How Microsoft Will Profit Off Webmail Without Reading Your Inbox

No doubt about it: Outlook.com looks great. The user interface for Microsoft’s just-announced Hotmail overhaul is crisp and clean—I’m a sucker for whitespace. The social and Skype integrations seem winning, and the newsletter filter looks like inbox salvation. Here’s the kicker: When you sign up, before you even see your inbox for the first time, Microsoft makes this promise:

“Outlook is private—you’re in control of your data, and your personal conversations aren’t used for ads.”

Google Chrome now used by one in three web surfers

Google's Chrome web browser is going to turn four years old in less than a month. According to web analytics service StatCounter, approximately 33.8% of web surfers are using Chrome to look at kittens, puppies, and to see how many likes their last status update received. That's absolutely astonishing when you step back and realize that it wasn't too long ago when Firefox was considered the browser to beat. How many people still use Firefox? About 23.7%, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but let's be honest, when was the last time you actually set Firefox as your default browser?

Fenix bike light line to include affordable 800 lumen unit

Flashlight manufacturer Fenix is bringing its lighting expertise to the bike market with plans to launch a pair of bike lights that combine powerful output, low pricing and an established brand name. Some bikers already mount Fenix torches to their handlebars in place of more purpose-built lighting systems but its new bike light line will just give users a more integrated package for lighting up the road or trail with Fenix power.

New system saves time and money in locating leaks in water pipes

Tracking down the source of a leak in water pipes can be a tricky business. Current techniques rely on acoustic sensing with microphones often used to identify noise resulting from pressurized water escaping the pipe. In plastic pipes in particular, that noise can fall away quickly, making leak detection difficult and time consuming. Researchers at the University of Sheffield claim to have developed a much more accurate system that locates leaks by sending a pressure wave along the pipe that sends back a signal if it passes any anomalies in the pipe’s surface.

Apple smart cover patent application hints at secondary display for iPad

The US Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) has made public an application for an iPad cover encompassing a flexible touch-screen display. The product detailed in the patent that Apple filed for nearly a year ago would aim to “greatly enhance the overall functionality of the tablet device.”

The future is coming, in the form of internet-controlled power outlets

A common theme in any form of entertainment depicting the future is the use of a remote to control everything – futuristic houses are often shown with the owner turning the lights on before they even arrive. Turns out, using the internet to control our houses is not too far away. A group of researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication Systems ESK in Munich, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern, have developed a new power outlet that supports the brand-new IPv6 Internet protocol. These new outlets, known as the wireless smart socket, could very well revolutionize the way we turn things on and off in our homes.

Siemens unveils world's largest wind turbine blades

Siemens has released pictures of its truly gargantuan B75 wind turbine rotor blades. As you might imagine, the prototype turbines that will use these blades boast some staggering statistics of their own (Airbuses at the ready, please).

Small, portable Goal Zero Switch 8 charger offers multiple functions

The Goal Zero Switch 8 is a lightweight, pocket-sized charger that carries enough juice to just about fully charge a cell phone.The charger can also multitask, including serving as a flashlight and UV water purifier.

GameKlip pairs Android smartphones with PS3 controllers

Handheld games consoles such as the impressive PS Vita, though still popular, are in danger of being sidelined by increasingly capable smartphones and the games that are available to play on them. There is one problem with this transition however: the control system on touchscreen phones and tablets leaves a lot to be desired. Which is where GameKlip enters in to the equation.

NASA announces advanced technology proposals

A submarine glider to explore the ocean of Europa, a solid-state air purification system and a way of making concrete out of lunar soil for Moon colonies - these are a few of the 28 proposals that NASA has selected for study and development under its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program. Part of the larger Space Technology program, NIAC is the space agency’s way of kick-starting innovation that has the potential to improve future missions, aerospace systems and other capabilities.

The AmigaOne X1000: Keeping a dream alive

The 30th anniversary of the Commodore 64 and death of its creator Jack Tramiel earlier this year is a reminder of a bygone age of computing. In the consumer climate of 2012, where computer architecture is dominated by Intel chips, it is hard to imagine another time when a battle for personal computing supremacy occurred between truly different systems. The struggles between Commodore, Atari and Apple throughout the 1980s and early 1990s (of which Jack was an integral part) are well documented. Personalities like Tramiel - who acquired Atari in 1984 after being removed from its main competitor, Commodore, which he had founded thirty years earlier - were often at the center of what became a consumer technologies war. Indeed the rise and fall of the Amiga and Atari ST, in retrospect, was greatly affected by boardroom politics and corporate mud slinging.

Touchdown! Curiosity lands safely on Mars

NASA's Mars lander Curiosity has landed safely on Mars. After a 253-day voyage punctuated by a dramatic plunge through the Martian atmosphere, the nuclear-powered rover has reported to mission control that it is on the ground and systems are nominal. The landing occurred at 10:31 p.m. U.S. PDT (August 6, 05:31 GMT) plus or minus a minute. The landing site was near the base of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater, 4.6 degrees south latitude, 137.4 degrees east longitude. This marks the beginning of a two-year mission to seek out places where life may have existed on Mars – or may yet exist today.

Android multi-user support built into Jelly Bean, can be enabled with a bit of work

We told you about the various multi-user capabilities built into Android over the last year or so, and it seems that while they’re not quite ready for primetime, the feature can be enabled in AOSP Jelly Bean. Developers at XDA-Developers have been experimenting with the prospects, creating second accounts and seeing exactly what is blocked off and allowed from the primary account.

Motion Lamp concept sheds light on design

The importance of lighting can often be overlooked, but selecting the right illumination for each situation is actually rather important. Using a computer in the near-dark or reading without a suitable lamp can cause eyestrain, while creating the right mood can also be achieved by choosing the correct color, tone, and brightness. One light to suit every single situation doesn't exist, but the Motion Lamp from designer Gergo Kassai tries to its hardest to achieve this impossible task.

Breakthrough allows inexpensive solar cells to be fabricated from any semiconductor

Despite their ability to generate clean, green electricity, solar panels aren't as commonplace as the could be. The main sticking point, of course, is price. Due to their need for relatively expensive semiconductor materials, conventional solar cells don't yet have a price-efficiency combination that can compete with other sources of electricity. Now Profs. Alex Zettl and Feng Wang of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have developed seriously unconventional solar cell technology that allows virtually any semiconductor material to be used to create photovoltaic cells.

MIT students reveal PopFab, a 3D printer that fits inside a briefcase

There are plenty of different 3D printers to choose from these days, from the popular Makerbot Thing-O-Matic to the budget-priced Solidoodle. These all have one drawback however in that they aren't exactly portable. Most need to be disassembled to be moved and even the fully-assembled Cubify printer isn't really built for travel. But now, two MIT students have developed the PopFab, a machine that does 3D printing and more, all while fitting inside a small suitcase.

Panansonic develops world's most efficient artificial photosynthesis system

Panasonic has recently developed an artificial photosynthesis system that, using a simple and straightforward process, can convert carbon dioxide into clean organic materials with what it says record efficiency. This development may lead to the creation of a compact way of capturing pollution from incinerators and electric power plants and converting them into harmless – even useful – compounds.

FreedomPop brings free 4G data to iPod touch and iPhone users

The iPod touch is more or less an iPhone without the phone functionality. When connected to a Wi-Fi network, it can do most of the same functions as the iPhone. However, Wi-Fi is not available everywhere, and without it, the touch loses some important functionality. FreedomPop is launching an iPod touch case for US$99, that brings free 4G data to touch owners.

Microsoft announces Wedge Mobile Keyboard and Mouse

Microsoft has announced a set of new peripherals for its upcoming tablet-friendly Windows 8 OS. The Wedge Mobile Keyboard features a minimalist design, slim form factor and full-sized keyset, while the Wedge Touch Mouse is the smallest and lightest pointer that the company has ever produced.

Optical communications system and autonomous microscope to boost underwater research

It would definitely be an understatement to say that underwater research has its technical challenges. Remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) must be tethered to surface support vessels with unwieldy communications cables, deep-sea water samples have to be hauled to the surface for analysis ... or do they? Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recently announced that it has partnered with two private companies, to market a couple of technologies that address both of those situations.

Chimera Energy develops fracking technique that uses no water

“Fracking” may sound like something out of Battlestar Galactica, but it’s actually short for “hydraulic fracturing.” It is one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of the energy industry and its ability to open up previously unprofitable oil and gas resources in North America, Europe and China holds the promise of centuries of cheap, clean and abundant energy free of Middle Eastern control. However, it has raised the concerns of some environmentalists. Chimera Energy Corporation of Houston, Texas, has announced that they are licensing a new method for extracting oil and gas from shale fields that doesn't contaminate ground water resources because it uses exothermic reactions instead of water to fracture shale.

Solar Bag purifies water while you walk

Lack of access to clean water causes the deaths of millions of people worldwide and in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, clean water can be several days walk away. Producing a simple and cheap method of purifying water which doesn’t rely on first-world amenities such as a steady electricity supply, or batteries, has proven a significant challenge thus far, but a new prototype device created by Ryan Lynch and Marcus Triest offers hope of doing just this, for an estimated cost of around US$5.

VTech InnoTab 2: is it enough to keep little fingers off your iPad?

We've seen several products which turn your touchscreen devices into children's toys, from the iTikes range to the SmartPet toy dog ... but what if you don't want to encourage your little one to play with your iPad? VTech is about to release the InnoTab 2, its latest tablet computer for kids, which features a five-inch touchscreen, camera, video and MP3 players … but is that enough to keep little fingers off your iPad?

Pedal-powered washer could make a big difference in developing nations

In the developed world, we forget that there was once a time when washday meant “day” rather than “toss it in the machine and come back in 20 minutes.” In many parts of the world without access to electricity and clean water, that time is still now. Design students Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You of the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles visited the the slums of Cerro Verde, Peru. There they saw women spending days on end hauling water and washing clothes by hand and they came up with a solution. They created the GiraDora, a foot-pedal washing machine that’s inexpensive and portable.

OUTRIDE case turns the iPhone into an actioncam

Perhaps you’re considering buying an actioncam, but can’t quite rationalize spending $300 or so when your iPhone already has a perfectly good video camera ... if only you could keep it from getting damaged. Well, mophie’s new OUTRIDE case for the iPhone 4 and 4S may be what you’re looking for.

Like the housing of the ubiquitous GoPro HERO, the OUTRIDE is made from clear impact-resistant polycarbonate and features a 170-degree wide-angle lens.