A spokesman for the European Commission’s antitrust agency has confirmed that the Commission is investigating browser choice issues on Windows RT and detailed more possible charges. Antoine Colombani told Computerworld that “we will indeed look at these allegations made by third parties in the context of the investigation opened yesterday on Microsoft’s compliance with our December 2009 decision.” These allegations were primarily made by Mozilla, which has complained that Microsoft’s tablet-focused Windows RT operating system only allows third-party browsers in the Metro environment, not the more traditional Classic mode. It’s also alleged that users may find it difficult to change the default browser.
As Colombani said, the…
It was Bret Easton Ellis who coined the phrase, “The better you look, the more you see,” and it appears the folks down at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab agree. In what’s considered a “first,” the agency’s latest space-scouring probe, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, has turned on its X-ray vision to capture focused images of a black hole, dubbed Cygnus X-1, feeding on a nearby giant star. By tuning into these high-energy frequencies, scientists are getting a peak into a previously unseen side of the heavens at 100 times the sensitivity and 10 times the resolution of any preceding tech. The space agency plans to use the observatory’s powerful sight to suss out other known areas of mass X-ray activity like 3C273, an active quasar located two billion light years away and even explore G21.5-0.9, the fallout from a supernova within the Milky Way galaxy. NuSTAR’s first tour of galactic duty will span two year’s time, during which it’ll attempt to record imagery from “the most energetic objects in the universe, ” as well as track the existence of black holes throughout the cosmos. Impressed? Yeah, us too.
Continue reading NASA’s NuSTAR probe snaps first X-ray image of feeding black hole
NASA’s NuSTAR probe snaps first X-ray image of feeding black hole originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jun 2012 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you were hoping that Facebook’s buyout of Instagram would wrap up quickly and let you directly integrate your heavily filtered photos into Timeline, you might be disappointed. Citing the ever-present “people familiar with the matter,” the FT believes the Federal Trade Commission is orchestrating a competition probe. These kinds of investigations are common for most deals over $ 66 million — we suspect the $ 1 billion Instagram pact qualifies — but could add six months to a year to Facebook’s originally planned spring closure date. The deal is still expected to go through, and you can keep tilt-shifting your photos to death in the meantime; just don’t expect those shots to blanket friends’ Facebook walls anytime soon.
Rumored FTC probe could delay Facebook / Instagram deal, Toaster filter will have to wait originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Russia’s latest attempt to visit the Red Planet has, unfortunately, gone as well as its previous attempts, which is to say… poorly. We’ve been tracking the satellite, named Phobos-Grunt, since its successful liftoff, failure to leave earth orbit, abandonment, and now, destruction. Estimates indicate that Phobos-Grunt will reenter our atmosphere sometime between January 6th and the 19th, when it’ll break into pieces and meet its end as a flaming ball of interplanetary fail. One consolation for the Ruskies: $ 165 million down the tubes is a lot less than, say, $ 1.2 billion.
Phobos-Grunt Mars probe to die a fiery death in the next two weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Details are pretty slim at the moment, but it appears that Vodafone, KPN and T-Mobile are among the companies that have been raided by Dutch regulators in a price-fixing investigation. The country’s competition authorities, NMa, swept through the carriers’ offices as part of a probe into alleged “cartel agreements” exposed by whistleblowers. All three of the companies have agreed to cooperate with the investigation and have denied wrong doing but, they’re starting with a dark cloud of suspicion hanging over their heads already. It was only ten years ago that the same three mobile operators were fined for illegally coordinating on pricing and fees. Obviously, it’s wrong to jump to conclusions, but what are the chances these huge corporations just haven’t learned from their past mistakes?
T-Mobile, Vodafone and KPN raided in Dutch price-fixing probe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Juno space probe is set to launch atop an Atlas V rocket this Friday, but GeekDad reports that in addition to its full complement of scientific instruments it will also bring a bit of whimsy with it.
The probe, which will ultimately careen through Jupiter’s atmosphere on a scientific suicide run, has just been revealed to be carrying three Lego minifigs on its voyage.
Considering the nature of the mission, not just any minifigs have been permitted to make the flight. Instead of the classic yellow plastic models, Lego has designed and produced three aluminum variants in the shape of the Roman god Jupiter, his sister (and the probe’s namesake) Juno, and the astronomer Galileo.
The project originated at NASA, who reportedly took the idea to the highly receptive toy company. Each of the three has been designed to look like their namesakes, with Jupiter wielding thunderbolts, Juno with a magnifying glass, and Galileo with his trusty telescope.
They’ll be in for a bit of a ride though: Juno’s intended flight path will take them for a spin in the outer solar system before doubling back toward Jupiter. The total travel time? Something like five years, with a year on the books for Juno to record and map the planet’s magnetic and gravitational fields.
Interested in tracking the toys on their far-flung journey? Lego’s set up a site where all you space fans can keep track.
Google braces to pay at least 0M in ad probe Google’s lucrative online advertising system is facing a U.S. government investigation that is expected to cost the Internet search leader at least $ 500 million. Read more on Brisbane Times
Google’s Android Market Share Explodes As It Expands Its Reach To Cars, Toys, Home Automation, Music & Movies – All In … In continuing our ongoing observations of the “Androidifcation” of the mobile computing market, I bring you Comscore’s latest Q1 2011 tally. As you can see, Apple has pulled away from its handset competitors for the first quarter of 2011, and turned in amazing quarterly results as well. The smartphone edge was largely due to the iPhone launch on Verizon’s network: Amazingly enough, despite Apple … Read more on Zero Hedge
Traffic chaos after crash The Monash Freeway has been closed outbound after a crash between a B-double and a ute. Read more on Brisbane Times
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A space probe launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is expected to land in the Australian outback late Sunday after a seven-year journey to a nearby asteroid. Scientists hope the probe will be carrying a sample from the asteroid which will mark the first time a spacecraft has returned to Earth with samples other than from the Earth’s moon.
The probe named Hayabusa landed on the asteroid Itokawa two times in 2005 and after its long return journey will be landing a remote desert in Australia. Among the team to find and recover the probe will be indigenous Aboriginal elders to ensure that the landing of the device did not damage any sacred grounds.
The probe is expected to have landed at 1400 GMT and hopefully contain information about the formation of asteroids as well as a successful test for technology used to return samples back to earth.
National Geographic
Props to SlipperyBrick.com
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