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Consumers in emerging economies twice as likely as developed economies to buy consumer technology this year
By Ben Coxworth
17:47 January 19, 2010 PST
Despite the reputation that First-World populations have for consumerism, a new study has shown that citizens of emerging countries are twice as likely to purchase and use consumer technology within the next year. They are also more willing to pay a premium for environmentally-friendly consumer electronics, and value innovative new products over brand loyalty. The study was conducted by Accenture, a global management consulting firm, and its findings will have profound implications for the consumer tech marketplace. Read More
Long awaited satellite to monitor water cycle reaches orbit
By Darren Quick
22:43 November 5, 2009 PST
The 658kg (1,450 lb) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) this week is the first ever satellite designed both to map sea surface salinity and to monitor soil moisture on a global scale. The unique radiometer it carries will enable passive surveying of the water cycle between oceans, the atmosphere and land thereby playing a key role in the monitoring of global climate change. Read More
BBC to sell 'Project Canvas' web-based TV concept around the world
By Paul Lester
17:12 September 16, 2009 PDT
Those outside of the UK may not be overly familiar with the BBC iPlayer, a streaming web-based TV service for the British institution’s range of channels that has seen burgeoning success and spawned a number of terrestrial and satellite-based rivals. It’s also worth summarising the aim of Project Canvas, a venture by the broadcasting giant that looks to bring a similar streaming service to the home and will notably look to incorporate other channels, on-demand services and web-based content from sites such as YouTube, Flickr and Facebook, as well as built-in PVR functionality though a set-top box connected to a TV. Read More
Another global broadband offering from Verizon: the UMW190
By Paul Ridden
17:31 September 3, 2009 PDT
Not even a month has passed since Verizon announced that it had partnered with the USA arm of China's ZTE to release of the AD3700 USB modem which offered users worldwide coverage from a single device. And now the company is at it again, declaring the forthcoming availability of the UMW190 USB modem, which does essentially the same job in a slightly smaller and cheaper form. Read More
Reality Mining: Tomorrow’s forecast predicts humanity’s needs
By Darren Quick
23:54 July 29, 2009 PDT
Researchers will one day be able to accurately predict such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic, says Indiana University’s Alessandro Vespignani. This capability will be possible thanks to “reality mining”, which involves the collection of data from machine-sensed sources to provide knowledge about aggregated human behavior. Read More
Monitoring blogs to measure global happiness
By Darren Quick
22:51 July 28, 2009 PDT
A mathematician and computer scientist working in the Advanced Computing Center at the University of Vermont have created a remote-sensing mechanism that examines the content of blogs to measure the emotional levels of millions of people. The result is the ‘We Feel Fine’ system, which purports to give an indication of how people around the world are feeling. Read More
Protecting world food supplies with salt-tolerant crops
20:59 July 16, 2009 PDT
Salt might be great with popcorn and peanuts, but it’s not so good with soil. The U.N. estimates that the world loses at least three hectares of arable land every minute because of soil salinity. Most crops simply can’t cope with too much salt. Which is why a breakthrough by a team at the University of Adelaide in Australia could have a profound effect on the food supplies of our future: they’ve found a way to genetically modify plants to become more salt tolerant. Read More
National Geographic dual SIM phone makes great travel companion
22:47 June 18, 2009 PDT
National Geographic’s new Duet Travel Phone is the ideal traveling companion: a dual SIM card mobile that lets you have two numbers in a single phone. So, no matter where you go in the world, you can always keep your own number while also having a low-cost one available for local use. Read More
TTXGP - electric motor company Agni blitzes in first clean emissions Grand Prix
By Mike Hanlon
19:05 June 12, 2009 PDT
Joint Indian-English company Agni Motors’s claim of making quality, high efficiency and high performance electric motors gained massive credence today when it clearly bested the world’s fastest electric motorcycles to win the first clean emissions (AKA electric) motorcycle Grand Prix at an average speed of 87.434 mph. It’s place in history is assured by the landmark win, but it was the team’s dominance that was most surprising. It averaged 10 mph faster around the 37 mile course than its closest rival and established itself as the first superstar company to emerge in a fledgling giant industry. Read More
dariusvons
- February 10, 2010 @ 00:56 UTC
