8:51 PM
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that they shot down 2 "Western spy" (UAV) drones in the Gulf. They said that the UAVs are mostly being used in Iraq and Afghanistan but have crossed over their territory sometimes:
http://www.asdnews.com/news/32689/Iran_Guards_shoot_down_two__Western_spy__drones.htm
China is launching its first spacecraft to Mars later this year, a joint operation with Russia:
http://www.asdnews.com/news/32686/China_to_explore_Mars_with_Russia_this_year.htm
Japanese researchers created the first artificially-produced rare earth metal. This is the first step to being able to make alternatives to the limited rare earth metals that are mainly only available through China right now:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/T101230003933.htm
A computer chip that computes math imprecisely can process some types of data thousands of times more efficiently than existing chips. Letting a chip compute 100+100 and get 199 sometimes and 202 sometimes would use less power and many more math circuits could fit on a single chip--significantly increasing the number of calculations possible. This "sloppy math" work was funded by ONR and has a surprising number of applications:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/fuzzy-logic-0103.html
Craig McCaw resigned as Chairman of Clearwire:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/craig-mccaw-resigns-clearwire-chairman/2010-12-30
Verizon Wireless will apparently unveil about *50* LTE partners as part of their LTE announcement at CES this week. Verizon will apparently announce LTE Android smartphones from HTC, Motorola, and Samsung, and at least one LTEAndroid tablet:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/ceslive/story/report-verizon-unveiling-dozens-lte-partners-ces/2011-01-03
Verizon bought the domains "iphoneonverizon.com" and "iphoneforverizon.com" from a domain squatter, but the people who own other domain names such as "verizoniphone.com" are apparently holding out for more money:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/02/verizon-snaps-up-iphone-domains/
Vizio is the second-largest US TV supplier (Costco sells a ton of their TVs!) and they will be unveiling a 4-inch smartphone and an 8-inch tablet device at CES this week. Their tablets and smartphones will be sold at Costco and Wal-Mart and will be aggressively priced--they feel there is a big market for people who want tablets but don't want to pay the high price of the iPad. Their devices will includes transmitters that allow them to function as remote-control devices for other electronics. All of these devices use Android, and they will also show off their TVs and Blu-ray players with Google TV built in:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-03/vizio-to-challenge-apple-with-low-priced-smartphone-tablet.html
http://www.androidcentral.com/vizio-details-its-android-offerings-4-inch-phone-8-inch-tablet-google-tv
Facebook was the most visited website in 2010 (Google was #2 and Yahoo! Mail was #3). Facebook was #3 in 2009 (behind Google and Yahoo! Mail), and Facebook was #9 in 2008 (top 3 were Google, MySpace, and eBay):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/30/facebook-tops-google-as-m_n_802606.html
Facebook has received investments from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor that valued Facebook at $50 billion:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/03/technology/facebook_goldman/index.htm?hpt=T1
This columnist scoffs at the idea that Facebook is worth $50 billion and slams both Goldman Sachs and the Russian investment group. It is interesting that Goldman Sachs may earn a lot of money by investing in Facebook--by getting others to invest in Facebook through them at that valuation and by being the ones to handle Facebook's IPO:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/50-billion-reasons-why-facebook-not-worth-50-billion-432
68-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly hit a 15-year-old who refused to stop playing games and listening to music on his iPhone while the plane was taking off from Vegas and the announcement had been made to turn off all electronic devices. Witnesses said that the man hit the boy on the arm, he said that he "tapped" the boy:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/29/ap/national/main7195103.shtml
http://www.asdnews.com/news/32689/Iran_Guards_shoot_down_two__Western_spy__drones.htm
China is launching its first spacecraft to Mars later this year, a joint operation with Russia:
http://www.asdnews.com/news/32686/China_to_explore_Mars_with_Russia_this_year.htm
Japanese researchers created the first artificially-produced rare earth metal. This is the first step to being able to make alternatives to the limited rare earth metals that are mainly only available through China right now:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/T101230003933.htm
A computer chip that computes math imprecisely can process some types of data thousands of times more efficiently than existing chips. Letting a chip compute 100+100 and get 199 sometimes and 202 sometimes would use less power and many more math circuits could fit on a single chip--significantly increasing the number of calculations possible. This "sloppy math" work was funded by ONR and has a surprising number of applications:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/fuzzy-logic-0103.html
Craig McCaw resigned as Chairman of Clearwire:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/craig-mccaw-resigns-clearwire-chairman/2010-12-30
Verizon Wireless will apparently unveil about *50* LTE partners as part of their LTE announcement at CES this week. Verizon will apparently announce LTE Android smartphones from HTC, Motorola, and Samsung, and at least one LTEAndroid tablet:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/ceslive/story/report-verizon-unveiling-dozens-lte-partners-ces/2011-01-03
Verizon bought the domains "iphoneonverizon.com" and "iphoneforverizon.com" from a domain squatter, but the people who own other domain names such as "verizoniphone.com" are apparently holding out for more money:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/02/verizon-snaps-up-iphone-domains/
Vizio is the second-largest US TV supplier (Costco sells a ton of their TVs!) and they will be unveiling a 4-inch smartphone and an 8-inch tablet device at CES this week. Their tablets and smartphones will be sold at Costco and Wal-Mart and will be aggressively priced--they feel there is a big market for people who want tablets but don't want to pay the high price of the iPad. Their devices will includes transmitters that allow them to function as remote-control devices for other electronics. All of these devices use Android, and they will also show off their TVs and Blu-ray players with Google TV built in:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-03/vizio-to-challenge-apple-with-low-priced-smartphone-tablet.html
http://www.androidcentral.com/vizio-details-its-android-offerings-4-inch-phone-8-inch-tablet-google-tv
Facebook was the most visited website in 2010 (Google was #2 and Yahoo! Mail was #3). Facebook was #3 in 2009 (behind Google and Yahoo! Mail), and Facebook was #9 in 2008 (top 3 were Google, MySpace, and eBay):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/30/facebook-tops-google-as-m_n_802606.html
Facebook has received investments from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor that valued Facebook at $50 billion:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/03/technology/facebook_goldman/index.htm?hpt=T1
This columnist scoffs at the idea that Facebook is worth $50 billion and slams both Goldman Sachs and the Russian investment group. It is interesting that Goldman Sachs may earn a lot of money by investing in Facebook--by getting others to invest in Facebook through them at that valuation and by being the ones to handle Facebook's IPO:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/50-billion-reasons-why-facebook-not-worth-50-billion-432
68-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly hit a 15-year-old who refused to stop playing games and listening to music on his iPhone while the plane was taking off from Vegas and the announcement had been made to turn off all electronic devices. Witnesses said that the man hit the boy on the arm, he said that he "tapped" the boy:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/29/ap/national/main7195103.shtml