Google's AdMob division collects a ton of data on the general public's web surfing habits, but recently released statistics on tablet usage might actually surprise you. According to a recent survey more than 28 percent of all respondents said that a tablet is their primary computer. As technology enthusiasts that admission should send chills up your spine on the future of computing in general, and points out just how little of a computer's full potential is utilized by the vast majority of users.
When asked how most people use their tablets: - 84 % play games - 78 % search for information - 74% email - 61% read news - 56% use social networks - 51% watch videos or listen to music - 46% read e-books - 42% shop online
According to the survey the one area where tablets are really lagging is in enterprise adoption, with only 7 percent of respondents reportedly using the devices at work. In fact, 82 percent of all tablets sold are only used at home, but are all used for at least one hour a day. Enterprise adoption is expected to rise exponentially in the coming years, particularly among sales and business professionals who stand to benefit the most from an always-connected dashboard of events.
Do you own a tablet? If so how do these stats align with your personal usage?
When Moore first predicted back in 1965 that computing power would double every 18 months, it's hard to imagine even he could have predicted that by 2008, computers would be crunching a whopping 9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data per year. To put it in more modern terms that 9.57 zettabytes, or a million million gigabytes in total. The good news behind these numbers is that the vast majority of this data is a byproduct of CPU's crunching numbers, and is not actual human readable information. Even despite these caveats however, 9.57 zettabytes is still a staggering number to wrap our minds around.
If you assume an average sized book is about 4.7 centimeters thick, and contains about 2.5 megabytes of information, 9.57 zettabytes would create a stack 5.6 billion miles high – enough to stretch all the way to Neptune and back again twenty times. Since these numbers are based on data from 2008, it's safe to say we can probably add a few more laps based on today's modern CPU's, but when your dealing with numbers this high why split hairs over details.
By 2024, the researchers involved in the study expect this theoretical pile of books to be large enough to reach the next star, Alpha Centauri, 4.37 light years away.
It seems like every other week we are checking out some new and bizarre Kinect hack, so the Sony Move is long overdue for exploitation. Earlier in the week a creative hobbyist by the name of Jacob Pennock made use of the newly released Move.me C library to build a gesture-controlled mouse driver for a Linux based PC. The early implementation shown in the video was naturally somewhat limited, but it worked well enough to make us wonder if this wouldn't actually be a half decent HTPC remote.
The demo video Pennock uploaded to You Tube is of course very short on details, but it does show how gestures can be recorded, and then mapped to launch applications, or even specific media files. For example a quick "F" traced across the screen opens Facebook, and the all too familiar "X" kills it off again. It's hard to imagine trading in a mouse for a Sony Move, but then again if this could be used to control XMBC on an home theater PC, it might actually be somewhat compelling.
Either way from what we hear I think Sony will just be glad if it helps them Move a few more Move's. Alas, when you name a product after something so basic the jokes literally do write themselves. Sorry about that!
Google hasn't officially announced that it's entering the music game yet, but with yesterday's acquisition of Canadian based music startup Pushlife for a cool $25 million, its clear the search giant is looking to make a few improvements to Androids media capabilities. Pushlife was founded by former Research in Motion employee Ray Reddy who had a passion for bringing iTunes style sync to other smartphone platforms, a hobby that seems to have paid off quite handsomely.
It is unclear at this point if Google plans to implement Pushlife's software sync "as is", or if they were simply after the technology and the engineering expertise for a larger rollout. A sync solution is of course sorely needed on the Android platform, but evangelists will no doubt be surprised Google didn't go after something a bit more fleshed out such as DoubleTwist.
DoubleTwist offers many of the same iTunes sync capabilities Pushlife advertises, along with a very slick interface, and wireless sync. The biggest difference between DoubleTwist and Pushlife, from what we can tell, is the music store relationship. While DoubleTwist is very clearly in bed with Amazon, Pushlife has established relationships with at least a few major labels directly, and was rumored to be going after carrier billing for song purchases.
When asked for a comment Google wouldn't verify the exact terms of the sale, but did say: "We believe the team has a wealth of experience building cool mobile applications, and we think they'll make a great addition to our mobile team."
Google has received federal approval for its purchase of travel software company ITA. Google has faced intense scrutiny over the sale from the government as well as from the competition, like Microsoft Bing and Expedia. But it's not a free-for-all, Google will have to adhere to some fairly strict guidelines.
The settlement with the DOJ would require El Goog to use ITA's technology to develop travel software, and continue to fund development in the travel software industry. ITA's existing airfare search engine would need to remain available to Google's competition for a reasonable fee as well. To really drive the point home, the DOJ threatened an antitrust lawsuit should Google pass on the settlement.
Google's goal is to integrate flight information into search results. Users would be able to search for flights, prices, and other conditions to get a list of available tickets. It's yet another effort to keep users on Google sites, instead of just linking off to other services. Do you think Google's purchase of ITA will harm competition?
The champagne corks must be popping at Redmond today. According to stat tracking group Pingdom, Windows 7 usage just passed Windows XP in the US. Of all operating systems, XP use is still at 31.56%, but Windows 7 has vaulted to 31.71%. It's about time.
The data comes from aggregated visits to over 3 million websites, meaning that it offers a solid cross sample of machines. Usage of Windows 7 has been on a steep rise ever since the OS was debuted. A refreshing change from Vista, which never got close to XP's market share level.
In many ways, this was inevitable. As old computers break down, people replace them with whatever is current. But we would wager that Windows 7 has also smoothed over many of the hurt feelings from Vista in general. The US joins other countries like the UK, Australia and France that have already hit this milestone. So, hands up if you're still on XP.
Verizon Wireless has confirmed today that as of April 17th, customers will no longer have the option of signing up for 1-year contracts. According to Big Red, the change is being made to simplify choices and because most people choose the 2-year option with larger phone subsidy anyway. Mont-to-month, prepaid, and 2-year contracts are continuing unchanged.
The 1-year contract option was popular among power users who liked the freedom of getting a new, subsidized phone every year. In many cases, Verizon's 1-year handset prices were only slightly more expensive than the 2-year ones. But no more. Starting on the 17th, new sign-ups and renewing users will either pay full price, or take the 2-year subsidy.
Have you ever used the 1-year contract option on your carrier? Would you do it again (unless you're on Verizon)?
We finally got to spend some time in our brand new video studio, where I was given my first opportunity to ever to use a green screen during a shoot, and my 1,156th (don't quote me there) opportunity to make an ass out of myself on camera.
All joking aside, dropping an image seamlessly over a green screen was actually a bit harder than we had anticipated, as you'll see in some slight hiccups in the video. But it was a learning experience, and we're excited to find new and fun ways to utilize the studio moving forward. But, for now, here's us acting like idiots in front of a green screen. Enjoy!
Have yourselves a fantastic weekend everyone, we'll see ya' next week.
Feel like fragging a fraking toaster? Of course you do. You could wait for the inevitable Cylon uprising (this has all happened before, after all), or you can suit up grab a Viper and get you some with Battlestar Galactica Online, our Cool Site of the Week.
Currently in open beta, Battlestar Galactica Online is a browser-based 3D tactical space shooter with content pulled from everyone's favorite space opera of the past few years. Players can take on the role of either a Colonial or Cylon fighter pilot. At the time we tried this bad boy out, the game's developers--Bigpoint--were rewarding players who rolled a Cylon with 50% additional experience for ten days. Now there's some social commentary for you: Even in a world as messed up as this one is, overwhelming numbers of fighter jockeys still want to fly for the good guys. After selecting a faction (we chose to flight for the Colonials, extra experience be damned), you'll be sent on a brief training missing, which see you quickly move from taking down a few target dummies to participating in a full blown fire fight.
As you progress through the game, you'll encounter a number of familiar faces from the TV series, be sent on a wide variety of combat missions and be given the opportunity to make microtransactions to improve your character's combat capabilities. Not too shabby for a free browser-based application.
Be sure to check back every Friday for another edition of Cool Site of the Week.
When the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was introduced in 1946 as a tool for calculating the trajectory of artillery shells, it made headlines nationwide as the first all-electronic computer. But there was little mention of Jean Jennings Bartik and the other women who programmed the machine, charting new territory by converting math into a nascent machine language.
Bartik, who died last month and is on the right in the above photo, graduated from Northwest Missouri State University (then Northwest Missouri State Teachers College) with a degree in math and responded to an Army ad for a wartime project at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945. There, along with Frances Elizabeth Holberton, she lead a small team of women programmers at a time when no one even really knew what programming was.
The ENIAC, which used thousands of vacuum tubes, diodes, relays, resistors and capacitors to perform complex arithmetic calculations, was a thousand times faster than the part-electronic, part-mechanical machines that preceded it. Bartik and her team developed the system for translating those mathematical problems into a configuration for the ENIAC's myriad cables and switches.
Bartik worked on the UNIVAC, an early commercial computer, throughout the rest of the decade, leaving the industry in 1951 and returning to work as a programmer from 1967 into the mid-80s, when she was laid off. She worked as a real estate agent for the next 25 years, unable to find work in programming, though in recent years she and her team have rightfully been recognized as pioneers by the computer science community. The ENIAC represented an unparalleled jump computational power—one that no breakthrough has matched since. Jean Bartik and the rest of the ENIAC women were instrumental in making that historic leap.
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Remember that mind-blowing next-gen tech demo Epic debuted at GDC? You know, the one that was basically Deus Ex, but so gorgeous that your next PC is going to run on a drool-powered cooling system? Well, Epic's released an official video detailing all the tech that's doing the heavy lifting, and, well, we want it in our lives right this very moment. But alas, Epic's only using it to test the waters right now. Check it out after the break (courtesy of Kotaku), and then help us figure out time trave-- oops, nevermind.
Say what you will about Dragon Age II (here, we'll help: "dumbed-down," "consolized," and "ignorant argument against homosexuality" are the popular ones), but you might want to think twice before booting BioWare out of your life forever. After all, whether you liked Dragon Age II or not, the RPG powerhouse is still quite thankful that you bought it. So thankful, in fact, that its passing out free copies of its space opera opus Mass Effect 2 – no strings attached.
"Thanks to gamers like you, Dragon Age II is off to a great start – breaking the 1 million mark in less than two weeks and faster than Dragon Age: Origins," BioWare wrote. "We appreciate your support. As a special thank you for helping with the game's early success, BioWare would like to present you with a download code for 2010's Game of the Year, Mass Effect 2 on PC. As always, we sincerely appreciate your support and passion as we remain focused on delivering quality interactive experiences now and in the future."
To grab your copy, just click here and follow the instructions. Simple and straightforward as, er, all of Dragon Age II. (Sorry, BioWare. We had to.) Better still, a few DLC packs are coming along for the ride, although they're more seasoning and less meat. More specifically, you'll receive Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Cerberus Weapon and Armor, Normandy Crash Site, Cerberus Arc Projector, and Firewalker Pack. So nothing too amazing, but given the price, can you really complain?
So yes, if Dragon Age II's any indication, BioWare's not perfect. But – in the grand scheme of things – it's pretty darn close.
A congressional hearing this morning took on a confrontational tone as Representatives criticized Google for falling short on policing piracy online. After pointing out that El Goog did pull Grooveshark from the Market (which is apparently a good thing), the committee chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte said it was not about what Google has done, " But more about what Google has left to do."
Chief among the complaints leveled at Google is that the search giant profits from ads placed on sites devoted to piracy. The entertainment industry has been raising the alarm for the last decade, claiming that online piracy was costing them billions of dollars. They would certainly like to see Google forced to take on a more active role in stopping piracy.
Google's Kent Walker discussed the companies antipiracy efforts including the scary-good YouTube content filter. On the subject of infringing sites using AdWords, Walker denied that Google profits saying, "They cost us money to get rid of them. They cost us money when they use fake credit cards... we have no interest in having our advertisement leading to these sites."
Some members of the committee seemed unconvinced of Google's commitment, pointing to Google's search results. It is, of course, possible to find counterfeit goods and pirated content on Google. What do you think Google's role in antipiracy efforts should be?
TweetDeck is one of the most popular desktop Twitter clients out there, and a new beta program is aiming to bring the app into the web. TweetDeck is preparing to open a limited beta test of the new HTML5 TweetDeck web app. The product will initially support Chrome, Firefox 3.6, Firefox 4 and Safari. Internet Explorer 9 and Opera support will be added later.
Several month ago, TweetDeck released a Google Chrome Web Store app version of the client. If you've used that, you'll see a lot of the same in the new web app. Most of the core architecture is the same, but the web app required no download and will be available on all major platforms when complete.
Interested parties should sign up with a TweetDeck account here, and wait to be called up. Does the idea of a robust web-based Twitter client appeal to you more than a desktop one?
Some sad news from the land of Android tablets today. The Motorola Xoom, often lauded as the first real iPad competitor, isn't doing terribly well with consumers. Estimates from Deutsche Bank indicate that only 100,000 Xooms have been sold thus far. For reference, the first iPad sold 300,000 units on day one.
The Xoom is a device powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 dual-core SoC, and running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Google developed a totally redesigned user interface for their tablet OS, but most reviewers reported the software feels unfinished. The other barrier to entry is the high price of the Xoom. For most of its run, it has only been available from Verizon Wireless for $800 off-contract, or $600 with a 2-year agreement.
Deutsche Bank got their numbers by checking Android developer logs to see how many users were running Honeycomb. At this rate, it might take another integration of software before Google's Android OS can really take on the iPad. Assuming these numbers are correct, do you think the Xoom is dead in the water?
AMD's Bulldozer may not arrive until this summer if the rumors are true, but board makers such as MSI are already guaranteeing that some of its current AM3 boards will work perfectly fine with AM3+. With AMD long saying that Bulldozer would not work with AM3, how is this possible? To find out, I made a few calls to get the skinny on how MSI, Gigabyte and others are enabling support for the upcoming Bulldozer chip. (For an early look at an actual AM3+ board, peep this video that I shot guerilla-style at CES.)
Celebrities and athletes have great sway over how and what we buy. Cars that win NASCAR races peak consumer interest. Gear that we see experts and athletes use on TV generates far more interest than run-of-the-mill hardware.
So for people who want a board optimized for a badass gamer like Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, it makes sense to buy his Fatal1ty P67 Professional motherboard.
The Fatal1ty P67 Professional has support for up to three ATI cards or two Nvidia graphic cards.
Obviously, Fatal1ty didn't buy a motherboard company. The board is actually made and supported by the Asus spin-off, Asrock. Once known as a budget board company, Asrock these days certainly hasn't been churning out budget products. Given Fatal1ty's influence, it's no surprise that the Professional targets devoted gamers. It supports up to three ATI GPUs in CrossFireX mode and Nvidia in SLI mode—but, alas, there's no tri-SLI support courtesy of an nForce 200 chip like we saw in the Gigabyte P67A-UD7 board we reviewed last month.
The Professional features a tunable USB 2.0 mouse port.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing features of the board is its Fatal1ty USB 2.0 mouse port that allows you to tune the polling rate from 125Hz to 1,000Hz (Fatal1ty, BTW, prefers a 500Hz poll rate). It's a cool feature for folks who really need to tune their mouse to match a particular game's frame rate. For Joe 12-pack playing pickup games of Call of Duty: Black Ops, we wouldn't expect miracles. More troubling: We tried several top-flight gaming mice, including a SteelSeries iKari, CM Storm twin-laser Sentinel Advance, and a Microsoft SideWinder, and none of the mice—which incidentally feature adjustable DPI rates—would work with the port. The port did, however, work with an older, non-adjustable Razer Pro and a $6 Dell mouse.
In another first, the Fatal1ty P67 Professional features the Etron USB 3.0 host controller chip, instead of the NEC (now Renesas) chip we've seen in other boards. Etron promises higher throughput, but does it deliver? Yes and no. Using a very fast OCZ Enyo USB 3.0 drive as our target, the Etron chip was faster than boards that use just the NEC controller. But boards such as Gigabyte's P67A-UD7, using the NEC+VIA combo, offered slightly better performance. Expect more on this in the future.
The Etron controller is truly faster than a standard NEC's USB 3.0 host controller.
In pure performance, the Fatal1ty board hangs right there with other P67 offerings from the top-tier board makers. Like those, the Professional boots fine with 3TB partitions, thanks to its UEFI. The UEFI interface is OK—although you'll have to make your tweaks with a background image of Fatal1ty glaring at you the whole time. It's on par with MSI's UEFI interface, but both trail behind Asus's super-polished UEFI interface.
Overclocking was also fine—when done from the UEFI. We had less luck with the included OC utility, which would occasionally blue-screen from simply dialing up the multiplier for the 2600K part to 4.5GHz. The same overclock from the BIOS gave us no issues.
There's some nice trim on the board, including a POST indicator and surface- mounted controls.
And while it's not a problem per se, it's a bit odd that the board features a parallel ATA port and floppy port in this day and age. We don't know why Asrock bothered to waste real estate on these legacy ports.
Overall, the Fatal1ty is a solid board that offers a ton of features for the money. As we said, Asrock has traditionally been associated with budget and ultra- budget boards, but this should make other board makers take notice.
Let's forget for a moment that watercooling a Nintendo Wii console is about as useful as putting racing tires on a Pinto. After seeing what one looks like (a watercooled Wii, not a Pinto), we don't care. The final result is a thing of beauty that makes for a great conversation piece, even if it won't make Super Mario Galaxy load any faster.
Bit-Tech.net forum member "Angel OD" posted a multi-post worklog of how he got from point A (a stock Wii console) to point B (a tricked out Wii with watercooling), so if you have the time, money, and nerve, you can try to make your own. It took a lot of modding and machine work, but as far as water cooled consoles go, we have to give the nod to Angel OD for putting together one of the 'coolest' that we've ever seen.
You can follow the worklog here, or jump straight to pics of the finished mod here and here.
Do you remember typing Load"*",8,1 to fire up a program? How about using an Epyx Fast Load cartridge to speed up load times? If either of those bring back memories, then you grew up in (or lived through) the Commodore 64 era nearly three decades ago. With sales estimated to be as high as 17 million units, the Commodore 64 is largely regarded as the best-selling PC model of all time. It only makes sense, then, that someone would try to bring the C64 back, albeit with updated components.
Commodore 64 is ressurecting the C64 with a near replica of the original model, at least externally. It sports the same beige housing with black keys that you remember from long ago, though the plank's been upgraded with Cherry brand key switches for a better feel.
On the inside, however, nothing is as you remember it. The new Commodore 64 sports a mini-ITX motherboard with a dual-core Intel Atom 525 processor clocked at 1.8GHz, Nvidia Ion 2 graphics, up to 4GB of DDR2-667/800 RAM, onboard 6-channel audio, DVD burner (optional Blu-ray reader), multi-card reader, USB ports, and other amenities found on a modern day nettop.
Also included is a built-in Commodore 64 emulator with a handful of classic games pre-installed. Pricing ranges from $250 for a barebones setup (basically just the case and card reader) all the way to $895 for a fully loaded system with a 1TB hard drive. All units come with Ubunutu 10.04 LTS on disk and ready to install.
Satellite billionaire Charlie Ergen, who owns Dish Network, outbid at least three other suitors in pursuit of Blockbuster in a bankruptcy auction, Reuters reports. That means Dish Network, the second largest U.S. satellite TV provider in the U.S. (behind DirecTV), now owns Blockbuster, for which it will pay around $320 million. What will this mean for Dish Network?
"Blockbuster will complement our existing video offerings while presenting cross-marketing and service extension opportunities for Dish Network," said Tom Cullen, executive vice president of sales, marketing and programming for Dish Network.
This is the second time in two months that Dish Network has purchased a bankrupt company, the other being a hybrid satellite and land-based communications company called DBSD North America that was acquired for $1.4 billion.
Depending on how Dish Network implements its Blockbuster acquisition, this could end up be being a steal for the satellite company. At its peak in 2002, Blockbuster was worth more than $5 billion, but struggled to compete against the digital video revolution led in part by Netflix.
When Moore first predicted back in 1965 that computing power would double every 18 months, it's hard to imagine even he could have predicted that by 2008, computers would be crunching a whopping 
It seems like every other week we are checking out some new and bizarre 
Google hasn't officially announced that it's entering the music game yet, but with yesterday's acquisition of Canadian based music startup Pushlife for a cool 
Google has 
Verizon Wireless has confirmed today that as of April 17th, customers will
Feel like fragging a fraking toaster? Of course you do. You could wait for the inevitable Cylon uprising (this has all happened before, after all), or you can suit up grab a Viper and get you some with 
As you progress through the game, you'll encounter a number of familiar faces from the TV series, be sent on a wide variety of combat missions and be given the opportunity to make microtransactions to improve your character's combat capabilities. Not too shabby for a free browser-based application. 
Remember that mind-blowing 
Say what you will about Dragon Age II (here, we'll help: "dumbed-down," "consolized," and "
A congressional hearing this morning took on a 
TweetDeck is one of the most popular desktop Twitter clients out there, and a new beta program is aiming to bring the app into the web. TweetDeck is preparing to open a limited beta test of the new 
Some sad news from the land of Android tablets today. The Motorola Xoom, often lauded as the first real iPad competitor, 
Let's forget for a moment that watercooling a Nintendo Wii console is about as useful as putting racing tires on a Pinto. After seeing what one looks like (a watercooled Wii, not a Pinto), we don't care. The final result is a thing of beauty that makes for a great conversation piece, even if it won't make Super Mario Galaxy load any faster.
Do you remember typing Load"*",8,1 to fire up a program? How about using an Epyx Fast Load cartridge to speed up load times? If either of those bring back memories, then you grew up in (or lived through) the Commodore 64 era nearly three decades ago. With sales estimated to be as high as 17 million units, the Commodore 64 is largely regarded as the best-selling PC model of all time. It only makes sense, then, that someone would try to bring the C64 back, albeit with updated components.
Satellite billionaire Charlie Ergen, who owns Dish Network, outbid at least three other suitors in pursuit of Blockbuster in a bankruptcy auction, 
