Technology

Scientists have explained the unprecedented behavior of a previously unknown third radiation ring that made a brief appearance between the inner and outer rings of Van Allen radiation belts in September 2012 and persisted for a month.

In the new research, UCLA space scientists have revealed that the extremely energetic particles that made up the third ring, known as ultra-relativistic electrons, are driven by very different physics than typically observed Van Allen radiation belt particles.

Microsoft is reportedly set to unveil an improved version of its Surface tablet after the older model failed to make a dent in the tablet market dominated by Apple and Android powered systems.

The company had introduced the first generation of its Surface tablet in October last year but reported tablet revenues of just 853 million dollars in June by selling 9,00,000 units while Apple, by comparison, sold around 34 million iPads in first half of 2013.

An online parking-reservation firm in New York City, SpotHero has reportedly launched an app to let drivers seamlessly book daily or monthly parking spots using their credit cards and save getting parking tickets.

The parking violations add up to more than 7.4 million tickets, costing a total of 466 million dollars as of June 2013.

SpotHero co-founder Jeremy Smith said that about 46 percent of Manhattanites own cars, and there are 1,000 garages in Manhattan alone and even then 30 percent of spots are unused even during peak times, New York Post reports.

The BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for the Android and iOS platform has been reportedly delayed because the makers have said that the app is not fully developed for the launch.

The BBM app for Android and iOS was supposed to be rolled out on Saturday, however, those who were able to download a leaked version of the app were not able to use it after being pulled out by the company.

BlackBerry said that the teams continue to work to bring BBM to Android and iOS platform, but only when it is ready and will live up to the expectations of BBM, will it be released, metro.co.uk reports.

Apple has reportedly laid down tough rules when it comes to advertisements for its new iPhone range.

The tech giant”s dozen-page rules specify the format of advertisements of how the distributors can promote the popular smartphone.

The rules ban the use of words and references like Chief Executive Tim Cook, video site YouTube and any references to glitches or hacking, use of exclamation marks and the word ”new”, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Researchers at the University of Leeds have been able to solve a 300-year-old riddle about which direction the centre of the earth spins.

The Earth’s inner core, made up of solid iron, “superrotates” in an eastward direction – meaning it spins faster than the rest of the planet – while the outer core, comprising mainly molten iron, spins westwards at a slower pace.

Google has reportedly launched its digital ‘Wallet app’ for Apple’s iPhone platform.

Google’s ‘Wallet app’ represents a challenge to the ‘Passbook program’ that Apple has built into the iPhone”s OS and both the apps allow users to store loyalty cards from some merchants and scan coupons offering discounts.

The ‘Wallet app’ also allows users to send money and make purchases on some mobile websites by storing a debit or credit card account on the app, while the payment information can also be store in Passbook, News24 reports.

After almost 9 years in space, communication problems has led scientist to reluctantly pronounce the end of NASA’s Deep Space Comet Hunter Mission.

NASA’s Deep Impact mission approximately sent 500,000 images of celestial objects.

The project team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., has reluctantly pronounced the mission at an end after being unable to communicate with the spacecraft for over a month.

Apple has reportedly said that it is aware of the security flaw in its latest iOS7 and the company is working to fix it.

The security flaws were revealed hours after the release by security experts who found that the Control Centre feature of the new system can be easily bypassed, allowing hackers to gain access to the user’s photos, social media accounts and texts, without a password.

Apple spokesperson said that the company takes user security seriously and is aware of the security flaw adding that the patch to the issue will be delivered in future.

Google has reportedly launched its digital ‘Wallet app’ for Apple’s iPhone platform.

Google’s ‘Wallet app’ represents a challenge to the ‘Passbook program’ that Apple has built into the iPhone’s OS and both the apps allow users to store loyalty cards from some merchants and scan coupons offering discounts.

The ‘ Wallet app’ also allows users to send money and make purchases on some mobile websites by storing a debit or credit card account on the app, while the payment information can also be store in Passbook, News24 reports.

Computer manufacturer HP has reportedly embedded motion-sensing technology in its Envy 17 Leap Motion notebook, making it the first ever device in the personal computer market to have such a feature.

HP Senior Vice President Ron Coughlin said that the company’s collaboration with Leap Motion is one example of how HP is innovating and defining the next generation computing experience.

Security flaws have been reportedly discovered in Apple’s latest iOS7, just a day after it was released.

The bug allows the thief to exploit the flaw and disable the Find my iPhone feature, even if the thief does not have the password.

The new iOS7 has the Control Centre feature on the iPhone’s home screen, which contains access to digital voice assistant Siri apart from other basic settings and therefore, if a user accesses the Control Centre or instructs Siri to put the device into aeroplane mode, the Find my iPhone feature becomes useless, The Age reports.

A balloon having extra-terrestrial particles landed in West Yorkshire city, Wakefield.

The city, famed for producing the pink vegetable, was the landing site of the balloon, which brought back the extra-terrestrial particles after a trip to the edge of space, the Mirror reported.

Molecular biologist Prof Milton Wainwright, who led the project, said that the findings could be revolutionary.

He said that people may assume that the biological particles went up from Earth but a particle of that size could not have lifted to such heights.

Google has revamped its official logo on its search page and has replaced the previous menu bar with a smaller range of links on the page’s right side.

The redesigned logo is flatter as compared to the older version that had drop shadows and it is the first change to the search giant’s logo since 2010.

Recently, Yahoo also revamped its official logo after a month-long user review along with Microsoft’s Bing search tool, which was also updated.

The US space agency said Thursday that its Curiosity rover has revealed no trace of methane, a potential sign of life, on the Martian surface.

NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed on the Red Planet in August 2012, analysed samples of the Martian atmosphere for methane six times from last October through June.

“We did not find nor detect methane in the Martian atmosphere,” reported Xinhua citing Chris Webster of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The US Department of Defense successfully intercepted a short-range ballistic missile target during a missile defense test over the Pacific Ocean.

The department said that it was an operationally realistic test, in which the target”s launch time and bearing are not known in advance, and the target complex was the most difficult target engaged to date.

Pentagon said that the short-range missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii and the target flew northwest towards a broad ocean area of the Pacific Ocean.

BlackBerry has reportedly launched its latest range of Z30 smartphones this week.

The sinking company’s latest creation has a 5-inch display, and the company largest battery so far, touted to survive for up to 25 hours.

BlackBerry said that the new smartphone is designed for people looking for a smartphone geared toward communications, messaging and productivity, Fox News reports.

According to the report, the Z30 smartphone is inclusive of BlackBerry’s Documents To Go suite and functions on the BlackBerry 10 OS.

Researchers in China have revealed that anger is the most influential emotion online inciting more responses than other emotions.

Researcher Rui Fan of Beihang University, analysed 70 million tweets from ‘Chinese Twitter’ site Weibo, over a period of six-months, after categorizing them as angry, sad, joyous and disgusting, based on users’ choice of words.

According to the Independent, the influence of the tweets was then calculated based on the frequency of replies with similar sentiments.

Researchers including to two Indian-origin have classified 10 types of odours that we are able to smell.

Jason Castro from Bates College, Chakra Chennubhotla from the University of Pittsburgh, and Arvind Ramanathan from Oak Ridge National Laboratory used advanced statistical techniques to develop an approach for systematically describing smells.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has reportedly announced the development of the world’s first digital laser. Professor of the CSIR National Laser Centre, Andrew Forbes said that the innovation was expected to spur numerous applications to improve the communication and health sectors. Forbes, along with doctoral candidate and CSIR researcher Sandile Ngcobo, believed that this innovation can be used in health, as a research tool, but not as a clinical tool yet adding that the team is working on other devices in communication, News24 reports.

IT experts have revealed that cyber security cost at global financial institutions have increased manifold with the aim to secure their own and customers” assets with increasing number of hacker attacks and internal threats.

A four-day exhibition, Sibos, organized by Belgium-based global transactions service provider SWIFT for the first time in the Middle East kept the central topic as cyber security at global financial institutions.

A south Florida doctor used a unique procedure to re-grow a man’s finger, which a horse bit off.

Dr. Eugenio Rodriguez said that Paul Halpern, 33, arrived in Delray Beach with his finger inside a zip lock bag after his prized, hungry horse mistook his finger for a cookie.

Rodriguez used the bladder tissue of a pig to make a template of Halpern’s finger and attached it to what was left.

The result astounded everyone as the finger’s cells, bone, soft tissue, even nail grew into the mold, CBS reported.

Iran might send a Persian cat as next animal astronaut to space, an official has revealed. Senior space program official, Mohammad Ebrahimi, said Iran’s next space capsule could carry the Persian cat, which is a long-haired and flat-faced breed named after Iran”s former name of Persia.

A National Social Media Summit is to be held in Kabul to promote Internet access and the use of social media as a way to discuss current news.
The summit called Paiwand (Connection) will be held from September 22 to 23 and around 200 speakers will participate in the event to promote further use of Internet in the country, Fox News reports.

According to the report, only 1.5 million people, out of 30 million population of Afghanistan, have Internet access through 3G, DSL and Internet cafes.

Scientists have found a jet of high-energy particles erupting from a dying star, which could help explain what happens when stars like the Sun reach the end of their lives.

Chalmers scientists and colleagues from Germany and Australia used the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array, an array of six 22-meter radio telescopes in New South Wales, Australia, to study a star at the end of its life.

The star, known as IRAS 15445-5449, is in the process of becoming a planetary nebula, and lies 23,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Triangulum Australe (the Southern Triangle).