Google launches music streaming service as stock soars above $900 US
Google on Wednesday launched a subscription-based music service that allows users of Android phones and tablets to listen to their favorite songs and artists for a monthly fee. The streaming service, called All Access, is available in the U.S. for $9.99 per month after a 30-day free trial. It will be available in other countries [...]
Google Maps getting an overhaul
Google Maps is getting a radical new revamp, which users can sign up for today. “It’s a whole new concept,” said Bernhard Seefeld, product management director for Google Maps. “We believe this is really the biggest change to Google Maps since Google Maps originally launched” in 2005. While there are several new features baked into [...]
World’s oldest flowing water found deep in Timmins mine
Water found in a deep, isolated reservoir in Timmins, Ont., has been trapped there for 1.5 billion to 2.64 billion years—- since around the time the first multicellular life arose on the planet—- Canadian and British scientists say. The water pouring out of boreholes 2.4 kilometres below the surface in the northern Ontario copper and [...]
Google Glass-like sport sunglasses unveiled by B.C. company
A pair of high-tech shades targeted at athletes was unveiled by a B.C. company Wednesday at Google’s annual developer conference. An early version of the Recon Jet, developed by Vancouver, B.C.-based Recon Instruments, made its debut at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. The device, described by the company as a “heads-up display,” is [...]
Cellphone app helps save trapped ducklings in Windsor
A cellphone app is being credited for helping save the lives of a pair of ducklings in Windsor, Ont. A mother duck and her two babies were walking along Longfellow Avenue when the two ducklings fell more than a metre straight down into a storm drain. “She started to walk away and we heard noise [...]
Is Stephen Hawking’s academic boycott of Israel ethical?
British physicist Stephen Hawking’s decision last week to boycott a major international conference in Israel in June has stirred controversy. On The Current Wednesday, two academics shared their contrasting views on whether such boycotts are ethical and effective. The University of Cambridge, where Hawking works, announced last Wednesday that Hawking said his decision not to [...]
What’s the next frontier for Chris Hadfield?
If Chris Hadfield had his way, he’d still be floating in space and living out the dream that began when he watched Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon nearly 44 years ago. Instead, the southern Ontario farmboy-turned-astronaut was dragged out of a tiny Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan on Monday night and flown [...]
U.S. launches drone from aircraft carrier
A drone the size of a fighter jet took off from the deck of an American aircraft carrier for the first time Tuesday in a test flight that could eventually open the way for the U.S. to launch unmanned aircraft from just about any place in the world. The X-47B is the first drone designed [...]
Polar meltdown top challenge for Arctic Council
Last Thursday, the eight-country Arctic Council was reminded of the issues they face by an event faraway in Hawaii. For the first time in probably three million years, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere averaged above 400 parts per million for an entire day. That’s based on readings at the key monitoring station [...]