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One of the biggest arguments against fixing climate change is that it would cost too much. Not so, says the UN's climate change panel, which has found that abandoning fossil fuels would only knock around 0.06 percent off the world's GDP. According to the report, if low-carbon energy quadruples by 2050, then the planet may only warm by two degrees -- the upper limit before The Day After Tomorrow-style catastrophes are commonplace. The panel recommends switching to renewables like solar, wind and hydropower, with nuclear the next best option and biofuels in third, since the latter uses the same land and resources needed for growing crops. Maybe it's time that we all started cycling to work. SOURCE

Ready for more new features on your Xbox One? Major Nelson just announced that the April software update Microsoft has been beta testing will start rolling out to all systems tonight. The big new feature is the return of notifications for when people on your favorites or friends lists come online, like it did on the Xbox 360. Other fixes are supposed to make Kinect's voice and gesture recognition better, and there are new UI tweaks to make sure you know the status of game saves as well as updates for your games and apps. GameDVR clips should be better looking, 50Hz Blu-ray discs will play at their native rate and yes, there is another update for controllers that addresses audio quality with third-party headsets using the adaptor. Finally, for any updates after this one the Xbox One will be able to reboot to standby silently instead of just turning off, and you'll be able to check manually for updates. That doesn't apply for this update though, so Xbox One owners can wa...

One stretch of road in the Netherlands may make you feel like you're cruising through a video game. A new glow-in-the-dark pavement has replaced power-sucking streetlights for a 500m (.3mi) piece of the highway. The result is a Tron-like street that shines courtesy of solar-powered photo-luminescent powder incorporated into the road paint. This is just a proof of concept, but its creator, Studio Roosegaarde, hopes to use parks as a testing ground for new versions of the product. Down the road, new iterations might even include informational markers -- like functional street art. For instance, in freezing temperatures the entire surface might light up with giant flakes to alert drivers (until they get buried by snow). There are also plans to incorporate wind-powered lights that shine only when cars are nearby, and ultimately a special lane where electric cars could charge up while they drive. As you might imagine, the road will have to pass several government safety and durabil...

It turns out that the emoticon might be a bit older than we originally thought. Literary critic Levi Stahl has found what could possibly be the first instance of a ":)" in Robert Herrick's 1648 poem "To Fortune." Stahl checked to see if it was just a typo in the edition of Hesperides that he owns, and says that he found the smiley intact in the authoritative two-volume edition of Herrick's work published last year by the Oxford University Press. Stahl explains that the poet's work was rife with humor, so this likely isn't a "punctuational oddity." If true, it'd beat the previous record-holder's age -- a transcription of an 1862 speech by Abe Lincoln -- by some 200 years. That isn't quite the final word, however. The New Atlantis (a scholarly journal about tech and society) writes that this probably isn't the case, and the only real way to tell if the emoticon was Herrick's intent would be to look up very early editions...

Studying evolution is tricky -- it's a process that happens over countless generations and thousands of years, but the men tasked with studying it live less than a century. Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have found one way around the problem: robots. OIST's Dr. Stefan Elfwing has been using small, rodent-like robots to study the long-term effects of disparate mating strategies, observing the evolution of the simulated species for over 1,000 generations. Two groups of robo-mice were programmed to forage for food (battery-powered recharge stations) and to find a mate (trade data through an embedded IR port), with each group following a different mating strategy. Robots dubbed "foragers" would focus on recharging, only mating if it didn't get in the way of feeding, while "trackers" would actively seek mates and go without charging if it increased their chances of linking up IR ports. The experiment eventually yielded a p...

If you thought that the NSA wanted too much personal information, just wait a few months. The EFF is reporting that the FBI's new facial recognition database, containing data for almost a third of the US population, will be ready to launch this summer. Codenamed NGI, the system combines the bureau's 100 million-strong fingerprint database with palm prints, iris scans and mugshots. Naturally, this has alarmed privacy advocates, since it's not just felons whose images are added, but anyone who has supplied a photo ID for a government job or background check. According to the EFF's documents, the system will be capable of adding 55,000 images per day, and could have the facial data for anything up to 52 million people by next year. Let's just hope that no-one tells the Feds about Facebook, or we're all in serious trouble. SOURCE

Android, iOS, Windows Phone. Each of these mobile platforms had to start somewhere, and none were anywhere near perfect on the first try. Fortunately, each OS gets better with every iteration until, at some point, it all just clicks. Arguably, Windows Phone just came of age with its latest update, version 8.1. Even before today, Windows Phone only had a few big holes remaining and indeed, 8.1 appears to fill those gaps. In particular, the OS now has a fancy notification center in addition to those signature Live Tiles; the keyboard now allows for swipe gestures; and last but not least, it now has Cortana, a virtual assistant to take on Siri, Google Now and Samsung's S Voice. The 8.1 update is a fairly significant one, and I got the opportunity to take it for a spin ahead of the official developer preview's launch. It may not be perfect yet, but it's clear Windows Phone has finally grown up. KEEP READING / source

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn't happy that free speech rights thwarted his desires to block Twitter and silence corruption allegations, so he's switching to plan B: accuse Twitter of shady dealings. He's now promising to "go after" the social network for tax evasion, and has implied that other internet-based peers like Facebook and YouTube might be breaking local laws. We've reached out to Twitter for its response, but we wouldn't expect the company to take Erdogan's charge lightly. For now, it's difficult to tell whether or not the claims will amount to more than just talk. There isn't an official case against Twitter at this stage. Also, Erdogan's views don't always mesh with those of Turkey's judges -- he believes the Constitutional Court is conducting "interference in politics" by upholding freedom of expression. When the politician has had success in banning YouTube, though, we wouldn't be q...

BlackBerry CEO John Chen has long made it obvious that he wants to turn a profit by 2016, but it's now clear that nothing will stand in the way of that goal -- not even his company's smartphones. While devices are still part of the plan, Chen tells Bloomberg and Reuters that he wants to avoid depending on them for revenue, and may "not be in the handset business" if the hardware doesn't make cash. The exec is more eager to generate income from software, including enterprise offerings and an expansion of QNX's platform beyond cars and industrial gear. Chen doesn't think it will necessarily come down to axing BlackBerry's best-known products, though. He believes that crew in Waterloo can still make money on phones as long as it ships at least 10 million units per year, which is feasible if current sales figures hold steady. There's a glimmer of hope if you're a fan of BlackBerry's classic smartphone designs, then -- just don't get to...

NASA knows that conventional battery power won't cut it at a certain point, especially when the agency's vehicles travel into deep space. To that end, it's asking both public institutions and companies to submit proposals for battery alternatives. The initiative will tackle both low-level energy cell design, such as chemistry and packaging, as well as advanced devices that could outperform existing lithium cells. Ideally, NASA will get energy storage that provides more power without taking a hit to either longevity or safety. SOURCE

Before the Rio Carbon arrived to take on Apple's iPod juggernaut in 2004, there was Diamond Multimedia's first stab at the digital music market: the Rio PMP300, a portable music player released in 1998. Since it was one of the first portable MP3 players ever to be sold, Diamond ended up embroiled in a fight for the future of the format. The PMP300's ability to play digital music files downloaded from a computer led to a groundbreaking legal battle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA challenged the company in court, claiming that its use of digital music files was copyright infringement, but Diamond won out and cleared the way for a new wave of portable music players (PMPs) to hit the market. In the years that followed, Diamond Multimedia released over a dozen portable players. But it was 2004's sleek Rio Carbon that caught consumers' attention, a device praised by many reviewers for its superior audio quality. The timing of its c...

Yup my friends, basically blog's idea was introduce you in technology world and make it less complex or hard for us. Lately I don't made own reviews, I took some time to check nice stories for your informative pleasure (visits tells me that i'm doing good) But... what will occur if one day I end all? Gift domain? Sell blog? Meh, so many times I asked it but... that's why I write this, from my own hand and keyboard, 'cause this is what I love: technology, programming, taking all to a new whole level, exponentiate my capacities. That's all about, basically blog's soul: technology. Right now i'm at another city, 1 month ago. Things have been normal, sort of. Thanks to The Lord nothing have been missing from me, but unfortunately I'm not doing money (a couple of coins from AdSense program, but isn't quite enough), but we're doing best what we can, and really this is the only thing that really matter. The Lord will give me all I need, and late...

Si amigos, basicamente la idea del blog fue introducir a todos en el mundo de la tecnologia y hacer que esta no fuera tan "compleja" o "complicada" para todos. Ultimamente no hago reviews propios, ya que me tomo la molestia de elegir buenas noticias (que considero) para su placer informativo (bueno, las visitas me dicen que lo estoy haciendo bien) Pero, y si algun dia llegase a terminar todo? Regalar el dominio? Vender el blog? Nah, muchas veces me lo he preguntado pero... por algo senti el deseo de escribirles, desde mi misma mano y tecla, porque esto es lo que me apasiona: la tecnologia, la programacion, el llevar todo niveles superiores, exponenciar mi capacidad de analisis. De esto se trata todo, esto es basicamente el alma del blog: tecnologia. Actualmente me encuentro en otra ciudad, desde hace ya 1 mes. Las cosas han estado normales, pues dentro de lo que alguien podria definir de "normal". Gracias a Dios no me hace falta lo basico, desafortunad...

If you're an IT professional, gadget blogger or token geek in your circle of friends, chances are, you've been hounded relentlessly over the past couple of days about "this Heartbleed thing." "Do I need to update my antivirus?" "Can I login to my bank account now?" "Google already fixed it, right?" We've heard them all, but the answers aren't all that clear or simple. In an attempt to take the pressure off -- it is the weekend after all -- we've put together a primer that should answer all of those questions and a few more. Next time someone asks you about that "Heartbleed thing," just shoot them our direction. KEEP READING / Source

When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S5 and a trio of Gear smartwatches, the company made a big to-do about how it listens to its customers. We know, we know: Every company's supposed to be doing that. But remember, this is Samsung we're talking about. It dominates the Android market by such a wide margin that it makes rivals like LG and HTC look like quaint startups. Put it another way: Samsung could release a phone with no improvements, and it'd still sell millions. At least, that's how it used to be. The smartphone market has seen a downturn of late and even mighty Samsung has been affected. Sales are down, and the manufacturer must now make phones that give people what they actually want (shocker, we know). So what can we expect from a humbled Samsung? A durable phone that brings a toned-down TouchWiz UI, a better camera, longer battery life, improved performance, a fingerprint scanner and enhanced health tracking. I received an unlocked review unit from GSM Nation...

It appears that Nokia isn't coming to Microsoft's developer conference empty-handed. Though the acquisition is still pending, Nokia went ahead and brought in some new hardware anyway. This time, the phone maker has announced the Lumia 930, which is essentially the international version of the Lumia Icon. Which is to say, it features a 5-inch full HD display and a 20-megapixel PureView camera with a Zeiss lens. The camera is clearly the star of the show here: not only does it have optical image stabilization, but the phone also ships with a Creative Studio app that'll let you add Instagram-style filters to your snapshots. There's also a new feature called "Living Images" that can be weaved into Nokia's Storyteller application. Photos and videos are automatically sorted by time and location, and if you want to be all fancy, you can add music to the background when viewing the images. Other features include four high-performance digital microphones, dire...

The whole point of Windows 8 was to make Microsoft's aging OS easier to use on touchscreen devices. Mission accomplished, we'd say (more or less). But now the folks in Redmond have a new challenge afoot: Make Windows 8 equally easy to use on tablets and traditional PCs. The company's already made some progress -- last year's Windows 8.1 update was all about keyboard shortcuts, better multitasking and the return of the Start button (sort of). Now, with its latest update, Microsoft is going after mouse-and-keyboard users. In particular, you can pin Windows Store apps to the desktop Taskbar, and close out of a Metro app by pressing an "X" in the upper-right corner. Heck, you can even shut down without having to open the Charms Bar. Shocking, we know. It's all very exciting, and indeed, you can see for yourselves soon enough; the update will arrive as a Windows Update download on April 8th, which means most folks will simply install it automatically. In t...

At IDF Shenzhen today, Intel briefly announced the 14nm successor to its budget 22nm Bay Trail processors. Dubbed Braswell, this new SoC architecture is mainly aimed at the likes of affordable Chrome OS and Android devices. It will also complement the higher-end Broadwell announced last September (and pictured after the break), though there's no word on availability for these two 14nm, 64-bit lines -- last we heard was that Broadwell's production had been delayed, with shipment still on track for the second half of this year. Fanless Core i7 systems just can't come any sooner. SOURCE

It turns out that those rumors of Microsoft cutting Windows prices to spur adoption were true -- and then some. The company has announced that Windows will be free for hardware makers to use on phones, tablets with screens under nine inches and Internet of Things devices. Suffice it to say that this is a huge move for a tech giant whose operating system licensing is arguably its bread and butter. Microsoft is obviously willing to take a financial hit to compete against Android, Chrome OS and other freely available platforms. SOURCE

As a part of its Build 2014 announcements, Microsoft showed off an interesting twist on its classic Start Menu. Coming to Windows 8.1 in a future update, it has the look of the Start Menu Windows users have experienced for years, but adds the Live Tiles Microsoft has been pushing as a part of Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Terry Myerson made the announcement as part of an example of how universal Windows apps will be able to run in a window (and on Xbox), although users craving something familiar will probably just be happy to see their old Start Menu again. We didn't hear any more details on exactly when to expect the update, but you can follow along with our liveblog for all of the information as it happens. SOURCE