December 2, 2011

December 2, 2011

MIT professor, Jonathan How and three colleagues, created an algorithm that will possibly predict if an oncoming car will continue to drive past a red light in an intersection within seconds of the possible collision. The simulation was tested on 15,000 vehicles and it was reliant on the rate of deceleration of the vehicle as it approached the red light. This new algorithm is said to correctly predict the outcome 85 percent of the time.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/02/mit-created-algorithm-predicts-likelihood-of-running-red-lights/

November 23, 2011

November 23, 2011

In the University of Central Florida, researchers have found a way to create neuromuscular connectors between muscle and spinal cord cells with stem cells. The researcher that lead this break through was bioengineer James Hickman, and with the help of his team and Professor Emertius Herman Vandenburgh from Brown University this feat was accomplished. This breakthrough is said to help the development of human chips that will help patients suffering from diseases. It is also speculated that it will help research on Lou Gehrig’s disease and spinal cord injuries. Many other forms of medical research and development can come from this new discovery.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/23/researchers-create-spinal-cord-connectors-from-human-stem-cells/

November 18, 2011

November 18, 2011

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has taken high resolution topographic map pictures of the moon. This new picture is said to give better understanding of the moon. It is said that the pictures will also how the crust of the moon was formed and allow future space landings.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/nasa-creates-high-res-moon-map-taunts-you-about-your-terrestria/


OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-Tracking Apparatus) collaboration in Italy said to recorded neutrinos travelling faster than the speed of light. Neutrinos are sent from CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland and travels to Gran Sasso Mountain in Italy. The arrival time for the neutrinos were 60 nanoseconds earlier than the calculated time at light speed. On November 6, 2011 there were multiple tests done with the same result.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/faster-than-light-neutrinos-are-back-in-the-game/

November 11, 2011

November 11, 2011

Sony CEO is trying to compete with Steve Jobs by launching their new laptops, PCs , phones , tablets, and TVs. Although Apple is offers the iPad, Itouch, iPhone, Apple TV , and Mac, Sony is considered the top of the line brand for electronics. It was also reported that Google is trying to launch Google TV that will be supported by Sony. If Google and Sony work together, both of there power house companies will surpass their competition.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/11/sonys-ceo-is-ready-to-launch-a-four-screen-platform-that-can-c/

November 7, 2011

November 7, 2011
A Japanese company called Cyberdyne has created a robot suit that has a 60g anti radiation jacket that will reduce radiation. The purpose of this was caused by the tsunami that hit Japan in Marth 11, 2011. The tsunami hit Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeast Japan causing some radiation leaks. This was a very serious threat for many Japanese citizens and islands close to Japan. This new suit was also given to 113 hospitals, welfare and other facilities to prevent the exposure of radiation. This new design will really help Japan recover from the serious natural disaster that occurred in March.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/cyberdyne-turns-its-hal-exoskeleton-into-an-anti-radiation-suit/

November 2. 2011

November 2. 2011

Pepsi sponsored a project titled “Sound of Football” that allows visually impaired players actually play a small sided soccer game against professional players with their ears. There were 16 cameras covering the field which allows the computer to register each player and the position of the ball. The information is converted on an iPhone that is attached to each player that converts the positions into sounds that provide a surround sound experience that allows the players to play soccer without their eyes. Both teams were blindfolded and the experiment was a success. The results were impressive and the researchers believe that this new technology can be implemented in other activities for the visually impaired.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/pepsis-sound-of-football-project-lets-visually-impaired-playe/

October 27, 2011

October 27, 2011

During the past months, Hewlett Packard was fired its CEO and hired Meg Whitman. Whitman was the former CEO of Ebay and currently restructuring HP’s departments. HP was leaning towards selling their PC division and focus strictly on software development. There is current speculation that HP will continue to manufacture PC’s but the new concept of cloud computing is around the corner. HP was the number 1 manufacturer of personal computer in 2010 with a total of $40.7 billion in revenue.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/27/hp-will-keep-pc-division-hope-alive/

October 18, 2011

October 18, 2011

Apple Q4 does not meet the expected revenue.  Apple recorded $28.27 billon in revencue and took a $6.62 billion net profit. Apple also recorded 17.97 million iPhones were sold in Q4 , 11.12 million iPads this year, 4.86 Macs and 6.62 million iPods. There has been a substantial increase in each product expect the iPods which went down 27 percent. On the other hand, the iPad was recorded to have a 166 percent increase in sales from last year. As of October 18, 2011 Apple’s cash stands at $84 billion.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/apple-q4-earnings-fall-short-of-expectations-28-3-billion-in-r/

October 12, 2011

October 12, 2011


AMD is coming out with a new processor that uses eight cores and it will compete against Intel’s core i5 chipset that has been out performing AMD’s current chipsets. With the ability to overclock the cores with a higher voltage and frequency will provide a greater performance. AMD is also pricing the new processor FX- 8150 at $245. There have been benchmarks that tested the speed and efficiency of the new processor and the data was compared to Intel's core i5 and core i7. Impressively, the FX-8150 was able to surpass the core i5 and equal and even beat the core i7. Intel’s core i7 chipset model is $55 more than the FX-8150 giving a price advantage towards AMD

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/12/amd-fx-processor-brings-eight-cores-to-battle-we-go-eyes-on-vi/

AMR corporation Bankrupt

After reading After American Airlines Bankruptcy, Your Frequent Flyer Miles May Be Worth Less article from Frobes.com, I was informed about customers becoming worried about losing their frequent flyer miles. AMR corporation filed for Chapter 11 on November 28, 2011 causing several worries towards the corporation. This article is focused on customers receiving their frequent flyer miles even though the corporation is declared bankrupt. In class we covered customer satisfaction, prestige, and contingency planning.

AMR Corporation sent out an email to all the customers that had frequent flyer miles and assured every customer that they will receive the full benefit. As a corporation, it would have been an outrage towards the customers if their flyer miles were all of a sudden erased. AMR is taking a lose in profit by continuing to allow flyer miles towards their customers but it is totally worth every penny. The reason for their decision is based on satisfying the customer and in this case the ability to use their accumulated flyer miles.

AMR Corporation owns American Airlines and American Eagle. Both of these airlines have a reputation to being one of the best airlines. Given the prestige, credit card companies offer their customers flyer miles towards AMR Corporation if the customer uses their credit card to buy expenses. Flyer miles are accumulated by every certain amount of money a credit card customer uses.

AMR Corporation had a contingency plan if they were ever to go into bankruptcy and for that reason, AMR Corporation is still able to accept flyer miles to their clients. Their profits are reduced but their customers are hopefully loyal. In class we discussed the importance of creating a contingency plan for multiple scenarios and AMR looks to have a strong contingency plan by covering their customers frequent flyer miles.

AMR Corportation is on its way toward recovery and trying to retain their customers. Their customer satisfaction , prestige and contingency planning will help them bounce back. Time can only tell whether they are fully able to recover their loses.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2011/12/02/after-american-airlines-bankruptcy-your-frequent-flyer-miles-may-be-worth-less/

HP CEO is Fired as of Sep 22, 2011

CEO Leo Apotheker was recently fired from Hewlett-Packard. His business strategies brought down HP's stock by forty percent in the past eleven months. Leo received over 13 million dollar golden parachute for his time as CEO. I find it unethical that Leo deserves 13 million dollars worth of benefits since the company is doing so poorly. HP even helped him relocate himself in Europe. His tablets that were suppose to give the company profits and compete against the Ipad, ended up as a lose. HP hired Meg Whiteman, who was form CEO of eBay, to take command. Hopefully, HP will recover from the hard lose and continue competing as a leading manufacturer of computers and software.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/recently-fired-hp-ceo-departs-13m-14636978

Solyndra

Last week, Solyndra a solar power manufacturing company was declared bankrupt. Solyndra is located in Fremont, California and manufactures solar panels that use little amounts of refined silicon. This was a cause for Solyndra's downfall because refined silicon was very expensive and Solyndra innovated a new solar panel that requires little amount of silicion. The downside was this new solar panel was very expensive and unfortunately refined silicon is a lot cheaper than before and other manufacturing companies that continue to use refined silicon can offer similar solar panels at much cheaper prices. Solyndra also relied on giving customers cheap installation rates because their new solar panels were suppose to offer easy installation compared to other competitors. Yet again, the other manufacturing companies where able to almost equal Solyndra's ""affordable installation rates". This company in particular was suppose to be an ever lasting company that would help the United States continue to move forward in technology.

Bin Hammam is officially accused of breaking the FIFA ethics committee policy.

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/bodies/news/newsid=1511253/index.html

Intro to FIFA

http://www.fifa.com/

The link above is FIFA's website on the latest news in soccer. FIFA  stands for International Federation of Association Football and it is located in Zurich, Switzerland. They are in charge of the World Cup and all the leagues that are set up in different Continents. I watch and play soccer still to this day and I find it to be a stress reliever. Its a great sport that can be practiced with a team, or by yourself. Like any sport is requires strategy and creativity. I will be covering recent news coming from FIFA every week.