Google and Mozilla renew default search deal for Firefox

Recent speculation had it that Google was attempting to KILL off the competition by funding reports that showed Google’s Chrome browser at the top of the Browser War’s.

This coming just after the recent expiration of the Search Engine Deal that brings in capitol to fund the Mozilla project.

Word out of the BBC this morning is that Google has renewed that deal and will remain the default search engine in the Firefox browser for the next 3 years.

Mozilla relies very heavily on the income from the search partnerships.

With Firefox now, the latest of Mozilla’s incarnation.  Mozilla hopes to be closing the Gap between them Chrome and IE once more.

Ultra-D to replace 3D released at CES 2012

Ultra-D to replace 3D released at CES 2012

Tired of the 3D glasses already?  Getting headaches from them like ME!!!!

A solution appears to be on the horizon.  It still remains to be seen if 3D is the same FAD we saw in the 50's and 60's when it comes to Satellite and Cable content.  As well as BluRay releases.

Stream TV Networks, Inc’s product will allow users for the first time to control the amount of 3D rendering which should help those that find 3D movies to be UNCOMFORTABLE.  The product also is said to NOT REQUIRE Glasses.  The process also will allow for conversion of 2D movies to 3D as well.  This is a technology that should be watched closely as it’s developing.  We could start to see it in TV, Converter Boxes, Tablets, Desktop PCs, Gaming, Laptops, Digital Signage, Mobile Phones, Digital Picture Frames very soon.

Intel Shows Off Its Smart Phone and Tablet for 2012

Intel Shows Off Its Smart Phone and Tablet for 2012

2012 appears to be the year that the BIG Chipmaker pushes further into the Mobile Market.  With it’s latest “Atom” processor dubbed Medfield.  It’s lower power and all in one chip approach could bring the chip giant the leg up in this lucrative, market.

Intel released the prototype of a Smart Phone running Google’s Android OS on the Medfield.

The Chip and devices will be directly targeting the domination that ARM processors have held on the Mobile,  Smartphone and Tablet markets.  Recent news out of AMD also reported a shift toward capturing a piece of this market as well.

China launches tests 500 km/h super high-speed train

China launches tests 500 km/h super high-speed train

Beijing:  China has launched its first test train that is said to be capable of reaching 500 km per hour from the present 300 km per hour a feat if accomplished would be a big leap forward in high speed train technology.

China's largest rail vehicle maker, CSR Corp Ltd, over the weekend launched the train.

The six-car train with a fair shaped head is the newest in the CRH series.

It has a maximum tractive power of 22,800 kilowatts, compared with 9,600 kilowatts for the CRH380 trains currently in service on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which holds the world speed record of 300 km per hour.

The grey-coloured train carries testing and data processing facilities, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Ding Sansan, the company's chief technician, said the concept of the the super-speed train design was inspired by China's ancient sword.

The bodywork uses plastic materials reinforced with carbon fiber.

Shen Zhiyun, a locomotive expert and academician said the testing of the super-speed train with speeds of up to 500 km per hour will provide useful reference for current high-speed railway operations.

TR10: Digital Imaging, Reimagined

 TR10: Digital Imaging, Reimagined

  

Richard Baraniuk and Kevin Kelly believe compressive sensing could help devices such as cameras and medical scanners capture images more efficiently.

This article is one in a series of 10 stories we're running this week covering today's most significant emerging technologies. It's part of our annual "10 Emerging Technologies" report, which appears in the March/April print issue of Technology Review.

Richard Baraniuk and Kevin Kelly have a new vision for digital imaging: they believe an overhaul of both hardware and software could make cameras smaller and faster and let them take incredi­bly high-resolution pictures.

Bouncing Data Would Speed Up Data Centers

Bouncing Data Would Speed Up Data Centers

A plan to bounce signals off the ceilings inside data centers could solve a major performance bottleneck.

Inside the huge data centers operated by Internet companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, information is processed at blistering speed, but it still has to be moved between different machines through relatively slow wiring.

In theory, this bottleneck could be avoided by adding wired links between racks, but that would be very expensive and, short of a complete architectural redesign, not particularly practical. Transmitting data wirelessly would be simpler, but achieving the required speed would normally require a line-of-sight connection, which is impossible in a packed data center.

Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Intel's labs in Oregon have come up with a clever solution: bouncing wireless signals off the ceiling, which they say could boost data transmission speeds by 30 percent.

Congestion caused by short bursts of activity inside data centers is a growing problem, says Heather Zheng, an associate professor of computer science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who led the work.

Zheng and colleagues used 60-gigahertz Wi-Fi, which has a bandwidth in the gigabits-per-second range and was developed for high-definition wireless communications (the first commercial products that use the standard will hit the market next year). However, it has its limitations, says Zheng. To maximize the bandwidth and reduce interference between signals, it needs to be focused into narrow beams that require a direct line of sight between endpoints. "Any obstacle larger than 2.5 millimeters can block the signal," she says.

One way to prevent the antennas from blocking each other would be to allow them to communicate only with their immediate neighbors, creating a type of mesh network. But that would further complicate efforts to route the data to the appropriate destinations, says Zheng. Bouncing the beams off the ceiling directly to their targets not only ensures direct point-to-point communication between antennas but also reduces the chances that any two beams will cross and cause interference. "That's very important when you have a high density of signals," she says.

Flat metal plates placed on the ceiling can provide nearly perfect reflection. "You also need an absorber material on the rack to make sure the signal doesn't bounce back up," says Zheng.

Working with colleagues at UCSB along with Lei Yang from Intel Labs in Oregon and Weile Zhang at Jiao Tong University in Xi'an, China, Zheng created a simulation of a 160-rack data center to see how the system might affect performance. "Our simulation shows that wireless can add 0.5 terabytes per second," she says.

IBM is also looking into using  wireless technology in data centers, says Scott Reynolds, a researcher at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, who has been developing 60-gigahertz systems. "These data centers are just choked with cables," he says. "And so every time you want to reconfigure one it's very labor intensive and expensive." But one problem with turning to wireless transmission, he adds, is that "you need to have hundreds of these wireless data links operating in a data center to be useful." Since 60-gigahertz Wi-Fi has only four data channels, it's important to configure the beams so they don't interfere with each other.

Zheng and her colleagues are now working on building a prototype data center to put their solution into practice.

2012 Dooms Day : What it means to Ordinary person ?

    2012 means a lot to people. If you aren’t aware of the information of 2012, then here is short conversation about this. Everybody in the world is anxiously preparing for the day of 2012/21/12; it doesn’t matter whether it is preparing where to live after the day or purchasing old left missile silos, among many others.

 According to information from Mayan Long Calendar, that day the entire world is supposed to come at halt; it means that through some believes, every creature on the world will end. What type of believe is really in this information?

2012 Dooms Day

       It is confirmed that major things are expected to happen at this time. There will be many activities carried out unlike any other time ever before. During this time, it is expected that many chores will start again many times worse than any other we have experienced in history. There will be a lot of heat from the solar that will not only act as giant EMP, but also spoil the ozone layer. It is also the time that will be the main break up of the solar system. Others believe that this will result to all types of gravitational shifts; which will divide the continents as they are today.

      In any of the cases, no types of preparation or escape that will hinder this to happen.. Reversing of magnetic poles and climatic change are among things have regular occurrences over the global history. You can experience that there are major changes in the earthquakes, weather and volcanoes in new places each day. While this may be historic to many, major changes for more than 300,000 years and we have been there before that time. Still, all this will not begin to happen at specific date, years or duration of weeks or months. This is a process of many years, and the main causes are our follies, such as polluting environment, mining fossil fuels and many others.

What is the meaning of 2012 according to me? One thing I believe is that there will be major changes in spiritually, physically and even politically. So far, many regions have discussed about Armageddon that is planning how to come up with solutions that will work out global damages.

What is it happening today? Either their globe will end or not, maybe it will be a point that people’s faith will be tested. To me, I will prepare on how I will survive during the doomsday. I will prepare for food and other supplies, sovereignty, and many others. How much can you do for preparation if the world is ending and no surviving again anyway? it is okay? If you believe that in few years to come, life will come to an end, the only thing you can do to prepare yourself is to befriend your family and friends; also, you are supposed to keep away from all hatred and conflict you have and be happy always.