5:35 PM
Researchers found the rare Earth element tellurium for the first time in 3 ancient stars. Those extremely rare elements were found in stars nearly 12 billion years old:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/heavy-metal-stars-tellurium-0217.html
Georgia Tech researchers built a prototype app for touch-screen mobile devices that allows for texting without having to look at the device's screen. The open-source app uses the Braille writing system and can be a texting tool for smartphone/tablet users. Studies found that visually impaired people that know Braille has type at least *6x* the number of words per minute when compared to other eyes-free texting prototypes. Visually impaired iPhone users were able to get to 32 words per minute with 92% accuracy with their prototype:
http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=110051
Report found that U.S. residents could save $90 mil or more annually by collecting rainwater--rooftop collection could also improve the water quality in the surrounding metro area by minimizing excess storm water runoff filled with sewage, toxins, and chemicals from sidewalks flowing into rivers and streams:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20120220-collecting-rainwater-could-save-u-s-residents-90-million-a-year
It appears that the physical limit of Moore's law was reached when researchers built the smallest transistor than can be built--they used a single phosphorous atom!
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2012/120219KlimeckAtom.html
Raytheon opened its state of the art law enforcement technology center in Downey, CA, where the 27,000-square-foot facility showcases Raytheon's latest breakthroughs in public safety equipment and serves as a development and testing environment for new technologies for first responders:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/srlet20120221-raytheon-unveils-new-law-enforcement-tech-center
LightSquared defaulted on a $56.25 mil payment to Inmarsat and Inmarsat issued a default of payment notice that gives LightSquared 60 days to pay up or they will take back the spectrum that LightSquared has been licensing from them. I didn't realize that LightSquared spent $4 bil on the detailed design and initial deployment of its LTE network before the FCC ruled against their network after they had received their earlier FCC approval...I'm guessing there will definitely be a lawsuit if they are unable to swap spectrum with the DoD:
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=48479&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Harbinger has been sued by investors who claim that they were misled over the "all in" investment Harbinger made in LightSquared. Harbinger invested more than *$3 bil* in LightSquared and the lawsuit said that they Harbinger either knew about the GPS interference problem or were reckless in failing to know about it. With investors losing basically all of their money and $3 bil disappearing from that fund, an investor lawsuit is not a surprise:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/harbinger-lightsquared-face-investor-lawsuit-56m-payment/2012-02-21
Huawei ordered $6 bil in chips and related tech from US manufacturers--Qualcomm, Broadcom and Avago received huge orders. Huawei continued its lobbying efforts to get acceptance in the US market by pointing out that their 3-year order will create tens of thousands of jobs for Us business and contribute to growth of the California high-tech industry. Huawei is the world's second-biggest maker of telecom equpment but has not benn able to sell network infrastructure equipment to Tier 1 U.S. mobile operators due to concerns over its ties to the Chinese military and the Chinese government:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/huawei-makes-stand-6-billion-worth-us-supply-orders/2012-02-20
Mobile analytics firm Distimo found that the Kindle Fire tablet has made Amazon's AppStore significantly more profitable for Android developers. Of the top 110 apps (earning at least $200/day) in both the Android Market and Amazon AppStore, 42 of them made more money in the Amazon AppStore than the Android Market. 28% of Android app revenue came from the Android AppStore, helped significantly by the 14x increase in downloads in the Amazon AppStore after the Kindle Fire was released. The Android Market has 14x more apps than the Amazon AppStore, but Amazon is catching up. The Android Market has more free apps than paid apps (only 32% of its apps are paid apps) while the Amazon AppStore has more paid apps (65%) than free apps:
http://www.distimo.com/blog/2012_02_the-amazon-appstore-show-me-the-money/
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/heavy-metal-stars-tellurium-0217.html
Georgia Tech researchers built a prototype app for touch-screen mobile devices that allows for texting without having to look at the device's screen. The open-source app uses the Braille writing system and can be a texting tool for smartphone/tablet users. Studies found that visually impaired people that know Braille has type at least *6x* the number of words per minute when compared to other eyes-free texting prototypes. Visually impaired iPhone users were able to get to 32 words per minute with 92% accuracy with their prototype:
http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=110051
Report found that U.S. residents could save $90 mil or more annually by collecting rainwater--rooftop collection could also improve the water quality in the surrounding metro area by minimizing excess storm water runoff filled with sewage, toxins, and chemicals from sidewalks flowing into rivers and streams:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20120220-collecting-rainwater-could-save-u-s-residents-90-million-a-year
It appears that the physical limit of Moore's law was reached when researchers built the smallest transistor than can be built--they used a single phosphorous atom!
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2012/120219KlimeckAtom.html
Raytheon opened its state of the art law enforcement technology center in Downey, CA, where the 27,000-square-foot facility showcases Raytheon's latest breakthroughs in public safety equipment and serves as a development and testing environment for new technologies for first responders:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/srlet20120221-raytheon-unveils-new-law-enforcement-tech-center
LightSquared defaulted on a $56.25 mil payment to Inmarsat and Inmarsat issued a default of payment notice that gives LightSquared 60 days to pay up or they will take back the spectrum that LightSquared has been licensing from them. I didn't realize that LightSquared spent $4 bil on the detailed design and initial deployment of its LTE network before the FCC ruled against their network after they had received their earlier FCC approval...I'm guessing there will definitely be a lawsuit if they are unable to swap spectrum with the DoD:
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=48479&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Harbinger has been sued by investors who claim that they were misled over the "all in" investment Harbinger made in LightSquared. Harbinger invested more than *$3 bil* in LightSquared and the lawsuit said that they Harbinger either knew about the GPS interference problem or were reckless in failing to know about it. With investors losing basically all of their money and $3 bil disappearing from that fund, an investor lawsuit is not a surprise:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/harbinger-lightsquared-face-investor-lawsuit-56m-payment/2012-02-21
Huawei ordered $6 bil in chips and related tech from US manufacturers--Qualcomm, Broadcom and Avago received huge orders. Huawei continued its lobbying efforts to get acceptance in the US market by pointing out that their 3-year order will create tens of thousands of jobs for Us business and contribute to growth of the California high-tech industry. Huawei is the world's second-biggest maker of telecom equpment but has not benn able to sell network infrastructure equipment to Tier 1 U.S. mobile operators due to concerns over its ties to the Chinese military and the Chinese government:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/huawei-makes-stand-6-billion-worth-us-supply-orders/2012-02-20
Mobile analytics firm Distimo found that the Kindle Fire tablet has made Amazon's AppStore significantly more profitable for Android developers. Of the top 110 apps (earning at least $200/day) in both the Android Market and Amazon AppStore, 42 of them made more money in the Amazon AppStore than the Android Market. 28% of Android app revenue came from the Android AppStore, helped significantly by the 14x increase in downloads in the Amazon AppStore after the Kindle Fire was released. The Android Market has 14x more apps than the Amazon AppStore, but Amazon is catching up. The Android Market has more free apps than paid apps (only 32% of its apps are paid apps) while the Amazon AppStore has more paid apps (65%) than free apps:
http://www.distimo.com/blog/2012_02_the-amazon-appstore-show-me-the-money/