Posts in October 17, 2014

NASA scientists have been taking a closer look at Saturn's moon Mimas thanks to Cassini's roving eyes, and they've made an interesting discovery: it could have an ocean of water beneath its surface.

...

-- For more information read the original article here.

Following Apple's decision to cease development on its own pro photo organizer and editor Aperture in favor of a forthcoming hybrid photo manager aimed at consumers and pro-sumers called Photos (which will also -- eventually -- replace iPhoto), Adobe has seized on the opportunity to try and lure Aperture and iPhoto users to its own more advanced photo organizer, editor and manager known as Lightroom 5. After publishing a written guide to the process of converting Aperture libraries to Lightroom in August, the company has now codified the procedure in a new free plug-in....






-- For more information read the original article here.

With more viewers than ever tuning into digital video services, premium publishers are looking for more ways to get in front of those audiences. With a syndication network built specifically for video, a startup called AirMedia hopes to find new distribution for premium publishers. Read More -- For more information read the original article here.

The appeal of a contactless payment card is obvious: you just wave your credit or debit card over a terminal and you've paid. But it also removes the PIN from the equation, meaning it's easy for someone to steal and use your card. To combat this, but to also keep contactless payments a breeze, MasterCard has just announced the first credit card with a built-in fingerprint sensor for biometric security.

...

-- For more information read the original article here.

Chromebooks have been getting a lot of attention from PC makers in the past few years, and for good reason.

Chromebooks run on Chrome, Google's desktop operating system. It's also Google's web browser. The Chrome operating system is all web-based, which means it has some drawbacks compared to the Mac and Windows operating systems. (We'll get into that in a bit.)

Chromebooks are much cheaper, lighter, and more portable than most Windows or Mac laptops you'll find on the market. And if you use your laptop only for browsing the web, Chromebooks are extremely simple to use, not to mention that they require much less maintenance than your average computer.

Samsung hopes to stand out from the dozens of other PC companies putting out Chromebooks with its aggressively priced Chromebook 2, which starts at $249. It's up for preorder on Friday, and officially goes on sale on Oct. 20.

The Basics

The main difference between Samsung's new Chromebook and its predecessor is that it has an Intel chip inside. Samsung's other Chromebooks come with its Exynos processors.

This essentially means that Samsung's newer Chromebook runs on a processor that's meant to power laptops, while the previous models are powered by a chip that's meant for smartphones and tablets. So, this Chromebook should theoretically be able to handle more tasks without getting overwhelmed.

It's worth noting that most competing Chromebooks run on a similar Intel Celeron processor, such as Acer's 11-inch Chromebook CB3-111-C8UB and Toshiba's new Chromebook 2.

Other key specs in Samsung's new Chromebook include an 11.6-inch, 1,366-by-768 resolution display, 16GB of storage space, and 2GB of RAM. Since it's a Chromebook, you also get 100GB of Google Drive storage free.

How It Looks And Feels

Since many Chromebooks are extremely affordable ($200 to $400, unless you're talking about the Chromebook Pixel), manufacturers sometimes compromise on build quality. Even a Chromebook that works well may feel somewhat cheap or susceptible to damage. Samsung's new Chromebook doesn't fall into that category.

The Chromebook 2 is reinforced with metal frame, which means you can even grab it by its screen with one hand without worrying about breaking it. I felt completely comfortable throwing this thing in my bag during my commute, and it's certainly light enough to carry around with ease. Even the keyboard deck feels sturdy, which can be hard to find -- For more information read the original article here.

HBO may charge around $15 per month for the standalone streaming service it plans to launch next year, according to Martin Peers at The Information.

That price point is much higher than that of its competitors. Both Netflix and Hulu Plus subscriptions cost $7.99 per month, and Amazon Prime costs $99 per year, which equates to about $8.25 per month. That means HBO's streaming service could cost almost twice as much as its competitors — or $180 per year.

HBO CEO Richard Plepler made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that a "standalone, over the top" version of HBO is coming in 2015. The news comes just after Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said that such a service was being seriously considered in September.

It's unclear if consumers will be willing to pay a $15 subscription, especially when there are other cheaper ways of getting that same content. Many HBO GO users share their passwords with each other so they can watch content without paying for a subscription, and it's also possible to stream many of these series for free online.

SEE ALSO: The Future Of TV Is Here. And It's Decidedly Meh.

Join the conversation about this story »

-- For more information read the original article here.