Life

High-tech headsets improve hearing on the battlefield

  REUTERS — This headset turns the vibrations from your jawbone into sound. Swedish company Invisio says it allows wearers to communicate clearly even if they were standing in front of a roaring jet engine. The in-ear device is positioned so it just touches the jawbone, with user’s voice transmitted up the bone to the microphone and then sent to the radio. “It’s a bone conduction technology that we use for voice pick-up and we […]

#businessbytes: Globe launches Asia’s first Disney smartphone; holds One Digital Nation event

By Robert Capistrano     Eagle News (Manila, Philippines) — Globe Telecom recently held its One Digital Nation event at the Marriot Hotel Manila introducing its partnership with the Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia and formally launching Asia’s first Disney smartphone. With the Disney Fan in mind and themed around the latest and most popular Disney franchises, these smartphones embody the Disney lifestyle with its lively colors and trendy themed accessories. Classic themes like Mickey […]

First 3-D image of Zika virus could speed vaccine hunt: study

    MIAMI, United States (AFP) —  US researchers announced Thursday the first three-dimensional map of Zika, an advance that some hope will speed efforts to develop a vaccine against the mosquito-borne virus which has been linked to birth defects. The findings in the journal Science describe a virus that is in many ways similar to other in its family of flaviviruses — including dengue, West Nile, yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis — but also […]

Tesla unveils $35,000-Model 3 with range of 215 miles

  (Reuters)  –  Tesla Motors gave a sneak preview Thursday (March 31) of its Model 3 sedan, saying more than 130,000 people had ordered the car, even though it is more than a year away from production. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled a prototype of the Model 3 in Hawthorne, California outside Los Angeles to hundreds of Tesla owners and the media, saying the vehicle will go into production in 2017 at a starting […]

Drought hits Thai sugar farms, next year’s crop dying

RATCHABURI, Thailand – The El Nino weather phenomenon has played havoc with crops across Southeast Asia and beyond. Thailand, the world’s second-largest sugar exporter, will ship 20 percent less of the sweetener to international markets this year than last, and farmers fear the damage already inflicted on young cane plants could make the situation even worse next year. A drop in exports from Thailand and India has contributed to forecasts for a widening global supply […]

NASA releases latest images of the dwarf planet Ceres

IN SPACE – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory uploaded a video last Tuesday (March 22) showcasing the rich-in-detail images captured by the Dawn spacecraft while orbiting above dwarf planet Ceres over the last year. The “Unveiling Ceres” video reveals detailed sights of Ceres highest mountain Ahuna Mons and the Haulani, Oxo and Urvara Craters, as well as the dwarf planet’s brightest region, the 80-million-year-old Occator Crater, as explained by Dawn Chief Engineer and Mission Director Marc […]

German students play Tetris on university facade

KIEL, Germany  (Reuters) — Four German Computer Science students fulfilled every gamer’s dream this week by playing their favorite games at large scale on the facade of their university’s main building. The young scientists transformed the front of the Christian Albrechts University’s 14-floor main building into a big light show and were able to play Tetris, Breakout, Snake and Pong. The project, called Project Lighthouse, included 57,000 LED lights placed on the 392 windows of […]

Santa Barbara Zoo welcomes baby giraffe

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — The Santa Barbara Zoo welcomed a baby Masai giraffe last week, following a nearly 15-month pregnancy of its mother Audrey. The unnamed male calf was born on March 26, weighing in at 191 pounds (87 kilograms) and standing 6’6″ tall (198 centimeters). The zoo said both the calf and mama are doing well. There are an estimated 37,000 Masai giraffes in Kenya and Tanzania, the zoo reported, and […]

Rare Caesarian-born baby gorilla taken out to enclosure for the first time.

BRISTOL, ENGLAND, UK – Seven-week-old Afia, the first gorilla born by Caesarian section in the U.K. was taken by one of her surrogate zoo keeper mothers into the gorilla enclosure for the first time on Wednesday (March 30). It was a tiring moment for the tiny creature, who fell asleep in her keeper’s arms. The western lowland gorilla was born in an emergency C-section operation last month, which is both very rare and risky in […]

Large green and blue diamonds on display in Hong Kong ahead of auction

HONG KONG, China – A 5.03-carat green diamond, believed to be the largest ever to appear on the market, was the highlight of Christie’s Hong Kong 30th anniversary celebrations on Thursday (March 31). Called the ‘Aurora Green’ the natural fancy vivid green diamond is expected to fetch between USD 16-20 million when it goes on the block in Kong Kong on May 31. Christie’s Asia Pacific Chairman, Francois Curiel said green diamonds were the rarest […]

Final Fantasy XV finally unveils game information

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — Japanese company Square Enix decided to hold the unveiling of details surrounding their much anticipated console game ‘Final Fantasy XV’ at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Wednesday (March 30). While fans – some of which dressed in cos play for the event – arrived in their thousands to the free ticketed event called ‘Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV’, many were unaware that the game’s director Hajime Tabata […]

Apple could push FBI on iPhone hack

First, it was the U.S. government asking Apple for help in accessing an iPhone. Now, it could be Apple urging the government to show its hand – in a similar legal case in Brooklyn, New York. A source says Apple could use legal discovery to force the FBI to show how it accessed the phone of the shooter in San Bernardino if Justice officials continue to compel Apple to help unlock an iPhone in a […]