Google updates Play Store

Google updates Play Store

Google has just launched an update for the Play Store for phones and tablets. The major feature of the new release is the refreshed user interface. The app is upgraded to version 4.
In the official Android blog, Google states that the main focus on the Play Store redesign is to allow users to find content more easily. To do so, there are now bigger images, new recommendations and faster checkout.
The update is available for android versions above 2.2 Froyo.

20 best selling phones of all time

20 best selling phones of all time

The Daily Telegraph has produced a list of bestselling mobile phones over the last 40 years. While we celebrate the 40th Birthday of the mobile phone, what's interesting to note is how Nokia dominates the list with 13 of the spots taken by hardware produced by the Finnish manufacturer. 

• 20. Nokia 2850. One of the few clamshell designs from Nokia. Came out in 2004 and went on to sell 35 million.
• 19. iPhone 3GS. Sold around 35 million.
• 17. Samsung Galaxy S2 – sold around 40 million units.
• 18. Samsung Galaxy s3- sold around 40 million units.
• 16. Nokia 6230 – announced in 2003, sold 50 million.
• 15. Nokia 3100 – released in 2003; sold over 50 million. Pink and blue were the best.
• 14. Motorola StarTAC – 60 million sold.
• 13. Motorola C200 - 60 million sold.
• 12. iPhone 4S – launched in 2011. Estimated at just over 60 million sales.
• 11. Nokia 5130 – one of the phones to debut XpressMusic; 65 million sold.
• 10. Nokia 6010 - selling 75 million and coming with a colour screen!
• 9. Nokia 1208 – tough and affordable; 100 million sold.
• 8. Nokia 1600 – Do you recall playing Soccer League on one of these? 130 million people do.
• 7. Motorola Razr V3 –sold more than 130 million.
• 6. Nokia 2600 – very nicely designed keyboard on this one; sold 135 million.
• 5. Nokia 3310 – the popular device sold 136 million.
• 4. Nokia 5230 – one of the youngsters on the list; launched in 2010 and went on to sell 150 million.
• 3. Nokia 1200 – born 2007; sold 150 million.
• 2. Nokia 3210 – The chunky gem, selling 160 million.
• 1. Nokia 1110 – sold an astonishing 250 million after it went on sale in 2005.

Small Magellanic Clouds

Small Magellanic Clouds

The megallanic clouds as seen in optical wavelengts from hubble telescope

The galactic region Small Magellanic Cloud takes its name from Ferdinand Magellan, a 16th century explorer who reportedly referred to the cloud's placement in the sky to guide his ship on his worldwide journeys.But astronomers describe it as a "dwarf galaxy," but the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is one of Milky Way's closest neighbors, is entirely majestic.

In this spectacular composite image released today by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Ala., scientists are reporting what they say is the presence of X-rays being emitted from young stars or "suns" outside the Milky Way. Reporting on the discovery, the co-authors of a new paper detailing their findings describe the so-called eastern "wing" of the Small Magellanic Cloud as "an excellent laboratory" for research into star formation. The region's low content of gas, dust, and stars make it ideal for studying.This is the first such detection for astronomers as they track the life cycle of stars.

Rouge Black Holes Surrounding Milky Way

Rouge Black Holes Surrounding Milky Way

Experts have learnt from their studies about thousands of Galaxies their types and various information about the outer world. They have learnt about Black holes too, the large black circle which has high gravity which is known to suck in everything.
A computer simulation has been performed by Mr. Valery Rashkov and Mr. Piero Madau at UC Santa Cruz have found out that Black holes ranging from 70 to 2000 may be surrounding the Milky Way.
By Black Holes they are talking about "SEED" Black holes which are average sized Black holes. These Black holes were once found at the center of early collisions of Stars and Gas. These structures were not really big enough to be considered as Galaxies but they combined as the building blocks for Galaxies like the Milky Way.
There is a possibility that these intermediate sized Black holes may have combined to form super massive Black holes of today.
While most of these rouge Black holes are impossible to detect, some of these Black holes might have brought cluster of stars and dark matter with them.

The Sliding Rocks of Death Valley

The Sliding Rocks of Death Valley

The sailing stones, Sidling rocks or moving rocks are a geological phenomena where rocks move in long tracks along a smooth valley floor without human or animal intervention. They have been recorded and studied in a number of places around racetrack Playa, Death valley, where the number and length of travel grooves are notable. The force behind their movement is not understood and is the subject of research.

Sliding rocks trails differ in directions and length. Some rocks which start next to each other start out travelling parallel, but one may abruptly change direction to the left, right or even back the direction it came from. Length also varies because two similarly sized and shaped rocks could travel uniformly, then one could stop dead or could burst ahead.

The sailing stones are a geological phenomena where rocks move in long tracks along a smooth wall.

The exact reason behind their motion is not yet found.

Worldwide Telescope project

Worldwide Telescope project

Worldwide Telescope project is undertaken by Microsoft with the help of telescopes all around the globe and those telescopes orbiting in space. New content is added frequently and data from NASA is added too.

This project is an effort to construct a gigantic map of the universe. The Microsoft Research has collected astronomical data from scientists all over the world to build a 3D model. There are more than just images  it packs real information which will be useful to students.

The Worldwide Telescope is now available only in desktop, but a mobile version will be available soon. It runs in a browser and requires silverlight. It also has a Windows client.

You can go to the site by clicking HERE

Guillaume Duchenne -Science of Electrophysiology

Guillaume Duchenne -Science of Electrophysiology

In 1862, French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne wanted to test the popular theory that the face was directly linked to the soul. He had already done some work applying electric shocks to patients’damaged muscles and he reasoned that if he could apply electric currents to a subject’s face he could stimulate the muscles and photograph the results. One problem was that while it was easy to activate physical responses with electric shocks, most people relaxed immediately the jolt had passed through, too quickly for a camera to record it. One of the patients at the hospital where Duchenne worked was a shoemaker suffering Bell’s Palsy. A of the manifestations of the disease was facial paralysis, which meant the shoemaker would hold his expression for a few minutes after receiving the electro-shock treatment; long enough that is for the photographer to record his expression.

Duchenne subjected the shoemaker to over 100 sessions, applying electrodes to various parts of his face to extract the gamut of emotions. Meanwhile, Paul Tournachon, brother of the famous Felix Nadar, snapped away. The results were published in The Mechanism of Human Physiognomy (Mecanisme de la physionomie Humaine). If the photographs look horrific you have to imagine what the poor shoemaker endured. Still, something good came out of the experiments. Duchenne was able to determine that when a person expressed a genuine smile particular muscles were activated. In physiology the authentic smile is called the Duchenne smile. People who don’t use these muscles when they smile may be showing symptoms of sociopathy.

Read the complete article HERE

Petition to Google

Petition to Google

Google has refused to support Windows Phone platform and this is annoying for many users who change to WP8 from Android . Google has been on the dark side only for Windows Phone platform as it is supporting iOS with all it's apps.  There is a petition started in Change.org to ask Google to support Windows Phone platform. It has reached 8,000 signatures still 2,000 required. You can Sign the petition by clicking HERE. Do sign the petition.

Riddle Time

Riddle #2

I have a single Eye and I have long hair. Every time a go through a gap i lose a bit of my hair. What am i?



























Answer: Needle

Green children of Woolpit

Green children of Woolpit

The legend of the green children of Woolpit concerns two children of unusual skin colour who reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, some time in the 12th century, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen. The children, brother and sister, were of generally normal appearance except for the green colour of their skin. They spoke in an unknown language, and the only food they would eat was beans. Eventually they learned to eat other food and lost their green pallor, but the boy was sickly and died soon after the children were baptised. The girl adjusted to her new life, but she was considered to be "rather loose and wanton in her conduct". After she learned to speak English the girl explained that she and her brother had come from St Martin's Land, an underground world whose inhabitants are green.

The only near-contemporary accounts are contained in Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicum Anglicanum and William of Newburgh's Historia rerum Anglicarum, written in about 1189 and 1220 respectively. Between then and their rediscovery in the mid-19th century, the green children seem to surface only in a passing mention in William Camden's Britannia in 1586, and in Bishop Francis Godwin's fantastical The Man in the Moone, in both of which William of Newburgh's account is cited.

Two approaches have dominated explanations of the story of the green children: that it is a folk tale describing an imaginary encounter with the inhabitants of another world, perhaps one beneath our feet or even extraterrestrial, or it is a garbled account of a historical event. The story was praised as an ideal fantasy by the Englishanarchist poet and critic Herbert Read in his English Prose Style, published in 1931. It provided the inspiration for his only novel, The Green Child, written in 1934.

G.I. Joe: Pigeon who Saved 1,000 Lives

G.I. Joe: Pigeon who Saved 1,000 Lives

American Pigeon G.I. Joe helped save up to 1,000 lives during World War II by halting a planned American bombing on an Italian village held by British troops.

In October 1943, the messenger flew 20 miles across enemy lines from a British HQ to a U.S. air base in just 20 minutes to deliver a warning note after radios failed.

The blue-checked bird arrived ‘just as our planes were warming up to take off’, revealed Otto Meyer, a former commander of the U.S. Army Pigeon Service.

G.I. Joe’s note said the village of Calvi Vecchia, 25 miles north of Naples, had been abandoned by the Germans and the British 169th Infantry Brigade had occupied it.

The U.S. had originally planned to use bombs to ‘soften up’ the village, which they believed was a German stronghold, before another British regiment launched a ground offensive.

So, in the face of a breakdown in radio communication, a humble pigeon spared Allied soldiers and Calvi Vecchia’s residents from what could have been one of the worst incidents of ‘friendly fire’ during the war.

G.I. Joe, who had been born that year in Algiers, was flown to the U.S. at the end of the war.

But, in 1946, he crossed the Atlantic again so he could become one of the few foreign animals to be honoured with a Dickin Medal.

G.I. Joe, Pigeon No USA 43 SC 6390
Date of award: August 1946

Source: Yahoo News

Project A119

Project A119

Project A119, also known as "A Study of Lunar Research Flights", was a top-secret plan developed in 1958 by the United States Air Force. The aim of the project was to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon visible to the naked eye to boost public morale in the United States after the Soviet Union took an early lead in the Space Race. The existence of the project was revealed in 2000 by a former executive at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Leonard Reiffel, who led the project in 1958. A young Carl Sagan was part of the team responsible for predicting the effects of a nuclear explosion in low gravity.The explosion was intended to occur along the Moon's terminator, for maximum visibility from Earth.

Project A119 was never carried out, primarily because a moon landing would be a much more acceptable achievement in the eyes of the American public. The project documents remained secret for nearly 45 years, and despite Reiffel's revelations, the United States government has never officially recognized its involvement in the study.

For more info- click HERE

Riddle Time

Riddle #1

Pronounced as one letter and written with three, two letters there are and two only in me. I'm black, blue and gray. I'm double, I'm single. I'm read from both ends and the same either way. What am I?

Answer: EYE

Samsung Galaxy S4 mini leaked

Samsung Galaxy S4 mini leaked

After the Samsung Galaxy S4 specs and pictures of the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini has been leaked. A tweet sent out by one Ermek Kubanychbekov revealed the specs of the handset while also leaking photos of the device. According to the tweet, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 mini will have a 4.3 inch SuperAMOLED screen with qHD resolution which has a 256ppi pixel density. It has a dual-core 1.6GHz processor, it  has Android 4.2.2 out of the box with the TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0 running on top.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 mini (GT-I9190) is going to be available in a dual SIM variant as well as a single SIM version, and as you can tell from the pictures, takes its design cues directly from its big brother. The unit is expected to be launched in June or July.

Subway Surfers coming soon to Windows Phone 8

Subway Surfers coming soon to Windows Phone 8

Temple Run and its sequel are two extremely popular games on other mobile platforms that have yet to migrate to Windows Phone. We know one of them is coming eventually, but unfortunately the series creator Imangi has been tight-lipped with details. Still, Temple Run isn’t the only 3D endless runner in town.

Subway Surfers from Kiloo also has quite a following on competing platforms. Technically the characters slide, glide and fly around on vehicles as opposed to running, but it’s definitely an endless runner at heart. And soon we’ll be subway surfing on Windows Phone 8! The above image of the subway surfers on a Nokia Lumia was posted on their Facebook page.

The release date of the game has not been revealed yet. 

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is coming to WP8

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is coming to WP8

WinPhoneLive.ru reports that Gameloft game Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is coming to Windows Phone 8 this April.

The news was revealed by a Gameloft manager, who also revealed issues with the PEGI certification in Russia.

He said:

We are now actively working on the release of games for the Xbox and Windows Phone in Russia with the required rating. We know that the Russian players are looking forward to games from Gameloft on their Windows Phones and we are extremely pleased that our games are as expected, so we make every effort to timely exit games in Russia.

The game was released in December on iOS and Android, making it a rather small delay before hitting Windows Phone.

It will utelize the Havok physics engine and feature real-time shadows and online multi-player.

It will likely to cost $6.99 and be WP8 exclusive.

Source:wmpoweruser

Duke's family photo on the Moon

Duke's family photo on the Moon

During the Apollo 16 mission Charles Duke left a family photo on the Moon that was enclose in a plastic bag. The photo is still there on the moon.   

The reverse of the photo is signed by Duke's family and has the message: "This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth Landed on the Moon, April 1972"..

A star revolving around a Black Hole

A star revolving around a Black Hole

A black hole has been found with a binary companion star so close that the star makes one complete orbit every 2.4 hours - that means it circles the black hole 600 times faster than a rifle bullet! Not only that, but the star's fate is not a happy one because It will eventually be torn apart by the black hole.

Youtube just reached 1 billion views

Youtube just reached 1 billion views

Google is announcing that YouTube’s monthly unique visitor count just cracked one billion for the first time  nearly one out of every two people on the internet. Even more interesting is how quickly YouTube keeps expanding its reach. A year ago, it was  just scratching 800 million unique visitors that’s 25 percent annual growth for an eight-year-old site.

Source:Youtubeblog

First Man-made object to leave solar system

First Man-made object to leave solar system

A space probe launched 35 years ago has become the first man-made object to leave the solar system, scientists said today.

Voyager 1 is on a lonely journey away from the sun and its planets, but still communicating with Earth.

According to a new report, the probe has travelled beyond the heliosphere, the region of space dominated by the sun.

At a distance of more than 11 billion miles from the sun, it was said to have left the solar system.

But American space agency NASA has disputed the claim and called it premature. It denies that the probe is now outside the solar system. A paper for the journal Geophysical Research Letters points to evidence in the form of a dramatic change in the radiation surrounding the craft. “Anomalous” cosmic rays trapped in the outer heliosphere have all but vanished, dropping to less than 1% of their previous level.

At the same time, the intensity of galactic cosmic rays originating from outside the solar system appears to have doubled. Lead author US astronomer Professor Bill Webber, from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, said: “Within just a few days, the heliospheric intensity of trapped radiation decreased, and the cosmic ray intensity went up, as you would expect if it exited the heliosphere.

“It’s outside the normal heliosphere, I would say that. We’re in a new region. And everything we’re measuring is different and exciting.” Voyager 1 and sister probe Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets. Both are now on an extended trip to the stars.

Each craft carries a gold-plated audio-visual disc for the benefit of any intelligent aliens that might pick them up. The discs carry photos of the Earth and its life forms, a range of scientific information, spoken greetings, Earthly sounds such as a baby crying, and music including works by Mozart and gospel blues singer Blind Willie Johnson.

In 15 years’ time, Voyager 1’s plutonium power source will run out, cutting off all communication as the probe coasts on through the vast emptiness of space. Dr Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said: “The Voyager team is aware of reports today that Nasa’s Voyager 1 has left the solar system. “It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space.”

Source: irishtimes.com

Blackberry passes 100,000 apps mark

Blackberry passes 100,000 apps mark

 

BlackBerry has let us know that its BlackBerry World has just passed the 100,000 apps mark. While that number is still far from what the iOS and Android stores are offering, it's still a remarkable achievement. 
In addition to the milestone, BlackBerry has also announced that some major apps have just become part of its store such as Kindle, OpenTable and Wall Street Journal. What's more, the company promises that its store will become home to titles like CNN, The Daily Show Headlines, eBay, eMusic, Maxim, MLB at Bat, MTV News, Pageonce, PGA,  Skype,  Soundhound and Viber in the coming weeks.

Blackberry CEO says Windows Phone and Android "Are not mobile computing platforms"

Blackberry CEO says Windows Phone and Android "Are not mobile computing platforms"

Blackberry CEO has been continuously trash talking the competition, including Windows Phone and Android.

Speaking to  Computerworld Australia CEO Thorsten Heins said Android and Windows Phone "are not mobile computing platforms."

Speaking to  Reuters earlier he said:

"The [BlackBerry] architecture we have built is true mobile computing architecture. It’s not a downgraded PC operating system. It is a whole new innovation built from scratch. It’s built for mobile."

He said the company therefore decided against extending its enterprise services to those operating systems.

This of course ignores that the Blackberry 10 QNX kernel is more often found driving your car stereo than your smartphone but I am sure Heins needs to hang on to every straw as the Blackberry boat rapidly goes under.

The iPhone tops JD Power’s satisfaction rankings for ninth consecutive time

The iPhone tops JD Power’s satisfaction rankings for ninth consecutive time

The iPhone leads JD’s semi-annual report on smartphone customer satisfaction with a score of 855 points, an increase by sixteen points and sixty points better than the second-ranked Nokia with a customer satisfaction score of 795.

It’s interesting that the Finnish handset maker rose dramatically by 93 points since the last survey.

Samsung is third while Motorola and HTC round up the top five. The average study score is 796 points on a 1,000-point scale, but Apple files as the only handset maker in the world to rise above the average.

LG was #6, followed by BlackBerry which ranked seventh, according to JD Power.

This is the ninth consecutive study where Apple ranks highest among smartphone makers. Apple did particularly well in physical design and ease of operation.

The study determines customer satisfaction by polling folks who’ve used their current mobile device for less than one year, as measured in the areas of smartphone performance (33 percent), physical design (23 percent), features (22 percent) and ease of use (22 percent).

 “This improvement is likely due to a growing array of new features and services being offered that are providing a seamless product experience between the operating system functions and third-party apps,” the survey notes.

Android and Chrome OS will remain seperate

Android and Chrome OS will remain seperate

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has said that the company will not merge its Android and Chrome operating systems, telling attendees at Google's Big Tent event in India that the two platforms are "certainly going to remain separate for a very long time, because they solve different problems." The denial comes after Google announced its executive reshuffle, where Google VP of Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pichai, replaced Andy Rubin as the head of Android department.

Schmidt did say that while Android and Chrome would not merge, there would be more "commonality" between them, which doesn't rule out the possibility that Chrome OS may one day run Android apps. With news of Google's Reader shuttering still fresh in people's minds, Schmidt also said neither platform would be abandoned.