Google Unveils Nexus S Smartphone, Gingerbread OS

By Ryan Paul

Google has revealed Android 2.3, codenamed Gingerbread, a new version of its popular mobile platform. It introduces a handful of modest user interface enhancements — such as a more refined touchscreen keyboard — and brings some noteworthy performance improvements that are largely intended to boost Android gaming.

Alongside the release of Android 2.3, Google has also announced plans to launch the Nexus S, a new smartphone that was developed in collaboration with Samsung. Much like Google’s Nexus One, the new phone in the Nexus series will be available unlocked with a pure Google experience. The unlocked version will be sold at Best Buy for $529 without subsidy, and T-Mobile will be selling it on contract for $199.

The aptly named Nexus S looks like the love child of the Nexus One and the Samsung Galaxy S. The touchscreen-only device has a 4-inch curved “contour” Super AMOLED display, 1-Ghz Hummingbird processor, 1 GB of internal storage, and a 1500-mAH battery rated for 6.7 hours of talk time. The handset showcases some of the new hardware features of Android 2.3, such as support for near-field communication (NFC), which can be used for close-range contactless data exchange.

Sales of the original Nexus One fell far below Google’s expectations, leading the company to characterize the device as a failure and withdraw it from the general consumer market. Although it never achieved mainstream popularity, it attracted a loyal following among third-party developers and Android enthusiasts who valued its relative openness compared to other Android-powered handsets.

As a Nexus One owner myself, I think there is a very clear need for Google to continue offering its own handset that isn’t encumbered by carrier lockdown, crapware and tacky user interface customizations. The latest addition to the Nexus line handily fulfills that need.

Google has polished the Android user interface and developed a new visual theme with a simpler palette. The keys on the onscreen keyboard have been spaced out a bit in order to enable faster typing and better accuracy. Taking advantage of multitouch input, Google has made it possible to use the shift or number toggle keys as modifiers that can be pressed concurrently with other keys. The platform has gained native support for draggable text selection, similar to the implementations we have seen on certain Motorola and Samsung Android devices.

Google has finally conceded the need for manually quitting applications. In Android 2.3, the application manager tool has a “Running” tab that lets the user terminate individual applications and see how much system resources each running program is consuming. This feature will be conveniently accessible from a menu item on the home screen, largely obviating the need for users to install third-party task management tools.

Other significant new features include SIP support (which allows users to make voice calls to SIP addresses over Wi-Fi), better support for devices with multiple cameras, support for more media formats (including WebM), and a built-in download manager. There are also a lot of improvements on the performance front. A new concurrent garbage collector in Android’s Dalvik virtual machine will be less invasive and help avoid stuttering, accelerated event handling will make input processing more responsive, and updated graphics drivers will improve 3-D performance.

The new version of the Android SDK brings a lot of improvements for game developers. Google has exposed more sensors and input controls to native code, allowing games to receive and process input events more efficiently. Google has also introduced much-needed native audio APIs and has added support for managing the application lifecycle from native code. For games that run closer to the bare metal, all of these new native APIs are a major win. We will be looking more closely at these APIs in a follow-up article.

Although it’s an incremental upgrade rather than a full overhaul, the changes in Android 2.3 are compelling and bring some much-needed polish to the platform. For additional details, you can refer to Google’s official announcement.

See Also:

View the original article here

<cite>Unexplored Worlds</cite> Delves Into Steve Ditko's Sci-Fi Roots

Eight years before he teamed with Stan Lee to create Spider-Man, Steve Ditko nearly died at age 27. Stricken with tuberculosis, the artist spent a year recovering at his family's home in Pennsylvania, then embarked on an astonishing creative spree at Charlton Comics, where he cranked out nearly 500 pages of action-saturated science fiction, fantasy, Western and suspense stories in a single year.

A notoriously cheap outfit that stressed quantity over quality, Charlton paid contributors a pittance, but Ditko transformed hackneyed dialog and cornball plot twists into startling portraits of desperate souls. Tapping the dark streak that would inform his work at Marvel Comics in the 1960s, Ditko developed his eye for color, action and character psychology during the Charlton era.

A rich sampling of the illustrator's pre-superhero stories from 1956 and 1957 comes together in the new hardcover volume Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2, available Tuesday.

To understand the creative DNA that would later inform Ditko's iconic renderings of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, check out these Archive illustrations, accompanied by commentary from Unexplored Worlds editor Blake Bell.

Above:

"Ditko's association with Charlton cemented his reputation as a man whose sole purpose on this earth was to be a comic-book artist," writes Bell, who penned the introduction for Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2.

Images courtesy Fantagraphics Books and Charlton Comics except where noted.

Fantagraphics Books has teamed with Wired.com to give away five copies of its 240-page hardcover Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2, retail priced at $40. To enter, comment below on your favorite Ditko character. Five randomly selected winners will be notified by e-mail. Deadline is 12:01 a.m. Pacific on Dec. 13, 2010.

Follow us on Twitter: @hughhart and @theunderwire.

See Also:

View the original article here

What's Right (and Wrong) With Addictive <cite>Game Dev Story</cite>

As he crunched the numbers one last time, Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert knew he'd have to shut down his game-development studio and let everyone go. He'd tell his employees that they were out of their jobs, that the dream was dead.

Still, Gilbert wasn't really worried. If he had been, maybe he wouldn't have spent so much time developing PC adventures — games he knew wouldn't sell all that well — and maybe he would have been a bit more practical with his expenses.

Maybe he would have done things differently if his studio were real.

Game Dev Story, the deliciously addictive mobile game that Kairosoft released in October, lets players like Gilbert simulate the inner workings of a game studio, Hollywood Mogul-style. But how accurate is it? Does it genuinely capture the development process? Can it really help you learn how to run a studio? How terrible an idea is it to put pirates in an adventure game?

I spoke to Gilbert, self-proclaimed Game Dev Story addict and a legendary game developer himself, to find out how true to life the game really is.

Above:

Game Dev Story gives you access to a limited number of direction points for each game. You can use those points to emphasize a number of different criteria, each of which could have a different effect on how your game forms and how it ultimately sells.

"This is kind of a simplified version of real life," Gilbert said. "The points they're talking about here are really time and budget. Developers always have to say, 'I have this much money: Where am I gonna put it? Where's that money best spent?'"

So how accurate are the different fields? Do developers really pick between categories like "polish" and "game world"?

"Kind of," Gilbert said. "I dunno about realism ... but things like niche appeal and approachability are definitely factors that we talked about. How accessible is this game to people? Is it something you need to understand an Xbox controller to navigate, or is it something mom and dad could play?"

Innovation is one of the stranger categories, Gilbert added.

"I don't think anyone really sets out to make an 'innovative' game," he said. "It just kind of happens."

The problem with this point system — a problem that's very real for game studios — is the tradeoffs that developers must make when dealing with time and budget constraints. Gilbert's most recent game, comedy action-RPG DeathSpank, made a lot of those compromises.

"We made a lot of tradeoffs in [DeathSpank] with the reusability in that world," Gilbert said. "Lots of the buildings, trees, monsters, things that populate the world were re-textured and reused. Maybe if it had been a full product, instead of a downloadable game, every cave or monster would be different. But those are the kinds of tradeoffs you make."

View the original article here

15 Dream Rides Picked by You, Our Readers

We love our readers. We told you which cars we really want to drive, and you returned the favor, pointing out some truly glaring omissions from our original list.

Thanks to your enthusiasm, we present to you the most desirable cars (and spacecraft) to ever drive and fly on the surface of the Earth and the moon, and to navigate in space. Luckily for our prize department, the person who submitted our winning entry chose to remain anonymous.

Now, without further ado, the cars (and lunar rover and space shuttle):

Above: McLaren F1. We couldn't agree more with the choice of a McLaren F1.

Beyond its status as the world's fastest naturally aspirated production car, it's an engineering tour de force so personal to Gordon Murray that a DNA test from a carbon-fiber sample would certainly prove paternity. Even getting to see one in person is a treat, but nothing would beat a spot among those lucky enough to have the F1's seats, pedals and steering column custom fitted like a bespoke suit.

Photo: McLaren Automotive

View the original article here

Viacom: YouTube Ruling Will 'Completely Destroy' Copyright

Viacom appealed Friday its unsuccessful $1 billion copyright lawsuit against Google’s YouTube in a case testing the depths of copyright-infringement protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

Viacom, on behalf of its MTV, Comedy Central, Black Entertainment Television, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon units, is seeking to overturn a June ruling that, if it survives, is a boon for internet freedom — and a decision that would make it more difficult for rights holders to protect their works.

The media concern told the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday that, if the lower decision stands, “it would radically transform the functioning of the copyright system and severely impair, if not completely destroy, (.pdf) the value of many copyrighted creations.”

The June 23 decision at issue by U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton of New York said internet companies, even if they know they are hosting infringing material, are immune from copyright liability if they promptly remove works at a rights holder’s request — under what is known as a takedown notice.

Stanton disagreed with Viacom’s claims that YouTube had lost the so-called “safe harbor” protection of the DMCA. Viacom maintains Google does not qualify, because internal records showed Google was well aware its video-hosting site was riddled with infringing material posted by its users.

Stanton ruled that YouTube’s “mere knowledge” of infringing activity “is not enough.”

“To let knowledge of a generalized practice of infringement in the industry, or of a proclivity of users to post infringing materials, impose responsibility on service providers to discover which of their users’ postings infringe a copyright would contravene the structure and operation of the DMCA,” the judge wrote.

Stanton ruled that YouTube, which Google purchased in 2006 for $1.8 billion, had no way of knowing whether a video was licensed by the owner, was a “fair use” of the material “or even whether its copyright owner or licensee objects to its posting.”

The DMCA, which was heavily lobbied into existence by the Hollywood studios, has been a boon for internet freedom. But it has been a bust in other areas.

Among its provisions, the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of encryption technology that protects copyrighted works. The law, adopted in 1998, makes it unlawful to market DVD copying devices, for example, and also paved the way for a Southern California man to be charged on allegations of modding Microsoft’s Xboxes.

Still, the DMCA’s “safe harbor” privilege comes with another price. The law demands intermediaries such as YouTube to take down content in response to a notice from rights holders, without evaluating the claim for reasonableness or accuracy, or considering the fair use rights of users. And on Thursday, Google said it would expedite the process of content removal.

Photo: Mark Roquet/Flickr

See Also:

View the original article here

Gallery: Qatar Plans for Eco-Friendly World Cup Stadiums

FIFA's decision to pick Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup has been locked in controversy since the choice was made last week. While the answer to whether Qatar is the better option instead of the runner-up United States won't be known until the tournament rolls around 12 years from now, what we know is that Qatar has an ambitious plan, particularly with its plethora of planned stadiums.

Above:

Sports City Stadium, located along the Persian Gulf in the eastern coastal city of Doha, should be the most versatile of the 12 stadiums to be built in Qatar's proposed $57 billion plan. The stadium's primary components are literally retractable — its roof, its seats, even its field.

Dan Meis, an architect with the Kansas City-based architecture firm Populous who led the stadium's design, explained that he wanted the venue to have a lasting effect. "Often countries will build stadiums for the events, and they have difficulty utilizing the building afterwards," Meis told Wired.com, citing the Bird's Nest, constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as an example.

His vision to incorporate versatility meshed perfectly with a key element of Arabian culture. Much of the structure's architectural inspiration was drawn from a bedouin tent, traditionally used by the Bedouin tribe, an Arabian ethnic group. The tents have a simple architectural design which enables them to adapt to their environment. "The notion of these tents that were flexible and could grow depending on the number of people utilizing them was really interesting," Meis said.

The partially-retractable roof, which opens and closes in roughly 15 to 20 minutes, has a design element that sets it apart from others: It's large enough to hold people within it. Meis saw an opening within the depth of the trusses that support the roof where people could walk around and look down onto the field. "That's something I played around with in other stadiums but had never built," Meis said.

It adds to the 47,560-seat occupancy of the stadium, which can be adjusted downward for concerts, exhibitions, and other non-soccer events. Meis said the technology to adjust seating draws on Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan. Large seating blocks move on trucks, similar to train tracks. They can slide back and be moved elsewhere to open up space. In that regard, they're similar to the retractable field, which can be moved to an adjacent site. It's similar to what's used at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the field is moved off-site to accommodate other events.

There's also an in-stadium cooling system to keep players and spectators from overheating in a climate where temperatures surpass 100 degrees. Every venue is expected to take part in a country-wide zero carbon emissions plan. An off-site solar farm transfers energy to a city grid. Solar collectors use the sun's power to heat up water, which is then transported an on-site water storage tank, which keeps the water's high temperature.

When the venue needs to use its cooling system, the hot water runs through an absorption chiller that chills the water and sends it into another tank which pumps the 64-degree air at the ankle and neck level in each row of seats. The air is distributed throughout the stadium and ultimately produces an 80-degree temperature near the soccer pitch.

That cooling system will combine with the stadium's retractable roof, whose reach extends beyond the pitch to plazas outside the venue to create an oasis-like feel in the desert. And in that way, Qatar plans to mesmerize the world in 12 years by showing how the world's most popular sport can be played in one of the globe's hottest climates.

Read on for more descriptions and photos from Qatar's successful World Cup bid.

View the original article here

Glacial Silt Encased Some of Earth's Best-Preserved Fossils

Some of the rarest and most detailed fossils on Earth owe their stunning preservation to dust blown out to sea by glacial winds.

Soft-bodied creatures usually rot or get eaten before sediment can bury and fossilize their fragile tissues. Yet a zoo of squishy animals that swam 435 million years ago is exquisitely preserved in the Soom Shale, a thick deposit that curves along the southern tip of Africa.

“This deposit preserved details in fossils you don’t normally get,” said Sarah Gabbott, a paleontologist at the University of Leicester. “Most often you see fossils of hard parts, but here you get muscles, eyes, organs and other tissues that decay away. It’s because of the windblown sediment.”

Gabbott and others, who describe their discovery in the December issue of Geology, regard it as the oldest case of a windblown fossil-making machine. The find could aid searches for similarly rich soft-bodied–fossil beds that cover other loosely understood spans of prehistory.

“If you look at modern marine community, 90 to 99 percent of animals are soft-bodied. If we didn’t get these deposits, we’d be missing most of the life,” Gabbott said.

Around 445 million years ago, Earth’s familiar landmasses were all part of two supercontinents called Gondwana (Africa, Antarctica, Australia, South America) and Laurasia (Eurasia, North America). A chilly climate covered most of Gondwana with thick glaciers. As the sheets of ice moved, they ground up surface rock below into fine sand and dust.

When the glaciers receded, their cold winds rolled toward the ocean and blew the exposed, ultra-fine grit into the air, onto sea ice and ultimately into the 325-foot-deep water.

“It’s about the only plausible and geologically realistic interpretation that I can think of,” said Cliff Atkins, a sedimentologist at Victoria University of Wellington who wasn’t involved in the study. “It’s exactly what we’ve been finding in the modern environment like Antarctica, where I just spent six weeks off the coast collecting and analyzing airborne dust.”

Glacial dust blowing into the ocean, however, is only half the story. When silt particles landed on the water, they were rich in iron and other minerals that could produce phytoplankton and algal blooms.

The bursts of microscopic life that grew on the particles eventually weighed them down, sinking them to the seabed. There, the organic matter rotted, depleting oxygen from the water. These anoxic conditions prevented the decay of the dead soft-bodied animals that sunk to the floor.

The resulting 30- to 50-foot-thick Soom Shale bends along the southern tip of Africa like a 560-mile-long hockey-stick, starting in the citrus groves and vineyards of Keurbos, meandering near Cape Town and banking east to Port Elizabeth. Gabbott and her team have unearthed fossils there for close to 20 years, primarily in a region near the Cedarberg mountains (about 150 miles north of Cape Town).

It’s a continuous race against time for the scientists to save bug-eyed conodonts, crawly eurypterids (or sea scorpions) and yet-to-be-classified creatures.

“The farmers there dig this rock out and put it on the roads because it breaks down to make a good road stone,” Gabbott said. “Of course what they’re doing, perhaps unknowingly, is destroying the fossils.”

The scientists were suspicious of assumptions that sediment moved by storms, rivers and ocean currents preserved the specimens.

“It’s made of clay minerals, like most shale, but also clusters of silts,” Gabbott said of the sediment’s composition. “The only way to get that is from a landscape devastated by glaciation.”

Identifying such wind-blown processes in the geologic record is extremely difficult, because turbid waters and scuttling sea creatures mix the sediment up beyond the point of recognition. But the anoxic sediment chemistry, ultrafine layers of shale 1 millimeter to 10 millimeters thick, and a microscopic analysis revealing unusual specks of silt ruled out other explanations.

“We now have a nearly complete picture of the sea floor there over the thousands and thousands of years it took to deposit, and the only kind of deposition we can pin down is wind,” Gabbott said. “It’s really unique.”

Peter Van Roy, a paleobiologist at Yale University (also not involved in the study), said the model explains soft-tissue preservation in a very plausible way.

“How a fossil is made tells us something about where and how the animal lived,” Van Roy said. “In short, it helps you interpret fossils correctly. It’s important work to be doing.”

With a definitive case pinned down, Gabbott said the next step is to start seeking out similarly formed shales to fill gaps in the fossil record.

“There are numerous black shales formed during other glaciations, like the Carboniferous period 300 million years ago,” she said, noting a few locations in Cape Province, South Africa. “I’d love to go out there and have a look.”

Images: 1) A eurypterid (sea scorpion) from the Soom Shale, South Africa. This fossil is approximately 440 million years old. It is so well-preserved that you can see its muscle blocks, gills and the paddles that it used for swimming. Credit: Dick Aldridge
2) Cape Province in South Africa, where the Soom Shale (gray) and its basin are located. Credit: Geology
3) Reconstruction of eurypterid (sea scorpion) chasing a conodont (early vertebrate). The Soom Shale is one of only two deposits worldwide that preserve complete conodont animals including their muscles, eyes and notochord (stiffening rod). Conodonts are some of our earliest vertebrate ancestors. Credit: Alan Male
4) Ground-up rock can blow into the air and bounce across sea ice, ultimately into the ocean. There, phytoplankton and algal blooms drag the sand and dust particles to the sea floor and help preserve soft-bodied animals. Credit: Geology

See Also:

Follow us on Twitter @davemosher and @wiredscience, and on Facebook.

View the original article here