National Broadband Plan Starts Rolling Out
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US and Russian Satellites Collide In 'Unprecedented' Accident
"They ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don't have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what's coming in your direction."Gulp.
Three of Four Major Undersea Internet Cables Get Cut
So, there's good news and bad news, and per tradition, we'll be starting with the latter. Three of four undersea cables that route Internet traffic from Asia to North America have inexplicably been cut, meaning that your international 'Quake III' server may be a bit slow this evening. The good news is that this fiasco clearly hasn't affected you yet. The AP has confirmed via Egypt's communications ministry that the cables have indeed been severed, causing massive outages in select portions of the world. Oddly, no suspicions of subterfuge have been mentioned, but we have all ideas rumors will start to swirl if another gets snipped. So, tell us readers -- are you still online? Wait, don't answer that.[Via ZDNet]
Samsung No. 1 in US Cell Phone Market, Dethrones Motorola
No longer, though -- Samsung has finally dethroned Moto, upping its share of the US market to 22.4 percent from 16.2 percent a year ago. That leaves Motorola in number two with 21.1 percent, a shocking fall from 32.7 percent in 2007. LG's knocking on the door at 20.5 percent, so unless the boys and girls in Chicago can get their Android-supportin' butts in gear on the double, we could see a drop to number three within a quarter or two.
'Thought Helmets' Could Enable Voiceless Troop Communication
This won't mark the first time the US government has looked into other means for helping soldiers communicate on the battlefield, but it's one of the first instances where vocal cords aren't even necessary. The US Army has recently awarded a $4 million contract to a coalition of scientists, all of which will soon start developing a "thought helmet" to enable voiceless, secure communication between comrades. In theory, at least, the helmet will boast a litany of sensors that will hopefully "lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone." According to Dr. Elmar Schmoozer, the Army neuroscience overseeing the program, the system will be like "radio without a microphone."
Oh, and don't think for a second that they aren't considering civilian applications as well -- passing along jokes on the boss via telekinesis? Yes, please.
[Via Slashdot]
Xbox 360 Sales Double Since Price Cuts
Good things happen when you suddenly become the lowest-priced console in the US. In the first weekend since cutting Xbox 360 prices, Microsoft is reporting a 100% increase in sales of all Xbox 360 models compared to the previous weekend. While not mentioned specifically, Microsoft claims that one model sold at 6x the previous weekend rate. Gee, could that be the $250 Wii-beating, $199.99 Xbox 360 Arcade at the front of Microsoft's loss-leading lineup?Americans Adopting Next Gen Phones Faster Than Europeans
If comScore's data is to believed then the US has done the unthinkable and passed Western Europe (aka, old Europe right Donnie?) in terms of 3G adoption. 28.4% of American mobile cellphone subscribers north of that southern land mass with a similar sounding name now sport 3G devices compared to a measly 28.3% average for Europe's largest countries. That's an 80% surge in the US last year even though T-Mobile is still 3G-less. Man, it's like the Phelps 100-meter butterfly victory all over again, eh Europe? [From: Yahoo! Finance]
OMG, US Txtng Brks Rcrd
Ready for some truly staggering figures? VeriSign has reported that it delivered some 95.4 billion text messages between US carriers in the first six months of the year, setting a new record. Single-day and single-hour records were also set in the same period -- 648 million and 42 million, respectively -- proving that Americans are finally warming up en masse to text messaging as a totally valid means of communicating, probably thanks in no small part to the proliferation of devices like the enV2, Rumor, and Blitz. If you can call the complete bastardization of the English language used during texting "communicating," that is. [From: RCR Wireless News]U.S. Leads World's Mobile Web Use
Out of the 16 countries studied by the firm, America ranked number one in terms of usage, and oddly enough, Motorola's RAZR / RAZR2 were found as the top devices (10%) for accessing the mobile Web. For those curious, Apple's iPhone came in second with 4%, while RIM's BlackBerry 8100 and 8800 series claimed 2% each. Even if you're usually not the numbers type, we'd say it's worth your while to give these a peek -- pretty interesting stuff, from a nerd's point of view. [Warning: PDF read link [Via modoNews]
Video Game From Iran Pits Players Against U.S. Soldiers
'Rescue the Nuke Scientist' puts you in the shoes of the Iranian security forces as they try to rescue a husband and wife team of nuclear engineers who were kidnapped on a pilgrimage to Karbala, a holy site in Iraq. Oh, an important detail: They were kidnapped by the U.S.
The game is the brainchild of the Union of Students Islamic Association, the same organization responsible for organizing the 'World Without Zionism' conference in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad famously called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
'Rescue the Nuke Scientist' is a direct response to an American created game called 'Assault on Iran.' Mohammad Taqi Fakhrian, leader with the Association said, "this is our defense against the enemy's cultural onslaught ... We tried to promote the idea of defense, sacrifice and martyrdom in this game."
From USA Today
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