Did you see Windows Phone 8 today? Looks pretty good! And if you buy a WP handset any time between now and when it comes out, it’ll never ever get all of those goodies. So don’t. Wait until WP8 is officially official, which should be October at the earliest and, at the very latest, the end of the year.
Not a single smartphone out right now will be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 8. If you’re a recent customer, you might be frustrated. Rightfully so. But if you care about the dazzling future of Windows Phone, get over it.
What Microsoft is doing with Windows Phone 8 is what it has to do: laying cement for an OS that will last deep into the future—or at least as long as you’ll own your phone. Your Lumia is based on Windows CE, software that was first released during the Clinton administration. It’s ancient, and it’s holding the entire platform back. WP8, and its incompatibility with the phone you might own right now, is a much-needed fresh start.
More than that, it’s a fundamental shift, uprooting everything; Microsoft’s packing up the house, putting it on the back of a truck, and moving it out of the dead-end suburban cul-de-sac and onto a gorgeous country estate. WP8 will now share common code with the impending desktop and tablet versions of Windows 8. If this sounds complicated, it shouldn’t: by next year, every new Windows computer, slate, and phone will have the same modern software DNA, which will give Microsoft-friendly handsets access to the best programming magic available.
via Sorry, But Microsoft Screwing Windows Phone Fans Is the Right Thing To Do.
I love Windows Phone 7’s start screen: neatly organized square tiles that clearly show information in real time—from emails to photos to weather to travel progress—without having to click on applications. With Windows Phone 8 Microsoft has solved my only criticism: not enough information density. And it have done so without destroying Metro’s simplicity and elegance.
As WP8 chief Joe Belfiore said on stage today, this is going to be the feature that users will love the most.
via The Windows Phone 8 Start Screen Is the Best of Any Phone.
Scientists have promised a lot of regenerative medicine will come from stem cells, but so far progress has been fairly slow: they can stimualte regrowth of heart tissue, make incredibly expesnive artifical blood, or—at best—construct a short piece of vein. Now, though, scientists are claiming they can grow functional liver.Nature reports that a team of scientists from Japan has presented its works at a conference, and its incredible. In fact, George Daley, director of the stem-cell transplantation program at the Boston Childrens Hospital in Massachusetts, told Nature that “it blew [his] mind.” Wow.The researchers used stem cells created from human skin cells, then placed the cells on growth plates in a specially designed culture medium. Over the course of nine days, the cells started producing chemicals that a typical liver cell, otherwise known as a hepatocyte, would produce. They then added endothelial and mesenchymal cells—which form parts of blood vessels and other structural tissues within the body—to the mix, in the hope that they would be incorporated and begin to help the cells develop a structure akin to the liver.
via Scientists Can Now Grow Functioning Liver From Stem Cells.
While at WWDC 2012, I had the opportunity to sit down with Shane Crawford of Blue Lightning Labs and take a peak at his Mathemagics apps, Mental Math Tricks and Easy Algebra Fast. These app are design to teach you special rarely taught tricks and tips that can be used when solving different types of math problems. Most of the techniques can be done mentally and make it possible so solve math problems at lightning speeds.
Remember that USS Enterprise-esque ocean research vessel we first ran across back in 2005? Yes, the one that was originally slated to hit the open waters in 2008 or 2009. After catching heat for its lofty ambitions for the last 12 years, the SeaOrbiter is finally set to begin construction later this year. The ship is slated to measure 170 feet (51 meters) tall, but to stabilize the vessel over half of the vehicle would stay below the surface, providing all sorts of collection systems and useful tools. Not only does it look like something out of Minority Report, but the SeaOrbiter is 100% sustainable. The ship’s power is set to come from solar, wind and wave power with biofuel in case nature doesn’t cooperate — when the vessel isn’t adrift via ocean currents. Funding has been obtained for the $52.7 million undertaking, which will produce an endless amount of data on global warming and marine biology around the globe. For a look at some renders of the massive vehicle, click though the gallery below for a quick peek.
The rainbow chairs, miniature hot air balloons and child care at yesterdays Reading Rainbow press event were a welcome change from the standard mood lighting and Adele songs that set the scene for most tech launches these days. Of course, this wasnt just any press event — this was Reading Rainbow, the eagerly anticipated return of the beloved childrens program cancelled by PBS back in 2009 after a 26 year run. Host LeVar Burton was clearly emotional when he hit the stage, dabbing tears before discussing the two-year journey that culminates today with the release of the Reading Rainbow iPad App.Burton gave a quick demo of the app on stage including a little technical hiccup, resulting in the sly TNG nod, “Im not an engineer, I just play one on television”, and after a brief, misty-eyed rendition of the Reading Rainbow theme song by its original singer, Tina Fabrique, the walls behind us opened up to reveal a group of kids sitting on beanbag chairs around a table, putting the app through its paces. We also managed to get some hands-on time with it, without having to elbow any small children in the process not that we werent willing to do what it took to get the story. Check out some impressions and video after the break.
via Reading Rainbow launches iPad app, we go hands-on video — Engadget.
Bad email can happen to good people. Even a careful, tech-savvy person like yourself could unwittingly click on a malicious link or have their one-fits-all password compromised to hackers. So try this one-time 30-second strategy to stay on top of email account spammers no matter which service you use.Have you ever gotten a muddled email from a friend or family member linking you to pills or porn or somehing else you know theyd never send? Its easy for you to see that their account was compromised. But they wont know until some kind soul in their address book replies.Luckily, theres an easy trick to make sure youre immediately informed if a spam bot starts to send emails from your account. From Reddit user
via Simple Trick to Know Immediately if Your Email Gets Compromised Reddit | Apartment Therapy.
A team of scientists from the University of Gothenburg has managed to grow new veins for a 10-year-old girl using her own stem cells—and then, in a medical first, successfully implant them into her body.The team explain in the Lancet that the girl had a blocked hepatic portal vein—the blood vessel which takes blood away from the gut and to the liver. The condition often results in internal bleeding, and the usual approach is to replace it with a section of healthy vein from elsewhere in the body.
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