The $50 earthquake alarm that could save thousands of lives

In September 1985 a devastating earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale smashed into Mexico City killing 10,000 people and leaving parts of the city in ruins.

Since then, the populous Latin American nation of 122 million has invested in one of the most advanced seismic warning systems anywhere in the world. The SASMEX facility came online in 1991 and reacts to data gathered by sensors placed near major fault lines along Mexico's Pacific coast.

Receivers dotted around five major cities, including Mexico City and Acapulco, will sound the alarm if they detect an earthquake. It's a system that can buy vital seconds for residents to brace themselves before the tremors begin.

But not everyone has access to a SASMEX receiver -- there are 100,000 in operation but at a cost of roughly $330 apiece, they are a luxury the majority of Mexicans can't afford.

Developing Immersive Apps For A New Breed Of All-In-One Computer

Over the years, All-in-One (AIO) computers have become a mainstay in both home and office delivering processing power and big-screen graphics capabilities along with sleek styling that saves on space. With Microsoft’s introduction of Windows* 8, AIOs have been building on traditional keyboard and mouse input with innovative touch capabilities that give end users new ways to interact with software and hardware.  And now, a new form factor is emerging that will extend these capabilities even further — the Portable All-in-One (pAIO).

Portable All-in-Ones feature high-end technical specifications including large touch screens that can operate in lay-flat orientations, and a built-in battery that supports limited mobility. These capabilities make new use cases possible and open the door to development of applications and games that incorporate innovative features such as:

• Multi-user and multi-touch (MUMT) user interfaces
• Multi-modal interactions based on voice or camera-captured body gestures
• Multi-gadget scenarios such as using smartphones as game controllers
• The use of Intel® Wireless Display (WiDi) to provide additional game or application visuals on an HDTV
• Intel Rapid Start Technology for fast system resume

The ability to operate in a detached horizontal orientation offers both opportunities and challenges to software developers who will need to adjust their mindset to take advantage of the features that pAIOs bring. This paper presents four guidelines that can help guide software developers as they design applications that encourage touch interaction and deliver a memorable user experience on Intel® processor-based pAIOs.

Facebook is kicking its drone business into high gear

The company has posted more than a dozen jobs for aeronautical engineers, technicians and other specialists for its drone business. It's all part of Facebook's plan to connect the whole world to the Internet using drones, lasers and satellites. Facebook (FB, Tech30) wants to know: Are you an avionics engineer who can create an autopilot system? How about a thermal engineer who can keep a drone cool during long flights? Or a systems engineer who can manage lasers in outer space?

They'll all be members of Facebook's Connectivity Lab, where the company is researching ways to bring an Internet connection to everyone on the planet. An estimated two-thirds of the world's population doesn't currently have access to the Internet.

Most of the positions are based in California, split between Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters and the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills. The rest are in London, where they'll likely work with the engineers that Facebook brought on board from the small aviation company Ascenta earlier this year. Ascenta's founders were behind the early versions of Zephr, which claimed the record as the longest-flying solar-powered unmanned aircraft.

Flip phones are hip again

In an age of the iPhone 6 Plus and massive Android phablets, flip phones are inexplicably making a comeback.

No less an arbiter of cool than Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintourhas apparently dumped her iPhone in favor of a flipper. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, actress Kate Beckinsale and even Rihanna are just a few of the celebrities spotted proudly brandishing the famous piece of paleo-technology.

And, believe it or not, "dumb phones" aren't exactly the elusive unicorn that some of us think they are.

As of January, 56% of American adults owned smartphones, compared to a total of 90% who had a cellphone of some kind,according to the Pew Research Internet Project. Among millennials age 18-29, an overwhelming 83% of those who owned cellphones had a smartphone, but that leaves the other 17% who keep their mobile life more basic.

The hinged, snap-shut "flipper" form factor was originally introduced to the public in 1982 by laptop manufacturer GriD with its Compass computer.

Motorola, perhaps the king of flip phones with its Razr line, introduced the clamshell style in 1996 with its StarTAC phone (which, appropriately enough, was re-released for nostalgic techies in 2010).

Is this really all about going for retro, hipster street cred? There is, at times, a mystifying aspect of "cool" that centers around eschewing modern convenience for vintage ... well ... inconvenience.