Items tagged with 'Research'
Microsoft's Natural User Interface Lets Your Body Do The Talking
Microsoft's research labs have been known to create some pretty wild projects. Granted, not all of them have hit the market or anything, but there's a good chance that something huge down the road will spring up. Project Natal is already proof that Redmond has quite a few out-of-the-box thinkers on staff, and while we can't... Read More
Text Messages Could Help Smokers Kick The Habit
If you're looking for support while trying to stop smoking, an international study suggests text messaging could help. Four trials conducted in New Zealand, Britain, and Norway found that programs to help people stop smoking that included text messages with advice doubled the chances a person would be able to quit smoking... Read More
Are Cell Phones Safe? New Website & Research Provides The Answer
We've heard facts that claim cell phones are perfectly safe and other pieces of information that say cell phones are dangerous. Now, a new website from ProCon.org is available to help you decide for yourself. Even though the radio frequency (RF) radiation levels in cell phones are regulated by the Federal Communications... Read More
Study Claims 11PM Is Most Popular Time To Surf The Net
What is it that keeps you up at night? According to a recent study from Internet security firm Arbor Networks, more Americans have been staying up late to surf the Internet this summer. Compared to previous years when most Internet activity was in the daytime, the study found that the peak usage time for the whole day has... Read More
Are Open-Source Cameras The Way Of The Future?
Scientists at Stanford are working on an open source camera that could change the world of photography by giving programmers the power to change and add features to a camera via software updates. If the technology catches on, our cameras will no longer be limited by the software that comes pre-installed from the manufacturer.Nearly... Read More
Consumers Finally Realize That Bluetooth Headsets Are Ugly, Goofy
Finally, some confirmation that we actually aren't crazy. Well, too crazy. We always wondered where exactly the crowds were that were responsible for buying up all of these Bluetooth headsets, and while we'd see one or two self-talkers walking around the mall every so often, we never saw these things as being incredibly... Read More
Survey Says You'll Save 4 Days Per Year When Using GPS
Own a personal navigation device? Use the GPS on your phone? If you're reading this now, the answer is probably "yes." If you're an avid navigation user, you probably understand the benefits quite well. Rather than having to write down directions to facilities, you simply find the address, plug it in and follow the kind... Read More
Blu-ray Can't Win Favor With PC Buyers, May Not Ever
News flash: Blu-ray adoption on PCs is still awfully sluggish. And we're talking about years after the format was introduced, and over a year since it trampled HD DVD to become the lone supported next-gen high-def video format. Why? The answer is pretty simple, really. Cost and necessity. A new research report from iSuppli... Read More
iTunes Smashes Other Online Music Stores, Takes 25% Of All Sales
With all the talk of music piracy clouding the airwaves these days, it's rather refreshing to hear some positive news about music in the digital age. And despite what the RIAA or anyone else may have you believe, music sales are still happening. Just not in the same way that they were when your mother was buying records.... Read More
IBM Taps DNA Research To Design Next-Gen Chips
Push aside your political feelings on stem-cell research; any halfway respectable PC enthusiast will definitely be giving IBM the thumbs-up here. The wacky minds over at IBM, which have already proven that they never, ever stop ticking, have apparently determined that the next great generation of microprocessors will have... Read More
Streaming Rises, Music Piracy Falls
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Researchers Create Method for SSN Prediction
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University said on Monday that they have developed a method for predicting many if not all of a person's Social Security Number based on publicly available data. The findings were released in an article published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Here's what the researchers... Read More
Used Game Sales Soar During Recession
Ever since this so-called "recession" thingy got the media all hot and bothered a few months back, we'd been hearing that more and more individuals were finding ways to stay entertained at home. Now, we finally know what they've been doing at the domicile: gaming.A new research report published this week by the Nielsen... Read More
Intel Creates Visual Computing Research Center
Man, Intel sure hasn't been shy about breaking out the checkbook of late. Just a few months after it allocated $7 billion for investments in chip plants, the company has decided to set aside another $12 million in order to create a Visual Computing Research Center in Europe. What for, you ask? To "explore advanced graphics... Read More
Microsoft Spends Big Bucks On Wild Research
For the thousands of Microsoft employees that were just handed pink slips this week, we're certain they're none too pleased to hear that their now-former employer is already thinking of spending cash. Of course, Intel has also pulled a similar trick lately, scaling back in some areas while devoting around $7 billion in... Read More
Projects From The Intel Research Laboratories
Intel held an event on the west side of New York City this week, where the company showed off some of the interesting projects being worked on in a few of the Intel Lablets that are scatted throughout the United States, at various company and university campuses. We were in attendance at the event and snapped off a number... Read More
Microsoft To Research Education-Gaming Link
It's a well known fact that puzzle games and other brain training exercises actually enhance mental stimulation, but what about titles such as Crysis and Gears of War? Microsoft, of all companies, is looking to find a definitive answer to that by sinking $1.5 million into a research initiative that will, at its core, explore... Read More
Study Finds $1 Trillion At Risk From Data Theft
Considering the explosion of layoffs announced in recent weeks, companies would do well to seriously be on guard against data theft. According to a survey that polled some 800 companies in eight countries, 42 percent of firms admitted that laid-off employees were the single largest threat to their data security.The survey,... Read More
Researchers Steal Passwords From Radio Waves
The next time you are taking money out at the ATM, be wary of anyone lurking nearby with an antenna sticking out of their pants. They might be stealing your PIN wirelessly. A pair of Ph.D. students at the Security and Cryptography Laboratory (LASEC) of Switzerland's Ecole publique Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),... Read More
Researcher Uncovers iPhone App "Kill Switch"
First: there's no real evidence this is a "kill switch" that Apple will use, but still, based on Apple's protectiveness over the iPhone, it wouldn't surprise us.Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the upcoming book iPhone Forensics, has revealed an URL that he suggests Apple is using to keep a list of any "offending" applications:... Read More
Your Opinion Of Apple's Windows 7 FUD Ads?