Corning Unveils ‘Project Phire’ Super Scratch-Resistant Glass
Corning today unveiled a new material that it’s been working on, which combines the strength of its existing Gorilla Glass with ultra scratch-resistance like that of sapphire, reports CNET. The material, which goes by the name “Project Phire,” was shown off during an investor meeting by Corning Glass president James Clappin.
“We told you last year that sapphire was great for scratch performance but didn’t fare well when dropped,” Clappin, president of Corning Glass Technologies, told the crowd at the event. “So, we created a product that offers the same superior damage resistance and drop performance of Gorilla Glass 4 with scratch resistance that approaches sapphire.”
Corning’s existing Gorilla Glass product is used in a range of smartphone and tablet displays, from Samsung’s Galaxy line to Apple’s own iOS lineup. Apple planned to move away from Corning’s Gorilla Glass with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, switching instead to sapphire produced by GT Advanced, but was unable to use the material due to production issues that later saw the dissolution of the partnership between the two companies.
According to Corning, Gorilla Glass is superior to sapphire due to sapphire’s brittleness and tendency to shatter when dropped. Corning has on several occasions pitted Gorilla Glass against sapphire to highlight the former’s benefits — lighter weight, greater strength, and lower pricing.
Gorilla Glass 4, Corning’s most recent product, is even more resistant to shattering when it falls onto hard, rough surfaces than previous versions of Gorilla Glass, but it is unable to match the scratch resistant properties of sapphire crystal. Sapphire is second only to diamond when it comes to hardness, and Apple already uses the material to protect the iPhone’s rear camera and Touch ID fingerprint sensor from scratches.
Apple’s desire to produce iPhone displays with greater scratch resistance may make Corning’s “Project Phire” material highly appealing to the company for use in next-generation devices, as it could potentially serve as a suitable replacement for sapphire.
The Big Picture: NASA decommissions its shuttle mounting port
NASA’s defunct space shuttles have found homes around the US and the 747s that brought them there have also been put to pasture. With no more shuttle carrier aircraft (SCAs), the agency has no more use for the Kennedy Space Center mate-demate facility used to pull the spacecraft off them. The 150-foot long, 10-story high truss structure was used to separate the craft when the shuttle landed anywhere other than Florida. (A similar facility was demolished earlier at Edwards Air Force base in California.) The net result was 844,700 pounds of scrap metal, but you can still see the shuttles at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum, New York City’s Intrepid Museum, the California Science Center and, of course, the Kennedy Space Center itself. To see the sad remains of the demount facility, check below.
Filed under: Science
Source: NASA
Android Central 221: A Standing Invitation
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This is the one in which Phil accidentally invites the entire world to be on the podcast. We also talk about the Amazon Echo, all the Android 5.0 Lollipop updates we’re finally starting to see, and we answer a bunch of your questions live. You’re not going to want to miss this one.
[Deal] AT&T: Get a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (8-inch) with the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy smartphone
What could go better with your Samsung Galaxy smartphone other than a free Samsung tablet? AT&T‘s newest bundle will give you a free Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (of the 8-inch variety) with the purchase of any Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Check after the break for all the terms and conditions.
Here’s the deal. AT&T just asks that you follow 4 steps to get your bundle:
- Select a Samsung Galaxy smartphone on an AT&T Next installment agreement and add it to your cart.
- Select a Mobile Share Value plan.
- You’ll get a prompt to add another device, so click yes.
- Select the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (8.0) with a 2 year contract and add that to your cart.
And that’s it!
One of the caveats, though, is if you’re upgrading your phone on an existing AT&T plan, you’ll have to physically go into a store to get this deal.
If this kind of deal catches your interest, you can follow the source link below to load up on some gadgets.
Source: AT&T
Come comment on this article: [Deal] AT&T: Get a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (8-inch) with the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy smartphone
AT&T offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 for Free
Who likes free? I most certainly do. However, sometimes, getting something for free usually requires certain things to be done though. AT&T is offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 free. Free! It happens though when you purchase any Samsung Galaxy smartphone for $0 down.
Be sure and read the fine print as it includes attaching a 2-year contract and requires some eligibility requirements. If you have any questions pertaining getting one of these, head down to your nearest AT&T store or simply click on this link: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/Tab4-Bundle.html#fbid=I5QR-nakDgW
Take advantage of this great offer as soon as you can as there’s no word how long this will last.
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Sprint cares more about improving than its rank among carriers
As it stands today, Sprint holds the title as the third largest carrier in the United States. Only Verizon and AT&T stand in front of Sprint while T-Mobile watches from the back. But staying in third place seems difficult when John Legere has committed to putting Team Magenta ahead of Sprint by the end of 2015. T-Mobile has launched an attack on the wireless industry with competitive deals and unrivaled incentives.
Sprint has received plenty of negative attention due to the network’s quality being poor and pricing not matching service. Slowly though, things are changing because the carrier has invested in improving its network and introduced plenty of promotions. Marcelo Claure, the CEO of Sprint, feels that Legere is “in for a rude awakening” and will allow to “let actions speak.”
Hit the break for more.
Claure has pointed to the next report from Root Metrics to prove that Sprint’s coverage will have improved greatly. In fact, Chicago has apparently seen so much improvement from Sprint that the carrier is only behind Verizon there. Areas that have improved network quality are going to see Sprint advertising greatly increase. Claure wants to capitalize on the attention and build momentum. It will take some time to change many consumers’ perceptions of Sprint but doing so is definitely possible. Of course, Legere discredited Root Metrics and said Sprint should take data from Speedtest.net because the latter obtains it through actual consumers performing tests of their own.
Being third or fourth in the country does not matter to the Sprint CEO. Claure told CNET that “I’m focused on fixing the fundamentals whether we’re No. 3 or No. 4. Customers don’t care about rank. I’m not worried about whether we’re No. 3 or No. 4.”
Another set of new plans will be launched around April once the carrier finishes ongoing customer research. It will allow Sprint to try and differentiate itself from other carriers. While we do not know what the plans will entail, we can guess that data rollover is being explored considering everyone else (except Verizon) offers it.
Source: CNET
Come comment on this article: Sprint cares more about improving than its rank among carriers
The first Ubuntu-powered phone will go on sale in Europe starting next week
Ubuntu, the long-lost operating system that was debuted over two years ago, is finally coming to market. Canonical, the company behind the OS, teamed up with Meizu and BQ last February, which ultimately yielded no results in the Ubuntu world. Now, Canonical and BQ are finally releasing the rumored handset, but there are quite a few details to talk about first.
The first Ubuntu phone will be a repurposed Aquaris E4.5, the low-budget BQ handset, which usually runs Android. The Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition has a 4.5-inch qHD display with 540 x 960 resolution, a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek A7 processor, 1GB of RAM and a Mali 400 GPU. The phone also has 8GB of internal storage, a 2150mAh battery, an 8MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing camera. Oh, and there’s no LTE available on this handset. The specifications aren’t anything special, though the handset will ship for a relatively low price at €169.90 (~$195 US).
The Ubuntu phone will be sold a tad unconventionally, as it will only be offered in the European market at launch. Canonical and BQ have partnered with a few European retailers to host a series of online flash sales, the first of which will begin sometime next week. Followers of the @ubuntu and @bqreaders Twitter accounts will be among the first to be notified of the flash sales. While BQ has no plans to bring the handset outside of Europe, Canonical reassures us that they are “actively working on a US device strategy.”
It’s designed to deliver content and services directly to categorized home screens, giving users a rich, unfragmented experience.
The Aquaris E4.5 UE will face more competition than expected, given other low-cost options like the Motorola Moto G, E, and countless other budget-friendly handsets around the Android market. Perhaps all isn’t lost with the handset, though. Canonical says they plan to introduce “a new UI paradigm, designed to deliver content and services directly to categorized home screens, giving users a rich, unfragmented experience.” The phone will also support mainstream HTML5 “beautifully,” and, as Canonical claims, will not be just another Android or iOS clone.
If you can remember back to August 2013, Canonical’s goal for the Ubuntu Edge smartphone was originally set at a steep $32 million, though they ended the crowdfunding campaign after only raising $12.8 million. Even though the company has struggled over the years, and even though the handset isn’t what everyone thought it would be, this is still a very important step for Ubuntu to make it to the mainstream.
Buyer’s Guide: Deals on Retina MacBook Pro, iPad Mini 2, Apps, and Apple Accessories [Mac Blog]
Deals continue to be a bit hard to find as we head into February, but there are still some discounts to be had on the Retina MacBook Pro, older now-discontinued higher-capacity versions of the iPad Air, some current iPad mini 2 tablets, and the MacBook Air.
We’ve also got deals on several apps and bunch of Apple accessories ranging from Mophie battery packs to the Jawbone UP fitness tracker. Several sites are also offering some pretty hefty site wide discounts in honor of Valentine’s Day.
Retina MacBook Pro
– 13-inch 2.6GHz/8GB/128GB (Adorama) – $1,189, $100 off
– 13-inch 2.6GHz/8GB/256GB (MacMall) (B&H Photo) – $1,399, $100 off
– 13-inch 2.8GHz/8GB/512GB (Adorama) – $1,599, $200 off
– 15-inch 2.2GHz/16GB/256GB (B&H Photo) (Adorama) – $1,869.99, $130 off
– 15-inch 2.5GHz/16GB/512GB – (Amazon) (B&H Photo) – $2,299, $200 off
MacBook Air
– 11-inch 1.4GHz/4GB/128GB (B&H Photo) – $854, $45 off
– 11-inch 1.4GHz/4GB/256GB (B&H Photo) – $999, $100 off
– 13-inch 1.4GHz/4GB/128GB (B&H Photo – $919, $80 off
– 13-inch 1.4GHz/4GB/256GB (B&H Photo) – $1,099, $100 off
Non-Retina iMac
– 21.5-inch 2.7GHz/8GB/1TB (Best Buy) (B&H Photo)- $1,199, $100 off
– 21.5-inch 2.9GHz/8GB/1TB (Best Buy) (B&H Photo) – $1,399, $100 off
– 27-inch 3.2GHz/8GB/1TB (Best Buy) (B&H Photo) – $1,659.99, $139 off
– 27-inch 3.4GHz/8GB/1TB (Amazon) (B&H Photo) – $1,899, $100 off
iPads
Best Buy and Amazon are continuing to offer now-discontinued higher-capacity Cellular versions of the original iPad Air and the iPad mini 2 at $50 to $130 off.
– iPad Air Cellular Silver 64GB (AT&T) – $499.99
– iPad Air Cellular Space Gray 64GB (AT&T) – $499.95
– iPad Air Cellular Silver 128GB (AT&T) – $599.99
– iPad Air Cellular Space Gray 128GB (AT&T) – $599.99
– iPad mini Wi-Fi 16GB Space Gray – $249.99
– iPad mini Wi-Fi 32GB Silver – $299.99
– iPad mini Wi-Fi 32GB Space Gray – $299.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Silver 16GB – $379.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Space Gray 16GB – $379.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Silver 32GB – $429.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Space Gray 32GB – $429.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular Verizon Silver 16GB – $379.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular Verizon Space Gray 16GB – $329.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular Verizon Silver 32GB – $429.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular Verizon Space Gray 32GB – $429.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Silver 64GB – $399.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Space Gray 64GB – $399.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Space Gray 128GB – $499.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Silver 128GB – $499.99
Apps
Our sister site AppShopper has a list of all the apps that have seen price drops this week. Some notable temporary discounts include Shark Eaters: Rise of the Dolphins (Free), Bloons TD 5 (Free), Baldur’s Gate ($4.99, down from $9.99), Toontastic (Free), and Magnifico (Free).
Angry Birds Seasons has been named Apple’s App of the Week and will be free to download for the next seven days.
Apple Accessories
A Refurbished Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation Mini can be purchased from Groupon for $24.99, down from $59.95. Groupon is selling the Press Play Fuse Trio Car Charger for $14.99, down from $29.99.
Incase is offering a 40% coupon code for signing up for the Incase newsletter. Speck is offering 20% off site wide for Valentine’s Day with the promo code SWEETHEART. CableJive is offering 20% off site wide with the coupon code LOVE. Scosche is offering 20% off site wide with the coupon code Valentines2015 until 2/8.
Woot has the Mophie Juice Pack Helium battery case for the iPhone 5/5s for $29.99, down from $79.99. Tanga is selling the Apple leather iPhone case for the iPhone 5 and 5s for $19.99, a discount of $20 off the normal price. Best Buy is selling the Jawbone UP fitness tracker for $29.99, down from $79.99.
A refurbished LaCie Rugged 1TB hard drive is available from MacMall for $84.99, down from $170. The Promise Pegasus2 R4 8TB RAID System with Thunderbolt 2 is also available from MacMall for $1,299, $200 off the regular price.
MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors.
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