China Beaches Are Green With Smelly 'Sea Lettuce' Algae Due To Record-Breaking Bloom [PHOTOS]

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-algae-beach-pollution-2013-photos-2013-7

Massive, recording-breaking blooms of the algae Enteromorpha prolifera have been washing up on China's beaches in Shandong province, near Qingdao.

The bloom is the size of Connecticut and officials have already removed 19,800 tons of algae from beaches. This is the largest bloom since 2008, which covered 5,000 square miles. That year, the algae cost $30 million to clean up and according to a 2011 report, cost about $100 million in damages to fisheries in the area, since the algae soaks up oxygen in the water, choking off other marine organisms.

The blooms first started in 2007, and researchers aren't sure if they are cause by pollution or by changes to seaweed farming practices to the south of Qingdao.

The algae beach is located in Qingdao, in Shandong province in Eastern China.

The city has a population of more than 8 million, and tourists flock to the coasts during the summer months.

That's also when blooms of the algae Enteromorpha prolifera, peak.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Your Next Smartphone Screen Will Be Able to Disinfect Itself

Source: http://gizmodo.com/your-next-smartphone-screen-will-be-able-to-disinfect-i-677470656

Your phone is filthy. Anything that's getting rubbed by your grimy little fingers on a ridiculously regular basis is going to be far from pristine. But Corning can help. Its newest revision of Gorilla Glass is not only ridiculously resilient, it also kills pesky germs all by itself.

Corning discussed its upcoming display tech at the MIT Mobile Technology Summit, and it sounds incredible. The anti-microbial coating being used on the new glass—a first for the display industry—can kill virtually all nasty microbes on the screen's surface over a course of two hours. It's not instantaneous, but it's way better than having a pocket petri dish.

And that's not all, either. Corning is also whipping up a new transparency treatment that will make the next revision of Gorilla Glass tens of times more transparent than purified water. What's that really mean? Seeing your phone in broad daylight is about to get way easier. Here's what that improvement looks like, the circle in the center is the new stuff:

And of course, that's all on top of the ridiculous strength we've come to expect from Gorilla Glass. Unfortunately, there's no word on exactly when these sort of features will be rolling out to new devices; Corning has simply said some time in the next two years. Until then, licking your phone screen is probably a good habit to stay out of. [Technology Review via Phone Arena via Talk Android]

Image by Michelangelus/Shutterstock

Photographs From Hurricane Sandy, Visualized

Source: http://gizmodo.com/photographs-from-hurricane-sandy-visualized-655520772

This might look like your car's speedometer, but it is in fact a clever visualization of photographs taken during Hurricane Sandy last year.

Part of a Digital Humanities project called Phototrails, the radial plot shows 23,581 photos uploaded to Instagram in Brooklyn area during Hurricane Sandy between November 29th and 30th of last year. The team behind the images explains:

Photo’s distance from the center (radius) corresponds to its mean hue; photo’s angle (i.e. the position along the perimeter) corresponds to its time stamp. Note the demarcation line that reveals the moment of a power outage in the area and indicates the intensity of the shared experience (dramatic decrease in the number of photos, and their darker colors to the right of the line).

That's a pretty neat artefact, even if it is one from a horrible and awful time. There's plenty more where that came from, though: the team has a variety of visualization methods which use radial, grid-like and even graphing techniques to tease out interesting trends form the images. Go check them out on the Phototrails site. [Phototrails via Information Aesthetics]

Sharp intros 32-inch IGZO monitor with 4K resolution and pen support

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/02/sharp-pn-k322b-4k-monitor/

The majority of the world is still patiently waiting for 4K technology to become more widely adopted, and companies are certainly doing all they can to assist in speeding up that process. Following in the footsteps of ASUS, Sharp's now introducing an Ultra HD, IGZO panel of its own, the PN-K322B. Aside from boasting a 3,840 x 2,160 screen resolution, this 32-inch multi-touch monitor also features the ability to support digital writing (or drawing) by way of a "dedicated touch pen with a pen-tip width of just 2mm." Ports-wise, the LED-backlit PN-K322B houses two HDMI inputs, a DisplayPort and a 3.5mm stereo jack to help get some external audio going. Mum's the word on how much it'll cost when it arrives in Japan on July 30th, but if other similar options are any indication, we'd say upwards of $3,500 is a safe bet.

Filed under: Displays, Misc

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Via: SlashGear

Source: Sharp

Fedora 19 Schrodinger's Cat released with 3D printing, Developer's Assistant, paradoxes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/02/fedora-19-schrodingers-cat/

Fedora 19 Schrodinger's Cat may have a name that suggests it's both alive and dead, but there's no uncertainties about its release -- the finished Linux distribution is now available on Fedora's servers. The oddly-nicknamed OS mostly improves content creation. It beats Microsoft to the punch on 3D printer support by including object design and printing tools; budding programmers will also like Node.js support and a Developer's Assistant that simplifies learning new code languages. While there's many more updates than we can list here, it's safe to say that Fedora 19 is a big update for many Linux fans, whether or not they appreciate Schrodinger's quantum mechanics. You can grab the new build and its release notes at the source links.

Filed under: Software

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Via: Muktware

Source: Fedora Project (1), (2)

Netgear's R6100 router hits 802.11ac speeds for $100, available now

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/03/netgear-r6100-80211ac-router/

The R6100 is the latest addition to Netgear's 2013 router lineup and retails for an easier-to-justify price than its siblings. For $100, the 802.11ac-generating square will connect to the new Macbook Air's upgraded wireless, with a dual 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz a/b/g/n antenna ensuring compatibility with your first-gen Zune. Like the R6200, the now-available R6100 hits 1200 Mbps combined and packs Ethernet for wired connections. It doesn't hit the speeds of the R6300, but, for half the money, what's 550 Mbps among friends?

Filed under: Internet

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Via: MacNews

Source: Netgear

Eyefinity 5x1 Setup for Mini Innovation Lab

5 screen set up  --  5 x 47inch screens  (1920x1080)

130 inch diagonal;  5,400 x 1,920 total resolution  (5k)

Computer System Specs  (mid-tower hidden below)
AMD HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB GDDR5 Eyefinity 6  (6 mini displayport)
Intel Haswell Core i5-4670K @ 3.6GHz  (air cooled)
16GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 9-9-9-24

Scenes from Unigen Valley Benchmark Renders

by Augustine Fou

 

Eyefinity 5x1 Five 47inch HDTVs in Portrait by Augustine Fou from Dr Augustine Fou

14-inch Razer Blade gaming laptop review: smaller, faster, lighter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/02/14-inch-razer-blade-gaming-laptop-review/

More Info

• Razer Blade review (late 2012)

• Razer reveals the Blade Pro and 14-inch Blade gaming laptops

• Razer Blade Pro and 14-inch models hands-on

Most companies refresh their products on an annual basis, carefully timing development and release schedules to match consumer demand, product obsolescence and component upgrades. It's the norm, an expected pattern that most PC, smartphone and tablet manufacturers follow. Razer, however, completely ignores this cycle, as exemplified by its Blade line of gaming laptops -- already on its third generation in less than two years. This would be less impressive if the firm wasn't a relative newcomer to the game; before it announced the Blade, Razer was known primarily for creating keyboards, gaming mice and console controllers. A fully fledged gaming PC was a jarring departure for the humble peripheral maker.

Even so, here we are: reviewing the third-generation Razer Blade gaming laptop. This, too, is a departure from what we've grown to expect from the company -- a smaller, thinner device bereft of the previous model's signature Switchblade interface. For some PC manufacturers, a 14-inch machine might be just another SKU in the catalog. But for Razer, it's almost a mark of progress: not only is the Blade popular enough to necessitate successive generations, but also multiple form factors. It's also the company's lowest-priced laptop yet, not to mention its first to include Intel's new fourth-generation CPU -- but at $1,800 for the base model, it still isn't cheap. Read on to see if the new Blade has enough charm to be worth its lofty price tag.

Gallery: 14-inch Razer Blade review

Filed under: Gaming

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ASUS' 31.5-inch 4K monitor is up for pre-order for an introductory $3,500

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/asus-taking-preorders-for-4k-monitor/

A mere month after ASUS unveiled its 31.5-inch 4K monitor to the world, and the humbly-named PQ321 is already available for pre-order on Amazon, Newegg and TigerDirect. As a reminder, the Ultra HD display boasts a jaw-dropping 3840 x 2160-pixel 10-bit RGB (a billion colors) IGZO panel with LED backlight, 176-degree viewing angles, a maximum of 350 cd/m2 in brightness and 8ms GTG response time. Built-in stereo speakers sweeten the package, as does a 3.5mm audio jack, DisplayPort connectivity and dual HDMI inputs. Oh, and did we mention it's also apparently the thinnest 4K monitor on the market at only 35mm thick? However, you'll have to pay a pretty penny for all that awesomeness: it has an introductory price of $3,499.99. That's about $300 less than what was announced a month ago, but it's still not exactly cheap. The PQ321 is set for a July 16th release date, so you still have a couple weeks to bribe relatives, rob a bank or sell off any unwanted organs.

Filed under: Displays

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Via: ZDNet

Source: Amazon, NewEgg, TigerDirect

Bing adds licensing rights refinement to image search

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/bing-images/

Here's a nice little feature for those of us who love to post images on the internet. Bing has added the ability to refine image results by license. The addition's simple enough to use -- just do a search and pull the appropriate license from a drop down on the top of the results page, alongside options for date, size and color. Selections include public domain and options like "free to modify, share and use," based on the Creative Commons licensing system, so there's no doubt as to precisely how you can incorporate them into your own posts. Google's had a similar option on its own search engine for some time -- albeit one's that's a bit less prominently displayed.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft

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Source: Bing Blog

This Chart Proves That Many Internet Explorer Users Are Only Using It Because They're Forced To At Work

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/browser-usage-chart-internet-explorer-usage-dips-on-weekends-2013-7

For many Americans, going into work every Monday is made just a little bit worse because their companies force them to use Internet Explorer.

Redditor Flying_ScotchMan noticed a really interesting pattern when he was looking at aggregate browser use statistics over at StatCounter Global Stats.

Here's the chart of daily browser market share:

 

Take a look at the weekly periodic perturbations of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and to some degree Safari. 

During the Monday to Friday work week, Internet Explorer gains around 2% marketshare.

That browser drops over the weekend, when people aren't working and using their home machines — which have either Google Chrome or Safari on it, each of which enjoy a roughly 1-2% jump in usage over the weekend.

That's one interpretation of this data, and by far the most compelling. 

It's a cool look at why people prefer different browsers and why, despite a relatively poor reputation, Microsoft's browser is able to maintain such a consistent marketshare. 

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ZTE Open, the first Firefox OS phone for consumers, launches tomorrow for $90

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/zte-open-launches-tomorrow/

When Mozilla said devices running Firefox OS would be cheap, we didn't know they'd be this cheap. Telefónica has just tweeted that the ZTE Open will be launching in Spain tomorrow for €69, which translates to around $90 and is a good $30 less than the cheapest developer unit we'd seen until now. And here's where it gets pretty wild: that price includes €30 ($39) of airtime for prepaid customers. When we played with the Open back in February at Mobile World Congress, we weren't exactly blown away by it, but we're arguably not the target demographic. The real question is whether Spaniards will be willing to sacrifice access to Google's services and ecosystem with devices like the Vodafone Smart Mini now selling for as little as €49 ($65).

Filed under: Cellphones

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Source: Telefonica Digital

Intel hopes to speed up mobile Atom chip development

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/28/intel-hopes-to-speed-up-mobile-atom-chip-development/

Intel has a real presence in the smartphone world, but its tendency toward just one or two mobile chip releases per year makes it a slowpoke next to its ARM-based rivals. New CEO Brian Krzanich clearly isn't happy with this gap -- he tells Reuters that mobile Atom development could speed up under his watch. Although the executive is short on specifics, he notes that Intel is "evaluating" the schedule for future chips with hopes of improving their timing where possible. The proof will be in the pudding, of course -- the company needs to give opponents like Qualcomm a real run for their money. Just don't expect a similarly breakneck pace with Intel's TV service plans. Krzanich says Intel is being "cautious" about entering an industry that depends more on content than pure technology.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, Intel

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Source: Reuters

Google Will Kill Its Popular News-Reading App Tomorrow, So Use These Instead (GOOG)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-reader-alternatives-2013-6

Google is going to kill off Google Reader, a Web-based app that pulls in articles from news sites you subscribe to, on July 1. 

The news of Google Reader's demise came out in March, and since then several companies have rushed to fill the hole that will be left. Google Reader is a very popular product, so there are plenty of people who will be looking for an alternative once it's gone for good.

There are dozens of readers out there, but let's make it simple. If you're a Google Reader user, there are only two services we recommend looking at to replace it: Digg Reader and Feedly.

Both of these services can pull in news subscriptions currently stored in your Google account just by logging in with the same credentials you use to sign into Gmail and other Google services. You can also manually subscribe to websites and get all the articles published almost immediately. 

Let's break it down:

Digg

News aggregation site Digg made a lot of headlines the day after Google said it was killing its reader by promising to create one of its own. The Digg Reader launched last week on the iPhone, iPad, and Web. It has quickly become our favorite Google Reader alternative because of its clean design and mix of stories pulled in from Digg's editorial team.

Download Digg for iPhone/iPad and sign up to try the Web version.

Click here to take a look at Digg Reader >

Feedly

Feedly has been around for a long time, and it's already gained a ton of new users since Google announced it planned to kill Google Reader. At first glance, Feedly looks nearly identical to Google Reader, with a list of your news sources in a small column to the left and the stories in a bigger window on the right. It also integrates with social networks like ! Pinteres t.

Feedly's biggest advantage over Digg is that it has both and Android and iPhone app. If you're an Android user, this is your best choice.

Download Feedly for iPhone/iPad or Android and try the Web version.

Click here for a tour of Feedly >

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