Zune HD (xYz) positioned to take on Apple, Sony, Nintendo and Google?

Engadget - Sounding too good to be true, the cats at Teamxbox have posted a lengthy piece quoting multiple sources from Redmond and Santa Clara who anonymously spill the beans on what the Zune HD is and isn't. The "digital entertainment handheld," dubbed unanimously as product "xYz" by said sources to emphasize its purpose of bridging the Xbox and Zune platforms, is not a phone (that's Project Pink) but a converged "mashup" of devices like the Sony Mylo, PSP, and iPod touch. The emphasis of the device is not the hardware but the software, services, and entertainment experience if offers while remaingly primarily "a portable game console and media player." It's said to link into Microsoft's Skybox computing services for mobiles and blur the lines between Xbox Live and the Zune and Sky Marketplaces. Even the Xbox 360's NXE interface will be making its way onto the new Microsoft handheld. As Teamxbox summarizes:

Buy a song, a movie or a TV show on your Xbox, play the content later on the handheld or the other way around. Play an Xbox Live Arcade game either on your Xbox or in this handheld.

At the moment, we have no way to authenticate any of this beyond what we've brought to the table already. Honestly, having had our hopes crushed by a tepid reaction to market trends from Microsoft in the past makes it difficult to believe all these seemingly fanboi fantasy claims of specs and convergence. However, if true, if Microsoft finally breaks free from the rigid silos of its own making and delivers an integrated living room, gaming, and portable media experience along with a stable Windows 7 computing environment... well, wait this just can't be happening.

Boeing aims sky-high with 'Phantom Ray'

The aerospace giant said Friday that intends to get its "Phantom Ray" technology demonstrator up in the air for its first flight in December 2010. The aircraft, intended as a test bed for advanced air systems, would make a total of 10 flights over a six-month stretch to show off its skills in missions ranging from surveillance to attack to autonomous aerial refueling.

Late in 2009, lab testing will begin for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and ground testing will follow in 2010. In putting the design through its paces, Boeing also aims to demonstrate its skills at rapid prototyping.

Boeing's Phantom Works unit won't be starting from scratch--it will be picking up where the company left off with its work on the Pentagon's Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program, which ended in 2006. (In this case, "joint" means a collaboration between the Air Force and the Navy--not always a recipe for success--along with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.) This time around, though, Boeing will be funding the project internally.

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Una estadounidense de 46 años se convierte en la cuarta persona en el mundo en recibir un trasplante facial completo

ELPAIS.com - Connie Culp, de 46 años, ha vuelto a sonreír, o al menos ha conseguido gesticular con su nuevo rostro para conseguir algo parecido a una sonrisa. La primera paciente en recibir un trasplante de cara en Estados Unidos, y la cuarta del mundo, ha aparecido este martes ante los medios en la clínica de Cleveland donde fue operada hace cinco meses, informa The New York Times en su edición digital (enlace en inglés).

Hace cinco años su marido le disparó en la cara y la dejó desfigurada. La bala le destrozó la nariz, las mejillas, el paladar y un ojo, y cientos de fragmentos de huesos y restos de munición se le incrustaron en la cara. Tan sólo le quedaron las cejas, la frente, el labio inferior y la barbilla. Él recibió una condena de cárcel de siete años, mientras que ella fue ingresada en un hospital en estado crítico y desde entonces sólo ha podido ingerir líquidos y respirar a través de un orificio perforado en la garganta.

En total, Connie ha sufrido 30 operaciones para recuperar su rostro, en las que los médicos de la Clínica de Cleveland tomaron partes de sus costillas para reconstruirle las mejillas y con un hueso de una pierna dieron forma a parte de la mandíbula. Pero las 29 primeras no fueron suficientes. En la última de las intervenciones, la más importante, realizada el pasado mes de diciembre, durante 22 horas los médicos sustituyeron el 80% de la cara de Culp, incluidos huesos, músculos, nervios, piel y vasos sanguíneos, por el de una donante recién fallecida.

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Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 Available Right Now

Some interesting information:
- There will be not product key limit to install Windows 7 RC1.
- The RC1 will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours.
- Official website to download Windows 7 RC1.

SPANISH ARTICLE FROM "ELPAIS.COM":
Windows 7, disponible para todo el mundo - Microsoft permite descargar a partir de hoy la versión en pruebas de Windows 7, la última versión de su sistema operativo en la que el gigante espera corregir los errores del criticado Vista. Windows 7 release candidate llega como un anticipo muy aproximado de lo que será el nuevo sistema operativo de Microsoft, después del mal sabor de boca que ha dejado a muchos usuarios el Vista.

Al ser la última versión beta, se supone que Microsoft no introducirá cambios mayores en la edición definitiva del sistema operativo y tan sólo se harán pequeñas mejoras. Microsoft prevé que unos tres millones de usuarios descarguen esta versión de Windows 7, que ya ha sido probada en los últimos días por suscriptores de MSDN y Technet.

En teoría, está versión beta no expirará hasta junio de 2010, pero se espera que Microsoft empiece a comercializar Windows 7 mucho antes, posiblemente durante este otoño. El fabricante de ordenadores Acer podría empezar a vender portátiles equipados con Windows 7 el próximo octubre, según la prensa anglosajona.

El gigante del software espera corregir con Windows 7 los errores de Vista, su último sistema operativo lanzado hace dos años y que ha generado más críticas que alabanzas entre los usuarios, haciendo que muchos de ellos prefirieran, incluso, seguir utilizando versiones más antiguas de Windows como XP.

Curiosamente, el nuevo sistema operativo llega con una función llamada Windows XP Mode, que permite a los usuarios y a las pequeñas y medianas empresas ejecutar aplicaciones de Windows XP directamente desde Windows 7.

Además, la última generación de Windows incluye menos alertas y ventanas emergentes notificando riesgos de seguridad potenciales, algo que irritó a muchos usuarios de Vista y que fue, incluso, ridiculizado en anuncios de su competidor Apple.

Otra de las novedades es la herramienta Remote Media Streaming, pensada principalmente para empresas, que permite acceder de manera remota a bibliotecas de medios digitales situadas en la oficina desde cualquier PC con Windows 7.

The Geomagnetic Apocalypse — And How to Stop It

For scary speculation about the end of civilization in 2012, people usually turn to followers of cryptic Mayan prophecy, not scientists. But that’s exactly what a group of NASA-assembled researchers described in a chilling report issued earlier this year on the destructive potential of solar storms.

Entitled “Severe Space Weather Events — Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts,” it describes the consequences of solar flares unleashing waves of energy that could disrupt Earth’s magnetic field, overwhelming high-voltage transformers with vast electrical currents and short-circuiting energy grids. Such a catastrophe would cost the United States “$1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year,” concluded the panel, and “full recovery could take four to 10 years.” That would, of course, be just a fraction of global damages.

Needless to say, shorting out the electrical grid would cause major disruptions to developed nations and their economies.

Worse yet, the next period of intense solar activity is expected in 2012, and coincides with the presence of an unusually large hole in Earth’s geomagnetic shield, meaning we’ll have less protection than usual from the solar flares.

The report received relatively little attention, perhaps because of 2012’s supernatural connotations. Mayan astronomers supposedly predicted that 2012 would mark the calamitous “birth of a new era.”

But the report is credible enough that some scientists and engineers are beginning to take the electromagnetic threat seriously. According to Lawrence Joseph, author of “Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization’s End,” “I’ve been following this topic for almost five years, and it wasn’t
until the report came out that this really began to
freak me out.”

Source: WIRED.com

Apple Rumored to Bring Tablet and iPhone Lite to Verizon Soon

Verizon Wireless is in talks with Apple to distribute two new iPhone-like devices, BusinessWeek has learned. Apple has created prototypes of the devices, and discussions reaching back a half-year have involved Apple CEO Steve Jobs, according to two people familiar with the matter.

One device is a smaller, less expensive calling device described by a person who has seen it as an "iPhone lite." The other is a media pad that would let users listen to music, view photos, and watch high-definition videos, the person says. It would place calls over a Wi-Fi connection. One of these devices may be introduced as early as this summer, one person says.

Until now, AT&T (T) has been the only carrier of Apple's iPhone in the U.S., adding more than 7 million subscribers as a result of the arrangement; the company has said it's in talks with Apple to extend the partnership, due to end as soon as next year. An agreement to distribute Apple communication devices via Verizon Wireless may cost AT&T some of the business it has gained as the sole Apple carrier. Even if Verizon Wireless and Apple fail to strike a deal, talks between them increase pressure on AT&T to accept partnership terms favorable to Apple.

Source: Gizmodo

Suck It, Fiber: America's Fastest Internet 101Mbps Delivered by Cablevision

While it may not match the very best broadband deals in other countries, Cablevision will start offering the fastest home Internet service in the United States next month.

The new service will offer download speeds of 101 megabits per second and upload speeds of 15 Mbps for a cost of $99.95 per month. It will be available May 11 to all 5 million of the people in areas served by Cablevision, mainly in the New York City suburbs.

Cablevision is deploying a new technology called Docsis 3 which can utilize more of the capacity of a cable television system for data, offering both higher capacity and lower costs. In Japan, J:Com uses the same technology to offer 160 Mbps service for 6,000 yen ($60) per month.

In the United States, cable and phone companies have chosen to offer very high speed service at higher prices in attempt to earn greater profits from business and professional users. Of course, this means that adoption will be lower than would be expected if the prices were lower.

Source: Gizmodo

Fury over low-flying 747

A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened residents and prompted workers to evacuate buildings.

The aircraft, which functions as Air Force One when the president is aboard, was taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The incident outraged many New Yorkers, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Source: CNN/iReport

Bluetooth 3.0 is Official, and it's Fast

WIRED.com - The Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) has officially announced the spec for the third version of the wireless data transfer protocol, and its fast. And we mean really fast.

Bluetooth v.3 uses the 802.11 wireless protocol, pairing a Bluetooth radio with a Wi-Fi radio. Everything works as it does now, more or less, but when higher bandwidth is needed the Wi-Fi kicks in (it remains off the rest of the time to save power). So how fast is it? The SIG says that it can run at around 24Mbps, fast enough to send video and keep, say, an iPod synced wirelessly.

It may even be possible to do this with today’s devices. As long as the hardware includes both Wi-Fi and a current Bluetooth radio, the two could work in concert to act as BT3. This means that something like a laptop computer or an iPhone could, theoretically, be upgraded.

When will we start seeing new 3.0 devices? As soon as nine months, but more likely a year.

100-MPG Delivery Van Is a Bright Idea

WIRED.com - A startup led by a veteran of General Motors EV1 program plans to put thousands of plug-in hybrid delivery vans on the road by 2012 and says "America needs" the 100-mpg vehicles.

Bright Automotive gave lawmakers a glimpse Tuesday of an eco-conscious truck called the "Idea" that promises low operating costs for fleet operators and less pollution for the rest of us.

The Indiana company joins a growing number of automakers and startups promising to give us cars with cords in the next few years, but it's targeting the fleet market. It's a smart move, said Darryl Siry, a clean tech analyst with Peppercom, because there's a need for fuel-efficient fleet vehicles.

The Bright Idea (a name too clever by half!) is aimed squarely at fleet customers -- the local cable company, the post office, that sort of thing. It's got lots of room -- 180 cubic feet, to be exact -- and a 2,000-pound payload. With a 50-mile, all-electric range, the Idea sounds like a great urban delivery rig.

It has a mixed hybrid drivetrain under the hood. A gasoline engine delivers the front wheels when needed (when the battery gets low) and helps recharge the battery pack as it approaches depletion. An electric motor drives the rear wheels. Bright is still shopping for an engine supplier, but the rest of the drivetrain will use Bosch and Getrag components.

The vehicle uses composite body panels and a lot of aluminum to keep the weight down and increase efficiency and range.

The company is looking to the Department of Energy for a $450 million loan to start production, and according to Dow Jones Newswire is in "very positive discussions" with the feds.

"Americans are demanding that we save money on energy and that we create jobs," Waters said. The company would use the money to build a factory capable of producing 50,000 vehicles annually.

While it might seem odd to focus on the fleet market, Waters says it makes sense. Fleet operators are more likely to be a "rapid adopter" of new technology. That makes it easier to "make a dent" in our oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions by bringing cleaner vehicles to the fleet vehicles that spend hours a day in stop-and-go traffic. Company chairman Reuben Munger says the firm is talking to PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division and Duke Energy about adding the Idea to their fleets.

iHouse SmartFaucet with face recognition is more smug than smart

Meet the SmartFaucet from iHouse; a tap with built-in face recognition technology that automatically adjusts the water pressure and temperature to your preferred settings. The touchscreen display even features widgets for at-a-glance access to eMail, appointments, and the outside temperature while LEDs illuminate the flow with temperature matching colors. iHouse's Fadec (pictured after the break) also adds face recognition to a 2.8-inch in-house remote control.





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GM, Segway To Unveil New Two-Wheeled Urban Vehicle

Jalopnik.com - GM and Segway will announce today they're working together to develop a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle part of the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility or PUMA project.

The companies plan to announce Tuesday that they are working together to develop a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle designed to be a fast, safe, inexpensive and clean alternative to traditional cars and trucks for cities across the world.

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA mobility pod, also would involve a vast communications network that would allow vehicles to interact with each other, regulate the flow of traffic and prevent crashes from happening.

The 300-pound prototype runs on a lithium-ion battery and uses Segway's characteristic two-wheel balancing technology, along with dual electric motors. It's designed to reach speeds of up to 35 miles-per-hour and can run 35 miles on a single charge.


The companies did not release a projected cost for the vehicle, but said ideally its total operating cost — including purchase price, insurance, maintenance and fuel — would total between one-fourth and one-third of that of the average traditional vehicle.

Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research and development, and strategic planning, said the project is part of Detroit-based GM's effort to remake itself as a purveyor of fuel-efficient vehicles. If Hummer took GM to the large-vehicle extreme, Burns said, the PUMA takes GM to the other.

---> Picture Gallery
---> Video GM-Segway PUMA:

Bring On The Affordable Green Sports Cars

WIRED - The hybrid revolution is well under way. Honda is rolling out the new Insight, the third-gen Prius is coming and even Ford's got a winner with the Fusion Hybrid. Nice cars one and all, but about as much fun as a root canal. Not one of them is something you'd back out of the garage on a Sunday morning to take for a quick blast up your favorite twisty road.

But don't worry. Affordable eco-conscious sports cars are coming, and soon.

We were impressed by the Prius, we love the Insight and we're thrilled to see Toyota rising to Honda's low-cost challenge with a Yaris-based hybrid. We're also eager to get behind the wheel of a Fusion hybrid. Cars like these are smart answers to thorny questions about fuel efficiency, oil dependence and CO2 emissions.

But they don't get the blood racing.

If automakers make green cars people want to drive as opposed to cars they think people should drive, everyone wins and the technology catches on that much faster. Tesla Motors gets it, but the Roadster runs 100 large. The Fisker Karma and electric Porsche that Ruf is working on won't be much cheaper. Make a green(er) car that's fun to drive, pleasant to look at and affordable and people will line up for them.

The auto industry is beginning to get this, and there are at least three cars - the Honda CR-Z hybrid, the Volkswagen BlueSport Roadster and the Toyota MR2 hybrid - poised to prove sports cars can be environmentally responsible and reasonably priced.

Of the three, only the CR-Z (main photo, above) is a sure-thing. Honda says we'll see the gas-electric two-seater - which beautifully updates the awesome CRX - in 2011. Word is it'll have a 140-horsepower motor mated to the IMA system found in the Insight and - importantly - a manual transmission. With a curb weight in the vicinity of 2,800 pounds coupled with a torquey electric motor and one of Honda's high-revving fours, how could it not be fun?

...Continue...

Solar Carport Gives Plug-Ins a Charge

One of the great criticisms of electric vehicles is the power they rely on often comes from fossil fuels, leading critics to question how "green" they are. A British firm has a solution for that — a carport topped with photovoltaic cells that can charge an EV.

Specialty glass and plastic manufacturer Romag says the PowerPark is just the thing for parking lots where electric vehicles may one day compete for spots to plug in. The first PowerPark was installed at the company's headquarters, and Romag says additional installations are planned around the United Kingdom.

"Interest has been received from supermarket chains, schools, airports, train stations, hospitals [and] commercial office buildings in the U.K., Middle East and Far East," Kevin Webster, the company's technical director, told Wired.com. "The U.S. would be an excellent market for the canopy."

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Skydiving to See Space Shuttle Launch