/tablet hybrid market is still yet to convince us whether it’s a fad or a legitimate niche.

An entry by Google or Apple could go a long way to tip things toward the latter, but so far it’s a two-horse race between the existing Galaxy Note and LG’s new alternative, the freshly-announced Optimus Vu.

More on the Galaxy Note in our full review of the AT&T LTE version and of the original European model that went on sale last year.

“Technology in paleontology hasn’t changed in about 150 years,” said Drexel paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovara. “We use shovels and pickaxes and burlap and plaster. It hasn’t changed — until right now.”

Lacovara is working with Dr. James Tangorra to improve the tools used in paleontology and integrate the 3-D scanning of fossils into the university’s collection. The replicas will be used in museums and as teaching aids that can be handled whereas the ancient real bones could be fragile and are irreplaceable if damaged.

The coolest thing to me about this whole process is that the scientists can take these 3-D printed bones and fossils and 10 integrate them with robotic systems to be able to see how the dinosaurs actually moved around the earth millions of years ago. The scientists hope to have completed a full 3-D robotic dinosaur limb with muscles and tendons by the end of the year. The goal after that fully robotic limb is complete is to build a complete robotic dinosaur replica. I wonder which dinosaur they will attempt to replicate. I’m sure it will be a smaller dinosaur, I’m hoping for the raptor!

“We don’t know a lot about the way dinosaurs move,” Lacovara said. “How did they stand? How did they ambulate? Did they run or trot? How did they reproduce? It’s all a bit mysterious.”

[via Forbes]

The company is already running one LTE trial, begun in Cornwall last September and scheduled to operate until July this year, to test the 800MHz band, but Everything Everywhere expects 1800MHz to be more useful in urban and suburban areas. In contrast, 800MHz provided solid speeds and broad coverage in more rural settings.

As for the network sharing – which Everything Everywhere calls “Smart Signal Share” – that continues the roll-out of integration of the two carriers brought under the same brand begun in 2010. 3G sharing on smartphones was introduced in October 2011, having previously been 2G only for calls and texts.

Assuming LTE gets UK regulatory approval, Everything Everywhere says it plans to roll out 4G before the end of 2012. Although full LTE development isn’t likely for some time after the trials, HSPA+ coverage is expected to improve as well, for 50-percent faster mobile broadband than current 3.5G service.

Earlier today, T-Mobile USA announced its own plans to launch a 4G LTE network in the US, with development expected to begin in 2013.

According to Nextgov.com, it sent a query to the Special Operations Command regarding plans to include Russian-developed security and document reader software on the tablets. Apparently, two days after the query was sent; the Air Force canceled its plans to purchase 2861 iPad 2 tablets. The software specifically in question is called GoodReader was developed to meet mission security requirements. The website also reports that the director of the Army smartphone project had told it that he would not use software developed in Russia in his program to avoid any potential end-user security risk.

According to a spokesperson for SOC, options are continuing to be explored. I’m sure eventually that the Air Force will find suitable technology and will migrate to tablets for use in the cockpit. The reduced pilot workload and fuel savings by reducing weight is likely hard to pass up. American Airlines claims that the weight savings alone will save $1.2 million in fuel per year across its fleet.

[via Nextgov]

“You can expect even the most elaborate Flash websites to load in seconds, even if it would have taken your home computer minutes to load the same page” OnLive CEO Steve Perlman promises. ”Animation, video and sound come through impeccably and instantly. And, large cloud storage files and Web email attachments—even 50 MB PowerPoint presentations—to upload or download in less than a second.”

Apple has always strongly defended its decision not to allow Flash on its iOS devices, blaming Adobe for never releasing a version of the software that’s efficient and streamlined enough to meet with iPad and iPhone owners’ approval. Adobe seemingly agreed, and announced it would cease development of mobile Flash efforts and instead concentrate on HTML5.

Still, even with HTML5 gaining traction, there’s still plenty of Flash-based content out there on the internet. Some is simply video and gloss, but other sites use Flash-based UIs that render them impossible to navigate on an iOS gadget. That’s what OnLive Desktop Plus will help address, and the company says that because it’s servers are running all the Flash content and merely pushing on-screen changes to your device, your bandwidth use might actually decrease.

All of that comes at a price, however. Unlike the original OnLive Desktop service, which is free, Desktop Plus will demand a $4.99 monthly subscription. That does at least get you access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Reader, along with 2GB of cloud-based storage to use.

Meanwhile, OnLive has promised that a version of OnLive Desktop for Android tablets is “coming soon,” along with Android smartphones, PCs and Macs, and even monitors and TVs hooked up via an OnLive MicroConsole thin client.

Specific details of the five remaining mystery phones are unknown, though ZTE says there’ll be things like LTE and multicore processors to differentiate at least some of them. The company also has new cloud-computing services to show off, though it’s unclear if that will be a consumer-facing service – such as the Box cloud storage bundled with some recent smartphones – or something more for operators.

If there are more phones like the Mimosa X, we could be very interested in what ZTE has to offer. The smartphone is one of a few handsets to use the Tegra 3 chipset, and the first to deploy NVIDIA’s Icera modem as the graphics company pushes back at its Qualcomm and TI rivals.

SlashGear will be at MWC 2012 next week, and we’re looking forward to telling you whether ZTE’s ambitions look likely to pan out or not.

[via Android Community]

“In 2012 and 2013, T-Mobile USA will invest to get the business back to growth, including an incremental $1.4 billion investment in its network modernization initiative, which will total a $4 billion investment over time” Philipp Humm, CEO and President, T-Mobile USA

Still, LTE won’t arrive for a while yet, which leaves plenty of quarters for T-Mobile to struggle through. The carrier actually saw its contract customer losses ease in Q3, but the launch of the iPhone 4S pushed overall losses to 706,000 subscribers in Q4.

“The spectrum gained through the break-up fee empowers T-Mobile USA to start LTE-based services in key US markets and strengthens its competitiveness” René Obermann, CEO, Deutsche Telekom

Prepaid customers increased, up 220,000 in the quarter, which the carrier suggested was the result of competitive price plans; however increased adoption of its “Value” contract plans, promoted to try to distract from the iPhone 4S, meant service revenues fell 2.7-percent year-on-year to $4.6bn. Average revenue per user was $46.

Before LTE arrives, T-Mobile USA is promising more HSPA+ coverage, with new installations across 37,000 cell sites.

The handset is running Android 4.0.3 – presumably with HTC Sense 4.0 on top, as we saw in recently leaked video footage - though the rest of the specs all come from previous rumors. The One S is believed to have 1GB of RAM and HSPA+, an 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch display and WiFi b/g/n, along with GPS and Bluetooth.

Of course, the device we’re particularly interested in is the handset believed to be the HTC One X, aka the HTC Edge, which is expected to use NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quadcore chipset. That, as NVIDIA has been discussing earlier today, has in fact five cores, with the fifth used for power management.

We’ll know more when HTC takes the wraps off of its new range at MWC 2012 next week; in fact the HTC press conference is only days away, on Sunday. Expect all the news you need to hear as soon as we know it!

[via Android Community]

Though there are four main cores to ever NVIDIA Tegra 3 SoC, there’s also a fifth chip that has the ability to perform tasks separate from the four. This architecture allows for exceptional processing power as well as excellent battery life because of how it functions. This system uses its main four CPU cores for such giant tasks as gaming, while the fifth core is only called upon when it’s just processing email or sleeping that needs to be done.

We’ve seen this process working wonderfully in the first device to be released with the NVIDIA Tegra 3, the ASUS Transformer Prime, a full review of which you can view here: with an extra review for the updated version here: Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade review. This architecture will be showing up more than once in devices at Mobile World Congress 2012, which you can follow in our own [MWC 2012 portal] all week long.

[via NVIDIA]

This device has the Tegra 3′s four main CPU cores and the fifth low-power drive bringing this processor and therefor this phone the world’s only smartphone-sized 4-plus-1 core-toting smartphone device on earth. This device also comes with no less than the newest version of Google’s own Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the newest version of the group’s world-class mobile operating system. The Optimus 4X has the ability to output video to HDMI via its own MHL port, DLNA support, and a brand new version of LG’s user interface over Android with as much customizability as you can handle.

This is both one of LG’s largest smartphones yet and one of if not THE first smartphone with a quad-core processor to be hitting the market worldwide. You’ll find that LG is coming on strong with this and the LG Optimus Vu at Mobile World Congress 2012. We’ll be at Mobile World Congress 2012 starting this Sunday and will certainly be running around all week looking for all things NVIDIA as well as LG, not to mention the rest of the mobile world at the world’s largest mobile convention of the year! See you in Spain!

So in Nintendo’s words of telling consumers why they should not spend their money and instead focus on their 3DS and Wii platforms, here’s what you can expect. First of all, there’s a new version of the ceberal-busting game series we have all come to love since the launch of Brain Age. Nintendo is back at work with Dr. Kawashima on the latest installment. In addition, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed that Mario Tennis Open will be launching on the 3DS on May 20 in the US.

Also on 3DS will be Fire Emblem Awakening, which is confirmed to have downloadable content support. Also, a truly unique entry in the Pokemon franchise, Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition, is in the works. Nobunaga’s Ambition is a popular strategy game franchise with roots that go back to the original NES. It’s a curious mashup of franchises, for sure. And on the Wii, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterly, a remake of the classic title of the same name, is making its way down the pipeline. Of course, when it comes to impending Nintendo announcements, we’re more excited about the Wii U, but when it comes to making a timely counter to the PlayStation Vita excitement, it’s not bad.

[via Gamasutra]

Since IPG represents a lot of publishers that don’t otherwise have a very strong marketing arm, e-books are a very large component of the company’s business. IPG president Mark Suchomel was quoted by PaidContent.org as saying, “We’re offering [Amazon the same terms] we offered last week, and somehow they think it’s not quite good enough.” He said Amazon threatened to cut off all Kindle access to its titles if it didn’t accept the new terms, and that’s exactly what happened.

This move only applies to the digital versions of IPG’s books; its print library remains available for purchase on Amazon.com. Suchomel said that when it discussed the Amazon threat with its publishing clients, “Every one of them has said no, we can’t just keep giving more and more margin away.” While Amazon gets a lot of attention for its Kindle success, sometimes the question of ‘at what cost?’ needs to come into the picture. It’s becoming as contentious as the contracts between cable/satellite providers and TV networks, which constantly broker new deals every time a new contract expiration comes up.

[via PaidContent]

A new study in the journal Neuron looked at 31 schizophrenia patients. The study specifically looked at patients who had longstanding schizophrenia cases, with most of them living with the disease for more than half their lives. In a computer program that aimed to encourage patients to focus on reprogram their minds, researchers found that the damaged cognitive processes were able to be at least partially restored.

The breakthrough study showed that people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia are not stuck that way for life. “People can do better. They need to be using their brains as a muscle that gets better the more you work at it,” said research director Karuna Subramaniam, who works at the San Francisco Veteran’s Administration and the University of California, San Francisco. The computer program in question was the product of more than 20 years in brain research.

[via WBUR]

That’s why a pair of Korean companies have invested in creating a robot that’s designed to help fight fires. The firefighting robot can withstand temperatures of up to 1,400 degrees and has the ability to operate autonomously for up to an hour and a half. The bot can also record and transmit video, and has the ability to use a hose and spray water over the flames.

And perhaps even more important than all that – it has thermal imaging capabilities, so it would be possible for someone to remotely operate the robot through a building that a normal human would be completely blind in navigating. The technology is still a work in progress, but the companies have high hopes that it will spread internationally, and before too long maybe stories of firefighters dying in the line of action won’t be as common of an occurence as it is now.

[via Todaysthv]

The infographic, which comes to us from VideoGameDesignSchools and can be seen in its ridiculously long entirety here, looks specifically at Steam’s place in the PC gaming market. The digital download platform owned by Valve has become the ubiquitous place to find downloadable games, whether you’re on a Windows or Mac computer. So for example, the graphic shows that 40 million people have a Steam account. That’s the same number of Xbox Live users. Surprised?

Here are a couple other interesting stats – in 2011, more than 780 petabytes worth of games and content was downloaded by users. It would take more than one million Macbook Pro computers to house that kind of data. And during Steam’s big holiday sale last year, the highest number of people logged into the service at once was more than 2.5 times the number of people who streamed the Royal Wedding. Of course, you can’t have a Steam story without talking about EA, which has selfishly pulled its new content from Steam and developed its own proprietary download platform. So games like Mass Effect 3 won’t be on Steam, even though every other major PC game publisher still distributes through Steam. Nevertheless, as the graphic shows, Steam isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

[via Gamerant]

Now, the company that actually owns the rights to the Pokemon video game series has come forward to issue a statement on the whole ordeal. “We continue to combat the unauthorised release of games, applications and merchandise that trick our fans into purchasing something that does not meet our quality standards,” The Pokemon Company said in its official response.

“Fans who encounter questionable products should report to us immediately so we can keep other fans from falling victim to these scams,” it continued. The company has also made it very clear that it has no intention whatsoever to bring an official Pokemon title to iOS or Android. At least not anytime soon. So as a rule of thumb, if you ever see a Pokemon title of any kind on any platform other than a Nintendo console, it’s fake.

[via Macgasm]

Tabula will be using Intel’s 22nm process with 3D trigate transistors. This is compared to the 28nm and 32nm processes that are more widely used in the industry, as no other company has been able to match Intel’s technological superiority in this field. This initiative will help Intel remain profitable as it can continue to sell chips to enterprise clients for purposes other than its traditional business of PC component selling.

This could mean that Intel will be able to spend more money on research and development, which could be a big boost to the entire industry. Of course, on the other hand, it loses its competitive advantage by opening the door to third parties. Intel has said that in addition to Achronix and Tabula, there are other players in its emerging foundry business. It’s an interesting step for Intel; we’ll see how it unfolds.

[via Ars Technica]

The image you see above has been presented by the University of Pennsylvania as a reconstruction of the peat-forming forest we’re speaking about today. Jun Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yi Zhang of Shenyang Normal University and Zhuo Feng of Yunnan University worked with Pfefferkorn who is, again, a professor in Penn’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science. The paper they’re about to present next week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows off how this site, located near Wuda, China, is utterly unique in both their condition and their scale. As Pfefferkorn notes:

“This is now the baseline. Any other finds, which are normally much less complete, have to be evaluated based on what we determined here. … This is the first such forest reconstruction in Asia for any time interval, it’s the first of a peat forest for this time interval and it’s the first with Noeggerathiales as a dominant group.” – Pfefferkorn

The trees in this area were surrounded and covered with ash layers that the team was able to date to approximately 298 million years ago. This sets the forest at the point at which the Earth’s several continental plates were still in a state of great flux, moving toward each other to form the supercontinent we now call Pangea.

The team studied three sites thus far, counting and mapping all fossilized plants as they move through the ancient forest. They’ve thus far found six groups of trees, with a layer of tree ferns forming a lower canopy below and gigantic trees such as Sigillaria and Cordaites grew to a height of 80 feet above. Also found were nearly-complete specimens of a group of trees known as Noeggerathiales, they being spore-bearing trees related to our modern day ferns, this family one that’s appeared in locations from North America and Europe in past rediscovered sites as well.

These plants and the location provide an idea of what the environment was like at that one moment in time, but also allow us to gain context into the age in which that environment existed. As Pfefferkorn notes:

“It’s like Pompeii: Pompeii gives us deep insight into Roman culture, but it doesn’t say anything about Roman history in and of itself. But on the other hand, it elucidates the time before and the time after. This finding is similar. It’s a time capsule and therefore it allows us now to interpret what happened before or after much better.” – Pfefferkorn

Let the exploration continue! It’s always great to hear about the rediscoveries of our old Earth like this each time such a find is found, and we look forward to the continuation of our understanding of the planet we live on, and beyond!

[via University of Pennsylvania]

The hack into pcAnywhere is incredibly large in scope, and Symantec even advised users to remove the program entirely. That’s crazy. The company even admits that its patch may not be strong enough to prevent other vulnerabilities from being exposed. Rapid7 said that around 2.5% of the infected PCs that haven’t been patched are computers that act as point-of-sale systems in retail stores or other small businesses. That means they contain very sensitive information.

Symantec never revealed how many computers had installed pcAnywhere, so it’s unclear how many people did actually perform the patch, but Rapid7 chief security officer HD Moore said, “It seems the recent patches have been very much ignored.” Unfortunately, the outlook is not very optimistic. With that many exposed computers, there could be a massive breach of data, and it’s frightening that Symantec has so little control over what might happen. Perhaps we should all just keep our fingers crossed.

[via Computerworld]

There’s a video below if you want to see it in action. The device refreshes so quickly that most of the time, you can barely even make out what’s on the screen before it moves on. So what’s the point? Well, for now, not much. It’s just an impressive little hack. But perhaps it means in the future someone will be able to run a video or some other kind of advanced content on the device.

Of course, if you want a Nook that can play videos, you may as well pick up a Nook Tablet, but that’s a whole other discussion. For now, we’ll just appreciate the fact that even an electronics device as seemingly innocuous as the black-and-white, impulse-buy Nook Touch e-reader can be the subject of a sophisticated hack. If you know enough about the Touch to be impressed, you’ll definitely want to check out the video right below:

[via The Digital Reader]

Just as we did in the smartphone rundown, it’s important to mention that ASUS plans on bridging the gap once again with the ASUS Padfone – a smartphone with a tablet-like dock for twice the fun! Next there’s NEC with some tablet-like devices with dual-screens and everything! There’s a bit of the ol’ Huawei MediaPad 10 heading our way complete with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich under the hood. We’re almost certainly going to see several new NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core tablets even though the quad-core smartphone will be the focus of the week.

There’s word that Neonode will be bringing multitouch to the next level with multi-sensing technology for tablets (and perhaps for smartphones as well, why not?) To compete fairly directly with the “what is it?” device from Samsung called Galaxy Note, LG Optimus Vu will be bringing the in-between heat. RIM refuses to stay out of the spotlight as it brings PlayBook OS 2.0 to their one tablet solution, the BlackBerry PlayBook. And Samsung says, wait a second, we might as well release another sized device, we’ve almost got them all – lets drop a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1!

HTC also supposedly has a HTC Tegra 3 tablet in the works, but this seems less likely than most rumors, just so you know. Stay tuned with all the tablet news in the world with our [tablet portal] or head down to our [Mobile World Congress 2012 portal] to stick with us for everything mobile at the world’s biggest mobile main event of the year!

HP isn’t alone in its woes – pretty much the only major PC manufacturer to post gains lately is Apple. The fact that their mobile strategy took a flying leap when they decided to abandon WebOS hardware sure didn’t help, though that string of corporate dramatics brought Silicon Valley bigwig Meg Whitman into the CEO’s chair. Whitman stated that the company is “taking the necessary steps to improve execution.” All this comes just a week after HP’s Global Parter Event in Las Vegas.

It isn’t all bad news: service revenue gained a minuscule one percent, and software revenues (where HP sees a lot of its future profit potential) were up 30%. And no one could accuse HP of falling behind when it comes to innovation – consumers can drool over the new Envy 14 Spectre, while corporate-creative types are chomping at the bit to try out the Z1, the first fully upgradeable workstation in an all-in-one form factor. They’re not giving up on WebOS, either: in a charged statement at the partner conference, Whitman said that there was room for a more open mobile OS, and they still intend to pursue their options.

Based on their first quarter report, HP is scaling back its predictions for the second quarter. The company is still hoping to hit its fiscal target for 2012, a $4 per-share gain.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Featured: In the spirit of MWC being just a few days away now, we’ve got a couple opinion pieces in the world of mobile today – up first is a look at Nokia from our Chris Davies: How long can Nokia go? The other one, from Chris Davies, is focused on one phone that fits a very important market segment – Galaxy S Blaze 4G is spring 2012′s perfect basic smartphone. And on a different note, we’ve also got a review of some cool in-ear headphones from Id America; check out our Spark headphones review and check them out.

Other Stuff: There wasn’t a big trend in terms of what made news today, so we’ve got a big conglomeration of things. For example, Google is setting up a high-speed fiber TV and Web service, while Cannon has a new patent that hints at mirrorless cameras. Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering, yeah, Verizon’s 4G LTE service went down yet again today. Things are still rocky at the first-in-the-nation LTE carrier, but it’s always smoothing things out. And on the subject of smooth things, it’s time to wrap up the wrap-up. We’ll see you again tomorrow.

This is all in addition to the project we’re currently doing with the WIMM group in which we’re asking for your ideas for brand new Micro Apps for the future! Head on over to the SlashGear WIMM Spring Developer’s Project now to see how we’re doing on supplying you, the idea makers, with the WIMM you need to make those ideas a reality! Once you’re stocked up on WIMM, know this: the software update coming across today delivers a new, faster app carousel for better navigation, a battery performance increase for those of you using Bluetooth on the regular, and again, access to the Micro App Store.

Those of you with WIMM One units in your hands or around your wrist already, take a walk on over to the WIMM Labs developer portal to check out the Micro App Store Beta now! Check out such hits as the Gallery Watch, TwitUpdate for Twitter, Remoter to control your Android smartphone, and Golf Scores for keeping track of your game!

Then check this out – three ideas announced just today in our WIMM Spring Developer’s Project. Each one of these awesome ideas have earned their creators a brand new WIMM One Developer Kit for their very own. Imagine it! Then head back to the original project rules to join in!

4. Bob Nielsen

“What we need is a emergency notification app that will notify a person with a wimm one when there is a emergency in the area like tornado watch nuclear fallout or just flash flood.”

5. Mike Loebl

“I’m into amateur radio and would love to integrate APRS (think instant messages/geolocation/news/weather/twitterlike and IM like before they were really popular on the Internet) Would be cool to have an app so I can see local stations, receive emergency weather alerts, and get notification when friendly ssid (stations) are within a certain proximity of my location. Ideally it would be client/server situation where I’d have the APRS server service running on my Android cell phone or tablet (can communicate to the APRS via the Internet via cellular/wifi or via the bluetooth interface to my APRS enabled transceiver in the car.) It could use the phone’s internal GPS, and the server side would handle all the messaging/processing. the WIMM would be used as a client for the information display.”

6. Ryan Poltermann

“How about for the motorcyclists (or even bicyclists) out there: use it as a garage door opener. Most garage door openers are for visor mounts, and they would be uncomfortable in a jacket. Tie that into home automation, and you’re set when you get home.”

7. Dale Chen

“Facebook app tailored for quick bite sized info and updates. Easy checking to locations. Aid in viral adoption of Wimm by showing “posted via Wimm” in Facebook feed. You could also setup easy checking in on foursquare or easy updates on Path.”

WIMM One to the rescue!

Spark in-ear Headphones, as they’re called, will cost you a cool $59.95, and before we go any further I can say this: they are worth it. These phones are made of metal and other high-quality materials that will not wear out with general use, they sound great, and they look great. They’ve got additional features that a person might look for in a pair of buds such as the one-button controller/microphone that sits down the side of one of the bud cords, and they’ve got replaceable rubber buds with several sizes right inside the box, so you’ll have the correct fit as you so choose it.

In the box you get three sets of buds that you can use: one small, one medium, and one large, and each of them are a basic egg/spherical shape (single flange, they call them.) You then get the earbuds themselves, and finally a lovely “Premium Leather” carrying case. This case is actually pretty nice and does encourage you to put your buds away in a nice non-tightly-wound sort of way so you don’t end up wrapping them around your smartphone – this can lead to deterioration of the hardware, just so you know, with whatever headphones or earbuds you might ever use.

As far as specifications go, have at them here:

Driver Unit : High Performance 8mm Dynamic Driver
Impedance : 16 Ohm +/-15 %
Sensitivity : 96 dB +/-3 dB at 1 kHz
Frequency Response : 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz
Rated Power Input : 1 mW
Maximum Input Power : 5 mW
Cord Length : 3.9 ft / 1.2 m
Plug : 3.5 mm Plug
Weight : 0.4 oz / 13 g

Then sound quality goes like this: while these buds are made to work with devices such as Apple desktops and iPhone, iPod, and iPad for the one-button control, they work perfectly fine in whatever device you’ve got with a standard jack. That said, the Spark buds sound about a thousand percent better than the buds you’ll get with any smartphone’s no-name buds, and are certainly sounding better than, for example, the very comparable Beats by Dre. Though they also have a bit more Bass and a bit less Treble than they really ought to for the wide variety of music the average citizen listens to, they do sound more than quality enough to be worth the three $20 you’ll be shelling out to own them.

And for those of you waiting to hear how they can be “loud” visually, know this: color combinations include everything from Jet Black to Rally Blue – which is essentially a blue and red combo that Captain America would be proud of. Rose Pink is probably the brightest set of colors, complete with smoke-colored rubber buds, but it’s pretty clear to me that the War-Machine-like “Aluminum Silver” is the greatest of the set. You can pick these buds up now online from id America NY online store and get satisfied with solid sound and some nice packaging to boot.

The new ClearPad 2200 capacitive multi-touch screen will be the company’s first to use its SignaClarity technology, which boosts the signal-to-noise ratio for improved accuracy in finger tracking and separation. It uses advanced filtering and noise mitigation algorithms so that other components won’t interfere while it can still be flexible enough to support various sensor stack-ups.

Since the latest and greatest smartphones are all measuring at least 4.3-inches in screen size these days, with some going the extreme of tablet-phone hybrids, such as the Galaxy Note, the ClearPad 2200 will target smaller entry-level smartphones. This will give lower-range devices improved touchscreen response and accuracy. The new screen will be shown off at Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona.

[via Engadget]

According to the Wall Street Journal who uncovered the FCC filing and spoke with an unnamed media executive involved in licensing talks with Google, the service is getting close to launch already. This is almost certainly tied to the Kansas site Google has in motion already with web speeds so fast your eyeballs will blow out of your head. Check out the video launched last year when Kansas first got the Fiber deal with Google at the end of March, 2011:

Should Google take this service and add television to the mix, there’s something that’s brewing hot. Google has also been tipped to be working on next generation personal communication devices as well as a Google Home Entertainment System which is quite likely the same thing we heard of back at Google I/O 2011 by the name of Android@Home. Combine this with what was revealed earlier this week in Google seeking permission to build a 4.5-meter satellite dish array and you’ve got a monster on your hands.

Google, we’ve got a feeling you’re about to bring the fire! The fire to our homes, that is, in the form of free cloud-stored media and content stores all working over a network of fiber that you control. Google, you’re on to something hot.

[via San Francisco Chronicle]

With the update, you can now access your Google Docs via your Android phone or tablet and edit them directly from within the app without bringing up the browser. You can simply join a document with a tap and see changes made to it in real-time like what’s offered in the Google Docs desktop version.

Other improvements include a slight face lift to the interface that makes working with documents easier while on the go. There’s now pinch to zoom, focus on a specific paragraph, and the ablity to quickly glance a whole document at once. Also added are rich text formatting, including quick bullet lists, changing document color, and bolding text. For a good overview of the updated features, you can watch the video below.

[via Android Community]