China 'flies first stealth drone' : Reports

China successfully flew a stealth drone for the first time on Thursday, state media said, citing eyewitness reports. A drone, called "Sharp Sword" by the media, made a test flight for around 20 minutes in Chengdu, reports said.

China has been developing stealth aircraft in recent years, including J-20 and J-31 stealth fighters. In September, an unmanned drone flew close to a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, raising tensions with Japan.

After this magical aircraft development China is joining a small elite club of nations that includes the US, Israel, France and the UK, who are pushing the boundaries of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technology.It is clear from recent air shows and the Chinese technical press is that Beijing has developed a variety of UAVs matching virtually every category deployed by the US.

Per Lindstrand plans inflatable 1km solar chimney

Per Lindstrand, who crossed the Pacific in a balloon with Sir Richard Branson in 1991, said the technology could offer more efficient green power generation in remote areas. It could help in areas with high seismic activity, where maintenance of solid structures is difficult.

He told The Engineer magazine the project could cost about $20m (£12m). Several companies are experimenting with "solar updraft" technology, which is seen as preferable to flat solar panels. And Lindstrand Tech specialises in developing "lighter than air" technology.

Mr Lindstrand told the magazine there was a need, particularly from research centres based in deserts, to have a cleaner alternative to diesel and gas power, but without the fallibility associated with existing solar technology.

"The problem in this part of the world is the sand is very fine and would very quickly clog up solar panels, so you have a very big cleaning job in a place that has no water," he said.
Making the tower an inflatable structure would bring the cost of the project down dramatically, Mr Lindstrand said, saving hundreds of millions of dollars compared with similar towers made of concrete.

China retains supercomputer crown in latest Top500 list

A supercomputer built by the Chinese government has retained its place at the top of a list of the world's most powerful systems. Tianhe-2 can operate at 33.86 petaflop/s - the equivalent of 33,863 trillion calculations per second - according to a test called the Linpack benchmark.

Tianhe-2 - which translates as Milky Way 2 - was developed by China's National University of Defence Technology and will be based in the city of Guangzhou, in the country's south-eastern Guandong province.It uses a mixture of processors made by Intel as well as custom-made CPUs designed by the university itself.

The system is to be offered as a "research and education" tool once tests are completed, with local reports suggesting that officials have picked the car industry as a "priority" client.

Its Linpack score is nearly double that of the next supercomputer in the list - Titan, the US Department of Energy's system at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

The Top500 list is compiled twice-yearly by a team led by a professor from Germany's University of Mannheim. It measures how fast the computers can solve a special type of linear equation to determine their speed, but does not take account of other factors - such as how fast data can be transferred from one part of the system to another - which can also influence real-world performance.

IBM - which created five out of the 10 fastest supercomputers in the latest list - told the BBC it believed the way the list was calculated should now be updated, and would press for the change at a conference being held this week in Denver, Colorado.

Unlocked, SIM-free iPhone 5S now sold through Apple

People who like their phones unlocked and SIM-free can now pick up an iPhone 5S in that state directly through Apple.

Available via Apple's online store, the new unlocked iPhone 5S requires a GSM-compatible SIM, which means it'll work on AT&T and T-Mobile but not on Sprint or Verizon. It also means buyers will have to pick up a SIM from their carrier of choice.

With no carrier subsidy, the phone sells at full retail -- $649 for the 16GB model, $749 for the 32GB edition, and $849 for the 64GB version. An unlocked iPhone 5S that comes with a T-Mobile SIM has already been on Apple's Web site selling at the same prices. Apple promises a ship time of one to two weeks for the SIM-free edition and three to five business days for the unlocked T-Mobile version.
Consumers curious about the pros and cons of an unlocked iPhone should read Apple's "About the Unlocked iPhone" Web page.

Heads up Apple, here comes 64-bit Android on Intel

Apple's A7 chips will feel some 64-bit heat from Intel and Android next year. Intel is readying a 64-bit Bay Trail Atom platform for Android, according to Hermann Eul, Intel's general manager, mobile and communications group, speaking at the company's investor day on Thursday.

Eul continued. "We have 64-bit Windows shipping next quarter and, needless to say, we'll run fast to make this happen on Android as well."

Intel's Bay Trail processor -- which is currently powering a growing number of tablets and 2-in-1 devices from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo -- today is 64-bit but runs Windows 8.1 in 32-bit mode. That will be rectified next quarter when Bay Trail tablets run in full 64-bit Windows 8.1 mode.Today, Android on smartphones and tablets is a 32-bit affair.

Apple garnered lots of headlines in September when it unveiled the 64-bit A7 processor -- that chip now powers the iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and iPad Mini Retina.

Google Unveils Prepaid Debit Card,Available Only In US

Google Inc will offer a prepaid debit card that will allow consumers to purchase goods at stores and to withdraw cash from ATM machines, the Internet company said on Wednesday.

The card, which is only available in the United States, lets consumers access the funds stored in their Google Wallet accounts. Google Wallet is a smartphone app and online payment service that lets consumers buy goods and transfer money to each other.

The new Wallet card will be accepted at "millions of locations" that accept MasterCard and at ATM machines, Google said in a post on its official blog on Wednesday. Google said the card is free and that the company will not charge cardholders any monthly or annual fees.

The card could help advance Google's efforts to play a bigger role in commerce and provide the company with valuable information about consumer shopping habits, though it appears to be less ambitious than the full-fledged credit card once rumored to be in the works.

Google, the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, in 2011 began offering a special AdWords Business credit card that its advertising customers could use to buy ads on its website.

A Google spokeswoman confirmed that data about transactions made with the new Wallet card - including a description of goods purchased, the amount of the transaction and the name and address of the seller - would be added to the internal profiles that Google maintains for users of its services, which can be used to target ads.

Consumers add money to the new Wallet Card by linking it to a bank account or when another person transfers money to their Wallet account, according to Google. The card can be ordered online on Wednesday, and typically takes 10 to 12 days to arrive, a Google spokeswoman said.

Samsung owes Apple $290M more in damages: jury

A jury on Thursday ruled that Samsung must pay Apple $290,456,793 in additional damages for patent infringement, slightly less than the $380 million Apple had requested.

That brings its total award to about $930 million. Samsung believed it owed Apple only $52 million more in damages.

"For Apple, this case has always been about more than patents and money," Apple said in a statement. "It has been about innovation and the hard work that goes into inventing products that people love. While it's impossible to put a price tag on those values, we are grateful to the jury for showing Samsung that copying has a cost."

Samsung, meanwhile, said it is "disappointed by today's decision, which is based in large part on a patent that the US Patent and Trademark Office has recently deemed invalid."

The jury of six women and two men reached the decision slightly before noon PT Thursday after deliberating since midday Tuesday. Wednesday, the jury requested more information about how to determine Apple's lost profits, but most other questions related to office supplies -- they needed calculators and highlighters -- and lunch -- they got pretty sick of the catered sourdough sandwiches.

India to have world‘s largest Facebook population by 2016

Indians are increasingly logging into their Facebook   and Twitter accounts, with the country recording the highest social networking growth of 37.4 per cent this year, according to a new study.

India will also have the world's largest Facebook population by 2016, research firm eMarketerfound. India, with the highest growth this year, will increase user numbers by 37.4 per cent, while Indonesia's numbers will climb 28.7 per cent and
Mexico will grow its social network user base by 21.1 per cent.

All three of those countries are also high-growth areas for Facebook, the world's largest social network, which eMarketer estimates will reach a worldwide monthly user base of 1.026 billion this year. 

The US remains the single country with the greatest number of Facebook users, at 146.8 million this year, and India comes in a distant second. 

Indian IT has changed its hiring model: Nasscom

IT industry body Nasscom said the sector in the country would grow by 12-14% while IT exports are likely to reach $86 billion in the current fiscal on the back of adoption of new technologies and tapping new geographies by corporates.

"The (IT sector) growth will be 12-14% in dollar terms and in rupee terms it will be higher because of currency (fluctuations)," Nasscom President Som Mittal said here.

He was here to attend two-day IT conclave organised by UT Chandigarh Administration in collaboration with Punjab government and CII today. Nasscom was also positive about achieving higher growth this fiscal asIT companies came out with good financial results during last two quarters.

"From $76 billion last year, it is expected $86 billion...it is $10 billion increase...lets not talk about slowdown, the base has increased. Therefore, the growth in per centage will certainly drop as the base has increased," he said.

He said the hiring in current fiscal may be 1.80 lakh. Asked about emerging markets, Mittal said that the US market would continue to grow while Asia Pacific was also growing, adding that though the global economies were still struggling.

BlackBerry launches Porsche Design P'9982 luxury smartphone

Canadian handset makerBlackBerry in association with Porsche Design launched a new all-touch Porsche Design P'9982luxury smartphone.

Though the price of the handset was not disclosed, BlackBerry said the device is fashionedhigh-quality materials and features a customised version of its 10.2 operating system. BlackBerry has also launched a second Crocodile model strictly limited to 500 devices globally, it said in a statement.

The P'9982, which extends the Porsche Design luxury brand's range of modern luxury smartphones, features a satin finished frame, complemented by a hand-wrapped genuine Italian leather back door.

The smartphone will be available at Porsche Design stores, carriers and retailers globally starting November 21, with the exclusive retail launch at Harrods, Knightsbridge, London.

The limited Crocodile edition will be available early December, and will be exclusive to the Porsche Design shop-in-shop at Harrods. Other BlackBerry handsets with Porsche Design include P'9981 in gold, silver and bla

Google Glass throws open its doors to developers

Google Glass has taken a major step towards being ready for the public as Google unveils its Glass Development Kit at a Glass hackathon on Tuesday.

The development kit, or GDK, gives developers access to parts of Glass that have previously been under lock and key. Developers now can write Glass apps that can work even when not connected to the Internet; that work in real-time; and that utilize the hardware accelerometer and GPS.

Addressing the 100 or so developers who were invited to the hackathon, Timothy Jordan, Glass's senior developer advocate at Google, told them that even though the company hasn't made installing Glass apps easy, more than 83 percent of all Glass owners have installed at least one.Up until now, developers have only been able to develop with the Mirror API. The GDK opens up more programming options, so that developers can access the location provider; control the camera; insert voice commands and triggers into the options menu; create live cards; and detect gestures on the touchpad.

Severla companies were also present at the hackathon to demo app that they built thanks to early access to the GDK. One of the most impressive was a Glassware app called Wordlens, which translates printed words and replaces them with the target language.The app can take a German warning sign such as, "Bergweg betreten auf eigene Gefahr," and replace the printed words with, "Mountain path enter on own danger," when looking through Glass.

'Apple doesn't own beautiful and sexy' :Samsung

And the war is still going on.Samsung on Tuesday argued that Apple deserves a low amount of additional damages for patent infringement because Apple's patents are "very narrow" and people buy Samsung's devices for their differences from the iPhone.

Samsung attorney Bill Price said Apple has tried to show its patents cover all aspects of design and ease of use, preventing companies from making "attractive" devices that are easy to use. However, the patents are limited, he argued, which is why Samsung should only pay Apple $52 million for patent infringement, not the $380 million Apple has requested.
"Apple has tried to mischaracterize these patents so they are the iPhone," Price said during closing arguments in a court here. But "these patents are very narrow. ... Apple doesn't own beautiful and sexy."

He added that while Samsung knew it needed to alter its devices to compete with the iPhone,Apple has done the same thing with new devices like the iPad Mini.
"There's nothing wrong with looking at your competitors and changing what you do because of it," Price said.

Sprint, Best Buy give students a free year of talk, text, and data

Hey students, your report card can now earn you a free cell phone plan.Best Buy and Sprint announced Monday that they've teamed up to offer free unlimited talk and text, plus 1GB of data, for one full year to students.It works like this: Head to Best Buy between November 18 and January 4 and buy a new feature phone or smartphone at the Student Activated Price (the average phone price is $530), and activate it on a Sprint Unlimited, My Way plan. You'll need to pay for the cost of the phone, plus a $36 activation fee, taxes, and any other applicable fees.

Next, go to Sprint's student verification site within 14 days of your purchase to prove that you're a current student. One you're verified, your account will be credited for one year of unlimited talk and text, plus 1GB per month of data if you buy a smartphone, which Sprint says is a $70 per month value.
If 1GB of data isn't enough for your studying -- or let's be real, social media -- needs, you can pay $10 per month for unlimited data. You can also trade in your current phone to get a new handset with the offer. It's worth noting that you don't need to sign a two-year agreement for the student line. Lastly, students can get up to nine extra free years of service when a new line is added to the same account they're on.

Before you start thinking of ways to game the system, here's what you need to prove to Sprint that you're a student:

• You must be a part-time, full-time, or vocational student.
• You must be enrolled in a US-based elementary school, middle school, high school, college, university, or other accredited institute.
• Students under 13 must get parental consent when filling out the student verification form. Additionally, you need to submit one of the following via fax, or with your online form:
• Valid report card from current school year
• Student ID
• Enrollment confirmation or tuition receipt for current school year
• Required state documents if home schooled

After your free year is up, you (or the primary account holder) will be charged $70 per month for the services, unless you terminate the line. For more info on the program, head over to Sprint's site. And remember, just because your college ID never expires, that doesn't mean you should still claim you're a student five years after graduation.

MAVEN blasts off to Mars on $671 million mission

A new NASA Mars probe began a 10-month voyage to the Red Planet Monday, blasting off on a $671 million mission to study the thin martian atmosphere in a bid to find out what triggered a dramatic case of climate change that turned a once-hospitable environment into a cold, presumably barren desert.

"Something clearly happened," said Principal Investigator Bruce Jakosky. "Water was abundant on early Mars, the environment was something that was capable of supporting liquid water yet today we see a cold, dry planet that is not able to support water. What we want to do is to understand what are the reasons for that change in the climate."

Taking off just ahead of approaching clouds, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution -- MAVEN -- spacecraft, mounted inside a protective nose cone atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, blasted off on time from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 1:28 p.m. EST (GMT-5).

Generating 860,000 pounds of thrust, the first stage majestically boosted the rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere and fell away just over four minutes after liftoff. The rocket's hydrogen-fueled Centaur second stage then ignited for the first of two planned "burns," firing for nine-and-a-half minutes to complete the initial phase of ascent.If all goes well, the 2.5-ton spacecraft will reach Mars on September 22, 2014, braking into an elliptical orbit with an eventual high point of around 3,860 miles and a low point of just 93 miles. That will allow the spacecraft to repeatedly fly through the upper reaches of the martian atmosphere to directly sample its constituents and map out its structure.

In addition, MAVEN will carry out five "deep dip" sessions lasting about five days each, dropping to a low point of around 78 miles to study the atmosphere in "well mixed" regions where it is 30 times denser than the much thinner "air" the spacecraft normally samples.

Android's Share In Mobile OS Market Crosses 80% In July-September

Shipments of Android operating system-based Smartphones rose to over 211 million in the July- September quarter this year accounting for more than 80 percent of global mobile OS market share, research firm IDC said. Android accounted for 81 percent of all smartphone shipments, marking the first time Android topped 80 percent in its short history.

Despite high saturation rates in number of mature markets, the overall smartphone space grew 39.9 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) in the third quarter, it added.Another major success story was that of Windows Phone OS, which grew by 156 percent y-o-y.

"Granted, volumes started from a small base of 3.7 million units a year ago and overall market share is still less than five per cent. But Microsoft's efforts, with Nokia's support behind it, helped drive the platform into multiple tiers and price points," IDC noted.

Android and Windows Phone continued to make significant strides in the third quarter. Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success, price, IDC Mobile Phone team Research Manager Ramon Llamas said.