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Researchers have built a 1,000-watt 'super laser'
A team of British and Czech researchers have announced that they've constructed and fired a 1000-watt "high peak power laser". It's dubbed the "Bivoj", after a Herculean-like Czech mythical hero. This laser is reportedly ten times more powerful as any other of its kind and should qualify as a new world record holder, according to Martin Divoky a physicist working at HiLASE, the Czech state-owned research facility where the laser was developed. Britain's Central Laser Facility also contributed to the research.
Twitter announces it's now available in three more languages: Greek, Czech and Basque
Early last year, Twitter kicked off its Translation Center efforts in hopes of bringing support for more languages to the site with help of amicable volunteers from all over the globe. Naturally, this has helped the renowned Blue Bird network immensely during its global gibberish quest, having added compatibility with right-to-left idioms since the program started and, more recently, Ukranian and Catalan. To make things even better, today Twitter's announced it's now available in a few more, including Basque, Czech and Greek -- which means that a simple trip to account settings can now translate your current 140-character experience into one of the aforementioned languages if you so choose. Twitter's Translation Center is open to anyone willing to lend a hand, so those interested in helping the cause can pay the more coverage link a visit to learn how to get involved.
World's largest indoor photograph shows off fancy old Czech library
If you think Google's seven-gigapixel renderings of world famous art museums are impressive, get a load of this: a guy named Jeffrey Martin just produced a record breaking panoramic photo of a reading room in Prague's Strahov monastery library, and it's got the internet giant's Art Project beat by more than 30,000 megapixels. Not that Google's pictures are anything to scoff at, but the 40-gigapixel, 360 degree, 283GB image is something of a digital masterwork. According to Wired, the photograph, taken in February on a GigaPanBot-mounted Canon 550D, is comprised of 2,947 unique images that took a computer program more than four days to stitch together. If you're a fan of 18th century European literature, Franz Anton Maulbertsch's trompe l'oeil paintings, or just ridiculously detailed digital photography, you can peep the image in its entirety at the source link.
Czech Republic and Slovakia hot for prepaid satellite service
Now, here's a concept: prepaid DTH satellite service. In fact, it's a reality in Czech Republic and Slovakia, and evidently locals are all about it. Reportedly, there is a grand total of over half a million active card customers between the two nations, making it the "leading satellite platform in the Czech Republic and second largest in Slovakia." Tough to say if this prepaid gig would even work elsewhere, but you can certainly color us (read: the "sick of contracts" crowd) intrigued.
Nokia's S40-based 7100s gets outed
Hard to say if we North Americans will ever see this one (without the kind assistance of an importer), but Nokia's slip-slidin' 7100s has surfaced overseas. The S40-based handset will reportedly boast a QVGA display, 1.3-megapixel camera, built-in FM radio, multimedia player and a microSD card slot. Additionally, you'll find a complete dearth of 3G support, tri-band GSM connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0, Opera Mini pre-loaded and a microUSB connector. Look for it to ship somewhere in Europe sometime before the next decade for around 5,000 crowns ($277).
iPhone 3G rolling worldwide, Russia coming soon
Thanks to the magic of time zones, the iPhone 3G is already on its worldwide march across 21 countries. Tipster Lawrz let us know that the handset is on sale in the Philippines from Globe Telecom, after a sold-out party that started at 10 p.m. local time counting down to midnight August 22. It's already Friday in India, and midnight is just now crossing Europe, as of this writing. Also, tipster Efthymios tells us that Vodafone Hellas is distributing unlocked iPhone 3Gs, as is the law there. 8GB models are €499 and 16GB models are €569. Contracts plans for the handsets have not been announced, but should be available in the next few hours. (Update: and here they are.) However, Efthymios notes that Greek character input is not yet available for the iPhone, with many people having to resort using "Greeklish" instead: Greek words typed with English characters. Reuters notes today that Russia will also be getting the iPhone 3G in October. Apple struck a deal with the country's largest mobile provider, MTS, which has nearly 84 million subscribers. Thanks, Lawrz and Efthymios! [MTS details via Macworld]
CS Link to add HD programming in Czech Republic next year
Heads-up, Czech Republic. Your nation could be seeing high-def programming as early as next year. At least, that's the word from Media Vision head Martin Janku. In a recent interview with Parabola, the bigwig noted that negotiations to get HD services up and running on CS Link were ongoing, and that current estimates pegged the initial launch sometime in 2009. Furthermore, he also suggested that an internet-delivered channel was in the works, and there's also a push to increase the number of (SD, presumably) channels overall. We like the sound of that.[Via Broadband TV News]
August 22: Big day for iPhone abroad
Mark your calendars for August 22, when many countries will start offering the iPhone 3G for sale. Here's a list of the countries that are expecting launches that Friday (and their associated carriers, in parentheses): Argentina (America Movil) Chile (Claro/America Movil, Movistar/Telefonica) Colombia (America Movil) Czech Republic (Telefonica O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone) Thanks, Luke and Tom! Ecuador (Porta/America Movil, Movistar/Telefonica) Thanks, Andy! El Salvador (America Movil) Estonia (TeliaSonera, EMT) Guatemala (America Movil) Greece (Vodafone Hellas) Honduras (America Movil) Hungary (T-Mobile) India (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone) Latvia (TeliaSonera) Lithuania (TeliaSonera) Paraguay (America Movil) Peru (Claro/America Movil, Movistar/Telefonica) Philippines (Globe Telecom) Poland (Orange, Era) Romania (Orange) Slovakia (T-Mobile, Orange) Thanks, Hannah and Bulu! Uruguay (America Movil) Apple said last month that 20 countries would be getting iPhone 3G on the 22nd. Singapore is also rumored to be releasing the iPhone 3G that day, but SingTel hasn't confirmed their participation yet. In other news, Virgin Mobile is now offering iPhone 3G service in Australia. This addition gives the country four providers to choose from: Vodafone, Optus, and Telstra are the other three. Sadly -- according to this article, they're already out of stock. [Compiled with help from setteB.it, VentureBeat and AppleInsider.]
GPS leads driver into tight spot, stays wedged for three days
Every few months, we happen upon yet another story involving a motorist who simply believes that their GPS system would never, ever lead them astray. This go 'round, a Czech lorry driver continued down an incredibly narrow lane at the request of his sat nav, and even though his ginormous camion was clearly too large to make it around the 90-degree turn, he threw common sense to the wind and continued onward. Needless to say, his ride ended up wedged so tightly he couldn't reverse his way out, so he decided to set up shop for three whole days rather than calling for "an expensive weekend rescue." Interestingly enough, the fellow managed to acquire food after befriending a couple that lived nearby, and while we're sure he uttered Michael Scott's words in a different tongue, we've little doubt that "the machine knows!" was heard by nearby wildlife shortly before this situation turned sour.
Zenum's Organum MP3/MP4 Player floated into the ether
We first got wind of the Swiss outfit Zenum back in September when they announced their handsome but vaporous Opus Operis Pocket PC Phone Edition device. So we'll go ahead and tell you about their new Organum MP3/MP4 Player but you'll have to take the "end 2007" delivery date with a big dose of salt. The new DAP heavily tagged as "under development" throws down support for MP3, ASF, WMA, WAV, JPG, and BMP files and features a 1.8-inch, 128 x 160 pixel display, built-in microphone, and 2GB of storage. No doubt, she's one fine looker but Zenum will have to offer something better than just attractive industrial design in a market saturated with thin flash players. Perhaps that silver band is the new special sauce of navigators? Nah, probably not.[Via Unwired View, thanks Staska]
Sony Ericsson W42S to become W880 for T-Mobile?
Despite an unusually heavy flow of scoops recently, Sony Ericsson may yet (involuntarily) have at least one more rumor / surprise up its sleeves before the year's out. Remember that hot lil' W42S announced for KDDI's au network earlier this year? You know, the one with the trick knurled metal navigation knob on its bottom? Well, MobilMania noticed that the phone has popped up recently on T-Mobile's Czech site, bearing the "W880" label. No phone bearing a W880 designation has been officially announced by Sony Ericsson, meaning T-Mobile appears to have let the cat out of the bag just a little early (thanks, folks!). For the record, KDDI au is a CDMA network, meaning that the W880 would've had to undergo a metamorphosis into a GSM piece; but hey, as long as it's quad-band, we're just fine with that.[Via GSMArena, thanks Maximus]
