| Tetris takes over MIT building in case of hack as high art (video) Apr 23rd 2012, 22:01  College pranks usually involve livestock, panties, the use of permanent marker on an unconscious, not-so-innocent partygoer or a combination thereof. But when you gather the cream of the geek crop at a hallowed higher learning institution like MIT, those playful tricks turn into wide-scale works of technical wonderment. Unbeknownst to members of the Earth and Planetary Science departments that inhabit the site of this larger-than-life hack, their building -- long a target for the university's mischievous overachievers -- had its grid-like layout of windows converted into a fully workable version of Tetris, complete with colored "pieces" and increasing levels of difficulty. So, is this merely a case of public performance art or just high-minded shenaningans from some very capable, idle hands? Check out the video below to view this Cambridge, MA-based tomfoolery and decide for yourself. Continue reading Tetris takes over MIT building in case of hack as high art (video) Tetris takes over MIT building in case of hack as high art (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Mashable |  IHTFP | Email this | Comments | | Huawei 2011 financials: 20 million smartphones sold yet profit down 53 percent Apr 23rd 2012, 21:12  Huawei's annual earnings report is out and it's a mixed bag, since while turnover increased by 11.7 percent to 203.9 RMB ($32.3 billion), profits plummeted 53 percent to 11.6 billion RMB ($1.8 billion). Revenue from overseas sales (138.4 billion RMB) equated for over half the company's total income and it boasted of having sold 150 million consumer devices, including 20 million smartphones in the year. The company didn't provide reasons for the drop in profit, emphasizing that it's increased R&D spending by 34.2 percent to 23.7 billion RMB ($3.75 billion) and that in any event, it's got around $30 billion of assets that can shoulder the brunt of a bad year. However, the company may not see a rosy 2012 either, after both America and Australia refused to give the company big infrastructure deals (Huawei's bread and butter) thanks to allegedly close relationships between the company and the Chinese government. It seems to be following a similar trajectory to rival ZTE, which also felt margins squeeze as it entered the global retail space and felt the heat when its political dealings were thrown in the spotlight. Continue reading Huawei 2011 financials: 20 million smartphones sold yet profit down 53 percent Huawei 2011 financials: 20 million smartphones sold yet profit down 53 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Forbes | Huawei, (2) (PDF) | Email this | Comments | | Ubuntu 12.10 gets christened Quantal Quetzal ahead of Pangolin launch Apr 23rd 2012, 20:51  While you impatiently await the release of Precise Pangolin this Thursday, we've got some news to hold your little aubergine-loving heart over. Canonical's own Mark Shuttleworth took to the web to announce Ubuntu 12.10, codenamed Quantal Quetzal. If you were hoping the Linux distro would take the tongue-twisting titles down a notch with the next release, well, you're out of luck. We don't have too many details to share release, but Shuttleworth does say that Unity will continue to be tweaked and improved. A visual overhaul is expected to get underway starting with Quetzal, to work out all the bugs in time for the next LTS release, 14.04. Now all you have to do is wait till October 18th for its proper release. (For the more impatient and daring, the first alpha is scheduled to land on June 7th and the first beta on September 6th.) Thankfully, there should be enough new stuff to play with in 12.04 to distract you for at least a little while. [Image via Fabio Bretto] Ubuntu 12.10 gets christened Quantal Quetzal ahead of Pangolin launch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Phoronix | Mark Shuttleworth | Email this | Comments | |
