Astronomers Discover Lowest Mass Exoplanet yet Orbiting a Sun like Star

Astronomers have announced that they had discovered the lowest mass exoplanet ever to be found orbiting a sun-like Star. The planet has the cryptic name GJ 504b. The planetorbits the star GJ504 at approximately 9 times the distance between the sun and Jupiter.

The star the planet orbits can be seen with the naked eye in the Virgo constellation. The planet is approximately 4 times the mass of Jupiter and has a temperature of about 460°F. The star the planet orbits is slightly hotter than the sun.

“If we could travel to this giant planet, we would see a world still glowing from the heat of its formation with a color reminiscent of a dark cherry blossom, a dull magenta. Our near-infrared camera reveals that its color is much more blue than other imaged planets, which may indicate that its atmosphere has fewer clouds,” said Michael McElwain, a member of the discovery team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

via Nature World News

iPad Mini 2 Rear Shell Leaked

iPad Mini has seen its fair share of rumors and leaks. Some suggest that the device willfeature a retina display while others say the opposite. But my six sense says that the upcoming iPad Mini will feature a retina display especially after the launch of second generation Nexus 7 with high resolution. Even, Amazon is expected to launch their upgradedKindle Fire lineup which appears to be impressive. Keeping that aside, we have some leaked images of the rear panel of the upcoming iPad Mini.

The folks at FanaticFone got hold of some of the rear shell of the upcoming iPad Mini. The shell appears to be a prototype as we cannot see the name “iPad” on the rear shell of the device. There isn’t anything interesting that as the rear case appears to something similar to the original one. It looks like the Cupertino giant decided to keep the appearance of the device same and change the hardware of the device.

Here are the images of the rear shell.

     

Rumors are suggesting that Apple will unveil the device by the end of this year – expected to be in September along with a new iPhone and much anticipated Budget iPhone aka iPhone 5C. We will find out everything with time and we will definitely see more leaks in the future that will give us more information about the miniature iPad.

Apple Acquires Chipmaker Passif

This week it has been confirmed that Apple has now purchased Passif the Silicon Valley-based low-energy chipmaker who creates low power communication chips. The news of the acquisition was revealed by Jessica Lessin and confirmed by Apple.

Its thought that Apple will be putting the company to good use utilising the new iOS 7 features that allow their iOS devices to have enhanced location awareness.

The enhance location awareness features may then be able to help smartphones and tablets talk to receivers and transmitters installed in museums, shops and other locations. Apps installed on the users iOS devices would then be able to communicate displaying relevant information when required.

The purchase of Passif adds to Apple’s ever growing list of chip maker acquisitions which include the likes of Intrinsity, Wifislam and PA Semi. It will be interesting to see how over the coming months after the release of Apple’s iOS 7 operating system how the new company is put to use.

SMS Audio Launches New Street by 50 over Ear Noise Cancellation Headphones

Rapper 50 Cent has been pushing his own brand of audio gear for quite a while called SMS Audio. The company has unveiled a new set of headphones for music fans called the Street by 50 Over Ear Active Noise Control Wired Headphones. The headphones feature professionally tuned 40 mm drivers and soft leather memory foam ear cushions.

The headphones are made to be durable enough to withstand travel and daily use. The headphones use a rechargeable battery to power the active noise cancellation technology that promises to last for 70 hours of play time. If the battery goes dead, the headphones can be used without the noise cancellation tech.

The wired headphones also have a removable cable that has a three-click microphone for phone calls. They ship with a cleaning cloth, carry case, and micro-USB charging cable. The headphones are available in silver or black right now for $279.95.

BBM for Android Beta Test Images Leak

The rumored June 27 release window has long passed, but BlackBerry Messenger for Android and iOS is apparently still on track to hit before the end of the summer. Today the multi-platform version of the messaging app has inched closer to release, with the news that it's now in beta testing among a select group of users.

 

Hot Water Geysers on Saturn’s Moon Caused by Gravitational Pull

Saturn is a massive planet that is much larger than the Earth. It’s incredibly large-size means that it has a significantly stronger gravitational pull on its natural satellites. One of Saturn’smoons, called Enceladus, is known for spewing water geysers into space.

Scientists say that salt in the plumes of water spewing into space suggest that the moon may have a liquid ocean underneath its frozen icy surface. Scientists have struggled to identify what was driving the geological activity forcing the hot plumes of water off the surface of the planet into the space. A team of scientists discovered that the plume of water was four times brighter when the moon was farthest from Saturn.

Since the moon travels in an elliptical orbit, Saturn continually pulls and squeezes the moon creating heat in its interior and creating geological activity on the surface of the icy moon. The moon is only 500 km wide, but scientists believe that underneath the icy surface could be a habitable oceanic for environment. “Nobody fully understands why Enceladus is geologically active, but this plume has interesting potential applications for trying to understand what could be a habitable environment,” Dr Hedman said.

via BBC

BBM For Android Poses For The Camera!!

BlackBerry Messenger to Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android platform, and now we have a photo of BBM on Android.

The photo below shows BBM running on the Samsung Galaxy S4 and it was posted online by the BGR, and it give us a quick look at what BBM will look like on Android.

We previously heard that BBM would land on Android in September, this has yet to be confirmed, as soon as we get some more details we will let you guys know.

Source BGR

New USB 3.1 Standard Brings 10Gbps Speeds To Devices

This week the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced that they will be launching a new faster connection speed of 10Gbps in a new USB 3.1 standard which is available today for download from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) website.

The SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps uses a more efficient data encoding and will deliver more than twice the effective data through-put performance of existing SuperSpeed USB over enhanced, fully backward compatible USB connectors and cables.

“SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps uses a more efficient data encoding and will deliver more than twice the effective data through-put performance of existing SuperSpeed USB over enhanced, fully backward compatible USB connectors and cables. Compatibility is assured with existing USB 3.0 software stacks and device class protocols as well as with existing 5 
Gbps hubs and devices and USB 2.0 products”

The USB 3.1 standard is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 connection and device and Information sessions on USB 3.1 will be made available on August 21st  to register for the event, complete the registration form available here:  Registration

However there’s no word on when devices and cables using the new version of the standard will be available to purchase by the public