Sony Vaio Tap 20 and E-Series 14P Fall 2012 delayed until November

Earlier this month, Sony unveiled the two updated VAIO models that would support the new Windows 8 OS, the VAIO Tap 20 and the VAIO E-Series 14P Fall 2012 version. However, a recent announcement in Japan has revealed that the release dates for the two new product lines are to be extended, at least until November to December 2012. Sony officially stated that the cause of the release date extension was due to certain manufacturing delays.

Both the VAIO Tap 20 and E-Series 14P Fall 2012 version feature hybrid options that combine the functionality of regular PC's with mobile tablets, which was largely inspired by the dual OS-type functionality presented by Windows 8 (using both the standard and modern UI). The Tap 20 features an all-in-one "slab" type PC, while the E-Series 14P Fall 2012 version is a step-up from its earlier incarnation, updated with the Windows 8 OS and a touchscreen for easy access of its modern UI.

The models that are included in the release date extension are as follows:

For the Sony VAIO Tap 20:

• SVJ20217CJW
• SVJ20218CJW
• SVJ20219CJW
• SVJ2021AJ

For the Sony VAIO E-Series 14P Fall 2012 version:

• SVE14A29CJS
• SVE14A2AJ

Sony has previously announced that these models are to be released at the same date as the official release of Windows 8 (October 26, 2012). With the extension announced, it is expected that the date will most likely move to November (Tap 20) or by the start of December (E-Series 14P). Japanese consumers won't have to wait that long though, because the exact release date will be announced soon.

Boost the capabilities of your Nintendo DS by installing the right Linker ds card. Find the best R4 DS cards from a reliable online supplier of gaming accessories.

Cuba's Fiber-optic Cable Is Officially Operational

Renesys, which monitors Internet traffic around the globe, stated that until recently the nation’s Internet connection was much slower due to being stuck with satellite feed.  In February 2011 Cuba successfully connected their Island to Venezuela via an underwater fiber-optic cable, but it remained un-operative for nearly 2 years.  

Doug Madory who writes for Renesys said that they immediately observed the Caribbean nation’s trace route path going through the Spanish owned, Telefonica.  This new connection, coupled with lower latencies, led them to the conclusion the system was up and running, albeit less than 100%. Madory writes:

We believe it is likely that Telefonica's service to ETECSA is, either by design or misconfiguration, using its new cable asymmetrically (i.e., for traffic in only one direction), similar to the situation we observed in Lebanon in 2011. In such a configuration, ETECSA enjoys greater bandwidth and lower latencies (along the submarine cable) when receiving Internet traffic but continues to use satellite services for sending traffic.

Named the "Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de nuestra América" or ALBA-1, the submarine fiber-optic cable was a product of the both Cuba and Venezuela’s state-owned media agencies.  The cable cost approximately 70 million U.S. dollars and would have gone on-line much earlier, however, numerous political problems caused its delay. According to the Associated Press, there were also rumors of a possible embezzlement by government officials that hindered its progress.

Cuba is the last country in the western hemisphere to connect to the Internet by a fiber-optic line. Even with this new connection Akamai Technologies Inc. says the nation has the 2nd lowest connectivity to the Internet in the world.

Boost the capabilities of your Nintendo DS by installing the right r4 revolution card. Find the best r4i 3ds cards from a reliable online supplier of gaming accessories.

SpaceX to fly humans to space by 2015

Commercial space firm SpaceX will send humans into space by 2015, according to a company executive, marking another major leap forward in the private space exploration industry.

 

The California-based company hopes to send astronauts into space in a currently planned demonstration mission in 2015, and while the aim is to secure additional contracts with US space agency NASA, SpaceX will be sending up its own staff first.

 

One of the potential candidates for the initial flights is Garrett Reisman, an ex-NASA astronaut who is now serving as project manager at SpaceX. He said that flight safety is very important to him and he will help ensure that the trips will be safe.

 

The announcement was made by Reisman during a news conference at the Kennedy Space Centre. He joked that SpaceX is not selling tickets, a reference to several space tourism ventures, including the well-known Virgin Galactic plans, backed by numerous celebrities.

 

 

The SpaceX mission will involve sending humans into orbit for three days, a change from its existing cargo supply missions to the International Space Station (ISS). We can likely expect a further manned test flight to the ISS before NASA agrees to send its own astronauts.

 

SpaceX's plans are being encouraged by NASA, which lost the ability to fly astronauts into and out of space with the retirement of its shuttle programme in 2011. Since then astronauts have relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

 

The commercial space industry is a quickly growing arena, with a number of rivals to SpaceX popping up, including Orbital Scienes and aircraft maker Boeing, which is working on reusable unmanned spacecraft. With national space agencies receiving budget cuts due to the global economic downturn the private space sector could be just what is needed to ensure space exploration gets the support it needs.

Boost the capabilities of your Nintendo DS by installing the right R4 SDHC card. Find the best Carte R4 DS cards from a reliable online supplier of gaming accessories.

Apple opens official eBay store for refurbished products

Apple is testing a new eBay store that sells refurbished products, according to sources close to 9to5Mac.

 

The store, simply called Refurbished Outlet, was discovered around a month ago, selling revamped MacBooks, iPods, and iPads, but there was no indication that this was an official store run by Apple until 9to5Mac got its hands on some as yet unconfirmed information.

 

“We discovered that this is in face an Apple-run Store within eBay,” the site reads. “It is in trial, and it could open the door to much bigger things. No one would go on the record at eBay, however.”

 

 

The store also has a few giveaways that Apple might be in charge, including similar conditions for refurbished products, such as a one-year warranty and new battery, the same prices as refurbished products sold by the company elsewhere, and the overall design of the Store. Of course, it could just be an elaborate mimicry of Apple's style, but 9to5Mac claims to have information that suggests otherwise.

 

If this is Apple's first foray into selling outside its own stores, it could pave the way for the sale of new devices on eBay, and will give the technology giant an even larger audience and the option to pay by PayPal.

Boost the capabilities of your Nintendo DS by installing the right r4 revolution card. Find the best r4i 3ds cards from a reliable online supplier of gaming accessories.

Plastic light bulb might replace fluorescent bulbs in the future

Developed by a physics professor, Dr. David Carroll, at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, Fipel technology utilizes three layers of white-emitting polymer that contains minute amount of nano-materials which glow when electric current passes through.

Carroll claims that fluorescent bulbs produce a harsh blue tint that can aggravate the human eye, but his Fipel-based bulb on the other hand can produce more natural tints that are more accommodating.

 

“I’m saying we are brighter than one of these curly cubes and I can give you any tint to that white light you want,” Caroll says.

Furthermore, the new lighting technology is made of plastic, so therefore it could be made into shapes that are constrictive to bulbs utilizing technologies derived from other materials.  Supposedly, Carroll has been running a Fibel-based bulb in his lab for the past decade or so, which is a testament to the technology’s longevity. 

Although fluorescent bulbs are the predominant popular ‘energy saving’ consumer products, LED and OLED technology is creeping into people’s mind.  Many LED lamps have quoted life expectancies of somewhere between 25,000 to 50,000 hours.  LED bulbs have also gone down in prices in recent years, making it much more affordable now as they did in the past.  Even so, Carroll claims that his plastic-derived Fipel bulb is ‘cheap’ to make and that he already has a ‘corporate partner’ interested in mass producing the new light source.  The first round of production could possibly start in as early as 2013.

Boost the capabilities of your Nintendo DS by installing the right linker card. Find the best carte r4i cards from a reliable online supplier of gaming accessories.