TechNews - Microsoft should sell off Xbox and Bing - tech
(hx) 10:29 PM CEST - May,28 2013
- Post a comment
- Gigabyte's Brix mini PC to challenge Intel's Next Unit of
Computing - The mini PCs measure just 1.2" x 4.2" x 4.5", and they
pack ultrabook-class Ivy Bridge processors and plenty of connectivity.
Wi-Fi is included along with Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, HDMI, and Mini
DisplayPort. The Brix lineup comprises four models, three of which are
already listed on Gigabyte's site. The GB-XM1-3537
comes with a Core i7-3537U processor, the GB-XM11-3337
is equipped with an i5-3337U, and the GB-XM12-3227
sports-you guessed it-an i3-3227U. There will also be a lower-end
GB-XM14-1037 with a Celeron 1037U processor. All those CPUs have dual
cores and 17W thermal envelopes. Only the Core processors can execute
four threads via Hyper-Threading, though, and Turbo is limited to the
i7 and i5 models.
Intel's similarly small Next
Unit of Computing doesn't dip into Core i5 and i7 territory. It
also lacks 3.0 ports, but the top model sports a Thunderbolt jack.
- Microsoft analyst says Microsoft should sell off Xbox and Bing
- Microsoft just announced the Xbox One game console last week, and
the company continues to add new features to its Bing search services.
However, a noted financial analyst who has covered Microsoft since the
company went public believes it would be better off if it were to sell
off one or both of these divisions. GeekWire
reports that in a research note to investors today, Nomura Equity
Research analyst Rick Sherlund stated that the Xbox business was not
"profitable enough" for Microsoft. He suggested selling off that
portion of the company to one that has a bigger consumer electronics
focus, such as Samsung, or perhaps spinning it off into its own
separate company.
- Microsoft Gives Students 3GB Additional Skydrive Storage - Microsoft
has made available to students an
additional 3GB of Skydrive storage space free of charge for a
period of one year. This will give students a total of 10GB of Skydrive
storage space with no strings attached other than proof of your current
student status. The offer is limited to one per person and the code
must be redeemed before December 31st 2013.
- Google Glass Photographer - Here's someone you'll be
seeing in a few months: the Google Glass photographer. Nature shots,
concerts, time-lapse videos, weddings...the Google Glass photographer
does it all.
- Google Planning To Build Its Own Wireless Network - Google
Inc. is deep into a multipronged effort to build and help run
wireless networks in emerging markets as part of a plan to connect a
billion or more new people to the Internet. These wireless networks
would serve areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to
dwellers outside of major cities where wired Internet connections
aren't available, said people familiar with the strategy. The networks
also could be used to improve Internet speeds in urban centers, these
people said. Google plans to team up with local telecommunications
firms and equipment providers in the emerging markets to develop the
networks, as well as create business models to support them, these
people said. It is unclear whether Google already has lined up such
deals or alliances. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.
- Apple Removes Download Options from Quicktime Trailers Website
- If you have tried to download a trailer from the Quicktime
website lately and wondered why it wasn't possible, Apple
has discontinued the option. Without announcing the upcoming
action, Apple began phasing out the downloading options as of May 22nd.
So, while older trailers can still be downloaded from the site, Apple
appears to be removing downloads from older trailers as newer trailers
are added, slowly phasing out the availability of trailer downloads
altogether.
- Proposed law would make reprogramming cellphone IDs a
crime - Reprogramming the identification number of a
cellphone could
be punishable with a prison sentence of up to five years under the
terms of a proposed federal law introduced Friday. The Mobile Device
Theft Deterrence Act of 2013 makes changing the International Mobile
Equipment Identity (IMEI) number in a phone a crime. The IMEI number is
a unique identification number in every cellphone and is exchanged when
a mobile phone signs on to a mobile network. In an attempt to combat
the growing number of violent street robberies of high-end smartphones,
carriers have built a database that blocks stolen phones from being
reused. The database relies on the IMEI number, so if the number is
reprogrammed in a stolen handset, it could bypass the database check
and get resold and reused. Reprogramming the number isn't easy, but it
also represents a weak point in the battle against these robberies,
which now account for close to half of all street crime in several
major U.S. cities. While the theft of the phone and the sale of stolen
goods both constitute crimes, the electronic reprogramming in the
middle doesn't. The new law would change that.
- AT&T Adds 61-Cent Admin Fee to All Customers - AT&T
has added a
new administration fee to the monthly bills of all its customers.
The fee amounts to 61 cents, which, when multiplied across AT&T's
entire customer base, amounts to about $500 million in extra revenue
per year for the company. An AT&T spokesperson told the Wall Street
Journal that the fee is less than that charged by its competitors. It
went into effect May 1.
- Sen. Schumer Reintroduces Cell Theft Deterrent Bill - Senator
Charles Schumer of New York today
reintroduced the Mobile Device Theft Deterrence Act. The bill was
first proposed a year ago, but was never acted upon by congress. The
act would make it a federal crime to alter or change the unique device
identification or IMEI number of a wireless device. Together with the
Federal Communications Commission, U.S. wireless network operators last
year created a database of stolen device IDs. The database is used by
the network operators to deny voice and data services to stolen devices
registered on the list. The impetus behind the database and the Mobile
Device Theft Deterrence Act is to make it difficult or impossible to
activate stolen devices on wireless networks, which reduces the resale
value of stolen phones and curbs the theft of mobile devices.
- Pet Drone That Follows You Around - Falkor
System's Sameer Parekh's shows Popular Science an early
Pet AR.Drone prototype. The robot uses artificial intelligence
algorithms to track a person, follow him or her around from a safe
distance, and record video of the journey.
- Augmented Reality 3D Engine Maintenance App - The
video shows the latest 3D tracking technology for Augmented
Reality
by Inglobe Technologies in the context of an ordinary maintenance demo
application. Let me just say this now, if you are a guy, you have no
business under the hood of ANY car if you need this app!
- Testing Your "Motion Quotient" - Researchers at the
University of Rochester have found that a simple visual
task can predict IQ. In the study, individuals watched video clips
of black and white bars moving across a computer screen, the same clips
you will see in this video. Their sole task was to identify which
direction the bars drifted: to the right or to the left.
- Chinese Farmer Builds His Own Bionic Arms - A Chinese
farmer who lost his hands in an accident turns misfortune into a family
enterprise with home-made bionic arms that he now sells to other
amputees. This is pretty wicked! Although they not the bets quality,
they are quite handy.
- uChek App on iPhone tests a sample (Water) for glucose,
bilirubin... - uChek is a semi-automated urine analysis system
enabled for use with smartphones.
- Homemade Lightsaber!?! MASSIVE 3W Handheld Laser Torching
Stuff!! - This laser uses the new 9mm 450nm laser diode and
runs on two 18650 Li Ion batteries. The housing is a custom machined
"Sirius" host. I usually try to refrain from using the term
"lightsaber" when referring to my lasers but there really isn't much
else out there to describe this laser.
- Watch A BMW M3 And A Stunt Plane Play Tic-Tac-Toe - Street
vs. Air, Racecar vs. Aircraft, Drift Ace vs. Action Pilot: Drift pro
Dominic Tiroch with his Dotz BMW E92 (M3) DD1 drifting versus former
Red Bull Air Race world champion Hannes Arch in his Zivko Edge 540. A
nail-biting battle that couldn't be any more thrilling and comes
with a surprising, action game showdown
- World's largest lego model: Life-sized Star Wars X-wing
Starfighter - A Star Wars X-wing Starfighter made from 5.3 million
bricks has been put on display in Times Square in New York. Lego
unveiled the life-sized spaceship to promote a new Lego cartoon series
called The Yoda Chronicles. At its tallest the model stands 11 feet
high, and has a 44-feet wingspan. The Yoda Chronicles will debut on May
29 on the Cartoon Network.
- Pacific Rim - TV Spot 2 - When legions of monstrous
creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would
take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years
on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was
devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled
simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge.
But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the
relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind
have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes - a washed up former
pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) - who
are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the
past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting
apocalypse.
- 8-Bit Cinema: Iron Man Retold in 60 Animated Seconds - 8-bit Cinema
is a new series from CineFix where popular films are given a retro
8-bit video game redesign and retold in 60 animated seconds. For the
pilot episode, the 2008 Marvel Studios film, Iron Man, has been given
an 8-bit Cinema treatment by Californian filmmakers Norwood Cheek and
David Dutton.
- Vivid Sydney 2013 Time-Lapse - Great spectacles are
occurring both inside and outside the Sydney Opera House this
fortnight. Vivid Sydney, an annual two-week event of "Light, Music,
Ideas," kicked off in Australia on Friday, and as you can
see by the projections on the building itself, the creativity is
mind-bendingly cool.
- A Hypnotic Series of GIFs - Istanbul-based artist
Erdal Inci clones sections of video creating an endless
array of cloned avatars that appear to flood through the city
streets.
- The Vein Magma - music video - Magma is
the very first Dvein's music video for The Vein's new single
- Skydiver's near impact and landing on top of a mountain - The
purpose of this video is to show the importance of spotting, no matter
where you jump but in particular in the mountains. The group
was the 2nd to exit, the drop was at the wrong place (not a pilot
error though) and nobody noticed until it was almost too late. It was
pure coincidence and only the quick reaction by the skydivers involved
prevented injuries or worse.
- How to Chill a Beer With a Slingshot - Slingshots aren't
just good for firing toilet brushes and Oreos: with a little thought, you can even
use one to cool a beer!
- I-5 Skagit River Bridge collapsing after hit - video - Surveillance
video was released to KIRO 7 Eyewitness News of the Interstate 5
bridge over the Skagit River collapsing. On Thursday night, the I-5
bridge collapsed after an oversized load hit the trusses of the
structure. Three people were injured in the collapse. The video cuts
out before the bridge falls entirely into the river because the power
lines that supplied the camera ran across the bridge.
- Actual video from the inside of a tornado - Brandon Ivey
and Sean Casey got inside of a violent wedge tornado today.
Brandon shot this insane footage of the TIV2 (tornado intercept
vehicle) inside of a violent wedge tornado northeast of Smith Center,
Kansas over eastern Smith County. Wind speeds were 150 to 175 EF3 to
EF4 before the tornado ripped the instruments off the top of the TIV.
- Meet China's Photoshop Trolls - Photoshop is a great and
powerful tool. It can take ordinary pictures and make them
spectacular... or make them horrible. In China, there are many people with awesome Photoshop
skills, and those who don't have any ability usually ask people for
help online. Sometimes these requests go wrong. Horribly wrong.
- Baby & Me / The New Evian Film - In a new
commercial from the water company, adults see themselves as babies
in their reflections and an epic dance party ensues:
- UFC Girls Bikini Bash - Summer is nearly upon us and to
honor the changing of the season UFC 360 is
rolling out a Bikini issue featuring the women of the Octagon.
Brittney, Arianny, and Kenda take you behind the scenes of their Malibu
photo shoot for the magazine spread that will not disappoint.
- The best pics on the Internet #21 - All pictures
are carefully handpicked!
|
Updated:01:01 AM CEST Sep,23
(new)
