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sapphire

Sapphire phone screens not as strong as you think, says Corning

On the surface, smartphones screens made of sapphire sound superb -- they're naturally strong, extremely scratch resistant, can withstand flexing, and transmit light very well. That's the widely accepted story, at least.

Disputing this view is Corning, maker of the Gorilla Glass material that covers a majority of smartphone screens.

Corning, whose aeronautics branch has worked with lab-grown sapphire since the 1970s, says it tested the strength of sapphire claims -- a potential cover glass alternative -- in-house.

Corning's conclusion: that sapphire, the world's second-hardest material after diamond, just can't take the lumps that a … Read more

Hulk-strong screens, IR blasters, NFC-everything: Your future phone (Smartphones Unlocked)

Here's the smartphone of your short-term future: it has a 5-inch, 1080p HD screen, an 8-core application processor, and a 13-megapixel camera that does crazy things like simultaneously record through both front and rear lenses. You can use it to change your TV channel, tap it to play songs on your car, and control it without ever touching the screen.

The smartphone of your near future takes your pulse, synchronizes to your scale, and tumbles from your hands without a scratch. Oh yeah, and did I mention that it'll last two days on a single charge?

New production … Read more

Pandora limits free mobile streaming

CNET Update teaches you how to say Ubuntu:

Thursday's tech news roundup has bad news for Pandora addicts. Free music streaming on Pandora apps is limited to 40 hours a month -- but there's no limit for desktop users. Pandora is bringing back limits just as Spotify evolves: it's making changes to be more social, just updated its iOS app, and is going to be available on Ford's Sync AppLink. Another streaming cousin, TuneIn, also updated its site and iPad app to offer live listening recommendations.

And as Mobile World Congress coverage wraps up, we're … Read more

Jeweled iPad Mini case sells for sparkly $700,000

Apple's new iPad Mini goes on sale Friday, and if you get one, you're probably going to want to show it off. You could do that by wearing an "I'm with iPad Mini" T-shirt, or you could house it in a look-at-me $700,000 case bedecked in natural sapphires and diamonds.

Yes, in the grand tradition of accessories that require liquidation of your kids' college fund, the National Sapphire Company this week announced an iPad Mini case featuring an 18K high-polished white gold body set with 3,328 natural Ceylon blue sapphires.

An Apple logo set with 50 round diamonds weighing a total of 5 carats rounds out the subtlety. Interested in a ruby monogram beneath the logo? The National Sapphire Company will happily customize your shiny new case. … Read more

iPhone 5 camera users reporting purple halo on certain photos

A purple halo seems to be the latest glitch affecting some iPhone 5 owners.

Detailed by forum users at tech review site AnandTech, the flaw reportedly occurs on photographs if you aim your iPhone 5 camera toward a bright light source such as the sun or an incandescent light. If you then move the camera so the light source is off screen, a purple halo effect can be seen through the camera. That effect also shows up on any pictures that are taken.

One poster displayed separate photos with an artificial light source and with the sun off screen, and … Read more

Algae fuel crosses paths with Monsanto, cancer research

March is known as the green month, so it's fitting that only one week into it there's already some interesting news for algae fuel supporters.

Agricultural giant Monsanto today announced it's signed a deal with algae-crude producer Sapphire to collaborate on genetic engineering research that could be applied to both algae and agricultural crops.

The research involves identifying traits in algae genes for growth and durability. But the science can also be applied to plants like cotton, soybeans, and corn, according to Sapphire.

As part of the deal, Monsanto is making "an equity investment" in … Read more

SAP unveils latest BusinessByDesign

Software giant SAP on Monday kicked off its Sapphire conference in Orlando, Fla., with the next release of Business ByDesign, its software-as-a-service suite for enterprise resource planning.

Until SAP announced last week its plan to acquire Sybase for $5.8 billion, Business ByDesign was expected to be the center of attention at Sapphire. As ZDNet blogger Dennis Howlett noted in his Sapphire conference preview, Business ByDesign is now more of a lunchtime conversation piece rather than the main attraction.

With its upcoming release, SAP said it is "re-iterating its commitment" to software as a service. The suite will … Read more

AMD vs. Nvidia: 3D card three-way at $300

After much fretting over prices, we can now wrap up our 3D card coverage, at least for now, as we post reviews of the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 and the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked. We call this a three-way because we've also included updated scores for the GeForce GTX 280 from back in June 2008, which now competes in this price range.

Prices became a concern for us in this roundup, as our target was initially $300 and less. The GTX 260 fits the bill, but the 2GB Radeon HD 4850 X2 we received from AMD didn't at first, hovering around $340. We thought about aiming lower, but the distance between $250 and the $150ish cards we reviewed last week didn't feel wide enough.

We asked for the 1GB version of the 4850 X2, but by the time we received it it seemed to have disappeared from retail availability. Fortuitously, as the 1GB version disappeared, the price on the 2GB model also came down to $299 at Amazon, and for a day at NewEgg, where it's currently about $319.

For Nvidia's part, the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 started at $299 when we first acquired the product, and then dropped to about $260 by the time we finished, about a month and a half later (holidays, CES, etc.). We also saw that the GeForce GTX 280 started to hover around $320 or so. Thus, our spread here of $260 to $320, between three different cards.

… Read more