GPS Coming to 3G iPhone?
It’s pretty much a given that the next-generation iPhone will be faster, but it might be able to find its way home as well.
GigaOm is reporting that Broadcom is Apple’s supplier for GPS chips that are inside the next iPhone, expected to arrive with a 3G cellular networking chip within a few weeks. GPS is an increasingly common feature inside smartphones, and is much more accurate than the cell-tower and Wi-Fi positioning system that Apple rolled out in January.
Rumors of GPS capabilities inside the forthcoming iPhone trickled out earlier this month, in the form of possible geotagging code noticed inside the iPhone software development kit. GigaOm notes a report from Popular Mechanics that reveals GPS manufacturers are shaking in their boots over the prospect of a GPS-enabled iPhone.
Popularity: 88% [?]
Promoting Peace, Not Violence, in Video Games
Computer companies are pushing to swap the violence in video games with messages of social change.
Next week, Advanced Micro Devices plans to announce a project designed to teach kids how to build video games that promote social causes such as fighting poverty or protecting the environment. Called Changing the Game, the project will fund nonprofit organizations that inspire kids with video games, and it will develop curriculum for youth to build their own software for games. Changing the Game is the first initiative funded by the chipmaker’s newly formed AMD Foundation, a grant-making organization.
At the same time next week, Microsoft will show off the first of the environmental education games developed by high school and college kids participating in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, a global competition around software for social change. (The Imagine Cup winners will be announced in Paris in July.)
Popularity: 77% [?]
Beijing Airport Finally Finished For The 2008 Olympics
After 4 years the Beijing Airport -currently the biggest one in the world- is finished, just in time for the 2008 Olympics. The airport, designed by Foster + Partners, turned out to be a very efficient building in terms of in terms of operational efficiency, passenger comfort, sustainability and access to natural light.
As an interpretation of traditional chinese culture the roof of the airport has a dragon-like form.
According to Norman Foster :
[…] this is a building borne of its context. It communicates a uniquely Chinese sense of place and will be a true gateway to the nation. This is expressed in its dragon-like form and the drama of the soaring roof that is a blaze of ‘traditional’ Chinese colours – imperial reds merge into golden yellows. As you proceed along the central axis, view of the red columns stretching ahead into the far distance evokes images of a Chinese temple.
Popularity: 59% [?]
Microsoft’s Cashback Offers Over Live Search–Effective?
Microsoft has announced their new innovation over the online advertising competition–a cashback program at the Advance08 Conference in Redmond, Washington. The idea is Microsoft will pay a portion of a purchase price (from 2 percent to more than 30 percent) to individuals who use its Live Search engine to find products online and buy them from participating retailers.
According to ZDNet.com, Microsoft has been experimenting with ways to reward users with points, prizes and cash — via programs like the “Live Search Club” — for the past year-plus. While the Live Search Club program did boost temporarily Microsoft’s search share, it didn’t help it beyond a few percentage points. A number of high profile e-commerce sites are participating in the early stages of the program, which is being dubbed “Live Search Cashback” and is based at least partially on technology developed from Jellyfish, a company Microsoft acquired in 2007. A message on the Jellyfish site says the site is down “currently offline to perform necessary service upgrades and enhancements.”
Popularity: 88% [?]
Games Consoles ‘Not Green Enough’
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are not doing enough to eliminate potentially harmful chemicals and metals from their games consoles, Greenpeace has said.
The body examined materials used inside the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Greenpeace said that while all three machines complied with European laws, the consoles still contained harmful materials that “needed to be replaced”.
Nintendo’s environment policies were “non-existent”, Greenpeace added. “Nintendo doesn’t have any environmental policies, ” said Zeina Al-Hajj, Greenpeace’s International Toxic Campaign co-ordinator. “We were shocked with Nintendo; it was our biggest surprise.” Nintendo is ranked at the bottom of Greenpeace’s global assessment of “green” technology companies. ” Recently they added a list of certain commitments they have, which purely comply with legislation,” said Ms Al-Hajj. The organisation has called on all technology firms to take immediate action to eliminate toxic chemicals from products.
The report found that the PS3 and 360 both contained “very high” levels of chemicals, called phthalates, which are used to “soften” flexible materials like wires and cable coatings. They are not permitted in toys sold in Europe but under EU regulations games consoles are not classed as toys.
Popularity: 73% [?]
Vast Cracks Appear in Arctic Ice
Dramatic evidence of the break-up of the Arctic ice-cap has emerged from research during an expedition by the Canadian military.
Scientists travelling with the troops found major new fractures during an assessment of the state of giant ice shelves in Canada’s far north. The team found a network of cracks that stretched for more than 10 miles (16km) on Ward Hunt, the area’s largest shelf. The fate of the vast ice blocks is seen as a key indicator of climate change.
One of the expedition’s scientists, Derek Mueller of Trent University, Ontario, told me: “I was astonished to see these new cracks. “It means the ice shelf is disintegrating, the pieces are pinned together like a jigsaw but could float away,” Dr Mueller explained.
According to another scientist on the expedition, Dr Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa, the new cracks fit into a pattern of change in the Arctic. “We’re seeing very dramatic changes; from the retreat of the glaciers, to the melting of the sea ice. We had 23% less (sea ice) last year than we’ve ever had, and what’s happening to the ice shelves is part of that picture.”
Popularity: 62% [?]
Satellite Catches a Star Going ‘Kaboom!’
When a gigantic star blows up, astronomers call it a “supernova.” Over the past 100 years, astronomers have observed thousands of these explosions. But in every case, they were seeing the star after the explosion took place. They were seeing the hot debris from the explosion racing outward. It would be like seeing fireworks a few seconds after they go off, when the colorful lights are shooting away from the puff of smoke that mark the locations of the actual explosion.
Now, thanks to NASA’s Swift satellite, astronomers have seen a star actually blow up. The discovery is due to Swift’s capabilities and some alert astronomers, but also a bit of good luck.
On January 9, 2008, Alicia Soderberg and Edo Berger of Princeton University, in Princeton, N.J., were using Swift’s X-ray Telescope to observe a distant spiral-shaped galaxy known as NGC 2770. Suddenly, at 9:33 in the morning Eastern Time, the telescope picked up a powerful burst of X-rays coming from the galaxy. The burst lasted 5 minutes before it faded away.
Popularity: 53% [?]
