Matt's Favorites: Hurricane People Finder And Much More
So what's the latest haps for your Tuesday from the wonderful worlds of science and technology? Hang on to your terabytes, here goes...
* First of all, here are links to the Tech Report home page and Tech Report Page Two.
* Also, don't forget that Macomb Community College is hosting Lawrence Technological University's 8th annual RoboFest on Saturday, Nov. 23, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Macomb Community College's Sports and Expo Center, located on the college's South Campus in Warren. The event is open to the public and admission is free.
* Mashable points out that Google has helpfully created a people finder and relief map for the victims of what they're now calling Super Hurricane Hiyan.
* And here's incredible video of Hiyan's devastation from CBS News.
* The devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan cast a gloom over U.N. climate talks Monday as the envoy from the Philippines broke down in tears and announced he would fast until a "meaningful outcome is in sight."
* Our sister Web site News.com, which is based in San Francisco and hardly ever says anything nice about American cars, really likes the Ford Fiesta. Yay!
* Smartphones have now taken the lead in mobile phone sales, with more than 55 percent of sales.
* Amazon (AMZN) says it is teaming up with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages on Sundays. The Seattle company says Sunday delivery will be available to Amazon Prime members in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas at first. Amazon and the Postal Service plan to roll out service to "a large portion of the U.S. population" next year, including Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Phoenix.
* Apple may be working on two larger iPhones. Bloomberg reports that the tech giant is developing two iPhones with larger, curved screens. Citing sources close to the plan, the news agency reports that Apple is planning two models for release in the second half of next year -- with 4.7-inch screen and 5.5-inch screens. Apple is also said to be improving sensors that will detect different degrees of pressure. Reuters reported in June that the tech giant is looking to introduce iPhones with a 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch screen.
* The European Space Agency says one of its research satellites that had run out of fuel caused no known damage after re-entering Earth's atmosphere. ESA said the satellite re-entered the atmosphere at about 7 p.m. Eastern time Sunday on a descending orbit pass that extended across Siberia, the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean and Antarctica.
* Netflix is still the Goliath, and YouTube is only getting bigger. In general, video and audio streaming continues to eat up the greatest traffic of any category on virtually every network reviewed by Sandvine, which runs fixed and mobile data networks worldwide and reports on what is taking place on them. In North America, Netflix and YouTube are the main traffic culprits, according to its twice yearly Global Internet Phenomena Report. Combined, they account for 50.31 percent of the downstream traffic during the peak part of the day.
