Software News

When it comes to conceiving a child, women must remember that timing is indeed critical. The menstrual cycle features several critically-important days, during which fertility peaks, and a pregnancy can set in, problem-free.

A new study of 204 infertile Australian women revealed that most of them had no ideas about which days were proper for conception. Only around 1-in-6 of them was able to identify the correct times.

“This study found a majority of the women seeking fertility treatment had insufficient knowledge of when to time intercourse to optimize natural conception,” Monash University scientist Kerry Hampton said, quoted by Science Blog.

For the record, women trying to have a baby should attempt conception starting three days before ovulation. The latter usually starts around 14 days after the period.

Via: Many Women Don't Know When to Get Pregnant

The judge presiding the Oracle vs. Google lawsuit has said that he's given up trying to find any commentators on the case that any of the two companies may have paid, in other words a shill or a sock puppet.

He's satisfied with the answers he's gotten so far and said he wouldn't pursue the matter anymore.

The judge said that he would "take no further action regarding the subject of payments by the litigants to commentators and journalists and reassures both sides that no commentary has in any way influenced the Court’s orders and ruling save and except for any treatise or article expressly cited in an order or ruling."

A few weeks ago, the Oracle vs. Google lawsuit took a turn for the strange with the judge asking the two sides to reveal any blogger, employee, scholar or anyone else who may have commented on the case while also getting money from either of the two companies.

The first time around, Oracle revealed blogger Florian Mueller was paid as a consultant for a period during which he frequently wrote about the lawsuit.

Google though said it hadn't paid anyone and provided a list of people who had received grants or donations from the company, or who had made money from AdSense.

The judge was not pleased and asked Google to try harder to find people who talked about the case publicly and with whom it had a commercial relationship of any kind.

So Google came up with a new list, digging deep and searching far for any connection.

The list had an intern who went on to work for Ars Technica, TechDirt's Mike Masnik since he did some consulting work for a trade organization of which Google was a part of and Oracle had been at one point, a law professor who consulted the company in another case and so on.

Via: Judge Has Given Up Looking for Shills in Oracle vs. Google Lawsuit

Touted by its developers as the most comprehensive, sketching, painting and photo editing tool in the iTunes App Store, ArtStudio 4.2 arrives today with a neat Guidelines feature that assists amateurs in creating real works of art. That, and a truckload more features, some of which are detailed below.

ArtStudio for iPad 4.2 brings quite a few neat changes. These include a new Grid feature; 160 new brushes (included in brush pack 1 for those who purchased it); opacity and spacing sliders to Smudge tool; increased number of color swatches (from 24 to 36); options to disable tap-and-hold color picker, as well to disable aim when using "drawing offset"; and the ability to swap undo/redo icons with favorites/layers icons in the toolbar at the bottom.

Another important change is the loading of colors when you open up a project from an older version of the app. Also, if the color is close to white, the brush preview background will become darker, so that it’s easier on the eyes. The rest of the changelog mentions bug fixes (those interested in the full scoop can go here).

Download ArtStudio for iPad 4.2

Via: Download ArtStudio for iPad 4.2

Speaking during PAX Prime 2012 panel, Hideo Kojima, the creator of the franchise, revealed his interest in seeing a sequel created for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the game that Platinum Games is creating.

The veteran developer stated, “If it works out well, I really would like to work with Platinum games on a sequel.”

He added, “As far as Revengeance is concerned this is kind of an internal thing, but at one point Rising kind of fall apart and we had to start all over from scratch. So it was kind of our goal to make it something like ‘try again’ get vengeance, get our revenge on the old project.”

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was first set to be created by Kojima Productions directly, but after Platinum Games was brought in by Konami, the series creator settled into an overwatch mode.

The game was set to arrive during 2012, but now it will be launched on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 during February of next year.

Hideo Kojima also talked about a future for the Metal gear Solid series outside of Revengeance, expressing his interest in exploring the backstory of The Boss and his special operations team.

The Boss worked with Cobra, members of which appeared in Snake Eater as bosses, and their history was always one of the more mysterious parts of the Metal Gear universe.

Kojima says that any new game would not be a spin-off, but a core title that uses all the main mechanics of the series, including stealth move and attacks.

During the anniversary event for Metal Gear Solid, Kojima has announced a new game called Ground Zeroes.

The game is designed to appeal to old fans of the series and uses the new Fox Engine, complete with more customization options for weapons.

Via: Kojima Wants Sequel for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

As Windows 8’s launch is getting closer and closer, many computer manufacturers are building and announcing new touch-enabled systems that would make use of the famous Metro UI that will come with Microsoft’s operating system. Samsung is now joining them by announcing the new Series 5 ULTRA laptops with touchscreen interface.

The new notebooks from Samsung feature 13.3” 10-point multi touch displays that sport a rather mediocre 1355 by 768 pixel resolution. We believe that if 10” tablets feature a FullHD resolution, so should notebooks with bigger screens like the Series 5 ULTRA we’re talking about.

Intel’s Ivy Bridge-based Core i5-3317U and Core i3-3218U processors are powering the two models announced, and they both come with 4 GB of RAM and a hybrid storage solution system that has a 500 GB HDD and 24 GB of NAND storage with ExpresCache technology.

Pricing is slated at $850 (€675) for the Core i5 model and $800 (€636) for the Core i3 notebook, with availability planned for late October 2012.

Via: Samsung Intros Series 5 ULTRA Touch Laptops

She might have recently admitted to knowing “nothing” about love, but at least Taylor Swift knows what she wants in life. A recent report claims she’s so smitten with her new beau Conor Kennedy she’s already planning a wedding and a family.

And it will happen soon as well, The Enquirer reveals in its most recent print issue (story via CB).

Sources close to the star claim that she’s set her mind on becoming “the next Jackie Kenney,” that is, marry a Kennedy, have his baby and become an icon.

Taylor is already thinking about tying the knot with 18-year-old Conor in Spring and then have his baby shortly afterwards. As you may imagine, his family is none too pleased with her plans.

“It’s World War III. Many of the Kennedys loathe Taylor and don’t want anything to do with her. They think she’s using her fame as a singer to worm her way into the fold…,” an insider says for The Enquirer.

“Taylor badly wants to marry Conor and have a Kennedy baby. She sees herself as the next Jackie O and aims to become as famous as she was, a style icon on a world stage,” the source adds.

“Taylor’s already looking for the perfect wedding dress… she wants a vintage ‘60s gown. Conor is besotted with Taylor and insists the relationship is for real,” notes the same tipster.

Admittedly, the pop / country star believes Ethel Kennedy would offer her whatever support she needs to see the wedding through, even if that would mean antagonizing the rest of the family.

Once she’s married, Taylor will have a baby.

“Taylor is banking on Ethel’s approval for a marriage, and then she’ll have Conor’s baby. She can’t wait to cradle that baby – it would be her passport into Kennedy history,” the same spy explains.

The Enquirer’s stories are usually best taken with a grain of salt but, even with this in mind, this seems way too cold-hearted and calculated for the 22-year-old Taylor.


Via: Taylor Swift Planning Spring Wedding to Conor Kennedy

It may very well be that capybaras are the world's largest rodents, but the green anaconda has absolutely no problems in swallowing it in just one bite, and thus get a meal that will fight off hunger for a few months to come.

Although it is a well-known fact that anacondas kill their prey by giving it one gentle hug that pretty much cuts off their blood and air supply, watching this video really makes one gaze in amazement at just how efficient these snakes are when deciding to go for the kill.

In all fairness, anacondas are anything but the cute animals species one could imagine running about their homes as pets, but they are stunning creatures which require our help if they are to continue inhabiting the earth and not hit some very rough patches as a result of habitat loss and pollution.

Via: Watch: Anaconda Feeds on Capybara