NASA finds 90 per cent of potential Earth-killer asteroids

If you’re worried about a killer asteroid wiping out Earth, NASA has some good news. The U.S. space agency said Thursday it has identified more than 90 per cent of giant, potentially Earth-threatening asteroids, including ones as big as the one thought to have killed the dinosaurs eons ago. “We know now where most of them are and where most of them are going. That really has reduced our risk” of an impact, said Amy Mainzer of the NASA Jet Propulsion...

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Astronomer captures image of planet being born

Astronomers have captured the first direct image of a planet being born. Adam Kraus, of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, said the planet is being formed out of dust and gas circling a 2-million-year-old star about 450 light years from Earth. The planet itself, based on scientific models of how planets form, is estimated to have started taking shape about 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. Called LkCa 15 b, it's the youngest planet...

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Microsoft to launch Mango smartphones with Nokia, Samsung

The smartphone sector is currently dominated by Apple and Android phones, which together make up about half of the market, with Microsoft seen as slow to react to the rapidly rising popularity of mobile devices.But some analysts say Microsoft still has time to catch up, especially given uncertainties among handset makers after Google’s planned purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. sparked worries that Google may one day produce its own handsets.“We’ve...

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Five Galaxy features you won’t find on the iPhone

The Apple iPhone 4S shattered records with 4 million sales in its first weekend, but the popular smartphone may have a little more competition from another new release, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.The phone, which Samsung and Google unveiled Wednesday at an event in Hong Kong, will be the first device to run the latest version of Google’s Android operating system (known as “Ice Cream Sandwich”) and boasts several promising hardware features, including...

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Jobs death triggers ‘soul-searching’ in China

When Dave McClure, a venture capital investor from Silicon Valley, spoke at an internet entrepreneurs’ club in China last week, he had a lot of praise for his hosts. “Chinese entrepreneurs are most likely smarter and more aggressive than [those] in the US,” he told the audience. “Beijing is one of the few places in the world where the pace of innovation is faster than in Silicon Valley.” But in China, the recent mood has been more sober. The death...

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Sesame Street YouTube page hacked, replaced with porn

The YouTube channel for “Sesame Street” is back online after hackers forced its shutdown by loading X-rated material.“Sesame Street” executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente said Monday that YouTube had taken the channel down Sunday after noticing the racy material. The channel usually carries new and vintage clips from the popular preschool progr...

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Samsung to reveal new Android ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ smartphone Oct 19

Samsung Electronics said on Friday that it planned to unveil a new smartphone based on Google’s latest version of the Android operating system at an event in Hong Kong on Oct. 19.The announcement came after the world’s second-biggest handset maker put off the launch of the new device based on the Ice Cream Sandwich system while the world paid tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died last week.“We are unpacking our new Android phone in concurrence...

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Wal-Mart creates local store pages for its U.S. Facebook fans

Just in time for the crucial winter holidays, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. aims to recreate the feel of a local store for its more than 9 million Facebook fans.The world's largest retailer announced Tuesday a partnership with the social networking site that offers Facebook pages specifically tailored for each of its more than 3,500 U.S. locations. Those pages are designed to allow its customers to interact with its local stores as well as get information...

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Five reasons to download Facebook’s new iPad app

More than a year after Apple released its first generation iPad, Facebook has finally jumped on board with an official app. Although there have been many third-party downloads available to view your friend feed on the tablet, and Facebook did launch an iPhone app months ago, this latest move makes viewing and posting to the world's most popular social networking a whole lot easier on the go.For starters, from within the main dashboard on the left-hand...

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Computer virus hits US Drones

The US government's unmanned Predator and Reaper drones are continuingto fly remote missions overseas despite a computer virus that has infected the plane's US-basedcockpits, according to one source familiar with the infection.Government officials are still investigating&...

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