April 2, 2012 When it comes to browsing, Internet Explorer has stayed consistently on top, but Chrome has been steadily chipping away at its lead — it even overtook IE briefly last month. The latest data from Net Market Share , however, suggests that Internet Explorer may be on the rebound. Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 Most of our electronics are made in China, and when it comes to the biggest internet companies on Earth, things aren't all that different. At least according to a new report from Wired , which examines why the likes of Google, Amazon, and Facebook are turning to both China and Taiwan to buy their networking gear in bulk. Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 Ever since the introduction of the iPhone over five years ago, Apple has scoffed at the notion that users need anything other than their fingers to control iOS devices. Apple has never offered a stylus, nor has it built any physical control accessories for its iOS devices, despite many gamers balking at touchscreen-only controls Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 Today the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) released images of the 1940 Census, and a project is already underway to ensure that the information becomes easily available to anyone who wants to know a bit more about the Great Depression. The NARA has teamed up with leading genealogy groups like Archives.com and FamilySearch.org to create what's being described as a "high quality, searchable database" of the more than one million pages contained in the Census. Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 Apple has announced that its statutory warranty period in Europe will be extended to two years, following pressure from the European Union to comply with EU law. This doesn't mean that two years of AppleCare now comes as standard, though — the warranty extension only covers defects that were present when the device was shipped, putting the burden of proof onto the customer that the issue is caused by Apple. Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 NASA offered up three sets of its patents at auction last week, but had a hard time finding buyers. While a set of seven software development patents sold for $75,000, two other sets of patents went unclaimed. Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 Starry Night Interactive Animation, the mesmerizing multitouch take on Van Gogh's painting, is now available for iPad, offering buyers the chance to morph a timeless work with the touch of a finger — or several. The $1.99 app recognized input from ten fingers without issue, and also features the same ambient soundscape we first heard in the project's initial reveal. Speaking of which, it appears the transition to iOS didn't take long, with Petro Vrellis needing less than a month to port the experience over from his original Windows-based concept, according to Technabob . Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 A new five-part documentary series begins tomorrow, exploring the changes in the heavy metal music scene over the last ten years. In On The Record , Metal Injection speaks to musicians, journalists, and record labels to discover how the industry feels that music has changed, with one major theme being the massive impact of the internet on the genre. Each aspect of the music publishing industry has been affected in some way, with both label owners and journalists specifically acknowledging that their jobs have been changed by our increasingly connected lives. Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 IBM and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, better known as ASTRON, have announced that they are collaborating on energy efficient, exascale computer systems that will be able to process the enormous amounts of data produced by the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope. The SKA will use millions of antennas across an area more than 3,000km (around 1,850 miles) wide, with a combined area of around one square kilometer, and is intended to explore the history of space. This vast array will result in an enormous amount of data being collected — scientists expect that the telescope will deliver a few exabytes of data per day, meaning between 300 and 1,500 petabytes will need to be stored each year Read more [...]

April 2, 2012 Samsung has completed the spin-off of its LCD display business , establishing Samsung Display Co. as a separate 20,000-employee entity under the Samsung umbrella, forming the world's largest display company, the company announced today Read more [...]