changes

Apple reshuffles top brass: iOS chief to leave in 2013

Apple is hitting shuffle on its top management.

The company today announced that it's rejiggering its executive lineup to add extra responsibilities for some, along with the planned exit of iOS software chief Scott Forstall in 2013.

A more immediate departure is John Browett, the head of Apple's retail unit, a move that appears to be sudden given that the company says it's currently seeking a replacement.

Meanwhile, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will stay on with expanded roles.

Apple says Forstall will effectively be replaced by Craig Federighi, who will oversee both … Read more

Change your voice and add sound effects easily

MorphVOX Pro is a voice changer application with sound effects and background tracks built in. (There is a free application called MorphVOX Junior from the same publisher if you want to evaluate the software.) The MorphVOX Pro software is aimed at those who want to communicate online either with a change in voice characteristics, or with different effects applied. The $39.99 software installs easily.

The MorphVOX Pro has two interfaces. The Studio interface is divided into five panes, one each for selecting preconfigured voices (Goblin, Shade, Cyborg, etc), pitch and timbre controls, sound effects, voice effects and a graphic … Read more

iPhone 5 spoof video features a 795 percent taller screen

It's the logical next step in iPhone development: a much, much, much longer screen. It's 18 percent thinner and 795 percent taller than the previous iPhone. A parody video has popped up on YouTube to tout the phone's ability to reduce "scrolling fatigue" and offer full-body FaceTime.

The video, called "A Taller Change Than Expected" comes from YouTube comedy troupe Satire, makers of the "We're NASA and We Know It" video. NASA Mohawk Guy, complete with stars in his hair, makes a cameo appearance rocking his extra-long iPhone 5 as a guitar.… Read more

Facebook users have a week to vote on privacy policy changes

Beginning today, Facebook users will have one week to vote on whether the company should adopt proposed changes to its privacy and user rights policies.

Facebook allows people to vote on revised policies if a revised policy gets more than 7,000 comments, which both its proposed Data Use policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities documents have in recent months.

To be binding, more than 30 percent of Facebook's 900 million-strong base of active monthly users (people who have either logged in or taken some action on the site in the last month) will need to cast votes. … Read more

What impact will Facebook have on organ donations?

Since launching in February 2004, Facebook has proved highly effective at creating opportunities for the average Web user to create campaigns that reach a mass audience. Most recently such opportunities have extended to organ donation, an area that could benefit from the social network's attention -- controversy over its recent initial public offering aside, Facebook's membership is more than 900 million and growing.

Indeed, with demand for healthy organs for transplantation growing worldwide, Facebook has already become a popular channel for people soliciting kidneys, livers and other potentially lifesaving organs. Earlier this month the social network began offering … Read more

Was Apple protest leader Mark Shields an 'accidental activist'?

Apple fans were seething.

In January, they heard actor Mike Daisey describe during a radio broadcast the intolerable working conditions he witnessed at Chinese factories where iPads and iPhones are assembled. Many found their way to an online petition started at Change.org by a man named Mark Shields. The petition demanded Apple improve safety at these facilities, and it would eventually include 256,000 names.

At first, the petition appeared to have simply bubbled up from an outraged public.

Not quite. Apple fan or not, the 36-year-old Shields is a professional advocate and activist. The public-relations firm that has … Read more

View from space shows Earth in a state of flux

The Earth's appearance has transformed over the course of millions of years. Obviously, for much of that time scientists weren't around to track the Earth's shifting face. But with the advent of the space age in the second half of the 20th century, it became possible to view the planet from afar and get a sweeping perspective. Indeed, an updated NASA gallery published in conjunction with Earth Day 2012 features more than 160 comparison views demonstrating in sharp relief the very real changes that have taken place during the Earth's recent history.

New iPad owners reveal their likes and dislikes

The new iPad scores higher in customer satisfaction than did previous models, but it comes with its own unique set of pros and cons.

A full 82 percent of new iPad owners polled by ChangeWave last month said they were very satisified with the tablet, while 16 percent were somewhat satisifed. Only 2 percent were somewhat unsatisfied, while no one was very unsatisfied.

Those results compare with 74 percent of owners of the previous model iPad surveyed in February who were very satisifed and 23 percent somewhat satisifed.

.Among all owners of the new iPad, ChangeWave uncovered a healthy list … Read more

NASA video visualizes a 'Perpetual Ocean'

NASA has released a computer visualization project called "Perpetual Ocean" that presents a data-created time lapse of the Earth's ocean and sea surface currents over a two-year period.

The animation (see below) shows the globe slowly spinning as white swirls curl and move in the water around landmasses. It looks as if Vincent van Gogh had painted into the oceans -- from the Gulf of Mexico to the Indian Ocean to the Black Sea.

Using NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's computational model called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean Phase II ( ECCO2), scientists simulated … Read more