Are Windows PCs already falling to smartphones and tablets?

Summary: Many of us see personal technology moving from Windows PCs to Android smartphones, Apple iPads and other tablets, but has it actually already happened?

According to Download.com, Windows is failing fast.

When I look into my technology crystal ball, I see people moving from desktops to smartphones and tablets. I’m not the only one who sees a post-PC world coming. What I didn’t expect was to find proof that desktop Windows was already a dead technology walking.
Over at ZDNet’s sister site, CNet, they recently reported on 15-years of Download.com. I expected this to be little more than a nice historical walk down a popular site’s past. Well, it is that, but it’s also contains lots of bad news for Windows users.
You see, in 1996, when Download.com was founded, 89.5% of its downloads were Windows programs. Would you care to guess what the percentage of Windows downloads are in 2011? It’s a mere 28%.
Wow.
Today, 67.5% of Download.com’s downloads are mobile applications. Think about that. Even with Apple’s App Store and Android’s Market getting the vast majority of mobile downloads since they’re built into iPhones, iPads and Android devices, people are still downloading more than twice as many mobile apps than they are Windows programs from Download.com.

Read More >>

An artificial 'super skin' for androids

Summary: Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor that could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics, and touch displays.

Credit: Steve Fyffe, Stanford News Service

The wrinkle-smoothing wonder of Botox could some day be a thing of the past.
Stanford researchers have built a new transparent skin-like sensor that can stretch out to more than twice its normal length in any direction and bounce back to its original shape.
The sensor uses a transparent film of single-walled carbon nanotubes that are bent to act as tiny springs. The springs help the sensor to accurately measure almost any force applied on it–from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds.
“This sensor can register pressure ranging from a firm pinch between your thumb and forefinger to twice the pressure exerted by an elephant standing on one foot,” said Darren Lipomi, a postdoctoral researcher in Bao’s lab, who is part of the research team. “None of it causes any permanent deformation,” he added.
According to Lipomi and his team, the sensor could be used in making touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs or robots, for various medical applications such as pressure-sensitive bandages or in touch screens on computers.

Read More >>

Is Facebook already more profitable than Amazon?

Summary: Facebook’s financial details may not be public, but estimates show it could already be more profitable than Amazon. Revenue is a different story.

How profitable is Facebook? Since the young company is still private, nobody knows for sure. Still, estimates indicate the social networking giant could already be pulling in more profits than the online retail giant Amazon. If it isn’t already, it will be by the end of the year, at least according to unofficial numbers.
Facebook’s revenue passed $1.6 billion in the first half of 2011 and saw around $800 million in operating income (although net income was reportedly just under $500 million). Uncrunched points to Amazon’s financials for the same time period: $322 million operating income in Q1 and $191 million operating income in Q2, or $513 million for the first half of 2011.
Palo Alto’s revenue and profit is rising at an estimated 50 percent clip every six months. In other words, $2 billion in operating income for 2011 is entirely possible.
It’s important to remember that revenue and profit are two completely different beasts. While Facebook may be passing Amazon in profit, it’s nowhere near when it comes to revenue. Amazon saw a total of $34 billion in revenue for 2010. Facebook’s revenue for last year is estimated to anywhere from less than $1 billion up to nearly $2 billion.

Read More >>

Google looking to build European high-speed fiber network

Summary: After an experimental trial in the U.S., a Google executive hinted that Europe could be the next home for a high-speed fiber network.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google senior vice president David Drummond said on Friday that the search giant is considering deploying a high-speed fiber network to Europe, in a bid to widen high-speed Internet access across the continent.
In a meeting at the French Industry Ministry, Drummond said that the company is “looking very closely” at branching out the fiber-network to Europe, but failed to disclose any further details.

(Image source: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images)

Google’s offer may come at a time when Europe is mostly ahead in the world rankings of broadband speed, but still lags behind a developing 4G network in the United States, and already-established fiber networks and high-speed connectivity in East Asia.

Read More >>

Sencha Launches Mobile HTML5 Cloud, Sencha.io

Javascript Web app framework provider Sencha is today announcing the public beta launch of Sencha.io, its new HTML5 mobile cloud service. The service will allow Sencha app developers to build “shared experiences” in the browser, without having to write server code or manage hosting.
At launch, Sencha.io will provide a set of cloud services, including Sencha.io Data, Sencha.io Messages, Sencha.io Login and Sencha.io Development. Combined, the new services let developers use just a few lines of Javascript code to store data, send messages to users, listen for messages, deploy apps or login users via Facebook or Twitter.
The suite, which can be thought of somewhat like an iCloud for the Web, is now in open beta. It includes a Sencha.io SDK, plus full API documentation.

Read More >>

Amigakit Brings The Amiga Into The 21st Century With New X1000

Amiga, Amiga… why does that name sound familiar?

Ah yes, that Amiga. A strong early competitor in the PC wars, Commodore’s influential and graphics-heavy OS was unfortunately more or less made extinct by Windows by the early 90s. Yet a core group of enthusiasts has kept a candle burning, and here and there you can still find a functioning machine, zealously maintained by someone who insists that the file system or multitasking kernel are still worth admiring. But would you expect a brand new PC with modern accoutrements and a price tag over $2000?

That’s just what’s being put out by Amigakit, which has secured the distribution rights to the long-awaited (by some) X1000 desktop system. It’s actually quite a powerhouse. Check out the specs:

■Dual-core 2GHz PowerISA CPU (PowerPC architecture)

■Xena 500MHz XMOS companion processor with Xorro connector

■AMD Radeon 4650 GPU

■1GB DDR2 RAM

■500GB HDD

■2 PCIe x16 slots, 4 DIMM slots, 4x SATA 2, 10x USB 2.0<

The rest of the specs are here at OS News, with some supplementary info as well. Okay, so when I say powerhouse, I mean compared to the other Amiga machines out there. But it is, as A-EON (the system designer) says, “powerful, modern desktop hardware,” though spec-wise it can’t stand up to Windows boxes a quarter its price. There’s supposedly going to be an Amiga-based netbook arriving in mid-2012 as well if that’s more your style.

Read More >>

Weapon of Ice Destruction: A Snowball Launching Crossbow

There was a time when all a man needed for a good snowball fight was dry gloves and some fresh powder. These days you need to step up your game, with weapons specifically engineered for winter warfare like this crossbow designed to hurl balls of snow instead of arrows.


It's been a while since something from the Sharper Image has caught our attention, but that's because an iPod dock is useless when there's two feet of snow on the ground. But a crossbow designed to launch a snowball up to 60 feet? Well, now you have our attention. This snow launcher's got an easy to pull lever which makes it easy to prime the firing mechanism, and includes a press designed to make three perfectly sized frozen projectiles. Besides warm gloves and gallons of hot chocolate, we can't think of a better way to spend $40 on winter gear. Just make sure you pick up one for each hand for complete domination, since the neighborhood kids can probably only wield one at a time.

Read More >>