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Tim Baxter, President of Samsung Electronics America. Photo by Tim Carmody/Wired.com

NEW YORK Just forget about its giant screen for a moment.

Yes, that new plasma TV is gorgeous, that LED backlight efficient, and that refresh rate ridiculous. But in truth, just like smartphones and tablets, smart TVs are about platforms as much as pictures.

Today in New York, Samsung presented its updated line of smart TVs and related electronics, almost all of them available for sale now. The Korean electronics giant has too many new individual devices from cameras that sync with your TV over Wi-Fi and smartphone speaker docks with honest-to-goodness vacuum tube amplifiers to tricked-out, touchpad-and-microphone-equipped remotes that are 85 to 90 percent of everything you want a smart TV remote to be to give more than passing consideration here to each and every one of them. If you want to get started with that, Ars Technicas Casey Johnston has a great rundown of whats good and bad in all the new interface technologies for Samsungs smart TVs here.

Instead, heres my big takeaway from Samsungs event at least as I see it now, with an eye toward Apples definitely-an-iPad, most-probably-an-Apple-TV event on Wednesday.

In the future, the living room will replace the home office as most households home for the stationary personal computer. Instead of printers and mice and other corded accessories, networked appliances and post-PC machines share data with one another and with the cloud. Play and productivity both become decentered; gaming and entertainment might be on a tablet or a television, with recipes at the refrigerator, a shopping list for the smartphone, and an instructional video on the television set.

All of these experiences will be coherent, continuous and contextual. And like the personal computer at the height of Pax Wintel, the living room will be a platform characterized by triumphant pluralism.

The thing about the living room is that its universal; everyone in the household uses it, Samsung VP Eric Anderson told me at todays event. We know that were not going to capture every single member of the household. In my family, my wife and my daughter are Apple, me and my sons are Android, he noted, pointing out that the majority of devices introduced today can interact with either mobile platform.

The big question for us is what is the core of your household, Anderson added. What is the device of origin? Where do you start, and to where do you return? Thats why we look at the living room, the kitchen along with some mobile devices. Here, no company can be a platform purist: Every consumer electronics company is looking for a differentiator; maybe the differentiator here is the devices ability to work with anything.

Samsungs been manufacturing and selling smart TVs since 2008. Its sets have carried Yahoos widgets, Google TV, and now Samsungs own app-driven Smart Hub software. In those four short years, the technology powering the TV, customers expectations, and entertainment companies willingness to embrace cloud-delivered, app-based over-the-top content have all changed.

Go here to read the rest:
Smarter TV: Living Room as Digital Hub From Samsung and Microsoft to Apple and Google

Three technological eras began in 1953: thermonuclear weapons, stored-program computers, and modern genetics.

At 10:38 p.m. on March 3, 1953, in a one-story brick building at the end of Olden Lane in Princeton, New Jersey, Italian Norwegian mathematical biologist Nils Aall Barricelli inoculated a 5-kilobyte digital universe with random numbers generated by drawing playing cards from a shuffled deck. "A series of numerical experiments are being made with the aim of verifying the possibility of an evolution similar to that of living organisms taking place in an artificially created universe," he announced.

A digital universe -- whether 5 kilobytes or the entire Internet -- consists of two species of bits: differences in space, and differences in time. Digital computers translate between these two forms of information -- structure and sequence -- according to definite rules. Bits that are embodied as structure (varying in space, invariant across time) we perceive as memory, and bits that are embodied as sequence (varying in time, invariant across space) we perceive as code. Gates are the intersections where bits span both worlds at the moments of transition from one instant to the next.

The term bit (the contraction, by 40 bits, of "binary digit") was coined by statistician John W. Tukey shortly after he joined von Neumann's project in November of 1945. The existence of a fundamental unit of communicable information, representing a single distinction between two alternatives, was defined rigorously by information theorist Claude Shannon in his then-secret Mathematical Theory of Cryptography of 1945, expanded into his Mathematical Theory of Communication of 1948. "Any difference that makes a difference" is how cybernetician Gregory Bateson translated Shannon's definition into informal terms. To a digital computer, the only difference that makes a difference is the difference between a zero and a one.

That two symbols were sufficient for encoding all communication had been established by Francis Bacon in 1623. "The transposition of two Letters by five placeings will be sufficient for 32 Differences [and] by this Art a way is opened, whereby a man may expresse and signifie the intentions of his minde, at any distance of place, by objects ... capable of a twofold difference onely," he wrote, before giving examples of how such binary coding could be conveyed at the speed of paper, the speed of sound, or the speed of light.

That zero and one were sufficient for logic as well as arithmetic was established by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1679, following the lead given by Thomas Hobbes in his Computation, or Logique of 1656. "By Ratiocination, I mean computation," Hobbes had announced. "Now to compute, is either to collect the sum of many things that are added together, or to know what remains when one thing is taken out of another. Ratiocination, therefore is the same with Addition or Substraction; and if any man adde Multiplication and Division, I will not be against it, seeing ... that all Ratiocination is comprehended in these two operations of the minde." The new computer, for all its powers, was nothing more than a very fast adding machine, with a memory of 40,960 bits.

In March of 1953 there were 53 kilobytes of high-speed random-access memory on planet Earth. Five kilobytes were at the end of Olden Lane, 32 kilobytes were divided among the eight completed clones of the Institute for Advanced Study's computer, and 16 kilobytes were unevenly distributed across a half dozen other machines. Data, and the few rudimentary programs that existed, were exchanged at the speed of punched cards and paper tape. Each island in the new archipelago constituted a universe unto itself.

In 1936, logician Alan Turing had formalized the powers (and limitations) of digital computers by giving a precise description of a class of devices (including an obedient human being) that could read, write, remember, and erase marks on an unbounded supply of tape. These "Turing machines" were able to translate, in both directions, between bits embodied as structure (in space) and bits encoded as sequences (in time). Turing then demonstrated the existence of a Universal Computing Machine that, given sufficient time, sufficient tape, and a precise description, could emulate the behavior of any other computing machine. The results are independent of whether the instructions are executed by tennis balls or electrons, and whether the memory is stored in semiconductors or on paper tape. "Being digital should be of more interest than being electronic," Turing pointed out.

Von Neumann set out to build a Universal Turing Machine that would operate at electronic speeds. At its core was a 32-by-32-by-40-bit matrix of high-speed random-access memory -- the nucleus of all things digital ever since. "Random access" meant that all individual memory locations -- collectively constituting the machine's internal "state of mind" -- were equally accessible at any time. "High speed" meant that the memory was accessible at the speed of light, not the speed of sound. It was the removal of this constraint that unleashed the powers of Turing's otherwise impractical Universal Machine.

Electronic components were widely available in 1945, but digital behavior was the exception to the rule. Images were televised by scanning them into lines, not breaking them into bits. Radar delivered an analog display of echoes returned by the continuous sweep of a microwave beam. Hi-fi systems filled postwar living rooms with the warmth of analog recordings pressed into vinyl without any losses to digital approximation being introduced. Digital technologies -- Teletype, Morse code, punched card accounting machines -- were perceived as antiquated, low-fidelity, and slow. Analog ruled the world.

Excerpt from:
1953: The Year That Revolutionized Life, Death, and the Digital Bit

by Manx Rally Media

This weekend will see a first foray into the REIS MSA Asphalt Championship for Isle of Man based rally co-driver Rob Fagg, as he contests the opening round of the series, the Tour of Epynt. Taking place on the Epynt Military Ranges, he will team up with Blackburns John Stone in his crowd-pleasing Legends Fires backed Skoda Fabia WRC.

It will not be the first time the pair has competed together; having contested the opening round of the Isle of Man rally season in 2011, the MANN Construction Chris Kelly Memorial Rally, as well as the Southern Ireland based Monaghan Stages later in the year. On those occasions they had mixed fortunes, taking third on the Chris Kelly but recording an early retirement on the Monaghan event.

Stone recently warmed up for the series opener with a run on the North West Stages, an event his company Legends Fires have sponsored for some time. Using the event as a shakedown for the CA1 Sport prepared and run Skoda, the team were able to make improvements to the performance of the car throughout the day, eventually taking second place.

Robert Graham & Co Quantity Surveyors supported Fagg meanwhile opened his season on home turf, taking victory on the MANN Construction Chris Kelly Memorial Rally alongside John Cope.

With such a positive start to the season for both parties separately, they are hopeful of continuing as a partnership. Looking ahead to the season, Rob is looking forward to teaming up with John again.

I really enjoyed competing alongside John (Stone) last year on the two events we did together commented Rob, We got on well in the car and instantly gelled which always helps in a new relationship. The car is fantastic and well prepared by the guys at CA1 Sport. Working with them and John again this year really excites me and hopefully we can pick up some good results along the way.

Its the first time Rob will have contested the REIS sponsored MSA Asphalt Championship, the past few years competing in the MSA British Rally Championship, but aside from this he has competed on most of the events over the years. The championship consists of nine rounds and although I have not contested the series before I have competed on all but two of the venues in the past through various other championship and one off runs explained Fagg, The ones I will be really looking forward to are of course my home event, the Manx National, as well as the Jim Clark and hopefully the ALMC, but of course this weekend also as we get underway.

Despite having committed to the series, Rob is still in search of backing to ensure he is in the best possible position to complete the season and hopefully challenge for the title. Anyone who feels they maybe able to help, no matter how big or small the assistance they can offer, can contact Rob either via e-mail at robert@robertfagg.com or by calling (07624) 480101.

Read the original:
Fagg Aims To Stone The Epynt Opposition

6 March 2012 1:25 pm

Technical Connection sets out a game plan for tax-saving opportunities as the end of the tax year looms.

The run-up to the end of the tax year is a good time to consider tax planning to maximise the use of an individuals allowances, reliefs and exemptions for the current tax year (many of which will be lost if not used before the year end) and to put in place planning strategies that will minimise tax paid in 2012/13.

In this article all references to married couples include registered civil partners. (article continues below)

The following are what we believe are important to take account of in determining fundamental income tax planning strategies:

Keeping the above key factors firmly in mind, the following tax planning opportunities exist for most people regardless of their tax position.

Maximising the use of a couples allowances, exemptions and lower tax rates

For married couples, important income-tax-saving possibilities exist. Most of these need a full tax year to operate to give maximum effect so these suggestions may serve more of a remin-der for planning for the com-ing tax year than as a means of saving tax this tax year.

Go here to read the rest:
Special report: End of tax year planning

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

TurboTax, the nations leading tax software, today announced a new app now available for Android tablets. Designed and optimized specifically for the Android platform, the app rounds out a robust suite of TurboTax mobile offerings. TurboTax is the only tax preparation software to offer customized, native apps, not just a browser experience, for the growing number of consumers who choose to prepare their taxes on a mobile or tablet device.

TurboTax for Android is among the first Android tablet apps from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), and is the first and only tax prep app designed specifically for Android tablets that enable taxpayers with simple and complex returns to prepare and e-file both their federal and state taxes completely from their tablet. For Android phone customers, SnapTax, a mobile app designed for a simple return (1040EZ) is also available.

The new TurboTax app gives users the freedom to work on their taxes anytime, anywhere, and without always being connected to the Internet. The TurboTax for Android app takes advantage of the tablet environment with a unique look and feel, easy navigation and automatically presents customized keyboards, on devices that support it, to make entering tax data easier and more intuitive.

Tax returns can be password protected for an extra layer of security. Customers can e-file their return directly from their tablet and get a refund in as little as seven days with direct deposit and can easily and securely email a copy of their return to their computer.

Once again, TurboTax apps combine the unparalleled ease of TurboTax with the convenience and portability of mobile devices so that taxpayers feel confident their taxes are done right.This year, TurboTax is the only software to offer everyone free one-on-one live tax advice, via phone or chat from a highly experienced tax professional.

Pricing and Availability

Customers can download the app for free from the Android Market and pay when theyre done. Customers start in TurboTax Deluxe, for $29.99, and based on their tax situation, they can choose TurboTax Premier or TurboTax Home & Business for an additional cost. State tax preparation is additional. All pricing is subject to change and includes e-file at no additional cost.

For more information and to see a video, visit the TurboTax blog. Taxpayers can follow TurboTax on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

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TurboTax First to Deliver Android Tax Prep App to Mobile Tablet Customers