Sony Release The Xperia Z Ultra

 Sony has announced the release of the Xperia Z Ultra, a waterproof Android smartphone with a 6.4-inch screen. They claim it is the slimmest large-screen handset on the market.
 
The company say they intend for this device to challenge Samsung’s dominance in the jumbo-sized handset sector.

The Ultra follows the previous Sony Xperia Z, which was unveiled in January. It will go on sale in China, Indonesia and Singapore in July and reach Europe in September.

Calum MacDougall, Xperia’s director has said that “Southeast Asia is the key market for the product because the trend towards large-screened smartphone devices is stronger there, but we also see the trend in Europe as well.”

“In the large-screen segment at the moment most consumers are looking at the Galaxy Note. Now we can offer something that is really distinct: a stronger screen, greater portability, waterproofing and something different around the stylus and the pen.”
 
The Xperia Z Ultra can accept sketches or notes written not just from the optional stylus, but also from a standard pencil or metal-tipped pen.

It is only 6.5mm thick, making it it only slightly deeper than the Huawei’s Ascend P6, the thinnest device on the market.
Sony have done away with the flap over the headphone socket, which featured on the original Xperia Z, after there were complaints that it was fiddly to use.


The handset can be submerged in freshwater for up to half an hour at a depth of 1.5m, that’s deeper than its predecesor.
Some other features that the Xperia Z Ultra offer are:

•     A 1080p resolution screen with in-built software to upgrade lower definition videos and photos
•     16 gigabytes of internal storage with support for 64GB microSD card
•     An 8 megapixel rear camera
•     A battery offering up to 11 hours talk time or 120 hours of audio playback – a figure which Sony claims is a record
  

Sony is not the only company trying to undermine Samsung’s lead in this market; Huawei, ZTE, Acer, Asus and Lenovo have all released devices, trying to compete for popularity. But with Samsung releasing their own Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Mega, have they already missed the boat?

World’s First 5GHz CPU From AMD

AMD has announced the release of the first 5GHz CPU; they’ve called it the FX-9590.
In a statement accompanying the announcement at E3 2013 in Los Angeles, Bernd Lienhard (corporate vice president and general manager, Client Products Division at AMD) said “The new FX 5GHz processor is an emphatic performance statement to the most demanding gamers seeking ultra-high resolution experiences including AMD Eyefinity technology”.

As well as the 5GHz FX-9590, AMD also announced the release of the FX-9370, although this is clocked at a slower speed of 4.7GHz. Both of these new CPUs are part of the FX-Series.
The FX-950 and the FX-9370 have eight processors cores based on the “Piledriver” architecture and because they are from the “Black edition, they are unlocked and therefore overclockable. They also feature AMD’s Turbo Core 3.0 technology, so performance is optimized to cope with the most intensive of workloads.

When it comes to processors, AMD has been consistently at the forefront of cutting edge technology. The fact that their products have made their way into big name devices like PlayStation and Xbox One is testament to this. AMD has also announced plans to support Android and Chrome OS as well as Windows, and Apple too have revealed that AMD will be supplying FirePro for the new Mac Pro.

Although there has been no word on pricing yet, expect the FX-9590 and FX-9370 this summer.

China Unveils World’s Fastest Supercomputer

China has scored a win in the race to achieve mega computing power, by unveiling a new system that is twice as faster than anything else available right now.

Tianhe-2  was unveiled at the end of last month by the Chinese National University of Defense Technology. At an operating speed of 30.7 petaflops or quadrillion operations per second, it is definitely the world’s fastest supercomputer right now.

Also known as Milkyway-2, the supercomputer is more than likely to top the biannual Top 500 supercomputer list out this month. The first place in the ranking is currently held by U.S. system Titan, at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For comparison, Titan, owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, operates at just 17.6 petaflops per second.

 China already topped the supercomputer ranking in 2010, but was beaten by Germany in 2011 and then the United States last year. A senior Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher and Tennessee University professor, Jack Dongarra, was able to see Tianhe-2 in operation and confirmed the statistics revealed.

What’s interesting is that the Chinese system operated at 30.7 petaflops per second in a Linpak test of only 90 percent of its capacity, so it is likely to score more when it runs 100%. Dongarra said in a report that the system’s theoretical performance is estimated at 54.9 petaflops.

Technical specs 

The world’s fastest supercomputer is equipped with 2 different kinds of Intel computer chips and locally-developed circuitry. It reportedly has 12.4 petabytes (1 petabyte equals 1,000 terabytes) of storage and 1.4 petabyte memory.

Its operating system, Kylin Linux, was especially developed by the National University for Defense Technology. The machine is housed in a large room and is equipped with 48,000 Xeon Phi boards and 32,000 Intel Ivy Bridge Xeon sockets, Dongarra said.

Tianhe-2 will be moved to the China’s National Supercomputer Center to provide a high-performance, open computing services for the southwest of the country. Among possible uses for the system is running simulations for airplane testing, aiding government security and processing what was described as “big data.”

Sony PS4 Undercuts Xbox One on Price, Fully Supports Used Games

 Not only is Sony's new PlayStation 4 considerably cheaper than Microsoft's Xbox One, but it also sports some more gamer-friendly features. Case in point: "When a gamer buys a PS4 game, they have the right to trade in that game, sell it to another person, lend it to a friend or keep it forever," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

Sony took its best shot at stealing Microsoft's thunder on Monday evening at E3 by announcing that its upcoming PlayStation 4 will arrive this holiday season for US$399.
That's $100 less than the price Microsoft announced earlier in the day for its competing Xbox One, and the reaction was meet by thunderous applause that shook the Los Angeles Sports Arena serving as the backdrop for Sony's Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference.

"Momentum and excitement across the industry has grown exponentially," proclaimed Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

'We Won't Impose Any New Restriction'

Perhaps even more exciting for some users than the lower price, however, was another gamer-friendly announcement Sony made at the event.

"The PS4 supports used games," said Tretton. "We won't impose any new restriction on gamers."

More thunderous applause greeted that announcement, which came in stark contrast to Microsoft's news that its Xbox One would require an always-on connection and thus limit users' ability to sell the games.
"When a gamer buys a PS4 game, they have the right to trade in that game, sell it to another person, lend it to a friend or keep it forever," Tretton noted. "We won't require you to check in online to play a game."

 

Beyond Gaming

Sony did also offer a few key points on how the PS4 will fit into the greater Sony umbrella.
Specifically, in addition to streaming services that will include Netflix and Vudu, the new system will feature Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited services, giving users access to more than 150,000 movies and TV shows as well as 20 million songs that can be streamed across Sony' PlayStation platforms.
"Sony is clearly going after the living room as much as Microsoft," said Pidgeon. "While this is as much about games, there is a bigger target for both companies." 

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Nuclear Power, Part 1: A Smaller, Safer Future

If ever there were a compelling lesson in the ongoing and diverse dangers of nuclear power, it would be the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in northern Japan. Many of the 103 nuclear reactors currently operational in the United States rely on similar systems, but an upcoming new wave of smaller and safer nuclear technologies promises a brighter future.

Keeping the lights on in the global industrial world -- never an easy task -- never seems to get any easier.

Nuclear energy, which provides nearly 20 percent of our nation's electricity, is at a crossroads. Can nuclear reactors -- the torrid, pulsating, heat-generating hearts of nuclear power plants -- ever be safe enough?

Particularly following the May 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in northern Japan, in which the cores of three of the plant's six reactors melted down and still remain critically dangerous, there's no doubt that everyone on this planet needs to know the answer to that question.

In this March 24, 2011, aerial photo taken by a small unmanned drone and released by Air Photo Service, damaged Unit 3 of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is seen in Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan. (Air Photo Service Co. Ltd., Japan)

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It's a Smart Smart Smart Smartphone World

It's no longer just those with a white-collar job; today, more than half of the adults in the U.S. own a smartphone, according to a new Pew report. In fact, the cost of not having a smartphone is becoming higher than the cost of owning one, said analyst John du Pre Gauntt. Social norms are being revised accordingly -- and smartphone services are about to take off.

 

More than half of the adults in the United States now own a smartphone, constituting a new milestone in the history of the device, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Specifically, smartphone adoption has grown to 56 percent of American adults, according to Pew's Smartphone Ownership 2013 report released this week.

That's the largest percentage since Pew began tracking smartphone adoption two years ago and represents a significant jump from the 46 percent that owned one in February of last year and the 35 percent from two years ago. 

  

 A New Era 

Pew's data confirms the statistics that many tech industry watchers have marveled at for the past few years. Namely, smartphone adoption has been remarkably swift, said John du Pre Gauntt, an analyst at GigaOM Pro.
"What we call a smartphone is basically a handheld computer that makes phone calls," du Pre Gauntt told TechNewsWorld. "The idea of spending US$99 on one was unthinkable even in 2006 or 2007, but now it's very ordinary."
It's so ordinary, in fact, that the cost of not having a smartphone is becoming higher than the cost of owning one, he said.
It's not just professionals in tech-savvy fields that need a smartphone anymore; several jobs in service industries now require workers to be connected via an app, to facilitate mobile payment services or to be able to access navigational services via their device.

"We're getting a cost of nonparticipation with smartphones," du Pre Gauntt said. "If you want a job with a professional organization and you walk in with a cheap phone, they're going to look at you differently."
That's not just true in white collar fields, either: "Several positions such as roofers or other blue collar jobs are responding to e-mails in the field or using location services to get to job sites," he noted.

Staying Safe and Social 

Of course, the new abilities come with a new set of risks, Anna Bager, vice president and general manager at IAB, pointed out.
Specifically, the more a person uses a smartphone, the more personal data it contains -- especially if consumers are taking advantage of mobile banking or commerce applications -- making the consequences of a cyberattack potentially more threatening.
"Clearly, mobile users are leaning into their devices for personal finance assistance wherever and whenever they happen to have a need," Bager told TechNewsWorld.
"Most financial apps already contain rock-solid security, but consumers seem not to be as plugged into the fact, and that knowledge gap can make all the difference in driving further usage and adoption."
In addition to security concerns, the rise of smartphones also means that people are changing the way they interact with other humans, suggested Chetan Sharma, president at Chetan Sharma Consulting.
"As with most things, there are downsides," Sharma told TechNewsWorld. "We as a society are so glued to these devices that we are changing some social norms -- for example, people checking their e-mails while having dinner with a friend or significant other.
"Instead of talking to their kids, parents routinely just hand them their smartphone to quiet them down," he added.

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Bose Gets Tiny and Tinier With Earbuds and Mini-Speaker

 At an event this week in New York City, Bose rolled out its first in-ear noise-canceling headphones as well as a Bluetooth speaker that's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. With the featherweight QuietComfort 20 headphones and the new SoundLink Mini Speaker, the world can be a quieter -- or louder -- place, depending on your preference.

 

The world can be a very loud place, and New York City's Grand Central Terminal -- with its trains, subways and thousands of people -- served as a perfect backdrop for Bose to demonstrate how it can address and even combat that noise.

This week the company introduced two new audio products in Vanderbilt Hall within the famous New York City train station.
Bose has long been known for its over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones, of course, and this week the company demonstrated its upcoming QuietComfort 20, which it noted are its first in-ear noise-canceling headphones.

1.5 Ounces  

The new earbud-style headphones deliver superior audio performance and are comfortable to wear even for extended periods, the company said.
Due this summer, the US$299.95 QuietComfort 20 headphones are small enough to fit in one's pocket, and they weigh just 1.5 ounces.
The earbuds are able to block virtually all outside noise, including the ambient -- and not entirely subtle -- noise of Grand Central Terminal.
That's accomplished through a digital electronic chip -- which the company claims is exclusive to Bose and moreover the first of its kind -- that can calculate an equal and opposite noise cancellation signal within a fraction of a millisecond.
The result is that the background is almost completely blocked out. This is further enhanced as two tiny microphones in each earbud can sense the approaching sound while measuring the sound inside.
The result for the listener is top-notch audio quality. In addition, the company's StayHear+ ear tips allow the QuietComfort 20 headphones to sit at the entrance of the ear canal, creating a seal that provides for the passive blocking of outside noise while also ensuring a comfortable fit for prolonged use. 

Cutting the Cord

 While the SoundLink Mini speaker offers auxiliary inputs for wired devices, the key in this unit is its ability to pair wirelessly.
"Bluetooth hasn't been the issue," John Roselli, director of  product marketing at Bose, told TechNewsWorld, "but getting it into a device such as the SoundLink Mini really does open up new possibilities for those who want to listen to music." 


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Your iPhone Could Be Poisoned by Its Charger

 Ever loan or borrow an iOS charger? You might want to think twice before doing so in the future, as a group of researchers have figured out how to modify chargers to load malware onto iOS devices in less than a minute. The researchers will describe how USB capabilities can be leveraged to bypass Apple's security mechanisms at Black Hat USA 2013 this summer.

 

 Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a way to hack into iOS devices through a modified charger.

Billy Lau, a research scientist at the institute, together with two Ph.D. students, will present a paper on this at Black Hat USA 2013, to be held in Las Vegas July 27 through Aug. 1.
It took only 1 minute for an iOS device to be compromised after being plugged into a malicious charger. All users potentially could be affected because the team's approach doesn't require jailbreaking the device and does not involve any user interaction.
"Many people with iOS devices don't put antivirus on their devices because they believe they're less likely to be infected," Julien Blin, a directing analyst at Infonetics, told MacNewsWorld. "That's a misconception in my opinion, and that's an opportunity for hackers."
Apple did not respond to our request to comment for this story.

 

The Evil That Chargers May Do

The researchers built a proof-of-concept malicious charger they call "Mactans." For this, they used a Beagleboard, which is basically a Linux PC a tad larger than a credit card.

The researchers will describe how USB capabilities can be leveraged to bypass Apple's security mechanisms, and will show how attackers can hide their software in the same way Apple hides its own built-in applications to avoid detection.

Apple devs use Xcode to build OS X and iOS applications.

Mactans was built with constraints on time and budget, and the researchers will discuss briefly what hackers with better funding and more time might be able to do with the concept of poisoning chargers.

They will also recommend ways users might protect themselves, and suggest security features Apple could implement to help make such attacks more difficult.

The Georgia Institute of Technology's Billy Lau was not immediately available to provide further details. 

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Win 8.1 Puts a Stop to the No-Start Blues

 Though Microsoft is quick to point out all the gnashing of teeth over the missing Start button in Windows 8 was unwarranted, it has nevertheless given users a way to get it back in Windows 8.1, or Windows Blue, as it's also known. It also gives users more ways to customize their experience. The changes are drawing some cheers, but Microsoft's critics are already dissing the update.

 

Seven months and countless complaints after Microsoft launched Windows 8, it has announced that Windows 8.1, aka "Blue," will restore the much-missed Start button.

 Microsoft also will deliver a host of new features and functionality in Blue, and make it easier for people to navigate the operating system using a mouse and a keyboard.

 What's New in Windows Blue

Windows Blue will offer improvements and enhancements in key areas such as personalization, search, built-in apps, the Windows Store experience, and cloud connectivity, Microsoft said.

It will offer more colors and backgrounds for the Start screen, including backgrounds with motion -- or users can set their desktop background as their Start screen background.

Win 8.1 will offer a variety of tile sizes and make it easier to name groups and rearrange tiles. Users will be able to filter apps by name, date installed, most used or category. New apps will appear under the Apps View and be marked as new. Users can choose whether to pin them to the Start screen.

The Search charm in Windows 8.1 will provide global search results from Bing, aggregated from multiple sources.

 Built-in apps will be improved, and Windows Blue will make it easier to use multiple apps simultaneously. Users will be able to select, resize, uninstall or rearrange multiple apps at once. Multitasking will be easier, and users can have multiple windows of the same app snapped together.
Users will be able to save files directly to SkyDrive, and the new SkyDrive app will give users access to files whether they are on the device or in the cloud.
The PC Settings feature will be directly accessible, so users won't have to go to the control panel.
Microsoft will include Internet Explorer 11 with Windows Blue. Its features include better touch performance, faster page load times and the ability to access open tabs in sync across multiple Win 8.1 devices.

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