Canadian spaceman Chris Hadfield returned to Earth today, landing in Kazakhstan. He landed along with two other astronauts after a half-year mission to the International Space Station. He shot to global stardom by captivating people worldwide with his Twitter microblog containing amazing photos from space and his rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity.
According to analysts IDC, tablet computer shipments soared in the first quarter of 2013, growing by 142.4% compared with the same period in 2012. Figures show that more tablets were shipped from January to March 2013 than in the entire first half of 2012. Apple has the largest market share with 39.6%.
At IBM, reserachers have created the world’s smallest stop-motion animation by manipulating single atoms on a copper surface. The movie uses a few dozen carbon atoms, moved around with the tiny tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), an IBM invention which involved the scientists behind it the 1986 Nobel prize in physics.
32 separate apps on Google Play that harbour a bug called BadNews have been identified by security researchers from the firm Lookout. BadNews stole cash on infected phones in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries in eastern Europe, by racking up charges from sending premium rate text messages. The malicious program lay dormant on many handsets for weeks to escape detection.
Microsoft will stop offering support for Windows XP from April 8 next year, but it has been claimed that many firms have not made sufficient plans to move to a newer system. Besides using a system that hampers productivity, firms that stay with Microsoft XP beyond next April risk being victims of cyber attacks as Microsoft stops releasing security updates.
The US Patent and Trademark Office has denied Apple its application for a trademark for the popular iPad Mini. They turned down the trademark application for the tablet because the name was “merely descriptive” and “did not create a unique meaning”. Apple has until July to persuade the Patent Office that their smaller tablet differs sufficiently from its iconic sibling.
Lineal is proud to support local and national charities and watch them go from strength to strength. Recently Lineal has joined the ‘noble ninety six’ supporting Calvert Trust Exmoor who are raising funds to replace 96 skylight panels in their stables for activities which help disabled and disadvantaged children. Lineal has also been a long-term supporter of The Kempton Great Engines Trust, since its formation in 1995, which has created a museum at the Water Treatment Works at Kempton Park and restored to live steam one of its two Triple Expansion Engines.
Lineal has been celebrating the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the company. Managing Director, Mike Matthews, and his wife Linda created Lineal following the success of their SQLWorks business database. The inception of SQLWorks actually dates back 30 years to Mike’s early programming activities.
Two free Events for businesses in the Torridge and North Devon Council areas are being held, to learn more about local Superfast Broadband. The Get up to Speed! program is designed to equip people across Devon and Somerset with the right knowledge and skills to fully harness the improved broadband service being brought to the region. Connecting Devon and Somerset Business Support is brought to the are through Connecting Devon and Somerset delivery partners YTKO, who have been commissioned to deliver enhanced support activities as well as intensive skills development to businesses across Devon and Somerset. Both the Events are being held locally in Bideford and Barnstaple.
The SpaceTop 3D desktop computer was unveiled at the TED conference in Los Angeles by Jinha Lee who has been working on the SpaceTop 3D desktop in collaboration with Microsoft.
The transparent computer allows people to interact with machines in the same way they do with solid objects which will make computing much more intuitive. This Minority Report-style computer could enable a future that will see us interact with machine via touch.
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