Android ICS 4.0.4 rolling out to Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S?

Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 has reportedly started rolling out to the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S devices

Published on Mar 29, 2012

The Android ICE Cream Sandwich update (version 4.0.4) is now rolling out across SIM free Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S devices in Europe.

Google announced the milestone on its own Google+ page.

The exact announcement read:

‘We’ve started rolling out Android 4.0.4, Ice Cream Sandwich, to UMTS/GSM Nexus S, Xoom Wi-Fi, and HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus devices, and we’ll be rolling it out to more devices in the coming weeks. Some of you will be receiving Ice Cream Sandwich for the first time, while others will be receiving an update to your existing Ice Cream Sandwich experience with stability improvements, better camera performance, smoother screen rotation, improved phone number recognition and more.’

Followed by a load of predictable comments asking when it will be released for other devices, including the HTC Desire HD, Xperia-branded devices, Galaxy Note and Galaxy S2 (network-branded devices).

Google declined to comment when all these other updates would be coming, but everyday we’re hearing about more devices benefiting from the update.

If you do have the Galaxy Nexus or Nexus S, it may be a good idea to check whether the update has arrived. For those with network-branded devices, you may have to wait a little longer for your network to properly test the update before rolling it out.

via Android ICS 4.0.4 rolling out to Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S? – News – Know Your Mobile.

Harder than diamond, stronger than steel.

The ideal crystalline structure of graphene is a hexagonal grid. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Imagine a material that is just one atom thick, 300 times stronger than steel, harder than diamond, a fantastic conductor of heat and electricity and super-flexible to boot.This might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but believe it or not, such a material already exists.The name of this supermaterial is graphene and it’s one of the most exciting prospects in science today.In the latest graphene-related research – released last week – researchers from Vanderbilt University found a way to overcome one of graphene’s most problematic flaws – a high sensitivity to external influences which causes graphene-based devices to operate more slowly than they should.The researchers found a way to dampen external influences on the graphene, and could then observe electrons moving through their graphene three times faster than was previously possible.This development could pave the way for a new generation of graphene-based devices including touch screens and solar panels.More on the uses of graphene in a moment, but first: what is graphene?Quite simply, graphene is a new structural form or ‘allotrope’ of carbon – one of the most versatile elements in the universe. It was discovered in 2004 by Russian-born physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who jointly received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their troubles.Graphene is a single, flat layer of carbon atoms packed tightly into a two-dimensional honeycomb arrangement. The in-plane two-dimensional carbon-carbon bonds in graphene are the strongest bonds known to science. It is these bonds that give graphene its unbelievable mechanical strength and flexibility.Graphene is essentially a single layer of graphite, the material found in pencil ‘lead’. When you draw on paper with a pencil, weakly bound graphene sheets in the graphite spread over your paper like a pack of cards.But because graphene is so thin – the thickness of a single carbon atom – it is extremely difficult to see. This is one of the reasons it took researchers so long to find graphene sheets among thicker stacks of graphite.Despite being so thin, graphene is an excellent conductor of electricity. Electrons flow through graphene with almost zero electrical resistance. This unusual property, and the fact graphene is nearly invisible, makes it an ideal material for the transparent electrodes used in computer displays and solar cells.While scientists have known about graphene since 2004, it was in 2010 that researchers from Samsung and Sungkyunkwan University took a critical step in developing the commercial applications of this material.

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via Harder than diamond, stronger than steel Science Alert.

Android To Run On Intel Chips

Google and Intel on Tuesday said that the two companies will work together to ensure that future versions of Google’s Android operating system function on Intel’s Atom processors.

The partnership will help Intel compete against ARM chips, which have been supported by Android since 2008. It also underscores the fact that the “Wintel” alliance between Microsoft and Intel isn’t what it used to be.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini showed off a smart-phone running Android on a Medfield chip at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco on Tuesday, though details about the specific version of Android were not revealed.

He characterized the partnership as a step toward bringing Intel-powered phones to market.

Google SVP of mobile Andy Rubin showed up too, signalling the two companies’ continued commitment to a relationship that encompasses Intel’s involvement in Chrome OS, Google TV, and its effort to port Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” to the x86 chip architecture. Rubin said that all future versions of Android will be optimized for x86. Presumably this includes the next major Android release, known as Ice Cream Sandwich, which is expected before the end of the year.

Intel has had trouble convincing mobile device makers to use its x86-based chips because of their power consumption characteristics. Instead, many have preferred the ARM architecture.

Apple, for example, bought chip design company PA Semi in 2008 and has been deploying its own ARM-based A-series chips in its mobile devices. Intel is reportedly interested in manufacturing Apple’s chip designs, a testament to the direction in which the mobile market is moving.

Even Microsoft is moving to support ARM chips in Windows 8, in addition to x86 chips. The company provided details about its ARM support plans at its BUILD conference on Tuesday.

To compete more affectively against ARM designs, Intel is betting on its Medfield chip platform, which includes a low-power Atom design for mobile phones, and on chips arriving in 2012 based on a 22-nm manufacturing process.

Android To Run On Intel Chips – Hardware – Processors – Informationweek.

A guide to controlling privacy, info on Google+

Google+is the new social networking kid on the block, and one of the main reasons so many people are interested in the service over Facebook is Google+’s proclaimed focus on protecting users’ privacy. Whether you’re a new Google+ user or you’re already a pro, understanding how to control your information on the site can make you feel much more at ease on the social network. Here’s the low-down on Google+’s privacy controls, including a few of the more buried settings you’ll want to know about.

This guide will take you through setting up Google+’s circles with an emphasis on how they work from a privacy perspective, how to control what others can see about you on your profile, your options for selectively sharing posts with others, and some miscellaneous settings you’ll want to tweak — like only allowing friends to start Huddles with you. A note on pseudonymity: Google has taken a strong and, I think, awfully mistaken stance on not allowing people to use Google+ with a pseudonym. While this is definitely a privacy issue, it falls outside of this post’s purpose of explaining how to use Google+’s privacy settings. Kee Hinckley, a Consulting CTO for Somewhere.com and Lead Architect at Zinc.tv, has written a compelling and thorough poston the subject, and hopefully Google is listening and will rectify this issue.Let’s go tackle your main Google+ privacy settings and options:

Click the link to read on…

via A guide to controlling privacy, info on Google+ – Technology & science – Tech and gadgets – msnbc.com.