2011's hidden cinematic gems

Every year there are movies that slip through the cracks -- say, the documentary that appears only briefly at a festival or the art film that quickly flashes across the marquee before it's pushed off by the latest Michael Bay monster. So, here's a little holiday break homework for you while you bask in the seasonal glow: a list of little gems from the past year that are too good to miss. Hope your local video store is well-stocked and your popcorn maker at the ready.

Another Earth

Another Earth is a sci-fi film where the idea is the biggest special effect. An accident stands between a young woman and a grieving composer, but the discovery of a parallel existence opens a world of possibilities.

Attack the Block

There's a reason this British import is making many of 2011's best-of lists. A first-time filmmaker serves up a manic romp that does justice to the action flicks of the '80s, without any of Super 8's audacious effects. A monster with glowing teeth meets ghetto gang-bangers: really, what else do you need to know?

Beginners

Much more than Christopher Plummer playing a gay man, Beginners is a touching, whimsical ode to love, life, healing -- and it has a talking dog.

Bill Cunningham New York

A documentary with a deft touch, Bill Cunningham New York is about a man who changed the way New Yorkers see themselves. Cunningham is the photographer behind the long-running New York Times fashion column On the Street. An urban sociologist of sorts, he has spent decades documenting how we dress. This is a movie about fashion, fads and the complicated man behind the camera.

Four Lions

Fearless and funny filmmaking at its best, Four Lions follows a terror cell of British Jihadists planning an attack in London -- that is, if they don't blow themselves up first. It's The Three Stooges-meets-suicide bombers, and no target is safe.

The Guard

Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson star in this most unusual of buddy movies. When a drug-smuggling ring makes inroads into rural Ireland, a FBI liaison is forced to work with a cantankerous county cop. Though it might sound conventional, The Guard -- just like Gleeson's character -- is never what it seems.

A Separation

From Iran comes a film that is utterly real and tragic. A husband and wife seek a divorce. An elderly parent's decline requires daily care. A caregiver, with a daughter, is hired. These are just the strands of the tale, but the way director Asghar Farhadi ties them into knots would do Anton Chekov proud. A Separation demonstrates heartbreaking, but unfussy, filmmaking that speaks to the claustrophobia of his country.

Pina

Filmmaker Wim Wenders has created a moving memorial to his friend, the late choreographer Pina Bausch, that will change the way you think about dance and 3D movies. The film is dance reduced to its basic elements: raw and vital, but also playful. As Bausch herself says: "Dance, dance...or else we are lost."

The Trip

A semi-improvised road movie about an actor and a comedian partaking in fine dining across North Britain, The Trip is my pick for funniest film of the year. Though silly, it also offers a shockingly bitter undercurrent that's easy to miss when you're crying with laughter.

The Whistleblower

Forgive the painful set-up and awkward exposition at the beginning of this film. Wait, because there are moments to come that will take your breath away. Based on Kathryn Bolkovac's true story, The Whistleblower sees Rachel Weisz play a U.N. peacekeeper who discovers a sex-trafficking ring in Bosnia. A typical film might have the heroine crash in, guns blazing -- The Whistleblower isn't that kind of film. Instead, director Larysa Kondracki explores what happens when a woman discovers something horrifying and is powerless to prevent it.

Rare Exports (A Christmas bonus)

You'll never view Santa the same way again.


Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/things-that-go-pop-blog/2011/12/2011s-hidden-cinematic-gems.html

The LHC Has Discovered Its First New Particle

Though researchers think the Higgs boson is running out of places to hide, the LHC has yet to provide conclusive proof of its existence. But the ATLAS experiment at the LHC--one of the two main experiments taking precise measurements of particle collisions--has found what is thought to be the first observation of a new particle at the world’s largest science experiment. Known as c_b(3P)--or Chi-b (3P)--observations of the particle should yield new insights into the strong force that holds atomic nuclei together.

The c_b(3P) particle is a newly observed means of combing what’s known as a beauty quark with its antiquark equivalent. It’s considered a boson like the Higgs, and like the Higgs it has long been thought to be there, theoretically speaking. It’s a more excited state of Chi particles already witnessed in previous collider experiments. But no one had actually seen it until now.

The as-yet unpublished research should be a jumping off point toward a greater understanding of what holds the universe together. The Higgs gets a lot of air time, as it has proven the most elusive of the Standard Model puzzle pieces and is thought to be the particle that gives all others mass. But once a theory establishes how the universe got mass, it still has to demonstrate how that mass is held together at the fundamental level. That means understanding the strong force and the roles of particles like c_b(3P).

Geek out on some hard physics over at arXiv.


Source: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-12/lhc-discovers-its-first-new-particle

A Familiar Face in Uncharted: Golden Abyss

If the 97 stories haven't tipped you off, IGN has the PlayStation Vita. We've been using the thing nonstop, and at the top of our playlist is Uncharted: Golden Abyss. I've already written impressions about my first few hours with Nathan Drake's latest adventure, but as the chapters roll by, the juicy information keeps coming.


If you were like me, you probably wondered if Golden Abyss -- a tale set before the events of the original Uncharted game -- would feature familiar faces from the franchise. Today, I can tell you that Victor "Sully" Sullivan is in the game and looking quite a bit younger than he did in the original title. Take a look at the screenshots below and let me know in the comments how many years you think this is set before the first Uncharted game.


Source: http://vita.ign.com/articles/121/1215496p1.html

Best Strategy Games for iPad

In case you do not know, there are some really good strategy games for the iPad. Here is my top 10 best strategy games for iPad.

1. The Merry Manor HD

– Build your own merry manor with your own farm, grow fruits and vegetables and the most important part, go through all sorts of fun adventures! Your neighbours are Operator, a business cat, Oops Bunny, the owner of a local joint The Barn and Nostradramus, a restless scholar of a raccoon. They are always happy to help. Together you will find yourselves in many fun situations, tackle day-to-day challenges and build, build, build!High quality graphics, bright colours and ideal sound will satisfy even the most demanding player!You are offered whatever is required to create a unique and beautiful manor!See the transformation from a small farmer to a king, it isn’t easy but you can do it.


2. Pretty Pet Salon HD

–The best -selling salon sim in iTunes goes HD and is now availabale in iPad. Get ready to run your very own Pet Salon. Serve customers, earn money, and make your shop bigger. Hire your staff, and new employees with personality. Exciting achievements for you to collect. Keep an eye out for two celebrity customers, they will give your pet Salon a real surprise.Get to compete with your friends all over the world for the best and most successful Pet Salon out there!An addictive pet grooming game that will be a sure fire hit for pet lovers.

3. SimCity™ Deluxe for iPad

– Manage and build your dream city now available in iPad. Made for both dedicated and casual players alike, let your inner urban planner run wild with the world’s favorite city building simulation. As Mayor and City Planner, take delight in the immersive visuals, the bigger display, and responsive touch controls – all designed just for the SimCity™ Deluxe experience on iPad. With HD-quality graphics and realistic animation that provides vividly textured terrain that you’ll want to reach out and touch. Easily “fingerpaint” masses of trees, water, and land with a simple swipe of your finger. Think big and live larger with customized controls.Be ready to take on demanding challenges.

4. Battle for Wesnoth HD

–If you’re after something that merges both strategy and RPG, you’ve found the right game. Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based hex game set in the land of Wesnoth where you command mythical units like fire-breathing dragonfolk, griffin-mounted dwarves and elite elven archers. If you’re a fan of the desktop version, then this is definitely something you should add to your homescreen.

5. CityVille Hometown

–Create your CityVille Hometwon. Help the delightful characters, follow their stories, and be rewarded with special items. Watch your town grow with a wide variety of houses, businesses, and fantastic decorations that you can choose from. Name your businesses and residents to as you want to make your town unique.

6. Crime City HD

– Are you up to building criminal empires and crush your rivals?Want to become the toughest Mob Boss in Crime City HD! Rise through the ranks of the mafia and take over the city! Build up your hood, do heists, beat up people and fight other players! Get to explore HD exclusive areas, buildings and much more. Own 160+ Powerful weapons and cars that you can buy. Get to collect massive incomes from your properties, and get to enjoy it’s gorgeous graphics.

7. Wedding Dash 4-Ever

– It’s up to best friends Quinn and Flo to keep everything under control, when Quinn’s mom unexpectedly arrives in town and shakes up her home, business, and love life. While Mom is making suggestions at every turn, help quinn manage more weddings, keep the bride and groom happy, plan dream weddings and get more in Play First’s most romantic time management game. Get to host weddings in 5 trendy venues like a Japanese Garden and Vineyard. Up for a challenge, get to tackle 9 wedding day disasters including Bridezilla, Groom Kong, and a Food Fight before they upset the guests and happy couple!


8. Tower Defense: Lost Earth HD

–While searching for resources that have been exhausted on Earth, you followed the probe across the galaxy searching for habitable planets. Take command of towers and special weapons to hold your defense against endless waves of enemies on the hostile alien planet. Tower Defense: Lost Earth takes classic defense games to a whole new world. With 4 different game play modes with different objectives. 5 Different World Themes and 10 enemies with different behaviors.A game that supports English, français, Deutsch.

9. Sentinel 3: Homeworld

–Take the fight to the alien homeworld and unleash a massive arsenal of weaponry, A challenging campaign featuring 20 levels across 14 distinctive & demanding maps. Get endless modes for all maps with online highscores. The classic mode allows you to compete for scores in a pure skill-based mode. Comes with stunning graphics &fx, with high redolution Retina Display support.Also offers 15 level campaign, new commander, new weapons, new enemies and more.

10. Hotel Dash 2: Lost Luxuries

–Start your adventure with Hotel Dash 2: Lost Luxuries, PlayFirst’s wildest time management game! This year, DinerTown is a strong candidate to host the International French Fry Festival. Get to help Flo and Quinn excavate themed hotels built many years ago, and turn them into retro-chic resorts! Tap and slide to glide down zip lines, prep rooms, cater to guests’ requests, and renovate each hotel with unique accents. Will you restore enough hotels to host the festival, or will a sneaky competitor sabotage your efforts. Get to restore all five nature-themed hotels: Swiss Chalet, Bubbly Submarine, Chilly Ice Palace, and more. Get to meet unique guests like the scuba diver, genie, and snowboarder.

Source: http://www.ipad3-release.com/2011/best-strategy-games-for-ipad/

BenQ launches E2200HD in India

BenQ corp has launched the first 22 inch or so to say 21.5 inch 1080p Full HD LCD monitor. The monitor is equipped with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution with 300 cd/m2 brightness. It comes with VGA and HDMI inputs with a headphone jack.

The LCD has a 16:9 aspect ratio and has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio.

The E2200HD comes with integrated speakers and can render content from STBs, camcorders and DVD players. The LCD Monitor will be available for only Rs. 13,500 which is a pretty neat price for what you are getting.

Source: http://technews.in/reviews/plasma_and_lcd/benq_launches_e2200hd_in_india/

Paul McCartney has new album for Valentine's Day

Paul McCartney has collaborated with Diana Krall, Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder on an album of standards to be released in time for Valentine's Day.

McCartney announced the project Monday, as he released the first of two original songs on the album to fans on his website. There are only two new songs on the album – My Valentine and Only Our Hearts.

But love is clearly in the air for the former Beatle, who married American Nancy Shevell in October.

His song list includes romantic works from the American Songbook, by composers such as Cole Porter and Harold Arlen. And it comes out just ahead of Valentine’s Day on Feb. 7.

McCartney says he and John Lennon were inspired in their own writing by some of the standards, which he first heard when his father performed them at home on piano.

McCartney worked with Vancouver-based Krall and her band in recording the as-yet-untitled album, and Clapton and Wonder also make appearances.

McCartney says he’s been thinking about the project for 20 years and, at age 69, figured “if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it.”

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/19/paul-mccartney-valentine-album.html

Touchless smartphones and TVs could be on sale in 2012

So you've lost your TV remote control. Again.

Not to worry, says a tiny Israeli start-up company called XTR3D - soon you'll be able to flick through channels and adjust the volume using only... your hand.

You'll just have to turn your palm towards the screen, and zap away without ever getting off the couch.

And no need for under-the-skin electronics or fancy microchips.

Instead, the TV - or rather gesture recognition software installed inside - will "read" your moves and execute appropriate commands, without any need for physically pressing any buttons.

Based in Tel Aviv, XTR3D is one of the developers of such motion capture technology, and it has just received $8m (£5m) investment bound to give "touchless" tech another push - and according to the firm, bring the first motion control smartphone into the market as early as next year.

US electronics giant Texas Instruments is among the investors.

Although the Israeli firm follows in the footsteps of Microsoft's Kinect, the multi-directional gesture control gaming console that was launched last year and has since been selling like hot cakes despite the average $200 price tag, its technology is quite different.

The Kinect has depth sensors, multi-array microphones and RGB cameras that provide the software with the information it needs to track both voice and gestures.

XTR3D, on the other hand, uses ordinary 2D cameras - such as a webcam of a computer or the one in your smartphone - to extract 3D out of a 2D image.

This creates the same three-dimensional effect as on the Kinect.

According to the Tel Aviv start-up's spokesman Roy Ramati, XTR3D's technology has all the advantages of a 3D camera without any of the disadvantages - it can work in broad daylight, is much cheaper and uses a lot less power.

"And it can be installed into any consumer electronics device," adds Mr Ramati.

Dor Givon, XTR3D's founder and chief technical officer, adds that it is even possible to play a proper Kinect game on a regular laptop that has the software, touchlessly controlling the device from a distance of a few centimetres to up to 5m away.

And, he says, anyone will be able to afford it.

"Our target is to penetrate the market, so it will be something for everyone to try out," says Mr Givon.

"New devices will have the interface embedded in them, with older ones you will be able to download the software from the app store."

Besides gaming and switching TV channels, the existing prototypes include a PC where it is possible to flip through a PowerPoint presentation just by waving your hand, a tablet and a smartphone that have features such as using gestures to create the effect of a joystick, to click, swipe, zoom in and out with a pinch gesture, and a GPS device that can be controlled touchlessly while driving.
Ultrasound and optical

Despite being at the forefront of gesture-controlled technology, XTR3D is not the only firm aiming to make our world touchless.

Various kinds of motion detection have been around for a while.

For instance, simple gesture recognition such as hovering your hand near a water tap or a toilet flush to activate them are becoming more and more common.

And after Microsoft paved the way with Kinect, bringing new digital dimensions to the gaming world, other companies followed.

Microsoft itself is now actively trying to expand Kinect's use into other industries.

Recently, it announced that it would release a commercial version of the Kinect software development kit in early 2012.

Microsoft has also teamed up with about 200 businesses in more than 20 countries - among them car manufacturer Toyota and digital advertising firm Razorfish - for Kinect to reach well beyond gaming.

"The Kinect can sense your entire body for interaction with the device, and we're only scratching the surface of what can be done because beyond computing there's a lot of scenarios where this kind of natural user interaction could be really powerful, a real paradigm shift," says Shahram Izadi, a researcher from the Microsoft Research Centre in Cambridge, England.

And the creator of the chip that powers the motion-sensing part of the Kinect, an Israeli company called PrimeSense, is now selling a gadget that has the same hardware as Microsoft's device.

Once hooked up to a regular computer, it can provide a Kinect-like experience without the Kinect.

Apple has also filed patents that involve allowing users to touchlessly "throw" content from one device to another, for example from a tablet onto your TV screen.

Another electronics giant, mobile chip maker Qualcomm, has recently bought a small Canadian firm GestureTek.

It targets three devices: tablets (including eReaders), smartphones and TVs, and uses a combination of cameras and ultrasound.

Ultrasound sensors are there for close range "no-look" gesture control - they pick up movements with help of a microphone instead of an optical camera, explains Qualcomm's director of technology Francis MacDougall.

"One issue the Kinect has is an inability to track close to a device. The default design can track no closer than 50cm - great for TVs but not so good for tablets and smartphones," says Mr MacDougall.

"So Qualcomm has placed multiple audio sensors - microphones - into their handset designs to isolate the voice location in 3D space while filtering out everything else.

"This technique is extremely low power and can track the hand within one to 15cm of the phone."
Touchless world

Imagine that you are driving a car and your child is on the back seat watching a movie on a tablet - you don't have to divert your attention from the road, but just by making a gesture near the tablet you would be able to pause it or turn it off.

And such possibilities are endless, says Mr MacDougall.

For instance, how about answering a phone when you're cooking, eating or driving without touching the screen or even having to look at it? Or turning pages on an eReader with swipe gestures? Or skipping to the next song with a swipe or pausing it with a palm raised?

These touchless features are pretty much what other companies working in the area have been promising to deliver, but one that relates to TV control is quite unique to GestureTek.

"We're working on face recognition that will be used to identify each member of the family and bring up custom interfaces as part of a next generation 'smart TV' interface," says Mr MacDougall.

To achieve that, the firm is turning to optical solutions, similar to those used by XTR3D - the standard forward-facing 2D camera and in some cases a stereo set-up - two standard 2D camera sensors spaced a small distance apart to calculate the 3D location of any features in the scene.

However the companies around the world are doing it - with regular or infrared cameras, or with ultrasound sensors, one thing is certain, says Mr MacDougall.

"Gesture is definitely heating up!"

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15970019

For the First Time, Predator Drones Participate in Civilian Arrests on U.S. Soil

A Customs and Border Protection Predator B (or MQ-9 Reaper)

A somewhat strange story emerged yesterday involving an extremist antigovernment group, a North Dakota sheriff’s office, and six missing cows, but there’s a much larger story behind this brief legal tangle between local law enforcement and the Brossart family of Nelson Country. When Alex, Thomas and Jacob Brossart were arrested on their farm back in June after allegedly chasing the local Sheriff off their property with rifles, they became the first known U.S. citizens to be arrested on American soil with the help of a Predator drone, Stars and Stripes reports.

They will not, however, be the last. Most U.S. citizens are aware that US. Customs and Border Protection owns and operates a handful of aerial drones along the nation’s northern and southern borders (eight Predators to be exact), but when Congress authorized the use of drones along the borders in 2005 it was thought that they would be used strictly to curb illegal immigration and to detect smuggling routes.


But a provision allowing for “interior law enforcement support” is being given fairly liberal interpretation by both the Customs and Border Protection crews that operate the drones and local law enforcement that sometimes wants to borrow CBP’s aerial assets. Local police in North Dakota say they’ve called upon the two Predators operating out of Grand Forks Air Force Base at least two dozen times since June.

These drones are unarmed Predator B drones (known as MQ-9 Reapers elsewhere in the operational lingo), the same “hunter/killer” model employed across the globe in the War on Terror (but without the Hellfire missiles). They are being used for surveillance and situational awareness only, law enforcement officials say. But the fact that they’re being used at all--and especially without anyone higher up the chain of command acknowledging that local police have access to and are using Predator drones routinely--stirs up all kinds of privacy issues. As Stripes notes, it also skirts the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the U.S. military from taking on a police role within the United States.

In the case of the Brossart boys, apparently the sheriff showed up on their place with search warrant in hand seeking access to the family’s land to search for six missing cows thought to be on the premises. The Brossarts--who reportedly are not huge fans of the federal government in general and belong to an antigovernment group that the FBI considers extremist--brandished rifles and allegedly ordered the sheriff off the property. The sheriff complied, but then asked for support from the nearby drone unit, which happened to have a Predator in the air returning from a routine recon of the U.S.-Canada border.

Local law used the drone to keep an eye on the Brossart place overnight and the next day were able to determine via the drone footage that the three Brossarts in question were out on the property and unarmed (there’s a more thorough account of this if you click through to the Stripes piece). All said, the local police were able to sweep in and arrest the Brossarts without firing a shot or ending up in some kind of armed standoff.

To local law enforcement, it’s a good story about technology working to avoid violent confrontations and assist cops in their day-to-day serving and protecting. But it’s also troubling. From a privacy standpoint, the use of military surveillance drones over American cities is fraught with issues. Then there’s the fact that--up until now--very few people seem to have any idea this is going on. The government peering into your backyard, Big Brother is watching, etc. etc.--it’s the kind of thing that’s going to have to be talked about as technologies like drone aircraft become more ubiquitous, both abroad and at home.

Oh, and the six cows were located by police. No word on whether the Predators were scrambled for that part of the operation.


Source: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-12/first-us-citizens-have-been-arrested-help-predator-drone

Intel and LG deal brings WiDi streaming to HDTVs without the dongle

Intel's Wireless Display tech has promised to pull together properly equipped laptops and nearby HDTV screens since its debut last year, but until now always required an extra add-on for the TV side of the equation. That will change next year, thanks to an agreement by the chipmaker with LG promising its Cinema 3D Smart TV line will be the first ones with WiDi built right in. Just like it does with existing dongles, compatible devices can stream content (including HDCP protected video like DVDs and Blu-rays, as of Sandy Bridge) to the display while displaying something different on their own screen, and don't require an active WiFi or internet setup to make it all happen. The press release (included after the break) promises demonstrations next month at CES, while some manufacturers like Philips have included similar technology, we'll see if this becomes a standard feature.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/15/intel-and-lg-deal-brings-widi-streaming-to-hdtvs-without-the-don/

WordPress Plugin Releases for 12/13

New plugins

Admin Bar Backend Search provides various search forms in the Dashboard.

WP-ImageZoom enables you to view details of large images.

Updated plugins

Fast Secure Contact Form lets your visitors send you a quick e-mail message and blocks all common spammer tactics. Additionally, the plugin has a multi-form feature, optional extra fields, and an option to redirect visitors to any URL after the message is sent.

FoxyPress is a custom plugin made to integrate FoxyCart e-commerce functionality into your WordPress website.

Scripts n Styles allows Admin users the ability to add custom CSS (at the bottom of the head tag) and JavaScript (at the bottom of the body tag) directly into individual Post, Pages or any other registered custom post types.

WordPress SEO is an all in one solution to search engine optimize your WordPress blog: SEO titles, meta descriptions, XML sitemaps and much more.

Source: http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2011/12/13/wordpress-plugin-releases-for-1213-2/

Method predicts size of fracking earthquakes

Small earthquakes are a recognized risk of hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking', a procedure in which companies unlock energy reserves by pumping millions of litres of water underground to fracture shale rock and release the natural gas trapped inside. Researchers now say that they can calculate the highest magnitude earthquake that such an operation could induce — though it won't determine the likelihood of a quake occurring.

The model is crude, but it should be “good enough” to use in the field, says Arthur McGarr, a geologist at the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, who presented the work yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, California. “The method could help engineers trying to plan for future earthquakes know what to plan for,” he adds.

McGarr's team says that the quantitative method is applicable to any operation that involves injecting fluid deep underground. Apart from fracking, such activities include the disposal of fracking fluids — in which companies get rid of their drilling water by pumping it into disposal wells — as well as geothermal-power generation and carbon dioxide sequestration.

It is rare, but not unheard of, for fluid-injection operations to cause detectable earthquakes. The number of such tremors has increased over the past decade as the amount of deep fluid injection has risen, says McGarr. Fracking itself is thought this year to have spurred quakes in Lancashire, UK — of magnitude 2.3 and 1.5 — and Gavin County, Oklahoma, of up to magnitude 2.8 (see 'Fracking caused British quakes').

Straightforward relationship

McGarr and his team studied seven cases of quakes induced by fluid injection. They included the Oklahoma fracking site where 8,900 cubic metres were injected; a scientific bore hole in Germany, where an injection of 200 cubic metres of salt water caused a magnitude 1.4 earthquake; a geothermal-energy project on the outskirts of Basel, Switzerland, that was terminated after an injection of 11,600 cubic metres of water triggered a series of quakes of magnitude up to 3.4; another in Cooper Basin, Australia, where a 20,000-cubic-metre injection resulted in a magnitude 3.7 quake; and a liquid-waste-disposal project in Colorado in the 1960s, where an injection of 631,000 cubic metres triggered earthquakes of magnitude up to 5, the largest yet seen as a result of fluid injection.

The researchers found a proportional relationship between the volume of fluid injected and the magnitude of the earthquake.

“If you inject about 10,000 cubic metres, then the maximum sized earthquake would be about a magnitude 3.3,” says McGarr. Every time the volume of water doubles, the maximum magnitude of any quake rises by roughly 0.4. “The earthquakes may end up being much smaller, but you want to be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” says McGarr. The relationship is straightforward, but it is the first time that anyone has quantified it, he adds.

McGarr has also developed a similar method — now in standard industrial use — to work out the maximum size of earthquake that can be triggered as ore is extracted in underground mining¹. This work “builds on the same concept”, he says.

He notes that the latest work doesn't give the probability of an earthquake actually occurring: that depends on other factors, such as the strength and permeability of the rock.

Max Wyss, director of the World Agency for Planetary Monitoring and Earthquake Risk Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland, said that the study was a “good review” of the situation but did not achieve what is really needed — working out the maximum induced earthquake that can be tolerated at any given location. “We need to do better at estimating the risk for society from the earthquakes,” he says.

McGarr’s team hopes to submit the work for publication soon, with further case studies.


Source: http://www.nature.com/news/method-predicts-size-of-fracking-earthquakes-1.9608

Samsung Galaxy Note vs. Dell Streak 5... fight!

Sure, some may have had a good ole laugh at the Streak 5, arriving with enough display real estate to border on tablet territory -- in fact that's what Dell sold it as. Fast forward a year, and it looks like that weighty slab of phone -- or tiny tablet, depending on your interpretation --was simply ahead of its time. Most phone manufacturers are now skating around the five-inch mark, and Samsung even went a little further. With the Galaxy Note recently paying a visit to the FCC, we thought it was time to see how these two barely-phones stacked up against each other. We're leaving the technical specs aside at this point -- you can check the reviews for those -- but we can still line them up and take plenty of photos of the resulting face-off. The full gallery awaits below.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/09/samsung-galaxy-note-vs-dell-streak-5-fight/

Samsung introduce Galaxy S2 LTE White HD Super-Amoled

This website is one of the leading portals for information on future Organic Light Emitting Diode display and lighting technology.Since 2004, the platform has provided information on new products, technologies and trends.


Samsung has launched the Galaxy S2 in white HD onwhich the color of ceramic white is applied to the front and back side, delivering clean, simple and elegant looks and feels. For a few weeks Samsung introduced the Galaxy S2 with LTE and Super-Amoled-HD in black. The HD Super AMOLED display has a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, 180 degree wide viewing angle, a 16:9 screen, guaranteeing to deliver a revolutionary mobile multimedia experience. This display features also PenTile technology and not true RGB pixels.


Source: http://www.oled-display.net/samsung-introduce-galaxy-s2-lte-white-hd-super-amoled/

O2 launches London 4G high-speed broadband trial

Telefonica-owned mobile network O2 is switching on the UK’s first commercial 4G mobile network in London today, with users able to experience speeds of up to 100Mbps.

Twenty five 4G sites will blanket-cover London, from Hyde Park to Greenwich, to the financial capital of Canary Wharf, as well as the political heart of Westminster, Kings Cross and the South Bank areas of the city.

While only connecting around 1,000 people at first, including citizens and business owners, it is hoped that this trial will be a foot in the door to faster and more reliable speeds in the British capital.

O2 has over 22 million users, making it the UK’s second largest mobile network behind Everything Everywhere, the company behind the joint venture merging Orange and T-Mobile.

Moving on from from an initial trial in Slough, west of the capital, London’s trial will run until mid-2012. It will enable the mobile network to gauge exactly how users’ access 4G technology, whether it is beneficial, but also fill a major gap between ‘not-spots’ in the capital.

Some parts of England have also undergone 4G trials, such as in the dark-depths of Cornwall, where mobile reception is in some cases non-existent. The trial will begin early next year.

While 4G technology has already been in force for the last few years in the United States, the UK has fallen behind not only against its American cousins, but around Europe and the rest of the world.

But the upcoming spectrum auction is causing headaches for the four major mobile networks, including Vodafone, and O2 — the network behind the trial.

The UK’s communications regulator Ofcom is hoping to hold the 4G spectrum auction towards the end of 2012. But because the spectrum will not be available to use until the year after, a steady roll-out of 4G services will be delayed until an expected mid-2013.

Earlier this month, a UK parliamentary committee told UK mobile networks to “stop fighting” over the spectrum auction, which has caused the delay of the sale.

O2 and Vodafone continue to threaten legal action should Ofcom allow fourth-place network Three to purchase some of the spectrum for its minimum price, with other networks claiming the move amounts to “state aid”, and would give the network an unfair advantage over the larger networks.

4G LTE network access is expected to go live across the UK from 2014.



Source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/o2-launches-london-4g-high-speed-broadband-trial/885?tag=content;search-results-river

Pat Cummins: Teenager in contention for must-win Test

Australia are considering a baptism of fire for 18-year-old fast bowler Pat Cummins in the second Test against South Africa, starting on Thursday in Johannesburg.

Cummins, who can bowl at over 90mph and has already made five limited-overs appearances for Australia, will become his country's second youngest Test cricketer after Ian Craig if he is selected in a match the tourists must win to claim a share of the two-game series.

Australia were bowled out for 47 in their second innings en route to an eight-wicket defeat in the series opener at Newlands and are certain to make at least one change to their starting XI as top-order batsman Shaun Marsh is ruled out by a back injury.

Usman Khawaja will be recalled in Marsh's place at number three, while there is also a case for David Warner, who joined the squad this week, to make his debut at opener Phil Hughes' expense.

For several of Australia's senior players this match is probably their final chance to turn around a run of poor form, most notably this applies to former captain Ricky Ponting, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson.

"There's one definite change and the possibility of a couple of others. We have no choice, we have to pick a team to take 20 wickets and also to be positive and confident with the bat as well... we've got to take the game forward," said Australia skipper Michael Clarke.

"There are also some guys who have not trained yet this week. Ryan Harris is a bit stiff and sore, so we're waiting to see how he goes and how he pulls up in the morning. But nobody's got any great concerns and we'll probably be able to pick our best XI."
Scars

On events at Newlands, Clarke added: "We got rid of the scars once we left Cape Town, we had a good session in the changing room and made a pact that we would leave what happened there and look only to this one. We need to have a red-hot crack at this one."

Clarke's opposite number Graeme Smith expects Australia to have moved on quickly from their Cape Town humiliation.

"Australia have got enough players of experience who would have dealt with what happened in Cape Town before and they'll know it's a fresh start," said the South Africa captain.

"If we can get them under pressure early, then maybe the memories of that 47 all out will come back. But we have to start well and earn the right to put them under pressure; we must have a good first day."

South Africa are set to name an unchanged team.

South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (wkt), AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Paul Harris, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Australia squad: Michael Clarke (capt), Shane Watson, Michael Beer, Trent Copeland, Pat Cummins, Brad Haddin (wkt), Ryan Harris, Phil Hughes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle, David Warner, Shane Watson

Source: http://www1.skysports.com/cricket/news/12341/7311757/Australia-mull-Cummins-debut

These May Be The Droids Farmers Are Looking For

When it comes to farm robots, fruit gets all the attention. But it looks like trees and shrubs could win the prize for first significant agricultural market for small mobile robots.

Massachusetts startup Harvest Automation is beta testing a small mobile robot that it’s pitching to nurseries as the solution to their most pressing problem: a volatile labor market.

The multi-billion-dollar industry that supplies ornamental plants to building contractors, big-box retailers and landscaping firms — $11.7 billion according to the most recent USDA figures — has been eagerly awaiting automation for decades. The down economy and harsh state laws targeting undocumented workers have turned up the pressure.

The horticulture industry has caught the attention of several robotics industry veterans, including Joe Jones, a co-inventor of iRobot’s Roomba vacuum cleaning robot. What they see is an opportunity to develop a small, relatively inexpensive, mobile material handling robot. Their venture-backed company has been field testing the robots at 11 nurseries around the country, and plans to release its first product at the end of the first quarter or beginning of the second quarter next year.

Harvest Automation bootstrapped the development of prototype robots and received its seed funding from its customers, said CEO Charles Grinnell. The company landed $5 million in venture capital funding from Life Sciences Partners, the Midpoint Food & Ag Fund, and the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation.

In today’s human-tended nurseries, immature potted trees and shrubs arrive at nurseries by truck and are offloaded onto the ground. Teams of migrant workers — undocumented for the most part — spread the plants out one by one following markers outlining a grid. When the plants are ready to be shipped out later in the season, workers reverse the process to group the plants for loading onto trucks. “We’ve recognized the need for robotics in the nursery industry for moving pots because it’s one of our highest concentrations of labor use,” said Tom Demaline, president of Willoway Nurseries, Inc. in Avon, Ohio.

Ten years ago the Horticulture Research Institute took a crack at automating nurseries, said Demaline. “The whole concept there was building a bigger machine to do the process, but it just never worked that well,” he said. When Harvest Automation showed Demaline it’s small mobile robots, the lightbulb went on, he said. “It was stark simplicity,” he said. “The robots were more adaptable to a wider range of growing areas.”

Small mobile robots that tend crops are just emerging, and most of the action is in produce. Row crops provide a semi-structured environment, and several companies are marketing four-wheeled robots with computer vision systems that monitor and in some cases tend to crops. The most advanced are medium-sized strawberry-picking robots, notably a machine from Spanish firm AgroBot. One player in the nursery automation market is British firm CMW Horticulture Ltd., which sells a medium-sized pesticide-spraying robot for greenhouses and nurseries.

Farmer’s little friend

The Harvest Automation robots are knee-high, wheeled machines. Each robot has a gripper for grasping pots, a deck for carrying pots, and an array of sensors to keep track of where it is and what’s around it. Teams of robots zip around nursery fields, single-mindedly spacing and grouping plants. Think Wall-E without the doe eyes and cuddly personality, or the little forest-tending ‘bots in the 1972 sci-fi classic Silent Running.

Source: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/11/mobile-farm-robots/

Mobile Apps to Keep Your Mind on Your Money

Managing personal finances once involved lots of paper. Then computer programs came along that helped simplify the process. Now a multitude of mobile apps are available to help people attend to money matters on the go.

"It's very convenient to have it in your pocket on your phone," Garth Scrivner, senior investment counselor with StanCorp Investment Advisers, told TechNewsWorld. "It's just a convenience factor."

Company-Specific Apps

Many personal finance apps are provided by banks and investment firms to help their customers manage their accounts. Vanguard, for instance, has an app that lets its customers view balances and holdings, move money between banks and Vanguard accounts, buy and sell exchange-traded funds, look at transaction histories, research performance and prices, and view market news.

"Vanguard is a virtual service company," Julie MacArthur, senior manager in retail services, told TechNewsWorld. "We need to be where our investors are."

Vanguard launched its first mobile website back in 2007, before apps were all the rage. In 2009, it launched its first iPhone app, and in 2011, it launched apps for Android devices and the iPad.

Increasingly, customers expect their financial institutions to have apps that let them access and manage their money, MacArthur said. "Consumers have gotten comfortable interacting with banks through mobile devices. Investment management is a natural extension of that."

Vanguard's phone app focuses on numbers and text, but the iPad has opened up a whole new dimension for the app.

"The iPad app has more interactive content and charting, taking advantage of the larger screen," said MacArthur.

Aggregating Apps

Apps that collect financial information from a variety of institutions are also becoming increasingly popular. One of the most well-known of these comes from Mint.com. Mint, which is owned by Intuit, sees the role of its website and mobile app as helping people better manage their money by seeing it all in one place.

"One of its key advantages is that it aggregates all your information," Ken Sun, a group product manager with Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) Personal Finance Group, told TechNewsWorld. "It provides additional features, such as budgets and goals."

Users can sync the app with various accounts so they can see real-time balances. They can also set up budgets, track spending, get bill reminders, and generate reports to analyze the health of their finances.

The app also lets users enter cash transactions. An interaction between the mobile device's GPS and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Places allows the app to suggest the specific location for the transaction, which the customer can confirm.

Users can see their balances, but they can't actually move any money around.

They can sign up for the service either through Mint's website or through the app itself, which is available for iPhones, Android devices, and the iPad. Because it's a cloud-based app, any information entered on a mobile device is instantly available through the user's account on the Mint.com website, and vice versa.

"People just really want to keep on top of their finances," said Sun. "The Internet generation likes to use technology to do that. You can think of Mint as a real-time dashboard into your personal finances."

Mint monetizes its service by analyzing its users' data and spending habits and suggesting certain strategies, including financial products and services, that might be appealing or useful.

For instance, if a customer spends a lot on groceries using a credit card, the app might suggest a specific card that offers cash back on grocery purchases. If the user follows through and signs up for that card, then Mint receives a referral bonus for the transaction.

Only the most pertinent, customer-specific advice is given, Sun emphasized. "We like to make the advice really targeted and relevant to the user."

Mint's smartphone app, like Vanguard's, has relatively simple lists of numbers, data and information. The iPad, however, has given Mint's app a platform to replicate the colorful spreadsheets, graphs and pie charts of its website, with the added capabilities of the touchscreen.

Promoting Financial Literacy

Mint's app has many loyal users, including Scrivner, who has been using the iPhone app for several years to manage all of his own personal finances and recently got the iPad app.

"It's really nice because I can look at all of my apps in one spot," said Scrivner. "It's a great app for budgeting."

Mint's commitment to providing users with information, and even a kind of financial education, are particularly appealing, he said.

"They do a great job of sending alerts," noted Scrivner. "They give you tips and notices. They try to do some educating along the way."

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/73637.html

Droid RAZR vs Galaxy S2 – Motorola exceeds expectations on every front

The Samsung Galaxy S2 was released just a few months ago and has instantly become the flagship Android smartphone, even though its main competitor, the HTC Sensation had almost the same specs and a better build quality. But time doesn’t stay in one place, and we already have several potential competitors ready to take the flag from the S2. One is the Galaxy Nexus, of course – a phone that everyone was expecting, but the other one, which is actually even better, is the Motorola Droid RAZR.

The Droid RAZR came to be pretty unexpectedly, and it is interesting to see what it can do compared to the previous generation flagship, The Galaxy S2, which is no slouch and can easily compete with anything that will be released in the next several months. So, can the new RAZR outdo the current leader?


Source: http://gadgetmania.com/2011/11/droid-razr-vs-galaxy-s2-motorola-exceeds-expectations-on-every-front/

Oracle Wrangles Cloud Customer Service Outfit RightNow

Oracle has agreed to acquire RightNow Technologies for roughly $1.5 billion, or $43 per share — which would see the IT giant pay a 20 percent premium over RightNow’s closing price on Friday. The Bozeman, Montana-based RightNow offers an online service for powering instant messaging, social networks, and other communication tools among call centers, sales staff, and consumer-facing websites.

While many analysts have said that the purchase fits into Oracle’s recent shift into online service, not every piece of the puzzle lines up as neatly as some would lead you to believe. “Oracle’s bare-knuckle approach to sales and how it treats customers is 180 degrees the opposite to RightNow’s ethos of client-centricity and flexibility,” William Band, a vice president at research outfit Forrester Research, told Wired.com.

“[RightNow's employees] act and feel like they’re from Montana. Oracle feels like they can run you over. Some RightNow customers that purposefully avoid going with giants like Microsoft or Oracle may be unhappy now.”

Should RightNow shareholders approve the company’s sale and Oracle properly integrate the company’s service, the deal will go a long way towards providing the plumbing needed to compete in the cloud computing space — a market Oracle boss Larry Ellison mocked a year ago, but lauded at Oracle OpenWorld earlier this month.

During the expansive expo, Ellison and company announced a number of new products designed to compete on the net, including the Oracle Public Cloud and Oracle Social Network. Both announcements were largely seen as games of catch up. But with its largest acquisition since Sun Microsystems in January of 2010, Oracle is putting its money where its mouth is.

“RightNow’s leading customer service cloud is a very important addition to Oracle’s Public Cloud,” Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of Oracle’s development, said in a canned statement. Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Kurian’s statement also noted that the Oracle Public Cloud will handle everything from sales force automation, human resources and talent management, social networking, databases, and Java development.

SalesForce.com — whose CEO, Marc Benioff, enjoys publicly bickering with Oracle boss Larry Ellison — offers many of these tools through products like its Chatter social networking service and its Service Cloud, a way of managing customer service tasks. Though Band questions how well RightNow will integrate with Oracle’s operation, Peter Goldmacher of financial analysis outfit Cowen Group believes the RightNow-Oracle deal will put a crimp in SalesForce’s efforts to push Service Cloud. RightNow will benefit, he said, from Oracle’s phalanx of salespeople and myriad existing customers.

“Customer-service management solutions are primarily purchased by larger enterprises, where Oracle has dominant distribution,” he said in an email to Wired.com. “As Oracle becomes more competitive in this market segment, we expect it will slow down sales cycles and reduce win rates for SalesForce.”

Source: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/10/oracle-wrangles-rightnow/

How E-Books Are Coming Full Circle, Thanks to Tablets

As tablet sales, led primarily by Apple's (AAPL) iPad, gain momentum, it seems everyone wants in on the market. Not only are traditional computing and smartphone companies launching or announcing new slates, but makers of e-readers look ready to do the same. The Barnes & Noble (BKS) Nook Color, built to run on Google's (GOOG) Android platform, will reportedly gain an app store next month, while Amazon (AMZN) just launched its own app store for Android devices earlier this week, possibly in advance of launching its own tablet. Standalone e-book readers have their benefits, but the shift to reading on multipurpose tablets is on.


Ironically, this situation has come full circle, although I suspect few realize it. I bought my first e-book in October 2003, more than seven years ago. Back then, there were no e-book reading devices. Instead I was reading my digital books on a PDA, or personal digital assistant. At the time, my Toshiba e805 was perfect for reading on the go, with its built-in Wi-Fi and 4-inch VGA color touchscreen. The handheld ran Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Mobile 2003 operating system, so I had the ability to browse the Web and even install apps (yes, before there was an "app store"). In short, I had a great e-book reader that did a lot more besides.


Then the Kindle arrived in the fall of 2007, and with its arrival, the standalone e-book reader went mainstream. Sure, there were earlier attempts at bringing an e-ink device to the masses—Sony's (SNE) PRS-500 Reader made its debut more than a year before the Kindle—but Amazon's strength of brand and ability to negotiate with publishers, plus the inclusion of mobile broadband book delivery for no additional charge, turned the Kindle into Amazon's best-selling product. A number of other standalone e-ink readers have since followed, creating a whole new market. But the trend began to revert back to multipurpose devices with the launch of Apple's first iPad last April. I ended up selling my beloved Kindle because the iPad did so much more, plus it offered a Kindle app.


Slates With Many Functions

There's still a market for e-book readers that do nothing more than show e-book content. Some people will prefer e-ink displays that cause less eye strain and use power only during page turns, which allows the Kindle to last weeks on a single charge. But the growing tablet market, expected by some to sell 24.1 million or more units this year, indicates people are looking for a mobile device that can browse the Web, run various apps, and even be a portable television and movie theater, in addition to providing a solid e-book reading experience.


But why would Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or others even be interested in tablets when they already make a cut of the digital book content purchases? Two answers come to mind: losing control over that revenue stream on other devices and leaving money on the table.


Source: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2011/tc20110325_523054.htm

Beats by Dre to open UK store following headphone success

Beats by Dre UK Store to follow the company's first retail outlet in New York with the high-end headphones firm to touch down on British soil with a shop in London's Shoreditch area

Chart-topping luxury headphones brand Beats by Dre is planning to launch a UK store for avid fans of the cans that have become as iconic as the Apple white ear buds, T3 can reveal.

Speaking at the launch of the new Beats Wireless Solo Bluetooth headphones, Omar Johnson, the company’s US Head of Marketing exclusively leaked to T3 that he and the Beats team are "actively seeking" a UK location for a Beats store.

"We've been looking at the Shoreditch area of London," he said. "We're very excited about how much the UK has embraced Beats."

Meanwhile in the states, Dr Dre's team (not NWA, the new speaker flogging lot) have announced that Beats By Dre will be opening its first ever store, which will be on Mercer Street in lower Manhattan, New York over the Christmas period.

"It's going to be about experiencing Beats the way you should experience it," Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine told us. "We're going to make sure there's the right demonstrations. We want people to feel it right."

Would a Beats branded store further tempt you into splashing out on the high-end headsets? Let us know via the comments box below.
 

Source: http://www.t3.com/news/beats-by-dre-to-open-uk-store-following-headphone-success

The World's Most Failsafe Wireless Bicycle Brake Could Seed a Variety of Super-Safe Technologies

As the world goes increasingly wireless, we’ve learned to tolerate a certain degree of failure in our wireless systems--like when your computer just won’t sync up with the wireless internet at the cafe, or when our phones drop a call. But what about situations when wireless systems simply cannot fail? A failure rate of zero is tough to achieve in any system, but computer scientists at Saarland University in Germany have demonstrated a wireless bicycle brake that works 99.999999999997 percent of the time.

That means in a trillion braking attempts, it fails three times on average. It’s not perfect, mathematically speaking, but for practical purposes it’s pretty close.

The brake isn’t the usual handlebar brake lever customary on most bikes, and because it is wireless it naturally dispenses with the usual brake cable snaking down the frame of the bicycle to the front or rear wheel. To brake with the wireless system, the rider simply squeezes the rubber grip on the handlebar, which is fitted with pressure sensors. The harder the rider grips, the more pressure is applied to the front wheel brake. The signal sender is about the size of a cigarette pack and fixed to the handlebar. The receiver sits at the end of the bicycles fork and turns wireless radio signals from the grip into mechanical pressure on the front wheel.

That all sounds simple enough for a wireless bicycle brake, but the idea is to create a testbed for wireless technologies that absolutely cannot fail, like those envisioned for future train systems or for commercial jetliners. Starting with a simple handbrake, the Saarland team hopes to build the complex technologies necessary to ensure safety in wireless systems.

After all, brake failure on a bicycle is dangerous. But brake failure on a train could be catastrophic. Three failures in a trillion is a pretty good mark to start improving upon.

Source:http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/worlds-most-failsafe-wireless-bicycle-brake-could-seed-variety-super-safe-technologies

'iPad Mini' to take on Kindle Fire?

An industry source who speaks with the Asia-based tablet supply chain told CNET that chatter is picking up for a 7-inch Apple tablet. Maybe not coincidentally, that's the same size of Amazon's $199 tablet that's will ship on November 15.


Other reports, however, say that "Mini" doesn't necessarily refer to the size but simply the lower price point, possibly the mid-$200 range.


The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs summarily dismissed the notion of a 7-inch tablet during an earnings conference call in October of last year.


"Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff...There are clear limits on how close you can place things on a touch screen, which is why we think 10 inch is the minimum screen size to create great tablet apps," Jobs said at the time.


"It's meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size," he added.


Jobs' protests notwithstanding, at the time more than a few analysts said Apple was close to bringing out a product.


And the tablet market is changing. Apple may have to change along with it. Smaller 7-inch and 8.9-inch tablets from Samsung, HTC, RIM and others are prevalent now. And if the Kindle Fire approaches the iPad in sales--which analysts say is possible--that would make smaller, cheaper tablets a category that rivals the 10-inch iPad in popularity.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20119630-64/ipad-mini-to-take-on-kindle-fire/?tag=hotTopicsBody.1