World Won't End Next Month : NASA

No, the heavens will not crash down upon thee, NASA confirms.

Some human folks may fall for all the talk about the worlds end on December 21 2012. But the scientists at NASA have come out with a detailed FAQ to do away with all such rumours. They point to the fact that December 21, 2012 will be just another winter solstice.

"Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012" - NASA states on the FAQ page.

NASA states that all the rumors about the end of the world started with claims that Niburu, a planet discovered by the Sumerians was coming our way. Intrestingly the end was predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was postponed to December 2012 and was linked to the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar. the Mayan calender's cycle ends on a winter solstice, hence the date 21 December 2012 was chosen.

NASA also quickly pointed out that it was not the end of the Mayan calendar, it is only the end of a long cycle. "Just as your calendar begins again on January 1 - another long count period begins in the Mayan calendar" - NASA states in its post.

More importantly, NASA clearly states that there is no evidence or science to back these claims and asserts that these are fictional assertions.

The buzz surrounding the 21 December 2012 phenomenon has been quite noticeablle, especially on all social networking websites. albeit in a humourous way. While the truth will only be known when the date arrives, a trusted body like NASA slamming the rumours goes a long way in spreading awareness.

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Ingress - Augmented Reality Game by Google

If you've been checking out all the latest Android apps lately, you've probably heard that Google—by the name of "Niantic Labs"—released a game of some kind. You might have also watched a trailer that depicted people discovering hidden energy fields within statues, landmarks, and artistic sculptures. You had no idea what the whole thing was about. Yet, you signed up for an invite anyway, because like any other weird Google product, you want in regardless of what it is. Well, I got my invite a couple days ago, and I'm happy to tell you, it's absolutely worth it.

"XM" are collected by walking in your surroundings

Ingress is a project of former Google director of geo John Hanke and his Niantic Labs, a start-up team wholly inside of Google. 

Ingress aims to get people out in the physical world, both for physical activity and to see their surroundings in a new way. Users can generate virtual energy needed to play the game by picking up units of “XM,” which are collected by traveling walking paths, like a real-world version of Pac-Man. Then they spend the energy going on missions around the world to “portals,” which are virtually associated with public art, libraries and other widely accessible places. While it seems like a relatively simple concept, and perhaps even downright common to players of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, it's something that could only be done by Google, and goes far beyond simply a game. The point of Ingress is to get you out of the house and exploring your city.

Going on Missions through "Portals"

Of course, Google's not entirely without gain here. You can submit your own potential portal locations. Snap a photo of a candidate for a new place of interest, make sure GPS data is included, add a description and send it off. You can be pretty sure that Google's using that data to improve their other products, like Maps or maybe even Google Now. Advertising deals are also possible in the future if the game really kicks off. That’s because Ingress incorporates real physical sites and areas in the game. Maybe, portals in a coffee shop or a supermarket?

This isn't a casual game. If you want games for your couch, I'll point you to Angry Birds Star Wars or maybe Jetpack Joyride. Ingress is an experience. The whole point is to go out and find some portals, then, once you've established your presence, take a look at the real world. Enjoy some artwork, explore areas. Get inspired. Interact with people. Make new friends, even. May as well make use of that wonderful mind of yours and share it with others.

The Ingress app is available on Google Play, with an iOS version in the pipe. If you haven't signed up for an invite yet, you can do so here.

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'Star Wars: Episode VII' Writer Confirmed

It looks like Lucasfilm's forthcoming film in the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: Episode VII, has already found a writer. In a blog post today, Lucasfilm has confirmed that Michael Arndt (writer of Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine) would be penning the script. According to Lucasfilm, producers Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas have already begun development discussions with Michael Arndt. 

Rumor is that the plan had been to sent to some of Hollywood's top directors, a list that includes Steven Spielberg, Brad Bird and JJ Abrams. Spielberg took himself out of the running, by stating: "No. No. It's not my genre. It's my best friend George's genre."

For those are yet unaware, late last month, Disney announced its acquisition of Lucasfilm for roughly $4.05 billion in cash and stock, with plans to release three new films in the Star Wars series, as well as additional movie, television, and games projects based on the franchise. 

Star Wars: Episode VII is slated for release in 2015.

Android Celebrates Its 5th Birthday

Android Inc. was originally founded by Andy Rubin and Google snatched him and Android up, back in 2005.  On November 5th, 2007 — Android was officially announced (although the SDK wasn’t made available until the 12th).

I find it hard to believe that Google‘s mobile operating system, Android has now been around for five years. It feels like it’s been around for a long long time, but it was only five years ago when the Open Handset Alliance, consisting of a handful of technology companies including the owner of Android, Google,HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and LG unveiled a beta of the Android mobile operating system with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices.

If we look back to Android 1.0 and compare it with the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, we get a feel that we are looking at two different operating systems. Android has come a long way from it’s first full version from just a little over four years ago, with tons of new features, and of course much better and bigger devices to show it all off with.

In October 2008, HTC released the first Android phone, The HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1 in the US). It had a 3.2-inch display with a 3.15 MP camera, 192MB of RAM, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and came with Android 1.0, although it received upgrades all the way to Android 1.6 Donut a year later.

If you compare the G1 to Google’s Nexus 4, you’ll see how far we've come with not only on the software side, but the handsets as well. The Nexus 4 has a 4.7-inch HD display, a quad-core processor, an 8 MP camera, and 2GB of RAM. That’s quite a huge jump in just four years, and makes you quickly think about how much we’ve taken technology and software for granted over the last several years.

Here’s a YouTube video from the early Android creators introducing their all new mobile platform.

I wish Android a happy fifth birthday, and certainly hope the next five years will be just as innovative as the last.

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