GoPro shares jump with hire of Apple designer
San Francisco (AFP) April 14, 2016 -
Shares of GoPro jumped on Wednesday on word that the troubled maker of mini-cameras popular for capturing first-person action had hired away a longtime Apple designer.
GoPro shares were up slightly more than 19 percent to $13.90 at the close of trading on the Nasdaq exchange.
The California-based company announced that Daniel Coster would become the company's vice president of design at ...
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GoPro teams with developers to spur camera sales
San Francisco (AFP) April 14, 2016 -
GoPro on Thursday announced it is teaming up with outside developers to make it easy to use the company's mini cameras with apps or synch them with other devices.
The effort to make GoPro products more versatile and, ideally, more tempting to buyers was revealed a day after the California-based company announced that it hired away an Apple veteran to become vice president of the GoPro design ...
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NY Times adds $50 million for global digital expansion
New York (AFP) April 14, 2016 -
The New York Times announced plans Thursday to invest $50 million into efforts to boost digital readership and revenue outside the United States.
The prestigious US daily said it was creating a new "international digital growth team" to help promote the Times to global audiences.
The paper has one of the world's largest newsroom operations but has been making a slow transition to the dig ...
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Biggest sovereign fund excludes 52 coal-related groups
Oslo (AFP) April 14, 2016 -
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest, has excluded 52 coal-related companies in line with new ethical guidelines barring it from investing in such groups, Norway's central bank said Thursday.
The move was seen as a sign of the growing influence investors wield in the fight against climate change.
In June 2015, the Scandinavian country's parliament agreed to pull the fund o ...
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Life left for oil and gas in Norway, regulator says
Oslo, Norway (UPI) Apr 14, 2016 -
The Norwegian government said it was placing an emphasis on the long view for the potential for offshore oil and gas production during the market downturn.
"The oil and gas industry is currently experiencing a period characterized by low oil prices and considerable challenges," the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said in a statement. "This means it is important to have a long-term persp ...
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Brittle is better for making cement
Houston TX (SPX) Apr 14, 2016 -
Because concrete, the world's most-used construction material, is such a major contributor to climate change, it's worth knowing every detail about how it's manufactured, according to Rice University scientists.
The Rice lab of theoretical physicist Rouzbeh Shahsavari is looking into those details down to the atomic level. The lab has published the results of computer modeling studies that ...
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University of Sussex research brings 'smart hands' closer to reality
Sussex UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
Using your skin as a touchscreen has been brought a step closer after UK scientists successfully created tactile sensations on the palm using ultrasound sent through the hand. The University of Sussex-led study - funded by the Nokia Research Centre and the European Research Council - is the first to find a way for users to feel what they are doing when interacting with displays projected on thei ...
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New magnetism research brings high-temp superconductivity applications closer
Argonne IL (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
A research team led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has discovered that only half the atoms in some iron-based superconductors are magnetic, providing a conclusive demonstration of the wave-like properties of metallic magnetism in these materials.
The discovery allows for a clearer understanding of the magnetism in some compounds of iron, the iron arsen ...
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Intracellular recordings using nanotower electrodes
Toyohashi, Japan (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
Our current understanding of how the brain works is very poor. The electrical signals travel around the brain and throughout the body, and the electrical properties of the biological tissues are studied using electrophysiology. For acquiring a large amplitude and a high quality of neuronal signals, intracellular recording is a powerful methodology compared to extracellular recording to measure t ...
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Researchers generate clean energy using bacteria-powered solar panel
Binghamton NY (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
Researchers have taken the next step in the evolution of bacteria-powered energy. For the first time ever, researchers connected nine biological-solar (bio-solar) cells into a bio-solar panel. Then they continuously produced electricity from the panel and generated the most wattage of any existing small-scale bio-solar cells - 5.59 microwatts.
"Once a functional bio-solar panel becomes ava ...
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Topology explains queer electrical current boost in non-magnetic metal
Kyoto, Japan (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
Insights from pure mathematics are lending new insights to material physics, which could aid in development of new devices and sensors. Now an international team of physicists has discovered that applying a magnetic field to a non-magnetic metal made it conduct 70% more electricity, even though basic physics principles would have predicted the opposite.
"We never expected that magnetoresis ...
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Quantum dots enhance light-to-current conversion in layered semiconductors
Upton NY (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
Harnessing the power of the sun and creating light-harvesting or light-sensing devices requires a material that both absorbs light efficiently and converts the energy to highly mobile electrical current. Finding the ideal mix of properties in a single material is a challenge, so scientists have been experimenting with ways to combine different materials to create "hybrids" with enhanced features ...
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A single ion impacts a million water molecules
Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
Water is simple and complex at the same time. A single water molecule (H20) is made up of only 3 atoms. Yet the collective behavior of water molecules is unique and continues to amaze us. Water molecules are linked together by hydrogen bonds that break and form several thousands of billions of times per second. These bonds provide water with unique and unusual properties. Living organisms contai ...
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Interactive screens on your packages
Sheffield, UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
Instead of reading a label, consumers could be interacting with an electronic screen on packaging in the future, thanks to a revolutionary new development by scientists at the University of Sheffield.
The scientists collaborated with technology company Novalia to create a new way of displaying information on packaging, a move that could revolutionise the packaging industry.
This tech ...
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Clearing the way for real-world applications of superhydrophobic surfaces
Espoo, Finland (SPX) Apr 15, 2016 -
In their perspective article in the journal Science, researchers from Aalto University call for consistent and standardized testing of superhydrophobic, i.e. extremely water-repellent, materials.
Agreeing on a unified testing method is needed to allow community-wide comparison between published results. This would significantly progress development of superhydrophobic materials and their t ...
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