research

In Mojave, the world's most exciting planes take flight

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif.--It's hard to imagine a more complete -- and impressive -- collection of aviation facilities and aircraft anywhere on the planet than the one in this vast, arid, wide-open wasteland northeast of Los Angeles.

Thanks to its endless amounts of dry, flat terrain, useless to most people, and the fact that there are only a few ways in -- vital for security -- the Mojave is, and has long been, the beating heart of the aviation world. It's here that Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier. And where Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne ushered in … Read more

The songs remain the same (but louder), say scientists

It isn't true until the numbers say so.

That is the mantra of the modern world.

So I bring you news that the figures have been counted and the declaration has been made by unimpeachable scientists: pop songs are becoming noisier and increasingly homogenized.

Yes, should you wonder, on hearing a Lady Gaga song: "Gosh, haven't I heard that somewhere before?" you might well have, but this time it's accompanied by a few more decibels.

You might be wondering what sort of scientists have taken time out of their busy schedules to put a number … Read more

Samsung ships 52.1 million smartphones in Q2, doubles iPhone

Samsung's total second-quarter shipments dwarfed Apple's, according to new data from Juniper Research.

The research firm reported today that during the second quarter, Samsung shipped 52.1 million smartphones worldwide, doubling Apple's 26 million tally. Samsung's shipments also easily outpaced RIM's BlackBerry, which could only muster 7.4 million shipments during the period. Nokia shipped 10.2 million smartphones worldwide, according to Juniper.

But before we go too far with the Samsung-killing-Apple rhetoric, it's important to point out that the "shipments" Juniper is citing for the iPhone are actually sales. Shipments, on … Read more

Apple nabs 68 percent of tablet market in second quarter

Apple's iPad has watched its market share in the worldwide tablet space grow over the last year, according to new data from research firm Strategy Analytics.

During the second quarter of 2012, 25 million tablets were shipped worldwide. Out of that, Apple accounted for 17 million units, helping it secure 68.3 percent of the marketplace. Android-based devices combined for 7.3 million shipments and 29.3 percent market ownership, according to Strategy Analytics.

"Despite high expectations for companies like Amazon, Samsung, Acer, and Asus, the Android community has yet to make a serious dent in Apple's … Read more

88 percent stalk their exes on Facebook

My engineer friend, George, got brutally stood up the other day.

"How did you react?" I asked, trying not to contort my face in fear, as he can get emotional.

"Well, I de-friended her on Facebook," he said. "She's dead to me."

It turns out he may be one of the healthy ones. Because Facebook is where all of love's stages are enacted. And one of those stages comes straight after the breakup. It is the stalking stage.

A master's candidate at Western University (which I don't think offers a master's in Love Studies) decided to examine the extent to which former lovers cannot let go, in the socially networked sense. … Read more

Windows Phone to snag 4 percent of smartphone share in '12

Windows Phone is starting to gain some ground, but don't expect it to be an Android threat anytime soon.

New data released today by research firm Strategy Analytics indicates that Windows Phone will secure 4 percent of the U.S. smartphone market this year, up from the 3 percent it nabbed in 2011. The research firm says Microsoft's operating system will be running on 5 million smartphones sold in 2012, compared with 3.5 million last year.

"Nokia, HTC and Samsung have some of the biggest Microsoft smartphone portfolios at present and they will be three main … Read more

Trend watch: We're using our cell phones while watching TV

Half of all adult cell phone users surveyed by Pew Research use their cell phones while watching TV, a revelation that could drive more interactive advertising for TV viewers.

According to the Pew study, which surveyed 2,254 people in March and April of this year, 52 percent of all cell phone owners said they had used their mobile devices to do a variety of things while watching TV.

What exactly were these folks doing with their cell phones while watching TV? About 38 percent said they used their phones to keep them occupied during commercial breaks. And 23 percent … Read more

2 percent of Americans trust everything on the Web

It seems that, in this election year, we're all obsessed about the 1 percent.

Today, I would like to discuss the 2 percent. We must decide what to do about them, before it's too late -- both for them and for us.

I am in possession of a devastating piece of research commissioned by a company called Mancx.

This is not an organization dedicated to people who come from Manchester, England, and talk with accents derived from a depressed power drill.

Instead, this is a business question-and-answer site where real people can actually buy and sell information, which … Read more

RIM ordered to pay $147M for patent infringement

A jury has found Research In Motion liable for $147.2 million in damages for infringing on patents owned by Mformation Technologies.

Jurors in U.S. District Court in Northern California determined late Friday that RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server -- software that lets companies remotely manage employees' devices -- infringed on Mformation patents and awarded damages of $8 for each of the 18.4 million units sold.

Mformation sued RIM in 2008, accusing the troubled BlackBerry maker of infringing on two patents after being briefed on the technology. RIM declined to license the technology and then modified its software … Read more

At NASA Dryden, the futuristic X-48C gets ready to fly

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.--If you want to know what the future of airplane design looks like, you might have to make your way out to the middle of the Mojave Desert.

Tucked away inside a nondescript warehouse building at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center here, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, Boeing, and Cranfield Aerospace are working on an entirely new kind of plane, one which they hope could someday revolutionize aviation.

Known as a hybrid wing body, the plane design, which NASA describes as a cross between a conventional plane and a flying wing design, is … Read more