Somethings from Astronomy

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, took $4.3 million in the fiscal year 2013

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, took nearly $4.3 million as a compensation package for the fiscal year 2013 which ended in September. This compensation package is marginally higher than his compensation for the previous year that was about $4.2 million.

According to the regulatory filing, Cook's compensation package in the fiscal year 2013 included nearly $1.4 million in base salary along with a cash bonus of $2.8 million. Moreover, the compensation package also included $52,721 in company contributions to Cook's 401(k) account; and other incentives such as life insurance premiums, and a vacation cash-out.

From The Mac Observer;

Looking to 2014, Tim Cook has another 205,000 shares of $AAPL that will vest in August and September, both in Apple's fiscal 2014. Those shares would be values at $113.7 million at Monday's closing price of $554.52, but again should be looked at in the context of the years over which they vested.

Overall, Apple Inc. stock performed poorly during the fiscal year 2013 and went down by about 26%. Despite this decline, Apple Inc. was still the world’s highly valued company based on market capitalization.

Sources:

Preliminary proxy statement of Apple Inc. - SEC (http://goo.gl/9A7jvz)

Apple’s Stock Performance Cost Tim Cook $4 Million, at His Insistence - The Mac Observer (http://goo.gl/4S7BdP)

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro would come in U.S. via AT&T

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro - a new Samsung mega tablet - would make its way to U.S. through AT&T as reported by Evleaks. This variant would have the model number SM-P907A.

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro would be presented at the CES next week. According to TDG, Samsung Galaxy Note Pro has a 12.2 inch screen with 2560×1600 resolution display. It has 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, an 8MP camera on the back, a Snapdragon 800 SoC, Android 4.4 KitKat and a huge battery.

From TDG,

It appears that Samsung is looking to tap into the netbook segment with the Galaxy Note Pro and it might succeed to a large extent if priced appropriately. With the company’s goals to emerge as a major player in the tablet segment next year, this could just be the tablet to kick start its merry run.

Sources:

@evleaks – Twitter

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro could launch via AT&T in the U.S. - TDG (http://goo.gl/K9Z5ct)

Facebook planning to come freely on mobile phones

Facebook on mobile phone (Credit: DigitalTrends)

Facebook is planning to come on every phone and the company has started working on it by coming on U.S. phones without data plans.

According to The New York Times reports, T-Mobile’s GoSmart Mobile, a low-cost offshoot offering prepaid services, will start giving free access to Facebook’s social network and instant-messaging service with almost all of its mobile plans and services.

“This is something that no one else is offering in the United States,” said Gavin Dillon, T-Mobile’s vice president of partner brands, in an interview on Tuesday. “It’s really about providing more value for GoSmart’s cost-conscious customers.”

 “Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected, and we’re delighted that GoSmart subscribers, many who don’t have data access, will be able to use Facebook for free,” Chris Daniels, vice president of partnerships at Facebook, said in a statement.

However, according to the report, this would have minimal effect on Facebook usage but this would show the ambition of the company to bring people of the world online.

Source:

Free Facebook, Common Globally, Finally Comes to American Mobile Phones - The New York Times (http://goo.gl/sWOCJ4)

Samsung Galaxy S4 has serious security flaws, research from Israel

Samsung Galaxy S4, best selling smartphone by the company, has such a system that is seriously vulnerable to hacking allowing the malicious software to check the emails and other data, as reported by cybersecurity researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

This report of security flaw comes after the release of Knox security platform by Samsung Electronics Co. to prospective customers such as those at the U.S. Department of Defense and other government and corporate entities, in order to compete with BlackBerry Ltd., which is popular for security services for its devices.

"The new unveiled vulnerability presents a serious threat to all users of phones based on this architecture, such as users" of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Dudu Mimran, the lab's chief technical officer, said in a statement.

Samsung "takes all security vulnerability claims very seriously" and it will work on the claims by the company, according to a spokesman of the company.

Source:

Samsung Phone Studied for Possible Security Gap - WSJ (http://goo.gl/k2ZHRM)

A holiday gift for Google+ users on the ending of year

Google has already introduced the #AutoAwesome feature in its Google+ enabling the users to see the falling snow through a picture showing some ice or such things in it. Now the company has announced one more feature, the “#AutoAwesome year in review.”

In the feature, Google will automatically sort through the photos, select the best content and develop a slideshow composed of photos and videos from the year of the user. User will be “notified whenever an awesome (and private) version is ready to share.”

“Of course: many people have been saving and sharing their photos and videos on Google+ all year long. And for those select users we’ve got one more holiday gift: an #AutoAwesome year in review. You’ll get notified in the next week or so if you have one of these movies waiting for you.”

Previously, Facebook introduced the Year in Review feature enabling users to see the noticeable moments on their Facebook life.

via +AnilSabharwal

iOS 7’s jailbreak team has been compensated by a Chinese app store

Taig, a Chinese app store written in Chinese, is rumored to sponsor $1 million to "evad3rs" - jailbreak development team - to jailbreak for Apple’s iOS 7.

The jailbreak team has noted in an open letter on its website that they have received compensation from Taig,

“Yes, we have benefitted financially from our work, just as many others in the jailbreak community have, including tweak developers, repo owners, etc. Any jailbreak from us will always be free to the users but we believe we have a right to be compensated in an ethical way, just as any other developer.” And the compensation is rumored to be about $1 million.

Source:

Rumor: Chinese company pays $1 million to sponsor jailbreak for Apple's iOS 7 - AppleInsider (http://goo.gl/2qdJu7)

iPhone 6 and iPad would come in bigger sizes in 2014

iPhone 6 concept design by ADR studio

Apple Inc. would launch iPhone 6 and next generation iPad with bigger screen in May, i.e. sooner than expected, and October 2014, respectively. These changes in sizes and timings are possible as Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has recently planned big changes for the company as noted in a holiday email to employees.

According to the reports of Digitimes, Apple would launch a 5-inch iPhone 6 “phablet”. Moreover, it would have 20nm processor manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The “sources from the upstream supply chain” have also noted that Apple would “release a 12.9-inch tablet in October 2014, targeting North America's educational market”.

Tim Cook noted, "We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love. I am extremely proud to stand alongside you as we put innovation to work serving humankind's deepest values and highest aspirations. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world for the opportunity to work at this amazing company with all of you."

Source:

Apple large-size tablet rumored for launch in October 2014 - Digitimes (http://goo.gl/KVGMcu)

Apple CEO Teases Product Shakeup In 2014 - InformationWeek (http://goo.gl/EsKhWk)

Life sized Lego car - "Super Awesome Micro Project"

Credit: superawesomemicroproject.com

You probably used to play with Lego but you would not have seen such as life sized Lego car. This car also called the Super Awesome Micro Project has about 500,000 Lego pieces. Raul Oaida, a 20-year-old from Romania, made this car.

Its engine is also made of Legos and its 256 toy-block pistons run on air. However, the wheels and some load bearing elements are not from the Legos.

This Lego car recently came on the road with the maximum speed of 12-18 miles per hour.

Raul Oaida (@rauloaida) met Steve Sammartino (@sammartino), an Australian entrepreneur, online, and Sammartino crowd-funded the project on Twitter.

Apple and China Mobile have finally joined hands in iPhone deal

A worker cleans glass in front of an iPhone 5C advertisement at an apple store in Kunming, Yunnan province, in this October 27, 2013 file picture.

CREDIT: REUTERS/WONG CAMPION

Apple Inc and China Mobile Ltd. have finally signed a multiyear iPhone deal. Now, China Mobile - the world’s largest mobile network - will sell iPhone 5s and 5C models in its retail stores starting the mid of next month, i.e. January 17, 2014. The phones for China Mobile’s network will also be available in Apple’s retail stores in China.

This deal came after about 6 years of meetings between the CEOs of both companies giving Apple access to China’s 1.22 billion wireless subscribers. The terms of the deal have not been announced and the details of pricing and availability for its iPhone 5S and 5C lines would be available at a later date.

“iPhone still matters a lot for high-end customers,” Tucker Grinnan, a Hong Kong-based analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc, said by phone before the announcement. “One of the main reasons China Mobile is in the position that it is today, in terms of growing revenue at a much slower pace than its competitors, is because they have been waiting for an iPhone deal.”

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. started offering iPhone in November 2009. It is the nation’s second largest carrier. China Telecom Corp. started offering iPhone in March 2012. It is the nation’s third largest carrier.

Sources:

Apple Signs China Mobile IPhone Deal as Both Seek Market Share - BusinessWeek (http://goo.gl/1SsmFG)

Jailbreak for Apple devices with iOS 7 has been launched

Evasi0n team known as Evad3rs has finally launched jailbreak for iOS 7 to hack the Apple’s latest version of iPhone and iPad software that can give access to a third-party app store called Cydia having many of the unauthorized apps and software. Previously, the same team launched the jailbreak for iOS 6.

Jailbreaking is a very simple process in which the users have to install some software on the computer and then sync it with his/her iPhone or iPad by plugging it in with a USB cable. You can get further information and the software from the Evasi0n website; http://evasi0n.com/.

However, jailbreaking would result in denial of your warranty, so that in case of any problem, Apple has the right to refuse to fix the device for you.

"It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of iOS is a violation of the iOS end-user software license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software," Apple writes.

Improve Apple devices’ battery life by using “first party Apple programs”

MacBook Air (Credit: Mark/Flickr)

If you want to improve your battery life use Safari browser instead of Google Chrome on MacBooks as posted by a redditor ben174.

“Just realized how fast Chrome was KILLING my battery. Looked at activity monitor and it's energy consumption is easily 20 times any other applications I use. I normally use Chrome when I'm plugged in, but when I'm strapped for power, I'm going to resort to Safari.”

“Firefox may be better with battery and Vimperator is supposedly better than Vimium,” as posted by Dan_The_MAN_1.

“Stick with first party Apple programs in general if you care about battery life. They know their own APIs and hardware specs better than anyone else,” panhumanist posted.

If you are considering about using Chrome on iOS devices, they would be slightly affected as posted by Coldmode, another redditor. However, Chrome doesn’t work as smoothly on iOS devices.

“On iOS, unfortunately, chrome is gimped just because it lacks access to apples proprietary rendering engine,” pandapanda730 posted. On the other hand, Baryn posted,

“That isn't true. Actually, the opposite is true - Chrome ONLY has access to Apple's rendering engine, and can't use its own. Also contrary, Chrome is an upgrade in some respects, as it uses its own network stack, which supports SPDY.”

vaskemaskine posted,

“You're both partially right. Chrome on iOS is forced to use Apple's rendering engine via webviews, however it's not allowed to use the V8 part that greatly accelerates JS performance, among other things.”

What is your opinion about all these things?

An initiative of California to make smartphones less attractive for theives

Theft ((Luis Gomez Photos))

California is going to introduce first “smartphone killswitch” bill after the lawmakers in San Francisco and New York has asked to install this technology of making the stolen devices useless making it less attractive for thieves.

This plan has been announced by California State Sen. Mark Leno on his website on Thursday. Leno is working with San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón.

Initially this year, Apple Inc. has added an "Activation Lock" anti-theft feature and Gascón said at the "Secure Our Smartphones" kickoff meeting in June that it was only "a step in the right direction."

Smartphone theft is one of the most important problems and nearly half of all robberies in San Francisco involved a mobile device last year, and in Los Angeles cell phone thefts had increased almost 12% this year, according to Leno's announcement.

Source:

California to introduce first 'smartphone killswitch' bill - CNN Money (http://goo.gl/LdbD1P)

Nintendo working on smartphone apps

This is unlikely to happen, ever.
(Credit: Apple/Nintendo/CBSi)

Main Point:

Nintendo is working on smartphone apps as revealed by Nintendo of America president/chief operating officer Reginald "Reggie" Fils-Aime but is not probably launching its games on mobile platforms.

Study Further:

“It’s a topic that comes up all the time. It’s a debate that’s constantly had,” Reggie told in an interview with KING 5 News. “We recognize that there are a lot of smartphones and tablets out there, and so what we’re doing is we’re being very smart in how we use these devices as marketing tools for our content.”

 “We’re also doing a lot of experimentation of what I would call the little experiences you can have on your smartphone and tablet that will drive you back to your Nintendo hardware,” Fils-Aime said. “It’s largely going to be much more marketing activity-oriented, but we’ve done little things where there’s some element of gameplay – a movement, a shaking, something like that.”

Although the company would give a trial of games on smartphones but it would cause the users to come to the device at last.

"We believe our games are best played and best enjoyed on our devices, and so the full gameplay will only be on Nintendo devices," he said.

Source:

Nintendo’s Fils-Aime: We’ll 'experiment' with smartphones, tablets - King5 (http://goo.gl/md5yoc)

Samsung and LG are going to present dinosaurs of TV

Samsung’s 105-inch ultra-HD TV (Credit: 

Samsung)

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are going to present 105-inch curved Ultra HDTVs to the consumer market next year. Both of the TVs will come with ultra-high definition liquid-crystal displays (LCD). Although, organic-light-emitting-diode screens gave more vivid colors and an extremely thin body but due to its expensive nature, at this time, companies have utilized LCDs. LG has also announced a 77-inch curved TV.

Both of the South Korean tech giants will unveil the televisions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month, i.e. January 5. However, the companies have not revealed the time, when the TVs will be available in the market.

Samsung said that the curved TV will give an IMAX-like cinema experience to the users. On the other hand, LG said that the TV will give even the “minutest detail in breathtaking clarity.” Both of the LCD displays has 11 million pixels, compared to 2 million in current HDTVs. The rectangular 21:9 aspect ratio, a shape similar to that of CinemaScope theater screens, is wider than current 16:9 widescreen HDTVs.

LG Electronics' 21:9 aspect ratio Curved Ultra HD TV 105-inch display.(Credit: LG Electronics)

LG's new TV "makes a dramatic statement about what the possibilities are for home entertainment," says Tim Alessi, LG Electronics USA's director of new product development. "Its ... picture resolution and sheer size will deliver a truly cinematic experience."

“For TVs that are over 70 inches in screen size, curves are believed to offer a more absorbing view than flat screens,” said Jerry Kang, a display analyst with IHS Korea.

Source:

Samsung, LG to Show 105-Inch Curved TVs - WSJ (http://goo.gl/gPEXvt)

Bill Gates became a “Secret Santa”

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, has surprisingly taken the role of Secret Santa this year and surprises a Reddit user, NY1227, with secret Santa gifts.

Gates donated a cuddly cow and a travel book to the family via Heifer International.

The post is a joy to read. For example: "My santa had not messaged me, but I knew I was super thorough and have a pretty good posting history so I wasn't too worried that my santa would stiff me. Finally, I received a shipped notification to my email on Monday- I was SO SO SO excited but even more excited when I realized A) my gift was being OVERNIGHTED and B) it was 7 pounds- OMG!"

Let us reiterate, it is a joy. "Thank you so much Bill for a fantastic and thoughtful gift. I'd really love to send a thank you card to you, but if not, I hope this post and message suffices. Thank you so much!!!!!! I will think of you every time I read my book, which will find a nice home on my coffee table once I'm done reading it. 10/10, I would receive a gift from Bill Gates again. "

Source:

Spoiler alert: Bill Gates did not get you, because he got me. Redditgifts (http://goo.gl/Jup0z7)

Facebook “Dislike” (sort of) button for its messenger

Facebook has finally launched a sort of “dislike” button for its messenger app for the desktop and mobile versions in the form of a blue “thumbs down” sticker in a set of stickers, which are available for free in Facebook's Sticker Store.

To get the stickers:

1. Go to the chat feature while browsing Facebook on the web or mobile.
2. Click the smiley logo in the bottom right of a chat window.
3. Click the shopping cart to open the "Sticker Store".
4. In the "Sticker Store," download the "Likes" pack of stickers.

Apple Inc has finally announced its heavy-duty Mac Pro

Apple Inc. has announced the sales of its all-new long-awaited, cylindrical Mac Pro, on Wednesday, keeping the promise that the company made in late October at its last product event.

Apple’s Mac Pro is a professional workstation (a heavy-duty, super-high-end computer) and the base model will start at $2,999, giving you a 3.7GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5-1620 v2. It will also be available with 6-core, 8-core or 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processors, having up to 64GB of ECC DDR3 RAM, dual AMD FirePro graphics chips with up to 6GB of dedicated memory, up to 1TB of PCIe-based solid state storage, six Thunderbolt 2 ports,and support for 4K displays.

From Apple’s website;

In creating a pro computer for the future, we wanted to provide an enormous amount of expansion — without being limited to the space inside the enclosure. Designed with built-in Thunderbolt 2, USB 3, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI 1.4 ports, Mac Pro sets a new standard in flexible, high-performance expansion. It’s our most expandable Mac yet. And it has everything you need to build a workstation completely customized to what you need and how you work.

It will be available to order from Thursday, December 19, through the Apple's online store, Apple's retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

Sources:

Apple - http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/

Facebook knows whatever you type on the website

Facebook knows what you write on your status updates, comments or biographical info whether you publish it or not. Facebook has said that it is within its terms of service to know the status or comment even if the user has deleted that, i.e. “self-censorship”.

"We receive data about you whenever you use or are running Facebook, such as when you look at another person's timeline, send or receive a message, search for a friend or a Page, click on, view or otherwise interact with things .... ," the Data Use Policy says in the section titled "Information we receive and how it is used."

This report came from the study that checked the habits of about four million people in the U.S. and U.K. over 17 days in the summer of 2012. Study shows that nearly 71% of Facebook users cut their own status updates with 51% deleting at least one post and choosing to leave 4.52 unpublished on average over the period. Another 44% censored comments, with an average of 3.2 going unpublished.

Study shows that males remove their comments or posts more often than women and older users remove their contents more often than younger users.

You can turn off Javascript - software that allows the developers to know about the typing of some words etc on the website - to stop giving your information to Facebook.

Source:

Facebook can see what users type even if status is not posted - Los Angeles Times (http://goo.gl/fvNHkg)

New “Donate Now” button on Facebook

While planning to launch different things such as video advertising and “Sympathize” button, Facebook Inc. has also launched “Donate Now” button on Monday giving the users a chance to show more respect to a cause or charitable organization instead of just “like” or “recommend” them.

This new button would appear on charities' pages and besides their posts, and would collect credit card numbers and other billing information. Facebook has started working with 18 non-profit organizations or charities as part of the launch. World Wildlife Fund, the Red Cross and UNICEF are among the first users of the new "Donate Now" button.

From Facebook blog,

Donate also gives nonprofits an easier way to reach out and ask for help, both to support their everyday mission and in the wake of major disasters. And, with a community of over one billion people on Facebook, every local cause can become a global one — and every global cause can become a personal movement.
Facebook has launched the button in the time of holiday season, when many people would like to donate.

Related article on SayPeople.com: Facebook is planning to attract annual $66.35 billion TV advertising market in U.S. (http://goo.gl/hJLxqX)

Further Reading:

Donate to Nonprofits Through Facebook - Facebook (http://goo.gl/sKmknk)

Antibacterial soap is not that effective as said

U.S.  Government has noted after about four decades of study and debates on Monday that chemicals in many antibacterial soaps and cleaning products — used daily in homes, schools and elsewhere — may not work against bacteria and may result in health risks by making humans resistant to antibiotics.

From FDA’s site,

In fact, there currently is no evidence that over-the-counter (OTC) antibacterial soap products are any more effective at preventing illness than washing with plain soap and water, says Colleen Rogers, Ph.D., a lead microbiologist at FDA.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed new rules for the manufacturers of such soaps to prove that they work better than other normal soaps and water or they have to reformulate products.

From FDA’s site,

The agency issued a proposed rule on Dec. 16, 2013 that would require manufacturers to provide more substantial data to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of antibacterial soaps. The proposed rule covers only those consumer antibacterial soaps and body washes that are used with water. It does not apply to hand sanitizers, hand wipes or antibacterial soaps that are used in health care settings such as hospitals.

Experts are of opinion that many of such products would soon disappear from store shelves.

Further Reading:

FDA Taking Closer Look at 'Antibacterial' Soap - FDA (http://goo.gl/so57r9)

Image credit: Erik Herrera/Flickr

Pregnant women are not confused about the spaces around them

Main Point:

Scientists have found that pregnant women can equally judge the space around them as other people such passing through the doorways.

Published in:

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics

Study Further:

In the present study, researchers worked with 11 women during their course of pregnancies and found that the changing body shapes don’t affect the spatial judgments. This good judgment is attributed to a process called as perceptual-motor recalibration that helps people to adjust themselves according to the changing body shapes and sizes.

The possibilities to perform certain actions are shown by the balance between the body and environment, and are known as “affordances”. Affordances usually occur in the person’s life and change, when the body changes relative to the environment.

“Pregnant women accurately perceived the space needed to accommodate their growing bodies,” wrote Franchak, who stated that changes to the body must be considered with respect to a task and an environment, and what is possible to perform or not.

“The experience of weight gain or weight loss likely operates similarly to pregnancy— experience might be necessary to facilitate recalibration to changes in body size and compression, in other words, how much the body can be 'squeezed' to fit through a specific opening,” added Adolph.

“These findings indicate that experience facilitates perceptual–motor recalibration for certain types of actions,” Researchers wrote.

Related Article on SayPeople.com - Minimum time of Pregnancy (http://goo.gl/ESekJW)

Sources:

Life’s not a squeeze for pregnant women - AlphaGalileo (http://goo.gl/6DKWSH)

Gut estimates: Pregnant women adapt to changing possibilities for squeezing through doorways - Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics (http://goo.gl/43Ti06)

New method is relatively easy and efficient to produce hydrogen from water / Related Research Suggestions

Main Point:

Scientists have found a quick method of generating hydrogen from water using a catalyst in the presence of sunlight.

Published in:

Nature Nanotechnology

Study Further:

In the present study, scientists used cobalt oxide nanoparticles to break water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

According to Jiming Bao, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UH, this is the first experiment to use cobalt oxide and the first to use neutral water under visible light at high energy conversion efficiency.

Nanoparticles for the present study were prepared in two ways, i.e. femtosecond laser ablation and through mechanical ball milling, and nanoparticles prepared through both ways worked well. Moreover, different sources of light were used including laser, white light simulating solar spectrum and natural sunlight.

The experiment worked equally well in the presence of sunlight and nanoparticles, hydrogen and oxygen were separated almost immediately from water. However, one of the problems in this process is the reduced lifespan of cobalt oxide nanoparticles that became deactivated after about an hour of reaction.

Research Suggestions:

Although the results were commendable in this study but the conversion rate is still too low with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency rate of about 5% that it cannot be used commercially at this time. According to Bao, better efficiency rate would be nearly 10%, i.e. 10% of solar energy would result in hydrogen chemical energy. You can work to improve the efficiency of this process.

Among the other research suggestions are reducing the cost of the process and increased the lifespan of cobalt oxide nanoparticles.

Sources:

Researchers split water into hydrogen, oxygen using light, nanoparticles - EurekAlert (http://goo.gl/2Wg8hw)

Efficient solar water-splitting using a nanocrystalline CoO photocatalyst - Nature Nanotechnology (http://goo.gl/OmtVBu)