Firefox 29 is Released -Comes with New UI

Mozilla releases the 29th version of Firefox web browser, which comes with newer user interface - a major update since long time. It also has a new menu system that is far away from tradition menus, it includes easy cues for users to easily select the features they want.

Firefox is a modern full featured web browser and direct competitor for Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer. With Firefox 29, Mozilla has greatly enhanced the user experience and security.

Firefox also has a way to sync your browser customizations, bookmarks, passwords, history, add-ons and preferences. Which makes it handy to use the browser across devices.

Download Firefox 29.0

Check the release notes here

Is It An Astronaut Floating Free?

You can see an astronaut floating free in the Earth orbit, but it was not astronaut, it was just a space suite without astronaut.In 2006 a space suite floated away from the International Space Station, well it was intentionally put it in the orbit by the station crew.

ISS astronaut Mike Finke spacewalks in a Russian Orlan spacesuit in 2004

It was named Suitsat-1 and stuffed with old cloths and also armed with small radio transmitter and three batteries. It also had internal sensors to measure temperature and battery power. The readings were transmitted to ground observation center.

This SuiteSat - a space suite turned into satellite was a Russian Orlan space suite. They were used by Russian Space Program for spacewalks. SuiteSat was a Russian idea, they wanted to turn old spacesuits into useful satellites.

The suite circled the Earth 2 times before its radio signal become weak, but it continued to circle Earth every 90 minutes and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere after few weeks.

Source: NASA Apod

Brown Dwarf Star is Found 7.2 Light-years Away from Our Sun

Astronomers from Penn State University had found a new brown dwarf star very close to our Sun using NASA's WISE and Spitzer Space Telescope, just 7.2 light years away. Important thing is this star is as cold as our North pole.

This image shows the relative distance of new-found brown dwarf relative to other neighbor stars

This new found brown dwarf star is named as WISE J085510.83-071442.5 and its temperature is between -48 to -13 degree Celsius. This temperature is a new record because the previously found brown dwarf stars were about room temperature or about 20 degree Celsius.

Brown dwarf stars are like "failed" stars, they are of the size between 15 times the mass of Jupiter and 75 times the mass of Jupiter, because of the mass range the object wouldn't have enough mass to start the fusion, that powers normal stars, therefor couldn't burn nuclear fuel or radiate light.

Brown dwarf star

WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) was able to capture this brown dwarf star because it surveyed entire sky twice and also it surveyed them in infrared. These brown dwarf stars wont give off light, so we wont see them through normal light telescope, but their thermal glow can be captured using infrared.

This WISE J085510.83-071442.5 is 3 to 10 times the mass of Jupiter, with such low mass it could be a gas giant planet, but scientists believe that this should be a brown dwarf, because brown dwarf are common in space.

Source: Phys.org

iOS 7.1.1 Released with Smaller Improvements and Bug Fixes

Last month Apple released iOS 7.1 major update for its iOS 7 branch, now 7.1.1 brings some improvements in Touch ID (fingerprint scanning feature) in iPhone 5S, and also fixed some bugs in keyboard responsiveness.

Apple also fixes some security bugs, notably in SSL, where attacker with privileged could capture the data in the session protected by SSL. Also fixed some issues in WebKit and HTTP cookie handling.

Already, rumors about iOS 8 is already here with some screen-shots (probably fake). Apple is expected to release the developer preview version of iOS 8 in their upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June 2nd.

Fatal Flaw in Some Samsung Galaxy S5 Smart phone Cameras

Samsung confirmed there is a camera failure in limited number of Galaxy S5 devices after people started to post on forums about the camera failure particularly on the Verizon Wireless model.

Samsung spokesperson said that owners with fault camera can call 1-888-987-4357 to arrange a replacement under Samsung's warranty. Verizon also tweeted about the issue and asked the customers with fault units to contact Verizon customer support resolve the issue.

Galaxy S5's 16 megapixel camera is one of its prime feature and this "camera fault" makes it pretty useless for its camera value.

Source: The Verge

F.lux Can Save Your Eyes from Computer Screen

It is a very small software yet very important for anyone who spends time with computer. Computer screens are bring and vibrant - they are designed that way and mostly looks good on day time, but in the night it is a different story.

In the night time, we uses artificial light source to light up our rooms and then the computer screen is not designed to look good on those conditions, usually our screen gives off bright bluish light and for a long period of viewing your screen under incandescent or halogen or CFL will make your eyes strain.

F.lux is a simple software to deal with this simple yet important issue, f.lux can automatically adjust the brightness and color of your computer screen according to the time of the day.

It will make the screen looks more warm at night and normal cool colored like sunlight in the day time. It also has settings to changes the color according your light source.

According to f.lux, blue light glow that comes from computer screen affects the sleep pattern, they have intensive coverage about that research on their website, you can check that here.

This is a simple, yet worthy software to have it on your computer.

Download f.lux https://justgetflux.com/.

OnePlus One - Flagship Android Phone with Cheap Price

The long wait has come to an end. One Plus' ONE is real with impressive hardware specs. The phone comes with CyanogenMod 11S - modified version of CyanogenMod that is based on Android 4.4.

The One has super speed Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 Quad-core CPU at 2.5GHz and 3GB of RAM. Adding to this super spec, 5.5 inch 1080p full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

One is also packed with Sony's Exmor IMX 214 13 Megapixel camera with dual LED flash and f/2.0 ape on the back, which can also record 4K resolution videos and slow motion 720p videos at 120fps, and 5 Megapixel front facing camera.

For all day use, the phone has 3100 mAh LiPo battery, which OnePlus claims, "Designed to last" because of the energy efficient Snapdragon 801 chip and energy efficient display technology called Display RAM.

16GB version comes with silk white and costs just $299 while 64GB one costs $349 and comes in standalone black.

Check their website here.

NGC 2841 : One of The Massive Galaxies Known

Just 46 million light years away, NGC 2841 is a massive spiral galaxy, that is bigger than out own Milky Way galaxy. It is in northern constellation of Ursa Major, It has beautiful yellow galactic nucleus.

Click the image to see full size (2.45mb)

 

Google Cracks reCAPTCHA Codes with Google Street View Technology

CAPTCHA is a very old technological thing that is still being used in many websites to verify human presence or reduce spam and abuse of services. You have seen it with almost every registration forms you submit, there is this hard to read image with some characters that you need to enter correctly to successfully submit the form.

Java Ra – Great Way to Manage Your Java Runtime Environment

There are always problems associated with Java Runtime Environment (JRE), usually security bugs in the web plugin. JavaRa is a small piece of software developed by SingularLabs to effectively install, update and also remove JRE on demand.

With this tiny software, you can also delete the previous installation of Java in your system, it also removes files, directories and registry entries associated with Java installation JRE plugins.

Philips Introduces Smartphone with Massive 5300mAh Battery

Battery life is always the biggest issue any smartphone has, comparing with feature phones of the past, smartphones barely lasts more than a day with normal usage. The reason is the capacity of the battery – for example Galaxy S5 has 2800 mAh battery, iPhone 5S has 1560 mAh battery. With the design of thin phones it is not always possible to put bigger batteries in smartphones.

Most Earth like Planet Found So Far is Kepler-186f

About 500 light years away in the constellation Cygnus, there exists a cool and dim class M type dwarf star, it is about half the size and mass of our Sun. In that star system, there are five planets rotating this small star, especially, one named Kepler-186f orbits the M dwarf star every 130 days from 53 million km – it is about the same distance as Sun to Mercury, but this M dwarf star is much smaller and cooler, therefor this planet Kepler-186f falls within ‘habitable zone’ where the water exists in liquid form.

The planet was discovered by planet hunting spacecraft Kepler. The spacecraft uses transit technique to discover planets orbiting alien stars. When planet crosses the star, the light of the star is dimmed by slight amount and the Kepler spacecraft’s apparatus is accurate enough to detect that very tiny drop in the brightness therefore identifying the planet rotating the star. It is near impossible to directly detecting the planets light years away as they are not a direct light source and looks very dim comparing to stars.

Magnetar - Highly Magnetized Neutron Star

We all know neutron star, one of the odd objects in the cosmos, now take that neutron star, it is a remnant of a massive star due to a gravitational collapse. Magnetar is also a type of neutron star, but with extremely powerful magnetic field.

How powerful this magnetic field could be? It is one thousand trillion times stronger than our planet Earth. There are only handful of magnetars are discovered in our Milky way galaxy, about 10 but recent studies shows there should be more. Because of this intense magnetic field, the surface of magnetars are heated up to 18 million degree Fahrenheit.

Bing Shows Personalized Info Cards on Bing.com

Yesterday, Bing announced that they have opened a new way on their homepage - showing personalized information cards that will help you keep track of things that are important to you.

As Microsoft brings its upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 platform, we have already seen the virtual voice activated assistant - Cortana - works closely integrated with Bing. Now Microsoft is improving the user experience on Bing by adding some of the features available with the help of Cortana.

In order to get this personalized cards, you need to log on to your Microsoft account, and then you can set up your interests, so Bing can track those information for you. After the setup, when you visit bing.com, you will see information cards on the bottom that are displayed with your preference.

Since all of your preferences are stored in your account, you will see information related to your interests across a range of Bing powered Microsoft services.

You can set your interests here.

Source: Bing

Take A Look at Jupiter's Hot Moon Io in True Color

One of the strangest moon in the solar system, Io is Jupiter's moon and it is bright yellow in color. The reason for the bright yellow color is sulfur and molten silicate rocks. Io has highly active volcanoes and this is the reason the surface of Io is kept young.

Intense tidal gravity from mother planet Jupiter and also the bigger moons of Jupiter stretches Io so hard, Io wobbles greatly and as a result it get lot of heat from friction and causing molten rocks to explode through the surface. Io's volcanic lava is sometimes so hot, it glows in the dark.

 

15-foot Gigantic Oarfish Spotted Near Cortes, Mexico

Oarfish are really some amazing and strange creatures out there in the depth of tropical water. In March, people affiliated with Chicago's Shedd Aquarium spotted two mega 15-foot oarfish near the shore of Cortes, Mexico. Check the video below.

Oarfish are large and elongated fish with silver colored body, they can grow up to 55 feet and weigh more than 275 kilograms. Giant oarfish - particular kind of oarfish are the longest bony fish alive on the planet.

Usually oarfish sighting are rare and mostly ended up being bad for the fish. In 2013, 18-foot oarfish reached the shore of coast of California dead. While scientists were stunned to see the creature, for normal people it was something out of the world experience to see such magnificent silver creature.

Read more about oarfish on wikipedia here, and seasky.org here

Windows Phone 8.1 is Available for Developers

As planned, today Microsoft has released the "Preview for Developer" version of Windows Phone 8.1 and users already registered for the program can now download and install it.

Registered users can check for updates on their phone to get the new update installed. Well if you are not registered for the developer program, it is easy to register and get the Windows Phone 8.1 update on your mobile.

The Golden Planet Saturn, Well It is Also Blue in North

Saturn is partially blue in its northern hemisphere - the reason is the same as our Earth's - the particles in molecules in the clouds are better at scattering blue light than red. But in Saturn Southern hemisphere is still a mystery. You wont see the blue color there, one hypothesis hold that the clouds are higher there. Saturn clouds are the reason for its golden color, but it is still not known why the color is golden.

[Click on the image to see the full size]

You can see the rings of Saturn in this picture as a thin line - this picture is taken by Cassini spacecraft in 2006 and you can also see the moon Enceladus as a small dot neat the ring line. You can also see the magnificent shadow cast by the ring system on Saturn.

Our planets are full of mysteries and yet we need to learn more and more.

Source: NASA

Small Size Windows is Here - Saves More Space on Small Storage Devices

With the new Windows 8.1 Update 1, Microsoft has made many changes to its Windows platform. There is always one problem with Windows on tablets - its size. Even on Microsoft Surface 2 out of 32GB space, 14GB is gone for Windows installation and that seems like too bad for people buying the device believing they have 32GB but only later to know half of it is already occupied.

Cherry Trees Blossom Many Years Ahead of Schedule – Seeds Were in Space for 8 Months

In 2008, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) send about 250 cherry seeds to International Space Station to study how micro-gravity affects them. The seeds were collected from 10 trees including 3 trees that are named as national treasure and producing most beautiful blossoms.

Microsoft Says Their Services Are Not Affected by Heartbleed Flaw

Heartbleed is the latest issue in internet security and it is pretty much serious. Researchers say this is one of the most serious flaw in the history of computer security.

Full Rotation of Sun, See How It Changes Over Time

Sun takes little less than a month to complete one rotation, and as it rotates we can see how Sun changes, sometimes it changes dramatically and sometimes it has only small difference.

A solar prominence erupts in August 2012, as captured by SDO

Twitter Adds Real Time Web Notifications

Twitter is adding real time notifications for twitter.com, now users can see and engage on tweets in real time.

According to Twitter Blog, when you login to twitter.com, you will receive notifications if some has retweeted your tweets, or replied to your tweets. You can also receive notifications for direct messages and new followers.

It wont be just notification, like the one in Facebook, but rather it will be interactive, meaning that user can reply, retweet, and follow from the notification message.

Twitter said, they will be rolling this new feature in coming weeks. This will be a good addition for twitters as now they can engage more quickly.

Source: Twitter blog

Videos Explaining New Features in Windows 8.1 Update

Microsoft has released Windows 8.1 Update with lot of features improving the desktop and also mouse, keyboard friendly environment. Windows YouTube Channel posted some videos explaining the new features and tips for using the Windows 8.1 with new updates.

Star Forming Orion Nebula in Gas and Dust

Click the image to see the full size image.

In this beautiful picture, shows the complicated dust surrounding the Orion nebula - located about 1600 light years away. The dust is opaque to visible light and created around the outer layers of massive cool stars.

Facebook to Remove Messaging from Facebook App - Must Use Facebook Messenger

Facebook is going to remove messaging capability from it Facebook app for iOS and Android. Users will have to use Facebook Messenger instead. Facebook's spokesperson confirms to The Verge that this is not test and eventually in new future this will happen.

 

Microsoft Mathematics : Software for Algebra, Calculus and Graphing

Scientific calculators and graphing calculators are good, but when it comes to PC, there are not that good easy to use programs that are both free and high quality.

There are some awesome software, such as Mathematica and Maple, but they are overkill overkill for high school student or even college ones, plus they require systematic study of those programs first. This is where Microsoft Mathematics comes in handy!

Microsoft Mathematics, used to be a paid software when there was Encarta ruled the reference world! When Microsoft decided to discontinue the Encarta series, the fate of Microsoft Mathematics was not clear, but in 2011, Microsoft, released Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 for free.

StoreDot Develops Super Quick Recharge Battery

We all know how difficult it get sometimes to go out and out phone's battery is 'dead', and to charge it, it would take hours - that is the story of Lithium-ion batteries.

Now, StoreDot has developed and demonstrated new kind of battery made out of bio-organic materials, that can charge in seconds.

StoreDot demonstrated this battery in Microsoft's Think Next symposium held in Tel Aviv, Israel. The battery was used in Samsung Galaxy S3, and from 27% battery to 100%, it took only just 26 seconds to charge.

For now the technology is limited and not to expect this battery in your next smartphone, but this tech has much potential. StoreDot says that manufacturing the components (nanocrystals) for the battery is fast and inexpensive. 

Check the video below.

 

Source: Neowin, Image: StoreDot

Microsoft Adds New Criteria For Adware–Effective from 1st of July, 2014

Microsoft Malware Protection Center is making changes to classify a program as adware. Advertising as become the central source of income even in the tech field, so MMPC is making new criteria to identify them.

The programs that do not follow the new rules will be detected as adware and will be removed from the system immediately.

Here is the new criteria that MMPC is putting forward.

The advertisements that are opened by these programs must:

• Include an obvious way to close the ad.
• Include the name of the program that created the ad.

The program that creates these advertisements must:

• Provide a standard uninstall method for the program using the same name as shown in the ads it produces.

MMPC's new adware policy will come into effect on July 1, 2014, this will gives developers three months to make necessary adjustment their products.

Source: Microsoft MMPC blog

Warm Water Discovered on Saturn's Moon Enceladus

Few days ago, scientists announced that they have discovered water reserve in one of Saturn's moons. Enceladus is just 300 miles in diameter and 5th largest moon of Saturn.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft, with close flybys captured the geysers and its locations. Not only just water, it also detects carbon based organic molecules - which can be a building blocks for life as we know it.

Bing Knowledge Widget - Brings The Power Of The Internet to Your Website

Bing has been engaged in a hard battle with Google over the "Search Ownership" for the internet, and Bing has been releasing some original ideas into the wild and catching up quickly with Google. But so many features are there, but when it comes to search results, Google's are the most relevant, some say in US, the Bing results are comparable to Google's.

Reversible USB Cables - The Hassle Will be Over

It is always hassle when it comes to plug in the USB devices, 99 per cent time you always try to connect in the wrong direction and then plug it right.

Apple engineered this issue by introducing the Lightning Cable for their iPhones and iPads - you can plug the cable whichever direction you want (up or down), isn't that handy?

USB, being universal connector for every single electronic device, now going to support this reversible feature, as part of USB 3.1 Type-C standard, the new connector will be small, reversible and faster.

The final design and specifications are yet to be finalized in the middle of 2014. New Type-C connector will not be compatible with current USB connectors and cables, as new one is designed for "future performance".

Source: arstechnica, techcrunch

Windows Phone 8.1 is Here - Meet Cortana!

This year's //build conference Microsoft has revealed lot of cool stuffs - Windows 8.1 Update that is optimized for keyboard and mouse, Start menu in future Windows and also long awaited Windows Phone 8.1

Even though it is called Windows Phone 8.1, the feature list is much bigger and many useful new features been added - few of them are, Notification Center, Wi-Fi Sense, Battery Saver, Home Screen Wallpaper and so on, but there is this one feature that beats them all - Cortana, voice activated personal assistant.

Cortana is powered by Microsoft's Bing and it has feature set that spans beyond that of Siri and Google Now. Like Siri or Google Now, Cortana can set alarms, add reminders, open music and search for various stuffs on the Internet, but she also can do some extra gimmicks such as opening apps with specific query, personalized reminders for particular time and person.

 

Cortana is also a learning assistant, as you use the phone, she will learn your styles, queries and so on, even she comes with personal notebook where you can manually specify or teach Cortana about you and your needs.

Cortana is being released as beta product, but as far as she performs, she can compete with Siri and Google Now.

Windows Phone 8.1 will be released for general customers in next few months.

Images: The Verge

Source: Gizmodo, The Verge