Majority of species to disappear in 21st Century?

Two-thirds of the world's species may disappear in the 21st Century and "a great majority" of them may be gone before they are even identified by human beings due to climate change and increasing human activities, a biologist from the United States has warned.

"Currently, several thousand species are lost every year and very soon the number could rise to more than 10,000," President of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter Raven said.

Species on the Earth were disappearing at a rapid rate due to habitat destruction, climate change and a wide spread of invasive alien species caused by expanding human activities, Raven said in his keynote speech at the 23rd International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) in Beijing.

China, thanks to its large territory, numerous mountain ranges and rich tropical ecosystems along the southern border, boasts about one-eighth of the world's total species of eukaryotic organisms, said Raven.

"But China's biodiversity is being destroyed at least as fast as in other parts of the world," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

To prevent the rapid loss of world species, he proposed that information on the species be collected and disseminated as fast and as much as possible to raise public awareness on wildlife protection.

Soon, UAVs to replace commercial planes

magine an eerie experience on board an unmanned aircraft, which may soon fly side-by-side with piloted passenger planes.

Well, your imagination may soon come true -- thanks to a team of scientists who is carrying out an experiment which, if successful, would make flying machines buzz about without any incident and without direct control inputs from any human.

Inside the laboratory in Seattle, the scientists watch unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) airborne, swarming around the shed, their pre-determined altitudes and collision avoidance mechanisms already programmed in, using advanced algorithms that could ultimately spell the end of piloted aircraft.

The algorithms developed in the lab will soon be put to the test in the skies above Kingaroy in southern Queensland in the world's first ever trial of unmanned aircraft inside controlled airspace, the Courier Mail reported.

Small UAVs will fly in the same airspace as larger piloted planes to prove that the unmanned aircraft can operate safely alongside more traditional, human flown craft, the team from University of Queensland and aviation giant Boeing said.

Even inside the Boeing lab, the engineers fly up to a dozen small, four rotor UAVs simultaneously to test their theories and to establish the ground rules for safe unmanned flight in crowded airspace.

According to Boeing's new Australian research chief Bill Lyons, the aim is clear. "To allow (unmanned) systems to operate at least as well as human piloted systems."

However, senior Boeing engineer John Vian said the major challenge for unmanned aircraft operating in controlled air space is safety.

"We don't know how these systems will develop. For these systems to be viable they have to be reliable and totally autonomous. We develop the technology, how it is applied is up the customer," Dr Vian said.

Camera coming to the iPod Touchby quickpwn

TechCrunch was recently told by one of it’s sources in Asia that Apple has “placed an order for a massive number of camera modules of the type they include in the iPhone. These are inexpensive cameras, in the $10 range. And the size of the order, our source says, means they can only be used for one thing - the iPods”.

MacRumors is taking this rumor a step further and posting screenshots of what appears to be an iPod Touch 3G case with a hole for the camera. What’s even more interesting is that MacRumors has also posted a picture of an iPod Nano case that has a hole for a camera as well.

While I don’t think there will be a camera coming to the iPod Nano, it does seem reasonable for Apple to add it to the new iPod Touch. I predict that Apple will not only add a camera, but they will also upgrade the processor and graphics chips, and also double the RAM of the iPod Touch 3G.

Apple usually launches new iPods in the month of September so it won’t be too long until we find out whether or not this rumor is true. I’m hoping this rumor is true, having camera on the iPod Touch would be really useful to a lot of us. What do you think? Leave a comment below.

What’s new in iPhone OS 3.1 beta by Quickpwn

Apple recently released iPhone OS 3.1 beta firmware and SDK to developers. Unless you’re a developer I recommend you to not download this firmware and wait for the final 3.1 firmware to be released. Apple hasn’t announced when iPhone OS 3.1 will be released, but I will make a post here notifying you once it’s out!
Here are some new features that have been discovered in iPhone OS 3.1 beta so far:

• The baseband has updated to 5.08.01 - ultrasn0w users should not use the iPhone OS 3.1 beta, otherwise their iPhones could be permanently locked!
• iPhone 3GS - When you’re trimming your videos you now have the option of saving the original video by tapping the “Save as copy” button.
• Voice Control is finally working over bluetooth now!
• When you move your icons around the iPhone vibrates
• MMS is enabled by default but does not work for AT&T users
• The AT&T profile is updated to 4.2
• Improvements to OpenGL and Quartz
• There’s now a VideoEditorController API - Allows third party apps to call up video editing UI
• Video picker API

I’ll update this post as more features are discovered!

HTC Hero to arrive on 21st July?

Holding out for a Hero to the end of July

T3 has been hot on the trail of the HTC Hero's release date since we had our first hands-on experience last month. Not just because of our commitment to bring you the hottest news, but because we all want one for ourselves.

HTC and exclusive networks Orange and T-Mobile are remaining tight lipped, but the first chink of light has emerged from the retailer Cleverkit, which claims it will have the phone in stock by Tuesday 21st July. SIM-free and unlocked for £439.

Could this be the release date for HTC's third and best Android phone incarnation to date? We knew we'd be able to get our paws on the phone, boasting HTC's new 'Sense' UI, sometime in July, but here is the first inkling of an actual date.

The HTC Hero follows on from the success of the T-Mobile G1 and the HTC Magic, but is the first handset to take the Android software and innovate beyond the bare bones and the results are something to behold.

Check out our video hands-on to see for yourself why we couldn't be more excited about this nailed-on iPhone killer.

Happy Birthday Apple App Store celebrates first year in 2009

A hip and 'appening year.

It's hard to fathom how iPhone and iPod Touch users ever survived without it, but Apple's all-conquering App Store is celebrating its first birthday this weekend. So, Happy Birthday!

The journey began when Apple opened its doors to third party developers with the SDK launched around the time of the iPhone 3G. In just 12 short months the store has gone from 8,000 initial apps to a monumental 56,000 active apps, notching up a billion downloads in the process.

What's even more astonishing is the ability to almost completely mange one's life through the App Store, with transport, GPS, fitness, finance, gaming and social networking apps constantly coming to our rescue.

Follow The Queen and The Royal Family on Twitter

One is amused by tweeting, isn't one

"One is bored of the same old thing every day. Out walking the Corgys, Charlie coming over for supper later. Love, Liz II xoxo."

The Royal Family has embraced the social networking revolution by signing-up to Twitter to allow fans of the Monarchy to keep up with the latest goings on at Buck House.

The @BritishMonarchy account will spread the word about Royal engagements, such as state visits and charity work. The first tweet told of Prince Charles' opening of the 7/7 bombings memorial in Hyde Park, London.

While its not expected that Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales will be updating the mircoblog themselves, their Royal Highnesses have been informed of its existence.

Toshiba TG01 only Orange exclusive for three months

TG01 available across the board this autumn

Orange may have got the jump on its rivals when it became the exclusive launch partner for the Toshiba TG01 smartphone, but other networks won't have to wait long to get their mitts on the WinMo handset.

The TG01, hailed as the world's fastest smartphone, is available to buy now with Orange, but the network will only have dibs for the next three months. So come October, the likes of O2 and Vodafone may be releasing the super-thin handset with the 3.7-inch touchscreen.

That's if the interest remains high enough.

Toshiba has been criticised for its choice to run the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, which has been roundly condemned as dated and un-user friendly. Even with WinMo 6.5 available as a free download later this year, it's unlikely to completely solve the issue.

The exclusive TG01 announcement was hailed as a revival for Orange, along with news that it will be retailing the LG Watch Phone this August. The network has promised "at least three market-leading devices by the end of the year."