The "Galaxy Nexus by Samsung," Google and Samsung's flagship smartphone running the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, is finally available on Verizon's network. It uses Verizon's 4G LTE network, in places where that exists, and has the NFC chip needed for apps like Google Wallet. And as a Nexus series smartphone, it's guaranteed software updates (and their new features) for much longer than other Android devices.
But Apple's flagship phone, the iPhone 4S, is already on Verizon. Which one are smartphone buyers going to pick this holiday season? Here's what they have to choose between:
Speed and performance
Android "superphones" tend to have top of the line specs, and the Galaxy Nexus is no exception. It's packing a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of flash memory, plus the ability to record 1080p HD video. And its 4G LTE connectivity will make streaming video through Hulu and Netflix faster than on an iPhone, in areas which have 4G networks.
Apple doesn't publish much info on the iPhone 4S' internals, but the $299 model (which costs the same as a Galaxy Nexus from Verizon's store) has the same 32 GB of flash memory, while a $199 model with 16 GB is also available. It can also record 1080p video, and while the Galaxy Nexus wasn't around to be compared to at the time it beat every Android phone in a series of benchmarks. The only category it loses in is connection speed, because it lacks LTE.
Size and battery life
The iPhone 4S' screen is 3.5 inches across, which -- according to "superhero" Dustin Curtis -- is just the right size to reach nearly all of it with your thumb. It's also a Retina Display, which is Apple's trademarked name for its high-resolution screen, with pixels so fine that they can't be discerned by the unaided eye.
The Galaxy Nexus has an enormous 4.65 inch screen, with a greater resolution than the iPhone's (it can play 720p HD video) but not a Retina Display. Part of the reason it's so large, though, is because of the huge batteries needed to power its 4G radio. Even with those, superphones often have poor battery life, but reviews like CNet's show that the Galaxy Nexus' battery life is at least comparable to the iPhone 4S'.
Apps and overall experience
The iPhone still leads the way with its App Store, beating all Android phones in quantity as well as quality. As Flurry's analytics show, one major reason is because iOS app developers tend to make more money.
Google's apps tend to have newer versions on Android, though. And reviewers like Joshua Topolsky of The Verge overwhelmingly agree that the Ice Cream Sandwich experience is in many ways comparable to iOS', which has historically been seen as more refined than Android's.
Cricket plans to release their first tablet package tomorrow (Dec. 16), consisting of the 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a Crosswave Mobile Hotspot (with one months service) for $595. The Galaxy Tab has a retail of $499, and the hotspot rings up at $149.99, so in reality this isn't a bad deal if you're looking for cheap monthly mobile broadband access and a shiny new tablet to go with.
According to the press release (find it after the break) corporate Cricket stores should have the bundle, as well as just the Galaxy Tab for $499, on shelves starting tomorrow. You'll be able to enjoy everything you love about Android and the Galaxy Tab, with some no-contract 3G data to go along with it.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? A top U.S. trade official said on Tuesday the United States was not satisfied with the way China was meeting its obligations in the World Trade Organization and would continue to step up its enforcement activity.
"We are intensifying our efforts and we are not going to let go," Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China Claire Reade told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
The panel, created by a 2000 law establishing "permanent normal trade relations" with China, was holding a hearing on how well China has honored its WTO commitments during its first 10 years of membership.
Reade said China fell short on a number of fronts. He highlighted four areas that were top concerns for the United States: China's agricultural market barriers, its weak intellectual property rights protection, its discriminatory industrial policies and its "overly burdensome and capricious licensing and operating requirements" in services sectors.
She noted that President Barack Obama's administration has already filed five cases against China at the WTO since taking office in January 2009.
"I think it's very clear this administration has made enforcement a top priority," Reade said.
However, she declined further comment after the hearing when asked if any new cases were in the works.
Representative Chris Smith, the Republican co-chair of the panel, raised concerns about what he said was China's poor record on workers' rights and pledged to ask the Obama administration to launch a trade investigation into the matter.
"It seems to me an idea whose time has come," Smith said.
Reade made no commitment to launch such a probe but said "this administration believes (workers rights in China) is an incredibly important issue."
The AFL-CIO labor organization filed a formal "Section 301" petition during the administration of President George W. Bush asking whether China's labor regime constituted an unfair trade practice that justified imposing tariffs on Chinese goods to protect American jobs. The request was turned down.
Now, with many of its concerns still not addressed, the labor group is "considering whether to update and refile the worker rights petition," the AFL-CIO's deputy chief of staff Thea Lee said in an email.
The panel's Democratic co-chair, Senator Sherrod Brown, pressed Reade on several issues, including how the Obama administration would respond if it received a formal petition to investigate China's currency practices as an unfair trade practice.
The Bush administration turned down several requests from the AFL-CIO and members of Congress to launch such a probe.
Reade did not answer Brown's question directly, noting the Treasury Department has the final say on currency concerns. However, she said that both Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have pressed China to let its currency rise more quickly in value.
Many economists believe China's currency is undervalued by as much as 25 percent, giving Chinese companies an unfair price advantage in international trade.
A spokeswoman for Brown said after the hearing that the senator was not necessarily advocating that groups file a petition asking for a China currency probe.
But "Brown is a strong proponent of the Section 301 process to provide relief to American workers and companies forced to compete against unfair trade barriers," the aide said.
The AFL-CIO's Lee said her group had no plans to ask the Obama administration for a currency probe.
Such a request would put Obama in a difficult position ahead of the November 2012 presidential election.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer, Editing by Neil Stempleman)
NASA's RXTE detects 'heartbeat' of smallest black hole candidatePublic release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Francis Reddy francis.j.reddy@nasa.gov 301-286-4453 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
An international team of astronomers has identified a candidate for the smallest-known black hole using data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The evidence comes from a specific type of X-ray pattern, nicknamed a "heartbeat" because of its resemblance to an electrocardiogram. The pattern until now has been recorded in only one other black hole system.
Named IGR J17091-3624 after the astronomical coordinates of its sky position, the binary system combines a normal star with a black hole that may weigh less than three times the sun's mass. That is near the theoretical mass boundary where black holes become possible.
Gas from the normal star streams toward the black hole and forms a disk around it. Friction within the disk heats the gas to millions of degrees, which is hot enough to emit X-rays. Cyclical variations in the intensity of the X-rays observed reflect processes taking place within the gas disk. Scientists think that the most rapid changes occur near the black hole's event horizon, the point beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape.
Astronomers first became aware of the binary system during an outburst in 2003. Archival data from various space missions show it becomes active every few years. Its most recent outburst started in February and is ongoing. The system is located in the direction of the constellation Scorpius, but its distance is not well established. It could be as close as 16,000 light-years or more than 65,000 light-years away.
The record-holder for wide-ranging X-ray variability is another black hole binary system named GRS 1915+105. This system is unique in displaying more than a dozen highly structured patterns, typically lasting between seconds and hours.
"We think that most of these patterns represent cycles of accumulation and ejection in an unstable disk, and we now see seven of them in IGR J17091," said Tomaso Belloni at Brera Observatory in Merate, Italy. "Identifying these signatures in a second black hole system is very exciting."
In GRS 1915, strong magnetic fields near the black hole's event horizon eject some of the gas into dual, oppositely directed jets that blast outward at about 98 percent the speed of light. The peak of its heartbeat emission corresponds to the emergence of the jet.
Changes in the X-ray spectrum observed by RXTE during each beat reveal that the innermost region of the disk emits enough radiation to push back the gas, creating a strong outward wind that stops the inward flow, briefly starving the black hole and shutting down the jet. This corresponds to the faintest emission. Eventually, the inner disk gets so bright and hot it essentially disintegrates and plunges toward the black hole, re-establishing the jet and beginning the cycle anew. This entire process happens in as little as 40 seconds.
While there is no direct evidence IGR J17091 possesses a particle jet, its heartbeat signature suggests that similar processes are at work. Researchers say that this system's heartbeat emission can be 20 times fainter than GRS 1915 and can cycle some eight times faster, in as little as five seconds.
Astronomers estimate that GRS 1915 is about 14 times the sun's mass, placing it among the most-massive-known black holes that have formed because of the collapse of a single star. The research team analyzed six months of RXTE observations to compare the two systems, concluding that IGR J17091 must possess a minuscule black hole.
"Just as the heart rate of a mouse is faster than an elephant's, the heartbeat signals from these black holes scale according to their masses," said Diego Altamirano, an astrophysicist at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands and lead author of a paper describing the findings in the Nov. 4 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The researchers say this analysis is just the start of a larger program to compare both of these black holes in detail using data from RXTE, NASA's Swift satellite and the European XMM-Newton observatory.
"Until this study, GRS 1915 was essentially a one-off, and there's only so much we can understand from a single example," said Tod Strohmayer, the project scientist for RXTE at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Now, with a second system exhibiting similar types of variability, we really can begin to test how well we understand what happens at the brink of a black hole."
Launched in late 1995, RXTE is second only to Hubble as the longest serving of NASA's operating astrophysics missions. RXTE provides a unique observing window into the extreme environments of neutron stars and black holes.
Italian press release
http://www.media.inaf.it/2011/12/12/batticuore-buco-nero/
GRS 1915+105: Taking the Pulse of a Black Hole System
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/g1915/
RXTE Homes in on a Black Hole's Jets
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/black-hole-jets.html
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NASA's RXTE detects 'heartbeat' of smallest black hole candidatePublic release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Francis Reddy francis.j.reddy@nasa.gov 301-286-4453 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
An international team of astronomers has identified a candidate for the smallest-known black hole using data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The evidence comes from a specific type of X-ray pattern, nicknamed a "heartbeat" because of its resemblance to an electrocardiogram. The pattern until now has been recorded in only one other black hole system.
Named IGR J17091-3624 after the astronomical coordinates of its sky position, the binary system combines a normal star with a black hole that may weigh less than three times the sun's mass. That is near the theoretical mass boundary where black holes become possible.
Gas from the normal star streams toward the black hole and forms a disk around it. Friction within the disk heats the gas to millions of degrees, which is hot enough to emit X-rays. Cyclical variations in the intensity of the X-rays observed reflect processes taking place within the gas disk. Scientists think that the most rapid changes occur near the black hole's event horizon, the point beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape.
Astronomers first became aware of the binary system during an outburst in 2003. Archival data from various space missions show it becomes active every few years. Its most recent outburst started in February and is ongoing. The system is located in the direction of the constellation Scorpius, but its distance is not well established. It could be as close as 16,000 light-years or more than 65,000 light-years away.
The record-holder for wide-ranging X-ray variability is another black hole binary system named GRS 1915+105. This system is unique in displaying more than a dozen highly structured patterns, typically lasting between seconds and hours.
"We think that most of these patterns represent cycles of accumulation and ejection in an unstable disk, and we now see seven of them in IGR J17091," said Tomaso Belloni at Brera Observatory in Merate, Italy. "Identifying these signatures in a second black hole system is very exciting."
In GRS 1915, strong magnetic fields near the black hole's event horizon eject some of the gas into dual, oppositely directed jets that blast outward at about 98 percent the speed of light. The peak of its heartbeat emission corresponds to the emergence of the jet.
Changes in the X-ray spectrum observed by RXTE during each beat reveal that the innermost region of the disk emits enough radiation to push back the gas, creating a strong outward wind that stops the inward flow, briefly starving the black hole and shutting down the jet. This corresponds to the faintest emission. Eventually, the inner disk gets so bright and hot it essentially disintegrates and plunges toward the black hole, re-establishing the jet and beginning the cycle anew. This entire process happens in as little as 40 seconds.
While there is no direct evidence IGR J17091 possesses a particle jet, its heartbeat signature suggests that similar processes are at work. Researchers say that this system's heartbeat emission can be 20 times fainter than GRS 1915 and can cycle some eight times faster, in as little as five seconds.
Astronomers estimate that GRS 1915 is about 14 times the sun's mass, placing it among the most-massive-known black holes that have formed because of the collapse of a single star. The research team analyzed six months of RXTE observations to compare the two systems, concluding that IGR J17091 must possess a minuscule black hole.
"Just as the heart rate of a mouse is faster than an elephant's, the heartbeat signals from these black holes scale according to their masses," said Diego Altamirano, an astrophysicist at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands and lead author of a paper describing the findings in the Nov. 4 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The researchers say this analysis is just the start of a larger program to compare both of these black holes in detail using data from RXTE, NASA's Swift satellite and the European XMM-Newton observatory.
"Until this study, GRS 1915 was essentially a one-off, and there's only so much we can understand from a single example," said Tod Strohmayer, the project scientist for RXTE at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Now, with a second system exhibiting similar types of variability, we really can begin to test how well we understand what happens at the brink of a black hole."
Launched in late 1995, RXTE is second only to Hubble as the longest serving of NASA's operating astrophysics missions. RXTE provides a unique observing window into the extreme environments of neutron stars and black holes.
Italian press release
http://www.media.inaf.it/2011/12/12/batticuore-buco-nero/
GRS 1915+105: Taking the Pulse of a Black Hole System
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/g1915/
RXTE Homes in on a Black Hole's Jets
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/black-hole-jets.html
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Lauren Scruggs lost her left hand and suffered severe facial injuries Saturday night.
By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com
A Dallas-area model and editor lost her left hand and fractured her skull after she walked into the propeller of a small airplane following a flight to view Christmas lights over the weekend.
Lauren Scruggs, 23, of Plano was in serious condition Monday at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas after the incident Saturday night. Scruggs, a fashion model, founded and edits LoLo Magazine.
Scruggs landed at Aero Country Airport in the McKinney area, about 30 miles from Dallas, about 9:30 p.m. Saturday after viewing North Texas Christmas lights from a small private airplane, The Dallas Morning News reported.?The pilot wasn't hurt.
A family friend, Jane? Harrell, said Scruggs was struck on the left side of her body.
"Following multiple surgeries, Lauren has received facial and shoulder reconstruction, as well as the loss of her hand," Harrell said in a statement on a website set up by Scruggs' family and friends.?
Scruggs is responding to voice commands and is able to move her legs and arms, according to an update posted on the site Monday morning.
All Critics (154) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (144) | Rotten (10)
Scorsese transforms this innocent tale into an ardent love letter to the cinema and a moving plea for film preservation.
'Hugo': Scorsese's humbling hommage to his favorite art
Thematic potency and cinematic virtuosity -- the production was designed by Dante Ferretti and photographed by Robert Richardson -- can't conceal a deadly inertness at the film's core.
For all the wizardry on display, Hugo often feels like a film about magic instead of a magical film...
I have seen the future of 3-D moviemaking, and it belongs to Martin Scorsese, unlikely as that may sound.
It's a fairy tale for mature viewers, but the airy exterior hides emotional depth.
Director Martin Scorsese brings us an enchanting Christmas gift ... a marvelously inventive and inspiring 3-D film that has a heartfelt holiday message.
'Hugo' was an amazing cinematic experience for me, even though I'm not a 3-D fan.
Hugo is a master filmmaker's gift to children. It teaches, in an age-appropriate way, why movies are important and why it's essential that we take care of them. One of Scorsese's best!
Opulent, dazzling, enchanting screen adaptation of a beloved children's book. It's family-friendly fun.
( ... ) goose down floating around the set takes Scorsese's hard-hitting career into soft new dimensions
Leave it to Martin Scorsese to use 3-D not as a gimmick, but as a means of drawing us into a unique and magical environment...
The lesson to be learned is that [Scorsese] should stick to what he knows best, for Hugo won't appeal to anyone, least of all kids.
The on-screen craftsmanship is impeccable, from Robert Richardson's stunning cinematography to Dante Ferretti's production design and Sandy Powell's costumes.
Hugo is cinema shining a light reverently up its own fundament.
A dreamy triumph for Scorsese
The film demands patience from children and adults alike -- in fact, it's simply too slow for young viewers -- but like great literature, if you immerse yourself in it, the rewards are plentiful.
As a crazy mix of Cinema Paradiso, Cronos and David Copperfield it's unusually stimulating family fare.
The man responsible for Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and GoodFellas has tackled his first family film. Not only that: it's in 3-D, and a must-see for anyone who loves cinema.
The heart-shaped story may be the key that sets Hugo in motion, but this rediscovery of the cin?ma de papa is most memorable for its technical wizardry and astonishing visual trickery.
Hugo's best moments are those that aren't actually Hugo.
It is glorious to be thrown and blown about in this make-believe metropolis. The digitally enhanced shapes and colours suggest Jeunet and Caro reworked by a polychromatic Piranesi.
As soon as the lights went up in the theater, I told my viewing companions that I honestly felt that seeing the film was a privilege.
[T]here's certainly much to admire here... [but] Hugo feels like two very different films inelegantly spliced together...
Little Monsters gush to MTV News about Gaga's holiday-themed workshop and windows at famed Madison Avenue store. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Brian Phares
Lady Gaga premieres the Lady Gaga Workshop at Barneys New York Photo: Getty Images
Lady Gaga is taking fans inside her world at the holiday-themed Gaga's Workshop at Barneys New York. Mother Monster-inspired products like head-shaped candles, leather jackets, her favorite books and chocolates shaped like shoes hit the shelves last week, and it's exactly the kind of stuff a Little Monster would ask Santa for.
MTV News caught up with some of the pop star's devotees as they were admired the Gaga windows outside the famed New York City department store. They gushed to us about the chance to pick out items hand-selected by Gaga and her stylist Nicola Formichetti.
"I think Gaga's Workshop, it's the essence of her," Hollis Gehrett said. "You walk in and you feel like you're in her apartment. I came to see her cut the ribbon, which was really cool, and she looked fabulous."
Fan Catherine Lloyd was also on hand when Gaga, decked out in a big white gown, cut the ribbon two Mondays ago at Barneys. "It's in her hometown. It's decorated to the nines, it's completely beautiful," she said. "The unveiling was beautiful — when she came out she looked like Glenda the Good Witch. There was just a lot of celebrities and fashion people walking around, so it was just a fun event in general."
Laura Donnelly said "the first thing I thought was 'fun,' like the colors and all the statues. I just thought it was a lot of fun."
"Kids can come and enjoy it. Adults can come and enjoy it [and] teenagers," Kyle Larkins noted about the in-store pop-up shop. "It really appeals to everyone."
Erin Sebestyen enjoyed how the workshop and windows show off Gaga's whimsical side: "It shows her holiday spirit, and how many celebrities really do that?"
After Gaga opened the store with a ribbon-cutting, her friend and collaborator DJ White Shadow, stopped by the MTV News offices to talk about the event and share his favorite item.
"I just was perusing the goods ... and there were some books that were her favorite books, and they have a special Barneys cover. I was trying to grab small things," he recalled. "But there's these hulking giant candles [in the shape of Gaga's head] that you light from the top. It's like you light the candles in the back and then the wax drips down through the eyes of the candle. So I was pretty impressed with it. I definitely procured one."
Have you checked out Gaga's Workshop yet? Tell us in the comments!
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Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
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