Camron Shahmirzadi

This article was written by Mike Orcutt for the MIT Technology Review

Taking advantage of recent advances in flexible electronics, researchers have devised a way to “print” devices directly onto the skin so people can wear them for an extended period while performing normal daily activities. Such systems could be used to track health and monitor healing near the skin’s surface, as in the case of surgical wounds.

So-called “epidermal electronics” were demonstrated previously in research from the lab of John Rogers, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the devices consist of ultrathin electrodes, electronics, sensors, and wireless power and communication systems. In theory, they could attach to the skin and record and transmit electrophysiological measurements for medical purposes. These early versions of the technology, which were designed to be applied to a thin, soft elastomer backing, were “fine for an office environment,” says Rogers, “but if you wanted to go swimming or take a shower they weren’t able to hold up.” Now, Rogers and his coworkers have figured out how to print the electronics right on the skin, making the device more durable and rugged.

“What we’ve found is that you don’t even need the elastomer backing,” Rogers says. “You can use a rubber stamp to just deliver the ultrathin mesh electronics directly to the surface of the skin.” The researchers also found that they could use commercially available “spray-on bandage” products to add a thin protective layer and bond the system to the skin in a “very robust way,” he says.

Eliminating the elastomer backing makes the device one-thirtieth as thick, and thus “more conformal to the kind of roughness that’s present naturally on the surface of the skin,” says Rogers. It can be worn for up to two weeks before the skin’s natural exfoliation process causes it to flake off.

During the two weeks that it’s attached, the device can measure things like temperature, strain, and the hydration state of the skin, all of which are useful in tracking general health and wellness. One specific application could be to monitor wound healing: if a doctor or nurse attached the system near a surgical wound before the patient left the hospital, it could take measurements and transmit the information wirelessly to the health-care providers.

Rogers says his lab is now focused on developing and refining wireless power sources and communication systems that could be integrated into the system. He says the technology could potentially be commercialized by MC10 (see “Making Stretchable Electronics”), a company he cofounded in 2008. If things go as planned, says Rogers, in about a year and half the company will be developing more sophisticated systems “that really do begin to look like the ones that we’re publishing on now.”

“If ten coins are not enough to make a man rich, what if you add one coin? What if you add another? Finally, you will have to say that no one can be rich unless one coin can make him so.”

In their book The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus and Clarence H. Miller refer to this paradox as “the argument of the growing heap”.

Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project relates this to our everyday choices:

Often, when we consider our actions, it’s clear that any one instance of an action is almost meaningless, yet at the same time, a sum of those actions is very meaningful….Take going to the gym. You don’t feel like going to the gym, and you say to yourself, “What difference does one day make? It doesn’t matter if I skip today.” True, any one visit to the gym is inconsequential, but the habit of going to the gym is invaluable. Does one visit to the gym make a person healthy? Ten visits? Eleven? Finally, you have to say that no one can be healthy unless one visit to the gym can make him or her so. When we’re trying to find excuses for ourselves, it’s easier to point out the low value of the one coin. By reminding ourselves that the golden heap grows one coin at a time, we can help keep ourselves on track.

This article originally appeared on Nature written by Zeeya Merali

It may sound less likely than hell freezing over, but physicists have created an atomic gas with a sub-absolute-zero temperature for the first time. Their technique opens the door to generating negative-Kelvin materials and new quantum devices, and it could even help to solve a cosmological mystery.

Lord Kelvin defined the absolute temperature scale in the mid-1800s in such a way that nothing could be colder than absolute zero. Physicists later realized that the absolute temperature of a gas is related to the average energy of its particles. Absolute zero corresponds to the theoretical state in which particles have no energy at all, and higher temperatures correspond to higher average energies.

However, by the 1950s, physicists working with more exotic systems began to realize that this isn't always true: Technically, you read off the temperature of a system from a graph that plots the probabilities of its particles being found with certain energies. Normally, most particles have average or near-average energies, with only a few particles zipping around at higher energies. In theory, if the situation is reversed, with more particles having higher, rather than lower, energies, the plot would flip over and the sign of the temperature would change from a positive to a negative absolute temperature, explains Ulrich Schneider, a physicist at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany.

Schneider and his colleagues reached such sub-absolute-zero temperatures with an ultra-cold quantum gas made up of potassium atoms. Using lasers and magnetic fields, they kept the individual atoms in a lattice arrangement. At positive temperatures, the atoms repel, making the configuration stable. The team then quickly adjusted the magnetic fields, causing the atoms to attract rather than repel each other. “This suddenly shifts the atoms from their most stable, lowest-energy state to the highest possible energy state, before they can react,” says Schneider. “It’s like walking through a valley, then instantly finding yourself on the mountain peak.”

At positive temperatures, such a reversal would be unstable and the atoms would collapse inwards. But the team also adjusted the trapping laser field to make it more energetically favorable for the atoms to stick in their positions. This result, described today in Science¹, marks the gas’s transition from just above absolute zero to a few billionths of a Kelvin below absolute zero.

Wolfgang Ketterle, a physicist and Nobel laureate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, who has previously demonstrated negative absolute temperatures in a magnetic system, calls the latest work an “experimental tour de force”. Exotic high-energy states that are hard to generate in the laboratory at positive temperatures become stable at negative absolute temperatures — “as though you can stand a pyramid on its head and not worry about it toppling over,” he notes — and so such techniques can allow these states to be studied in detail. “This may be a way to create new forms of matter in the laboratory,” Ketterle adds.

If built, such systems would behave in strange ways, says Achim Rosch, a theoretical physicist at the University of Cologne in Germany, who proposed the technique used by Schneider and his team. For instance, Rosch and his colleagues have calculated that whereas clouds of atoms would normally be pulled downwards by gravity, if part of the cloud is at a negative absolute temperature, some atoms will move upwards, apparently defying gravity.

Another peculiarity of the sub-absolute-zero gas is that it mimics 'dark energy', the mysterious force that pushes the Universe to expand at an ever-faster rate against the inward pull of gravity. Schneider notes that the attractive atoms in the gas produced by the team also want to collapse inwards, but do not because the negative absolute temperature stabilizes them. “It’s interesting that this weird feature pops up in the Universe and also in the lab,” he says. “This may be something that cosmologists should look at more closely.”

Hyundai is harnessing the versatility of today’s smartphones to create the first prototype of its own Connectivity Concept. The technology, previewed near the manufacturer’s European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, showcases Hyundai’s expertise in creating clever new technology for its range of cars and expected as soon as 2015.

Shown on Hyundai’s award-winning New Generation i30, the Connectivity Concept allows the user to lock and unlock the car by placing their smartphone over an NFC-tag (Near Field Communication), negating the need for a traditional key fob.

Once inside, the device is placed in the center console, which then activates the user’s profile by streaming content to the i30’s seven-inch touchscreen. All user content such as music, phone contacts, radio station preferences and individual profile settings are displayed. In addition the device’s battery is recharged wirelessly while in use.

Allan Rushforth, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Hyundai Motor Europe, said: “Hyundai’s Connectivity Concept showcases the brand’s philosophy of making tomorrow’s technology accessible to a wide range of customers. With this technology, Hyundai is able to harness the all-in-one functionality of existing smartphone technology and integrating it into everyday driving in a seamless fashion. As the technology continually develops there will be capabilities to store driver’s seating positions and exterior mirror settings, providing customers with a comfortable and individual driving environment.”

Multiple users can be synced with car, meaning set-up is quick and easy as the Connectivity Concept in the i30 tailors in-car settings according to each driver’s smartphone.

Furthermore, the Connectivity Concept utilises MirrorLink to wirelessly access and control personal content through the touchscreen including navigation, internet-based applications and multimedia.

Hyundai has already announced a joint development agreement with Broadcom Corporation, which will power the next generation of connected cars. With this technology, functions such as infotainment, telematics and other driver assistance systems like reverse parking cameras and lane departure warning will be integrated into Hyundai’s cars.

[Hyundai]

This article originally appeared on TIME written by Olivia B. Waxman

Diets are all about finding healthy or “guilt-free” options. But maybe guilt is exactly what makes food — and the things we enjoy the most — taste so good.

While feeling guilty is commonly associated with causing negative emotions, in a study published in the Journal of Marketing Research, lead researcher Kelly Goldsmith, an assistant professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and her team examined the association between guilt and pleasure to determine if food, especially sweets, tastes better on a diet. The results suggest that the more guilt you feel, the more pleasure you may experience from consuming a delicious (and forbidden) treat. And triggering feelings of guilt before eating can make the food taste even better.

In a series of six studies, the researchers attempted to manipulate participants’ taste perception by manipulating the type of guilt people associate with eating certain foods. In Study 1, 103 participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. In the group primed to feel more guilt, participants were asked to unscramble sentences with words related to guilt to cognitively activate the feeling. The other group unscrambled sentences without guilt-related words. All were then given cups of chocolate candies and were asked to rate them at that moment and again three days later. Participants primed with guilt reported enjoying the candy much more than those in the neutral group.

In the next phase, the scientists studied whether health information could serve as a trigger for guilt, and asked a small group of 20 participants to look at six health-related magazine covers and write about their popularity; another 20 examined magazine covers unrelated to health and wrote about their photography. All answered a survey before reading the passages that asked participants to imagine being part of a taste test for a new candy bar that included one question assessing  how guilty they would feel eating the candy bar. People in the health group reported feeling more guilty about consuming the candy than the control group. But during a taste test, in which both groups were allowed to eat a chocolate candy bar, the health-primed group reported liking the chocolate significantly more than the group that was not thinking about health.

Guilt’s ability to make food tastier persisted when the researchers explicitly activated guilty feelings in another experiment in which 108 undergraduate students were asked to either recall experiences in which they felt guilty or disgusted and write about them, or write about more neutral topics such as what they did that day and how they spent their evenings. Then they all ate a chocolate truffle. The students in the guilt group reported liking the candy much more than the students in the disgust and neutral groups, supporting the idea that “experiencing the emotion of guilt can increase pleasure,” the study’s authors write.

The remaining phases of the study focused on tasks unrelated to food and health to see if the link between guilt and pleasure holds for more than just eating. And the results suggest it does.  A group of students participating online, for example, were assigned to watch either a “hedonic video” — i.e. a fun viral video, generally something college students watch to procrastinate, not to learn — or a “utilitarian video,” an instructional video, which is not generally associated with pleasure. Students in the guilt priming group enjoyed the fun video more than those in the neutral prime group, but guilt did not have any effect on how much students enjoyed the instructional video, meaning that guilt may only increase pleasure in contexts that are enjoyable.

Goldsmith warns that the relationship between guilt and pleasure also works for unhealthy habits too: for example,smoking, drinking frequently, or drinking and driving. Her research could mean that people with these habits may get an even bigger kick out of these transgressions the more they are “forbidden” or discouraged, and therefore be less inclined to stop.

With respect to food, the results suggest that marketers’ claims of “guilt-free” foods may actually deter, rather than enhance consumers‘ enjoyment. Instead of playing down people’s feelings of guilt when promoting a product, they should play up these feelings to ensure people enjoy the food more. And if you are otherwise healthy and fit, indulging in a small guilty pleasure every now and then may not be detrimental to your health.

“If you advertise your product as being ‘guilt-free’ what it could implicitly do is lower taste perception by lowering the expectation of pleasure,” she says. “If you take the guilt out of it, people might not expect it to be as good, and therefore it might not taste as good. Let people benefit from the intrigue and pleasure and enjoy their experience more.”

This post appeared on the Google Commerce Blog written by Google’s Barak Turovsky

Making purchases on your mobile phone can be a lot easier. Starting today, on sites that accept Google Wallet, you don’t need to enter your credit or debit card number, billing address or other payment information — it’s already securely stored in your Google Wallet.

Typically, on mobile websites, you need to key in 17-20 fields of information on a small screen while having to click and scroll through multiple pages to provide shipping and billing information. It’s no wonder up to 97% of mobile shoppers abandon their mobile shopping carts. Google Wallet makes it easy and secure for you. Simply click the Buy with Google Wallet button, log into Google Wallet and click to complete your order. That’s it — you’re done in 3 steps.

With Google Wallet, you can buy flowers and gifts at 1-800-Flowers.com quickly and easily on your mobile phone. You can also use Google Wallet to buy on Rockport.com and FiveGuys.com (at select locations).

With Google Wallet you can:
-Pay without entering your credit or debit card number, billing address, or other payment information — it’s already securely stored in your Google Wallet.
-View your credit and debit cards, shipping addresses and transaction history conveniently in one place at wallet.google.com/manage.
-Set a default card for future purchases on your Google Wallet account, making future transactions even faster.
-Shop with confidence as all your payment and related information is encrypted and stored on secure servers and not shared with anyone.

We are working with a number of other exciting retailers to integrate Google Wallet on their mobile sites, including Finish Line, MovieTickets.com, Seamless, SwimOutlet.com and more, so stay tuned for more announcements.

This article originally appeared in The Los Angeles Times written by Patrick McGreevy

California college students hit with tuition increases in recent years will get a little financial help after Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Thursday to create a website on which popular textbooks can be downloaded for free.

Twin bills by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) will give students free digital access to 50 core textbooks for lower-division courses offered by the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems. Hard copies of the texts would cost $20.

"Many students are paying more than $1,000 every year on their textbooks, sometimes having to choose between buying the books they need or paying for food and other living expenses," Steinberg said in a recent statement.

Steinberg hopes the first free books will be available by the start of the 2013-2014 school year, said spokesman Mark Hedlund.

Brown signed SB 1052, which provides for the development of digital textbooks and creates the California Open Education Resources Council, made up of faculty members, to develop the list of targeted courses and create and oversee the approval process.

The governor also signed SB 1053, which creates the California Digital Open Source Library
to house the digital open source textbooks and related materials.

The governor met with students as he signed the bills, including a measure requiring the UC and Cal State systems to consult with student representatives before increasing fees in the future and provide them with adequate advance notice of increases.  Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Sunnyvale) authored AB 970.

This article originally appeared on Pocketnow written by Stephen Schenck

Way back in February, we saw that Samsung had registered the name Galaxy Camera. Samsung really likes registering those kind of names, sometimes dozens over the course of just a few weeks, and has a habit of never releasing anything for many of them. Although we were curious at the time if we might see Samsung release an Android-powered digital camera, like Nikon recently did, the hardware never showed up, and we were beginning to think it might be another dud. Well, that’s clearly not going to be the case, as we’ve just learned that Samsung intends to announce the Jelly-Bean-running Galaxy Camera at the IFA today.

The Galaxy Camera will feature a 21x zoom lens and a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor for some image quality that should put your phone to shame.

Interactions with Android will take place through the Cameras’s 4.8-inch HD SLCD display, a pleasantly large size for a device like this.

There will be both 3G + WiFi and 4G + WiFi options for connectivity, and for automatic uploads to the cloud.

Just because this is a camera doesn’t mean it will skimp on the processing power. Look for a 1.4GHz quad-core SoC, likely an Exynos. There will be 8GB on-board storage, with microSD available for expansion. The 1650mAh battery may sound a little underwhelming at first, but considering you use a camera only intermittently, as opposed to the continuous use a full-on smartphone gets, it might just suffice.

This article originally appeared on NPR written by Adam Cole

One day in May of 2011, Shaun Winterton was looking at pictures of bugs on the Internet when something unusual caught his eye.

It was a close shot of a green lacewing — an insect he knew well — but on its wing was an unfamiliar network of black lines and a few flecks of blue.

Winterton, a senior entomologist at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, has seen a lot of bugs. But he hadn't seen this species before.

"I sent the link to a few colleagues of mine," Winterton told The Picture Show. "They hadn't seen it either. And I realized: This thing's new."

Excited, Winterton emailed Guek Hock Ping, the photographer who had posted the pictures of the unclassified lacewing on Flickr, a popular photo-sharing site.

Guek had noticed the insect while hiking the jungles of Malaysia, taken the photos, and then watched it fly away.

Winterton was disappointed. Without an intact specimen, there would be no way to confirm that this was in fact a new species.

A full year later, Winterton received an email from the photographer; Guek had returned to the region of the original sighting and found another lacewing with the same wing pattern.

"He told me, 'I've got one in a container on my kitchen table — what should I do with it?' " Winterton says.

The specimen was sent to Steve Brooks, an entomologist at the Natural History Museum in London. Brooks confirmed that the lacewing was new to science. He also found a matching specimen that had been sitting in the museum's collection, unclassified, for decades.

The new species was dubbed Semachrysa jade — not after its pale green color, but after Winterton's daughter. It was introduced to the world in the latest issue of ZooKeys, a scientific journal focused on biodiversity. In keeping with the digital nature of their discovery, Winterton, Guek and Brooks wrote the paper from three different continents using a Google document.

The moral of the story? The world is full of potential naturalists, Winterton says. More and more people using high-quality cameras that capture the kind of detail scientists need for identification, and they are sharing these photos online.

"There's thousands of images a minute uploaded on Flickr," he says. "I think there are many more discoveries forthcoming, particularly as more people are getting out into the field."

This article originally appeared on The Verge written by David Pierce

Alongside its new super-fast internet in Kansas City, Google announced Fiber TV today, an entirely redesigned experience for how you watch TV. It's part-DVR part-cable box, with the ability to watch and record all the channels you expect, via Google's new network. Unfortunately, Fiber's listings don't currently include ESPN, AMC, and a few others, but we're hoping that changes soon. You'll be able to record 500 hours of TV, and can record a ridiculous eight shows all at once.

There are a couple of different packages for the Fiber TV service, which basically mirror what we've seen from cable boxes. There's a basic version with network channels and some basic cable, on up to the movie channels like Starz.

Google also announced apps for iOS and Android that let you search for things to watch (by text or by voice), and control both live TV and DVR. The Google Nexus 7, for instance, will come with a Fiber TV app — and there's a free Nexus 7 included in the TV package. There's a lot more coming for the apps, too: you'll be able to tune automatically from your Google+ stream, for instance. "Fiber TV will integrate with all popular social networks, making live TV more relevant than ever," Google execs said during the presentation. You'll also be able to watch different shows, on different TVs and devices, in the same house all at the same time. There will be "tens of thousands" of movies and shows on demand, all of which you'll be able to watch on multiple devices.

The Fiber TV plan (as part of Google's whole Fiber plan) costs $120 / month, plus a $300 construction fee. But if you sign a two-year contract, the construction fee is waived. "You don't have to settle for old-time television anymore," execs said. We're into that idea.

This article originally appeared on the Official Android Blog

Since we released the first version of Google Wallet, the app that makes your phone your wallet, we’ve made it available on six phones from Sprint and Virgin Mobile, as well as the new Nexus 7 tablet. We’ve also partnered with more than 25 national retailers, and thanks to MasterCard PayPass, you can pay with your phone at more than 200,000 retail locations across the U.S.
Today we’re releasing a new, cloud-based version of the Google Wallet app that supports all credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Now, you can use any card when you shop in-store or online with Google Wallet. With the new version, you can also remotely disable your mobile wallet app from your Google Wallet account on the web.

A wallet with all your credit and debit cards
To save a card to Google Wallet, just enter the number into the mobile app, online wallet, or Google Play when making purchases. When you shop in-store, you can use Google Wallet in conjunction with your selected credit or debit card for purchases (more info here). Shortly after making a payment, you’ll see a transaction record on the phone with the merchant name and dollar amount. You can now view a history of all your in-store and online purchases from the online wallet.

To support all credit and debit cards, we changed our technical approach to storing payment cards. The Google Wallet app now stores your payment cards on highly secure Google servers, instead of in the secure storage area on your phone. A wallet ID (virtual card number) is stored in the secure storage area of the phone, and this is used to facilitate transactions at the point of sale. Google instantly charges your selected credit or debit card. This new approach speeds up the integration process for banks so they can add their cards to the Wallet app in just a few weeks. Banks that want to help their customers save cards to Google Wallet, including their custom card art, can apply here — there is no cost.

A wallet you can lock — and remotely disable We take security very seriously and have always had a dedicated Google Wallet PIN to prevent others from making payments with your Google Wallet. And as always, we encourage Google Wallet customers to set up the phone’s screen lock -- as an extra layer of protection.
Today, we’re adding a Google Wallet security feature that makes it possible for you to remotely disable your mobile wallet on a lost phone. It’s easy. If you lose your phone, just visit the ‘Devices’ section in the online wallet and select the phone with the mobile wallet you wish to disable. When you successfully disable your wallet on a device, Google Wallet will not authorize any transactions attempted with that device*. If the Google Wallet online service can establish a connection to your device, it will remotely reset your mobile wallet, clearing it of card and transaction data. There is no way you can do that with your leather wallet.

The new Google Wallet app is available now on Google Play, and if you have a supported NFC device and are in the United States, we encourage you to give it a try.
Posted by Robin Dua, Head of Product Management, Google Wallet
* For now, Google Prepaid Cards and some Citi MasterCard cards will remain active until Google Wallet can remotely connect and reset your mobile wallet.

This article originally appeared on New Scientist written by Jacob Aron

It looks like a wisp of smoke or even the work of a very confused spider, but this is actually a close up of the lightest material that has ever been created.

Previous record holders include aerogel, which was used by NASA to collect dust from a comet and is 99.9 per cent air with a density of just 1 milligram per centimeter cubed. That was recently beaten by the metallic microlattice, which upped the stakes to 0.9 mg/cm³.

Now there is aerographite, which easily smashes the previous record. With a density of less than 0.2 mg/cm³, it is barely there at all. Researchers at the Hamburg University of Technology and the University of Kiel, both in Germany, made it from a network of hollow carbon tubes grown at nano and micro scales. As the electron microscope picture above shows, it is mostly empty space, though if you held a clump in your hand, it would look like a black sponge.

Its sparse nature means aerographite can be compressed by a factor of a thousand, only to spring back to its original size. The material can also support 35 times more weight than the same mass of aerogel. Aerographite's ability to conduct electricity means it might also find a use as part of an ultra-lightweight battery.

This article originally appeared on Tech-On! written by Tetsuo Nozawa

The Toyohashi University of Technology demonstrated its wireless power transmission technology using electric field coupling with automobile tires and the same concrete as used for public roads.

The demonstration took place at WTP Wireless Technology Park 2012, a trade show on wireless technologies, which runs from July 5 to 6, 2012, in Yokohama, Japan.

A research group led by Takashi Ohira, professor at the university's Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, has been engaged in the research aimed at using wireless power transmission technologies based on electric field coupling (or inductive coupling) for transmitting power to a running vehicle.

The differences from the group's past research results are (1) that electricity as large as 50-60W was transmitted to life-size automobile tires and (2) that there was a 10cm-thick concrete block between the metal plate on the transmission side and the tire. The efficiency of power transmission from the metal plate under the concrete, which is the same as used for public roads in Japan, to the light bulb attached to the tire is 80-90% or higher, Ohira said.

As for the second improvement, the research group said that it will become possible to use the technology with 20cm or thicker concrete, which is sometimes used for actual roads, because of the high conductivity of concrete. To put the technology into practical use, the electric power needs to be increased by 100 times. But the group said that the parts needed for it are relatively cheap and that there is no major problem.

This article originally appeared on The Verge written by Adi Robertson

The EU Court of Justice has upheld the right to sell "used" copies of downloaded software. Oracle had brought a suit against UsedSoft, which resells old Oracle software licenses, arguing that it was essentially facilitating piracy by helping to transfer a license between users. Unlike physical copies of software or things like CDs, which are easier to argue for as discrete items, a digital download is not a tangible product. Nonetheless, a preliminary ruling found that Oracle's exclusive right to sell even digital software is "exhausted" after the first sale, leaving users free to sell the license to someone else. It also overruled the terms of service many companies use: "even if the license agreement prohibits a further transfer," the court ruled, "the rightsholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy." Patches or other changes that are installed after the original download are also counted as part of the original sale.

There are some caveats in the ruling. Users can generally make backup copies of software, but if they sell the license, they're required to destroy their own copies or make them unusable. They also can't split up individual codes in a bulk license and sell them piecemeal. Overall, though, this ruling is a broad affirmation that digital downloads shouldn't be treated differently from physical sales. It's also a marked contrast to the US, which has upheld the right to resell or rent out CDs and DVDs (due to the first-sale doctrine, which lets third parties resell copyrighted works) but has so far allowed software companies to get around the doctrine by claiming that they're selling a "license," not the software itself.

[Source]

This article originally appeared on IAAF

Eugene, USA – Ashton Eaton’s coach, Harry Marra, was saying how remarkable the performance was in cold, wet, unfavorable conditions. Eaton’s rival, Trey Hardee, suggested the total be accompanied by an asterisk.

Both had a point. Eaton had 9039 * points.

More than anyone else, the home-grown 24-year-old recognized the confluence of circumstances allowing him to break the 11-year-old Decathlon World record.

He was the right man at the right time at the right location. He knew a moment like this might never come again.

"When you’re in this place, and you’re in this environment," Eaton said, "this is what happens."

He set his World record at the U.S. Olympic Trials, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.

Fittingly, Eaton’s feat came in front of a record crowd of 21,795 at historic Hayward Field, a gathering that included all the living American gold medalists in Olympic decathlons.

Eaton eclipsed the record of 9026 that had stood since 27 May 2001 by the Czech Republic’s Roman Sebrle at Gotzis, Austria. Also broken was the American record of 8891 held by Dan O’Brien since 1992.

The quick summary. He won every event except the three throws:
-- 100m, 10.21 sec, best ever in a decathlon, 1,044 points.
-- Long jump, 8.23m, best ever in a decathlon, 1,120.
-- Shot put, 14.20m, 741.
-- High jump, 2.05m, 850.
-- 400m, 46.70 sec, 973
-- Day 1, 4,728 points.
-- 110m hurdles, 13.70 sec, 1,014.
-- Discus, 42.81m, 722.
-- Pole vault, 5.30m, 1,004.
-- Javelin, 58.87m, 721.
-- 1500m, 4:14.48, 850.
-- Day 2, 4,311 points.

Eaton said it was "Hayward magic" pushing him through a 62.26 last lap to win the 1500 with a time about two seconds faster than needed for the record.

Before the race, Marra spoke to Frank Zarnowski, the public address announcer and foremost Decathlon authority. Eaton’s coach asked Zarnowski, who was once his college professor, to urge the crowd and the community to get behind his decathlete.

After Zarnowski’s address was delivered, Marra said, "I knew right then, he’s getting this."

There was a such a unified spirit among all present that Curtis Beach, who had been the runaway leader in the 1500, slowed and stepped aside to allow Eaton to finish first and revel in the acclaim. The new World record-holder was moved to tears.

His mother, Roslyn, and fiancé, Canadian heptathlete Brianne Theisen, hugged him on the track. O’Brien embraced him, too. Two of Eaton’s competitors, Hardee and 2008 Olympic champion Bryan Clay, congratulated him.

On his victory lap, Eaton slapped hands with fans hanging over the railing. Before he posed for photographers by the ground-level scoreboard, he pounded the stick attached to the American flag he was holding and shook his fists.

"I really . . . I really, truly love this event," Eaton said. "Not because I love running and jumping and all that stuff. Just because what it means and symbolizes for me – just what the Decathlon community, the track and field world is about. And maybe it’s not about that much to the rest of the world, but to me, it’s my whole world."

There is YouTube video of Eaton’s first pole vault competition, six years ago, showing him clumsily somersaulting over a bar. Now he has mastered the multi-events. This was Eaton’s fourth World record, including three in indoor heptathlons.

"I don’t know of anyone who has matured in the event as quickly as he has," Clay said. "It’s mind-boggling."

Clay’s day was disastrous, but would have been even more so if he had not finished, he said. He crashed in the hurdles and had three fouls in the discus.

He soldiered on and was 12th with 7092 points. If he had finished the hurdles – and he was even with Eaton and Hardee before banging into the ninth – and achieved a customary discus mark, he could have scored the 8200 points for the Olympic "A" standard.

As it is, the United States will send only Eaton and Hardee to London in the Decathlon. Hardee, just ninth months after elbow surgery, finished second with 8383 points.

Clay said he wanted to stop but that his coaches talked him out of it. He also said he didn’t want to quit in front of his three children watching from the stands. The 32-year-old did not announce his retirement, and even held out hope of scoring 8200 before the July 8 deadline.

"I don’t think we’ll end it here," Clay said. "There’s always another team to be made. We’ll try it again."

The following is a Samsung Mobile Press Release:

Samsung Mobile is helping consumers realize the potential of NFC technology with the creation of Samsung TecTiles™ and the TecTile™ programming application. With the largest user base of NFC-enabled devices in the United States and TecTiles available in all four major carrier stores and at major online retailers at the launch of the Galaxy S III, Samsung is ensuring NFC becomes a part of daily life.

With a simple tap of an NFC-enabled phone to a TecTile, consumers are able to automate everyday functions of a smartphone including sending a “headed/at home” text message, silencing the phone when entering a meeting, setting an alarm, and dimming the display when going to bed.

Samsung TecTiles will transform how businesses large and small engage with consumers. On premise, TecTiles enable consumers to check-in on Facebook® or foursquare^®, connect to Wi-Fi® or download content. Off-premise, businesses can use TecTiles as a way to market to and engage with consumers by enabling reward programs and to download discount offers or content.

“With millions of NFC-enabled Samsung Galaxy smartphones currently in the market and the arrival of our flagship device Galaxy S^® III, Samsung saw an opportunity to expand the value of NFC beyond mobile payments,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America, the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S. and worldwide. “The launch of Samsung TecTiles is another example of Samsung’s ability to innovate new products and applications that improve the way we use our mobile devices for everyday tasks.”

Samsung TecTiles are easy to program with any NFC-enabled smartphone and the free application, which can be found in the Google Play™ marketplace. TecTiles can be reprogrammed as often as needed to complete any of the following functions on an NFC-enabled phone:

Settings & Applications

• Change phone settings (Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi, ringer/media volume, screen brightness, etc.)
• Launch an application
• Join a Wi-Fi Network
• Show a message

Communication

• Make a call
• Send a text message
• Start a Google Talk™ conversation
• Share a contact or business card

Location & Web

• Show an address on a map
• Open a web page
• Foursquare or Facebook check-in

Social

• Automatic Facebook “Like”
• Update Facebook status
• Post a tweet or follow a contact on Twitter
• Connect on LinkedIn®

Samsung NFC-Enabled Android ^TM Smartphones

• Samsung Galaxy S^® III on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon
• Samsung Galaxy S^® II on T-Mobile
• Galaxy Nexus TM on Verizon, Sprint and GSM Unlocked
• Nexus ^TM S ^® 4G on Sprint
• Samsung Galaxy S^® Blaze ^® 4G on T-Mobile

Pricing/Availability

Priced at $14.99 for a pack of five, TecTiles programmable NFC sticker tags are now available for purchase online and in-store at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. The Samsung TecTiles app is now available for download at the Google Play store.

This is an excerpt of an article written by Ben Popper for The Verge

Condition One has created software that takes the warped 180 degree footage shot with a fisheye lens and translates it back into the clear, flat image we are used to seeing. Then it allows tablet users to move through that space, creating an immersive video in which the viewer can explore inside the image. You can see how it works in this video.

The photo above is a Tactus Technology prototype Android tablet with an appearing and disappearing haptic feedback user interface — at a user's command, "keys" can rise out of the touchscreen to provide a tactile guide for both placement of your fingers and for feedback to confirm your selection. These keys can be dismissed and recede back into the touchscreen without barely a hint that they were even there.

Read the full article here via The Verge

This press release was published by the IAAF

Berlin, Germany - Dennis Kimetto stormed to a World record* at the BIG 25 Berlin today, clocking 1:11:18 at this traditional 25-kilometer road race in the German capital.

The 28-year-old Kenyan broke the previous mark of 1:11:50 set by fellow-Kenyan Sammy Kosgei at this same event two years ago.

Today's race marked only the third time Kimetto competed in a race outside Kenya. On Sunday he kept his clean sheet and additionally collected his first World record*. After taking the half marathons in Ras Al Khaimah and Berlin today's triumph was the biggest success of his career so far as he knocked 32 second from the previous standard.

This was the seventh World record in the history of the event, which started in 1981 and always had its finish inside Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

A very fast men’s race developed from the start. A leading group of six passed the 5km mark in 14:00, then reached the 10km point after 28:21 and the 15km point in 42:46. They were well inside the World record at these points and kept the pace high.

After 17km Ethiopians Aschalew Neguse Meketa and Belay Asefa Bedada were dropped and it became an all Kenyan affair at the front. Soon after that at the start of a slight uphill stretch Edwin Kiptoo lost contact as well. Kimetto and Wilfred Kigen ran together with Jacob Kendagor, who was entered as a pacemaker but then decided to continue to the finish. While he could not match Kimetto and Kigen's pace in the final stages he still ran a strong 1:11:59 for third place.

It was between kilometers 23 and 24 when Kimetto broke away from Kigen and then stormed into the Olympic Stadium to become a World record holder. Kigen clocked 1:11:29 for second, also faster than the previous World record. Edwin Kiptoo (Kenya) took fourth with 1:12:39, followed by Meketa (1:14:40), Moses Too (1:14:57) and Edwin Kimaiyo (both Kenya/1:15:13).

"It had been our aim to break the record," Kimetto, said. "We knew throughout the race that we were on time to do it." Kimetto said he hopes to be selected for the Kenyan team for the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in October. "Next year I want to run my Marathon debut. And the long term goal in the Marathon will be the World record."

Kenyan Caroline Chepkwony was the women’s winner, clocking a world-class time as well with 1:22:56.

In contrast to the men’s race the women’s leading group broke up soon after the 5km mark. From then on Chepkwony built a big lead. Guided by a pacemaker she passed the 10km mark in a very fast 32:11. She could not match this pace on the second half, but she was very happy with her time, the third fastest winning time in the history of the event. The course record and World record of Mary Keitany (Kenya/1:19:53) were out of reach.

"This is a great course and it is very fast. I was around one minute faster than I had planned," said the 27-year-old, who was well ahead of Taemo Shumye Woldegebriel (Ethiopia/1:25:21) and France’s Christelle Daunay (1:25:27).

Consolater Yadaa (Kenya) was fourth with 1:26:13 while Gulume Tollesa Chala (Ethiopia) took fifth in 1:27:05.

Combined all the running events of the day, a total of 10,478 athletes competed in Germany’s oldest city road race.

*pending the usual ratification procedures

This article originally appeared on The Verge written by Sean Hollister

You might have heard that Windows 8 won't come with Media Center, but that's not the only missing multimedia piece of the puzzle. This week, Microsoft revealed that the new operating system won't have any kind of DVD playback, unless you specifically purchase Media Center or use third-party DVD software.

At the official Building Windows 8 blog, the company justifies the move by claiming that television and DVD use on personal computers is "in sharp decline," and says that it would have to spend "a significant amount in royalties" to offer support for optical media going forward. Microsoft says online media is the focus for Windows 8, and will include H.264, VC-1, MP4, AAC, WMA, MP3, PCM and (as announced earlier today) Dolby Digital Plus codecs, as well a variety of container formats to make that work, but oddly the primary use case for Dolby — those DVDs — won't be supported out of the box.

This article appeared on Gizmodo written by Andrew Liszewski

A Spanish company called Vía Inteligente has created a unique smart paving stone with a built-in computer as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They're designed as an easy way to provide wireless access to various services without the need for a hotspot or an ugly antenna, but it also has the potential to easily create an expansive wireless network in urban areas.

The unfortunately-named iPavement stones can be installed in high traffic areas since they're as durable as regular concrete blocks. They can even be driven over without affecting their functionality. But instead of working together as a way to create a wireless network covering a large city, the blocks are enhanced with various apps letting them serve as sort of multi-service hotspot for anyone in range.

So for example, when running the Via Book app, passersby could download books or other publications to a mobile device when connected. The Via Coupons app could provide ways to save money on surrounding shops or restaurants, while the more serious MS-Alert app could broadcast notifications about traffic, dangerous conditions on a road, or even emergency updates.

We kind of like the idea as a way to hide wireless hardware, particularly when installed in tourist heavy locations where the idea will probably initially be most popular. But if the company manages to further develop the system as a way to easily increase the range of a Wi-Fi network in a city, or even down a highway, we can see these catching on rather quickly.

View the full-size image here.
Via Reddit