Gadgets

Instead of waiting until the end of the year for Google's annual Zeitgeist, you can now find out what's trending in any given month with a new Top Charts feature from Google Trends. Updated monthly and going back to 2004, Top Charts is built on the Knowledge Graph, so it's smart enough to house related keywords under one term for more accurate rankings. For example, searches for "giants baseball" and "sf giants" would go toward pushing "San Francisco Giants" up the ranks in a sports-related chart. Right now there are more than 40 top ten lists with more than 140 time periods available for your perusal. In addition to the charts, the Trends team has also rolled out a new visualization tool for "hot searches" that displays trending topics in a large colorful layout -- as seen below, you can customize it to display up to 25 searches at a time that endlessly shift and refresh, thus consuming our attention for the entire day. Filed under: Internet, Google Comments Source: Official Google Blog

At today's Thinking Digital conference, the BBC exhibited the first gadget designed through its Perceptive Media Project: the Perceptive Radio, created by Ian Forrester of the corporation's Future Media division. When the BBC announced the project last summer, the response included some head scratching, mostly due to a lack of clarity about what perceptive media entails. The BBC's R&D department defines perceptive media as distinct from personalized or pervasive media in that it intelligently adapts to specific audiences and surroundings. The Perceptive Radio accomplishes this through the use of light, sound and proximity sensors that adjust what the radio plays according to environmental factors like time, location and the listener's distance from the device. At the moment, the list of tricks ready to demo on the Perceptive Radio is short, but the BBC plans to open-source the design soon, allowing tinkerers to fiddle with it to their hearts' content. Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Science Comments Via: The Next Web

A diagram from Bob Metcalfe's original memo explaining how Ethernet works. (Credit: Palo Alto Research Center) Most people probably associate Ethernet with a simple colored cable cinched with phone-like jacks. But, Ethernet is so much more. It is the foundation for global Internet access and undoubtedly the world's most used connectivity technology. In the annuals of techdom, Ethernet is a very big deal. "Ethernet ranks highly among those technologies that impact day-to-day life on a global basis," IEEE Standards Association writes on its Web site. "Data center networks, PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and now the smart grid, smart meters, personal medical devices, the Internet of Things, connected cars, and more -- Ethernet touches them all in one way or another." And, it was 40 years ago today that inventor Bob Metcalfe passed around a memo explaining just how Ethernet would work -- connecting multiple computers to one another to exchange messages over increasingly busy networks. The Ethernet that Metcalfe, along with inventor David Boggs, came up with wasn't the first of such network protocols... [Read more]Related Links:Home networking Part 7: Power line connections explainedYear two of #Kristofize -- honoring Nicholas KristofTech CEOs say the darndest thingsTwitter needs to deal with the Twitter Accuracy ProblemXbox One vs. PlayStation 4

While single-chip SSDs are clearly known quantities, they usually run at a much more leisurely pace than their larger counterparts. Innodisk doesn't think size and speed have to be contradictory -- it just unveiled an embedded version of its nanoSSD that performs almost as well as its much bigger counterparts. The µSSD-based SATA chip has a tiny footprint (0.63 x 0.79 inches) and draws just 1W of peak power, but can still read at up to 480MB/s and write at 175MB/s. As such, it's one of the few SSDs that can theoretically stuff desktop-class storage into a smartphone or tablet. Whether or not it will is another matter. Innodisk hasn't named customers for the nanoSSD so far, which leaves us guessing just where or when we'll see the drive in a finished product. Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Storage Comments Source: Innodisk

Twitter, in a much-needed move to keep its users safer from cyberattacks, is introducing a more secure login process.The system, called Login Verification, gives users the option to have a verification code sent to their mobile phone every time they log in to Twitter. After a person enrolls, he or she will be able to enter a six-digit code sent via SMS each time the user signs in to twitter.com. The system is designed to provide a second check on top of a regular password to help ensure only authorized users log in.The feature, which Twitter describes as a form of two-factor authentication, can be turned on from a user's account settings page.The release comes after numerous hacks targeted at companies including the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Jeep and even Burger King.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

While we hear a lot about flexible electronics that can be gently bent, how about ones that could actually be folded up? Things like the recently-developed graphite-based paper circuits definitely show promise, but now researchers from Illinois-based Northwestern University have taken another step forward – they’ve created graphene-based inkjet-printable ink. .. Continue Reading Graphene-based ink could enable low-cost, foldable electronics Section: Electronics Tags: Flexible, Foldable, Graphene, Inkjet, Northwestern University Related Articles: Graphene “Big Mac” brings next gen computer chips a step closer New "crumpled" graphene really doesn't stack up New "GraphExeter" material could enable “smart” mirrors, windows or t-shirts Scientists copy structure of cork to produce 3D blocks of graphene Graphene-based transparent touchscreens and solar panels a step closer Localized heating could be the key to mass-producing graphene nanocircuits

Inteliscope: because your tactical rifle totally needed an iPhone strapped to it -

The Windows Phone YouTube app updated on Wednesday after Google demanded Microsoft completely remove it from the Windows Phone Store.  Microsoft said it issued the update to address Google's concerns over a video-download feature and the shortage of...

You saw the news yesterday. The Xbox One was everywhere, and everyone talked a lot about it. But when a new console hits, often we'll latch onto the biggest, shiniest new baubles. Now though, having slept on it, let's dig into the real nerd porn. It's worth a look.Read more...

The massive Huawei Ascend Mate Android smartphone is now available to buy in the UK for the modest SIM-free price of £335.Independent retailer Expansys is offering the 6.1-inch device which was launched in January as the world's largest smartphone, an honour that has since been stolen by the 6.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Mega.For their £335 users will get a quad-core 1.5GHz handset, with the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system filling the 1200 x 800 touchscreen.Although the speeds are still far out of the reach of UK customers, the Ascend Mate is also capable of reaching 4G speeds of up to 150Mbps.CompromisesThe device also rocks 2GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera alongside the 1-megapixel front-facing snapper for video calling. To help keep that massive screen going Huawei has also fitted the Ascend Mate with a huge 4,050 mAh battery that offers up to 22 hours of talk time.Expansys' price tag may be small compared with the device itself, but users will have to accept a few compromises if they plump for the Ascend Mate.According to a recent TechRadar review, the device has a great screen and awesome battery life, but is too big and heavy, while Huawei's Android skin was a little bland for our tester's tastes.If you're in the market for a giant smartphone, will you be plumping for the Ascend Mate or the Galaxy Mega, which arrives in the UK in July? Let us know in the comments.