Astronomers discover Earth-sized ‘diamond’ 900 light years away
The world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan, is a tad over 3,100 carats uncut. It’s estimated value is some $2 billion, and it only weighs about 1.37 pounds. That stone, while enormous relative to others like it, is but an invisible speck when up against the Earth-sized diamond discovered 900 light years from our planet. PSR J2222-0137, a pulsating companion to a white dwarf star located near the constellation Aquarius, has an incredibly low temperature of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s the coldest such object that astronomers have ever detected — so cool, in fact, that it’s likely composed of crystallized carbon, much like the diamonds we treasure so greatly. Ultimately, while an exciting development, it would take 10 lifetimes traveling at the speed of light to reach this interstellar discovery, so don’t expect an influx of those coveted clear jewels anytime soon.
[Image credit: B. Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF]
Filed under: Science
Source: Astronomy.com
Walmart dropping iPhone 5c to $29, 5s to $99 beginning tomorrow
If you’ve been holding out for reduced pricing on Apple’s latest smartphones, you’re in luck. Walmart is planning to make both models a bit more affordable beginning tomorrow, according to a spokesperson. The 16GB iPhone 5c will be available in stores for $29 with a two-year contract (down from $49), while the 16GB iPhone 5s is expected to retail for $99, a 50-dollar savings. The retailer ran a similar promotion earlier this year, but this week’s move is permanent and should take effect beginning at 9 tomorrow morning (local time), available only in stores. We don’t have specifics for the 32GB versions, but pricing will be reduced for both of those models as well.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
YouTube is upgrading to 60fps, adding a tip jar for donations and much more
YouTube is about to get a whole lot better, with a slew of new features freshly announced at this year’s VidCon. Google’s video wing will soon get support for clips running at 48-and-60 frames-per-second, which should be perfect for video game footage that you’ve captured an uploaded from your PlayStation 4 in addition to those 1080p60 game trailers that are quickly becoming the norm. You’ll have to make sure 1080p resolution is selected to get the benefit of the higher frame-rate, naturally, and we’ve embedded a sample after the break. Customizable and, as the YouTube Creators blog post tells it, prettier-looking annotation cards as well as some new tools that your fans can use are en route, too. What are those? Well, viewers will soon be able to drop you a few bucks here and there so you don’t have to rely on ad revenue alone.
Also, if you don’t, say, speak Polish but a large chunk of your viewership is in the land of kielbasa and pirogi, foreign-language-fans can submit their own translations based on the captions or subtitles that you’ve made. What’s more, the YouTube Creator Studio mobile app is out now for Android, and it gives access to analytics data including real-time estimated views. Apple fans will have to wait a “week or two,” according to the YouTube Creators Twitter account.
That’s not all, either, folks. To make adding a soundtrack to your magnum opus a little easier, YouTube is also providing some 7,500 royalty-free sound effects and background music tracks too and they’re available right this instant. It seems like the only thing that could hold anyone back from internet-video stardom now is, well, themselves.
60 FPS: Motion-intense videos will look even better on @YouTube when we launch support for 48 and even 60 frames per second, coming soon.
– YouTube Creators (@YTCreators) June 27, 2014
[Image credit: AFP/Getty]
Filed under: Internet, HD, Mobile, Google
Source: YouTube Creators (1) (Twitter), (2), Google Play
Walmart Permanently Discounts iPhone 5c to $29 and iPhone 5s to $99 [iOS Blog]
Walmart will begin selling the 16 GB iPhone 5c for $29 and 16 GB iPhone 5s for $99 with two-year contracts starting tomorrow, according to Engadget.
The retailer says that the price drop is permanent, unlike similar price drops the company has made for both the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. Walmart has discounted the phones before, dropping the price of the iPhone 5c from an initial $79 to $49 and the iPhone 5s from $199 to $149. The new price cuts discount the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s $20 and $50, respectively, from Walmart’s current prices.
Pricing will also be reduced for the 32 GB variants of both phones, but it’s not yet known how much they could be discounted. Walmart price cuts will take effect tomorrow at 9 am local time.
Dave Burke says Google is “still invested in Nexus”
A lot has been made about the Nexus line of devices the last few months, mainly in relation to the rumours that it is going to be replaced in favour of something that is called Android Silver sometime next year. Well, if you wanted a straight answer about what is really happening, you should go no […]
Opera Mini for iOS gets a new look and another way to save data
Opera Mini for iOS has always been a thoughtful – if not particularly handsome – alternative to Apple’s mobile version of Safari. Now it’s finally gotten an overdue, iOS 7-friendly facelift and a new web surfing mode for mobile data misers who don’t want to give up all their visual flair. You see, in days past you only had two options: your standard, uncompressed browsing experience, and the Mini mode that compressed images and text to keep your mobile data use from getting out of whack.
Now we’ve got a third option to muck around with. It’s called Opera Turbo (which isn’t exactly new to Opera proper) that only compresses those hefty elements about half as much as Mini mode. You can now swap visual themes for when vanilla Opera gets too dull too and favorites to a customizable speed dial page for even quicker access. Alas, some of the bits that Opera has added to the mix are… of questionable value, to say the least. There’s an odd new Discover section, for one — it lets you dig through stories related to broad subjects like technology, arts, and sports, but you can’t add your own favorite sites to be monitored. And if you’re the type who just keeps stumbling across QR codes in your day to day life (you poor soul), you can scan them straight from the browser. All that said, there’s enough here to make the new version of Opera Mini worth a spin — the fact that it’s totally gratis doesn’t hurt either.
Source: Opera
NeonGrid offers an IMDb-esque directory for web videos
There’s no question how useful the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is for gathering info on a costume designer or the complete list of Ray Liotta films. Unfortunately, hasn’t been a similar for works published on sites like Vimeo or YouTube… until now. Thanks to co-founder and former IMDB exec John W. Gibbons, NeonGrid looks to tackle the list of credits for online short films, music videos and commercials with details like actors, director and video lead — complete with contact info. The directory allows folks who work on web-based moving pictures to tag their achievements that get organized alongside the corresponding video. As you might expect, a system of checks is built in to keep info accurate amongst the current tally of 30,000 credits.
Source: New York Times, NeonGrid
DARPA’s top robotics challenge contender to become a commercial Google robot
The S-One humanoid robot, which completely dominated DARPA’s Robotics Challenge trials in December, has been pulled out of the $2 million competition… and it’s not exactly surprising. You see, S-One was created by Japanese team SCHAFT, one of the robotics companies Google acquired last year, and Mountain View said long ago that it’s not interested in pursuing military contracts. While S-One’s withdrawal means we won’t be seeing it go through the agency’s rigorous challenges anymore, it does come with a very exciting news. According to DARPA Product Manager Gill Pratt, the SCHAFT team ultimately decided to bow out not only because it doesn’t need funding anymore, but also because it wants to focus on building a commercial product. In other words: a Google robot that people (most likely huge corporations, governments and the obscenely wealthy) can buy.
Before you start making plans to sell your house for one, though, know that the S-One isn’t a mind-controlled pugilist or something you can ride in. Like the other contenders in DARPA’s Robotics Challenge, the biped was designed to function as a first responder in times of disaster, such as 9/11 or the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. Sadly, Google hasn’t provided more details about the retail product yet, but the video below should show you S-One’s capabilities.
Which Boston Dynamics robot do you want to see on the market first?
Source: Re/code
Get Android L’s performance boost in one step
One of Google’s biggest announcements at the I/O event was the preview of the next big version of Android, code named Android L. Google says this update with bring a UI change, battery saving mode, lockscreen enhancements, and more including doubling the app performance thanks to the new ART runtime. ART is basically just a way the system processes how the applications run.
Android devices right now are running the Dalvik runtime, but many people don’t know that the option to switch to the new runtime is right under our noses in the developers settings.
Simply put, when you are in your settings, go to ‘About Phone’, then tap the build number seven times to unlock developer options on your Android phone. For those of you who have never done this, all this does is add a section to your settings menu, nothing else.
Once in developer options, you’ll see that you can select the runtime between Dalvik and ART. Go ahead and select ART. Once selected, your device will reboot, and the process of Android optimizing your apps will commence.
I want to include that I have a Nexus 4 (Android 4.4.3) that runs the Paranoid Android custom ROM. When I selected ART, I got a message saying Paranoid Android is not optimized for ART and that I should proceed at my own risk. I did it anyway and so far everything is fine for me, no crashes or bugs to note for the short time I’ve been using it, however this could vary depending on the phone. I personally haven’t noticed a big speed increase yet, but maybe I will once I give it a day or two.
Regardless, the option is there, and you must proceed at your own risk.
The post Get Android L’s performance boost in one step appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple’s ‘Podcasts’ App Crashing on Launch
Apple’s Podcasts app appears to be malfunctioning for many users, crashing directly after being launched on both devices running iOS 7.1.1 and devices running iOS 8 beta 2. Multiple reports of the crashes have surfaced on Twitter, and MacRumors‘ own testing also revealed the same crashing-after-launch issue.
While the app will temporarily open after being tapped, it closes automatically just seconds later. The Podcasts app was last updated to version 2.1.2 with minor bug fixes on May 29, so it is unclear what is causing the app to crash.
Podcasts is one of Apple’s most poorly rated apps and has been widely criticized for performance issues, with users complaining about syncing problems, podcasts being deleted, and more. Apple attempted to resolve some of these issues with Podcasts version 2.1, which introduced improved episode browsing, Siri integration, and syncing fixes, but the app continues to have a two star rating in the App Store.
As of iOS 8 beta 2, Podcasts is a default iOS app that comes pre-installed on iOS devices, meaning it can no longer be deleted. This change is expected to make its way into the public release of iOS 8, coming later this year.
The crashing issue appears to have begun this morning and it is unknown when a fix might be available.
AIVAnet 