Will your Windows Phone handset be able to make the leap to Windows 10?

Microsoft has been revealing which phones will be capable of running the mobile edition of Windows 10, and new information can be found on the company's website. A link called "Windows 10 Eligible" on the US Lumia phone website brings up a page that displays just five phones so far, namely the Lumia 640 XL from AT&T, the Lumia 640 also from AT&T, the Lumia 735 from Verizon, the unlocked version of the Lumia 635 and the Lumia 635 from Sprint.
But wait, there must more than five phones eligible for Windows 10. And yes, there are. But the question of which ones may not make the cut still seems to be unanswered.
Due to roll out later this year, the mobile edition of Windows 10 will offer several changes and enhancements for users, including a new and more appealing design, a new and improved Action Center that allows you to fine-tune notifications for different features and tasks, a new settings menu and the Microsoft Edge browser. With its mobile market share less than 3 percent, Microsoft is struggling in the mobile arena and is looking for help from Windows 10. The new OS will offer a similar look and similar apps across all devices, from PCs to tablets to phones, a strategy Microsoft hopes will attract more interest from both PC and mobile phone consumers.
So, just which phones will support Windows 10 beyond the five listed on Microsoft's website?
The UK version of Microsoft's site lists a few additional phones, including the Lumia 830 and the Lumia 435. In March, Microsoft released a lengthy list of current Windows Phone handsets that it said were capable of supporting the second test build of Windows 10 Mobile. And in November 2014, a tweet from Microsoft's Lumia Twitter account said that "there will be Windows 10 upgrades for all Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices."
So why are there only a few devices listed on Microsoft's "Windows 10 Eligible" page? That section of the site could be a work in progress. Or it could be in error. Either way, with Windows 10 Mobile coming out this year, Microsoft needs to confirm for sure which phones will be supported and which ones won't. Users of Windows Phone want to know if they can stick with their existing phone or will have to upgrade to a new one to receive the benefits of Windows 10.

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Four mega popular messaging apps you've never heard of

In the past few years standard messaging has gone out of style, with billions of people around the word migrating to alternate instant messenger apps.
Facebook rules the roost in western countries, with the two most widely used apps both owned by the social media giant: Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in June that the site's Messenger app had 700 million active users, up from 600 million just 3 months prior. Meanwhile, WhatsApp, which Facebook purchased for $16 billion last February, recently reported a mind-boggling 900 million monthly active users.
But the thing with messaging apps in the west is that they're just not that different to one another. WhatsApp essentially offers the same suite of services as its less popular competitors Viber and Kik -- the only real motivation to download a certain app is the number of your friends who use it.
It's not quite the same in China, Japan, South Korea and India. Each country has its own wildly popular messenger apps, each with distinguishing features.

China's WeChat and its social media marketplace

Tencent's WeChat messenger has over 500 million monthly active users, with about 85 percent of that number in China. It features a solid list of functions, including location sharing and smartwatch compatibility, but the one feature that makes it unique is called weishang.
Weishang, which translates roughly to microbusiness, allows users to sell goods and services to their contact list, advertising them through the app's Moments status update function. Imagine WhatsApp mixed with Craigslist.
Unsurprisingly, though perhaps a little ironically, the microbusiness platform has attracted the attention of mega businesses.
In July, Chinese home appliance giant Haier experimented by recruiting 30,000 people to sell its products through WeChat. Earlier this month a Haier executive announced that it hopes to have no less than one million vendors on the platform in 2016, according to the South China Morning Post.

India's Nimbuzz

Nimbuzz, India's most widely used messenger, is distinguished by a simple feature that's surprisingly rare in the instant messenger marketplace.
Developed by Dutch-owned, but India-operated Nimbuzz BV, the app allows its users to communicate across messenger apps. Though direct competitors like WhatsApp or Viber aren't compatible, Nimbuzz users can message their friends across platforms like Facebook Messenger, Google Plus and Windows Live Messenger.
The app is also popular in India thanks to its discounted international voice calling rates. Its userbase was numbered at around 150 million in 2013, but has been growing alongside the developing smartphone market in the country -- last year Nimbuzz's CEO told The Next Web there were 210,000 new signups per da

Japan's Line messenger's sticker level is over 9000 (literally)

Line was created by NHN Japan, a subsidiary of South Korean tech company Naver. The app's creation was necessitated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, with NHN Japan's employees developing Line to communicate with each other following the ravaging of the country's telecommunications infrastructure.
The app was released to the public later that year and now, just four years on, it has been downloaded by over 600 million people.
The hallmark of the messenger app is the ridiculous quantity of its stickers. Line is decked out with over 10,000 emoticon options, for all your emotive needs. For comparison, there are roughly 900 emojis available -- though they're often not all usable on the same device.
To compliment the sea of ideograms and smiley faces, Line features a strong suggestive sticker keyboard. For instance, if you type in "dog" you'll be hit with three pages of different canine emoticons.
The caveat is that many of the 10,000 stickers need to be downloaded in packs, and some of them need to be paid for. But even then... 10,000!

South Korea's KakaoTalk

South Koreans like to keep things local. Local companies Samsung and LG are two of the three most popular handset creators in the country, and Kaokao Talk, developed by Seoul-based Kakao Inc, at last count was used by 93 percent of South Korea's smartphone users.
And there's good reason too, as the app is one of the world's most robust messengers. In addition to the standard messaging and voice call capabilities, the app is open source, allowing for users to make creative and unique themes for themselves and others.
Another simple, yet surprisingly rare, function is the ability to create events within the app. Coordinating events with your friends is a huge part of Facebook's appeal and the reason why many people struggle to extricate themselves from the social network.
Another social media-like feature of KakaoTalk is the ability to buy real-world gifts for your friends. You can buy vouchers for food, services and products at cooperating companies, the list of which has steadily grown with the popularity of the app.
All of these apps are available for download on iOS and Android in all countries -- but unfortunately some of the more interesting features, like Weishang and Kakao's gifting, are only available in the respective app's native country.

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What you need to know when Getting a New Apple Phone

Apple's newly announced iPhone Upgrade Program offers customers the opportunity to upgrade their smartphone each year by paying a monthly installment. In this column, I'll look at whether the plan is worth it.
Apple's plan mimics similar deals offered by the four major wireless operators, which are ditching two-year service contracts with heavily subsidized devices. Instead they're offering plans that require customers to pay full price for a phone in exchange for lower service fees. T-Mobile started the no-contract trend two years ago and Verizon is the latest to follow suit.
Installment plans help blunt the sticker shock of a new smartphone. And the upgrade plans help drive more iPhone sales.
Apple's new plan could be a boon for the company, which will not only move more inventory, but will also get a steady stream of older devices it can resell.
The new financing program will be available only at Apple retail locations. Customers won't be able to sign up for it online. Devices bought through the program will be unlocked, but they must be activated on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon, the company said during the announcement.

What's the pricing for the Apple upgrade program?

Pricing starts at $32.41 a month for a 16GB iPhone 6S and goes as high as $44.91 for the 128GB iPhone 6S Plus.
The pricing is on top of the monthly fee you'll pay for wireless service from your carrier.

Do customers have to return their old iPhone when upgrading to the next model?

Apple's program is essentially an installment plan combined with an early upgrade program. It spreads payments for the new phone over 24 months. Customers can upgrade free after 12 payments. To upgrade, they must trade in their existing iPhone; then the clock resets on the monthly payments for the new device.
If customers choose not to upgrade, they can continue paying off the device. After 24 months, they'll own the phone and can keep it, sell it, give it to a family member or use it as a backup device.
If customers want a new phone after making 24 payments, they can keep their paid-off phone and sign up for a new device, assuming Apple continues the program.

The plan offers 'unlocked' iPhones. What are they and why would I want one?

An unlocked smartphone doesn't have software installed from a specific wireless operator to prevent it from being used on a rival's network. iPhones sold for and by major carriers include a software lock. (Verizon is the big exception. All its 4G LTE devices come unlocked.) AT&T and Sprint will generally unlock devices once they're paid for.
T-Mobile announced Thursday a network service guarantee that lets unsatisfied customers request that their smartphone be unlocked so it can be used on a competitor's network, even if the device isn't paid off.
Unlocked phones let customers avoid contracts and switch carriers if they're unhappy with service. They also let customers swap SIM cards so the device can be used with a local service provider when traveling abroad. This can save big bucks on service charges while out of the country.

In the past, unlocked iPhones didn't work on all US carriers. Will the unlocked version sold through this program work?

In years gone by, Apple built multiple versions of the iPhone that included technology compatible with particular wireless operators. Unlocked versions of the phone were often tailored more for the European market, which uses a network technology called GSM to deliver voice service. AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. use GSM, while Verizon and Sprint use a technology called CDMA to deliver voice service. Because of this difference, unlocked iPhones sold by Apple often didn't support the CDMA technology needed to operate on Verizon and Sprint.
Apple says the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus sold through this program will come unlocked and will work on any of the four major US carriers' networks.
One thing to note is that included in the monthly fee is a subscription to Apple Care+, Apple's insurance and extended warranty program. The retail cost of this service is $129. If you look at the total price of a new 16GB iPhone 6S under the Apple program, it's roughly $129 more than the full retail price of the device, which is $650.
Each of the four major carriers in the US offers installment and/or early upgrade programs for new iPhones. And each of those is likely to be at least slightly less expensive than Apple's plan. But remember that these plans don't include insurance or an extended warranty. Customers wanting those features must pay extra, and the per month and total cost could be pricier than Apple's offer.
Based on current pricing, Sprint offers the best value for customers who'd like to upgrade to a new iPhone every year, through a leasing program called iPhone Forever. Right now Sprint is offering a promotion that lets customers lease a new iPhone for $15 a month with the option to upgrade anytime they want. In order to get this price, customers have to turn in a functioning smartphone. Without a device to trade-in, the price is $22 a month to lease a new iPhone 6S.
For iPhone fans who plan to keep their devices longer, T-Mobile's Jump On Demand offers a great value. The plan, available only in retail stores, charges a monthly fee and lets customers upgrade up to three times a year.
Following Apple's announcement, T-Mobile sweetened its deal by dropping the monthly lease price for a new 16GB iPhone 6S to $20 a month. But the real value of the T-Mobile offer over all the other plans is that it lets customers pay $164 at the end of the lease period to own the phone. This, coupled with the newly reduced monthly fee, brings the total cost of a new iPhone under T-Mobile's Jump plan to $524, a savings of $126 over the full retail price of the phone.

I know Apple Care+ is included in the monthly fee under Apple's program. What benefit does it provide over the standard warranty?

Apple iPhones come with a limited one-year warranty, which covers manufacturer defects, as well as 90 days of support. AppleCare+, which now costs $129, extends the basic warranty to two years. It also adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

The bottom line: What should I do?

Apple's upgrade program is attractive only for people looking to upgrade to the latest iPhone every year.
Even then, Sprint and T-Mobile each offer less expensive options, especially with the promotions they're currently running.
If you'd rather use AT&T or Verizon as your service provider, and you'd like to upgrade your iPhone each year, the Apple upgrade program is appealing. It's priced slightly lower than AT&T's Next program, which also allows the option to upgrade once a year, and it includes the Apple Care+ warranty and insurance. For Verizon subscribers, it's the only option if you want to upgrade without paying the full price for a new device every year.
If you plan to keep your device for at least two years and you don't really need or want to spend extra money on the Apple Care+ service, then almost any offer from one of the wireless carriers will likely cost you less over a 24-month period than Apple's plan.

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Twitter limits access of fast-growing Meerkat live-stream app

Meerkat has gained a lot of buzz since launching in late February. Meerkat

AUSTIN, Texas -- Twitter may be in self-defense mode.
Meerkat, a fast-growing mobile app that lets people live-stream a video feed to their Twitter followers, has gotten a lot of traction since it launched in late February, especially with the approach of the South by Southwest tech, music and film festival here in Austin.
But Meerkat relies heavily on Twitter's audience, and Twitter on Friday evening made it harder for the new app to reach its intended audience. The timing is a blow for Meerkat, as many young tech companies try to use the spotlight of SXSW and its 30,000 attendees to make a name for themselves. Buzzfeed first reported the news.
"We are limiting their access to Twitter's social graph, consistent with our internal policy," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. "Their users will still be able to distribute videos on Twitter and login with their Twitter credentials."
Twitter's tweak prevents Meerkat users from automatically linking their Twitter followers to their Meerkat accounts. That restricts the number of notifications that can be received and sent out when Meerkat users are live-streaming their videos. The change comes the same day Twitter announced the acquisition of Periscope, a Meerkat competitor.
"Twitter's move here shows how significant Meerkat has become," tweeted Meerkat co-founder Ben Rubin.
Live video could become an important element for social networks, as people put more of their personal lives on the Internet. There are also potential revenue opportunities as marketers look to how they can advertise with individualized video feeds.
Twitter knows the power of SXSW more than anyone. Back in 2007, the social network sprang into the mainstream after a burst of popularity at the festival, which brings together the tech community, filmmakers and musicians. Festival-goers used Twitter to find out where their friends were having lunch or figure out which parties were worth attending.
Some venture capitalists were already predicting Meerkat's success at SXSW this year. Josh Elman, a partner at the venture firm Greylock, highlighted Meerkat as a potential standout app at this year's festival -- but that was before Twitter's move.

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State Department takes network offline for security scrub

The State Department's network shutdown this weekend may be related to a Russian hack last year.

The State Department has shut down parts of its computer network for the weekend as it looks to boost security.
The efforts are another attempt to ferret out malicious software tucked into the department's unclassified email system by Russian hackers last fall, according to an ABC News report on Friday that cited US officials.
The State Department released information on Friday about the shutdown, though it did not specifically note email or hackers.
"As a part of the Department of State's ongoing effort to ensure the integrity of our unclassified networks against cyberattacks, the Department is implementing improvements to the security of its main unclassified network during a short, planned outage of some Internet-linked systems," the government said in a statement. "There has been no compromise of any of the Department's classified systems, nor of our core financial, consular and human resource systems."
The threats from hackers who've cracked into government, corporate and individuals' private data -- from sensitive emails to medical records to bank accounts -- seem only to grow. The financial incentives for making off with such information, whether it's to enable criminal acts or government espionage, are incredibly strong.
Among the highest-profile security breaches in recent years, a hack at Target in 2013 yielded the credit card data of 40 million customers. Another at Home Depot last year exposed 56 million credit card numbers. Last fall, a hack into Sony Pictures highlighted the inner workings of the movie studio. In December, office supply chain Staples said a hack affected more than a million payment cards. And in January, insurance provider Anthem revealed that hackers had potentially accessed the personal data of 80 million people.
Last fall, the State Department temporarily shut down its unclassified email system to make repairs and security upgrades after "activity of concern" was detected on the system. According to ABC News, this weekend's shutdown is related to the one last fall.
State Department email has been a much-scrutinized topic in the past two weeks because of revelations over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of personal email during her tenure. The department's current shutdown, however, appears to be unrelated.

source: CNET

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AeroMobil prototype of a flying car

AeroMobil unveiled its most current prototype of a flying car in October. AeroMobil

AUSTIN, Texas -- AeroMobil, a startup from Slovakia, is already making sci-fi lore a reality: the company has made a prototype of a flying car. But that's not enough for the company. The next thing it has on its roadmap for the coming decade? A self-flying car.
AeroMobil has built a hybrid car and plane that can unfurl its wings and take off when it has a grass runway of about 800 feet. The idea is that someone could take a trip of about 500 miles and not have to switch vehicles, which cuts out waiting in airports. But the company eventually wants to make it so the driver doesn't even have to operate the thing. (As part of the current vision, the person at the wheel would also need a pilot's license for once the vehicle takes flight.)
The company stressed that it's still for now focused on developing the first prototype -- which needs a human at the controls -- but that it wants the next version to be automated. AeroMobil is a finalist at the South by Southwest Interactive Innovation Awards, which will take place Tuesday here, at the tech, film and music festival.
"Maybe 10 years from now, it needs to be automated," said Stefan Vodocz, the company's chief communications officer. "With an algorithm, it would be managed much better by a computer than by man."
Cars are the current fascination of the technology industry. Google is famously hard at work on a self-driving car (an earthbound one) that it wants to take to market in the next five years. Apple is also reportedly developing its own car. Google and Apple also have platforms that bring their mobile operating systems into car dashboards. Meanwhile, Tesla has helped to popularize the electric car.
AeroMobil, which was founded in 2010, unveiled the most current version of the prototype, called the Flying Roadster, in October. The company wants to eventually commercialize the product, and not just leave it in the realm of academic experiments. But AeroMobil knows it has an uphill battle in overcoming regulations and legislation. (Google, for example, has been working with the Department of Motor Vehicles as it tests its driverless car.)
"We need to somehow deal with 100 years of bureaucracy in the air, and 100 years of bureaucracy on the road," said Juraj Vaculik, AeroMobil's CEO.
The company envisions a future where gas stations double as airfields where cars can legally take off. In less-developed countries, AeroMobil hopes governments can spend less on infrastructure like roads. The prototype took 10 months to make, Vadcocz said, though the company wouldn't specify how much it cost to produce.
Vaculik is aware of the challenges but thinks the flying car is an inevitability. He points to a quote from Henry Ford in 1940: "Mark my words: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come."
source: CNET

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BlackBerry takes another shot at a tablet -- sort of

BlackBerry says the SecuTablet will be a "high security" version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, shown here. James Martin/CNET

BlackBerry is taking another stab at the tablet business, albeit through a backdoor.
On Saturday, at the CeBIT tech conference in Germany, the company unveiled the SecuTablet -- developed by Samsung, IBM and Secusmart, a Germany-based security-software maker BlackBerry bought last year.
The "high-security" tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 modified with a Secusmart Security Card for voice and data encryption and with IBM's "app wrapping" to separate secured work apps from less secure personal ones, BlackBerry said.
BlackBerry has struggled to regain traction since its smartphone market share began to plunge years ago. The company currently has less than 1 percent share of the mobile market. John Chen, who took over as BlackBerry CEO in late 2013, has been working to build the company back up bit by bit.
Four years ago, BlackBerry introduced its first tablet, the consumer-oriented PlayBook, only to see it rapidly sink before finally discontinuing it altogether. The SecuTablet is set for release this summer. Its target audience will be corporations and governments seeking to keep out spies and criminals.
At the Mobile World Congress conference earlier this month in Spain, Chen hinted at the company's re-entry to the tablet market. "It's not in the works, but it's on my mind," Chen said at the time.
Technically, the SecuTablet is not a BlackBerry tablet because it doesn't run BlackBerry's operating system, so Chen may still have something up his sleeve.
Germany's Federal Office for Information Security is currently assessing the tablet to certify it for government use with classified information, BlackBerry said.

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The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which went on sale in September, have been helping boost Apple's financial results. James Martin/CNET

Just how jolly was Apple's holiday quarter? If the latest Wall Street estimates are accurate, the answer is "very."

When it comes to the consumer electronics giant's financials, all eyes will be on the iPhone. The Cupertino, Calif., company generates more than half its revenue from its smartphone business, and the fiscal first quarter, which ends in December, is typically Apple's biggest quarter of the year because of holiday sales and the recent introduction of the latest iPhones.
This year's first quarter marked Apple's first full period of 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch 6 Plus sales, which could result in higher revenue and profits than ever before. (The last record quarter for sales was 2014's fiscal first quarter with revenue of $57.6 billion.) Apple said it sold more units at launch than any previous iPhone model, and it's likely demand didn't slow down in the following months.
Apple is believed to have sold 66.5 million iPhones in the period, according to an analyst poll by Fortune. That's nearly a third more devices than the record 51 million sold in the year-earlier quarter.
"Indications are that the new large iPhones produced a better-than-expected quarter, offsetting any weakness in iPads," noted Janney Capital Markets analyst Bill Choi.
The company will release its most recent financial results Tuesday. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment ahead of the report.
CEO Tim Cook will also likely give information about whether Apple is now making enough iPhones to meet the demand for the devices. In October, he said iPhone 6 and 6 Plus demand was "far outstripping supply," and it could stay that way through the end of the calendar year. Some analysts believe Apple still isn't making enough iPhones.
"Our checks indicate that demand-supply for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is tighter than the last two generations, which bodes well for better-than-expected [fiscal first-quarter] results and [fiscal second-quarter] guidance," noted Oppenheimer analyst Andrew Uerkwitz.
Overall, analysts expect the company to report revenue of $67.5 billion, net income of $15.3 billion and per-share earnings of $2.59, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters. Apple in October had projected first-quarter revenue of $63.5 billion to $66.5 billion, which topped expectations at the time.

The iPad question

While Apple's smartphone sales have been soaring, iPad sales have been floundering. Large-screen smartphones, including the iPhone 6 Plus, are eating away at the need for a tablet, and consumers have held on to their iPads longer than their smartphones. Apple has been facing questions for months over whether the iPad's declining shipments are a temporary hiccup or a troubling trend.
This quarter's results could be telling. The iPad tends to have strong sales in the December quarter as consumers scoop them up for holiday gifts. Apple posted its biggest period ever in fiscal 2013's holiday quarter, with sales of 26 million iPads. However, iPad demand has fallen every quarter since then, and first quarter 2013 was one of only three quarters out of the past eight that iPad unit sales and revenue rose year over year. In Apple's fiscal fourth quarter, which ended September 27, iPad unit sales dropped 13 percent to 12.3 million units.
The company introduced its newest tablets -- the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3 -- in October, but analysts say the incremental changes likely aren't enough to attract buyers in droves. They predict Apple sold 21.5 million iPads in the fiscal first quarter, according to a poll by Fortune, down 17 percent from the year-ago period.
"Demand for newer iPad models appears weak," noted UBS analyst Steven Milunovich. He said about 20 percent of iPads sold in the December quarter likely were the older iPad with Retina, not the new iPad Air 2.
Apple, for its part, has called the iPad's weakness "a speed bump."

Apple Watch time?

What people are really hoping to hear from Apple's earnings call, though, is what's happening with Apple Watch. The company hasn't yet revealed when it will start selling its first smartwatch aside from saying "early 2015." And Apple hasn't shared more details about the wearable, such as pricing for its higher-end models, since announcing the device in September.
Apple Watch is the first major new product category for the company since the "magical" iPad in 2010. It's also the first new push by the company under Cook's tenure. Cook had promised for over a year that Apple in 2014 would introduce "amazing" new products and enter "exciting new product categories" beyond its wildly successful smartphones, tablets and computers. The Apple Watch, along with the new Apple Pay mobile payments service, fulfill that vow.
Cook likely won't provide much -- if any -- information about Apple Watch during the earnings call. Apple tends to save product information for flashy press events, not financial reports. Still, that hasn't stopped analysts from making their projections for Apple Watch sales. Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty expects Apple to sell about 30 million smartwatches this calendar year.
"iPhone users are twice as likely to purchase wearables compared to other smartphone users, and they overwhelmingly pick Apple's Watch, suggesting a strong 'halo effect,'" she noted.
We are also likely to hear about how emerging markets have been performing and whether Mac sales have remained strong. Apple also could talk about plans to return even more cash to shareholder  
Apple Watch keeps up with the times

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Colliding black holes could warp space-time itself

NASA has observed galaxies merging before, as in the case of the "Antennae Galaxies." But it's never seen the conclusion of the process -- the collision of two supermassive black holes.NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

A team of prominent researchers has discovered what appears to be the start of two massive black holes at the centers of their own galaxies beginning to collide.

Such an event should come as no surprise, considering that there are up to 200 billion galaxies in the universe (according to Space.com), so two of them are bound to bump into each other from time to time. In fact, astronomers have already observed the merging of galaxies (as seen in the image above), but they've never before witnessed the end-stage process of galaxy commingling, which results when the two central black holes smash into each other, releasing some pretty violent cosmic fireworks that could warp space-time itself.

An artist's rendering of what two black holes inside a quasar might look like.Santiago Lombeyda/Caltech Center for Data-Driven Discovery

The researchers, including scientists from Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, have theorized that an unusual light signal they're seeing from quasar PG 1302-102 -- essentially a black hole emitting light from the superheated particles swirling around its gravitational drain -- is being caused by the cosmic dance between two black holes in the system, each located less than the length of our solar system apart. The theory was published this week in the journalNature.

While other cosmic phenomena could explain the light signature, the scientists became confident that their theory is the most likely after analyzing the quasar's light spectrum.

"When you look at the emission lines in a spectrum from an object, what you're really seeing is information about speed -- whether something is moving toward you or away from you and how fast. It's the Doppler effect," Eilat Glikman, study co-author and assistant professor of physics at Middlebury College in Vermont said in a statement.

"With quasars, you typically have one emission line, and that line is a symmetric curve. But with this quasar, it was necessary to add a second emission line with a slightly different speed than the first one in order to fit the data. That suggests something else, such as a second black hole, is perturbing this system."If the theory is correct, study co-author S. George Djorgovski of the California Institute of Technologytold The New York Times that when the two black holes collide, they could release the energy equivalent to 100 million supernova explosions, which would rip apart the galaxy in which they're floating. The collision would also release gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space-time predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, Djorgovski told the Times.

Unfortunately, astronomers hoping to witness such an event are out of luck, as the predicted union won't take place for about another million years -- a long time in human standards, but not cosmic ones. Of course, the universe itself already knows whether the theory is correct because the light we're seeing from this system, located in the Virgo constellation, comes from 3.5 billion light years away -- meaning everything we're witnessing already took place billions of years ago. But until we come up with our own way to warp the space-time continuum, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Source: cnet

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SpaceX's "reusable" rocket crashes into its floating landing pad in the Atlantic Ocean

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off early Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. An attempt to land the rocket on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean was unsuccessful.NASA

SpaceX almost made history on Saturday. Almost.

As part of its NASA-contracted mission to resupply the International Space Station, the private space-exploration company was attempting to launch the "world's first reusable rocket" and then land it on a landing pad floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

The launch, which was scrapped earlier this week because of a problem with a rocket part, went off without a hitch at 4:47 a.m. local time at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, according to NASA.

SpaceX's 14-story Falcon 9 rocket also successfully sent a Dragon cargo capsule on its way to the space station. But when the first stage of the Falcon 9 returned to Earth, it crashed into its 300-by-100-foot floating landing pad.

"Close, but no cigar this time," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted Saturday morning. "Bodes well for the future tho."

SpaceX is one of a handful of private companies pursuing spaceflight, a realm once solely controlled by government space agencies. But the task isn't easy. In August, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explodedduring a test flight. And in October, space-tourism company Virgin Galactic saw one of its space planescrash during a test flight, a mishap that killed one of the plane's two pilots.

Before Saturday's launch, SpaceX had put the odds of a successful landing at 50 percent "at best" and likened hitting the bull's eye to "trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm."

SpaceX has already started assessing what went wrong, and Musk tweeted an initial finding: "Grid fins worked extremely well from hypersonic velocity to subsonic, but ran out of hydraulic fluid right before landing." The grid fins are an upgrade for the rocket and are designed to move independently to help with landing, according to SpaceX.

Here are two of the four grid fins on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. An issue with them may have contributed to the crash landing.SpaceX

Saturday's launch was part of SpaceX's fifth resupply mission to the International Space Station. The cargo on the Dragon capsule included two tons of gear, supplies, experiments and food, NASA said. The Dragon is scheduled to reach the space station on Monday.

SpaceX has seven more supply missions to go as part of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

In two test flights last year, SpaceX proved that Falcon 9 rockets can slow themselves down and use landing gear. In both those tests, though, the rocket tipped into the ocean after touching down.

According to SpaceX, reusable rockets are the key to reducing the cost of space missions and travel. "The majority of the launch cost comes from building the rocket, which flies only once," according to the company's website.

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Artificial intelligence experts sign open letter to protect mankind from machines

"Charlie" is an ape-like robotic system that walks on four limbs, demonstrated here in March 2014 in Hanover, Germany. The robot could conceivably be used in the kind of rough terrain found on the moon, or it could be a stepping stone toward humanity's destruction.Getty Images

We're certainly decades away from the technological prowess to develop our very own sociopathic supercomputer that will enslave mankind, but artificial intelligence experts are already preparing for the worst when, not if, the singularity happens.

AI experts around the globe are signing an open letter, put forth Sunday by the Future of Life Institute, that pledges to safely and carefully coordinate and communicate about the progress of the field to ensure it does not grow beyond humanity's control. The signees already include co-founders of Deep Mind, the British AI company purchased by Google in January 2014, MIT professors and experts at some of technology's biggest corporations, including from within IBM's Watson supercomputer team and Microsoft Research.

"Success in the quest for artificial intelligence has the potential to bring unprecedented benefits to humanity, and it is therefore worthwhile to research how to maximize these benefits while avoiding potential pitfalls," the letter's summary reads. Attached to the letter is a research document outlining where the pitfalls lie and what needs to be established to continue safely pursuing AI.

Thee most immediately concerns for the Future of Life Institute are areas like machine ethics and self-driving cars -- will our vehicles be able to maximize risk without killing their drivers in the process? -- and autonomous weapons systems, among other problematic applications of AI. But the long-term plan is to stop treating fictional dystopias as pure fantasy and to begin readily addressing the possibility that intelligence greater than our own could one day begin acting against its programming.

The Future of Life Institute is a volunteer-only research organization whose primary goal is mitigating the potential risks of human-level man-made intelligence that may then advance exponentially. In other words, it's the early forms of the Resistance in the "Terminator" films, trying to stave off Skynet before it inevitably destroys us. It was founded by scores of decorated mathematicians and computer science experts around the world, chiefly Jaan Tallinn, a co-founder of Skype, and MIT professor Max Tegmark.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who sits on the institute's Scientific Advisory Board, has been vocal in the last couple of years about AI development, calling it "summoning the demon" in an MIT talk in October 2014 and actively investing in the space, which he said may be more dangerous than nuclear weapons, to keep an eye on it.

"I'm increasingly inclined to think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish," Musk said at the time. Famed physicist Stephen Hawking, too, is wary of AI. He used last year's Johnny Depp film "Transcendence," which centered on conceptualizing what a post-human intelligence looks like, to talk about the dangers of AI.

"One can imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand," Hawking co-wrote in an article for the Independent in May 2014, alongside Future of Life Institute members Tegmark, Stuart Russell and Frank Wilczek.

"Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it," they added, "the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all."

Source :cnet

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