Gizmorama - August 7, 2013

Good Morning,

Attention iPhone users! According to a U.S. tech site, Apple's upcoming operating system suggests the next iPhone may have a fingerprint sensor as a security feature. I wonder if this will help to cut down on iPhone thefts.

Learn about this and other interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Laser communication system for spacecraft in successful test --*
PARIS - An advanced laser system offering vastly faster data speeds to link with spacecraft beyond our planet has passed a crucial ground test, European scientists say. A European Space Agency observatory in Spain will use the laser to communicate with a NASA Moon orbiter later this year, a release from ESA's Paris headquarters reported Tuesday. Laboratory testing has readied the system for a live space demonstration in October when NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer -- LADEE -- begins orbiting the Moon, the ESA said. LADEE will carrier a terminal that can transmit and receive pulses of laser light, while ESA's Optical Ground Station on Tenerife in the Canary Islands will be upgraded with a complementary unit, is said. Together with two U.S. ground terminals, it will relay data at unprecedented rates using light beams at a wavelength similar to that used in fiber-optic cables on Earth, researchers said. "The [laboratory] testing went as planned, and while we identified a number of issues, we'll be ready for LADEE's mid-September launch," Zoran Sodnik, manager for ESA's Lunar Optical Communication Link project, said. The testing took place in July at a Zurich, Switzerland, facility and made use of a new detector and decoding system, a ranging system and a transmitter. "Our ground station will join two NASA stations communicating with the LADEE Moon mission, and we aim to demonstrate the readiness of optical communication for future missions to Mars or anywhere else in the Solar System," Sodnik said. Laser communications units are lighter, smaller and need less power than today's radio systems, promising to cut mission costs and provide opportunities for new science payloads, researchers said.


*-- Sony, Panasonic mulling 300-gigabyte Blu-ray format --*
TOKYO - Japan's Sony and Panasonic say they're working on a successor to Blu-ray, hoping to offer optical discs holding at least 300 gigabytes of data by 2015. Current Blu-ray discs hold about 50 gigabytes of data. The need for higher storage capability is being driven in part by 4K ultra-high-definition movies -- which offer four times the resolution of 1080p video -- which are likely to come in at about 100 gigabytes on an optical disk. While Sony recently launched a device to stream 4K films over the Internet, it will be impractical for people with slow Internet access or data-use limits on their accounts, making a higher-capacity disc technology attractive. Even with competition from streaming video services from providers such as Netflix and Amazon eating into disc-based television show and movie sales, there will still be consumers looking for disc-based storage solutions, analysts said. "For the foreseeable future, even with more advances in streaming, there will be a niche for discs," Russ Crupnick, a media analyst at consultants NPD, told the BBC. "But how large that is going to be is hard to say because it is going to be more about the collector and less about everyday usage." While special triple-layer 100 gigabyte Blu-ray discs already exist and quad-level 128 gigabyte versions have been promised, neither can be read by a normal player.


*-- Apple software suggests fingerprint security for next iPhone --*
CUPERTINO, Calif. - A beta version of Apple's upcoming operating system suggests the next iPhone will have a fingerprint sensor as a security feature, a U.S. tech site reports. A "BiometricKitUI" folder within the software code indicates a biometric sensor will be embedded into the phone's Home button. The software code also mentions "a fingerprint that changes color during the setup process" and refers to someone specifically "touching the Home button with their thumb." The user interface for the fingerprint scanning system is complete, a source told the 9to5 Mac website, and the technology is apparently intended to help unlock the phone or secure user data. Rumors of biometric technology in the next generation iPhone have been swirling every since Apple acquired fingerprint sensor firm AuthenTec for $356 million in July 2012.

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