Oct. 23 rumored as iPad Mini debut date
CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Apple's much-rumored iPad mini will have its official debut at an event Oct. 23, U.S. tech-watching websites report insiders as saying.
AllThingsD reported it has been told the event will be a smaller affair than the iPhone 5 introduction and suggested it could be held at Apple headquarters rather than at a large venue in San Francisco as was the case for the iPhone debut.
There had been some suggestions unforeseen supply chain issues had delayed the date of the introduction of Apple's smaller iPad but sources close to Apple said that was not the case, Slashgear reported Friday.
The iPad mini is expected to use a 7.85-inch display, running at the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the original iPad and iPad 2 featured on their 9.7-inch screens.
That would slot it in-between the iPod touch and the 9.7-inch existing iPad in terms of size
Apple is reportedly intending to maintain the larger tablet's top-of-the-line position by limiting the new iPad mini to WiFi-only, with no 3G/4G option.
Mystery giant eyeball found on Fla. beach
POMPANO BEACH, Fla., Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A giant eyeball that washed up on a Florida beach this week is probably that of a large squid, wildlife experts said of the softball-size peeper.
The mysterious eye washed up on Pompano Beach where it was found by a beachcomber who gave it to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Wednesday, National Geographic reported.
FWCC scientists put the impressive eye on ice and forwarded it to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Commission spokeswoman Carli Segelson said researchers would use genetic testing to determine what kind of creature the eye came from.
Robert L. Pitman, a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, Calif., who was sent a picture of the eyeball, said he could offer a likely suspect.
"It probably is a squid eye -- other things with eyes that big (fish, cetaceans) have them imbedded in hard tissue. Squid eyes are in relatively soft tissue and more likely to dislodge as in the photo you sent. A quick DNA analysis could easily sort it out for you," Pitman said in an email message to the National Geographic.
However, Segelson said she wasn't so sure.
"From what I understand there appears to be bones around the eye, so that would rule out a squid." Segelson said.
Study: Brain reacts to unpleasant sounds
NEWCASTLE, England, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Increased activity between two separate parts of the brain explains why the sound of chalk on a blackboard is so unpleasant, British researchers say.
Newcastle University scientists said the interaction between the region of the brain that processes sound, the auditory cortex, and the amygdala, which is active in the processing of negative emotions, is heightened when people hear unpleasant sounds.
The amygdala modulates the response of the auditory cortex and the amplified activity provokes our negative reaction, they said.
"It appears there is something very primitive kicking in," lead Newcastle researcher Sukhbinder Kumar said. "It's a possible distress signal from the amygdala to the auditory cortex."
Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to examine how the brains of 13 volunteers responded to a range of sounds they rated from the most unpleasant -- the sound of a knife on a bottle -- to the most pleasing, the sound of bubbling water.
The researchers were able to study the brain response to each type of sound.
The amygdala in effect takes charge and modulates the activity of the auditory part of the brain so that the perception of a highly unpleasant sound is heightened as compared to a soothing sound, they said.
Anything in the frequency range of around 2,000-5,000 Hertz was found to be unpleasant, Kumar said.
"This is the frequency range where our ears are most sensitive. Although there's still much debate as to why our ears are most sensitive in this range, it does include sounds of screams which we find intrinsically unpleasant," he said.
U.N.: 6 billion cellphone subscriptions
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- About 6 billion people had cellphone subscriptions at the end of 2011, but there were still a billion who did not, a United Nations agency report said.
The number of people with mobile phones is increasing rapidly, with the International Telecommunications Union report indicating double-digit growth in cellphone subscriptions in developing countries over the last year, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.
An estimated 2.3 billion people have access to the Internet, the report said.
But mobile Internet services are growing, with twice the number of mobile broadband subscriptions as there are fixed broadband subscriptions worldwide, the ITU said.
That's due to the growth of mobile broadband and affordability, said Susan Teltscher, head of ITU's ICT Data and Statistics Division.
"We have been monitoring ICT [information and communication technology] prices now for four years, and there has been a 30 percent drop in the price of ICT in the past four years," she said.
