Xiaomi: We Have Sold 61.12 Million Smartphones In 2014

Shanghai: Fast-growing Chinese tech firm Xiaomi Technology Ltd Co booked 74.3 billion yuan ($11.97 billion) in pre-tax sales last year, up 135 per cent from 2013, the firm's chief executive Lei Jun said on his official microblog account on Sunday.

The figures helps shine light on the rapid growth of the privately-held tech firm which has risen to become the world's No.3 smartphone maker and is challenging Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as well as domestic rivals such as Huawei Technology Co Ltd.

Xiaomi sold a total of just over 61 million phones in 2014, up 227 per cent from a year earlier, Lei added in a post on his Sina Weibo microblog account.

The post did not give a related profit figure, although a filing last month showed that the firm was grappling with razor thin margins as it rapidly expands. A part of the business made around 347.5 million yuan net profit last year on revenue of 26.6 billion yuan and an operating margin of just 1.8 per cent.

Lei added that growth in China's smartphone market would ease in 2015 and that the firm would look to focus on innovating new products and pushing into more overseas markets.

Lei, who is both chairman and chief executive, claims 77.8 per cent ownership of the company he co-founded in 2010, while unnamed shareholders split the remainder, according to a recent filing.

Last week Xiaomi raised $1.1 billion in a round of funding that valued the firm at $45 billion, from investors including All-Stars Investment, DST Global, Hopu Investment Management, and Yunfeng Capital, as well as Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC

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Unknown 09:41  No comment

Supercomputer simulates the Universe

Supercomputer simulates the Universe 

For several years, astronomers have tried to develop the computer-simulated models of the Universe; but without the desired success. The galaxies formed in computer simulations were typically extremely massive, sometimes too small or too old. The computers would generate galaxies of very spherical shape; which haven't been observed. However, a research group comprising of researchers from the Durham University and the Leiden University have succeeded in developing a simulation that is like the real thing! 

Professor Richard Bower of Durham University says that the simulation of the Universe his team created has galaxies everywhere, of various shapes sizes and even colors that have been actually observed by the largest of the telescopes. The galaxies created by the computers are like those in the EAGLE simulation aka the Evolution and Assembly of Galaxies and their Environments. Bower says that in the EAGLE universe simulation, he can just press the button and make the time run backwards. This achievement is expected to allow the researchers to study the formation of individual galaxies in detail.

The team used COSMA aka the Cosmology Machine, which is the DiRAC2 Data Centric System commissioned about 2 years ago at Durham University along with 'The Curie' supercomputer in Paris. These supercomputers worked for several months to simulate the Universe with impressive results. The picture above is a close-up of the galaxy formed using EAGLE simulation method with blue, green and red colors indicating the increasing temperature of the cosmic gases. Do check out the video that shows the entire process of formation of Universe -

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Unknown 09:38  No comment

ZERO GRAVITY DAY IS TOTALLY FALSE

ZERO GRAVITY DAY IS TOTALLY FALSE 

It is the Nigerian-prince email of the astrophysics world -- a persistent rumor that a rare planetary alignment involving the Earth, Jupiter and Pluto will cause a momentary fluctuation of gravity here, rendering us all weightless and able to briefly float in the air, or at least land more slowly should we attempt to dunk a basketball at that perfect moment.

The latest iteration of this rumor tells us that this historic moment will occur Sunday morning at 9:47 a.m. Pacific Time. But if your memory is sharp enough to recall that the exact same rumor circulated about 12 months ago, then never came to fruition, perhaps you can join me in not strapping down all fragile and/or sharp objects as a precaution in advance of "zero G day."

Like many a chain letter assuring you that Bill Gates or an African royal has some extra money just waiting for you to claim it, the notion that we will be temporarily granted a reprieve from the mysterious force that tethers us to this wonderful marble is nothing more than a hoax that has been passed down 

 First of all, no freaky planetary alignment or even an impromptu chorus line involving every rock in the asteroid belt would be able to turn off gravity here on Earth, even for a second -- the planets, especially the big ones like Jupiter with the most gravitational pull, are just too far away. And as for the inclusion of Pluto in the hoax, well this should give you some idea that it's provenance is less than serious. Pluto was, of course, demoted from planet to dwarf planet status several years ago, and it's way too far and way too small to have any noticeable impact on us.

In fact the laughable idea of Jupiter and Pluto conspiring to disable gravity here was originally just that, a joke that dates back more than 40 years to an April Fool's Day prank attributed to the late British astronomer Patrick Moore.

So, sorry folks, real science rains on the parade once again. Too bad, too, because without gravity the potential for epic cow-tipping and even cow-floating tales would have been historic. What would you do for a moment without gravity? Besides this cool trick with a Go Pro, that is.

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Unknown 09:37  No comment