TechnologiesExpert Blog

The official Twitter app for the iPhone has arrived in the App Store. As we know it's the Tweetie app, rebranded by Twitter after they acquired developer Atebits.

The app first appeared in New Zealand's App Store and worked its way globally to the other App Stores. Additiuonally, Twitter for iPhone is now, as promised, free of charge. Formerly, Tweetie was priced at $2.99 in the U.S. App Store. In addition to re-branding the app, however, several changes were made, and the version upped to 3.0.

Tweetie is now Twitter! We didn’t just do a name change, we’ve added a bunch of new stuff.

Search has been reorganized, now you can search all tweets and find users in the same spot, view Top Tweets and Browse Suggested users.

Search results now include Top Tweets, try it with Trends...winner combo!

You can now use Twitter without an account! Search, Browse uses, view trends and top tweets.

Sign-up is now availabile within the application as well, complete with Suggested user list.

More tab has been re-organized to accomplish all this. Users with one account can add a second account under the Accounts and Settings button here.

Actions we’ve found people use most, like Retweet have been moved to the main actions bar.

Minor tweaks were made to tweet rendering so they match Twitter.com tweets

SEATTLE – A color version of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader may come eventually, but it won't be soon.

Speaking Tuesday at the online retailer's annual shareholder meeting in Seattle, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said that adding color to the Kindle's "electronic ink" display is a difficult technical challenge and that a color screen is "still a long way out." Bezos said he's seen things "in the laboratory" that are "still not ready for prime-time production."

Tablet computers such as Apple Inc.'s iPad and some e-readers sport LCD displays, which can show color. But those are harder to see in sunlight and consume much more power than e-ink displays.

As usual, Bezos did not detail how many Kindles Amazon has sold since the product launched in 2007, except to say customers have bought "millions" of them.

Also Tuesday, Bezos said that Amazon Web Services, which sells Web hosting and data-storage services to other companies, has the potential to be as large as Amazon's retail business eventually. He called the overall market for such services a "very, very large area" that is generally not being done efficiently.

"Whenever something is done inefficiently, that creates an opportunity," Bezos said.

For now Amazon's Web services division has a long way to go. It is part of a group that had $188 million in revenue in the first quarter, while Amazon's retail operations brought in nearly $7 billion.

DARPA is working on some astonishing technology projects right now. I will be showcasing their top 5 projects over the next couple weeks in a three part series. My guess is many of you will have never heard of most of them. Several of them are breaking down the barrier between science fiction and reality quicker than we ever thought possible. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is the research and development arm of the U.S. Department of Defense. DARPA is well known for funding the development of cutting-edge technology that can be used for defense and civilian use. The DARPA agency is broken up into seven separate Technology Offices. DARPA creates and disbands these offices as needed.

#1 Exoskeletons for human performance augmentation (EHPA) project:-

DARPA Human Exoskeletons Mimic BattleMechs of Science Fiction. A MechWarrior will be a real profession sooner than you think. DARPA delivered grants to both Raytheon/Sarcos Research and Berkley Bionics/Lockheed Martin back in 2003 to start research on EHPA. In 2010, the systems are now in their last phase of development. These actuator systems augment the power and endurance of soldiers enabling them to carry loads of up to 200lbs without feeling ANY of that load or lift 200lb loads that feel like only 10% of that. It also works to reduce a soldiers fatigue by up to 10%. For example, a soldier in an exoskeleton carrying a 100lb load at 2 mph for 45 miles will be 10% less fatigued than a soldier carrying NO load at 2 mph for 45 miles. Now that is impressive. Exoskeletons are quieter than an office printer, can run 42 miles per lb of battery @2.5mpg, allow unfettered driving of vehicles and have a quick release mechanism for emergency evac from the exoskeleton. Exoskeletons typically weigh less than 55lbs, use high-pressure hydraulics and are built from titanium. The system allows soldiers to run up to 10mph, perform deep squats, crawls and upper body lifting. The 200lb load can be attached to the front or back of the exoskeleton.

Now for the BattleMech vision of an exoskeleton! Both the Raytheon and Berkley versions of an exoskeleton allows for the attachment of additional modules. The Berkley system is "Capable of serving as backbone for integrated systems such as armor, heating or cooling systems, sensors and other custom attachments" according to their documentation. How long will it be before they start attaching rocket launchers, machine gun pods, flamethrowers, and laser packs? How about attaching rocket packs for flight as well? As these systems become more capable and able to handle heavier and heavier loads this seems like a natural progression of the technology that we will likely see happen during our lifetimes.

Exoskeleton Photos of HULC System:-




Showing exoskeleton profile :-




Exoskeleton Photos of Raytheon's Exoskeleton System:-