iPad mini mockup pictures leak from Vietnam, look almost like the real deal

A new iPad mockup has appeared in Vietnam courtesy of a China-based accessories company, which obviously uses the mockups to create various smart covers and cases.

According to the source, the iPad mini will feature a 7.85″ 4:3 aspect ratio display and two speakers at the bottom. The Lightning connector is naturally featured here too.

iPad mini model

Although we can’t really be sure if the mockups are credible they do give us a placeholder in our minds of what the iPad mini could be.

The display doesn’t seem all that realistic given the super-sized icons but it is just a model and not the real deal.

There’s a home button under the display (in portrait mode), a camera on the back, and a volume control key and volume rocker, all of which make the supposed iPad mini a classic-looking iPad.

iPad mini model

Not long time left until October 23 now. Excited?

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

iOS 6 now feautres in-app navigation updates, hints at better multitasking capabilities

A new feature has made its way through iOS 6 that takes advantage of the increased horsepower under the iPhone’s hood.

Image courtesy of AppleInsider

More specifically, the latest version of iOS now supports directions from the Maps app to pop-up on top of the screen regardless on which app you happen to be in.

For example, if you happen to be walking and listening to music, a bar on the top of the screen appears to tell you when to make your next turn. Interestingly, this could be used by third-party apps as well.

I am sure in less than 5 hours, Tim Cook and the rest of the Apple team will be showcasing this and more interesting stuff that’ll be debuting on the iPhone 5.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Genetically Modified Neon ‘GloFish’ Could Threaten Natural Species: Report

Image courtesy Glofish.com

A species of bright neon green pet fish that were created by scientists could threaten native fish species off of Florida’s coasts, according to scientists.

The Electric Green Tetra, part of a line of GloFish created by scientists at Yorktown Technologies, was created when black tetra fish were combined with genetic material from coral, according to a report in today’s Washington Post. The report raises the possibility that the fish could be damaging to other species if let loose in American waters.

The fish, which becomes fluorescent when placed under a black light, was developed for use in home aquariums,  according to the GloFish website.

But some biologists and food scientists, like those at the Center for Food Safety, are worried the fish will make it into the wild and disrupt natural biodiversity.

“We feel that the use of GE [genetic engineering] for wild animals — and these are essentially wild animals, they are not domesticated, they’re wild, they can escape, people throw them back into the wild — can have long-running impacts that can be pretty scary. GE invasive species have caused a lot of problems in this country. We want to be careful about contributing to those issues,” CFS attorney Peter Jenkins told ABC News today.

GloFish were the subject of a lawsuit filed by Center for Food Safety against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004. The CFS argued that the genetically-modified fish should be regulated by the government, Jenkins said.

Yorktown Technologies, maker of the fish, argues that the green fish would not become an invasive species if released into the wild.

“We have submitted detailed information regarding our fish to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration…. (The FDA) found no evidence that our fluorescent fish pose any more threat to the environment than their non-fluorescent counterparts,” Yorktown’s website for GloFish reads.

Jenkins said that he hopes the FDA will take note of the Washington Post report on GloFish, in addition to websites like GlowingSushi.com, which promotes the consumption of GloFish in order to raise awareness that they are dangerous.

“We think regulatory agencies aren’t doing their job,” Jenkins said today. “GE fish are generally banned entirely for pet use in Canada, California, and Europe, so the FDA seems to be taking a very hands-off approach.”

The FDA said in an email that GloFish are the only genetically engineered product sold commercially in the United States, and that they are not intended as a food product.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Google and Boingo add 24 more Wi-Fi hotspots across the US

Prepare for even more free Wi-Fi around the US, courtesy of Google and Boingo. The two companies are expanding their existing New York test of a free Wi-Fi service to airports and shopping malls across the country.

Attention, mall shoppers: Pretty soon, you’ll be able to surf the Internet in between your shopping experiences, thanks to Google and Boingo’s new plan to extend their free Wi-Fi project from New York City to eight different malls across the United States.

The partnership between the two companies – in which those logging onto the free Wi-Fi service currently being offered in six subway stations and an additional 200 hotspots scattered throughout Manhattan until September 7 will be offered the opportunity to sign up for Google’s Google Offers daily deals service (Subscription to the service isn’t mandatory to be able to get the free Wi-Fi, however) – has apparently been judged enough of a success by both parties that it’s being rolled out across the US. At least, in a somewhat limited capacity, for now.

Although the announcement of the program’s second phase lacks some details with this first announcement – Currently, we’re lacking both the exact location of the eight malls chosen for the project has yet to be revealed (Although four of the pilot cities have been announced; if you live in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tampa or Seattle, you’re in luck – although in at least two of those cities, it’s unlikely that you’d have to go to a mall to find a Wi-Fi signal anywhere) as well as an exact start date for this second phase – it’s clear that both Google and Boingo are sticking close to the model proven successful in the New York trial; although this second trial is centering on shopping malls instead of subway stations, both locations share a constant flow of traffic, and the possibility for a high level of demand. 

That’s something that’s also present in an additional trial that’s going to be occurring at the same time as the shopping mall rollout. According to some additional reports, the eight malls chosen for the pilot program will be joined by sixteen airports across the country as part of a third trial, with travel hubs in Chicago, Houston and Washington DC being selected for this test alongside LA, New York and Seattle.

While the shopping mall trial is expected to follow the free-access-in-exchange-for-Google-Offer-welcome-screen model of the New York model, the third trial will introduce something new into the mix: Google Offers will be offering a trial-specific offer to travelers who log in to the Boingo Wi-Fi signal at airports: A 50 percent discount on a 24-hour pass giving access to Boingo’s international Wi-Fi network, “Boingo As You Go,” that will become active on purchase.

Neither Google nor Boingo has released a date for the roll-out of the second and third phases of testing, nor one for an announcement of the other cities to receive mall or airport access to the Wi-Fi network.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

VIDEO: Humpback Whales Appear Near California Coast

A small pod of humpback whales along the coast of California  gave some onlookers quite a surprise this weekend.

Image credit: Courtesy Michael Brink

Several boaters, paddlers and kayakers who were in the water Saturday narrowly missed becoming whale food when the marine mammals burst through the surface to lunge-feed.

Bill Bouton, a retired biology instructor who was photographing birds off San Luis Obispo, snapped the whales’ rare close encounter with people that day.

“I was sitting in my car, parked along the shoulder of the road overlooking the beach. Got to use my tripod, thank goodness,” he  said on his Flickr page, where he’d posted the shots.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Keanu Reeves drops plot details on third Bill & Ted adventure

Finally, some details on the plot of the increasingly likely third Bill & Ted movie courtesy Ted Logan himself, Keanu Reeves.

Remember the tail end of last week when we brought you news that the still-hypothetical, yet increasingly-likely-to-hit-theaters-at-some-point third Bill & Ted movie had moved a bit closer to reality? That got us excited for this film, but at the time we knew very little about the flick beyond the fact that Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves had agreed to reprise their roles from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. Now, thanks to Keanu Reeves himself, we’ve got a scant few details about this movie’s plot.

Those of you who recall Bogus Journey will know that the titular heroes are destined to, at some point, unite humanity and end human strife forever with the power of their music. Bill & Ted 3 uses this idea as a jumping off point, but in a recent GQ interview, Reeves claims that at the start of the third film Ted Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esquire are “crushed by the responsibility of having to write the greatest song ever written and to change the world.” As a result of this pressure to save mankind, the two pals “have just drifted off into esoterica and lost their rock.”

Of course, this being a Bill & Ted movie, the solution to the duos’ problems lies in yet another trip through time. “We go on this expedition, go into the future to find out if we wrote the song, and one future ‘us’ refuses to tell us, and another future ‘us’ blames us for their lives because we didn’t write the song, so they’re living this terrible life,” Reeves said. “In one version we’re in jail; in another we’re at some kind of highway motel and they hate us.”

If we can digress for a moment, is anyone else finding Reeves’ use of the phrase “future us” to be immensely comforting? We are.

As we mentioned in last week’s story, this film is in the very, very early stages of production. So far the film has a director (Galaxy Quest helmer Dean Parisot), two writers (original Bill & Ted creators Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson) and, of course, its crucial stars, but beyond that the movie is still seeking financiers. Though MGM owns the rights to Bill & Ted, the studio seems wary of funding a third Bill & Ted movie by itself. Other studios are currently being polled to see if any of them would like to co-finance the film, though as of yet there is no solid deal in place.

While we’re still a bit wary of this project as a whole — again, who could possibly replace George Carlin as the helpful futuristic guide Rufus? — as more information on the film leaks out of Hollywood we can’t help but get excited. Have you watched either of the Bill & Ted movies recently? They were entertaining slapstick in our childhood, but re-watching the series as an adult is an entirely different experience. You understand so much more, and those of you who consider yourselves music geeks are guaranteed to love either film simply by virtue of the huge number of unexpected cameos by famous rockers.

How many of you thought that Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin would become a beloved religous icon? We could maybe see Mike Patton being worshipped by indigenous tribes in the South Pacific, but Jim Martin? That one caught us by surprise.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com