technology

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iPhone Too Dainty? Rugged Competitors Can Take Beating

New offerings can be used as hammers, soaked, dropped

(Newser) - The iPhone might be pretty, but it’s probably best not to use it as a hammer. If you’re looking for a phone that can handle such treatment—and can be thrown, showered with, or plunged into beer—your best bet may be one of the rugged models from...

Cyborg Bugs Could Warn of Fires, Chemical Attacks

(Newser) - Cyborg bugs may sound like creatures in a Michael Bay movie, but they could save your life, New Scientist reports. The Pentagon is trying to implant electrodes in crickets and cicadas—which communicate via wingbeats—and program them to “speak” differently around certain chemicals. “The insect itself might...

Miami Schools Plan 'Sexting' Curriculum

Effort to combat practice includes warnings on safety, law

(Newser) - The Miami-Dade school district is going all out in its attempt to stomp out “sexting,” the Miami Herald reports. The superintendent says he wants to work with law enforcement to develop the nation's top sexting program, including a special curriculum to educate students of all ages about the...

New System May Revolutionize Baseball Stats

(Newser) - Branch Rickey once complained that “there is nothing on earth anybody can do with fielding,” but that's about to change thanks to a complex new camera and computer system, the New York Times reports. The system, which will be unveiled for baseball executives tomorrow, records the exact speed...

Why Google's OS Won't Beat Microsoft
 Why Google's OS 
 Won't Beat Microsoft 
OPINION
Jul 9, 2009 11:48 AM CDT

Why Google's OS Won't Beat Microsoft

Windows 7, open-source competition hold Chrome OS back

(Newser) - Microsoft needn’t stress about Google’s planned operating system, writes Joseph Tartakoff for paidContent. Five reasons why:
  • Windows 7 will put Microsoft on firmer ground, having won great reviews so far—and it will have been out 9 months by the time Chrome OS appears.
  • Google’s not the
...

Google Launches Web-Based OS, Takes Aim at Windows

Fast-booting Chrome may push Vista out of the market

(Newser) - Google has doubled down in its battle with Microsoft. The search giant announced it is bringing out an open-source operating system, named Google Chrome OS, that looks to go head-to-head with long-dominant Windows. Chrome OS is Google's biggest push yet onto traditional Microsoft turf, reports the Financial Times, following free...

Google Street View Nabs Dutch Thieves

Boy found photo later, alerted cops

(Newser) - The Google Street View that has infuriated many privacy advocates has helped solve a crime, the BBC reports. A Dutch boy, 14, chanced upon a months-old photo on Street View that shows him with two men right before they allegedly mugged him. Authorities retrieved the original photo from Google—the...

Grandma Hates Email? Snail Mail Service to the Rescue

(Newser) - If grandma is too obstinate or tech-befuddled for email, a few services have cropped up to help, Jeninne Lee-St. John writes in Time. The latest one, Sunnygram, actually prints up emails and photos in a weekly newsletter and mails them. Others, like Presto and Celery, deliver messages via fax and...

Don't Go Buy Another iPhone, Just Get OS 3.0
Don't Go Buy Another iPhone, Just Get OS 3.0
tech review
Jun 17, 2009 4:18 PM CDT

Don't Go Buy Another iPhone, Just Get OS 3.0

New model is faster, but upgraded system offers plenty of perks

(Newser) - Apple launched its new iPhone operating system today, two days ahead of the 3G S model, begging the question whether existing users should fork out $200 for new hardware. “Faster circuitry makes a huge difference,” David Pogue writes for the New York Times, though Walt Mossberg, in the...

WTF, DoD? Dumbest Military Tech Acronyms

(Newser) - Wired has been keeping track of the most ridiculous acronyms the military-industrial complex comes up with. Here’s the latest list of the "Most Awesomely Bad Military Acronyms" (MAMAs, of course):
  • Affordable Accurate Robot Guidance (AARG)
  • Integrated Precision Ordnance Delivery System (IPODS)
  • Multi-Sensor Aerospace-Ground Joint ISR Interoperability Coalition (MAJIIC)
...

Army Lifts Ban on Social Media
 Army Lifts Ban on Social Media 
Jun 11, 2009 2:21 PM CDT

Army Lifts Ban on Social Media

Soldiers can use Twitter, Facebook from bases

(Newser) - The US Army has lifted a years-long ban on online social networks, commanding bases to let soldiers access sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr so they can “tell the Army story,” Wired reports. The change doesn’t apply to all overseas bases or other armed forces, and it...

LED Spells End of Disposable Light Bulbs

Long-lived fixtures could cut energy use in half in 20 years

(Newser) - The rapid advance of light-emitting diode technology is blazing the way to greener lighting, the New York Times reports. LED lighting, once used only in the likes of traffic lights and scoreboards, is now being adopted by a growing number of cities and businesses. Experts say the lights, which last...

Microsoft's New Search Engine: Bing

'Decision engine' gives users more control over results

(Newser) - Microsoft wants “Bing” to replace “Google” as your verb of choice for Internet search, PC World reports, with CEO Steve Ballmer unveiling the search engine today at a conference in California. Bing—already available for a test run—will be fully rolled out by Wednesday. The runner-up name...

Introducing Web 3.0
 Introducing Web 3.0 
OPINION
May 27, 2009 11:54 AM CDT

Introducing Web 3.0

Mossberg and Swisher: it's an iPhone revolution

(Newser) - Web 2.0’s a thing of the past, write Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher for All Things D. "Something major is happening at the intersection of tech and media, and we think it deserves its own new hyped-up name,” they announce. Web 3.0 is the era...

Microsoft May Unveil Wii-Like Remote in June

(Newser) - Just-released patent applications suggest Microsoft has indeed created a so-called “Magic Wand” to rival the Wii remote, the BBC reports. It could come out at next month's industry expo in Los Angeles. The applications say the wand has "biometric sensors" that would detect "fingerprint, hand geometry, hand...

'Hardware Hackers' Get Handy

Programmers leave screens for soldering irons

(Newser) - Seeking an escape from the confined world of their computer screens, programmers are applying their technological know-how to the physical world, building and tweaking an array of devices with their hands, the Boston Globe reports. “My normal job is way up in the clouds,” said a programmer at...

Google Suffers Global Hiccup
 Google Suffers Global Hiccup
May 14, 2009 2:28 PM CDT

Google Suffers Global Hiccup

For 2 hours, most services were unavailable

(Newser) - Google was down for nearly 2 hours earlier today in a mysterious and widespread outage, PC World reports. Services from the home search page to Gmail, YouTube, Maps, and News were unavailable to users in the US and as far away as China. The glitch—quickly dubbed #googlefail on Twitter—...

Pentagon Backs iPhone, iPod Apps for Combat Troops

Pentagon develops apps for ubiquitous Apple devices

(Newser) - With more than 30,000 third-party applications now available for the iPhone and iPod touch, a new organization is getting into the game: the American military. As the Independent reports, the Pentagon thinks Apple's gadgets are ideal for "network centric warfare" and is funding projects for everything from translation...

Tech Breathes New Life Into Ancient Manuscripts

Digitization, scanning of crumbling manuscripts preserves history

(Newser) - Ancient documents have long odds of making it to the present intact, between fires and bugs and the other ravages of time. But today’s technology can tease information even out of charred papyrus scrolls, thanks to CT scans, infrared imaging, and X-ray fluorescence. And from there, digital images can...

20% of Americans Drop Landline for Cell: Study

20% of households only use cell phones

(Newser) - As Americans trim their spending, more are getting rid of landlines. In the second half of last year, 20% of households had only cell phones, outnumbering for the first time the 17% who had just landlines. The 3% jump from the first half of 2008 is the largest increase since...

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