Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Nissan Leaf is 'Car of the Year' in Europe.

Nissan's new all-electric car has taken the automobile industry by storm. It is the first relatively inexpensive electric car that has been mass-marketed, and this is big news. “Nissan Leaf is the first EV that can match conventional cars in many respects," Hakon Matson tells Wired. In one charge, the Nissan Leaf can drive 80-100+ miles. This makes it great for anyone who isn't on a road trip, or drives 40+ miles to work. An electric car is also a much more spacious ride. Without the gas engine, and all the components that it requires, than there is enough room for more seats, and a hatchback. That is exactly what the Leaf is. It is a 5-seat hatchback, but it is a rather small sedan. The only real issue that could arise with such a car is the lack of charging stations. This would really be an issue for people who drive for 80+ miles in one sitting. Obviously, this is not that common, but it would be a nice to have charging stations integrated into gas stations. All I know is that this is my dream car, and a breakthrough for the automobile and technological worlds.

tech dudes' man caves

Here is an article about the houses and mansions belonging to the kings of the technological universe. It shows a personal view into their lives, one that we don't get very often. I am dissapointed that the pictures are mainly from satellites and not very good quality, although that is also impressive because we can the the immense size  the homes. The nearest to all of us in ATX is of course Micheal Dell's mansion nicknamed "The Castle." It is truly an awesome display of wealth. From the image, you can see a swimming pool and a basketball court combined with a tennis court. His house is just across the lake from downtown, and is perched atop a hill.





The most impressive house in my opinion belongs to the Microsoft giant and multi-billionaire Bill Gates. He is worth 54 billion dollars, and his house rounds up to a mere $145,000,000. It houses 25 bathrooms, an 1,000 square foot dining hall, and six kitchens. It is right on the water, and looks very impressive against the California landscape near Seattle.


Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook has a very interesting house compared to the rest displayed in the article. He seems to have a normal house. It is pretty small compared to all the other mansions, but is close to his Facebook headquarters where he works. 
 
-Scotty

Google Under Investigation



Today, the European Union (EU) announced an investigation towards Google about abusing the rules of the EU relating to online search. Specifically, the spokesperson claimed that due to Google's monopoly over the search industry, that they had a biased view against European users, and tended to favor their own products. This investigation does not imply that there is any proof to these allegations, and Google chose to cooperate with the EU in this investigation. A Google spokesperson announced that "But there's always going to be room for improvement, and so we'll be working with the Commission to address any concerns". A commission was formed to lead the investigation, saying that it will focus on whether Google lowers the ranking of unpaid ads, and raises the level of paid ones. Additionally, they claim that Google lowered the quality score of unpaid ads, forcing them to be displayed even lower than before, along with adding a better score to the paying users. Finally, they intend to investigate whether or not Google discriminates against a site based on the advertisements present. Specifically, that Google will force one company with the same content as another company, to pay more because they are running a specific add from say, a rival search engine, or a company that Google doesn't approve of. The time this check up on Google will take is unknown, as the Commission said that they will make this "probe" last as long as necessary to ensure that Google conforms to the regulations of the EU.

--Karl J.

Cowon 3D

 
Now, you probably haven't heard of Cowon before. Like Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune, Cowon is also a portable media player. They have had successful versions before that have been highly regarded for the amount of formats they will play, such as FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and other high quality formats.

As the name suggests, this media player allows you to view things in 3D. Normally for 3D like those in movie theaters, you need glasses. However, more recently technology has been developed that allows you to view 3D without glasses, which is exactly what the Cowon 3D does.

The Cowon 3D has full 1080p playback, which is considered "Full HD," but this doesn't quite make sense, as the Cowon only has an 800x480 screen. So while you can't watch in higher resolutions than 480p on the Cowon (still better than the average YouTube video), it does have an HDMI output port so you can watch the videos on your TV in their full 1080p glory. The Cowon 3D also has 64GB of flash storage and a 4.8 inch screen, so this is quite a bit larger than your iPhone or Droid, but still smaller than a tablet such as the iPad.

The battery can last for 10 hours of video, and over 300 hours on standby (more than the iPhone. Heh. iPhone battery life,) and also includes WiFi capabilities.

The Cowon 3D is set to launch December 10th in South Korea with a price of $431 for the 32GB model, and $509 for the 64GB version.

You can check out the product page here (Korean) and here (English)

-Teguh

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Schwarzenegger v. EMA

Today Arnold Schwarzenegger, also known as the Terminator or Governor of California, is taking his case of the "Violent Videogame Law" signed in 2005 which prevented sales of violent videogames (generally rated M or above) to minors. However, before the act took place, the ESA (Electronics Software Association) claimed that the law violated First and Fourteenth amendment rights, by restricting the freedom of expression in the entertainment industry.


Then in February 2009, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, consisting of three judges, agreed that the law was unconstitutional. But Schwarzenegger has kept on defending his law, stating that "I signed this important measure to ensure parents are involved in determining which video games are appropriate for their children."

The case was accepted to be heard by the Supreme Court on April 26, and the hearing is to take place today. November 2, 2010.

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was Halloween! To celebrate, Google had produced five Halloween sketches for their homepage. These sketches are all of the classic cartoon Scooby Doo. They more or less all have the same elements and tell a bit of a story. Looking at all the drawings, you can see motifs of Scooby and the gang, jack-o-lanterns, ghouls, and lots of candy! They seem to tell a short story of a couple of trick-or-treaters that get their candy stolen by a mysterious ghost, and then the gang comes in to help them find their candy. Of course Scooby and Shaggy run into a little trouble on the way, but eventually they retrieve the stolen candy. I am really starting to like the variety of doodles that Google is putting on their homepage, and really enjoy these fun ones! Now have a good Halloween, and feel free to celebrate with Google!

In other news, MSNBC has provided us with many different wild and crazy technology idea for a costume for Halloween. I think the pictures on the site speak for themselves. From a iPhone costumes for dogs to a working Pac-Man machine costume for adults, these Halloween costumes are very creative!


-By Scotty


Minecraft

I recently have stumbled upon a fantastic game called Minecraft. It is an indie game created by a man named Markus Persson and it has been in development since May 10, 2009. His realized "a game that [is] simple yet that dynamic had a lot of potential." The plot of the game is nonexistant. The player is just a man on a deserted planet. The only other inhabitants are plants and animals. Everything in the game is a block, and you can interact with the blocks. Harvest the resources from the blocks and use them to create tools and other blocks with different uses. You start with nothing but your character, and the player is left to collect resources as he/she figures out how. Here is an example of the first few minutes of gameplay.
1. Gather wood.
2. Craft the wood into planks.
3. Make a workbench out of planks.
4. Craft the planks into sticks.
5. Use the sticks and wood to create a wooden pickaxe and search for coal.
6. Use the coal and sticks to make torches.
7. Dig and build a massive home above and below grounds. Do anything you want, and it will still be fun.
The game is still in alpha, but soon it will be released in beta. The last update that Markus is working on is full multiplayer compatibility. There is multiplayer but it is buggy and difficult to use. However, the rest of the game is just amazing! It is only $14.21 right now, and YES I am plugging it. It is a good investment to support indie game programmers, and a good way to pass time.

-MASON 

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Recently, Samsung came out with its new smart phone, the Galaxy Tab. This new development had been given a hard ride for its packaging prior to release, but it has silenced critics now. This new phone works across all four major service providers, giving it a higher versatility and consumer reach. Additionally, it is packed with features, such as a 7-inch touch screen, full flash support (complementary of Android 2.2), the capacity for up to 32 GB of storage, a 1 GHz processor, dual cameras, and (of course) wifi and 3g connectivity options. This new tablet has a range of costs across different suppliers and with different requirements. You can get either the $600 flat fee with no obligation from Verizon, or the $400 fee with a 2-year contract from Sprint. Samsung has tried very hard to differentiate the appearance of their new phone from the rest of a marketplace packed full of smart phones. The color scheme on the front is fairly familiar, what with the normal black finish around the screen, but a shiny white background for the back of the phone, although its uncertain if this will diminish in luster over time. Could this new tablet rival the iPhone? Only time will tell.

--Karl J.