Earlier this week, software giant Microsoft and media-distibution giant Netflix reached an agreement that will allow X-Box 360 users to live stream content via Netflix.

The agreement will let Netflix subscribers stream 10,000 movies and TV shows to Xbox consoles for viewing on television sets, beginning this fall. Xbox had movies and shows available for download before, but only half as many.

The new deal was announced at this week’s E3 show.

“This generation of consoles will change the face of home entertainment more than any other generation before,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment division. (Read more…)

Source: Fox Sci-Tech News

MEYRIN, Switzerland — The most powerful atom-smasher ever built could make some bizarre discoveries, such as invisible matter or extra dimensions in space, after it is switched on in August.

But some critics fear the Large Hadron Collider could exceed physicists’ wildest conjectures: Will it spawn a black hole that could swallow Earth? Or spit out particles that could turn the planet into a hot dead clump?

Ridiculous, say scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French initials CERN — some of whom have been working for a generation on the $5.8 billion collider, or LHC.

“Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on,” said project leader Lyn Evans.

David Francis, a physicist on the collider’s huge ATLAS particle detector, smiled when asked whether he worried about black holes and hypothetical killer particles known as strangelets.

“If I thought that this was going to happen, I would be well away from here,” he said.

Read the full story HERE.

After 30 years of heading the most successful software business in world history and with his goal of seeing a computer in every home almost complete, Microsoft’s Bill Gates will step down as that company’s leader to concentrate soley on charitable work.

This comes after the announcement just this week that there are now 1 billion personal computers in the world with that number expected to double in just a little over 5 years and Gates’ operating software governs the majority of them, making him and his wife Melinda, two of the richest people to have ever lived on the planet. Only King Solomon, Warren Buffett and Middle Eastern oil sheiks meander in that kind of territory.

(Read more…)

Vint Cerf, the recognized “father of the internet” and Google VP, talks with BeefTV’s Andy Plesser about his vision for the future of the Internet.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it plans to auction off a unused sections of wireless airwaves to buyers. The catch for the buyers is they must be willing to provide free broadband Internet service without pornography and filter out all “obscene” material. Also, winners of the bidding war must guarantee coverage to nearly half of the U.S. within the next four years and up to 95% of the population in the States by 10 years.

On Friday the FCC opened up its plan, officially known as docket FCC-08-158A1.d oc, for public comment.

“Additional obligations associated with the licensee’s free broadband service would include a requirement to provide a network-based filtering mechanism for the free Internet service in order to protect children and families, and a requirement that the network allow for the use of open devices,” am FCC spokesperson stated.

A Japanese firm has created man’s perfect plaything — a girlfriend that kisses on command and can be shut-off anytime he pleases.

Well, the technology is still a tad away from the robotic girlfriend models in “Cherry 2000″ or that robotic bride belonging to Mr. Universe in “Serenity,” but the new Eternal Maiden Actualisation (E.M.A), while just a toy, is a start.

The 15 inch tall robot that uses infrared sensors, runs on batteries and can enter a “love mode” (whatever that might mean for a 38cm robotic doll) and is ready to go on sale this September, will have lonely adult males as its primary market. If you are a member of the Lonely Hearts Club and want 24/7 companionship that you can slip in your back pocket and take anywhere, it will set you back about $175 (USD).

(Read more…)

Scientific Blogging has an extremely interesting article that, after a SoSF fan (Matt in Michigan) sent it to me, made me sit up and take serious notice. My first thought was - “OMG! We’re making replicants!”

It would seem that a senior researcher at the University of Bath has created a device, the replicating rapid-prototyper, dubbed the RepRap, (quite possibly an idea stolen from those hairless aliens from Stargate). It is an open source prototype machine that has succeeded in making a duplicate of itself - by printing its own parts and building a clone.

To learn more about RepRap visit the Scientific Blogging news page.

Blue-ray may have won a major battle in the DVD wars, but it appears that its main contender, Toshiba, has yet to put up the white flag of surrender.

According to the Australian PC Authority, there are rumours clammering among the hi-tech crowds that a new High-res upgrade for existing DVD technology is in the works from Toshiba.

The rumor claims the Japanese company is putting together an extension to their existing DVD format which will offer video quality comparable to that produced by Blu-ray and Toshiba’s one-time HD-DVD discs.

(Read more…)

Source: Fox SciTech News

Hello, London! Jolly good show, New York!

New Yorkers could see their English cousins across the pond Thursday without benefit of cable TV or video conferencing, courtesy of an unusual live optical hookup created by a conceptual artist with a fanciful tale of a long-lost tunnel.

An optical device called a “Telectroscope” was placed at the Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn and another one on the Thames River in London on Thursday.

Spectators stepped up to the machine on both sides of the Atlantic and waved and wrote greetings to each other in real time on wipe-off message boards.

They told knock-knock jokes, asked about the weather and found time for a few shout-outs to Queen Elizabeth and the Manchester United soccer team.

Manhattanite Lorena Yeves, 21, even exchanged cell phone numbers with a fellow on the London end.

The contraption is the invention of Paul St George, a London artist known for his tiny replicas of monumental pieces of art.

Publicists will say only that it uses fiberoptic communication. St George prefers to stick to his story that the machine was started by his great-grandfather in Victorian times and transmits images via a tunnel under the ocean.

According to the project’s Web site, St George’s work “has always been concerned with questioning the relationship between the viewer and what is viewed. His work is also often associated with different realities, spectacle and viewer participation.”

The telectroscopic spectacle and viewer participation will be in operation on both sides of the Atlantic until June 15.

CNN — Preparing for the eventual extinction of its DVD-by-mail rental service, Netflix Inc. on Tuesday is introducing its first solution for subscribers who want entertainment delivered directly to their television sets with just a few clicks on a remote control.

The breakthrough comes in the form of 5-inch-by-5-inch device tailored for a year-old service that uses high-speed Internet connections to stream more than 10,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix’s library.

Although it’s provided at no additional cost to most of Netflix’s 8.2 million subscribers, the streaming service has had limited appeal so far because it doesn’t include the latest movies and couldn’t easily be watched on anything but a personal computer.

At $99.99, the Netflix set-top box is priced like a DVD player and is just as simple to hook up to a television. A high-speed Internet connection can either be plugged into the box or the device can pick up a wireless signal.

Similar Internet-to-TV devices made by Apple Inc. and Vudu Inc. cost $229 to $295.

“We think this is something that offers a big value at a low cost,” said Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive officer.

The Netflix box, made by Silicon Valley startup Roku Inc., is the first of several devices that will pipe Netflix’s streaming service to TV sets.

LG Electronics is expected to include the streaming capability in a Blu-ray DVD player that it plans to debut during the second half of this year.

Without providing further details, Netflix has said two other major consumer electronics companies are working on set-top boxes for its streaming service.

(Read more…)

The Bluetooth wireless technology that allows people to use a hands-free ear-piece while making a mobile telephone call could soon alert the emergency services when someone has a heart attack, Ofcom predicts.

The communications regulator said that sensors could be implanted into people at risk of heart attack or diabetic collapse that would allow doctors to monitor them remotely.

If the “in-body network” recorded that the person had suddenly collapsed, it would send an alert, via a nearby base station at their home, to a surgery or hospital.

However, Ofcom also gave warning in its report, Tomorrow’s Wireless World, that the impact of such technology on personal privacy would require more debate.

The technology, which is being tested now in Portsmouth, could also be used if a patient failed to take his or her medicines. A pill dispenser would send an automatic reminder and, if the pills were not taken within a certain time, an alarm would sound and a message would be sent to the patient’s family or carers.

Read Adam Sherwin’s full report at Times Online.

Source: Fox News –SciTech

Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds — that is, until he steps into an “exoskeleton” of aluminum and electronics that multiplies his strength and endurance as many as 20 times.

With the outfit’s claw-like metal hand extensions, he gripped a weight set’s bar at a recent demonstration and knocked off hundreds of repetitions. Once, he did 500.

“Everyone gets bored much more quickly than I get tired,” Jameson said.

• Click HERE to view photos.

Jameson — who works for robotics firm Sarcos Inc. in Salt Lake City, which is under contract with the U.S. Army — is helping assess the 150-pound suit’s viability for the soldiers of tomorrow. The suit works by sensing every movement the wearer makes and almost instantly amplifying it.

The Army believes soldiers may someday wear the suits in combat, but it’s focusing for now on applications such as loading cargo or repairing heavy equipment.

Sarcos is developing the technology under a two-year contract worth up to $10 million, and the Army plans initial field tests next year.

Before the technology can become practical, the developers must overcome cost barriers and extend the suit’s battery life.

Jameson was tethered to power cords during his demonstration because the current battery lasts just 30 minutes.

But the technology already offers evidence that robotics can amplify human muscle power in reality — not just in the realm of comic books and movies like the recently debuted “Iron Man,” about a wealthy weapons designer who builds a high-tech suit to battle bad guys.

“Everybody likes the idea of being a superhero, and this is all about expanding the capabilities of a human,” said Stephen Jacobsen, chief designer of the Sarcos suit.

(Read more…)

Source: Fox SciTech News

Years ago, aviation enthusiast and inventor Yves Rossy dreamed of soaring through the sky like a bird. In 2006 that dream took flight.

Known as Switzerland’s “Fusion Man,” Rossy in November 2006 became the first man in the world to fly with wings and four jet engines strapped to his body.

• Click here to view more photos.

The flight lasted six minutes in Bex, Switzerland, and included an emergency parachute programmed to automatically open if he were to black out, NBC11 reported at the time.

“The idea is to have fun, not to kill yourself,” Rossy said in the story.

Wearing a white helmet with the words “Jet-Man” on the front, Rossy dives out of a plane, fires up his red wings and propels through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of white smoke in his wake.

• Click here to view YouTube video of Rossy in flight Part 1 | Part 2.

These days the former Swiss air force fighter pilot can be seen making figure eights over the Swiss Alps during his days off from work as an Airbus pilot for Swiss International Air Lines.

Source: Fox SciTech News

She has been named Beauty, though this eagle is anything but. Part of Beauty’s beak was shot off several years ago, leaving her with a stump that is useless for hunting food.

A team of volunteers is working to attach an artificial beak to the disfigured bird, in an effort to keep her alive.

“For Beauty it’s like using only one chopstick to eat. It can’t be done,” said biologist Jane Fink Cantwell, who operates a raptor recovery center in this Idaho Panhandle town. “She has trouble drinking. She can’t preen her feathers. That’s all about to change.”

Cantwell has spent the past two years assembling a team to design and build an artificial beak. They plan to attach it to Beauty next month.

With the beak, the 7-year-old bald eagle could live to the age of 50, although not in the wild.

“She could not survive in the wild without human intervention,” Cantwell said.

The 15-pound eagle was found in 2005 scrounging for food and slowly starving to death at a landfill in Alaska. Most of her curved upper beak had been shot away, leaving her tongue and sinuses exposed. She could not clutch or tear at food.

Beauty was taken to a bird recovery center in Anchorage, where she was hand-fed for two years while her caretakers waited in vain for a new beak to grow.

“They had exhausted their resources and she would likely be euthanized,” Cantwell said.

Beauty was taken in 2007 to Cantwell’s Birds of Prey Northwest ranch in Idaho after permits were obtained from the federal government.

Soon after, Cantwell met Nate Calvin during a speaking engagement in Boise. Calvin, a mechanical engineer, offered to design an artificial beak. A dentist, veterinarian and other experts eventually volunteered to help.

Molds were made of the existing beak parts and scanned into a computer, so the bionic beak could be created as accurately as possible.

“One side has much greater damage than the other,” Cantwell said. “It’s not as simple as a quick, snapped-off beak, 90 degrees and flush.”

The nylon-composite beak is light and durable, and will be glued onto the eagle.

(Read more…)

A couple of months ago, we reported Blu-ray had won the format battle for HD players.  However, if you were expecting a rise in sales of Blu-ray players, this next bit of news may come as a surprise to you–the overall sales of Blu-ray players is down.

Research by the NPD Group indicates that sales of players has fallen 40 percent from February to March.   The sales tracked excluded Blu-ray players sold as part of Sony’s PlayStation 3 console.

“When we surveyed consumers late last year, an overwhelming number of them said they weren’t investing in a new next-generation player because their old DVD player worked well and next-generation players were too expensive,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD. “It’s clear from retail sales that those consumer sentiments are still holding true.”

There are several factors that could be contributing to the lack of growth in sales.  One is the price-tag.  While most DVD players are now less than a hundred dollars, the entry level for a Blu-ray player is north of $400.

Another factor that may be holding back sales of Blu-ray players is that anticipated models with Internet connectivity haven’t hit the market yet. Current models can’t be upgraded.

According to the Associated Press, , ABI Research, estimates that PS3s will account for more than 85 percent of Blu-ray players in use this year and that the number of stand-alone players and Blu-ray equipped PCs won’t surpass them until 2013.