Daily News Courier

A Cleaner Way to Use Coal

A technology for generating electricity from coal without pollution achieves a milestone.

Coal is abundant and cheap, but burning it is a dirty business. This week researchers at Ohio State University announced a milestone in the development of a far cleaner way to use the energy in coal—a process called chemical looping that has the potential to reduce or eliminate a wide range of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

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In 2012, genomics tiptoed into the doctor

XBMC 12 beta 2 now available with official Android support

The folks at XBMC have released the second beta for version 12 (Frodo) and we finally see official Android support. XBMC for Android has been "unofficially" available on and off, as the open-source project code is easily compiled and redistributed. Official support means the right people are working on it, with organized version control and bug tracking. 

In case you're not sure what XBMC is, think of it as the ultimate cross-platform digital media hub. Support for most fie types on most operating systems, compatibility with a multitude of remotes, and easy network streaming make XBMC a pretty big deal. Getting official support for Android is a pretty big milestone for the platform as a whole.

Remember, it's still in beta, and you're forewarned that the first load is ultra-slow. Also, right now XBMC doesn't work with Android 4.2, but we're told beta 3 corrects this and is "right around the corner". For more information and the download, hit the links below.

Source: XBMC; via XBMC for Android forums

Samsung now manufacturing 10 nanometer 64GB flash storage chips

The times, they are a changin'. Devices are getting thinner and thinner, meaning space between the battery and screen is a premium. Samsung has announced that its come to a new milestone in its flash memory division, dropping down to a 10nm (nanometer)-class manufacturing process for 64GB chips. That doesn't really mean much on the face of it, but the end result is a chip that's physically 20-percent smaller, and has nearly double the performance in terms of IOPS (input/output per second) at 2,000 write and 5,000 read. These new chips have sequential read and write speeds of 260MB/s and 50MB/s, respectively, which is over 10 times faster than an external Class 10 SDcard.

That's some serious performance improvements over external storage, and at the capacities that these chips are available in, you're not exactly making any compromises. Also remember that Samsung manufactures these components for more than just their own devices. Many different manufacturers utilize Samsung for device components, so we'll hopefully start seeing these new, faster chips in phones and tablets across the board soon.

Source: Samsung; Via: Engadget

EE to launch UK’s first 4G network on Oct. 30

So says EE CEO Olaf Swantee. The UK's 4G LTE network will kick off in just under four weeks, on Tuesday, Oct. 30, alongside EE's new fiber broadband network. No details of pricing were made available in today's announcement.

The news follows an agreement between EE and rival networks, brokered by Ofcom and the British government, which accelerates the launch of rival 4G services.

Today's full statement from Swantee reads –

“We are delighted to announce that the official launch of our new customer brand, EE, offering the UK’s first superfast mobile 4G and fibre broadband service, will take place on the 30th October 2012.

“This is a significant milestone for the United Kingdom, and for the people and businesses of our country who will now be able to enjoy the huge advantages of superfast 4G technology for the first time.

“We are very proud to be pioneering, innovating and leading our industry in launching 4G for our nation through our new EE brand.”

4G Android launch devices include the HTC One XL, Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE and Galaxy Note 2 LTE.

End of an era: Google is now more valuable than Microsoft

Google’s market cap has surpassed that of Microsoft. Market gyrations continue, so for all we know it's possible for Microsoft to inch back ahead of Google tomorrow. But the milestone for Google is meaningful nonetheless.
Simply put, it means the PC isn’t as important as the web. The operating system is not nearly as important as content.

Google’s entire business is based around helping searchers find content, while helping publishers monetize their content.  Android is an extension of this, as is YouTube, despite most of the revenue coming from advertising in the form of Adwords (and Adsense). 

It’s hard to consider Microsoft much of a growth business anymore.  The PC is a mature product segment.  Windows OS is well established and represents more of a stable business than one with exciting growth. Same goes for the enterprise components of Microsoft’s business.

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Google announces 25 billion Play Store downloads, celebrates with many 25 cent apps

In order to commemorate reaching an awesome milestone, Google is discounting multiple paid apps down to 25 cents.

Motorola RAZR i review

The Intel-Motorola partnership has been a long time coming. The two officially hooked up at CES 2012, where they committed to a “multi-year, multi-device agreement” to bring Intel-powered Moto phones to market. Ten months and a few leaks later, the first such device, the Motorola RAZR i, reaches European store shelves. It may not have been the bleeding-edge, multi-core, 4G behemoth that some — including us — were hoping for, but the RAZR i is nevertheless an important device for both companies. For Moto, it’s a chance to tackle the less hotly-contested mid-range phone market, and differentiate itself through its unique Intel internals. And it’s Intel’s first major Android smartphone from a top-tier manufacturer — an important milestone for the chip giant in its ongoing war against the ever-present ARM.

But all this talk of important firsts and key partnerships means nothing if the device itself isn’t up to snuff. So just how does the Motorola RAZR i shape up in the crowded and fiercely competitive smartphone marketplace of late 2012? Read on to find out.

The RAZR i is a speedy, well-featured handset from Motorola, and it does a great job of showcasing the power of Intel on Android. Camera performance is impressive for a mid-range handset.	Ho-hum industrial design, last-generation screen tech. Compatibility issues in a handful of applications. Launches with ICS as others are preparing to jump to Jelly Bean.
There’s nothing terribly wrong with the RAZR i, and on the whole, we like the direction Moto and Intel are moving in. They’ve delivered a fast performer with a couple of outstanding features, and they deserve credit for that. But does the RAZR i have what it takes to survive the firestorm of competing smartphones coming this October? We’re just not sure.

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Small Factory to Build Powerful Solar Panels

Startup Semprius will soon open a plant to produce is concentrated solar modules.

A startup

Android hits 500 million installs

Hugo Barra, Google's director of product management for Android, just announced on Google+ that Android devices have officially hit the 500 million install milestone. That number sounds huge until you consider that 1.3 million phones and other devices are being activated daily. 

The folks on the Android team should be proud, and we'd all like to extend our congratulations to them on this feat. I'm sure many of you guys feel the same, so let 'em know how much we love them in the comments!

Source: +Hugo Barra