Tizen 2.0-powered Systena tablet gets a quick hands-on

Samsung integrated its Bada OS into the Tizen OS project earlier this year and we even saw few screenshots of the brand new mobile operating system that was developed by the global market leaders. Now, the hands-images and the video of what seems to be the first Tizen powered tablet has been leaked.

The Tizen 2.0 powered tablet goes by the name Systena and sports a 10.1-inch full HD display. Systena is powered by a 1.4 GHz quad-core Cortex A9 processor along with 2 GB of RAM.
Here are the images of the Tizen 2.0 powered Systena.

The hands-on video of the tablet is also out and the clip, which is about a minute long, shows us the design of the slate, boot screen, slide to unlock screen and the photo viewer of the Systena. Check out the hands-on video below:

Source

ABB to build over 200 EV charging stations in the Netherlands' largest network

Swiss company ABB has been chosen by Fastned to provide chargers for over 200 EV charging stations throughout the Netherlands, in what will be that nation's largest such network. The largely solar-fueled stations will be spaced out along Dutch highways at a maximum distance of 50 kilometers from each other. Fastned will be using ABB's Terra fast chargers, which are compatible with a large number of vehicles, including "all major car brands from Europe, Asia and the USA." Each charger will also be connected to the internet, allowing ABB to push software updates and provide customers with remote assistance. The first batch of chargers will land roadside in September with rollout expected to be completed in 2015. There's one more image and video after the break

Philips intros Ambilight+Hue integration, 60-inch Elevation TV (video)

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Philips makes colorful Hue light bulbs, and it (indirectly) makes colorful Ambilight TVs. Wouldn't it make sense if the two devices talked to each other? They do now: a new Ambilight+Hue app for Android and iOS coordinates Hue bulbs with compatible TVs, spreading Ambilight effects across the entire room. To mark the occasion, Philips and TPVision are launching the 60-inch Elevation TV (not pictured here). The 3D-capable, 1080p LCD introduces a four-sided Ambilight system that produces a fuller lighting effect when the set is wall-mounted. It's also the thinnest Philips TV to date, at 0.54 inches thick, and it includes the requisite smart TV features like Netflix, web browsing and Miracast media sharing. Ambilight+Hue should be available now, although Europeans will have to wait until later in the summer to buy the Elevation for about £2,800 ($4,168).

Hubble researchers identify color of an exoplanet for the first time

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While exoplanets are seemingly a dime a dozen, their looks have been mysteries; they often exist only as measurements. Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have partly solved that riddle by pinpointing the visible color of an extrasolar world for the first time. By measuring reflected light, they can tell that HD 189733b (conceptualized above) is a cobalt blue, much like Earth's oceans. Not that we can claim much kinship, though. The planet is a gas giant 63 light-years away -- its blue tint comes from an atmosphere likely full of deadly silicate. As disappointing as that may be, the discovery should at least help us understand planet types that don't exist in the Solar System.

PlayStation 3 YouTube update adds auto-pairing with mobile device

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The folks at YouTube are updating Sony's PlayStation 3 YouTube app today with additional support for send to TV functionality, making it all the easier to share clips from your mobile device of choice with a living room full of people. Similar to the Xbox 360's SmartGlass functionality, YouTube's send to TV allows for a phone or tablet to be paired via a shared Wi-Fi network with the PS3, enabling videos on your mobile device in the YouTube app to be transferred "instantly" to the big screen -- the service now pairs automatically rather than requiring a PIN. Moreover, today's update looks to be yet another example of YouTube's co-developed DIAL tech. YouTube also added some video stream stabilization in the latest update, should you be experiencing hiccups.

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Thumbs need a break from saving the world from zombies, and want to catch up on the latest PewDiePie videos? The updated YouTube app for Playstation 3 now has the send to TV feature that automatically pairs your phone or tablet with your PS3 on the same Wi-Fi network. Open YouTube on your PS3, click the TV icon on your YouTube app for Android or iPhone, and the video starts playing instantly on your big screen. It'll be like the same awesome feeling you had when you played Metal Gear Solid for the first time. For bonus points, we also made videos play more smoothly and with less buffering. Ok, now back to the zombies...

All Electric Vehicle Rally ends with Tesla S in top spot

There they were, a caravan of nine electric car enthusiasts with a lot of free time on their hands, "tearing" down North America's west coast in a bunch of environmentally conscious vehicles. That was just last week in what organizer Tony Williams called the All Electric Vehicle Rally, and nearly all nine participants arrived in the rally's end location of Tijuana, Mexico.
The convoy started in Blaine, Washington and took to I-5 in four chunks. This year a Tesla Model S piloted by Jack Bowers and Georg Kuhnke arrived first, with just 41 hours of driving time -- a far cry from the eight days and five hours the course took Williams last year. The approximately 1,400 miles were covered by the winner at an average speed of about 34 MPH. Sadly, one Nissan Leaf owner got stuck charging their car for 15 hours in California due to a lack of CHADEMO chargers en route. Despite years of promises, CHADEMO sites haven't made their way south of the Oregon/California border as part of the west coast's Green Highway. Still, that we've reached the point where even some EVs can clear that many miles in under two days using only public chargers is pretty impressive.

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch steps down; Michael Huseby appointed CEO of Nook Media

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Following reports earlier this year that Barnes & Noble may be sliding away from producing its own Nook hardware, the outfit's CEO has just stepped away from his corner office. Announced in a series of shuffles, William Lynch has resigned as chief executive officer and director of the company effective immediately, while Michael P. Huseby has been appointed CEO of the Nook Media division (as well as president of B&N as a whole).
The firm also announced that vice president Allen Lindstrom was being subsequently promoted to CFO, reporting to Huseby. Moreover, Kanuj Malhotra -- VP of corporate development, has been promoted to CFO of Nook Media. Chairman Leonard Riggio thanked Lynch for his leadership during an era where B&N emerged as a real rival to Amazon in the reader / tablet market, while the man himself said that he "appreciated the opportunity to serve as CEO over the last three years." As for his immediate plans? Kicking back on the shores of Ocracoke and reading a book... on a Nook, of course.

Imagination Tech CEO: 'the industry needs MIPS as much as MIPS needs the industry'

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At an earlier press event in Shenzhen, Imagination Technologies' CEO Sir Hossein Yassaie delivered a clear message: his company's $100 million acquisition of MIPS isn't a short term strategy. Additionally, he has ambitious plans with the latter's chip architecture -- a well-known rival of ARM and Intel's x86.
In his presentation, Yassaie boasted that there are currently over 300 SoCs based on MIPS. And out of the five billion devices shipped with Imagination Tech's IP to date, three billion of them use MIPS. These include phones, tablets (especially in China), wearables, printers, networking devices, storage devices and more.
For a company who already owns IP in the graphic (including ray-tracing), video (low-power transcoding) and radio processing space, it's no surprise for Imagination Tech to acquire MIPS to complete its portfolio. The result is the upcoming Warrior CPU that promises "best-in-class performance and efficiency" in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, but we've been told that these won't hit the market until next year. Nevertheless, Yassaie believes that MIPS has strong technical advantages in terms of silicon area, power and capabilities such as multithreading. And apparently he has people to back him up on this.
"In my discussion with many customers in the last four months -- customers who have used both MIPS and competitors' solution -- the feedback for MIPS has been very, very positive from a technical point of view," said the exec.
Fortunately, Yassaie promised that as an open IP company, Imagination Tech will still happily let its customers mix its CPUs or its renowned PowerVR GPUs with other offerings.
Then there's the aspect of Imagination offering a third choice. Without naming the obvious "one key player," Yassaie stated that there needs to be a balance in the CPU IP market, and he believes his company has the energy and the long term vision to create an alternative choice.

"MIPS is here to make sure that there is a Pepsi."

"One example I often use is that the industry needs MIPS as much as MIPS needs the industry, because no industry can operate in an environment where it is a near-monopoly. I often say on this subject that wherever there is a Coke, there will be Pepsi. And MIPS is here to make sure that there is a Pepsi."

Yassaie admitted that MIPS Technologies had been constrained by difficult history and instability prior to the acquisition in February, but he assured us that this is now in the past.
"The company's future had been unclear, and the energy put into the roadmap and the future, in our opinion, had been below our acceptable level," said the CEO. "Those issues are fixed -- we already announced a very strong roadmap. We also have a very strong link to a lot of the companies that matter. For example, the link we have with Google is much stronger than what MIPS had in the past."
David Harold, the Senior Director of Marketing Communications, added that the state of MIPS Technologies back then wasn't as bad as some had put it. According to Gartner, the chip designer actually had a 17 percent growth in 2012, which was ahead of the overall design IP market's 11.2 percent. And with the acquisition of MIPS, Imagination Tech now owns over 11 percent of the market.
"I have to stress that the strategy with MIPS isn't short term," the CEO continued. "We see this as a multi-year plan. Our goal is to have 25 percent of the processor market within five years in terms of design elements."

"Our goal is to have 25 percent of the processor market within five years in terms of design elements."

Throughout the press event, Yassaie reminded us several times that MIPS is a fully supported architecture within the Android source code, and that Google is keen to keep it that way. But when it came to the touchy subject of fragmentation, the exec put some of the blame on MediaTek, which has apparently caused some apps to run well on one platform but not so much on the other. Imagination Tech, on the other hand, claims to be well-prepared to prevent such mishap.
"We've put significantly more investment into emulation and working on a technology known as MagicCode, which would emulate any backward compatibility or legacy-related issue," said the CEO. "We expect that to resolve to very, very high compatibility; in the same way, for example, an Intel platform has achieved through being adopted by companies like Samsung."
Yassaie also went slightly technical on the new LLVM (Low Level Virtual Machine) compiler, which allows apps to be developed in an architecture-independent intermediate language. Regardless, the exec is placing a heavy bet on Google's support and the openness of Android.
"You can see that with the success that Intel is beginning to have in the mobile space, I am absolutely convinced that MIPS will have a strong play in the mobile market, given the trends that are ongoing."

Clearwire shareholders approve buyout by Sprint

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Well, the FCC has already offered its tacit approval of the merger between Sprint, Clearwire and Softbank. And Sprint shareholders are on board with its buyout by Softbank. Really, the last hurdle for this major wireless marriage, was Clearwire's shareholders. Now they've approved the plan to be purchased by Sprint, which in turn will be absorbed by Softbank, putting an end to a long drama over the tiny carrier's future. When Dish decided to exit the bidding war over the company in late June it seemed to be all but a done deal that Sprint, already a majority shareholder of Clearwire, would take over the rest of the company. The deal is expected to be officially closed on July 9th, followed only shortly after by the Sprint and Softbank merger on July 10th.

Twitter updates apps with direct message syncing and improved search results

Remember that raucous applause that occurred when the WWDC crowd was told that Notification Center clearings would be synced across devices in iOS 7? If you listen carefully, you'll hear something similar happening today from the Twitter faithful. At long last, the company has updated its litany of apps with support for direct message syncing -- in other words, a DM that you reply to on your Nexus 7 will no longer show as an unread message on your iPhone.
All told, seven different programs are seeing an update: Android, iPhone, iPad, Mac, twitter.com, mobile.twitter.com and TweetDeck (sorry, Windows Phone users!). For Android, iPhone, iPad and mobile.twitter.com, the outfit's making search result improvements as well; additionally, a new in-app indicator in search results will show you when there are new Tweets for your query. Hit up the links below to download the new wares.

HERE Maps now available on Nokia Asha 501

Nokia has just released HERE Maps of its latest Asha 501. Nokia promised to bring us soon its mapping service to the new Asha platform during the Asha 501 announcement event and it kept its promise.

This beta version of HERE Maps is specifically designed for devices without GPS, but still offers drive, walk and public transport directions.
As other available versions of HERE Maps you will be able to explore standard, satellite, public transports and traffic maps; search places and addresses; and plan routes.
HERE Maps is already available at Nokia’s Store and you can get it on your Asha 501 right now. The app will be available for all other Asha phones to follow running on the new Asha platform and will be optimized later for those with integrated GPS chip.
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B&N cuts Nook HD and HD+ prices in UK, e-Ink readers discounted too

London mayor Boris Johnson, Barnes & Noble and Evening Standard are organizing the Get Reading festival, which will be held in Trafalgar Square on June 13. To get you ready, B&N cut the prices of its Android-powered (with full Play Store access) Nook HD and HD+ tablets to £99 and £149 respectively.

If you prefer e-Ink, the Nook Simple Touch GlowLight (what a name, huh?) is currently at £69 (down from £109). The non-GlowLight model can be found for £29 here or here (a few other places too).

The promotion for the Nook HD tablets is until the end of July, while the Simple Touch promotion is just listed as “limited time only”.

By the way, Barnes & Noble recently announced it will hand the manufacturing of Nook HD models to third-party companies.

Source | Via

Alleged pricing for budget iPhone surfaces

The line of cheaper iPhones which Apple is supposedly preparing to launch alongside the iPhone 5S have leaked several times already, including this latest image below, which purports an iPhone mini name.

Besides new color schemes and more cost effective materials, the latest rumors surrounding the budget iPhone range include mass production of the models currently under way, as well as leaked pricing. Turns out budget version isn’t that cheap after all.
Sonny Dickson, the man behind several accurate Apple-related leaks in the past, posted on Twitter what he alleges will be the pricing of the new cheaper iPhone line.

Apple's Lower-Cost iPhone Prices iPhone – 16GB – $349 iPhone – 32GB – $449 iPhone – 64GB – $549
— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) June 30, 2013

Currently, the cheapest unlocked phone available from the online Apple Store is $450 for the 8GB iPhone 4, which means that the base model of the budget line will run you about $100 less for double the onboard memory – not out of the realm of possibility, especially if cheaper manufacturing materials are thrown into the mix. It’s also anyone’s guess what hardware will be available inside, so there might be some cost cutting going on there, too.
Also floating around is the rumor that mass production of the new budget models is already under way, which aligns with reports we heard last month of with an eventual launch date this September. Here’s hoping we hear something from Apple’s camp towards the end of summer.
Source (Chinese) | Via

France reportedly has its own PRISM-like data surveillance system

The US isn't the only western country with an all-seeing digital eye... at least, according to Le Monde. The news outlet claims that France's General Directorate for External Security has a PRISM-like system that captures and processes the metadata for "billions and billions" of communications, including internet messaging, phone calls, SMS and even faxes. The goal is ostensibly to track the behavior of terrorist cells, but the Directorate allegedly shares the anonymized information with other intelligence services, including the police. Whether or not residents can do much about the snooping, if real, is another matter. One source believes that it exists in a gray area, as French law reportedly doesn't account for the possibility of storing personal data this way. We're skeptical of claims that the Directorate can spy on "anyone, anytime," especially without official commentary, but we'd suggest that locals be careful with their secrets all the same.
Dan Cooper contributed to this report.

Latest Humble e-book Bundle lets you pick your own price for unicorns, Wheaton

For the next two weeks, you can snag four e-books for whatever price you want with the second Humble e-book Bundle. As always, each contribution benefits whoever you prefer, be it the authors, charity, Humble itself or a combination of the three. If you want access to all six books, as per the Humble pricing model you need to kick in a sum greater than the average $9.40 donation. For less than a few gallons of gas you'll net Wil Wheaton's Just a Geek and Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn in addition to the other four tomes shown below. The sun hasn't set on the first day of this six-pack promo and over $150K's been donated so far. Reading-on-the-beach season's half over, so get crackin'!

• The Last Unicorn - Peter Beagle
• Just a Geek - Wil Wheaton
• Little Brother - Cory Doctorow
• Boneshaker - Cherie Priest
• Spin - Robert Charles Wilson
• Shards of Honor - Lois McMaster Bujold

Deutsche Borse to open Cloud Exchange, treat computing as a commodity

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Bitcoin fans are familiar with using cloud computing to generate a commodity -- but what would happen if cloud computing was the commodity? The Deutsche Börse should find out when it opens its newly-unveiled Cloud Exchange in the first quarter of 2014. The independent market will let organizations buy remote computing and storage in respective 8GB and 1TB blocks, with traders agreeing on when and where the number crunching takes place. Theoretically, this creates a neutral, competitive space for exchanging server power: buyers can easily spot the best value, while sellers can efficiently offload their unused cycles. Whether or not the Cloud Exchange works that way in practice, we're just hoping that it isn't as volatile as an old-fashioned stock exchange.
[Image credit: Dontworry, Wikipedia]

Scientists grow human liver from stem cells, hope to relieve transplant woes (video)

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Stem cell research has resulted in several important breakthroughs in medicine, such as rebuilding the larynx and regenerating spinal cord connectors. Now the liver, one of the most highly sought after organs on the donor transplant list, could get some serious stem cell assistance as well. A team of scientists led by Takanori Takebe of Yokohama City University has successfully created a miniature version of the human liver with the help of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are derived from adult somatic cells. They developed the iPSC into generalized liver cells called hepatocytes, at which point the researchers mixed in endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells, left the petri dishes alone for a couple days, and voila -- an extremely tiny version of a human liver, said to be the first-ever functional human organ grown from stem cells, was born.
The liver "buds," as they're known, measure five millimeters long and are the sort you would find in human embryos shortly after fertilization. When implanted in mice, the baby livers managed to perform all the functions of their adult equivalents. The researchers' next step would be to generate liver buds that are a touch closer to normal liver tissue -- like the addition of bile ducts -- and to see if they can mass produce them by the tens of thousands. Don't go wasting your liver just yet though, as it'll likely be years before the likes of you and me will be able to have a lab-grown liver in our bodies. In the meantime, check out the time-lapse video after the break to see a young liver bud take shape in a petri dish.

Plasma thruster could propel small satellites into deep space for cheap

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A few years from now, we might be able to send small satellites into deep space for cheap using a new propulsion system being developed by University of Michigan engineers -- assuming they raise enough money via Kickstarter. Called CAT (CubeSat Ambipolar Thruster), it's designed to propel 10 x 10 x 10 centimeter CubeSat blocks far beyond the planet's orbit using only solar energy for fuel. Thus far, similar satellites can only orbit the Earth after going along for a ride on current rockets that are larger and more expensive. In the future, CATs could head to the asteroid belt, or even as far as Saturn and Jupiter to investigate water on their moons. The $200,000 its engineers aim to raise (in exchange for your name etched on the golden layer of a spacecraft panel) will go towards the CAT engine's development and testing. The team could send an experimental thruster to space as soon as 2014 with help from NASA-Ames and Google, with a spacecraft launch targeted for 2015.

White Nexus 4 sells out, no longer available on Google Play

If you've been putting off buying a white Nexus 4, be ready to wallow in regret: you've missed your chance to get one straight from Google Play. Both the 8GB and 16GB versions are "no longer available for sale," a little more than a month after the company's online store started carrying them. A Google spokesperson told us that the alabaster phone has indeed sold out, and that the Play Store won't carry it again, as it was a limited edition release. All's not lost, though -- T-Mobile still sells the white Nexus 4, but you'll pay a slight premium for it.

BBC to broadcast Wimbledon final and semi-final matches in 3D

By Steve Dent posted Jul 4th 2013 1:56AM 0

Though ESPN 3D's imminent demise might be evidence to some that 3D TV isn't exactly killing it, BBC has confirmed that it will cover Wimbledon again this year with that extra dimension. In particular, it will broadcast selected matches, including the men's and women's finals and semi-finals, in free-to-air 3D for those with the Red Button service and supported sets. Wimbledon marked its first-ever 3D broadcast two years ago, and the BBC is also experimenting with 4K coverage this year with Sony, albeit exclusively at a live spectator "experience zone" on the finely manicured grounds. The network also said it would up its live streams from six to ten to go with its YouTube coverage -- meaning UKers who miss a single grunt will have only themselves to blame.