Sunday, March 31, 2013

Listen: Arguments From Today's Gay Marriage Supreme Court Case

Supreme-court-prop-82013-03-26 17:27:28 UTC

The Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments Tuesday in the case involving California's Proposition 8, which passed in 2008 and banned the state from recognizing same-sex marriages. The audio of the back-and-forth between the justices and lawyers on either side of the case can be heard in its entirety here:

The Supreme Court won't deliver a ruling on Proposition 8 until later this summer. Oral arguments can give some faint clues as to what the justices might do — indeed, some reporters suggested the justices' comments and lines of questioning might indicate they will decide the case lacks standing.

If the court indeed decides the case lacks standing to be heard, that would mean the lower court's prior striking-down of Proposition 8 would stand. As New York Magazine's Joe Coscarelli wrote, the "nationwide consequences" of that outcome are still up in the air.

Regardless, no prediction based solely on oral arguments should be taken as gospel — anxious advocates and opponents of same-sex marriage will most likely have to wait until late June to hear the results of this case and the one surrounding the Defense of Marriage Act, for which arguments will be heard Wednesday.

Image via Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

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Apple Patents 'No Look' Technology

Applestorefor AppAdvice 2013-03-26 16:43:44 UTC

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has approved Apple’s U.S. Patent No. 8,407,623 for "Playback control using a touch interface."

First filed in 2009, the patent covers a technology used on mobile devices that registers touch gestures when no content is displayed on the screen.

According to the invention, users are sometimes in situations when looking at a multitouch display isn’t feasible. For example, during a gym workout. The invention corrects this by offering “no look” controls, even when the device’s screen is dark.

From the patent summary:

To allow a user to control media playback using a touch sensing device without requiring the selection of displayed options, the electronic device can include a mode or configuration for which the touch sensing device can sense touch events, but not display any content on a display. For example, an electronic device with a touch screen can have a mode in which no content is displayed on the touch screen (e.g., the touch screen remains dark), but the touch screen is operative to detect touch events of the user.

Apple’s system includes a number of finger gestures that the user can initiate, including a single tap to play/pause music and clockwise circle to increase the volume. The patent credits Duncan Kerr and Nick King as its inventors.

Image via CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images

This article originally published at AppAdvice here

Topics: apple, Dev & Design, Gadgets, patent, patents, Tech, touchscreen AppAdvice is a Mashable publishing partner that offers news and reviews of iOS apps. This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.

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Apple Changes MacBook Pro 'Highest Resolution' Tagline

Macbook-pro-13-retina2013-03-26 15:08:52 UTC

The problem with using superlatives to describe your products is that there's always the possibility of someone better and bigger coming along.

Case in point: As 9to5Mac noticed, Apple recently stopped using the tagline "The highest-resolution notebook ever. And the second highest” to describe its 15-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pro notebooks.

Instead, Apple is using a new tagline to describe the MacBook Pros: "High performance has never been so well defined".

The likely reason for this is Google's recently announced Chromebook Pixel notebook, which has a 12.75-inch, 2,560x1,700 pixel display. That's still lower than the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which sports a 2,880x1,800 resolution, but the 13-inch model, which has a 2,560x1,600 resolution, is no longer the "second highest."

Apple also changed the description for the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which now claims its display is "just as impressive" instead of saying it's the "only thing that comes close" to the 15-inch model.

Similarly, as iPhone competitors' screens grew in size and resolution, Apple stopped focusing its copy on the resolution and the pixel density of the iPhone screen. It currently advertises the iPhone 5's screen as being "just right".

Image courtesy Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images

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Cyprus Gets World's First Bitcoin ATM

NowThis News 2013-03-26 14:53:37 UTC

The world's first Bitcoin ATM machine will be installed in Cyprus, and it will accept both Bitcoins for cash and cash for Bitcoins. Cyprus recently accepted a bailout from the European Union totaling more than $12.8 billion.

Homepage image courtesy of NowThisNews

This article originally published at NowThis News here

Topics: bailout, Bitcoin, Bitcoins, Business, economy, europe, European Union, money, World NowThis News is video news for the mobile and social generation. It’s news, but fun. Download the free app: nowth.is/downloadforiOS

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SpaceX Dragon Cargo Capsule Heading Back to Earth

Spacexdragonfor Space.com 2013-03-26 17:09:41 UTC

A private SpaceX cargo capsule undocked from the International Space Station early Tuesday to begin the trip back to Earth after three weeks linked to the orbiting laboratory.

The unmanned Dragon space capsule was released from the space station today (March 26) at 6:56 a.m. EDT (1056 GMT), and is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, about 214 miles (344 kilometers) off the coast of Baja California, at 12:34 p.m. EST (1634 GMT). The Dragon capsule is expected to fire its thrusters at 11:42 a.m. EDT (1542 GMT) to leave orbit.

"Sad to see the Dragon go," said NASA astronaut and space station resident Tom Marshburn. "She performed her job beautifully, now heading back to her lair."

Dragon is returning to Earth with about 2,670 pounds (1,210 kg) of cargo, including a set of LEGO toys that have been on the station for the last two years. The equipment will be returned to NASA as soon as recovery teams return the Dragon capsule to dry land.

The spacecraft launched toward the space station atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 1 from the firm's launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to deliver about 1,200 pounds (1,210 kilograms) of equipment, supplies and scientific experiments.

Once Dragon splashes down it will mark the end of Hawthorne, Calif., based private spaceflight firm SpaceX's second complete cargo mission to the International Space Station commissioned by NASA. The space agency contracted the spaceflight company to make 12 trips to the space station for $1.6 billion.

SpaceX launched its first Dragon cargo mission to the station in October 2012 following a successful demonstration flight in May of that year. The company was founded in 2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to develop low-cost rockets and spacecraft.

Dragon's splashdown was originally slated for Monday (March 25), but weather concerns and high seas at its splashdown point prompted NASA and SpaceX officials to delay the undocking. None of the returning experiments should be affected by the one-day delay, NASA officials said.

Currently, Dragon is the only operating cargo vessel that can bring supplies back to Earth as well as deliver them to astronauts in low-Earth orbit. Russia's Progress spacecraft, Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicles and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicles burn up upon re-entry into the planet's atmosphere.

SpaceX is one of two private spaceflight companies with a NASA contract for unmanned cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station. The Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. signed on with the space agency to make eight unmanned flights with its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule in a deal for $1.9 billion. The Antares rocket's first test flight is scheduled for mid-April.

With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, the U.S. space agency is currently dependent on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronaut crews to and from the space station. NASA plans to use new private space taxis to launch American astronauts on trips to the space station once they become available.

SpaceX is one of four companies currently competing for the NASA crew launch contract. The company is developing a manned version of its Dragon capsule designed to ferry seven astronauts into low-Earth orbit and return them to Earth.

Image courtesy of NASA/SpaceX

This article originally published at Space.com here

Topics: NASA, space, SpaceX, SpaceX Dragon, U.S., US & World, World Space.com is a Mashable publishing partner that is the world's No. 1 source for news of astronomy, skywatching, space exploration, commercial spaceflight and related technologies. This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Report: Tablets to Outship Desktops This Year

Apple-foxconn-2013-03-26 14:11:10 UTC

Tablet PCs will outship desktop PCs for the first time this year, catapulting us into a true "post-PC era," according to a report by researcher IDC.

Shipments of tablet PCs will surpass desktops as the former category grows by 48.7% and the latter shrinks by 4.3%, IDC estimates. In 2014, tablets will also outship portable PCs. "In emerging markets, consumer spending typically starts with mobile phones and, in many cases, moves to tablets before PCs," said Megha Saini, research analyst for IDC's Worldwide Smart Connected Device Tracker, in a statement. "The pressure on the PC market is significantly increasing and we can see longer replacement cycles coming into effect very soon and that, too, will put downward pressure on PC sales."

Meanwhile, "smart connected devices," a category that includes smarthphones, tablets and PCs, grew 29.1% vs. 2012 to more than 1 billion devices. The value of those shipments, according to IDC was $576.9 billion. The researcher predicts that by 2017 the segment will hit 2.2 billion units with revenues of $814.3 billion.

Looking at the fourth quarter, IDC also found that Apple had 20.3% of the smart connected devices market vs. 21.2% for Samsung. Apple had 30.7% of revenues for the segment compared to 20.4% for Samsung, according to IDC.

Image courtesy of Apple

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Wristband Keeps Track of How Well Doctors Wash Their Hands

2013-03-26 18:19:33 UTC

Nearly 2 million cases of hospital-acquired infections are reported each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctors, nurses and technicians can spread germs during routine contact or invasive procedures. While the most adequate form of prevention is hand washing, it can be difficult to monitor.

One wristband may solve the problem by keeping tabs on your doctor's hygiene habits. A new bracelet developed by startup IntelligentM vibrates when the wearer has scrubbed enough and lets employers monitor their use.

The bracelet uses radio frequency identification to read tags on sanitizing and washing stations. An accelerometer detects how long someone spends cleaning their hands then sends an alert. One vibration signals adequate washing, while three buzzes indicate more time should be spent at the sink. Check out the video, above, for more.

The wristband could be a big improvement over the common alternative ways of ensuring good hygiene: secret observers implemented by hospitals to watch employees on the job, or patients asking all of their healthcare professionals to wash their hands every time they visit.

IntelligentM's wristband is less obtrusive and follows the wearer's motions to check whether they're adhering to proper hand hygiene standards. At the end of each shift, hospital administrators and staff can view collected data through a microUSB to monitor employee progress.

IntelligentM is targeting healthcare facilities with the device but is looking to expand to food service, another sector where hand washing can prevent the spread of diseases, according to MIT Technology Review.

What do you think of IntelligentM's wristband? Do you use any gadgets for hygiene? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Arlington County

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