The Definitive Look Into Apple's New Mothership Campus Shows Mysterious Research Facilities

The City of Cupertino has published the complete proposal for Apple new mothership campus. There's a lot of interesting new things that nobody has seen yet, like a mysterious "research facilities" separated from the main building and an underground auditorium.

My guess is that the independent research facility would be the top secret, high security base for Ive's design ninjas and the top engineering SpecOps.

In fact, apart from being pretty and designed to ease the life of employees, the whole Apple Campus 2 seems to be focused on security. It's one of its main objectives:

Create a physically unified campus community that respects Apple's security needs (in part through perimeter protection).

The project overview also mentions security, along with "ease of use":

Apple proposes to create Apple Campus 2—an integrated 21st century campus surrounded by green space. This new development will provide a serene and secure environment reflecting Apple's values of innovation, ease of use and beauty. The state-of-the-art office, research and development facilities include strategies to minimize energy demand, reduce car travel and increase the use of reclaimed.

The technical specifications for Apple Campus 2.

Here are the different access paths and sidewalks around Apple Campus 2.

The plan of all the installations over a satellite view.

The new auditorium is mostly underground, connected to the main building through a tunnel.

Another floor of the auditorium.

A cross-section of the Apple Campus 2's auditorium.

Elevation renderings of the main building.

Plans showing the main areas distribution in the building.

One of the technical blueprints.

Parking space under the main building.

An elevation of the company spa.

Views from some of the streets around Apple Campus 2.

Views from some of the streets around Apple Campus 2.

Views from some of the streets around Apple Campus 2.

The before and after.

This image shows the dramatic increase in trees.

This plan shows the different types of trees that are going to be used around and inside the building.

Apple Campus 2 aerial view rendering.

Apple Campus 2 aerial view rendering.

HTC Unveils Explorer Android Phone

HTC has unveiled Explorer Android phone at a global launch event held in New Delhi. HTC Explorer features 3.2 inch capacitive screen, 600MHz processor, 512MB Memory and comes with HTC sense 3.5 user interface. The best part of Explorer is its price, at less than Rs 10,000 its very appealing to the end users on a budget. Vodafone is also planning to offer it with special tariff plans with free 3G data services for a limited time. Full feature list after the break.

HTC Explorer Features:

• Android 2.3.5 OS
• 3.2 Inch Capacitive touchscreen
• 600MHz processor
• 384MB RAM
• 512 MB of expandable memory
• 3 Megapixel camera
• HTC sense 3.5
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth

HTC Explorer Price in India:

HTC Explorer is expected to be priced at less than Rs 10,000.

HTC Explorer seems to be perfect blend of good features at affordable price. If you were waiting for an Android phone on a budget, then let us know your thoughts on this.

Why Is Carbon Fiber So Expensive?

When carbon fiber was first trotted out in solid rocket motor cases and tanks in the 1960s, it was poised to not only take on fiberglass, but also a whole host of other materials.

What happened?

50 years later it's still an exotic material. Sure, Batman's got it in his suit, expensive cars feature smatterings of it in their dashboards and performance parts, but at $10 a pound on the low end, it's still too pricy for wide-scale deployment. We've been using this stuff for decades. Where's our materials science Moore's Law to make this stuff cheap? Why is this stuff still so expensive?

Turns out that even half a century later, this stuff is still a major pain in the ass to make.

Before carbon fiber becomes carbon fiber, it starts as a base material—usually an organic polymer with carbon atoms binding together long strings of molecules called a polyacrylonitrile. It's a big word for a material similar to the acrylics in sweaters and carpets. But unlike floor and clothing acrylics, the kind that turns into a material stronger and lighter than steel has a heftier price tag. A three-ish-dollar per pound starting price may not sound exorbitant, but in its manufacturing, the number spikes.

See, to get the carbon part of carbon fiber, half of the starting material's acrylic needs to be kicked away. "The final product will cost double what you started with because half burns off," explains Bob Norris of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's polymer matrix composites group. "Before you even account for energy and equipment, the precursor in the final product is something around $5 a pound."

That price—$5 a pound—is also the magic number for getting carbon fiber into mainstream automotive applications. Seven bones will do, but five will make the biggest splash. So as it stands, the base material alone has already blown the budget.

There's more. Forcing the acrylic to shed its non-carbon atoms takes monstrous machines and a lot of heat. The first of two major processing steps is oxidization stabilization. Here fibers are continuously fed through 50-100 foot-long ovens pumping out heat in the several hundred degrees Celsius range. The process takes hours, so it's a massive energy eater.

Then the material goes through a what's called carbonization. Although the furnaces here are shorter and don't run for as long, they operate at much higher temperatures—we're taking around 1000 degrees Celsius for the initial step before and then another round of heating with even higher temperatures. That's a power bill you don't even want to think about.

And it doesn't end there. Manufacturers also have to deal with the acrylic that doesn't hold on during the heating process. Off gasses need to be treated so as not to poison the environment. It ain't cheap being green. "It's a lot of energy, a lot of real estate, and a lot of large equipment," says Norris. And that's just in the manufacturing of the individual fibers themselves.

Let's take a second to talk about where we are in the manufacturing process, and where we're trying to get. That awesome-looking, rock-hard, ultra-light, shiny panel with its visible weave is what you think of when you think of carbon fiber, right? Well, we've just made the strands; we've still got to arrange them into a lattice that takes advantage of the material's unidirectional strength and bond them together.

Nailing the woven product means making sure that all the strands are pulling their weight. "You have to be concerned that the fibers are all parallel and are all stretched evenly," explains Rob Klawonn, president of the carbon fiber manufacturer, Toho Tenax America. A wavy strand in a lattice will put extra stress on a straight fiber, and that straight one will end up breaking first. To compensate for the possibility of an imperfect weave, manufacturers might thread in ten percent more of the already expensive fibers than is necessary.

Alone, the strands aren't the strong stuff that manufacturers need. They're a reinforcer like steel is in concrete. Right now carbon fibers work with a thermoset resin. Together they make a composite that can be manipulated to take a certain shape. The trouble is that once the resin has been shaped and cured in an autoclave, that shape cannot be modified without screwing with the product's structural integrity. A small mistake means a lot of waste—and time. Thermosetting takes over an hour, which is a long time considering how fast the automotive industry stamps out body panels.

So carbon fiber doesn't just require one genius fix to get it into a lower price class, it requires an entire systems overhaul. As with anything offering a big financial reward, the industry is on it.

Those sweater-type acrylics, for instance, might be used in place of the ones manufacturers use now. "The equipment is less specialized, so that might cut the precursor cost by 20-30 percent," says Norris. They're also checking out renewable carbon fiber starters like lignin, which comes from wood, instead of the current petroleum-based stuff.

Alternate conversion processes—namely swapping thermal for plasma heating—could lower costs as well. "It cuts the time down because you don't have to heat the entire furnace; you generate the plasma to surround the filaments," explains Norris.

Scientists haven't quite nailed the chemical process to get carbon fiber to work with thermoplastic resins quite yet, either. But once they do, Klawonn of Toho Tenax America predicts 60-70% cut in cost in the conversion process. The big change is that thermoplastics are quick to set and can be melted and remelted, which limits waste when there's a mistake.

Change is on the horizon. Norris points out that carbon fiber has been installed in place of aluminum on newer commercial airliners like the Airbus A380. "They're moving more mainstream, but up until now it's always been in industries that can afford to pay for the performance." Let's just hope the cost caves before the industries that need it do.

The Best Way to Store Stuff in the Cloud

 

Cloud storage services are everywhere these days. The following are the eleven of the most popular cloud storage services whose various features and functionality are shown below:

Amazon Cloud Drive:

Amazon Cloud Drive isn't much more than a hard drive in the sky, but if that's all you need, it's a good option as it's cheaper than most of the others. Its interface is fairly basic and it's pretty much all web, but it's got nice tunes. Amazon distinguishes itself here with its capability of streaming your music to you via the web or a very nice Android app (iOS folks have to use the browser interface). This is a big draw for music-lovers.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 5GB/FREE, 20GB/$20, 50GB/$50, 100GB/$100, 500GB/$500, 1TB/$1,000
• Max file size: 2GB
• Access: Web, Android

Your first 5GB are free, and if you buy any album (which are almost always significantly cheaper than they are in iTunes) you're automatically upgraded to 20GB free (and the MP3s you purchase through Amazon MP3 don't count against your limit). Max file size is a beefy 2GB, but there's no syncing or anything like that.

Box.net:

Box.net's main focus is collaboration and it's definitely geared more toward business users. The sharing features are really pretty good, with tools to manage workflow, versions, tasks, and comments (with a similar look to Facebook). It also plays nicely with Google Apps. It has a good reputation for reliability.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 5GB/FREE, 25GB/$120, $100GB/$240,
• Max file size: 25MB for free accounts / 1GB for paid
• Access: Web, iOS, Android, TouchPad

The bad news is that gig for gig, Box.net is our most expensive competitor. In fact, it costs twice as much as our second most expensive service. Other downers: 25MB max file size if you're on the free 5GB account (which is pathetic), and 50GB total is as high as you can go without upgrading to an even more expensive business account.

Dropbox:

Dropbox is everywhere, it seems, because it's so ridiculously simple and convenient. You have a folder, you put stuff in it, and that folder is synced across all of your computers. You make a change to a Word doc in your Dropbox folder, save it, and it's updated across all of your computers' Dropbox folders. It looks like any other folder in your computer. You just drop stuff in there and you know it's going to do its thing. Sharing stuff is easy, and there's no size limit on files.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 2GB/FREE, 50GB/$120, 100GB/$240
• Max file size: Unlimited
• Access: Windows, Mac, Ubuntu, Web, iOS, Android,

The downside: You only get 2GB for free (though you can increase that to 16GB free by referrals). Also, the files that are synced have to be in that folder (or sub-folder), not elsewhere on your computer (though you can work around that). It's also one of our most expensive options, and the max size is 100GB unless you want to shell out even more for a Team account which starts at $795/year for 350GB shared between a maximum of five people (say what?).

Google:

This will get you the most bang for your buck. Google's cloud solution, creatively called Google User Managed Storage, gets very cosy with Google's other services, such as Docs and Picasa. Docs users get (a measly) 1GB of storage for free, which can be used for any type of file, but you can buy more elbow room at very nice prices. Google Docs has excellent sharing and syncing capabilities and you can sync your Microsoft Office documents with it via Google's Cloud Connect plug-in.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 1GB/FREE, 20GB/$5, 80GB/$20, 200GB/$50, 1TB/$256
• Max file size: 1GB
• Access: Web, Android, Mobile Web

The downsides: puzzlingly, the extra storage you buy doesn't apply to your Gmail account, so you're still limited to the free 7+GB. Why?? Also, the storage you buy can't be pooled or shared with other Google Apps accounts. Kind of lame. 1 free gig isn't particularly generous. (Note: Google also has Google Music Beta which allows you to upload 20,000 of your songs for free into the cloud and stream them. It's still in Beta, it's not currently expandable, and it's separate from their User Managed Storage, but it's worth mentioning.)

iCloud:

Apple's iCloud is the new kid on the block. It's designed to integrate seamlessly with your many devices... but only if they have an Apple on them. The good news is that iCloud will sync your iWork documents across your computers and make them web and mobile accessible. It'll sync your email, you get 5GB free, and your music and videos don't count against your storage limit, but only if you purchased them from Apple.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 5GB/FREE, 10GB/$20, 20GB/$40, 50GB/$100,
• Max file size: 25MB for free accounts / 250MB for paid
• Access: Mac, iOS, Web

Now the bad news: if you're on their free storage, iCloud's max file size is 25MB. Say what!? Even if you upgrade to one of the paid plans, that only bumps you up to 250MB. I don't know what they're thinking there (forget storing any HD video). Also, at it's twice as expensive as Amazon's offering, and EIGHT TIMES as expensive as Google's. Currently, 50GB is as much as you can get. Those are some serious iDings against it.

iDrive Sync:

iDrive Sync is similar to Dropbox, but more advanced in some ways. Like Dropbox it has a desktop app, but unlike Dropbox you can sync folders that are outside of your main folder. It also keeps backups of all versions of your files for 30 days, just in case. It offers 5GB for free, or for $49.50 you get UNLIMITED storage! On paper, this should be the obvious pick. So why isn't it?

• Storage Options Prices/year: 5GB/FREE, Unlimited/$49.50
• Max file size: Unlimited
• Windows, Mac, Web, iPhone

Calling iDrive "intuitive" would be like calling the global economy "stable". The web interface is an assault on your eyes, and even the desktop app leaves a lot to be desired. Currently iPhone is the only mobile app it has. It's also somewhat buggy. In my testing I found that it's just still not as clean, polished, or reliable as it should be (especially since it's been in the game for almost five years), which is a shame, because I really wanted it to be my cloud savior.

Microsoft SkyDrive:

WindowsLive SkyDrive is an interesting one. It gives you a whole ton of space (25GB) for free. It integrates very nicely into the Microsoft Office Web suite, Hotmail (boo!), and other Microsoft Live services. The web interface is straightforward, and it works very well with Windows Phone 7. If you run Windows on your desktop you can sync folders via Windows Live Mesh. [EDIT: Live Mesh is available for OSX as well, which is a big plus.] It's basically a big lump of storage, for free.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 25GB/FREE
• Max file size: 100MB
• Windows, Mac, Web, WP7, Mobile Web

The bad? Well, it's just a big lump of storage, for free. That's not bad, per se, but there's not much else to it. If you're not on Windows, you don't get any bells or whistles. No OSX, Android, or iOS support. If you just want a place to store stuff and you don't want to pay for it, this is a great option. There's a 100MB size-limit on your files, which could be better.

Mozy:

Mozy is a little bruiser. It has cross-platform desktop apps that allow you to choose which folders you want to back up, and then you pretty much don't have to think about it any more. It offers robust encryption and even has bandwidth throttling so you can still stream your porn Netflix movies while it's backing up. It also offers version backups for the last 30 days, and it has one of the cleanest, easiest UIs we've seen.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 2GB/FREE, 50GB/$72, 125GB/$120, 200GB/$216, $500GB/$576, 1TB/$1,176
• Max file size: Unlimited
• Mac, PC, Android, iOS, Web

Downside: After the free 2GB the next level up is $72/year for 50GB, which is about mid-pack, price-wise, but it's kind of a big jump. The biggest negative, though, is that it's not really built for sharing. This is a big drawback if you do a lot of collaborating. If you want super-easy and reliable backup, though, this is a pretty good option.

SugarSync:

SugarSync really kinda has everything. Keeps files in sync across multiple computers in (almost) realtime? Check. Apps for all major smartphone operating systems and a nice web interface? Yep. Easy and intuitive sharing and collaboration? Indeed. High level encryption with redundancy across multiple data centers? Nice interface? Streaming music to mobile or desktop? Yes yes yes. It also hangs on to the last five versions of your documents, it will auto-upload the pictures you take on your phone, and it has a very good bonus program that allows you to get extra storage for free. It even has the speed throttling I liked with Mozy, and it has a Dropbox like component called Magic Briefcase.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 5GB/FREE, 30GB/$50, 60GB/$100, 100GB/$150, 250GB/$250, 500GB/$400
• Max file size: 2GB when transferring between computers, unlimited if uploading directly to web
• Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile

The downside? It's not our cheapest option, but it's right about in the middle. And if you want customer service to answer the phone, you'll have to pay extra for that (but to be fair, most of the others don't even have the option of phone support).

Ubuntu One:

Ubuntu desktop users rejoice! Annnd, that's about it. The closest comparison is Dropbox in terms of features. You get 5GB free and from there you can buy however many 20GB chunks for $30/year each. It has an integrated music streaming service that will stream to Firefox, Android, and iOS devices. If you're on Ubuntu you can sync file folders, and the interface is really pretty nice.

• Storage Options Prices/year: 5GB/FREE, 20GB/$30, 60GB/$100, 100GB/$150, 200/$300, 500GB/$750, 1TB/$1,500
• Max file size: 5GB
• Ubuntu, Web, Android, iOS

The downside, aside from the mobile platforms I just mentioned, it only works on the Ubuntu OS. There's a Windows version in Beta, but reports of mucho bugginess are abundant. Mac users are out of luck, although you can access it with your browser. It's also fairly pricey for what it is. Unless you're on Ubuntu, this one doesn't make a ton of sense.

YouSendIt:

YouSendIt made its name by sending your gigantic files for you. Eventually they figured, "Hey, maybe we should just save these and let users continue to access them." Smart of them. It features enterprise-level security and it's picked up a few tricks over the years, like plug-ins for many popular applications (Microsoft Office, FinalCut, and iPhoto, to name just a few).

• Storage Options Prices/year: 2GB/FREE, 5GB/$120, UNLIMITED/$180
• Max file size: 50MB for free accounts, 2GB for paid accounts
• Mac, Windows, Web, BlackBerry, iPhone (limited to tracking)

Their pricing plans are somewhat puzzling. 2GB free storage (with many limitations on sharing), or an insane $120 for only 5GB storage (with fewer limitations)! I'm guessing that's because YouSendIt is still primarily used for sharing, so their servers will likely be more taxed? Who knows, but here's the humdinger: for only sixty bucks more than that, you get UNLIMITED storage! If you don't need sync, $180 bucks to store all of your everything is not bad at all. Fun fact: YouSendIt's storage is via Dropbox. Funner fact: YouSentIt's storage is NOT through Dropbox. They have a "Dropbox" but it is in no way related to Dropbox.com.

That's a lot of info, so I made this chart to break down the price-per-gigabyte for easy reference (Click to enlarge):

OS X Lion by Apple®

OS X Lion is the next major release of OS X, the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. It includes over 250 new features that will transform how you interact with your Mac. Tap, swipe, and scroll your way through your apps using fluid Multi-Touch gestures that make everything you do feel more natural and direct. Full-screen apps take advantage of every pixel of your display — perfect for reading email, surfing the web, or browsing photos. Launchpad gives you instant access to all the apps on your Mac in a stunning new layout where you can quickly find any app and open it with a single click. And Mission Control brings together Exposé, full-screen apps, Dashboard, and Spaces in one unified experience. With a gesture, your desktop zooms out, displaying a bird’s-eye view of everything running on your Mac and making it easy to navigate anywhere with a click.

Multi-Touch gestures:

• Fluid and realistic animations make gestures feel natural and direct.
• Tap or pinch to zoom in on text and images.
• Swipe left or right to move from one page to another in an app or switch from one full-screen app to another.
• Swipe up to enter Mission Control.
• Pinch to access Launchpad.

Full-screen apps:

• A new full-screen button takes an app window full screen. 
• Run multiple full-screen apps at the same time.
• Switch between full-screen apps and your desktop with a gesture.
• Apps stay full screen when you switch to another app.
• OS X Lion includes full-screen Mail, Safari, Preview, iCal, FaceTime, Dashboard, Screen Sharing, and Photo Booth.

Mission Control:

• Brings together Exposé, full-screen apps, Dashboard, and desktop spaces. 
• Gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything running on your Mac, allowing you to navigate anywhere with a click.
• Exposé view shows all open windows on your desktop grouped by application. 
• Create and organize desktop spaces in Mission Control.

Launchpad:

• A new home for all the apps on your Mac.
• Apps downloaded from the Mac App Store automatically appear in Launchpad.
• Launchpad automatically adds pages to accommodate all your apps.
• Apps can be organized on multiple pages and grouped in folders.

Mail:

• The widescreen layout displays the message list and selected email side by side in full-height columns. 
• The favorites bar gives you one-click access to your favorite mail folders.
• Search suggestions dynamically present the best matches for your search.
• Search tokens help refine search results based on people, subjects, mailboxes, dates, and attachments.
• Conversations automatically groups related messages, displaying them in chronological order and hiding repetitive quoted text.

Other great Lion features:

• Auto Save automatically saves your changes as you go, so you never have to worry about losing your work.
• Versions keeps a history of your document as you work and presents it in a timeline you can browse.
• Resume reopens an app exactly as you left it.
• AirDrop is the simplest way to send files to anyone around you, wirelessly — no setup or special settings required.
• Reading List in Safari lets you easily save web pages to read or browse later.

Some features require an Apple ID and/or compatible Internet access; fees and terms apply.

Some features require apps developed to work with Lion.

Gestures require a Multi-Touch trackpad or Magic Mouse (some gestures are not available on Magic Mouse).

AirDrop is supported on the following Mac models: MacBook Pro (late 2008 or newer), MacBook Air (late 2010 or newer), MacBook (late 2008 or newer), iMac (early 2009 or newer), Mac mini (mid 2010 or newer), Mac Pro (early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card and mid 2010 or newer).

To download OS X Lion from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later.

Screenshots: