research

While Mitt Romney is getting better at harnessing the power of the Internet for campaigning, the current POTUS still dominates the online world.

President Barack Obama's campaign has used more direct digital messaging than Romney's campaign, according to a Pew Research Center report released today.

The report notes Romney's attempts to catch up to Obama's tech savvy, with Romney's most recent stunt involving the announcement of his VP pick via an app. The report also mentions Obama's 2008 sucess with social media campaigning.

The research -- part of the center's studies over the … Read more

If you take CEO Thorsten Heins' word for it, the next Research in Motion operating system -- BlackBerry 10 -- isn't intended just for mobile devices, and is already drawing interest from other industries.

In an interview with CNET, Heins said businesses in the health care and smart-grid fields have already expressed interest in using the operating system. The company likes to tout that QNX, the software BlackBerry 10 is based on, powers a number of different systems, including cars.

Eventually, BlackBerry 10 will power devices and equipment in multiple industries, Heins said. For instance, he said, the auto … Read more

Silicon Valley believes in neither inhibition, nor prohibition.

Openness is encouraged, drunkenness is often cast upon blind eyes.

And yet some still frown on the idea that alcohol is anything other than an evil liquid, sent by the forces of darkness to make man incoherent.

I have scientific evidence that this might not be the case.

The Economist, its writers perhaps a little tipsy on the weekend, today offers an inebriating piece entitled: "The sad demise of the three-martini lunch."

It explains how America's battle with its puritan posture has meant an increased frowning on the presence … Read more

The day the iPhone 5 goes on sale, millions of people will happily line up to buy Apple's latest marvel. How could they resist? What with the temptations of the iPhone 5's rumored smaller 19-pin dock connector, in-cell technology that enables the screen's touch sensors and LCD to be consolidated into a single layer, global LTE networks, and oodles of other goodies, it's no wonder Americans on average replace their cell phones every 21.7 months. Computers, digital cameras, tablets, and other gizmos have somewhat longer useful lives, but their owners never develop long-term, decade or … Read more

Google's Android operating system dominated the mobile arena last quarter, according to new data from research firm IDC.

IDC reported that 104.8 million Android-based smartphones shipped worldwide during the second quarter, representing a 106.5 percent gain over the 50.8 million handsets that launched in the same period last year. Android nabbed 68.1 percent of the smartphone market last quarter.

Android's top competitor, Apple's iOS, was dominated by Google's operating system last quarter, nabbing only 16.9 percent market share on 26 million smartphone shipments. That figure was up 27.5 percent compared … Read more

Microsoft Image Composite Editor (or ICE) is a multiple image assembler that allows you to quickly import images to generate panoramic photos. You just simply have to drag and drop photos into the application, and ICE will automatically scan and combine the images to create a seamless, high-res panorama.

Despite its long, complicated name, Microsoft Research's app is simple and straightforward. You aren't required to prepare photos or perform any complex ordering. ICE automatically scans each image to determine the best method of stitching images together, both vertically and horizontally. Although I didn't expect it to perform … Read more

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

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'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