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