Samsung to show an 8-core chipset

Samsung is rumored to put a quad Cortex-A15 CPU inside the Galaxy S IV with the Exynos 5450 chipset, but EETimes is reporting that the Korean company has a more interesting chipset in the works - the first one to use ARM's big.LITTLE technology.

Galaxy S IV to have 13MP camera, quad-core A15 CPU

The Samsung Galaxy S IV rumors are heating up - the 4.99" 1080p Super AMOLED screen was brought up again as was the Exynos 5450 chipset rumors (with quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU). The camera has also caught the attention of the rumor mill and apparently it will be a 13MP shooter.
That sounds plausible - we've heard that the Galaxy Note II was supposed to have a 13MP shooter, but in the end Samsung went with the old 8MP because Sony couldn’t make enough sensors (and it had already made a deal with LG for the Optimus G). Plus, Samsung can't have three consecutive generations of Galaxy S phones using the same camera, can it?

Apple spaceship campus plans as launch risks slipping to 2016

Have you wanted as direct a look as possible at Apple's latest plans for its spaceship-like campus? You've got it -- although you may not be in love with the reason why. Details posted by the city of Cupertino reflect a potential delay in an environmental impact study that might not wrap up until June 2013. If the analysis takes that long, Apple may have to push back the halo-shaped office's opening until 2016, roughly a year later than expected. It's hard to be sympathetic when most of those who'll see the campus first-hand will have to wear an employee badge; even so, it's slightly disappointing to realize that the renderings and schematics at the source link may be our only only glimpse at the company's solar-powered donut for quite awhile.

Wikipedia Adds Video Support Today - HTML5

As of today, Wikipedia is open to HTML5 video uploads.
The video project is a collaboration with video start-up Kaltura and Google, and it’s actually been in the works since 2008, but was delayed by infrastructure upgrades, personnel changes and other problems over the past four years.
“Wikipedia has more than half a billion unique monthly visitors, so any new feature that is deployed needs to be really sustainable and fool-proof,” said Kaltura president Michal Tsur.
Today, there are only about 15,000 videos on Wikipedia, a mishmash of beta testing and uploads in an older and more limited format called Ogg Theora. You can see an example of a Kaltura video on the page about polar bears.

New Sony mid-range C3602 model spotted in benchmark

A new mid-range Sony handset for 2013 has just been outed by NenaMark2. The Sony C360X (C3602) is listed confirming a S4 Snapdragon chipset (MSM8260A or MSM8960) with 1.5GHz dual-core processor and Adreno 225 graphics. The listing also confirms a 720 x 1280 display with virtual buttons. The handset tested was running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and scored 60.1 FPS in NenaMark2.

Intel launches 8-core Itanium 9500

Intel's Itanium processor launches are few and far between given that only so many need its specialized grunt, but that just makes any refresh so much larger -- and its new Itanium 9500 certainly exemplifies that kind of jump. The chip centers around much more up-to-date, 32-nanometer Poulson architecture that doubles the cores to eight, hikes the interconnect speeds and supports as much as 2TB of RAM for very (very, very) large tasks. With the help of an error-resistant buffer, Intel sees the 9500 being as much as 2.4 times faster as the Tukwila-era design it's replacing. The new Itanium also ramps the clock speeds to a relatively brisk 1.73GHz to 2.53GHz, although there will be definite costs for server builders wanting to move up: the shipping roster starts at $1,350 per chip in bulk and climbs to an eye-watering $4,650 for the fastest example.

NVIDIA's revenue raises to $1.20 billion in Q3 thanks to Tegra 3 tablets and Kepler GPUs

Just as it predicted, NVIDIA's earnings show revenue rose again in Q3, to a new record high of $1.20 billion, 15.3 percent higher than in Q2 up 12.9 percent from the same period last year. Its profits also grew accordingly, to $209.1 million, which should be no surprise thanks to its Tegra 3 chip's place at the heart of tablets including Google's Nexus 7 and Microsoft's Surface for Windows RT, with more arriving daily. The Consumer Products division that includes the Tegra family and other hardware had a 27.6 percent rise in revenue for the quarter.

"Magic number" for space pioneers calculated

The "magic number" of people needed to create a viable population for multi-generational space travel has been calculated by researchers. It is about the size of a small village - 160. But with some social engineering it might even be possible to halve this to 80.

Anthropologist John Moore from University of Florida tackled the problem as part of a combined effort with space scientists to determine how in future humans might successfully undertake century-long journeys out into space.

In the past, attention has been focused on cryogenics, sperm banks and military-style modes of operation, says Moore, but "the 'right stuff' for a journey into space is the family - a million-year-old institution designed to assist reproduction."

Batteries not required, just plug into ear cells

For the first time, an electrical device has been powered by the ear alone.

The team behind the technology used a natural electrochemical gradient in cells within the inner ear of a guinea pig to power a wireless transmitter for up to five hours.

The technique could one day provide an autonomous power source for brain and cochlear implants, says Tina Stankovic, an auditory neuroscientist at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Microsoft to retire Messenger, begins migration to Skype

After working diligently to bridge the gap between Messenger and its VoIP purchase, its aging IM platform will indeed be retired and users migrated to the more video-focused property. Redmond hopes to complete the move during the first quarter of 2013, after which Messenger will be retired everywhere except in mainland China. Users of both services will be able to merge their accounts and combine their contacts, while those with only a Microsoft account will have to transition to a Skype one.