Public lecture: A new way of looking at the sky

ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics director Professor Bryan Gaensler will explain some of the amazing discoveries we are making about the Universe.
Date: Tuesday 18 September 2012
Time: 6:45pm for 7pm start. Lecture: 7pm to 8pm
Venue: Tim Winton Lecture Theatre, Building 213, Bentley campus
RSVP: This event is free but seats are limited, so please RSVP by
14 September to curtinspeakerpublic.eventbrite.com.au. If you have any special requirements to enable you to attend this event please advise prior to the event. For more, see the Disability at Curtin website.

About the lecture

Ever since Galileo first turned a telescope to the sky, the push has been to build telescopes that reveal ever more detail. But despite all the many discoveries astronomers have made over the centuries, there are still fundamental unsolved problems about the Cosmos.

• How has the universe evolved from the Big Bang to the present day?
• What is the extreme physics that drives the sudden changes we see in the night sky?
• What are the dark energy and dark matter that make up 95 per cent of the Universe?

Professor Gaensler will describe the exciting technology that is taking shape across Australia, and will explain the amazing discoveries that we are making about the Universe through this bold new approach.

About the speaker

Professor Bryan Gaensler is an award-winning astronomer and author, internationally recognised for his groundbreaking work on dying stars, interstellar magnets and cosmic explosions. A former Young Australian of the Year, NASA Hubble Fellow and Harvard professor, Professor Gaensler is now an Australian Laureate Fellow at The University of Sydney, and Director of the Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics. His popular astronomy book Extreme Cosmos was published worldwide in July 2012, and is now being translated into nine other languages

Information by : CURTIN UNIVERISTY

IPHONE 5 needs to dazzle as market gets crowded

SAN FRANCISCO: The new iPhone 5 has to be more than just another smartphone as it carries the weight of Apple Inc's future on its slim frame.
Five years after the first iPhone upended the mobile industry, analysts say Apple is looking increasingly defensive as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other rivals have been first to market with phones that sport bigger screens or run on faster wireless networks.
Apple will try to close that gap on Wednesday with the unveiling of the newest iPhone, which is widely expected to offer 4G wireless technology for the first time, and a 4in display, up from the current 3.5in.
But it remains to be seen if chief executive Tim Cook has any surprises up his sleeve, and if he will show off any technological breakthroughs that can put the iPhone 5 head and shoulders above the competition.
"They have been in the crosshairs of a lot of companies for a long, long time," Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said.
"They were the upstarts before," he added. "Now they are more in a defensive role."
Apple shares typically rally ahead of, and sell off after, a major product launch. They have gained 15%in the past six weeks to touch an all-time high on Monday.
Apple has grappled with competitive pressure since the first iPhone in 2007, though its rivals have changed as former market leaders such as Canada's Research in Motion or Finland's Nokia struggle, and as Asian powerhouse Samsung has come to the fore.
While no one company has yet been able to match Apple's seamless integration of hardware and software, Google Inc's Android has become the most-used mobile operating system in the world, and Samsung has the lead in device sales.
Wednesday's iPhone 5 launch also comes days after Nokia unwrapped its first phone to run the latest Microsoft Windows software, intended to spearhead a new family of devices.
"It is getting tougher to expand the market share," Gartner Research analyst Carolina Milanesi said.
The iPhone contributes half of Apple's revenue and the majority of its profit, so Cook needs to dazzle both Wall Street and consumers. He is praised for having sustained Apple's breakneck pace of growth since taking over last year, but the jury is still out on whether he has the innovation and marketing genius of the late Steve Jobs in the long run, analysts said.
Weekly options are implying about a 3% move for shares up or down between Monday and the close of trading Friday, a marginal fluctuation, said TD Ameritrade chief strategist J.J. Kinahan.
Even though few tech experts expect the new iPhone to mark a sea change in smartphone hardware technology, Wall Street analysts are still expecting Apple to sell 10 million to 12 million phones in September alone.
Apple's world
Apple's selling proposition against Android has long been a combination of a sleek hardware design, smooth integration of content between various Apple devices, and larger ecosystem of applications, music, games and other media that are not available or transferable to rival devices.
While Android is open and has a free-for-all approach, Apple's closed system ensures consistency and drives consumer loyalty, which in turn provides incentive to all-important developers to continue to invest in the platform.
But some developers say it's difficult for new apps to stand out among the half-million or so applications in Apple's store vying for attention. Others say they are also eyeing with great interest the emergence of Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire, an attractive option because of its iPhone-like ease of payment.
"The biggest single event is when there is a new iPhone," said Ben Liu, chief operating officer of mobile gamemaker Pocket Gems, which owns popular iPhone games like Tap Zoo. Developing for Apple's platform is attractive because of the "stickiness" and "interoperability between all of Apple's devices," he added.
Apple telegraphed many of the software changes to expect in iPhone 5 when it debuted iOS 6, its latest mobile operating system, in June.
The new iPhone will improve on the search capabilities of its Siri voice assistant and will use Apple's own mobile mapping service instead of Google's software. Other additions include turn-by-turn voice directions for navigation, and a new in-house app called Passbook that organises a user's electronic airline tickets, movie tickets and restaurant loyalty cards.
Most of the attention on Wednesday will thus revolve around hardware advancements such as dimensions and screen quality.
In addition to a bigger screen, the new iPhone will come with a 19-pin connector port, instead of the proprietary 30-pin port, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in July. - Reuters

INFORMATION BY : THE STAR TechCentral

Pixels: New ultrabooks

LENOVO launched two ultrabooks, ThinkPad X1 Carbon and ThinkPad T430u, recently.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

2 / 2

Sporting the signature black and squarish look, both models offer improvements in terms of design and performance.

Like its name suggests, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon comes with carbon fibre roll cage for durability and is lightweight too. The 18.85mm thin and 1.36kg ultrabook’s battery needs only 35 minutes on the charger to deliver 80 per cent battery level.

Its 14-inch HD+ Anti Glare display and Dolby Home Theatre v4 audio capability ensure multimedia playback is optimised.

Also packed with USB 3.0 and HDMI interfaces, customers can opt for Intel Core i5 processor and 128GB SSD storage X1 Carbon package, which starts at RM5,399. Higher specification come with Intel Core i7 processor and 256GB SSD storage, with prices starting at RM6,599.

ThinkPad T430u is made to entice both multimedia lovers and business users by combining NVIDIA GeForce graphics, 1TB storage, seven-hour battery life as well as the Lenovo Solution Centre for Small Business. It has a starting price of RM3,799.

Take note

MODELS with the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. The Korean tech giant unveiled a bigger and bolder Galaxy Note last week. The new device, which is twice the size of its predecessor, offers a 3-in-1 functionality — Internet, productivity and phone — in one slim package.

 It features a quad-core 1.4GHz processor with 2GB RAM, Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS and a stylus S pen.

 To make it a truly productivity tool, Samsung has bundled software like Polaris Office, Photoshop Touch, S Note and S Planner.

 It also has a new education hub called Learning Hub for users to access educational content. This 10.1-inch device is now available at RM2,199. For details, visit www.samsung.com/my.

Another fast Internet option

TIME dotCom Bhd launched its Fibre 100Mbps Home Broadband last week. The fibre service is available at RM179 a month and is being offered to over 100,000 homes in the Klang Valley and Penang.

CEO Afzal Abdul Rahim expected early adopters to take up the service while more Internet users will come on board after TIME completes its educational tours to promote the product.

“The 100,000 homes which the network can reach are in the mid- to high-income segment. Most of them are multi-dwelling units and apartments. Customers can check on the availability of the fibre-optics network in their areas at www.time.com.my,” he said.

The introductory package of RM179 per month will be offered for the next three months, after which the company will introduce more packages at different price points and quota levels. The current offer has a quota of 100GB. TIME plans to conduct educational tours over the next six to nine months.

For details, visit www.time.com.my.

Read more: Pixels: New ultrabooks - Tech - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/tech/pixels-new-ultrabooks-1.141396#ixzz26F0MwEbL

Samsung nurtures young Bada technopreneurs

BRAVO: Deputy Minister of higher education, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah (second from left) presenting the mock cheque to the Bada Developer Varsity Challenge 2010 winners, team G-Polaris of Universiti Sains Malaysia. With them on the far right is Lee Jui Siang, head of marketing- mobile phone, Samsung Malaysia Electronics.

KUALA LUMPUR: Teams from four local universties were the winners in a competition to showcase the most innovative applications based on Bada - Samsung's new, open smartphone platform.
In the finale of the Bada Developer Varsity Challenge 2010, Team G-Polaris from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) presented an application called Green Polaris, which provides location-based services, news briefs, greening tips, and links to environmentally-friendly companies.
Team Doa Nazihah (which means "An Honest Prayer") from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) developed an application it called Doa Recital for Muslim Pilgrims to help those performing the Haj pilgrimage.
The Management and Science University (MSU) team, named Rois et Reine, developed The Pianist app that teaches users how to play the piano. And Team Smart from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) unveiled a location-based mobile friend-finder application called Tell Me.
Team G-Polaris was the 1st place winner, followed by Team Doa Nazihah and Team Rois et Reine in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. The Most Innovative Team Name and Logo prize went to Team Rois et Reine.
G-Polaris comprised Chai Jian Wei, Khoo Han Ni, and Peter Lau Yi Zhong, all 22, with their supervisor Azlan Osman. The three students are pursuing a degree in Computer Science.
They received RM15,000 cash while the second and third teams received RM10,000 and RM5,000, respectively.
The winning teams also received four units of the Samsung Wave smartphone each.
The challenge is supported by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), which is guardian of the country's MSC Malaysia initiative, and industry regulator the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.
It is to encourage university students to use their creativity and ingenuity to develop Bada applications for social networking and location-based services, as well as educational and religious activities.
"Samsung is actively constructing a total eco-system around the Bada platform ... making our platform vision a reality for consumers, developers and operators to experience the freedom of choice that Bada enables," said Yu Jai Sul, managing director of Samsung Malaysia Electronics.
Saifol Bahri Shamlan, MDeC vice-president, said it is committed to the continued development of the ICT (information and communications technology) industry that will help the nation reach its goal of becoming a developed country by 2020.
"With that in mind, we support the initiative by Samsung to deliver cutting-edge technologies to Malaysia's ICT industry and the public," he said.
The entire challenge took three months of intense brainstorming and work. It received a total of 22 registrations from 18 varsities across Malaysia. Each team consisted of one advisor and three students to inculcate team work and synergy among lecturers and students.

UTM launched mobile hotspot bus

                        Johor Bahru, July 2, 2012:  UTM launched its maiden UTM Mobile Hotspot Bus today, a bus that is fully equipped with a modem, also known as WCC Mobile Hotspot, allowing up to 200 passengers connected to the internet simultaneously, and can be used within a radius of up to 100m from the bus. The WCC Mobile Hotspot is a spin off from the internet bridging access and smart antenna technologies previously produced by UTM Wireless Communication Centre (WCC), headed by Prof. Dr.Tharek Abdul Rahman.

                      The product is one of UTM’s latest technologies managed by the Innovation and Commercialisation Centre (ICC) to be further commercialised by the private sectors. To ensure the quality of the WCC Mobile Hotspot is stable and reliable to users, the WCCspent 3 months of pilot tests with the collaboration of a local bus service provider, Syarikat Bas MARA Liner and Maxis, which sponsored simcards for the proof-of-concept. It is expected that the use of a mobile wifi in public busses will be a major milestone for bus providers in Malaysia to attract more passengers to use their services.

                     “UTM plans to install the technology on all UTM busses in the near future and further commercialise the technology to other public bus service providers such as MARA Liner, airport limousines and other public transport providers through licensing activities to ensure the technologies can be benefited by most Malaysians,” said UTM Vice Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Ir. Dr.ZainiUjang.

Other major technology produced by UTM Wireless Communication Centre is the Smart Antenna Technology, a flat antenna that is able to give up to 80% efficiency rate as compared to 50-60% that of the conventional ones.

article by : UTM

Mac OS X Mountain goes gold

GOLDEN LION: Mac computers running OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) which is expected to be released soon. - Relaxnews

Apple has released the "golden master" copy of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, aka version 10.8, into the hands of developers, signalling that the operating system (OS) will soon be released to the public.

The golden master (GM) is a term developers use for the final version of the operating system (OS) before it is shipped to consumers. With the exception of any last-minute changes or updates it's typically the same version Apple will distribute to consumers.

Microsoft uses the term release to manufacturing (RTM) to identify when its operating system is at a similar stage - ready to be handed over to manufacturers and installed on brand new computers before they go on sale.

Apple has yet to announce a firm date for the release of Mac OS X Mountain Lion but judging by its previous GM-to-release schedules, the OS should be available to consumers before the end of July.

The OS sports more than 200 new features, the most noticeable of which include the Notification Centre, a universal Messages app, Dictation, Facebook integration, AirPlay Mirroring, Power Nap, Game Centre and the Gatekeeper security feature.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion upgrade will be priced at US$19.99 (RM60) and available as a digital download from the Mac App Store. - Relaxnews 2012

Information by : TechCentral

Windows 8 due in October

OUT SOON: A screenshot of the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant. Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide.

Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system will be available to consumers from late October as the software giant looks to update its platform for a variety of devices, the company said Monday.

The announcement on Microsoft's new operating system - its release will be three years after Windows 7 went public in Oct 2009 - came at the software giant's annual Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto.

Communications manager Brandon LeBlanc said the company "confirmed that Windows 8 is on track to release to manufacturing (RTM) the first week of August" and "will reach general availability by the end of October."

Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide, he noted.

The latest version of the operating system that is the norm for personal computers will also be used on many smartphones and tablet computers, including Microsoft's own Surface tablet to be launched this year.

It "is simply the biggest deal for this company in at least 17 years," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer told the Toronto gathering, referring to the launch of the game-changing Windows 95 operating system.

"It's the glue, it's the foundation of everything Microsoft is built on." Windows 8 allows users readily to store and share personal data among various devices under the SkyDrive cloud computing service. Rivals Apple and Google offer such services.

The new Microsoft system will support a wider range of devices, including touch- and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs as well as desktop and laptop machines.

The software giant has been trying to expand its presence in the booming software market for smartphones and tablets, which is currently dominated by Apple and Google.

Cloud computing refers to the popular trend of using software as a service hosted online at data centres instead of downloading and maintaining programs in personal machines.

Web-based email services such as Gmail are common examples of cloud computing.

Microsoft said separately it would release a new version of its popular Office software suite called Office 365 Open, which allows its partners to resell and get additional revenue from the product.

Microsoft also said it would acquire Perceptive Pixel, which makes large-scale, multi-touch displays.

The company makes what it calls "the world's largest projected capacitive, optically bonded multi-touch display," which is 82in (two meters) in size. - AFP/Relaxnews 2012

Information by : TechCentral