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Galaxy shocker: laws of physics may vary throughout the universe
Oh, brother. Just when you thought you had everything figured out, along comes a team of astrophysicists based in Australia and England to turn your world upside-down. As the story goes, a new "report describes how one of the supposed fundamental constants of nature appears not to be constant after all," with the fine-structure constant actually varying throughout testing. The crew measured the number, dubbed "alpha," in about 300 faraway galaxies, and they consistently found that it measured differently than on Earth. Professor John Webb from the University of New South Wales even stated that it "seemed to vary continuously along a preferred axis through the universe," which effectively means we're back to square one on figuring just about everything out. Burn the books, kids.
Statistics shocker: nine million Brits say they've never been online, seven million claim they don't know what a 'boffin' is
Nine million British citizens -- many of them senior citizens -- have never been online, according to a recent study conducted by the Office for National Statistics in London. Several factors increase the likelihood that one doesn't regularly log on to the web, they say, including a lack of education, low income, widowhood, and advanced age. While 38 million British citizens now regularly use the internet, the rest -- nearly 19 percent -- remain offline, missing out on the ability to purchase tons of awesome stuff at "discounted" prices, check out their class reunions on Facebook, flame on Engadget, and Tweet suggestive pics at Chace Crawford. Just kidding: the internet is a wonderland and we can't wait to get those 'silver surfers' in on the action.
Drug vending machines start trial in UK, allow awkward videophone conversations with your pharmacist
You've got to imagine the Japanese are green with envy right now, as the BBC report not one, but two different drug vending machines are being tested out under Her Majesty's watchful eye. The first of these experiments is run by supermarket chain Sainsbury's, which has installed a pair of drug dispenser machines in its stores. They identify users by their fingerprint or a unique number, demand PIN verification too, and then finally accept your prescription. Then -- and this is the really silly part -- a pharmacist comes along, picks up your prescription, fills it out, and deposits it in the machine for you to pick up. So it's impersonal and unnecessarily convoluted, great. PharmaTrust seems to have a slightly better idea with its videophone-equipped, ATM-style robo-vendor: it's intended to allow pharmacists to approve prescriptions off-site and out of usual working hours by letting them speak to you via videophone. It could in fact be a big benefit in more remote areas, depending on how patients take to it -- we'll know more when the trial starts up in participating hospitals this winter.
HomeSun to install gratis solar panels on UK roofs, hope for reimbursement
As the story goes, the UK government is helping to subsidize the installation of solar panels on homes around the country, and HomeSun is hoping to make a name for itself by providing a bit of encouragement for those on the fence. Reportedly, the outfit will be providing and installing 2.5 kWh to 4 kWh systems -- which typically range between £11,000 and £15,000 -- for precisely nothing on abodes with "optimally sited and sized roofs." Post-install, HomeSun will receive government funds over 25 years, and at any point, customers can buy the system off on a straightline depreciation basis and start receiving the feed-in tariff themselves. Better still, those who don't meet the "free" qualifications can still get in on the goodness for a one-time fee of £500 and a £5/month maintenance charge. We'd suggest you apply quick, though -- the company will only be installing 100,000 systems over the next three years.
Scientists formalize perfect handshake; world peace on track for 2012
PH = (e² + ve²)(d²) + (cg + dr)² + π{(4< s >2)(4< p >2)}² + (vi + t + te)² + {(4< c >2)(4< du >2)}² Where (e) is eye contact (1=none; 5=direct) 5; (ve) is verbal greeting (1=totally inappropriate; 5=totally appropriate) 5; (d) is Duchenne smile - smiling in eyes and mouth, plus symmetry on both sides of face, and slower offset (1=totally non-Duchenne smile (false smile); 5=totally Duchenne) 5; (cg) completeness of grip (1=very incomplete; 5=full) 5; (dr) is dryness of hand (1=damp; 5=dry) 4; (s) is strength (1= weak; 5=strong) 3; (p) is position of hand (1=back towards own body; 5=other person's bodily zone) 3; (vi) is vigour (1=too low/too high; 5=mid) 3; (t) is temperature of hands (1=too cold/too hot; 5=mid) 3; (te) is texture of hands (5=mid; 1=too rough/too smooth) 3; (c) is control (1=low; 5=high) 3; (du) is duration (1= brief; 5=long) 3. It's that easy! Perhaps just as interesting is the fact that this formula was arrived at by University of Manchester scientists hired by Chevrolet "as part of a handshake training guide for its staff to prepare them ahead of the launch of the new 5 Year Promise offer, which aims to offer peace of mind and reassurance to its customers." Now excuse us while we go practice with our best friend for the rest of our useful lives. [Image courtesy of Aidan_Jones]
Facebook's 'Panic Button' gives Britons a way out of unsavory conversations
Caving to pressures from just about everyone after a 17-year old gal was lured to her death by a 33-year old male posing as someone far younger on Facebook, the famed social networking site has just enabled a new "Panic Button" to be installed for those logging in from across the pond. The app, which is an opt-in service, was created by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center, and Facebook is now recommending that users under the age of 18 install it. If pressed, users will be put in contact with the aforementioned organization in order to report abuse, and potential predators will hopefully be turned off by notifications that the user they're about to initiate a conversation with is currently using ClickCEOP. Not exactly the type of panic remover found in H2G2, but it's certainly a lovely start.
Little Spiderman uses vacuum cleaners to climb buildings, win the hearts of the ladies
The enterprising youngster you see above had a dream. A dream to become like his superhero, Spiderman, who isn't real. Nobody really believed him or thought his ideas about how to achieve his goals were very good, but, as you can see from the photo, he's got the last laugh. Hibiki Kono, using two cheap, 1,400 watt vacuum cleaners he bought at a grocery store to begin scaling walls of local buildings, and impressing all of his new friends. His mother's not that into him doing it in the house -- she's afraid he'll destroy the walls and ceiling -- but as you can see from the video below, the sight is pretty impressive.
Amputee cat gets bionic back legs and a new attitude
When Oscar the cat got both of his back legs severed by a harvester, his prognosis was undoubtedly grim. Luckily for him, he was referred to a veterinarian, Noel Fitzpatrick, who had some pretty interesting ideas of his own. Dr. Fitzpatrick has successfully given the cat two back prosthetic legs, but they're completely unlike any prosthetic we've ever seen. Oscar's been given Itaps (intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics) which were developed at University College London. Itaps are custom made pegs which allow the bone and skin to grow to them, meaning that the "prosthetic" actually becomes part of the appendage itself. The surgery has been in testing for humans since 2005, and this one was the first performed on an animal. Hit up the BBC source link to check out a video of the kitty getting mobile.
UK govt cancels plans for video game tax relief
TIGA's years-long campaign to bring tax relief to the UK video game industry has come to a rather disappointing conclusion. Chancellor George Osbourne (pictured above) revealed the nation's budget plans earlier today during a speech at Westminster, announcing that "planned tax relief for the video games industry will be canceled." According to TIGA CEO Richard Wilson, this surprising omission flies in the face of "pre-election pledges made by the Conservative Party and by the Liberal Democrats to support and introduce Games Tax Relief." GamesIndustry.biz points out that Osbourne's proposed budget still benefits smaller, start-up developers in select parts of England, who will receive exemptions for £5,000 (about $7,400) of National Insurance contributions for each of their first 10 new hires; though this doesn't come close to the sweeping tax reform promised to the UK games industry just a little over a month ago. [Image credit: Auto Express]
Orange begins HD Voice trial in Southern England, leaves out Buckingham Palace
Remember the good news that Orange brought to the UK on our alcohol-fueled New Year's Eve? We thought so. Anyway, it looks like said fruit company's still on course to "a new era for UK mobile communications" as it launches HD Voice trial in England today. Lucky participants across Bristol, Reading and Southampton will benefit from "crystal clear" voice calls, courtesy of the wider speech bandwidth -- 50–7000 Hz as opposed to the current 300–3400 Hz. Sadly, Orange isn't keen on dishing out deets about the special hardware, but our friends over at What Mobile had the chance to play with a modified Nokia X6 from yesterday's demo -- "It was like listening to AM radio and then switching over to listen to a CD." If all goes well, we'll meet the rest of the gang when HD Voice is rolled out "before the end of the summer." Press release after the break.
ITV HD fails to show England's first World Cup 2010 goal to the home fans (video)
While ESPN's World Cup presentation has improved by leaps and bounds over the 2006 effort, UK watchers got a nasty surprise on the high definition feed of ITV during yesterday's highly anticipated United States / England match. At the exact moment England scored its first goal, ITV HD inexplicably switched to a commercial (archived on YouTube after the break) ruining the first great moment of the tournament for many fans. Apparently this isn't new for ITV, which had a similar mistake last year when it made an automated switch to commercial just in time to miss the winning goal in the FA Cup. In this case, what's done is done and the network has already apologized for the "transmission error" (sounds familiar) let us know in the comments -- especially those outside the US -- how your network of choice is handling the beautiful game.
London to become one giant WiFi hotspot by 2012, because Boris says so
Look at this man. Just look at him. Isn't it obvious that Boris Johnson gets what Boris Johnson wants? In case you've been misinformed about the power this man's wishes hold, you should know that he's well on his way to establishing the first muni-fi project to actually work -- or so he hopes. By and large, every attempt to sprinkle WiFi onto entire US cities has fallen short in one way or another, but London has a motivator that no American borough ever did: the 2012 Olympics. Boris' plan is to blanket all of London in WiFi prior to the opening ceremony, with "every lamppost and every bus stop" having a router or repeater in it. The scheme is part of a larger plan to make London the "technology capital of the world," but unfortunately, your hopes of connecting for free may be dashed. According to the London Evening Standard, "no details of pricing have been given," and we get the impression that those in charge of the rollout would've jumped at the chance to gloat about its free-ness if that were indeed the case. But then again, who are we to question the might of London's Mayor?
Sky+HD issues limited edition 1TB set-top boxes for World Cup watching
Sky just can't quit with the limited edition set-top boxes, issuing its latest edition in honor of the 2010 World Cup. these Sky+HD boxes feature a 1TB hard drive inside and prints from fashion designer Wayne Hemingway, illustrator Gerald Scarfe and actor Phil Daniels on the outside. The pricetag is £249, plus installation fee, but we guess the real question is you can afford not to have a box celebrating 1966 when the games kick off June 11. Think about it. %Gallery-93210%
iPad international availability set for May 28
already had to wait quite a bit longer than they expected, as US demand forced Apple to push back the worldwide product launch date. Pricing details were not included in the announcement. were included in the individual country releases, but not in the domestic release. Canadian pricing is $50 more than US pricing (in CAD). UK pricing with VAT: £429 for 16GB, £499 for 32GB, £599 for 64GB for Wi-Fi models; £529 for 16GB, £599 for 32GB and £699 for 64GB for Wi-Fi + 3G models. Australian pricing, all including GST: AUS$629 for 16GB, AUS$759 for 32GB, AUS$879 for 64GB for Wi-Fi models; AUS$799 for 16GB, AUS$928 for 32GB and AUS$1049 for 64GB for Wi-Fi + 3G. The second round of iPad international distribution (including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore) is on track for July.
Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video)
Ah, there it is, UK's first-ever Best Buy store, officially born at 7am local time yesterday. Naturally, we had to be there to witness such magical moment for Britain's consumer tech market -- the Brits had longed for an injection of energy and professionalism to the seemingly slacking chain stores. Many would agree that DSGi's two main brands -- Currys and PC World -- are on the naughty list, even after their recent relaunch. From what we saw today, it looks like Best Buy's already heading in the right direction. Let's start with the front-line employees. Most of these Blueshirts provided genuine technical answers rather than bluffing their way out, plus we were given product recommendations with no desperate sales pitch as commonly seen in other stores. When we revealed our identity to one of the sales reps, he confirmed that they were trained to not force random products onto customers -- quite the opposite culture to his old days at DSGi (assuming he was telling the truth). We sure did appreciate this new-found shopping freedom in gadget stores, but did the other customers feel the same way? Find out what we heard after the break.%Gallery-92099%
Screen Grabs: Blackberry Storm saves the world in new Doctor Who
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. While the US was busy delivering a certain tablet product yesterday, British sci-fi fans sat comfortably at home for a brand new Doctor Who series. We won't go into too much detail here, but the eleventh Doctor -- played by the charming Matt Smith -- was spotted writing a computer virus and sending pictures on a BBC-debranded Blackberry Storm, minutes before the aliens were to incinerate Planet Earth. Perhaps the freshly-regenerated Time Lord's a fan of the virtual keyboard? As a bonus, the Doctor also borrowed a disguised 15-inch Acer Aspire laptop for some virtual face time with chief brainiacs around the world, and then promptly reminded the owner to "delete your internet history" in reference to, well, something more disturbing that he found on the computer. And who are we to question the orders of a time traveler? Update: Turns out the new Lead Writer Steven Moffat learned of his job offer on a Blackberry back in June 2008. Too bad the Storm wasn't due out for another five months, but a quick trip through the time vortex could turn this into an amusing coincidence.%Gallery-89694%
CubeSail parachute to drag old satellites from orbit, keep atmospheric roads clear
It's not something laypeople think about very often (space debris, for those wondering), but it's clearly on the minds of boffins at the University of Surrey. Over the years, the amount of defunct equipment hovering around beyond our view has increased significantly, with some reports suggesting that over 5,500 tonnes of exhausted kit is currently hanging around somewhere up there as a result of "abandoning spacecraft." In order to prevent the problem from growing (and to possibly reverse some of the damage), the CubeSail has been created. Put simply (or as simply as possible), this here parachute could be remotely deployed once a satellite had accomplished what it set out to do, essentially dragging it back through a fiery re-entry that it would never survive and clearing out the orbital pathway that it was using. We're told that it'll be ready for deployment in late 2011, but for now you can check out an all-too-brief demonstration vid just beyond the break.
Three for 3D: ESPN 3D adds Home Run Derby, Sky 3D launches 4/3, AcTVila makes the jump this summer
Three continents, three more milestone announcements for 3D. First up is Sky TV, which, with or without 15,000 or so flat screens from LG, is officially launching its Sky 3D channel around the Man. U/Chelsea game on April 3. Already have a 3DTV and Sky's "top channels and HD pack?" Call the company with details for activation, while everyone else checks to see if their local pub is among the thousand plus already signed up to receive the six live 3D matches slated for this season (plus the Coca Cola league playoff finals) and demo reel for all non-footy hours of the day. Bringing the focus back home, ESPN 3D has scheduled the first event it will produce and air itself, the MLB Home Run Derby on July 12, a day after launching with the SA/Mexico World Cup game. Other events officially on deck (the plan for the first year is still about 85) include several college basketball tournaments and the ACC Championship football game in December. Last but not least is Japan, already home to at least one 3D network, which will soon have access to even more over the cross-manufacturer AcTVila video on-demand service. Clearly, the only logical thing to do is to keep that "3D will never take off" comment macro keyed up, it will be getting a lot of use over the next few months.
BAFTA announces 2010 Video Games Awards winners, goes batty for Batman
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out its 2010 Video Games Awards in London this evening, but it was a resident of Gotham City who came away the big winner. Although Uncharted 2 bagged yet more trophies -- Best Action Game, Best Use of Audio, Best Story and Best Original Score -- Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum came away as the Academy's choice for Best Game of 2009. Other notable winners include Flower (Artistic Achievement), LittleBigPlanet PSP (Best Handheld Game) and Wii Sports Resort (Best Family Game). You can see the full list of winners by category after the break. Congrats, Bats!
UK Folding Plug takes home design award, emerges in USB-infused flavor
It's far and away one of the most genius concepts we've seen in the past year, and we couldn't possibly be happier for one Min-Kyu Choi. Said designer, who recently graduated from the Royal College of Art, was recently showered with laud after the above-pictured Folding Plug nabbed the gold in the Brit Insurance Design contest. Unfortunately, we're still no closer to understanding when some moneyed manufacturer will pick this up and start producing it, but hopefully this prize will reinforce its awesomeness and catch someone's eye. In related news, we're also seeing for the first time a Folding Plug version with USB ports on the exterior, which would be just about perfect for UK-based gadget junkies. Here's hoping this dream doesn't die just before reaching the conveyor belt, yeah?
