Astronomers ‘discover’ planet made of diamonds

 In what could be called a gem of a discovery, astronomers claim to have found a planet entirely made of diamonds.

An international team of scientists, who reported their discovery in the journal Science, said they have unearthed a once-massive star in the Milky Way that has been transformed into a small planet made of the precious rock.

The team — made up of scientists from Australia, Italy, Germany, Britain and the U.S. —— first detected an unusual star, called a pulsar, and followed up their discovery using a telescope based in an observatory in Cheshire.

It led the scientists to discover the gravitational pull of a small companion planet orbiting the pulsar, the Daily Mail reported.

Pulsars are small spinning stars more than ten miles in diameter — the size of a small city —— that emit a beam of radio waves.

The researchers think that the “diamond planet” is all that remains of the original star, most of whose matter was siphoned off towards the pulsar.

The companion planet is small, at less than 40,000 miles wide — about five times the diameter of Earth.

But it is so close to the pulsar that if it were a bit bigger it would have been ripped apart by the gravitational force of the star, which rotates more than 10,000 times per minute and has a mass of about 1.4 times that of the sun.

“This remnant is likely to be largely carbon and oxygen, because a star made of lighter elements like hydrogen and helium would be too big to fit the measured orbiting times,” said research team member Dr. Michael Keith of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia.

Google TV to launch in Europe in 2012

Google Inc will launch its TV service in Europe early next year, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said, despite teething problems that had led some observers to question how committed the company would remain to the project.

Google TV, which allows viewers to mix Web and television content on a TV screen via a browser, was launched in the United States in October but received mixed reviews and was swiftly blocked by three of the top US broadcast networks.

Large parts of the television industry, like the news and telecoms industries, view Google with suspicion and accuse it of stealing their advertising revenues without contributing to the costs of making programs.

Schmidt sought to allay the fears of Britain's broadcasting elite in a speech to the Edinburgh television festival, the first time a non-TV executive had been invited to give the keynote MacTaggart lecture at Britain's premier industry event.

"Some in the US feared we aimed to compete with broadcasters or content creators. Actually our intent is the opposite," he told an audience who quickly warmed to his friendly style and liberal compliments to the quality of British television.

"We seek to support the content industry by providing an open platform for the next generation of TV to evolve, the same way Android is an open platform for the next generation of mobile," he said.

"We expect Google TV to launch in Europe early next year, and of course the UK will be among the top priorities."

Google TV has gained little traction so far in the United States, and its set top box provider Logitech International SA slashed prices to $99 in July from an initial price of $299.

Schmidt also included a warning to British television regulators, who he said were far more stringent than their US counterparts and threatened to throttle the development of British television companies in an increasingly global market.

"Stifling the Internet -- whether by filtering or blocking or just plain turning the 'off' switch -- appeals to policy makers the world over," he said. "Instead, policy makers should work with the grain of the Internet rather than against it."
Opportunistic
Google has long held ambitions in the television arena, hoping to extend its online advertising business, which made $28 billion for the company last year, to the big screens that still command the lion's share of global advertising budgets.

"If his ambition was to go there and convince the TV people he wasn't a big threat, I don't think he achieved it," said Keith McMahon, an analyst at research firm Telco 2.0/STL Partners.

"The message I got was that TV is such a big market that Google can't ignore it. They're never going to give it up."

So far, Google has had little success breaking into the TV market, despite its ownership of the world's most popular online video site, YouTube.

Last week, however, Google agreed a deal to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion, handing it the world's leading set top box business which delivers content for many of the top cable TV companies in the United States.

The headline attraction of the deal was Motorola's huge portfolio of wireless patents but the set top box business could help Google transform its TV project by giving it insights into pay-TV.

Google has not spelled out its plans for the set top box business, and many analysts expect it to divest the unit at the first opportunity, having no experience or previous interest in running a hardware business.

Others believe Google could change tack under CEO Larry Page, Google's co-founder who took back the reins from Schmidt in April and has already started a social network to compete with Facebook while ditching other projects.

"Google describes itself as an opportunistic company. So while it may not have wanted to buy Motorola's operations, it may now assess whether retaining these assets can compensate for the risk of owning them," New York-based Nomura analyst Stuart Jeffrey wrote in a note this week.

Schmidt made no mention of the Motorola acquisition or its implications on Friday, but will hold a question and answer session in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Magnetic computers coming Soon: Could use million times less energy

Today's silicon-based microprocessor chips depend on electric currents, or moving electrons, that generate a lot of waste heat.But microprocessors employing nanometre-sized bar magnets -- like tiny refrigerator magnets -- for memory, logic and switching operations theoretically would require no moving electrons. A nanometre is a bnth of a metre.

Such chips would dissipate only 18 millielectron volts of energy per operation at room temperature, the minimum allowed by the laws of thermodynamics. That's a million times less energy per operation than consumed by today's computers.


"Today, computers run on electricity; by moving electrons around a circuit, you can process information," said Brian Lambson, University of California Berkeley graduate student in electrical engineering and computer sciences, according to a California statement.


"A magnetic computer, on the other hand, doesn't involve any moving electrons. You store and process information using magnets, and if you make these magnets really small, you can basically pack them very close together so that they interact with one another.


Lambson is working with Jeffrey Bokor, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at California, to develop magnetic computers.

Google Labs to be shut down

Google Inc will shut down a website that offered public access to experimental products, the latest step by the company to refocus resources under Chief Executive Larry Page.

Google said it will "wind down" Google Labs, ending many of the projects offered on the site, in a move to "prioritize its product efforts," the company said on its corporate blog.

Google said that many of the products and technology from Google Labs would be incorporated into some of the company's other products, which range from the world's No. 1 search engine to its popular Android smartphone operating system.

Google Labs functions as a central hub for the various projects created by Google employees, who are allowed to spend up to 20 percent of their time working on side-projects. Google Labs products were available as prototypes that users could try out and provide feedback on, while Google made ongoing changes and adjustments.

Among the products listed as "alumni" of Google Labs on the Labs website are Google Maps, Google Alerts and Google Transit.

A Google spokesman said the closure of Google Labs was unrelated to the company's 20 percent time policy .

"We don't have any changes to announce regarding 20 percent time. We'll continue to devote a subset of our time to newer and experimental projects. In fact, we'll be focusing this same creative energy on bigger bets, with bigger potential long-term payoffs," the Google spokesman said in an emailed statement.

The closure of Google Labs comes a few months after Google co-founder Page took the CEO reins in April.

Last month Google said it was pulling the plug on a pair of products that let consumers monitor their home energy consumption and keep track of their personal health records.

On Google's second-quarter earnings conference call last week, Page said the company was moving to put "more wood behind fewer arrows."

The Google spokesperson said the company did not have any specific timing for the end of Google Labs, but said it would provide updates on the Google Labs website.  ”

Can Google, Motorola deal hamper Apple?

Google's smash hit deal to buy Motorola mobility for $12.5 Billion has created a fuss around analysts, critics and industry observers. The commotion is all about will this deal have an impact on Apple's business and on the mobile industry. The Apple's stock value has become a question for the future and for the other companies in mobile market.


After the announcement of Google obtaining Motorola mobility, the Apple's share value increased. On August 16th there was a downfall in Apple's share. The Wall Street and Main Street says that this deal will not be affecting Apple in anyway. The iPhone will be topping the list in mobile space.
But, there are chances for Apple to be affected by the Google's deal. The 10 reasons are listed below:

1.Motorola Smartphones had good reputation in market:
Motorola mobility was a good competitor for Apple and other mobile companies in mobile space even before the Google's announcement about the acquisition. The Motorola Android phones were of good quality and were available in affordable prices. They had good options for the customers who never wanted to own an iPhone. Now this Google- Motorola deal may lead to the enhancement of the quality and features of the mobiles which can affect the demand of iPhones in market. 2.Google is rich:
The monetary issue was a major problem for Motorola mobility. It was unable to invest money on their mobile product features, whereas Apple's investment on their iPhones always kept their competitors off shore. Google has money and if they invest on the Motorola mobility in a healthy way they can improve the devices by using the best technologies similar to Apple iPhones. So the money spurring battle is sure to take place.
  3.Increase in demand of Android phones:
The customers of android phones are increasing day by day which can harm the demand of iOS, BlackBerry OS and other mobile OS. Now the Motorola mobility in the hands of Google, the improvement in OS is possible as Google owns Android and people have Goodwill for the Google's product which can affect the sales of iPhones.
4.Apple has to compete with two Android dealers:
Samsung was the only major competitor of apple in mobile space and was the only mobile company whose sales matched the sales of iPhones. Now Motorola's tie up with Google can increase the demand of their Cellphones as customers have an option of another Android phone. So now it will be Samsung and Motorola who will be giving a tough competition to Apple phones. This doubles the worry of Apple in mobile space.

Google Maps adds a weather layer

 Internet search giant Google is providing current weather information and cloud data from across the world on its Google Maps application, a move that will hopefully make travel and activity planning easier.

“We’re adding a weather layer on Google Maps that displays current temperatures and conditions around the globe,” Google User Experience Designer Jonah Jones said in a blog post on Thursday.

The company is providing this facility through an arrangement with weather.com and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

The information about weather is visible through a widget in the upper right corner of Google Maps. Clicking on the weather icon for a particular city opens a window with data like current humidity and wind conditions, as well as a forecast for the next four days.

In addition, users can also click on the left-hand panel to change the units for measurement of wind speed and temperature and enable or disable the viewing of clouds when zoomed out from the map. 

Google tricks you didn’t know about

We all know how to search on Google. But not many of us know the tips and tricks that can make Google searches better and in easier on Google.

Having an alternative to something as useful and vast as Google can help us anytime, anywhere. We bring you eight alternative ways to search the most searched engine: We all know how to search on Google. But not many of us know the tips and tricks that can make Google searches better and in easier on Google.

Having an alternative to something as useful and vast as Google can help us anytime, anywhere. We bGoogle’s ‘What Do You Love’ service is a one-stop-shop destination for all its other services. It collates data from all its services such as YouTube, Translate, Images and News and to you at a single place and in a single click. ring you eight alternative ways to search the most searched engine: Having a hard time reading searching on your mobile? Screen is not large enough to accommodate Google’s advertisements, sidebars, images, et al.? Type Google.com/m in your browser to access a cleaner version of the site, minus all its ‘unnecessary’ frills. Wish you could look at the two most prominent search engines side-by-side saving you considerable amount of time and energy? Yes you can do it.

You can check your search results on both Bing and Google at the same time on www.bing-vs-google.com. On the same page you will get the information displayed on both the sites. This alternative way to search Google will, for once, remind you of your HTML lessons. Goosh.org is a Google-interface that behaves similarly to a unix shell. Written by Stefan Grothkopp, Goosh calls itself ‘the unofficial Google shell.’ Users can type commands such as ‘video’ or ‘news’ to obtain results from a particular Google service. Results can be accessed by clicking on their respective links or their numbers can be typed in Goosh. To see more results type ‘more’.