Home entertainment sales drop for sixth straight year
January 9, 2011
For the sixth straight year, home entertainment revenue has slid as surging interest in digital distribution and Blu-ray disks failed to make up for dropping DVD sales and rentals.
ARM says Microsoft needs it for mobile
January 9, 2011
Microsoft’s plan to make Windows compatible with ARM Holdings chip designs will help the software giant establish a major presence in smartphones and tablets, ARM’s president said.
Jets implicated in solar riddle
January 8, 2011
Scientists say they are closer to understanding why the Sun’s outer atmosphere is hotter than its surface.
The corona, as it is known, is millions of degrees hotter than the star’s visible surface layer, or photosphere.
Wreckage is from ‘pristine star’
January 6, 2011
UK and US scientists have found the remnants of a star that exploded more than 13 billion years ago.
It would most probably have been one of the very first stars to shine in the Universe, they say.
December auto sales raise hopes for 2011
January 4, 2011
Most automakers ended a challenging 2010 with a strong sales month, raising hopes that the industry could be carrying some momentum into the new year.
What’s all this #CES business about?
January 4, 2011
If you spend any time on the internet or with geeky friends this week, you’re sure to come across an acronym that’s pervasive in the world of technology each January: CES.
The 10 most significant gadgets of 2010
January 2, 2011
When this year began, we were feverishly speculating about an Apple tablet, looking forward to 3-D TV sets, and optimistically waiting for the end of the cable companies’ cruel grip on our wallets.
NASA finds more cracks on Discovery’s fuel tank
January 1, 2011
NASA engineers will repair small cracks found on the space shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank — a development that could further delay its launch.
“The X-rays showed four additional small cracks on three stringers on the opposite side of the tank from Discovery, and managers elected to repair those cracks …” NASA said in a statement. The work is expected to take two to three days.
Hackers crack open mobile network
January 1, 2011
Mobile calls and texts made on any GSM network can be eavesdropped upon using four cheap phones and open source software, say security researchers.
Karsten Nohl and Sylvain Munaut demonstrated their eavesdropping toolkit at the Chaos Computer Club Congress (CCC) in Berlin.
New Year Honours: Astronaut Piers Sellers becomes OBE
December 31, 2010
British-born astronaut Piers Sellers has been appointed an OBE in the New Year Honours List for his services to science.
Dr Sellers, who was born in Crowborough, East Sussex, has flown on three space shuttle missions - most recently in May this year.