Monday, July 22, 2013

Technology of the Future: Checking on the Status of Flying Cars, Teleportation and More

If you’re reading this blog, you probably agree with us that the development of technology is basically the most fascinating thing ever. It’s strange to think, though, that when you look back at old movies and TV shows set in the future, you don’t really see anything like the Internet or Facebook-enabled smartphones

2013, where is hell my flying car?

Honda Air ConceptHonda Air conceptualized by advanced design studio in Pasadena, California
For decades pop culture has been telling us that flying cars were supposed to be all the rage of the 21st Century. Movies, TV shows and even cartoons have been fixated on the notion of flying cars.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Apple Details 'Economic Impact' On Cupertino As It Readies New Spaceship-Inspired Campus


 
Apple AAPL -0.62% released an 82-page report today, detailing the “economic impact” the company has had on its hometown of Cupertino, California, and will continue to have on the local economy after  it builds a  proposed new spaceship-inspired headquarters called Apple Campus 2. Among the interesting data points: Apple’s “conservative” expectation that it will grow the number of Cupertino-based, full-time employees by a modest 10 percent in the next few years from its current headcount of 16,000.

Government Informant Adrian Lamo Testifies To Bradley Manning's 'Idealistic' Motives In Leak Trial


Adrian Lamo’s decision to finger Bradley Manning as one of WikiLeaks’ most prolific sources of secrets may have led to the young Army private’s arrest three years ago. But on Tuesday, Lamo provided courtroom testimony that could draw an important legal distinction in Manning’s motives: that Manning leaked his troves of classified documents to WikiLeaks for what Lamo believed were “idealistic” intentions, rather than a desire to aid America’s foreign enemies.
Responding to a series of questions from Manning’s attorney David Coombs, Lamo confirmed that he believed Manning to be “ideologically motivated,” “idealistic,” and “well-intentioned,” responding in the affirmative to each of those descriptions as Coombs offered them. Over several minutes, Lamo offered terse answers such as “yes” and “correct” to dozens of questions describing Manning and Lamo’s instant message chats in 2010, in which Manning confessed to Lamo that he had leaked thousands of classified Pentagon and State Department to WikiLeaks. Lamo later turned those chat logs over to Army investigators.

Social Networking Superstars


 

No. 1 Justin Bieber

Twitter followers: 15.4 million
Tweets: 12,537
Facebook fans: 38.2 million

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Why Enterprise Is Avoiding Windows 8

Despite Microsoft MSFT -0.73% shipping more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses, Redmond’s newest operating system is not making much headway in the enterprise world, with IT decision makers deciding to give it the cold shoulder.

Invasion Of The Machines: iRobot Hunts Bombs, Cleans Floors, Now Wants To Heal You This story appears in the June 10, 2013 issue of Forbes.

As he mashes the joystick controls, Colin Angle grins like a 6-year-old boy playing with his first radio-controlled car, freshly torn wrapping paper thrown aside. But the 45-year-old iRobot IRBT -2.95% cofounder and CEO isn’t testing out a toy–he’s putting a $100,000-plus piece of machinery to work, a remote-controlled 60-pound minitank with four cameras, rubber treads and a 6-foot extendable arm.

Can Data Storage Ever Reach An Absolute Limit?

Yes. The maximum possible amount of data you can cram into a given space is the Bekenstein bound.
So what does that translate to? Well, the E is actually mass-energy. But assuming your storage device is a spherical thing that has mass, the number of bits you can store is around (2.57*10^43)*(mass of your storage device in kg)*(radius of your storage device in m).

Yahoo's Top 10 Biggest Acquisitions

. Broadcast.com

Yahoo’s biggest acquisition to date took place in 1999 with its purchase of internet video streaming service Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion. Yahoo promised to

Twitter Just Launched Two-Factor Authentication To Foil Hackers: Turn It On

After a series of nasty hacks of high-profile accounts, Twitter just turned on a feature that’s becoming the new normal in Web application security: two-factor authentication.
As the video above shows, Twitter users can now sign up to have a unique code sent to their phone by text message whenever they log in from a new computer. That ensures that any hacker who tries to steal your password, say with a phishing attack or keylogging spyware, would also have to compromise your phone, too, creating a serious security barrier.

Banks Looking To Cash In By Mining Social Data

Across industries, organizations are collecting and using large sets of data to get a leg up on the competition. One industry that has been particularly aggressive at harnessing the power of data is the banking business.

How Xbox One's New Kinect Could Reinvent TV Navigation

By now you may have heard a little about the new Xbox One’s Kinect, the motion tracking sensor that will ship with every Xbox One later this year.
The companion device, which was introduced yesterday at the Xbox One unveiling at Microsoft ‘s Redmond campus, is a blocky little bar with a small camera and highly-sensitive microphone that looks pretty much like the first-generation Kinect.

Why The New Google-NASA Partnership Marks A New Era In The History Of Computing

It’s easy to become jaded about announcements in the tech world.  Slick, media savvy CEO’s announce “revolutionary” new products with metronomic regularity.  Version 1.0 becomes 1.1 and eventually 2.0 and on and on.  It all seems like a blur.

Google Continues To Play Catch-Up With 'All Access' Music Service As Critics Sound Off

Google CEO Larry Page on stage at Google I/O 2013: "We should be building things that don't exist." (Jonathan Hall/ Forbes)
On Wednesday during the closing segment of a three-and-a-half hour keynote presentation at his company’s developers conference, Google CEO Larry Page chided the media for its interpretation of his company’s relationship with other technology firms. Making one of his first public appearances since missing company events with vocal cord ailments last year, Page made it clear that he was unhappy with the portrayal of Google as a divisive figure in Silicon Valley.
“Every story I read about Google is kind of ‘us versus some other company’ or some stupid thing, and I just don’t find that very interesting,” said Page. “We should be building things that don’t exist.”

Why Facebook Should Buy Waze

By Tomio Geron and Ryan Mac
Mark Zuckerberg in early April held a flashy press conference to launch Facebook FB -2.01% Home, a new app for Android that turns a phone into an always-Facebook device. Its Cover Feed takes over the phone’s home screen with wall updates. Its Chat Heads messaging system has photos of your friends in cute circular icons that can be accessed from other apps.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Not A Billionaire: After Yahoo Deal, Tumblr Founder David Karp Is Worth Just Under $200 Million

David Karp didn’t finish high school. That didn’t stop him from working his way into the 1 percent.
On Monday, when Yahoo YHOO -1.74% announced it would acquire Karp’s Tumblr, rumors swirled across the Web that the 26-year-old entrepreneur had become a billionaire, joining the likes of Facebook FB -2.01% cofounders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz as the youngest members of the 10-figure fortune club. The Tumblr founder, however, is not a billionaire. But he is still very wealthy.

Tax Increases? Why Facebook's Billion Dollar Income Isn't Taxed (At All) By IRS

Mark Zuckerberg commands attention even if Facebook’s much hyped IPO was lackluster. As a visionary billionaire, when Mr. Zuckerberg speaks, people listen. Having $1.1 billion in profits must feel pretty good. Paying no taxes to the IRS and even to revenue starved California? Priceless. See Facebook Paid No Income Taxes In 2012.

Apple: Think Different. Tax Different

No person or company wants to be accused of skirting tax obligations. Yet despite Joe Biden’s “paying higher taxes is patriotic” gaffe, paying too much could make you a chump. When Mitt Romney tried to stem the tide of negative tax press by forgoing deductions, he was derided for that too. See Romney Paid 14% in Taxes This Year but Could Have Paid Less. All the way around, taxes make a poor spectator sport.
Tax evasion? Bad. Tax avoidance? Less so. Tax planning? Above reproach. Yet sometimes tax planning is so über-creative it is virtually gymnastics. Tax gerrymandering is especially bad if you brag about it like Leona Helmsley. Her “only the little people pay taxes” motto landed her in prison.

Three Essential Components of Successful Social Media Campaigns

When working in the world of social change, it’s easy to get excited about a new campaign when we’re inspired by hope or outraged by injustice. But in the scramble to make change happen, we can forget about the tactics and tools that actually help us implement our visions for a better world. Here are three sometimes-overlooked components of digital campaigns that are essential for success.
1. Tangible goals, and tactics to meet them. (cf. “A Plan.”) Seems obvious, right? But many well-meaning groups often paint their goals with broad strokes, like “get the word out about x,” which can be difficult to measure. Or, their goals are so narrow and out of reach (“tell the president of the universe to enact legislation which…”) that they leave little room for casual bystanders to interact with the campaign.

Vine For Voice: Why Half A Million Millennials Share Sound On Dubbler

You know where to go to spruce up your phone photos so you can share them with friends–Instagram. And for short edited videos, Twitter’s Vine platform can help you channel your inner Jack Dorsey with six-second edited clips. But when you want to impose your voice or a happy birthday song on your friends, social media doesn’t have as clear of an answer for where you should go. That’s where audio-sharing app Dubbler thinks it can become the next big media-sharing app—by betting people like the sounds of their own voices even more when they can share them filtered to sound like a robot or a cat.

Yahoo, Tumblr And Social Media Stuck In Neutral

It’s worth noting that the biggest social media story of the year so far has nothing to do with innovation but rather the sale of an existing platform, Tumblr, to an entrenched tech giant, Yahoo YHOO -1.74%. It may be a sign that the first big social media land grab has come to an end.
The idea that the social media industry is settling in is a strange one. For a while, it seemed like a new massive platform would pop up every few years and the pattern would keep going forever. From 2006 to 2011, Facebook FB -2.01%, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram all hit growth spurts and solidified their status as giants within incredibly short time frames. But the phenomenon seems to have come to a halt. Recently, the most promising attempts to break into social have not been new concepts, like Pinterest was in 2010, but rather purported giant killers like Google GOOG -1.85% Plus. And the giants are still in great shape.

It's Not Just China: Indian Hacker Group Spied On Targets In Pakistan, U.S. And Europe

Part of a decoy PDF found by researchers, meant to infect a target with interest in Indian military capabilities.

Watch The Video: Microsoft Xbox One Event

Microsoft MSFT -0.64% launched its next-generation video game console on May 21st at a special event on their corporate campus in Redmond, Washington called “Xbox: A New Generation Revealed.” The new console, called the Xbox One, will help usher in the next generation of video game hardware, and ramp up the war for gamer dollars between Sony , Nintendo , and Microsoft MSFT -0.64%.

Apple, Called A U.S. Tax Dodger, Says It's Paid 'Every Single Dollar' of Taxes Owed

In brief: Apple CEO Tim Cook, called to testify before a Senate subcommittee that charges it with dodging U.S. taxes, says its paid ‘every single dollar’ of the taxes it owes and that it supports ‘dramatic’ changes to the tax system that will likely mean Apple will pay more in taxes.
A U.S. Senate subcommittee today questioned Apple AAPL -0.74% CEO Tim Cook about the company’s offshore cash, charging the company with exploiting tax loopholes and setting up offshore subsidiaries to shift “large potions” of its profits offshore as part of a plan to “dodge” paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes.

Microsoft Stumbles Through Xbox One Announcement


Microsoft Reveals The Xbox One

|

I just wrapped up my live coverage of the Xbox One reveal, an event that was half as long as most thought it would be, and one hour longer than it should have been.
Meaning, this shouldn’t have been an event in the first place.
The Xbox One announcement was an hour long, though really only 45 minutes if you don’t count the 25% of the presentation devoted solely to being a singular ad for the (non-Xbox exclusive) Call of Duty: Ghosts. The presentation veered wildly around from topic to topic, starting strong, but finishing prematurely before nearly any important questions about the system were answered.
Screenshots of the Xbox One:

Monday, May 20, 2013

Will snoopgate fell the Bloomberg giant?



Dimon Congress
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testifies is taking legal action against Bloomberg for alleged snooping practices. Source: AP
JP MORGAN was in the eye of a storm. Bruno Iksil, a trader in the Wall Street bank's London office, had made big bets that were starting to go wrong.
The firm was on the hook for losses that would total more than $6bn. Jamie Dimon, the usually unflappable chief executive, was on the rack.

Oracle Application Development Framework Mobile Arrives

 

Oracle has announced the Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) Mobile, an extension of the Oracle Application Development Framework.
This new 1.1 release adds support for device-native push notification, new device integration infrastructure based on Apache Cordova, full file attachment viewing, and updated mobile operating system support.

Dell says cannot disclose more information to Icahn yet

A Dell laptop computer is pictured in New York in this August 26, 2008 file photograph. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/Files

Mon May 20, 2013 7:49am EDT
(Reuters) - Dell Inc said in a letter to suitors Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management that the company would not provide more information about itself unless the board determined that their proposal was "superior" to founder Michael Dell's.

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) builds enhanced quality database


Northern, WI 05/20/2013 (indicesmedia) – The share prices of Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) had jumped by 1.92% to reach $35.03 at an above average trading volume of 26.99 million shares. The leading provider of enterprise software and computer hardware products and services had enabled Columbus State University to gain real time visibility and development into student performance and engagement.

Oracle reveals swathe of Aussie rollouts


larryellison
news Enterprise technology giant Oracle has published details of half a dozen sizable deployments of its technology by Australian customers, as it continues its push to convince local technology buyers of the popularity of its Fusion platforms.

US Judge: Only Powered-Off Mobile Phones Deserve Privacy Protections

A federal magistrate judge in New York recently ruled that cell phone location data deserves no protection under the Fourth Amendment and that accordingly, the government can engage in real-time location surveillance without a search warrant. In an opinion straight from the Twilight Zone, magistrate judge Gary Brown ruled two weeks ago that “phone users who fail to turn off their cell phones do not exhibit an expectation of privacy.”

Windows Phone: Time for Microsoft to Put the Pedal to the Metal

Nokia-lumia-521
Greg Sullivan, Microsoft's Windows Phone marketing lead, was grinning from ear to ear when we sat down for an interview earlier this week. Market research firm IDC had just anointed his phone platform a solid Number 3, beating the once-dominant Blackberry platform for the first time.
"It’s very refreshing," Sullivan told me.
Granted, Windows Phone and Blackberry are fighting over scraps. That same report indicated that 92% of all shipping smartphones are on the Android and iOS platforms. Still, for Microsoft it's a victory of sorts — maybe even a sign of momentum.

Technology Xbox Xbox 720: five key points about Microsoft's new generation

Microsoft is unveiling its new console in Seattle on Tuesday. So what can we expect from the long-awaited Xbox 360 successor?

Xbox invite
The invitation to Microsoft's next generation Xbox 720 event on Tuesday
Sony's cards are on the table, now it's Microsoft's turn to show its hand. After the controversial introduction of the PlayStation 4 in February, Tuesday will see the unveiling of the next Xbox machine, which still doesn't have a name – although Infinity is a frontrunner once again. Taking place at the Microsoft HQ in Redmond, the event will be live-streamed across the globe, and should actually show us the new console – unlike Sony's rather coy non-reveal.

Using Java WebSockets, JSR 356, and JSON mapped to POJO's

The Performance Zone is supported by New Relic and AppDynamics. Both are leaders in the APM space with high-profile customers and massive cost reductions for those users.
I have been playing around with Tyrus, the reference implementation of the JSR 356 WebSocket for Java spec. Because I was looking at test tooling I was interested in running both the client and the server side in Java. So no HTML5 in this blog post I am afraid.

RIM to Roll Out Emerging Market-Focused BlackBerry

ORLANDO—BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. BBRY -0.48% said it is planning to roll out a new phone that will run on its latest operating system and target customers in the developing world—the first new RIM product following the launch of its all-touch BlackBerry Z10 and its keyboard-equipped Q10.

Making sure your Java isn't a load of old rubbish

Summary: Taking out the trash is a vital element of keeping your Java virtual machine running smoothly.
By Simon Bisson for 500 words into the future |

Java's had a lot of bad press recently, which has led to security consultants and even government agencies calling on users to uninstall Java from their PCs.
But enterprise Java is still an important technology – at the heart of many important cloud platforms and in enterprise servers, where it's a business-critical technology.
Back at QCon, the cross-platform developer conference, I sat down with Gil Tene, the CTO and co-founder of JVM vendor Azul, to talk about how a well-designed JVM can take the risk out of running enterprise-grade Java service and applications.

IPCONFIG–An internal error occurred: The request is not supported.

I helped to troubleshoot a laptop (running Windows XP with SP3) which was having problem getting IP address.  The laptop was not able to get IP address and I got the following error when I ran ipconfig. Windows IP Configuration
An internal error occurred: The request is not supported.
Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services for further help.
Additional information: Unable to query host name.

ipconfig error

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Will flexible 'Rolltop' laptop ever become reality?


Looks like a thermos, but it's a laptop in disguise.
(Credit: myRolltop)
Back in 2009, more than a few people drooled over a concept video from Orkin Design for a laptop with a flexible screen that rolls up into a magic scroll of sorts.
The Munich-based design firm recently released an updated concept video, but the Rolltop is so far no closer to becoming reality.

Insect-like flying robot developed by Harvard researchers

Researchers at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed an insect-like robot that achieves flight by flapping a pair of tiny wings.
The robot is small enough to sit on the tip of a finger and weighs 80 milligrams -- that's roughly 1/30th the weight of a U.S. penny coin. Its wings, which have a span of 3 centimeters, can flap at up to 120 times per second.
The robot, which is described in a paper published in this week's edition of Science, was partially funded by the National Science Foundation and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.
Why JC Penney Employees Call Their iPod Touches "Libby"
CITE Goes Live! Register for the CITE Conference & Expo, June 2-4, in San Francisco.
Because it's so small, technology for the robot didn't previously exist.
"We had to develop solutions from scratch, for everything," said Harvard Professor Robert J. Wood in a statement. "We would get one component working, but when we moved onto the next, five new problems would arise. It was a moving target."
For example, while large robots run on electromagnetic motors, they are impractical at this scale because of their size, weight and power consumption. So, to control the flap of the wings the team used piezoelectric actuators, which are ceramic devices that expand and contract with the application of electricity.

Future Tech: The Next Generation D-Roll Laptop

osted November 27, 2009
Filed under: Uncategorized |
The computer is becoming much faster and faster, cheap, efficient and portable in the form of laptop. Hao Hua represents a very unique and charming design of Laptop known as D-Roll Laptop or Digital Roll Laptop. This laptop is very portable in its design, better in its efficiency and veryattractive in its outlook.


Computer All Rolled Up


A day will come when computers can be rolled up like newspapers, and concepts like Roll Me will make complete sense. Here’s why, it features e-paper nanotechnology roll-able display, making it light and portable. With minimal components and built-in cooling systems, the computer is highly ergonomic and intuitive. To “round” it off, it’s powered by SolarRoll – a flexible solar panel that can be stowed within the hollow shaft of the computer.

HP Announces Flexible Computer Screens On the Horizon Read more: HP Announces Flexible Computer Screens On the Horizon

Arizona State University’s Flexible Display Center and HP recently announced a prototype of a flexible lightweight computer screen that stands to revolutionize computers and electronic devices. Created in a similar roll-to-roll manufacturing process as thin-film pv, these new computer screens are printed onto plastic sheets that are virtually indestructible, use less energy and are less costly to produce than conventional screens. These new displays could potentially use up to 90% less materials by volume to produce as well.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Futuristic RollTop Foldable Notebook with 17-inch OLED Display and Full Fledged Keyboard

The RollTop is a flexible notebook concept that can be folded like a roll of paper allowing the user ultimate convenience of carrying and storing it even in a congested place. It features a 17” flat-screen OLED display when fully rolled out with the multi-touch facility that will offer the ease and functionality of that of an iPhone. Also, when required, it can be folded into a 13” smart tablet pc. Aside from the touch-screen controlling, it features full fledged keyboard like conventional notebooks with which convenient typing can be performed. When folded, this compact notebook takes the size of a water carrier and can easily be hanged over the shoulder with a hanging belt.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Rumored release of Xbox 720 delayed


imageKARACHI: The highly anticipated May 21st event, where the successor to the Xbox 360 will be unveiled on stage, the latest rumor has reportedly emerged about the release date of the Xbox 720 console to be slated for sometime in 2014.
Surprisingly, the reason for the delay is reported due to an exclusive agreement Sony has with the Blu-Ray disc format. Even though Microsoft chose to use DVD discs for the Xbox 360 whereas the PS3 already operates on Blu-Ray, it has been reported that a Blu-Ray format will be used for the new Xbox as well.
Since Sony utilized the Blu-Ray format first, it is reported that Microsoft will have to wait until 2014 to release their Xbox with Blu-Ray support. It seems that the hype of the presumed release of Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox will remain just hype, with Sony being the one to release the only console later this year.

Xbox 720 vs PS4: Microsoft’s Used Games Ban IS Real, Sony’s Might Not Be Says Xing Interactive Exec [REPORT]


By Mo Mozuch on April 23, 2013 3:28 PM EDT 15 Comments
PS4 vs. Xbox 720 Release Date 2013, Specs, Price: Sony Planning Another Big Announcement Before E3 [REPORT]

PS4 vs. Xbox 720 Release Date 2013, Specs, Price: Who's banning used games first? (Photo: YouTube screenshot/niklas1723))

Expect a new Xbox: Microsoft set to unveil new games console at mysterious


  • Firm expect to unveil next generation Xbox 720 console
  • Will take on PlayStation 4 - will both expected to be on sale in time for Christmas
Microsoft is set to unveil its next generation Xbox games console on May 21st.
Expected to be called the Xbox 720 and go on sale in time for Christmas, the console will battle Sony's PlayStation 4.
The consoles hope to fend off a growing threat from iPhone and iPad games, and become living room 'hubs' for everything from TV and music streaming to showing off Facebook photos on the big screen.
Microsoft this week sent out a teaser email for the May 21st event, which will be broadcast online
Microsoft this week sent out a teaser email for the May 21st event, which will be broadcast online

THE TABLET THREAT

Tablets and smartphones already account for around 10 percent of the $80 billion gaming market.
Those mobile devices, analysts predict, will within a few years be as powerful as the current slew of game-only consoles. 
Apple already has a system called Apple TV to link tablets to a TV wirelessly, allowing gamers to play on the big screen, using their iPad or iPhone as a controller.
The event at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters that will likely shed light on its next video game console. 
Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday that the May 21 event will reveal a new generation of games, TV and entertainment.

GTA 5’ PS3 and Xbox 360 multiplayer startup details hinted (Photos)


‘GTA 5’ PS3 and Xbox 360 multiplayer startup details hinted
Few details have been hinted in regards to the startup process of the multiplayer mode in the upcoming Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 video game, “GTA 5.” According to a preview article from The Guardian on May 3, players can open a character wheel selection menu during the campaign mode of the latest installment from the “Grand Theft Auto” series. In addition to switching from one character to another, they can also apparently boot up the multiplayer mode. You can check out the latest screenshots from the open-world action-adventure title in the slideshow at the top of this article.
Rockstar Games has not yet revealed any official details regarding the multiplayer mode of “GTA 5.” The sequel is currently in production at Rockstar North, the same studio that was previously credited with the earlier mainline games of the series. It will be released for the aforementioned Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 current-generation consoles in the North American region on Sept. 17.

3D movies fall out of favour as ticket sales drop by a third


Once you get over the initial shock of something reaching out of the screen towards you, it adds nothing at all to a film. You soon forget it is there at all,’ he said.
Skyfall
Skyfall was the biggest movie of 2012, taking over £100m at the box office – despite not being in 3D (Picture: Sony)

New 3D Mario game rumored for Wii U in 2013


smg wii u
Nintendo is rumored to have a new Super Mario Bros. title in the works for release on the Wii U in 2013. CVG is reporting that in the face of falling sales for the newly released console, Nintendo is readying a first-party software lineup that is anchored by the flagship franchise.

iPhone 6 Concept Exclusive 2013 3D video render


Last month, Apple filed a patent for a wraparound style display for what could be the next iPhone.
 We turned on our 3D rendering machine to come up with what we think the next gen iPhone could look like. For more on the latest iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S news, head to our iPhone 5: release date, rumours, features and news round-up.

Iron Man 3' has second best box office debut in history


Monday, 06.05.2013, 11:51
'Iron Man 3' has second best box office debut in history
Cast members Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow. ©REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Super-hero blockbuster sequel "Iron Man 3" smashed to the top at the US box office with a mega $175.3 million take -- the second best opening weekend ever -- AFP reports according to the industry estimates.

Iron Man 3’ Delivers $175 Million Hit to Start Summer


Iron Man 3” burst into theaters with $175.3 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, giving Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s Marvel division its second straight mega-hit to start a summer movie season.
The opening-weekend haul for the superhero film starring Robert Downey Jr. was the second-biggest of all time, behind “Marvel’s The Avengers” in May 2012, the company said yesterday in a statement. With $504.8 million in international receipts, “Iron Man 3” has collected $680.1 million worldwide in 12 days of release, more than either earlier “Iron Man” generated in its entire theater run.
Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow as Tony Stark and Pepper Pots in Disney's "Iron Man 3." The film is directed by Shane Black. Photographer: Zade Rosenthal/Marvel via Bloomberg
The performance highlights Disney’s multi-film, multi-prong strategy for Marvel, acquired in December 2009 for $4.2 billion, according to David Hollis, executive vice president for motion picture distribution. He credited earlier Marvel pictures that paved the way with fans, characters interwoven among movies and the marketing muscle that Burbank, California-based Disney, the world’s largest entertainment company, brings with its theme parks, TV networks and retail stores.

The New Age of Technology: 3D Printing


By Graeme Newman | May 6, 2013

Earlier this year, scientists from Cornell University successfully created an artificial human ear by printing it on a 3D printer. Created by squirting living cells into an injection mold, the ears could replace those of individuals who have lost all or part of their ear in an accident or due to cancer, or for children with congenital defects. It is thought the technology could pave the way for purpose-built replacement organs eliminating the need for organ donation or the possibility of transplant rejection.