Sunday, October 07, 2012

Government Has Its Role


Sure. Absolutely. No doubt.

The Seeds That Federal Money Can Plant
eight computing technologies, including digital communications, databases, computer architectures and artificial intelligence, tracing government-financed research to commercialization. It calculated the portion of revenue at 30 well-known corporations that could be traced back to the seed research backed by government agencies. The total was nearly $500 billion a year...... “If you take any major information technology company today, from Google to Intel to Qualcomm to Apple to Microsoft and beyond, you can trace the core technologies to the rich synergy between federally funded universities and industry research and development” ..... the exceptional role that science and technology play in the economy. ..... America ranks 22nd among 30 nations in university funding and research and development funding as a share of the economy’s gross domestic product. ..... define innovation as not only the generation of new ideas but also as their adoption in new products, processes, services and organizational models. In their view, the goal of policy should be to invest in and nurture the development of the innovation pipeline, from basic science to commercialization. ..... “The grants are really helpful when you’re working on something that is scientifically complex,” Mr. von Ahn says, “when you’re in the early year, or two or more, when you have no idea if it will work.” ..... “Don’t eat your seed corn. It may seem like an easy thing to cut now. But years later, you will regret that you did not invest a tiny portion of your federal budget in research, in the future.”
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Nexus 7 Blurs The Tablet, Smartphone Line


Seven inches. Google came up with the perfect length for a tablet. It is not nine, it is seven.

Rumor: Google Wants Nexus 7 in Smartphone Format
Google will allow manufacturers to release smartphones with the Nexus brand as long as they adhere to strict standards: use Google's stock Android, secure 64 MB of memory for media streaming, and pack plenty of hardware to support Android 5.0 which is slated to launch in Fall 2013. However the Nexus program will allow manufacturers to use custom UI skins so that the phones aren't entirely identical. ..... To calm their fears, Google supposedly planned to offer the latest build of Android to five major partners first before anyone else. Now it appears that it's extending its Nexus branding as well instead of relying on one flagship Android product.
Nexus 7: A Road Warrior's best friend
video conferencing, voice to text, a great screen ..... Everyone always talks about how amazing FaceTime and Skype are. I'm a huge user and fan of both, but the Nexus 7 is the one to beat now. I was using the Nexus 7 in a hotel room, tethered to my iPad, since the hotel Wi-Fi was too slow, and all of the sudden I heard the sound of chats coming in. I looked at the Nexus 7 and not only had it logged me into Google Talk, but it was also receiving chats. I then saw the camera icon and figured "it can't be this easy". Well, it was and a quick click of the camera icon had me doing a video conference with a co-worker ...... The quality of the conference call was spectacular, even over a hotspot. I was also offered the option to manipulate the images of my outgoing video stream, though there's no real business purpose there. ..... In the case of the Nexus 7, simply launching the Maps app immediately finds your location and then pops up a pop-over that features Local restaurants, cafes, bars, attractions, and more. The Maps app also takes a guess at where you are and offers you the option to "check-in, review or view details", all at the touch of a button. ....... Siri has been making headlines, but Google's dictation features are lightyears ahead. Not only does it grab every word almost perfectly every time, but it types out the words as you're speaking. ...... I'm going to try to leave the iPad behind a bit more and see how much of a power user of the Nexus 7 I can become. I'm also thinking of swapping out my iPhone for either a Galaxy Nexus or a Galaxy S3, since I really do appreciate the integration with Google's universe. ..... definitely the Android tablet to beat.
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