VR-Zone Tech News for the Geeks Apr 2013 Issue

April 1st, 2013 Published by: VR-Zone
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VR-Zone.com | Tech News for the Geeks!
VR-Zone | Stuff for the Geeks is a bi-weekly
publication covering the latest gadgets and stuff for the
geeks.
Ibis Sleep Art app: Turns
one's slumber into a work of
art
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ibis-sleep-art-app-turns-one-s-
slumber-into-a-work-of-art/19464.html
April 1st, 2013
French hotel chain Ibis has launched a free iPhone app that
will interpret your sleep pattern and turn it into a work of art.
Prior to launching the sleeping art app, Ibis had a few
physical beds in its hotels that were equipped with sensors
and robots that drew artworks by interpreting the way the
guests slept. That same concept was then transferred over
to a digital canvas, and the best part is people don’t have to
book a room to find out how their sleeps look like.
The Sleep Art app works by monitoring a sleeper’s breathing
pattern, noises, and movements using the phone’s built-in
sensors. Just lay the phone next to you and once you’ve
arisen from your slumber, a digital painting will be ready for
your viewing pleasure.
There’s probably very little science involved in the Sleep Art
app, and you’ll have to just take it for what it is. How pretty
or ugly your sleep art will turn out may vary. So if you’re
wondering how beautiful your snoring looks, check out the
app.
Earn Xbox LIVE rewards with
new "Play To Earn" from
Microsoft
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/earn-xbox-live-rewards-with-new-
play-to-earn-from-microsoft/19457.html
March 31st, 2013
Microsoft is looking to entice new users into the Xbox LIVE
world with a new rewards program that can earn you all
kinds of goodies.
It's called MyPunchcard, and it is a new rewards program
Microsoft is introducing starting April 1, 2013, for all the
Xbox LIVE Rewards Members out there. It is a way for you
to earn reward points while doing what you love to do the
most - playing games.
For the month of April, the new program will be centered
around arcade games tagged with the Play to Earn offers,
and it involves blacking out all three Arcade Punchcards
which will get successful players a spot in an upcoming
VIP Exclusive. Also, by simply playing your favorite arcade
games, and adding to your game collection, you will be able
to earn rewards.
There are three ways you can win rewards in April:
• Play 20 hours of any combination of arcade games,
receive a free avatar item
• Purchase any four arcade games for 400 Microsoft
Points or more from Xbox LIVE, receive a one month
Xbox LIVE Gold membership
• Spend 3200 Microsoft Points on arcade games, receive
800 Microsoft Points in return.
Some of the games that are a part of the rewards program
are:
• Minecraft
• Terraria
• Trials Evolution
• Counterstrike: GO
• Castle Crashers
• The Walking Dead
• LIMBO
Also, Microsoft will be launching some new games in April
that will all be a part of the program, and they are:
• BattleBlock Theater
• Double Dragon II
• Motocross Madness
• Sacred Citadel
• God Mode
• Monaco
Of course you will need to be an Xbox LIVE Rewards
member in order to sign up.

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$121 million supercomputer
becomes defunct in just five
years
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/-121-million-supercomputer-
becomes-defunct-in-just-five-years/19462.html
March 31st, 2013
Roadrunner, a $121 million supercomputer composed of
IBM’s Cell and AMD’s Opteron technologies, has been
decommissioned today, ending a five-year stand as one of
the world's fastest supercomputers.
Five years ago, when the Roadrunner was born, it was one
of the few supercomputers to break the petaflop barrier, and
it took up only 278 refrigerator-size racks to do so. During
its glory days, Roadrunner helped researchers understand
viruses, energy flow, and many other mysteries that once
haunted the minds of scientists.
“Roadrunner got everyone thinking in new ways about how
to build and use a supercomputer,” said Gary Grider, an
official at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. “Specialized
processors are being included in new ways on new systems
and being used in novel ways. Our demonstration of
Roadrunner caused everyone to pay attention.”
Just as most of the world may not ever know Roadrunner’s
contribution to the advancement of technology and science,
so, too, will it go out with little to no fanfare. Prior to its
full dismantling, researchers will spend the next month or
so experimenting with Roadrunner’s operating system, and
techniques for compressing memory.
Specialists are expecting supercomputers to easily break the
exascale barrier within a decade or two, and by that time an
array will cost only a fraction of what it does now.
“And to think of where we’re going to be in the next 10 to
15 years, it’s just mindboggling,” said Kevin Roark, another
official at the Los Alamos lab.
USPTO denies Apple's
application to trademark
"iPad Mini"
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/uspto-denies-apple-s-application-to-
trademark-ipad-mini-/19461.html
March 31st, 2013
According to the reviewer, “the applied-for mark merely
describes a feature or characteristic of the applicant’s
goods.” Furthermore, the reviewer also added that the term
Mini “describes something that is distinctively smaller than
other members of its type or class.”
The Cupertino-based tech company is constantly filing
for patents and trademarks for its products—released and
unreleased. However, it is given that the term “Mini”
is ubiquitous in consumer electronics, and therefore it’s
completely understandable as to why Apple is having a hard
time trademarking the terms iPad Mini.
Apple has until July 24th
to appeal to the USPTO’s decision,
and chances are Apple will swing its bat aimlessly until it gets
what it wants.
AMD unveils "the world's
fastest GPU" & discusses
PS4 at GDC 2013
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-unveils-the-world-s-fastest-
gpu--discusses-ps4-at-gdc-2013/19458.html
March 31st, 2013
AMD certainly has made an impression at GDC 2013 with
its new line of dedicated cloud gaming graphics cards--the
Radeon Sky Series--along with the Radeon HD 7990, which
they labeled as the "world's fastest graphics card". AMD also
delved into the PlayStation 4's hardware and discussed how
they "gave it the hardware that Nvidia couldn't".

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During their presentation at this year's Game Developer's
Conference, AMD mystified the crowd by unveiling the
first public showing of the "world's fastest graphics card":
the Radeon HD 7990.
The chipmaker also shed light on its new lineup of GPUs
dedicated to cloud gaming--the Radeon Sky Series--and
discussed how they gave Sony's next-gen PlayStation 4
console the "hardware that Nvidia couldn't".
The dual-GPU unit that AMD showcased during the
presentation was just a preview of the Radeon HD 7990 so
details were a bit scarce, however AMD Product Manager
Devon Nekechuck did have a few things to say about the new
card:
"This packs two of our 7990 series GPUs. This is only
a preview series today, so I'm going to have to hold
back some of the details for you guys, but this is not
only the world's fastest graphics card, this thing is
whisper quiet with these three fans over here.
This thing delivers massive performance and this is
really the gamer's dream card."
Nekechuck also revealed that the Radeon HD 7990 is a
member of the same family as other 7990's on the market,
such as the Asus Ares II and the PowerColor Double 13.
The GPU itself is believed to be based on two Tahiti GPUs
and carry a total of 6GB (3GB per) of GDDR5 memory that's
carried over a dual 384-bit memory interface. Additionally,
the core speeds for the GPUs are believed to be in the range
of 1 - 1.1 GHz.
"This is the world's first preview of this card," AMD's Devon
Nekechuck said. "This is the first public showing ever."
Details concerning a release date of the new GPU are scarce,
however AMD is anticipated to launch the card in Q2 2013
for a price range that approaches $1,000.
EA has also made use of the Radeon HD 7990 during their
recent GDC 2013 presentation, as the dual-GPU powered the
official Battlefield 4 reveal. The footage worked in tandem
with EA's new Frostbite 3 Engine, showcasing the card's
impressive and dynamic capabilities with 17 minutes of
gameplay.
The Battlefield 4 reveal shows that AMD's dual-GPU is
fully functional and operational, but its not yet ready to be
introducted to the retail market.
Mail delivering drones being
tested in France
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/mail-delivering-drones-being-tested-
in-france/19460.html
March 31st, 2013
A province in France is becoming the testing ground for a
new drone-based postal delivery service. Welcome to the
future.
A French postal service is hoping to revolutionize the mail
delivery service, and steal jobs from thousands of kids
hoping to supplement their allowance: The postal service
“La Poste Groupe” intends to use drones to deliver local
newspapers.

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The province of Auvergne is being tested out for the new
delivery program, which will employ the well known Parrot
quadricopter for the service. The testing will begin in May
and will utilize 20 drones controlled by Android and iOS
devices, and hopes to successfully pull off the postal service’s
7am deliveries.
There are a few hurdles to overcome however: The Parrot
only has a range of 164 feet, with a battery time of 30
minutes. There’s no word as to how the La Poste Groupe
plans to overcome this limitation, because there certainly
wouldn’t be any point in using the drones if the mailman has
to come along anyway (apart from giving the mailmen a fun
way to start the day).
UCLA researchers use big
data to help treat patients
with traumatic brain injuries
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ucla-researchers-use-big-data-to-
help-treat-patients-with-traumatic-brain-injuries/19459.html
March 31st, 2013
Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles are
conducting studies to see if big data can help prevent
complications to patients with traumatic brain injuries.
The ongoing research utilizes an IBM-developed system
and Excel Medical Electronics to predict increasing brain
pressure before it occurs. By monitoring thousands of data
points per patient in real time, the computer system is able
to generate and interpret information that may help guide
doctors to the right path of treatment or preventive care.
Real time inputs such as pulse, heart activity, and respiration
are all recorded and interpreted by the system. The
field of neurology can often be convoluted as there are
many diagnoses and interpretations of a given symptom.
However, with the aid of computer modeling and big data, it
might be possible for doctors and caregivers to narrow down
specific treatment plans in a much more decisive manner.
According to the Center for Disease Control, 1.7 million
people in the U.S. sustain traumatic brain injury every year,
and within that group about 52,000 die and 275,000 remain
hospitalized. Thanks to advances in medicine, 1.365 million
are treated and then released, but the brain injuries, unlike
broken bones, can be volatile at times. Therefore, the use
of real time big data analytics can help to mitigate a brain
injury’s unpredictability.
“The field of big data analytics is evolving to include new
kinds of data from sources such as medical monitors, giving
us insights into patients that weren’t previously possible,”
said Martin Kohn, MD and chief medical scientist for IBM.
“We believe that UCLA’s promising research may one day
transform the way that doctors and nurses interact with
patients inside the neuro-intensive care unit.”
“Through its research, UCLA is changing the way that
analytics may eventually be used inside hospitals, and how
we think about using data to improve patient outcomes,”
John Hoffman, President of Excel Medical Electronics,
added.
Jay Wilson: "Real Money
Auction House hurt Diablo 3"
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/jay-wilson--real-money-auction-
house-hurt-diablo-3-/19431.html
March 31st, 2013
Jay Wilson, former Blizzard game director for Diablo III,
has admitted that the game's Real-Money Auction House
(RMAH) and Gold Auction House (GAH) have had a
detrimental affect on Diablo III as a whole.
During this year's Game Developer's Conference (GDC 2013)
former Diablo III game director Jay Wilson sat down and
revealed how the game's virtual auction houses had a
negative affect on the game as a whole.
"The auction houses (both the Gold and Real Money
Auction Houses) hurt the game," Jay said during a
talk at GDC 2013 in San Francisco.
Wilson also divulged that before Blizzard had launched
Diablo III the company had assumed how the Auction
Houses would work. Wilson thought that the RMAH and
GAH would reduce fraud and provide a helpful service that
only a small percentage would make use of.

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Just an example of some of the exorbitant bids and amounts
of profit that are earned on Diablo III's RMAH every day.
Diablo III's Real Money Auction House (RMAH) allows
gamers to sell and purchase in-game weapons and
equipment for actual money (up to $250 for a single item) via
PayPal, something that has been met with severe criticism
from the game's core constituency.
Long-time Diablo fans felt cheated with the ultimate "pay-
to-win" sentiments that the RMAH introduced, and both in-
game auction houses nearly wiped out the game's trading
system
Once the game went live, however, Blizzard soon realized
that they were mistaken on their assumptions, and that
nearly every gamer made use of both Auction Houses--and
that over 50% of them used them regularly.
"I think we would turn it off if we could," Wilson
said, "It's not as easy as that--Blizzard has no idea
how many players approve of the Auction Houses or
how many dislike it."
Wilson also says that Blizzard doesn't want to scrap a feature
that many players enjoy--yet he did say that Blizzard is
working on implementing a solution that will help patch up
the game's notoriously bad reputation...but didn't go into
any real detail on the planned fixes.
Jay Wilson stepped down as game director for Diablo III
back in January after working on the game for seven years.
"I've reached a point creatively where I'm looking forward
to working on something new," Wilson said in his official
farewell on the Battle.net forums.
Since its release, many gamers have lambasted Diablo III for
its in-game mechanics, storyline, and of course the Auction
Houses, which many felt gave those who are willing to pay
an unfair advantage.
Both the RMAH and GAH are still up and running, and
Blizzard is still receiving portions of currency--both real and
digital--from each transaction.
It will be interesting to see what changes (if any) that
Blizzard applies to Diablo III's Auction Houses, and if the
upcoming PlayStation 3 port will also utilize the RMAH and
GAH systems implemented by its PC counterpart.
First appearance of PS4
rumored in June, may release
in October
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/first-appearance-of-ps4-rumored-in-
june-may-release-in-october/19456.html
March 31st, 2013
Sony has yet to officially unveil the PlayStation 4's physical
presence, even during the official See the Future event last
month. Recent rumors speculate the PS4 will make its first
appearance during this year's E3 event in June, and that we
may see its release as early as October.
Sony has been quite busy with their focus on the next-
gen PlayStation console: they've taken the opportunity to
reveal many elements regarding the PS4 during the console's
official See The Future reveal event last month in New York,
and again at this year's Game Developer's Conference in San
Francisco.
Despite the plethora of information that Sony has delivered
during their presentations, the PlayStation 4 has yet to be
unveiled in any physical capacity.
We've seen a variety of features including the console's
impressive specs, the new DualShock 4 controller, and even
mockups of the PS4's User Interface; yet the console's
appearance still remains a mystery.
Recent rumors have speculated that the PlayStation 4 will
make its debut appearance during this year's E3 2013 show
in June, where Sony will most likely attend and unleash the
floodgates on everything still unknown about the console
itself.
Additionally, it's been well established that Sony plans to
release their next-gen PlayStation 4 console during the
"Holiday 2013" release window, yet the rumor mill has also
speculated a PS4 release as early as October of this year.

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Seeing an official bona-fide physical version of the PS4 at
E3 2013 does indeed make sense, considering the Electronic
Entertainment Expo is one of the major premiere gaming
events of the year. Furthermore Microsoft's absence at
recent gaming events points to the likelihood of an Xbox 720
reveal during E3, which would behoove Sony to make an
appearance to facilitate the PlayStation 4 so that Microsoft
doesn't dominate the event.
The rumors themselves must be taken as speculation and
have yet to be officially confirmed. Sony hasn't said anything
else on an exact release date for the PlayStation 4 other than
the "Holiday 2013" window, nor have they confirmed that
the PS4 will debut during E3.
We have also reported on a recent statement from
GameStop's president Tony Bartel regarding the PlayStation
4's popularity. According to Bartel, over 900,000 people
have signed up for the PS4's "First to Know List", a list that
reveals pertinent information on the availability of PS4 pre-
orders and more.
Bartel believes that when pre-orders for the PS4 become
available, that the demand for the new console will "far out
space" the supply at launch. Although it's unclear whether
or not this supposition is true, one thing is for sure: gamers
seem to be excited about the PS4.
The validity of these claims will be put to the test when June
rolls around and the giants of the industry come together
to showcase the next generation of gaming. It will certainly
be interesting to see the new developments that take place
during the event, and how Sony and Microsoft duke it out
with their respective consoles.
FBI hid the use of 'Stingray'
spying technology from
federal judges
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/fbi-hid-the-use-of-stingray-spying-
technology-from-federal-judges/19419.html
March 31st, 2013
New evidence suggests that the Department of Justice has
been using ‘Stingray’ technology without a warrant from a
federal magistrate. Stingray technology is a type of spoofing
that tricks a cellular phone into thinking it is a cell tower and
then tracks and captures all data being transmitted from that
cell phone.
Recent evidence suggests that the FBI has been monitoring
cell phone communications by means of the technology
that tricks the phone into thinking it is just another cell
tower. Stingray (AKA, WITT or Triggerfish [pdf file link])
can locate the position of a cell phone and even intercept
live communications coming from that particular phone,
however, it also sees other phones on that network as well,
which adds additional controversy to its legality.
The controversy surrounding the FBI’s use of the technology
comes by way of a Daniel Rigmaiden who is on trial for wire
fraud, conspiracy and identity theft in 2008. Rigmaiden’s
defense sought discovery evidence that shows the federal
agency tracked their client by the use of the Stingray device
and that it was done so without a federal warrant or by any
current law.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) along with the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a grievance in
support of Rigmaiden’s defense, and they have requested
that all the evidence gained on Rigmaiden, by use of the
Stingray technology, be thrown out of court.
The ACLU of Northern California is claiming that they have
hard evidence suggesting that the Department of Justice
has hid this ill-gotten evidence (by way of the Stingray
technology) against Rigmaiden knowingly and willfully from
the federal courts. Linda Lye who serves as a staff attorney
for the ACLU of Northern California recently wrote online
about the ordeal, and she says the FBI has been using this
type of technology illegally for sometime.
“The federal government was routinely using stingray
technology in the field, but failing to ‘make that explicit’
in its applications to the court to engage in electronic
surveillance,” Lye writes in an ACLU blog posting. “When
the magistrate judges in the Northern District of California
finally found out what was happening, they expressed
‘collective concerns,’ according to the emails. Notably, this
email chain is dated May 2011, some three years after
the Stingray’s use in Rigmaiden’s case – meaning the
government was not ‘forthright’ in its applications to federal
magistrate judges for at least three years.”
The ACLU and EFF maintains the defensive argument that
the government never disclosed any intent on any warrant
that they would be using such an intrusive device to gain

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evidence. They also argue that such a device is ‘highly
intrusive and indiscriminate’ use of technology that takes
information in a broad manner from an entire network of
communications in any given area.
This latest case is another argument on how federal police
agencies, such and the FBI, have routinely violated the
Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Many feel that
federal police agencies are now routinely misrepresenting
and often neglect to inform federal judges how they intend
on gathering intelligence on a subject.
The ACLU and EFF are asking the courts to see the precedent
with the Supreme Court’s opinion in US v. Jones, which
states that police cannot use a GPS physically attached to a
moving vehicle without a warrant to do so. While this case
does not involve any physical device, it does show tracking
without a warrant from a federal magistrate

April 3rd, 2013 Published by: VR-Zone
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geeks.
HTC One for China has
removable back plate for
microSD and dual-SIM
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/htc-one-for-china-has-removable-
back-plate-for-microsd-and-dual-sim/19492.html
April 3rd, 2013
The HTC One built for China will have a removable back
plate for insertions of dual-SIM as well as a microSD card.
A recent image uploaded onto Weibo has revealed that
HTC is going to let Chinese consumers do more with
their One handsets. For those that don’t already know,
the International and U.S. One variant are full “zero-
gap” unibody devices, meaning no microSD expansion or
removable battery.
For most, a handset with 32 or 64GB of internal storage is
more than enough, but it’s always nice to have an option to
swap in a memory card to gain access to files without having
first hook up the device to a computer. Moreover, if HTC did
indeed make the back plate removable for the Chinese HTC
One variant, why not cut a hole on top of the battery spot so
people can replace the battery, too?
If the Weibo picture is of an authentic HTC product and not
just another knockoff, then perhaps people around the world
may have more incentives to hop onto eBay or other third
party channels to grab the much more customizable HTC
One variant from China.
Search for dark matter finds
excess positrons
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/search-for-dark-matter-finds-excess-
positrons/19489.html
April 3rd, 2013
An international team running the Alpha Magnetic
Spectrometer (AMS) has announced the results of its search
for dark matter during a CERN seminar. The team has
discovered an excess of positrons in the flow of cosmic rays.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is been floating
around 400km above earth, where over the past year and
a half, it has recorded some 25 billion detections of cosmic
rays, including 400,000 positrons with energies between 0.5
and 350 GeV. The positron is the antiparticle to the electron
and the AMS has thus completed the largest ever recording
of antiparticles in space. The concentration of positrons
increases in the 10-250 GeV range, and leveling out in the
20-250 GeV region.
This excess in positrons are consistent with the theory that
positrons originate from the annihilation of dark matter
in space, but the research is not yet conclusive enough to
determine this as being the absolute origin of antiparticles.
"Over the coming months, AMS will be able to tell us
conclusively whether these positrons are a signal for dark
matter, or whether they have some other origin." Says
Samuel Ting, spokesperson for the AMS
Possible distribution of matter and energy in the universe
The theory linking positrons to dark matter is known
as Supersymmetry. It states that when two dark matter
particles collide, they destroy each other, but may produce
a positron as a byproduct. The theory is consistent with the
observed positron distribution detected by AMS, which was
uniform. Unfortunately, at this time, the observations have

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not been able to rule out the opposing theory that positrons
originate from pulsars on the galactic plane.
"When you take a new precision instrument into a new
regime, you tend to see many new results, and we hope
this will be the first of many," added Ting during the CERN
seminar, "AMS is the first experiment to measure to 1%
accuracy in space. It is this level of precision that will allow us
to tell whether our current positron observation has a Dark
Matter or pulsar origin."
The same theory also suggests a hitherto unproven cut-off
exists for energies above the mass range of dark matter
particles, but the AMS has as of yet not been able to prove
this.
Laser could zap away
cocaine addiction
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/laser-could-zap-away-cocaine-
addiction/19491.html
April 3rd, 2013
Addiction to drugs, cocaine in particular, may one day be
easily treated just like patching up a cut with a Band-
Aid. A study currently being conducted by researchers at
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found that laser
stimulation of the prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex
in rats wiped away the compulsive urge to take cocaine.
The laser treatment in the lab rats work through both
mechanical as well as biological pathways. First, researchers
inject into the neuron of the rats genetically engineered
rhodopsins—light-sensitive protein. Then, using a technique
called optogenetics, the researchers aim a laser at the
rhodopsins to induce non-compulsive behaviors by turning
on the rhodopsin.
Essentially, the rhodopsin is the light bulb, and the laser
is the switch mechanism. Turning on the rhodopsin by
pointing a laser at it will wipe out compulsive behaviors and
when the protein is turned off, it’s back to being in the dark
for the poor rat.
Currently, a similar prelimbic treatment for depression
in human is being done through a process known as
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and researchers
believe that there is a strong link between the rat’s
laser addiction treatment and the current human-approved
depression treatment. Antontello Bonci, MD and one of the
scientists of the study at NIH, is planning to run a few clinical
tests on humans using the laser-rhodopsin method.
An in-depth coverage of this study is found here.
Google to launch second-
generation Nexus 7 tablet in
July
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-to-launch-second-generation-
nexus-7-tablet-in-july/19490.html
April 3rd, 2013
Google will launch a second-generation version of the Nexus
7 tablet in July, according to sources cited by Reuters, paving
the way for stronger competition in the already crowded
tablet computer market.
Google will launch a second-generation version of the Nexus
7 tablet in July, according to sources cited by Reuters, paving
the way for stronger competition in the already crowded
tablet computer market.
The revamped tablet is expected to come with a Qualcomm
Snapdragon processor, replacing the Nvidia Tegra 3 of the
current model. The Qualcomm chip was apparently chosen
for its more efficient use of power, according to the sources.
The tablet should also feature a higher screen resolution and
a thinner overall design.
The sources, who refused to be identified, also revealed
Google's sales targets for the Nexus 7: six to eight million
in the second half of the year alone, almost double the
estimated 4.6 million it sold for the last six months of 2012.

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While Google makes the majority of its income from
advertising, more Google-designed tablets in the hands of
consumers, especially consumers that might be tempted
by rival products like Amazon's Kindle Fire, will ensure it
maximises its advertising audience.
However, with the Kindle Fire priced at $199, Google already
faces a steep battle. This gives rise to the belief that the
new model will match or significantly outdo this low price
point, with a potential retail price of $149. Google will likely
be losing money on the hardware at such a price, but, like
Amazon, it will be playing the long game for the much more
lucrative advertising dollar.
The old Nexus 7 may also get a price cut or may simply be
discontinued.
Europe takes solar storm
preparedness measures
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/europe-takes-solar-storm-
preparedness-measures/19485.html
April 3rd, 2013
Europe has launched its first space-weather coordination
center to prepare for solar storms or other activity which
could cause problems on Earth.
Large solar storms are currently one of the biggest threats
to our modern way of life. A large enough storm can knock
out the internet, telephone lines, tv and transportation for
a long time. The earth would be left without electricity and
for a species that is largely dependent on it for business and
economics, we would all be in dire straits. Some precautions
can be taken to protect our most valuable electronics and
digital information, but on a larger scale, an early warning
system is important.
The European Space Agency (ESA) space weather division
head, Juha-Pekka Luntama, explained just how serious the
consequences of a solar storm can be: "A pilot can always
land a plane... because they have alternatives [to satellites]
for navigation, but if they get the disturbance without
warning, at the wrong time, that can be dangerous.” Even a
minor glitch in the electronics onboard a GPS satellite can
give a faulty readout on the pilot’s instruments and inform
him that the ground is much further away than it really is.
This could happen to a transformer near you if the Sun
decides to be mean
In 1859, a coronal mass ejection sent an electric
surge through global telegraph lines, starting fires and
electrocuting the operators. Modern equivalences would
be broken satellites, blown transformers and a cascading
blackout after the power grid becomes overloaded. Luntama
explains that though such occurrences are exceedingly rare,
they happen around the solar maximum, the period of
greatest solar activity in the solar cycle and a period which
we are currently in.
This is why the ESA has launched its first solar weather
coordination center (a similar center exists in the United
States). By observing the solar activity, the center could
receive a 17-48 hour head start between detecting the
coming storm, and the effects first being felt on Earth.
During this precious time, satellites could be shut down, air
traffic grounded and power could be turned off to reduce
the load on the power grid. Even astronauts onboard the ISS
would need to take precautionary measures, and with the
warning system, they’d have ample time to hide in protected
parts of the station.
The new weather center will draw on expertise from several
universities, institutions and companies and coordinate
their knowledge in a central point.
Blizzard announces 2013
World Championship for
StarCraft II
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/blizzard-announces-2013-world-
championship-for-starcraft-ii/19488.html
April 3rd, 2013
Blizzard has announced the new World Championship
Series 2013 for StarCraft II, establishing the first official
global ranking system for the game's eSports fans.
Blizzard has announced the new World Championship
Series 2013 for StarCraft II, establishing the first official
global ranking system for the game's eSports fans.
The developer has teamed up with top eSports organisations,
including Korea eSports Association, Ongamenet, GomTV,
Major League Gaming, Turtle Entertainment, and Twitch, to
manage three leagues for elite StarCraft II players: one for
Korea, one for America, and one for Europe.
The Championship will include three seasons per league,
with another three global season finals, all of which will earn
players points towards being crowned the StarCraft II World
Champion after the final grand final match at BlizzCon in
November.

4
“The structure of the StarCraft II World Championship
Series is the result of an ongoing collaborative effort between
Blizzard and our partners,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and
co-founder of Blizzard. “Our collective goal was to make
StarCraft II eSports even more exciting and easier to follow
for fans than ever before. On the heels of the successful
launch of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, we're all very
excited about the present and future of StarCraft II eSports.”
The Korean league of the StarCraft II World Championship
Series will launch on 4 April. The various eSports
organisations will alternate operation of the seasons and
will work in collaboration to broadcast all of the Korean
tournaments via TV and the internet. Dates for the American
and European leagues have yet to be decided.
Disney unplugs LucasArts to
"minimize risks"
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/disney-unplugs-lucasarts-to-
minimize-risks-/19486.html
April 3rd, 2013
LucasArts is done, and by done we mean Disney has
essentially unplugged the workstations and locked up the
front door to the studio.
The video games market is certainly not what it was a decade
ago, and Disney feels like it is time to steer LucasArts away
from the “risks” to “achieve a broader portfolio of quality
Star Wars games.” What this means for the Star Wars game
franchise is up for debate, but what we do know is that
Mickey and his pals have already given the pink slip to many
developers in the Old Republic.
“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve
decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development
to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while
achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games.
As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the
organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of
the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”
New HIV-treatment solutions
may be on horizon
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/new-hiv-treatment-solutions-may-
be-on-horizon/19483.html
April 3rd, 2013
By studying the early immune response to the HIV virus,
scientists may have found a new avenue through which to to
defeat the virus.
Barton F. Haynes, MD and John Mascola, MD are leading
a research team that may have discovered a new way of
looking for a vaccine toward the HIV virus. Their research
involves the study of the body’s initial response towards the
HIV virus and is the first time the co-evolution of virus and
anti-body has been mapped in a person.
Most vaccines work by inducing an antibody response which
neutralizes the virus, but due to the rapidly evolving nature
of the HIV virus, most antibodies become redundant before
they can eradicate the infection. By tracking the evolution of
both the virus and immune response, the researchers have
filled gaps in knowledge that has kept a successful vaccine
from being created.

5
"For the first time, we have mapped not only the
evolutionary pathway of the antibody, but also the
evolutionary pathway of the virus, defining the sequence
of events involved that induce the broadly neutralizing
antibodies," says Haynes, who led the project as part
of the Duke University Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine
Immunology-Immunogen Discovery consortium.
The evolutionary mapping was possible thanks to an African
person whose HIV infection was detected early enough
that the virus had not yet mutated. In addition, the
person’s immune response produced broadly neutralizing
anti-bodies, a trait which only occurs in about 20% of the
population and attacks the virus in places which remain
unaltered as it evolved. What the study revealed was that the
broadly neutralizing antibodies were triggered by the outer
layer of the viral surface glycoprotein.
The study has allowed the research team to produce a
roadmap to help the development of a final, universal cure.
The cure would most likely involve immunogens containing
glycoprotein to produce the broad-scoped immunoresponse.
"The next step is to use that information to make sequential
viral envelopes and test them as experimental vaccines,"
Haynes said. "This is a process of discovery and we've come
a long way with regard to understanding what the problem
has been."
Jimmy Fallon to take over Jay
Leno's throne in Spring 2014
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/jimmy-fallon-to-take-over-jay-leno-
s-throne-in-spring-2014/19484.html
April 3rd, 2013
Jay Leno, NBC’s long time late night show star, will step
down in the spring of 2014 to make way for Jimmy Fallon.
“Congratulations Jimmy. I hope you’re as lucky as me
and hold on to the job until you’re the old guy,” Leno said
following the announcement. “If you need me, I’ll be at the
garage.”
“I’m really excited to host a show that starts today instead of
tomorrow,” Fallon said, adding his own comedic touch.
The 62-years young Jay Leno has been hosting NBC’s late
night shows since 1992. Recently, NBC’s restructuring
efforts ended with Leno agreeing to a 50 percent pay cut,
which is still a hefty sum considering his salary was still
somewhere in the range of $15 million.
Currently, Fallon’s 12:35 A.M. slot is still up for grab as NBC
has yet to announce a replacement for Fallon at that time.
Canon unveils world's
smallest and lightest digital
SLR camera
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/canon-unveils-world-s-smallest-and-
lightest-digital-slr-camera/19482.html
April 3rd, 2013
Canon has announced the world's smallest and lightest
digital SLR camera, making it ultra portable for easy storage
and travel.
Canon has announced the world's smallest and lightest
digital SLR camera, making it ultra portable for easy storage
and travel.
The EOS 100D has a width of 116.8mm, a height of 90.7mm,
and a depth of 69.4mm. It weighs in at just 370 grams.
The camera features an APS-C-size 18-megapixel CMOS
sensor, a high-speed DIGIC 5 image processor, a maximum
IOS speed of 12800, which can be expanded to 25600, and
a 9-point Auto Focus system.

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Canon has also include a number of modes to maximise
the quality of images for certain purposes. Live View
mode and movie recording allow the Auto Focus system to
automatically and rapidly sharpen and focus subjects within
80 percent of the image display area, which should result in
fewer blurred pictures.
Playback mode allows cropping of photos into four aspect
ratio sizes, including the popular 4:3 ratio. The original
photo will be kept after the crop. Six family-oriented scene
modes, such as Kids, Foo, Candlelight, HDR Backlight
Control, Night Portrait, and Handheld Night Scene, can help
budding photographers tailor the camera settings to their
needs. Blur Simulation gives users a look at what a blurred
background will look like in real-time, to help focus the
viewer's attention on certain content.
Canon also announced the EOS 700D, a high-performance
digital SLR camera with a touch-screen. It comes with most
of the same features and modes, but the fold-out screen adds
additional usability.
The EOS 100D and Kit will be available at the end of April.
The EOS 700D and Kit will be available mid-April. Prices
have yet to be announced.
Hands-on with PROLiNK's
Hesperus and Xanthinus
gaming mice
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hands-on-with-prolink-s-hesperus-
and-xanthinus-gaming-mice/19449.html
April 3rd, 2013
Yesterday at a media event held at Clarke Quay in the
sweltering heat of Singapore, long-time IT equipment
vendor PROLiNK unveiled its latest line of bat-themed
gaming peripherals, as well as their collaboration with local
gaming mousepad specialist Barracuda Technologies. We go
hands-on with some of their latest offerings...
Yesterday at a media event held at Clarke Quay in the
sweltering heat of Singapore, long-time IT equipment
vendor PROLiNK unveiled its latest line of bat-themed
gaming peripherals, as well as their collaboration with local
gaming mousepad specialist Barracuda Technologies. We go
hands-on with some of their latest offerings...
First up is PROLiNK's flagship gaming mice - Hesperus
("evening star"). Built for right-handed homo sapiens, the
mouse is loaded with a slew of features usually found on
high end offerings from the likes of Logitech, SteelSeries
and Razer - including an adjustable weight cartridge system,
braided cable with gold-plated USB connector and teflon
mouse feet (an additional set is included in the package).
All these ingredients help to ensure longevity and and
consistency during extended gaming sessions when the
stakes and emotions are running high.
From the top of the Hesperus, we see a glossy plastic
shell with rubber coatings at the sides, which I personally
feel is a tad gaudy (one of our writers thinks it looks like
"Darth Vader's helmet"). A typical 5-button system (left/
right/center and two at the sides) is deployed here, with
no major complaints about its ergonomics for palm-grip

7
gamers. The "4D" scroll-wheel also has additional button
relays on its sides to allow for horizontal input.
Two minature buttons on the in the middle controls the
active DPI (four steps, defaults to 800/1600/2400/3200)
and profile mode respectively. The bundled software utility
can be used to redefine button/dpi assignments which will
then be saved onto the persistent onboard memory of the
mouse. This eliminates the need to install software/drivers
when you are playing somewhere else (for instance, at a LAN
venue).
At the bottom of the rodent, we see the compartment for
the six pellet weights under a spring loaded cover. The laser
sensor is positioned right in the middle, which some mouse
aficionados say can help avoid unwanted Z-axis issues.
Inside the mouse, we observe the use of Japanese-made
Omron switches for the primary left-right buttons and a
TTC mechanical encoder scroll wheel, augmented by the
best in class Avago ADNS-9800 laser sensor (1000Hz
polling, 8200dpi) for high precision across various hard/
cloth mouse surfaces and sensitivities.

8
During a quick test of the Hesperus, we found no anamolies
with its stated technical qualities and no pesky mouse
prediction behaviour when attempting to draw straight
lines. Real world in-game performance with CS:GO and BF3
was good as well, with this reviewer still topping the frag
charts as usual.
In a bid to differentiate itself from the competition, the
company also shared details about its custom skinning
services for buyers who wants a personalized mouse design.
Overall, we found PROLiNK's first foray into the local
gaming peripherals market to be promising. The Hesperus
(SGD$109) has a rubberized counterpart in Xanthinus (SGD
$89), which uses the same laser setup but forgoes the
weights system. Also on show at the event was the Nivatis
mousepad (developed in collaboration with Barracuda) and
the TRON-inspired Volaris LED backlit keyboard.

9
War Z down after hack-attack
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/war-z-down-after-hack-
attack/19479.html
April 3rd, 2013
The controversial, (or lousy according to many), game War
Z was taken offline after a hackers attack that compromised
players account data and passwords. As a result, the game
and its forums are down until further notice.
An official statement by OP Productions was published
today on the game’s forums page. According to the report,
the hackers gained access to players’ character data, e-
mail addresses, forums IDs and passwords. In general, they
totally hacked the game’s database. The only comforting
thing was that a third-party company was responsible for
the payment transactions, so OP vouches that no player’s
payment detail was exposed.
The company investigates the problem and every necessary
measure has been taken to solve it. As the announcement
says: “We are sorry to report that we have discovered that
hackers gained access to our forum and game databases
and the player data in those databases. We have launched
a thorough investigation covering our entire system to
determine the scope of the intrusion. This investigation is
ongoing and is our top priority. As part of the remediation
and security enhancement process we will be taking the
game and forums down temporarily.”
BioShock: Infinite Review
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/bioshock-infinite-review/19477.html
April 3rd, 2013
Irrational Games' third chapter in the critically acclaimed
BioShock series is here; does it soar in the heavens or does
it fall from grace? Jump in to find out!
Developer: Irrational Games, Human Head Studios
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3, PC

10
Genre: Action Adventure, FPS
MSRP: $59.99
With BioShock: Infinite, Irrational Games has brought a
visual masterpiece that introduces gamers to a vibrant and
sprawling world rife with impressive features and gameplay
mechanics. With a story full of mystery and dynamic plot
arcs, BioShock: Infinite takes players on a timeless journey
through the heavens and the very fabric of time and reality.
The last two chapters of Irrational's fan-favorite BioShock
series took players to the Atlantean undersea city of Rapture,
which made use of a variety of mythical and symbolic
representations that culminated in a fantastically original
environment to behold.
Two of Columbia's soldiers stand watch, no-doubt looking
for Vox Populi anarchists.
Now gamers are taken to the sunlit sky-city of Columbia,
further expounding upon many religious themes and
cultural symbolism which have been staples of the series
since its inception.
BioShock: Infinite has been hailed across the world of
gaming as one of the best games of 2013, and for good
reason: the game itself encompasses a variety of rich
aesthetic elements and a multi-faceted story that's infused
with the series' distinct bizarre flair to bring an incredibly
original experience to fans across the world.
The game features a multitude of action-oriented gameplay
that compliments the dazzling and signature visuals quite
nicely, offering a balanced array of breathtaking vistas and
explosive FPS gameplay.
Whether you're swinging across Columbia's sky-rails with
the new Sky Hook, picking off enemies in a glorious firefight
that culminates in a hail of gunshots and bullets, or slinging
bolts of electricity with the Shock Jockey Vigor, BioShock:
Infinite's combat is infused with exhilarating action that has
evolved from its predecessors.
Booker De Witt, the game's protagonist, escorts Elizabeth
to safety.
Irrational's new iteration also brings a fully-fleshed cast of
characters; from the game's flawed protagonist Booker De
Witt to Columbia's tyrannical religious figurehead, Zachary
Hale Comstock, each main character and NPC are quite
realistic in their behaviors and personas. Their graphical
representations and dynamic voices merge to bring a
believable set of characters that players can identify with,
adding to the allure of the game itself.
All of these elements combine to bring an amazingly original
experience to the world of gaming, offering hours upon
hours of entertaining gameplay that immerses gamers in a
fantastic world full of mystery and magic. From the game's
impressive alternate reality that reflects authentic historical
events to the original premise of "tears" in the fabric of
reality, BioShock: Infinite blends the traditional elements
you'd come to expect from a game in the series with a variety
of new features that only add to the experience as a whole.
Teenager tweets "YOLO"
during a test and gets
suspended from school
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/teenager-tweets-yolo-during-a-test-
and-gets-suspended-from-school/19481.html
April 3rd, 2013
Texas recently implemented some different testing
standards using the new STAAR (State of Texas Assessment
of Academic of Knowledge and Skills) test, but students
like Kyron Birdine (the boy who was punished) won’t be
graduating from his junior high school under the updated
standards. Rather, he and his fellow classmates are still
bind to the old standards which is found in the TAKS (Texas
Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test.
Essentially, the teenager felt that he shouldn’t have to sit
through a test that won’t have any impact on his graduation
or college acceptance later on. So instead of bubbling in
the correct answers and write meaningful essays on the
STAAR test, he simply wrote the following message and then
uploaded an image of his work onto Twitter:

11
“Today there was an incident with a student tweeting
a picture of an answer booklet for a STAAR field test.
We have made an initial report of the incident to TEA
and will continue to investigate further. The student has
been punished in accordance with district disciplinary
procedures.”
Apple iOS 7 to boast
significant UI changes
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/apple-ios-7-to-boast-significant-ui-
changes/19480.html
April 3rd, 2013
According to various reports, Apple is hard at work
revamping iOS, and that these new visual tweaks will be very
noticeable when compared to the current iOS 6.
iOS 7 is reportedly going to make its appearance alongside
the next-gen iPhone, but the bad news is development of
the new iOS is running behind schedule—to the extent that
engineers from the OS X department had to be pulled.
(Jonathan "Jony" Ive is one of the leading figures behind
Apple's product designs.)
There has been a lot of Apple rumors floating around lately,
and the talks are not limited to just iOS. Talks of products
like the iWatch and a low-end iPhone are all on the table,
but as always Apple have remained tight-lipped about what’s
going on in the lab.
Regardless of whatever Apple products are coming our way;
expect significant UI changes in iOS 7 as some seem to think
that there were no significant changes made from iOS 5 to
iOS 6.
Mini-robots trained to group
and work together
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/mini-robots-trained-to-group-and-
work-together/19475.html
April 2nd, 2013
A swarm of 40 mini-robots, programmed to group and
work together like mechanic ants, can successfully perform
tasks like carrying heavy objects or regrouping after being
scattered.
The tiny-bots can recognize each other, can co-operate to
move an item, can regroup and organize themselves by
priority order. The impressive thing about this project,
though, is not what the robots can do; it is that they operate
under the least possible amount of information and memory.
Hence their small size.
The medical and military potential applications of such a
programmable group of robots are numerous, if not scary,
especially if we are talking about nanobots – tiny robots in
nanoscale sizes.
As Dr Roderich Gross, head of the project, said: “The key is
to work out what is the minimum amount of information
needed by the robot to accomplish its task. That’s important
because it means the robot may not need any memory, and
possibly not even a processing unit, so this technology could
work for nanoscale robots.”
The little robots are currently ‘living’ in Sheffield Centre
for Robotics, and they are about to be demonstrated at the
Gadget Show Live in Birmingham later this week.

April 4th, 2013 Published by: VR-Zone
1
geeks.
Facebook unveils Home for
Android: A deeply integrated
ads experience?
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/facebook-unveils-home-for-android-
a-deeply-integrated-ads-experience-/19508.html
April 4th, 2013
The new Facebook mobile feature is not a highly spun
version of Android like MIUI. Rather, Home is a “family
of apps” that allow Facebook to supplant itself and build
its presence among other non-Facebook apps on Android
devices. For instance, the Facebook Chatheads feature will
overlay whatever app a user is currently using without
having to exit the non-Facebook app first.
“Chatheads gives you this immediate persona connection to
the people you care about,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
said.
In regards to the overall user experience of Home,
Zuckerberg says that Facebook wants people experience the
“system software rather than an app.”
“All of the interactions are really smooth and natural,”
Zuckerberg said. “With Home, you see your world through
people, not apps.”
Not all Android handsets will support Facebook Home at
launch, and currently only a few Samsung and HTC devices
support Home. Starting April 12, Facebook Home will
be available for the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note
II, Galaxy S IV, HTC One, One X (X+), and the HTC
First will come pre-loaded with Home. Facebook has also
confirmed that OEMs and carriers including Sony, ZTE,
Lenovo, Alcatel, Huawei, Qualcomm, EE and Orange will
ship handsets with Facebook Home pre-installed in the
future.
To monetize on Home, Facebook will integrate ads into the
launcher. The amount ads and their intrusiveness haven't
been determined yet, but users who want to try out Home
won’t have to worry about ads at launch.
“There are no ads in this yet, I’m sure that one day there
will be,” Zuckerberg said when asked how the firm plans to
monetize on the launcher.
Once the ads are implemented, there is a high possibility
that Home users will begin seeing ads along with their friend
updates on their home screen.
Anonymous declares cyber-
war on North Korea
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/anonymous-declares-cyber-war-on-
north-korea/19498.html
April 4th, 2013
The hacktivist group Anonymous has recently taken a
collective stand against the ‘Hermit Kingdom’ with a bold
statement claiming to have in their possession 15 thousand
passwords stolen from the North Korean government.
They call their new plan, “Operation Free Korea”, and the
hacktivists are demanding total democracy in the hard-line
communist state.
Anonymous has taken up many causes in their history
ranging from disclosing corrupt politicians or going after
rogue cult groups, such as the Westboro Baptist church.
Now Anonymous has taken up one of their largest political

2
goals to date with demanding democracy in the ultra-
communist state of North Korea.
Regarding hacktivist group's latest cyber-attack, they
claim to be holding thousands of passwords said to be
retrieved from North Korea’s highly secured intranets
and mail servers and the North's official website,
www.uriminzokkiri.com. “We got all over 15k membership
records of Uriminzokkiri.com and many more,” Anonymous
writes. “First we gonna wipe your data, then we gonna wipe
your badass dictatorship ‘government.”
While the recent attacks on North Korea may appear to be
a unified effort with the United States and South Korea,
Anonymous denies any association with either entity.
“Don’t misunderstand us: As well we disagree with the USA
government too – these guys are crooks, USA is a threat
to world peace too, and direct democracy (or any kind of
democracy) doesn’t exist there. The American government
is a target and enemy of Anonymous as well!’’, Anonymous
writes. "This is not about country vs. country – This is about
we, the people, the 99% (of USA and of North Korea) vs.
oppressing and violent regimes (like USA gov. and N.K.
gov)! We, the people, are gathering together because we are
stronger now and we won’t fight your wars anymore…”
Anonymous has demanded that Kim Jong-un resign his seat
and bring about democracy. A few other of their demands
include the North ending their nuclear bomb endeavors and
open up the Internet without censorship immediately so the
people can see the real uncensored world.
Before their message conclusion telling the North Koreans
to rise up, Anonymous left a message for the leaders of
North Korea. Anonymous writes, “- We are inside your
local intranets (Kwangmyong and others)- We are inside
your mailservers - We are inside your webservers. …Enjoy
these few records as a proof of our access to your systems
(random innocent citizens, collateral damage, because they
were stupid enough to choose idiot passwords), we got all
over 15k membership records of www.uriminzokkiri.com
and many more.”
Star Wars 1313 was going to
be about Boba Fett
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/star-wars-1313-was-going-to-be-
about-boba-fett/19506.html
April 4th, 2013
With the closure of LucasArts, Star Wars 1313 is likely never
going to be released, but with Disney's announcement today
comes the news that the game was going to focus on Boba
Fett.
LucasArts is dead, and it's dragging a few victims down with
it. Star Wars 1313; the gritty, more adult Star Wars game that
wowed the world at last year's E3 and was expected by many
to be a breath of life for the franchise, is likely never going to
see a release. Though it and a few other in-development titles
may be auctioned off to other developers, several sources are
agreeing that chances of that happening are slim.
Is this our last glimpse of 1313?
That’s unfortunate news for Star Wars fans, but perhaps
more so because we just received a pretty big announcement
about it: It was going to be about Boba Fett. Though his
screen time in the original trilogy is fairly limited, the bounty
hunter is a fan favorite character, and the game refocused on
him after George Lucas surveyed development on the game
and told the team he wanted Fett to be the focus of the story.
Development of the game has been on hold since last fall, but
the change in focus to feature Boba Fett happened way back
in May after a series of scrapped and refocused iterations of
the game had gone through the studio. Development of the
game apparently, has been troubled from the start, as one
source told Kotaku: "They ended up with movie tech that
wouldn't fit in a game, and game tech that wouldn't fit in a
movie. 1313 was always in danger of not being made."
Photon brings 3D-scanning to
a hobbyist level
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/photon-brings-3d-scanning-to-a-
hobbyist-level/19505.html
April 4th, 2013
The 3D printing revolution is spilling over into the field of
3D scanners. The Photon is a new scanner aimed at hobbyist
3D modelers who want to bring real objects into the virtual
world.
3D printing is slowly but surely moving to the consumer
level, and it seems to be pulling a few other industries with it.
Photon is a 3D scanner featured on Indiegogo, which means
to bring the power of scanning three dimensional objects
down to a level that anyone can afford.
The device scans over any object placed on its pad, tracing
lasers across the surface and translating that surface into a
“point cloud” in your computer. The point cloud uses dots
spread out in 3D space as markers for the edges and features
of the object, and then creates a model from the cloud that
can be exported into a 3d program.

3
The Photon, amazingly, has been custom built from the
ground up; from the casing down to the circuitry level. The
creators wanted to have complete control over the creation
of the scanner, so leaving even the smallest detail to stock
items was out of the question. Check out the Photon in the
video below!
Baidu developing eyewear to
rival Google Glass
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/baidu-developing-eyewear-to-rival-
google-glass/19504.html
April 4th, 2013
Google's biggest search engine rival in China, Baidu, has
confirmed that it is working on a prototype for digital
eyewear similar to Google Glass.
Google's biggest search engine rival in China, Baidu, has
confirmed that it is working on a prototype for digital
eyewear similar to Google Glass.
The project, called Baidu Eye, is being tested internally, but
it is not yet clear if it will be made available for the public. It is
likely that the success of Google's product will be a deciding
factor in whether or not Eye enters production.
Kaiser Kuo, a spokesperson for Baidu, said that the
eyewear could make use of Baidu's image search and facial
recognition technology, where people can, for example, take
pictures of celebrities and check against the Baidu database,
all through a wearable visual device.
Baidu said the eyewear would feature a headset with a small
LCD screen, with the capability of issuing voice commands
and making facial recognition searches, largely mirroring
the capabilities of Google Glass. However, Baidu said the
comparison to Glass was “premature” at this stage, because
it is not necessarily a product that will be commercialised.
Wearable computing is seen as the next big thing in the
technology sector, and despite the somewhat gimmicky
nature of many proposals so far, the major names are keen
to get a slice of the action. Google's rival Apple is working
on the iWatch, something that Samsung is also allegedly
prototyping, and Baidu's entry into the market will likely be
just one of many competitors to Glass.
New cancer treatment proves
successful with no side-
effects
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/new-cancer-treatment-proves-
successful-with-no-side-effects/19503.html
April 4th, 2013
A new cancer treatment is currently undergoing testing. The
treatment, a type of radiation therapy, is free from all the
harmful side-effects associated with chemo- and radiation-
treatments.
A new form of cancer treatment is being developed by
Professor M. Frederick Hawthorne at the University of
Missouri. The treatment, which utilized radiation to cause
remission of cancer cells, has successfully treated mice
with cancer, without giving them the harmful side-effects
of aggressive treatments like chemotherapy or traditional
radiation therapy.
Cancer - kill it with neutrons!
The treatment works because of a defining trait of cancer
cells; they grow faster, and thus require more nutrients, than
regular cells. Hawthorne’s team injected a boron isotope
into the mice, essentially feeding it to the cancer cells. Once
infused with the isotope, Hawthorne bombarded the cells
with neutrons, which shattered the boron atoms and tore
apart the cancer cells, leaving the healthy ones untouched.
The particular boron isotope used has the unique property of
splitting into lithium and helium when capturing a neutron,
thus facilitating the effect.

4
"A wide variety of cancers can be attacked with our
BNCT technique," Hawthorne said. "The technique worked
excellently in mice. We are ready to move on to trials in
larger animals, then people. However, before we can start
treating humans, we will need to build suitable equipment
and facilities.”
Hawthorne was recently awarded the National Medal of
Science by President Barack Obama
Samsung announces Wi-Fi
version of Galaxy Camera
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-announces-wi-fi-version-
of-galaxy-camera/19502.html
April 4th, 2013
Samsung has announced a Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy
Camera, offering budding photographers a way to more
easily share their photos and save backups.
Samsung has announced a Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy
Camera, offering budding photographers a way to more
easily share their photos and save backups.
The point-and-shoot camera will receive the connectivity
boost to entice consumers who don't want to have to use a
cable to transfer or share pictures, especially given the luxury
of easy sharing from smartphones that many are used to.
“The Galaxy Camera Wi-Fi blends cutting-edge digital
imaging technology with Samsung’s latest line of class-
leading Android devices,” said Ron Gazzola, VP of Marketing
for the Digital Imaging division of Samsung Electronics
America. “Focusing on features that simplify the user
experience, the Galaxy Camera Wi-Fi offers an intuitive
approach to feature-rich photography, without the need to
be constantly connected.
The camera itself comes with a 21x optical zoom, 16
megapixel backside illuminated CMOS sensor, and 4.8-inch
HD Super Clear Touch LCD. It is also powered by Android
Jellybean 4.1, giving users access to apps from Google Play.
Smart Mode, Photo Wizard, Smart Content Manager, and
Paper Artist provide users with a slew of ways to enhance
photographs.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) will be available later
this month for $449.99.
There may be 100 billion
Earth-like planets our there
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/there-may-be-100-billion-earth-like-
planets-our-there/19501.html
April 4th, 2013
Scientists at the university of Auckland is proposing a new
strategy for finding Earth-like planets in the Milky Way, and
expects that there could be an estimated 100 billion such
planets floating around.
Reseachers from the university of Auckland have devised
a new method of detecting Earth-like plantes, which
involves utilizing gravitational microlensing; the physical
phenomena that massive objects bend space time around
them, producing a visual artifact as if a curved lens had been
placedin front of the object. The research team utilized a
combination of data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope as
well as data on microlensing to complete the study.
There could be a lot of Earths out there
Microlensing has previously been used to detect large
planets the size of Neptune and up, but the research team
believed that it would be possible to detect even moderately
small planets, such as ours, if a worldwide network of

5
moderate robotic telescopes could be linked up to make the
observations. As happens, such a system, the Las Cumbres
Observatory Global Telescope Network, is being deployed
right now with telescopes in Chile, South Africa, Australia
and the United States.
"Kepler finds Earth-sized planets that are quite close to
parent stars, and it estimates that there are 17 billion such
planets in the Milky Way,” explains lead author on the paper,
Dr. Phil Yock, “"Our proposal is to measure the number of
Earth-mass planets orbiting stars at distances typically twice
the Sun-Earth distance. Our planets will therefore be cooler
than the Earth. By interpolating between the Kepler and
MOA (Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics) results,
we should get a good estimate of the number of Earth-like,
habitable planets in the Galaxy.” Dr. Yock’s estimate is an
astounding 100 billion planets.
Exhaled breath is a molecular
fingerprint
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/exhaled-breath-is-a-molecular-
fingerprint/19500.html
April 4th, 2013
New research shows that our breaths are unique and could
be compared to a fingerprint. Scientists may use this new
discovery to diagnose medical conditions in the future.
Blood and urine is often analyzed by doctors to determine
whether your body is harboring an infection or metabolic
disease, and even to detect cancer or organ failure. Now, new
research at the ETH institute of technology and university
hospital in Zürich has determined that your breath may also
serve as a good diagnostic tool.
The research determined that our breaths function as
a “breathprint”; a unique collection of chemicals and
molecules that depend on your metabolism. The breathprint
was analyzed in 11 voluenteers over the course of 11 days
by using a modified mass spectrometer, and was found to
remain consistent over that time.
The breathprint analyzers are going to have to be smelling
bad breath for a living. Your job doesn't seem so bad
anymore, does it?
Because of the consistency in the breath’s composition,
any change in the chemical markup of the breathprint
would easily be detectable. Such changes do indeed occur in
patients with various diseases; a well established fact within
medicine (previously, dogs have even been able to detect
cancer from the breath of patients). Diagnostically however,
the breathprint hasn’t been widely used as an indicator of
disease due to technical constraints: Previous analyzers have
either been unable to detect a wide range of chemicals, or
have simply been too slow for practical use.
Speed, in particular, is where the new diagnostic method
truly excels. Where a urine sample or blood sample may take
a long time to analyze, the breath fingerprint can be read in
mere seconds.
Currently, the mass spectrometers used for the analysis are
too large and expensive for use in everyday clinics. However,
as Renato Zenobi, research leader on the project suggests:
"Small, portable mass spectrometers already exist; if their
performance can be improved, they will eventually find their
way into clinics and doctor's offices."
Science discovers massive
scale of plant-life water
usage
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/science-discovers-massive-scale-of-
plant-life-water-usage/19499.html
April 4th, 2013
A study from the University of New Mexico has discovered
that plants use a massive amount of fresh water in their
lifetimes; something which has severe implications for
climate models.
According to research by doctorate student Scott Jasechko at
the University of New Mexico, fresh water as used by plants,
accounts for the largest movement of fresh water on the
planet. In total, the movement caused by plants is more than
one and a half times of that which is caused by rivers, and the
water released into the atmosphere by plants is more than
five times greater than the water which naturally evaporates
on land through heat.
“The study is important because it suggests research should
focus on water transport in plants when assessing the
availability of fresh water in a future, warming climate in
order to better predict how much water will be available for
drinking water, manufacturing and food production," said
Jasechko.

6
Ah, plants: nature's sprinklers.
The research was conducted by observing isotopes of oxygen
and hydrogen in bodies of water. These isotopes store
information on how they were formed, whether through
evaporation, or the plants’ “breathing process” known
as transpiration. The research indicated that collectively,
plants on earth transpire about 10 Amazon rivers’ worth of
flow per year.
As carbon dioxide is processed and taken in as the plants
transpire water out, Jasechko was able to use existing
satellite data on CO2 levels to verify his claim. Indeed, the
results of the research are in agreement with the carbon
dioxide data.
"This study acknowledges the importance of plant life in
controlling the amount of precipitation that ends up in our
rivers," continues Jasechko, pointing out how nearly every
aspect of our lives, from food and shelter to manufacturing,
on some level depends on fresh water. This means our
changing climate actually requires that we keep as much
watch over the health of earth’s flora, as we do on our
emissions.
Ion thrusters deliver
effeciency in air propulsion
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ion-thrusters-deliver-effeciency-in-
air-propulsion/19494.html
April 4th, 2013
Ion thrusters have been around since the 1960's, but until
now they've been considered as low-efficiency devices.
Now their potential may be realized, with efficiency far
outweighing that of the jet engine.
Electrohydrodynamic thrust, or Ionic wind, is a
phenomenon first identified in the 1960’s. Since then, it
has had limited applications beyond hobbyists, primarily
being conceptualized as a low-energy, low-thrust spacecraft
propulsion system. The problem ionic thrusters have had
until now is that they require a massive amount of electricity
to produce enough thrust to drive a vehicle.
Researchers at MIT however, have discovered that this may
not be the case. After running their own efficiency tests
on ion thrusters, they’ve discovered that it may in fact be
much more efficient than conventional jet engines. Their
experiments found that ionic wind could produce thrusts of
up to 110 Newtons per kW, as compared to the jet engines 2
Newtons per kW.
This astounding revelation may change propulsion forever.
Steven Barrett, an assistant professor in aeronautics and
astronautics at MIT, suggests that Electrohydrodynamic
thrust could one day be used to power light aircraft, and due
to it being completely silent and invisible in the infrared,
they may be excellent candidates to power surveillance
vehicles.
Another step towards making my life more like Star Wars
- good work, science!
An ionic thruster is composed of three principal
components: A thin copper electrode, called an emitter;
a collector, essentially an aluminum tube; and an air gap
between the two. When an electric voltage is applied, the air
molecules in the thruster are stripped of their electrons. The
charged ions then begin moving in an electric field – away
from the electrode, and towards the collector tube. As they
do this, they collide with other air molecules, creating a wind,
or thrust.
The research team was able to measure the thrust of the
ionic wind by suspending the thruster from a scale and
measuring the difference in weight as the device began lifting
off the ground. The distance between electrode and collector
was varied during the test in order to find optimal working
conditions. The most efficient thrust was observed while the
device was producing a low velocity wind. This is because
higher velocity winds are turbulent and leave a lot of unused
kinetic energy in its wake.
Currently, there are still a few difficulties with deploying
these thrusters to power aircraft. First and foremost, they
require a lot of voltage to work; the necessary range lies in
the hundreds, or even thousands of kilovolts. "The voltages
could get enormous," Barrett says. "But I think that's a
challenge that's probably solvable." Another problem is that
the thrust is directly proportional to the size of the air gap

7
in the device. This means that to power an aircraft, the
thrusters would likely have to encompass the entire vehicle.
Japanese create genuine
'Smell-O-Vision'
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/japanese-create-genuine-smell-o-
vision-/19478.html
April 4th, 2013
Watching those cooking shows might be a lot different if we
could smell what’s cooking on the screen. Now Japanese
scientists says they have created a genuine working ‘smell-
o-vision’ TV that might let you do just that!
For many years television viewers and personalities alike
have joked about how they wished they had a TV where you
could smell what was happening on the screen. Imagine
watching a popular cooking program and you can actually
smell the steak searing on the grill or the vegetables frying
in the wok? Now those days are here to an extent thanks
to some Japanese scientists from the Tokyo University of
Agriculture and Technology.
A live demo of the product was on display at last month’s
IEEE Virtual Reality conference, which took place last
month in Orlando, Florida. A description of the smelling
screen read in part, “The smelling screen is a new olfactory
display that can generate a localized odor distribution on
a two-dimensional display screen. The generated odor
distribution is as if an odor source had been placed on the
screen, and leads the user to perceive the odor as emanating
from a specific region of the screen.”
As one might guess the smelling screen works with different
fans placed in special regions around the screen. The aroma
being produced doesn’t come from any of the fans but from
at the bottom of the screen. As the aroma rises, the fans,
which are only gently blowing, give the illusion that the smell
magically appears from a specific area of the screen as you
sit in front of it.
The screen is only in its experimental stages but may in
the future be used by doctors to study human senses in
controlled laboratory experiments. However, any chances
for the home consumer getting one is highly unlikely.
There's gold in those
iPhones, but are they
mineable? [Infographic]
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/there-s-gold-in-those-iphones-but-
are-they-mineable--infographic-/19496.html
April 4th, 2013
With the next version of the iPhone just around the corner,
many folks are wondering where they'll be able to find the
money to pay for the newest and greatest. Well, it seems
that your current iPhone may be just the buried treasure you
need, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty mining it for
its hidden wealth.
You might not realize it, but the guts of your favorite iPhone
is littered with all kinds of precious metals and lots of "rare
earth" minerals. In fact, that electronic marvel holds any
where from 6 to 300 times more precious metal that the
same weight of ore from a mine.
For example, each iPhone 5 contains $1.58 of gold, $0.12
of copper, $0.36 of silver, and $0.05 of platinum, but the
riches don't stop there. It is also a container for "rare earth"
minerals like Europium, Lanthanum, Yttrium, Neodymium,
and Gadolinium; all of which are needed in order for all our
modern gadgets to work.
Before you rush out to get yourself some mining gear,
you have to understand that currently there is no good, or
environmentally safe way to get these minerals out of the
phones. It is because of this difficulty that less than one
percent of the rare earth minerals used in phones are ever
recycled.
Here's an infographic with a bunch more interesting facts
about the metal wealth inside your phones courtesy of 911
Metallurgist.
AMD says Nvidia is bitter
about Sony's decision to go
with AMD for PS4
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-says-nvidia-is-bitter-about-
sony-s-decision-to-go-with-amd-for-ps4/19493.html
April 3rd, 2013
AMD’s director of ISV relations Neal Robinson recently took
a stab at Nvidia by saying that perhaps the rival chip maker is
“a little bitter” about Sony’s decision to go with AMD instead
of Nvidia.

8
“If the PS4 ships in December as Sony indicated, it will only
offer about half the performance of a GTX 680 GPU, which
launched in March 2012, more than a year and a half ago,”
Nvidia’s Tony Tamasi said last month in an interview with
TechRadar.
Robinson downplayed Tamasi’s statement by saying that
AMD’s touch on the PS4 is not comparable to what Nvidia is
offering for the PC.
“Well, of course they’re going to do that,” Robinson said.
“They’re a little bitter. For us, really by looking at the APU
that we designed, you can’t pull out individual components
off it and hold up and say, ‘Yea, this compares to X or Y.’ It’s
more than just a CPU doing all these amazing calculations
and a GPU doing calculations. We are now going to be able
to move certain tasks between the two.”
The debate will be ongoing of course as many feel that AMD
is pushing old tech into a supposed next-gen console, but
some are also arguing for the fact that optimization to the
software and hardware can do wonders for the PS4 if done
correctly.

1
geeks.
Man arrested for double-
texting while driving
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/man-arrested-for-double-texting-
while-driving/19522.html
April 5th, 2013
An Alabama man was arrested for texting with both hands
while driving a car which he was steering with his knees.
The Alabama Sheriff’s department has arrested a man,
Dandre Moore, who was pulled over in a tunnel in Mobile
because he was driving a car with his knees while texting
with both hands. Did I mention there was also a three-year-
old in the back seat, as well as two women? The 19-year-
old Moore claimed to have been driving and texting in this
manner since he was 15.
Sheriff’s deputies additionally found an estimated $4,500
and prescription drugs in the car after they stopped the
vehicle and found several Xanax and a prescription of
Oxycodone. The Oxycodone prescription had been filled a
week earlier with 720 pills, of which 386 remained. Oh, and
Dartavious Moor, a passenger in the front seat, had an ounce
of marijuana in his underwear as well.
Moore, who certainly knows how to do a lot of things wrong
at once, was charged with illegal possession of Xanax, and
the possession of a controlled substance. Dartavious was
arrested for marijuana possession. The women were also
arrested.
Originally, the car was stopped for weaving in and out of
traffic, something which should hopefully be a lesson to
Moore: You should always have your hands on the wheel.
Girl has hiccups for ten
weeks
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/girl-has-hiccups-for-ten-
weeks/19521.html
April 5th, 2013
Emily Marsh is a 13 year old girl from Wallington, in Surrey.
One day this January, while walking to math class, she
inexplicably began hiccupping, and it hasn’t stopped for
ten weeks. It continues throughout the entire day and even
through the night, which interrupts her sleep. The ordeal has
been so tiring for her that she now has to take afternoons off
from school to rest up.
Marsh has had a lot of tests done in order to diagnose
and hopefully help tret her ailment, but so far, nothing has
worked. She’s had X-rays, endoscopies and MRI scans, but
so far, nothing has given doctors any insight into what might
cause the hiccupping. To make things worse, medications
which may help against hiccupps are deemed too strong for
the young girl, leaving few options.

2
With the medical world clueless, she’s attempted osteopathy
and hypnosis too, before resorting to several old school
remedies like eating vinegar and holding her breath.
Needless to say, these methods haven't worked and it seems
she may be in it for the long haul. So far though, she still
has a long way to go before hitting the record set by Charles
Osbourne, a man who had hiccups for 68 years, between
1922 and 1990, at which point they strangely stopped.
In case you ever get hiccups, a radical cure which may help is
to induce a gag reflex. In cases such as Marsh’s, this probably
won’t work, but for a normal hiccup it can do the trick: Since
hiccups are an involuntary spasm in the diaphragm, tensing
the diaphragm by inducing a gag can release the spasm and
relax it, ending the hiccup. Just make sure you don’t throw
up!
China's Baidu may compete
with their own version of
Google Glass
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/china-s-baidu-may-compete-with-
their-own-version-of-google-glass/19497.html
April 5th, 2013
Baidu Incorporated, which is the largest Internet search
engine in China, is in the process of developing something
very similar to Google Glass. Baidu says their version will
focus on facial recognition and image search.
Google may be in the works to produce their Google Glass,
but now they have a direct competitor with another search
engine from the east – China’s Baidu.
Baidu Inc. is currently in the process of developing what they
call the “Baidu Eye”, and they do have a prototype that is
being tested. However, the company says they aren’t sure if
they will actually be marketing the idea and may wait to see
how Google does with their own version first.
Kaiser Kuo, who serves as an official spokesman for Baidu,
describes the device as something similar to the Google
Glass. It will contain a small LCD screen in the eyewear
that would allow for voice commands. Kuo said it would
also be able to interpret facial recognition match, which is
something Google glass has not promoted.
The image search along with facial recognition allows for
the user to check images against Baidu’s stockpile of images,
much like Google's popular image search. The user could
then verify a person or persons captured with their eyewear.
It is obviously apparent that Baidu is trying to copy some
of the ideas that Google has brought about in recent years,
but they do not want to be compared to Google. Kuo said
that comparisons to Google Glass were ‘premature’ since the
company has not decided on a real production run.
In an interview with Reuters News, Kuo said that the
company has not decided if they will release the eyewear and
emphasized that Baidu is working on all kinds of technology.
"We haven't decided whether it is going to be released in any
commercial form right now,” Kuo said “…[W]e experiment
with every kind of technology that is related to search.”
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell
favors Xbox 720, says
"Microsoft will win next-gen"
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/atari-founder-nolan-bushnell-favors-
xbox-720-says-microsoft-will-win-next-gen-/19514.html
April 5th, 2013
Atari founder and gaming visionary Nolan Bushnell has
recently spoken out on his belief that Microsoft will reign
triumphantly in the next-gen war, praising the Xbox 720's
"strong software tools" as the console's saving grace.
In a recent segment featured on GameTrailers.com, Atari
founder Nolan Bushnell has named Microsoft his personal
victor in the next-gen war and has openly praised the Xbox
720's "powerful software tools" which he believes will stand
tall against Sony's PlayStation 4.
To support his claim, Bushnell further remarks that Sony
will be held back by "lame" and "difficult-to-understand
software tools", regardless of the company's stance on
making things easier for developers with the PS4.
"I personally believe Microsoft is in a superior
position, and the reason is Sony, whenever they
change consoles, the software tools that they have

3
are lame," Bushnell said during GameTrailers'
Rollin' With Nolan segment.
"A lot of times in the past they were in Japanese;
not well documented and getting the software
development community up to speed…they may
have been able to do it in Japan, but the American
software community just says 'Oh boy, what a pain.'
A lot of people don't realize how strong the software
community is at making the hardware platform
sing and dance."
Bushnell's stance on Sony's PlayStation 4 is interesting,
considering the PS4 has been met with both acclaim and
praise by many developers including Gearbox Software's
CEO Randy Pitchford, id Software's John Carmack, and even
Avalanche Studios' Linus Blomberg made a comment saying
that the "PS4 will outpower most PC's for years to come".
Additionally, Sony has promised a new wave of simplicity in
terms of game development for the PS4, which may open up
new doors in terms of efficiency and overall satisfaction for
developers as a whole.
Bushnell further contends that software drives hardware
sales, and claims that Microsoft will surpass Sony in this
regard and thusly become victorious in the next-gen battle.
"Microsoft, because of their strong software tools,
will end up with much better products sooner [and]
easier, in my estimation," Bushnell continued.With
that, I think will be an advantage. And also don't
forget, Microsoft actually has so much money to
defend this.
Plus, they have a good infrastructure with the [Xbox
Live Arcade], with their online world."
The Atari founder also presented Sony's PlayStation
Network as a shortcoming, stating that Sony "really needs
to get their action together" and fix the "god awful" online
service.
On the topic of essential important features for next-gen
consoles, Nolan Bushnell spoke highly of the Oculus Rift and
counted virtual reality integration as "really important" for
future consoles--as long as latency is held in check. Bushnell
also said that next-gen consoles should feature 1TB hard
drives, citing the current affordability of internal memory.
Bushnell's stance on the ongoing next-gen battle is certainly
a unique perspective, yet since Microsoft has yet to reveal
the console in question we don't have anything solid to go
by other than Microsoft's actions in the past. It's definitely
interesting to see Bushnell's point of view on the matter
considering he's been in the gaming industry for so long, and
we'll most likely find out more about the Xbox 720 in the
upcoming months.
Microorganism found
to thrive on rocket fuel
components
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/microorganism-found-to-thrive-on-
rocket-fuel-components/19520.html
April 5th, 2013
A study has found that deep sea microorganisms can thrive
on the chemical compounds which exist in fireworks and
rocket fuel, which are toxic to most animals
Archaeons are single celled anaerobic microorganisms that
live in the outflow of geothermal vents in the deep sea. These
vents, which result from volcanic activity, are low in oxygen,
highly pressurized and can be close to boiling, sometimes
reaching 95 C.
A dutch research team led by Martin Liebensteiner has
recently shown that one of the most common achaeons,
Archaeoglobus Fulgidus, is able to survive and grow by

4
reducing chlorate and perchlorates, chemicals not usually
found in their natural habitat. Perchlorate in particular, is a
chemical found in among others fireworks and rocket fuel.
This is the archaeon we're talking about
A few species of bacteria have previously been discovered
with the same ability as A. Fulgidus, but they reduce
the chlorate in a different manner. The bacteria split the
chemical into chlorite during metabolism (and then further
into chloride and oxygen), but the archaeon lacks the
necessary enzyme to do so. Instead, a series of reactions
involving sulfur compounds breaks down the chemical. No
oxygen is produced during this reaction, which is good for A.
Fulgidus, since oxygen is poisonous to it.
The importance of the finding is that Liebensteinier
believes the first organisms to evolve on earth were similar
to archaeons, and likely had the same reducing ability
for chlorate and perchlorate. Their existence may have
prevented buildups of those chemicals in the atmosphere
long before life similar to what we see today came about
ASUS GeForce GTX Titan
gets a place in 3DMark Hall
of Fame with four world
records
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-geforce-gtx-titan-gets-a-place-
in-3dmark-hall-of-fame-with-four-world-records/19517.html
April 5th, 2013
ASUS proudly announced that the GeForce GTX Titan
graphics card set four new 3DMark world records and got
the title of the most powerful single-GPU card, currently
available.
In the 3DMark11 tests, ASUS GeForce GTX Titan got 36658
marks in the Entry preset, 37263 for Performance, 22076 in
the Extreme and the world record of 21818 marks in Fire
Strike, Futuremark’s hottest benchmark.
ROG overclocker Andre Yang set up the records, using
liquid nitrogen-cooled Titan cards in a four-way NVIDIA
SLI configuration, with an ROG Rampage IV Extreme
motherboard and an Intel CoreTM i7-3970X processor.
The Fire Strike record was achieved by Yang and fellow
overclocker Shamino, with two cards in NVIDIA SLI and the
same Extreme motherboard and Core i7 processor.
For those who want to see to believe, here is the pick (straight
from Andre Yang’s submission details).
ASUS GeForce GTX Titan has a dual-slot design with a full
NVIDIA Kepler GPU (originally reserved for supercomputer
applications), 2688 CUDA cores and 6GB GDDR5 memory,
at 384-bit, clocked at 6000MHz. It’s the dream card for any
serious pc gamer, DirectX 11.1 compatible and able to run
smoothly any game in resolutions 2560x1600 and above.
Titan simulation experiment
shows life sustaining
possibilities
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/titan-simulation-experiment-shows-
life-sustaining-possibilities/19495.html
April 5th, 2013

5
One of NASA's missions is to explore our planets and
discover if there is, or was, any life on them--with Mars being
the latest exciting frontier. However, Mars isn't the only one
as a recent simulation experiment done here on Earth has
shown that there are more possibilities than the red planet.
While there is a lot of talk among scientists about the
possibility of finding life on Europa, one of the moons
circling Jupiter, there are some who believe that Saturn's
moon Titan could also be a candidate, especially after a
recent experiment carried out at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory.
In fact, the experiment shows that there is the possibility of
a whole new region of the moon that was previously thought
to be devoid of life sustaining elements. In the experiment,
scientists simulated the atmosphere of Titan and found that
complex chemistry could very well extend lower into the
atmosphere than had previous been thought.
It is believed that the building blocks of life could be found in
these strands, which is in direct contrast with the previously
held belief that the moon's atmospheric chemistry was inert
and dull. Just as light drives biological chemistry here on
Earth, the scientists believe that even though Titan receives
much less light, there could be enough to drive the chemistry
on Titan.
A full press release of the findings can be found here.
India police investigating
Google map contest
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/india-police-investigating-google-
map-contest/19519.html
April 5th, 2013
Authorities in India are investigating search giant Google for
alleged violation of competition rules after it asked users for
information about their local areas for use on Google Maps.
Authorities in India are investigating search giant Google for
alleged violation of competition rules after it asked users for
information about their local areas for use on Google Maps.
Police in the country are probing Google's Mapathon
contest, which it ran in February and March, but Google
claims that it did not break any laws when asking for the
data.
The complaint against Google was made by Survey of India,
the national survey and mapping agency, which said that
the contest was not only illegal, but could threaten national
security.
Google has been expanding its Maps service over recent
years, sending staff to remote parts of the world. The
Mapathon contest was designed to create better maps of
India, with Google offering prizes of tablets, smartphones
and gift vouchers to the top 1,000 suppliers of map
information.
Google said it takes security and national regulations
very seriously, but stated that the Mapathon adhered to
applicable laws. Spokesperson Paroma Roy Chowdhury said
the company is open to discussing the concerns with the
authorities.
Nuclear power saves lives
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nuclear-power-saves-
lives/19516.html
April 5th, 2013
A new study concludes that nearly two million lives have
been saved due to the emission free nature of the nuclear
power plant.
Nuclear power has always been criticized by those who
don’t understand it. The first blow to its reputation came
in 1986, when the Soviet-built 30 year obsolete Chernobyl
power plant was mismanaged during a training exercise and
the fourth reactor had a disastrous meltdown. Today, this
still spooks people, despite the fact that modern nuclear
plants are sealed; capable of surviving jet planes flying into
them head on. During meltdown it would be practically
impossible to contaminate the outside – the one exception
being perhaps when the whole superstructure is damaged by
a massive earthquake, like in Japan. Still, add a dash of “what
do we do about the waste”, and you have a sizable population
that would rather have nuclear power go away.
“I was very disturbed by all the negative and in many
cases unfounded hysteria regarding nuclear power after
the Fukushima accident,” says Pushker A. Kharecha at
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. What almost
everyone fails to consider, surprisingly given how climate
conscious the world is becoming, is that nuclear power is
clean and emission free. Whereas fossil fuels release tons of
greenhouse gasses and pollutants into the atmosphere, the
only thing coming out of the cooling towers on a nuclear

6
plant is water vapor. It is this fact that has become the focus
of Kharecha’s new study.
They're friendly, too
Kharecha decided to investigate the number of preventable
deaths attributed to the lessened pollution of nuclear plants,
but was unable to find any data. What he and partner James
E. Hansen did find was a 2007 study on the number of deaths
attributed to fossil and nuclear power, per unit energy. Their
research has concluded that nuclear power has saved an
estimated 1.8 million lives from health related deaths due
to pollution, mining, oil drilling etc. Kharecha and Hansen
went on to extrapolate the data into a prediction about how
many deaths would occur from those causes if nuclear power
was replaced with fossil fuels entirely until 2050. Natural
gas would cause an additional 400 000 deaths, while coal
would produce another 7 million deaths, due to the heavier
emissions.
The study also compared the data for raw pollution, and
found that if natural gas had taken the place of nuclear
power, an extra 64 gigatons of carbon would be in the
atmosphere from the years 1971-2009. The team also
reached the conclusion that if natural gas replaced nuclear
power until 2050, the power plants would release an
additional 80 to 240 gigatons of carbon.
“The nuclear power issue is so polarized that people
who oppose nuclear power will immediately dispute the
numbers,” says environmental economist Bas Van Ruijven,
but also reveals that he agrees with the numbers and with
the research team’s conclusion on the importance of nuclear
power.
Smart bracelet designed
to help protect civil rights
activists
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/smart-bracelet-designed-to-help-
protect-civil-rights-activists/19518.html
April 5th, 2013
Civil Rights Defenders has designed a smart bracelet that
could help save the lives of civil rights activists and aid
workers operating in dangerous areas.
Civil Rights Defenders has designed a smart bracelet that
could help save the lives of civil rights activists and aid
workers operating in dangerous areas.
The bracelet features cellular and GPS technology that will
send warning messages to Facebook and Twitter to notify
people that the activist is in danger, including their location,
which could help prevent them being kidnapped or aid in
their rescue.
The messages can be sent manually by the worker, but the
bracelet will automatically issue warnings to social media
if it is forcefully removed. The data will also be sent to
other aid workers in the area, and widespread knowledge
of the existence of such devices could act as a deterrent to
kidnapping and murder.
“Most of us, given the chance, would like to help others
in danger,” said Robert Hardh, executive director of Civil
Rights Defenders. “These civil rights defenders are risking
their lives for others to have the right to vote, or to practise
religion or free speech.”
Activists constantly face the threat of abduction or murder,
either by oppressive government forces, military regimes,
local militia, or criminal gangs. The murder of Natalia
Estemirova, who was uncovering alleged abuse of civilians
in Chechnya, in 2009 prompted development of this device.
Bracelets are now being given out to activists and aid
workers, with 55 expected to be distributed by the end of
2014. Civil Rights Defenders is looking for funding in order
to create and supply more of these potentially life-saving

VR-Zone Tech News for the Geeks Apr 2013 Issue

VR-Zone Tech News for the Geeks Apr 2013 Issue

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