A U.S. Army-funded research project at the University of Illinois has developed a material that changes color when it is met with force or becomes overstressed. Among the examples trotted out in this month's issue of Nature are an elastomer that starts out the color of amber and turns progressively more orange as it's pulled, eventually turning red as it reaches its point of failure and snaps (see the photo on the right). Once relieved of stress, the material reverts to its original color -- and it can be used multiple times. Suggested uses for this technology include...Read More »

We won't go so far as to say that SE and LG are waiting for this here technology to go commercial -- after all, we're still years (at best) away from that -- but considering that the ninth iteration of your favorite smartphone is likely destined to boast a 453 megapixel camera, we're thrilled to see someone working to make those captures worth looking at. Over in Japan, Sammy is teasing a new MEMS shutter that measures just 2.2 millimeters in diameter and would essentially allow cameraphones to grab blur-free images even with ultra-high...Read More »

We've gotten the lowdown on that HTC Magic seen sporting Exchange support over in CNET Asia's capable hands, and as many readers opined, it's indeed a custom solution rolled by HTC without any Google involvement. Of course, HTC is no stranger to customizing OS builds loaded onto its devices; it already does this with every single Windows Mobile phone it sells, so we shouldn't be surprised to see some tweaks on its Android wares, either. Here's where it gets juicy, though: it turns out that Google forbids user of the "with Google" branding (as seen...Read More »

When we brought you those exclusive Storm 2 pics and details just a short while ago, we touched upon the "new approach to text entry," but unfortunately didn't have any details. However, lightning has struck again, and our source has gotten back to let us know that the Storm 2 does indeed have a stationary screen "just like the iPhone's." That's right, it looks like RIM is axing its SurePress technology in favor of a more conventional touchscreen, though our tipster says the model he has may allow for some type of haptic...Read More »

Up until now, if you wanted Mozilla's dearly anticipated mobile port, you had a couple options: you could buy a Nokia N800 / N810, or you could score a Touch Pro and deal with a build ominously described as pre-alpha. Now the software's finally matured enough to hit Alpha 1 status -- although the Touch Pro requirement's still in place, so you fake Touch Viva owners are sadly still have to hold off a while longer. The major release improves memory behavior, moves the UI to a CSS-based solution that'll make resolution independence easier,...Read More »

Keeping hosters happy In the Web hosting world, you can charge a premium for customers who have dedicated servers. But Moore's Law and every-more powerful processors combined with server virtualization puts pressure on Web hosting companies to do shared servers for their clients because no modest Web customer can use a whole one-socket or two-socket server today. What's a Web hosting company trying to make profit to do?… Full published article at: Read More »

Says commissioned Swiss tester Ocarina is better at data reduction than NetApp according to a commissioned Swiss Tester, being better with just deduplication and much better when its compression (content-aware optimisation) is switched on.… Full published article at: Read More »

Avsim, RIP A popular website for users of flight simulation gear has been felled, most likely fatally, after malicious hackers attacked both of the servers housing more than 12 years worth of content supplied by its 60,000 members.… Full published article at: Read More »

BAO. It's the next ERP As part of its briefings to Wall Street and investors this week, IBM trotted out its recently announced System S streaming system and the "Watson" QA super. Both are variants of its BlueGene/P Power-Linux supercomputer lineup, but both are aimed at solving business problems instead of simulating weather or nuclear explosions.… Full published article at: Read More »

The Tweenbots project already demonstrated that at least some folks are willing to help a lost robot find its way, but this new ACE bot developed by researchers at the Technical University of Munich has now ramped things up in a fairly big way, with it actually asking passers-by for directions and developing a map as it moves through the city. Apparently, the robot uses a series of cameras to detect people nearby, and it then asks them to simply point towards the destination indicated on its screen, which it is able to recognize, although...Read More »