Samsung and software developer Mozilla announced plans on Wednesday to jointly develop a web browser engine designed for Android and the ARM architecture.
The new engine, dubbed Servo, will be designed with powerful Android devices in mind, and will be written to take advantage of multi-core processors and next generation mobile technology. Mozilla explained that Servo will be its attempt to rebuild the browser "from the ground up on modern hardware, rethinking old assumptions along the way".
Mozilla said that Servo will be written in its new systems language called Rust, which with v0.6 making its debut today is still in its early stages.
Mozilla said, "It is intended to fill many of the same niches that C++ has over the past decades, with efficient high-level, multi-paradigm abstractions, and offers precise control over hardware resources.
While Mozilla partnering with Samsung might seem like an odd twosome, a Samsung spokesperson said that it is interested in the project because it is "investigating various new technologies to innovate legacy products".
"This collaboration will bring an opportunity to open a new era of future web experience," it added.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Lindsay Lohan Tweets Pregnancy April Fools Joke
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan isn't going to be a mother, yet.
The actress confirmed Tuesday morning that a cryptic late-night Twitter posting hours earlier that stated she was pregnant was an April Fools' Day prank.
On Tuesday morning Lohan deleted the tweet and wrote that she was having some fun. The actress wrote, "Where's everyone's sense of humor?"
Calls to Lohan's attorney Mark Jay Heller and her publicist were not returned.
The actress confirmed Tuesday morning that a cryptic late-night Twitter posting hours earlier that stated she was pregnant was an April Fools' Day prank.
On Tuesday morning Lohan deleted the tweet and wrote that she was having some fun. The actress wrote, "Where's everyone's sense of humor?"
Calls to Lohan's attorney Mark Jay Heller and her publicist were not returned.
Russia Plans Several Robotic Moon Missions
The former Soviet Union's robotic lunar program achieved a number of notable "firsts" on Earth's satellite, including the first spacecraft to impact the moon; first flyby and photograph of the lunar farside; first soft landing on the lunar surface; first lunar orbiter; first circumlunar probe to return to Earth; first automatic return of lunar samples; and, of course, the first moon rover Lunokhod.
2015 — Luna 25 (Luna Glob Lander):A small lander on the moon's south pole that would analyze lunar regolith and local exosphere and test volatiles from less than 2 feet (50 centimeters) subsurface.
2016 — Luna 26 (Luna Glob Orbiter): An orbiter for the moon in a 60-mile-high (100 kilometers) polar circular orbit.
2017 — Luna 27 (Luna Resource-1): A large lander sent to the moon's south pole to study lunar regolith and local exosphere; it would also test for volatiles in the lunar subsurface. This lander would also test a drilling system for cryogenic sampling of the moon.
2019 — Luna 28 (Luna-Resource-2): A "to be determined (TBD)" mission f that is a polar moon sample return involving cryogenic delivery of lunar samples back to Earth. This mission would help develop return flight system technology for transiting between the moon and Earth.
2020 — Luna 29 (Luna-Resource-3): Another TBD mission.
But the moon is much closer to the Earth than Mars, offering more flexibility in launching lunar probes.
The former Soviet Union, of course, was the chief competitor to the U.S. and NASA during the Space Race to put human explorers on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s.
James Head of the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University in Providence, R.I. and symposium organizer, said, "keep in mind that this is Luna 25, 26, and 27 … and these aren't numbers taken out of the sky."
These are numbers that continue the sequences of missions that the former Soviet Union has already flown, Head said, most of them very successfully.
"Putting rovers on the moon, about doing automated sample returns from various places … accomplished by the Soviet Union over 40 years ago, multiple times.
He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and co-author of Buzz Aldrin's new book, "Mission to Mars – My Vision for Space Exploration," out in May from National Geographic.
James Head of the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University in Providence, R.I. and symposium organizer, said, "keep in mind that this is Luna 25, 26, and 27 … and these aren't numbers taken out of the sky."
These are numbers that continue the sequences of missions that the former Soviet Union has already flown, Head said, most of them very successfully.
"Putting rovers on the moon, about doing automated sample returns from various places … accomplished by the Soviet Union over 40 years ago, multiple times.
He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and co-author of Buzz Aldrin's new book, "Mission to Mars – My Vision for Space Exploration," out in May from National Geographic.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Will Facebook Unveil Smartphone at April 4 Event?
TechCrunch’s Josh Constine reports sources as saying “it will be a modified version of the Android operating system with deep native Facebook functionality on the homescreen that may live on an HTC handset.”
This wouldn’t be the first phone to get deeper-than-normal Facebook integration.It wouldn’t even be the first HTC phone to do so — the HTC Status had its own Facebook hardware button. Two handsets from the U.K.’s Inq were also positioned as Facebook phones.
As Constine points out, Facebook may not be in the right place to work out the hardware details of a company-branded handset: “This announcement might not be a Facebook Phone, but rather a Facebook phone — one where everything the user sees is social by design, even if the handset’s innards are made by someone else.”
So potentially another Facebook phone, but perhaps a bit Facebook-ier than previous Facebook phones. And probably not a capital-P Facebook Phone.
NASA Photographs 'Comet of the Century' ISON
By tracking the comet over the last two months, Swift has allowed astronomers to learn new details about how large the comet is and how fast it is spewing out gas and dust.
Some astronomers have predicted that ISON could be the "Comet of the Century" when it makes its closest approach to the sun in late November.
Comet ISON was first discovered in September 2012 by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok using the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) located near Kislovodsk.
At the time, Comet ISON was about 375 million miles from Earth and 460 million miles from the sun.
"The mismatch we detect between the amount of dust and water produced tells us that ISON's water sublimation is not yet powering its jets because the comet is still too far from the sun," Bodewits said. "Other more volatile materials, such as carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide ice, evaporate at greater distances and are now fueling ISON's activity."
NASA's Swift spacecraft is one of several satellites and probes to observe Comet ISON as it passes through the inner solar system.
"During this close encounter, Comet ISON may be observable to NASA and ESA spacecraft now working at Mars," said Michael Kelley, a UMCP astronomer and also a Swift and CIOC team member. "Personally, I'm hoping we'll see a dramatic postcard image taken by NASA's latest Mars explorer, the Curiosity rover."
On Nov. 28 — 58 days after swing close by Mars — Comet ISON will make its closest approach to the sun, flying within 730,000 miles of the star's surface during the encounter.
The comet will make its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 26, coming with 39.9 million miles of the planet as a late Christmas present.
But whether Comet ISON will live up to its celestial hype or fizzle out in a whimper still remains to be seen, astronomers warned. The comet must still survive the approach into the inner solar system, as well as its close encounter with the sun.
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