Technology

11/01/10 1:55 PM PT
=="There’s a lot of a stars out there," said SLU Professor Paul Czysz. "How many of those suns could have planets around them where there could be liquid water? ... Of the stars they looked at -- maybe 50 to 100 light years away -- that's like going to Washington D.C., and when you get to 14th St., saying, 'I wonder if the whole U.S. is full of buildings like this." The reality is "you haven't gone very far." Nearly one in four stars similar to the sun may host planets as small as Earth, according to a new study funded by [|NASA] and the University of California.== ==Astronomers used the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii for five years to search 166 sun-like stars near our solar system for planets of various sizes, ranging from three to 1,000 times the mass of Earth. The results show more small planets than large ones, indicating small planets are more prevalent in our Milky Way galaxy.==

__The Nexus Two Rumors__
== Every one is saying the Nexus Two is the best and for most best there will be for 2010. With Google, Twitter, Facebook, and lots more. Samsung is working on an [|unlocked Google Android Smartphone] that will work on any wireless carrier's network, according to Gizmodo. The device is said to be black and shiny and built with glossy plastic. ==

11/01/10 12:06 PM PT
==The latest quarter saw an unwelcome shift in the smartphone market from Research in Motion's perspective. Once dominant with its BlackBerry line, RIM has slipped behind iPhone. Meanwhile, Google's Android OS powered the most smartphones shipped in the==

==In 2005, people of California passed a law saying minors can’t rent or buy violent video games. Lower courts said no to this law, the government can only stop the sale of indecent or disgusting games to minors. It is unlikely the Supreme Court will overthrow the lower courts decision. They are thinking about if video games would be included in the First Amendment.==

== Facebook has introduced another new product to keep its 500 million user base engaged -- Friendship Pages, a new element to a Facebook page that displays content and connections shared between two friends. The page may contain photos in which they've both been tagged, wall posts, comments exchanged, events to which they've both RSVP'd, mutual friends and mutual "likes." Visitors can view the pages if they are friends with one of the people and have permission to view both profiles, according to Wayne Kao, the Facebook executive behind the project. Beyond that nod to privacy, though, it is unclear what other protections pertain to the offering. For instance, do both people need to give permission to create the page? Kao doesn't say. ==

== As larger U.S. cell carriers like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint scramble to build out new wireless technologies like LTE and WiMAX, T-Mobile has chimed in with the claim that its own 4G network is already in place and happens to be the largest in the country. However, T-Mobile's use of the term "4G" to describe its HSPA+ network has raised questions about what 4G actually means. There are no 4G technologies available yet, at least in the United States. ==

== The demand for Kinect for Xbox 360 is exceeding expectations," a Microsoft spokesperson wrote in an e-mail. "So we're increasing our forecast from 3 million sensors sold this holiday to 5 million. That's bigger than any launch in Xbox history. ==