Dueling disks: Apple's 128GB response to Surface Pro

Not all disk subsystems are created equal. Microsoft has opted for a speedy mSATA-based SSD for its Surface Pro.(Credit:Micron Technology)With the 128GB iPad, Apple is obviously trying to steal thunder from Microsoft's Saturday roll out of the Surface Pro. But that doesn't mean you can equate the iPad's disk performance with the Surface Pro's. Apple's carefully-timed release of the 128GB iPad ostensibly...

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The Real Richard III

It's a question that actors from Laurence Olivier to Kevin Spacey have grappled with: What did Richard III, the villainous protagonist of Shakespeare's famous historical drama, really look and sound like?In the wake of this week's announcement by the University of Leicester that archaeologists have discovered the 15th-century British king's lost skeleton beneath a parking lot, news continues...

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White House: Drone Strikes on Americans 'Legal'

Feb 5, 2013 3:54pm The White House today defended the use of targeted drone strikes against U.S. citizens abroad suspected of high-level terrorist activity, but declined to detail the criteria for ordering such an attack.“Sometimes we use remotely piloted aircraft to conduct targeted strikes against specific al Qaeda terrorists in order to prevent attacks on the...

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Ice-age art hints at birth of modern mind

Sumit Paul-Choudhury, editorFigurines from the Don river valley (Images: Kirstin Jennings)The world’s oldest portrait, the world’s first fully carved sculpture, the world's oldest ceramic figure, the world’s earliest puppet - there’s no shortage of superlatives in the new exhibition of art from the ice age at the British Museum in LondonBut focus too closely on the exhibits’ record-breaking ages...

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Japan summons China envoy in island row

TOKYO: Tokyo summoned China's envoy Tuesday in protest after what it says was another incursion into its territorial waters around islands at the centre of a bitter dispute with Beijing."The foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador over ships entering the waters near Senkaku islands," said a foreign ministry official, referring to a chain claimed as the Diaoyus by Beijing.The move...

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Alleged T-Mobile roadmap shows LTE devices arriving March 27

T-Mobile's LTE launch plans revealed?(Credit:TMO News) T-Mobile is reportedly readying a harvest of LTE-enabled devices this spring, suggesting that T-Mobile's 4G LTE network will be operational by that timeThe wireless carrier is expected to release the BlackBerry Z10, Samsung Galaxy Exhibit, and Sonic 2.0 LTE mobile hotspot on March 27, according to a purported roadmap leaked to TMO News. A screenshot...

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Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESAThe European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility."Terrestrial...

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Boy Safe, Kidnapper Dead After Hidden Camera Tip

A week-long standoff in Alabama, where a retired trucker held a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker, has ended with the kidnapper dead and the child safe, according to law enforcement.Officials had been able to insert a high-tech camera into the bunker to monitor the movements of the suspect, Richard Lee Dykes, and they had become increasingly concerned that he might...

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Bug protects itself by turning its environment to gold

Mythical King Midas was ultimately doomed because everything he touched turned to gold. Now, the reverse has been found in bacteria that owe their survival to a natural Midas touch. Delftia acidovorans lives in sticky biofilms that...

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Beyonce brings out Destiny's Child for Super Bowl thrill

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Pop diva Beyonce thrilled the Super Bowl crowd Sunday with a pyrotechnic half-time spectacular that doubled as a much-anticipated Destiny's Child reunion.Fireworks burst into the sky from the Superdome field just vacated by the game-leading Baltimore Ravens and lagging San Franciso 49s as the 31-year-old chart-topper took the stage with "Crazy in Love".Blowing a...

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