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The Facebook Fallacy

Tue, 22 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

For all its valuation, the social network is just another ad-supported site. Without an earth-changing idea, it will collapse and take down the Web.

Facebook is not only on course to go bust, but will take the rest of the ad-supported Web with it.

Can Japan Thrive without Nuclear Power?

Tue, 22 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

After shutting down its last reactor, Japan is now even more heavily dependent on imported oil, gas, and coal.

This month, Japan shut down the last of its 54 nuclear reactors. When and if any of those reactors are to be restarted is uncertain. One thing is for sure, though: as long as it is without nuclear power, Japan will be almost completely dependent on imported fossil fuels.

Leap 3D Out-Kinects Kinect (Video)

Tue, 22 May 2012 03:03:00 GMT

It's 200 times more accurate, tracking even your fingers.

It’s something that pretty much has to be seen to be believed. So check out this video first, and then let’s continue the conversation below.

For $74, a Mini-Android Computer

Tue, 22 May 2012 02:59:00 GMT

The menu of low-cost mini-computer options expands.

Ars Technica and others report on a cool miniature Android computer that can plug directly into your TV. The whole thing is housed in a 3.5-inch plastic case, weighs in at 200 grams, and measures roughly the size of a USB thumb drive (a tiny bit bigger, actually.) It’s being sold by Chinese retailers, and you can get yourself one online for the low price of $74 (or 5% off, if you order 5 or more).

Quantum Dots May Be Safe to Use in Patients

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:37:00 GMT

The colorful, glowing crystals could prove to be useful as a surgical aid.

Four rhesus monkeys injected with tiny luminescent crystals called quantum dots showed no signs of ill effects over a one-year period, according to a study just published in Nature Nanotechnology.

European Physicists Smash Chinese Teleportation Record

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:15:00 GMT

The battle over distance records sets up a fascinating race to be the first to teleport to an orbiting satellite

Just a couple of weeks ago, we discussed a Chinese experiment in which physicists teleported photons over a distance of almost 100 kilometres. That's almost an order of magnitude more than previous records.

Facebook Might Be Worth It

Mon, 21 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Estimates of the historical value of a user put the IPO hype in perspective.

When Facebook went public last week, the company was valued at $104 billion, an astonishing figure for an Internet company. Is the figure preposterously high? That depends on how you look at it. The value in Facebook lies in its enormous audience—901 million people every month who are potential viewers of advertisements and buyers of virtual goods. So you could think of Facebook this way: it is worth about $116 for every user it has. On that basis, the company isn't being valued as highly as Google ($200 per user) or even the question-and-answer service Quora ($145). This metric also reveals that investors are much less optimistic that Twitter (worth less than $60 per user) or Tumblr (about $8) will profit handsomely from their very large audiences.

IBM Faces the Perils of "Bring Your Own Device"

Mon, 21 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

After letting its employees use their own phones and tablets for work, the company confronted a flood of insecure apps from the open Web.

When IBM loosened its restrictions on the smart phones and tablets its employees could use for work, the company got a lesson in IT management of the kind it usually sells to clients.

Gmail's Security Hole Could Lead to Mass Harvesting of Accounts

Sun, 20 May 2012 04:35:00 GMT

Hackers could automate a social engineering trick that has already been proven to work.

A technique used by marketers to trick people into signing up for "free" merchandise could easily be re-deployed as an engine for harvesting untold numbers of Google account passwords. Fixing the issue won't be trivial for Google, because the exploit is fundamental to how Google allows users to recover access to their accounts when they lose or forget their passwords.

What's the Next Instagram?

Sat, 19 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

In the wake of Facebook's billion-dollar Instagram buyout, video-sharing apps are jostling to become the next big thing.

Ever since Facebook announced its $1 billion acquisition of the company behind the popular photo-sharing app Instagram last month, the question on every nerd's lips has been: What will be the next big thing in mobile apps?

Facebook Seeks Political Ad Dollars

Fri, 18 May 2012 20:41:00 GMT

Political advertisers are going to flock to FB this year

There’s certainly money in politics, and Facebook knows it. The company, now under pressure to to justify its enormous $104 billion IPO, is trying to hire someone to maximize political advertising sales during the 2012 election season in the U.S.

When Gadgets Get under Your Skin

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:15:00 GMT

My interface... myself?

New Scientist’s Jim Giles calls attention to this freaky fact: that in the future--the rather near future--our interfaces with our gadgets may be our own bodies. “Left your phone at home again?” he writes. “A solution is at hand: make sure it is with you at all times by having it implanted in your arm.” That's certainly a way of having a solution at hand, so to speak.

The Data-Driven Dog

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:08:00 GMT

Combating canine complaints with a cloud-connected collar.

Soon, your dog will be in the cloud.

Building Tesla

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

At its electric-car factory in Silicon Valley, Tesla obsesses over details like making its own high-tech tools.

Photographs by John Stocklin

How Facebook Saved Us from Suburbia

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:39:00 GMT

Research suggests social networks remedy the isolation of modern life.

In 2009, the Pew Internet Trust published a survey worth resurfacing for what it says about the significance of Facebook. The study was inspired by earlier research that "argued that since 1985 Americans have become more socially isolated, the size of their discussion networks has declined, and the diversity of those people with whom they discuss important matters has decreased."

How Will Tariffs on Solar Panels Affect Innovation?

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:55:00 GMT

A U.S. Commerce Department anti-dumping decision could help some U.S. companies and hurt others.

The United States Commerce Department concluded today that Chinese solar panel manufacturers are dumping solar panels in the U.S., and is penalizing them by imposing a 30 percent tariff on 62 solar manufacturers in China and a general 250 percent tariff on other solar panel manufacturers in China. That’s on top of a small tariff of 2.9 to 4.73 percent it announced earlier this year.

Facebook's Technology Timeline

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:44:00 GMT

A look back at the moments that have shaped Facebook's success.

Why Shutting Airports Is Not the Best Way to Halt a Global Flu Pandemic

Thu, 17 May 2012 09:58:00 GMT

In a deadly flu outbreak, shutting airports should reduce the spread of the disease. But networks scientists have discovered a better approach that's just as effective.

One of the nightmare scenarios for modern society is the possibility of a global flu pandemic like the 1918 Spanish influenza which infected about a quarter of the global population and killed as many as 130 million of them.

Engine Could Boost Fuel Economy by Half

Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Delphi says its diesel-like engine runs cleanly on gasoline.

Delphi, a major parts supplier to automakers, is developing an engine technology that could improve the fuel economy of gas-powered cars by 50 percent, potentially rivaling the performance of hybrid vehicles while costing less. A test engine based on the technology is similar in some ways to a highly efficient diesel engine, but runs on gasoline.

Is Mobile Computing Good For Productivity?

Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Yes, of course, but things got out of hand. A quarter of executives admit to having slept with a smart phone.

Consultant Deborah Lovich could be accomplishing the management feat of the mobile era. She's convinced hundreds of agile-thumbed, on-at-all-hours colleagues to put down their smart phones and stop working or checking e-mail all evening long.