Reality Bites
Android Honeycomb 3.1‘s a small but totally excellent update for Android tablets. A slightly smoother interface is packaged with two substantial features: improved flash performance (it’s really, really better!) and USB device compatibility (like a real computer!). More »
Bad news for college students: Drinking in excess, defined as roughly five drinks for men and four for women, could affect the ability to learn.
Whether or not D-Wave has actually built a quantum computer is still a matter of debate (though, a study authored by the company and published in Nature claims to prove its success) but, whatever it is these crafty Canadians have created, you can order one now and start crunching qubits with abandon. The D-Wave One is the first commercially available quantum computer and, while its 128-qubit processor can only handle very specific tasks and is easily outperformed by traditional CPUs, it could represent a revolution in the field of supercomputing. As D-Wave scales up to thousands or tens-of-thousands of qubits, complex number theory problems and advanced cryptographic systems could crumble before the mighty power of quantum annealing… or at least give us faster Google searches. Just out of curiosity, we contacted D-Wave to see how much we’d have to cough up for a quantum desktop of our own, but we’ve yet to hear back.
Update: Joseph passed along an e-mail from the company with a little more information, including a price: $10,000,000. Yep, ten large, and we’re not sure that includes the liquid helium required to keep it cooled.
D-Wave One claims mantle of first commercial quantum computer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Preparations are being made for a possible postal strike as early as May 24, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers says.
Tiger Woods will fall out of the top 10 in the world ranking next week, ending an amazing streak of being top 10 in the world for 14 consecutive years. For his star power, he still ranks ahead of any other athlete according to Forbes.
A forensic psychiatrist has told a murder trial it’s quite possible Kim Walker does not remember shooting James Hayward.
Bride-to-be Li-Wan was so devastated when her fiance Wang Lu called off their wedding, that she climbed out on a window ledge 80 feet in the air in Changchun, China. Still in her wedding dress, she sobbed there as a crowd gathered to try to stop her from jumping. Unfortunately, jump she did — but not before an aid worker could rush up close. The worker, Guo Zhongfan, caught her in mid-air by the neck. Pinning her to the building, he managed to save her life with the help of others on a lower floor. He also managed to create the most intense photo op of the day.
Jilted bride in China jumps out window (photos) [NYP]
Read more posts by Chris Rovzar
Filed Under: photo op, brides, china, worst wedding ever
You know we’re sluts for any sort of FX miniature carnage. ILM has just released this excellent behind-the-scenes look at the FX work on Transformers. It’s packed with exploding miniatures! More »
Google confirms Android security issue, server-side fix rolling out today originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink The Next Web | Computerworld | Email this | Comments
Did you know that PowerPoint 2010 has a feature called Broadcast Slide Show with which you can share your presentation through the web to another computer, smartphone or any other device with a browser? Here’s how to use it.
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There may have been a good reason for that wide beta test Microsoft ran to test out its new disc format for the Xbox 360. While it will allow for an extra 1GB of storage space for new games and (it hopes) stop piracy, apparently some consoles contain drives that cannot read the new XGD3 discs. The details can be seen in the email pictured above posted by Reddit user Avery Penn and were verified as real by the Xbox Support Twitter account, but now it’s responding to inquiries by saying the replacements are in response to a previous update and not the upcoming one that has been in beta. Adding to the confusion, Microsoft Europe confirmed the initial report and points affected users towards the support page to get sorted out. One way or another, affected owners can expect to be mollified by getting their Xbox 360s replaced with new 250GB Xbox 360S models plus a free year of XBL for the trouble. We haven’t gotten an official response about the plan yet but are still checking, so your plan to hoard old consoles and get free replacements en masse is probably equal parts premature and Seinfeldian genius.
Update: Microsoft has responded, confirming that the earlier statement was incorrect and this is not related to the update being beta tested, and that something less than 10,000 of the 50 million or so Xbox 360s sold worldwide are affected. Check after the break for the official word, but if you have one of the boxes and are connected to XBL you should expect to recieve a notice in your email.
Some Xbox 360s won’t read discs; Microsoft to comp owners with a new system, year of XBL originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 11:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Free Wi-Fi has comes to 1,000 McDonald’s in Canada today and will be another 400 locations by months end. This was made possible by Bell who also powers free Wi-Fi in Starbucks locations. In the release it states that “no purchase is required to use the service” and Joel Yashinsky of McDonald’s said “Providing value […]
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MacGyver was the greatest TV shows of all time, yes? Yes. But so much of it only exists in memory now. Or did, until someone came along and catalogued every single awesome thing Mac ever did, in convenient interactive form. More »
This isn’t as bad as it could have been — Sony’s PSN hasn’t exactly been hacked again — but what can only be described as a glaring oversight looks to have forced the company into hastily switching off PSN logins on its websites. The issue? If you legitimately forget your password and need to reset it, previously all you had to do was type in your e-mail address and date of birth, then choose a delightfully cunning new password. Sounds good? The problem is that if you were a PSN member before the hack then both your e-mail address and your date of birth (plus a lot of other frightening stuff) is known to the hackers. So, whoever has the millions of rows of data that were exposed could, in theory, re-exploit any account. Sony was made aware of the issue and those pages are now offline again, which should make the Japanese government feel just a little big smug.
Update: Sony has confirmed that there was “a URL exploit that we have subsequently fixed.” However, the company indicates there was “no hack involved.” So, remember kiddies: exploits are not hacks — not until someone starts having fun with them, anyway.
PSN logins exploited again, Sony takes pages offline originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink MCV | Nyleveia | Email this | Comments
We couldn’t help but notice that a lot of you want to buy the Eee Pad Transformer; it’s just that your quest for one is turning up dry. We asked ASUS for an update on the shortage and the company said it’s cranking ’em out at a furious pace to meet strong demand. Here’s what a PR rep had to say:
We are ramping production every week to address the supply concerns, including almost daily air shipments into North America. We expect the supply line to improve significantly over the coming weeks.
So there you have it: if you live on the North American continent, at least, you’ll soon be able to find an elusive Transformer — and just in time for a much-appreciated Android 3.1 update.
ASUS ramping up Eee Pad Transformer production, says they’ll be easier to find in the ‘coming weeks’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 09:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We already knew that there would be multiple flavors of the next version of Windows. This is, after all, Microsoft, and if it isn’t available in dozens of different SKUs, one for each rung on the ladder from student to corporate executive, then it isn’t worth stamping to a disc and throwing in a box. However, thanks to Intel Senior Vice President Renee James, we now know for sure that there will be a decisive split between the various ARM and x86 editions. James confirmed yesterday that x86 versions will work just fine on Intel, AMD, and other compatible chips, running all your legacy applications with aplomb.
However, the ARM versions of the OS (which may number as many as six) won’t include any sort of instruction emulation, James saying “Our competitors will not be running legacy applications. Not now. Not ever.” That’s something that Intel CEO Paul Otellini hinted at back at CES, which means Office running on ARM must have been a re-write — or at least a re-compile. That’s bad news for anyone hoping they’d be able to install Command & Conquer Collector's Edition on the Tegra-powered Windows 8 tablet of their dreams. James additionally indicated there will be four separate Windows 8 ARM SoCs, meaning someone has joined NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and TI since the CES unveil. Intrigue!
Intel VP confirms ARM versions of Windows 8 will offer no compatibility with legacy apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We got the lowdown on Toshiba’s latest four-inch LCD a couple of days ago, and today at SID 2011 we got up close and personal with the pixel-packed display. It’s one thing to read about a 367ppi screen that shows native 720p video, and it’s quite another to experience it in person. We can report that it is, in fact, as awesome as it sounds — onscreen images were clear, crisp, and chromatically brilliant. Pixel density enthusiasts will also be happy to hear that Toshiba confirmed the display will make it to market this year. Of course, the rep wouldn’t tell us which phone will take the iPhone 4’s crown as the ppi champ, though we imagine it’ll be something powered by little green bots. See the new king in action in the video after the break.
Toshiba declares victory in pixel density war: 367ppi coming to a phone this year (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 04:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The aftermath of Microsoft’s announcement that it’ll buy Skype for $8.5 billion was filled with speculation about why the price was so high, who Microsoft was bidding against, and who inside Redmond was the driving force behind such a large expenditure. At least one of those queries has been demystified today, thanks to Bill Gates asserting himself as “a strong proponent at the board level for the deal being done.” Microsoft’s Chairman of the Board expressed his enthusiasm for gobbling up Skype in an interview with the BBC — one which UK residents may see in full at the iPlayer link below — and concluded that “it’s a great purchase that a lot of innovation will come out of.” Adding his support to Steve Ballmer’s already public excitement about the Skype takeover, Bill stresses that “the importance of software is higher today than ever,” while also predicting that video conferencing is set to become much better and bigger than we’ve yet seen. We’ve got our webcams at the ready, Bill!
Bill Gates considers Skype ‘a great purchase’ for Microsoft, helped make it happen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 03:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | BBC (1), (2), HARDtalk (iPlayer) | Email this | Comments
