Technology News
Samsung holds final talks on Google TV venture
Samsung Electronics is holding final talks with Google about launching a television using the US search giant's software platform next year, an executive of the South Korean company said Tuesday.Yoon Boo-Keun, president of the visual display division, declined to elaborate on the timing of…
German firm starts selling space travel insurance
A German firm is to start offering space travel insurance, hoping to cash in on a new wave of 'ordinary astronauts' ahead of next year's first commercial space trips.Insurance giant Allianz will start offering its new space travel policies from the start of next…
Samsung to release modified tablet in Germany
Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has modified the design of its newest tablet PC to bypass a sales ban in Germany, and would start selling it there as early as this week.The Galaxy Tab 10.1N, based on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, has a different…
Orbital solar power plants touted for energy needs
The sun's abundant energy, if harvested in space, could provide a cost-effective way to meet global power needs in as little as 30 years with seed money from governments, according to a study by an international scientific group.Orbiting power plants capable of collecting solar…
PM Gilani inaugurates ground station of Paksat-1R
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani formally inaugurated the commercial operation of Pakistan’s second communication satellite Paksat-1R in Lahore Saturday, Geo News reported.Paksat-1R was launched on August 12 from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre by China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC). It was moved to…
Japan computer smashes speed record
A Japanese supercomputer has broken its own record as the world's fastest machine by performing 10 quadrillion calculations per second, its developers announced.The "K Computer", which has more than 88,000 central processing units - the computer's "brain" - compared with the fewer than four…
ST-Ericsson beats Qualcomm Windows Phone
ST-Ericsson won a deal to supply chipsets for future Nokia phones based on Windows software, breaking Qualcomm's monopoly over Microsoft's mobile platform.ST-Ericsson said on Wednesday its technology would enable Nokia, the world's largest cellphone vendor, to offer cheaper Windows Phones and in new regions.…
Angry Birds tops 500 million downloads
Mobile gaming firm Rovio said on Wednesday its hit game Angry Birds had reached a record 500 million downloads in less than two years since its launch."It's more than any game ever before," Rovio's marketing chief Peter Vesterbacka told a conference in Helsinki.Unlike…
Moscow's Mars volunteers to 'land' after 520 days
Six volunteers Friday will emerge blinking into the outside world after spending almost one-and-a-half-years in isolation at a Russian research centre to test the effects on humans of a flight to Mars.The six men, who have spent 520 days in a capsule in a…
Bill Gates unfussed by Steve Jobs' jab
Microsoft founder Bill Gates coolly parried some harsh criticism from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in an interview Sunday, saying their professional rivalry was positive.Gates, who maintained a long rivalry with the Apple innovator, was asked about an authorized biography of Jobs by Walter…