Hidden ocean on Saturn’s moon bolsters life theory

Saturn's moon Enceladus is home to an ocean of melted water beneath its surface, and could be a source for alien microbes, scientists said.

The first measurements of the subsurface water at the south pole of the small and icy moon were made by the US space agency's Cassini spacecraft, and are described in the journal Science.

The body of water is about the size of Lake Superior, the second largest lake on Earth, and has a rocky bottom which could create conditions that allow tiny life forms to thrive.

Researchers first raised the possibility of a below-ground ocean on Enceladus in 2005, after water vapor was detected spewing from vents near the moon's southern pole.

"Material from Enceladus' south polar jets contains salty water and organic molecules, the basic chemical ingredients for life," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA.

"Their discovery expanded our view of the 'habitable zone' within our solar system and in planetary systems of other stars," she added.

"This new validation that an ocean of water underlies the jets furthers understanding about this intriguing environment."

The Cassini spacecraft detected the shape of Enceladus' gravity field during three flybys from 2010 to 2012.

The gravitational tug exerted on the unmanned orbiter was carefully analyzed for clues about what the interior of Enceladus contained.

Researchers believe the 500-kilometer (310-mile) wide moon's ocean is encased beneath a thick crust of crystal ice.

"For the first time, we have used a geophysical method to determine the internal structure of Enceladus," said co-author David Stevenson, professor of planetary science at Caltech.

"This then provides one possible story to explain why water is gushing out of these fractures we see at the south pole."

The Cassini mission is led by NASA, with the cooperation of the Italian Space Agency and European Space Agency.

The spacecraft was launched 2004 and has visited all of Saturn's largest moons.

The sixth planet from the Sun, Saturn is characterized by its unusual rings and has 53 known moons and nine provisional moons.

German real earnings dip for first time in four years

For the first time since the recession in 2009, German workers earned less in real terms last year than the previous one, the National Statistics Office (Destatis) reported Friday.

Real earnings dipped slightly by 0.1 percent, compared with 2012 figures after rising by at least 0.5 percent annually in the three previous years.

Gross monthly incomes rose by 1.4 percent in 2013, but a slightly higher 1.5-percent rise in consumer prices meant that employees were left with less in their pockets.

Wage disparities

Destatis noted that one reason for the relatively small increase in nominal earnings was the small rise in income observed in companies not bound by collective wage agreements.

'On the other hand, a decline in extra payments also contributed to the end result,' the office said in a press release, alluding to the fact that many firms had stopped paying extra holiday-related bonuses or Christmas-season bonuses.

Destatis said a typical full-time employee received roughly 45,500 euros ($62,400) in gross wages last year, with those working in the banking and insurance sectors getting most and employees in the catering and hotel industry being at the lower end of the table

Dubai overtakes Heathrow as the world’s busiest airport

According to the latest statistics, Dubai International airport overtook London Heathrow as the world’s busiest airport in February.

The number of passengers passing through Dubai International Airport with almost 2 million more.

The title change is not a surprise with Dubai International passenger numbers falling just short of Heathrow’s in 2013.

Dubai aims to stay on track to claim the number one spot by next year.

Kick start South Korea

South Korea has one of the fastest growing and most hi-tech economies in the world. So it’s an extremely attractive market for SMEs (small and medium sized) European companies specialising in the latest technologies. Thanks to their expertise in ultrasonic suspension technology for non contact handling of surface-sensitive and fragile products, one German SME is now working with one of the largest hi-tech companies in Korea. To prepare for developing their business here, the company came on three business trips organised by the EU Gateway Programme, a preparation which has served them well. Josef Zimmermann, the managing director of ZS-Handling, explained: 'It meant we could increase our Korean market general turnover from 0 to 25% within one year. Also, expanding our staff from 11 to 20. And we can address all our target industries: solar power, semi conductors and platform displays.' One of the keys to success was identifying the right partner in South Korea. So Josef Zimmermann and his team worked with an agency which has been established in the country for 55 years, and has an in-depth knowledge of the hi-tech sector there. Since 2009, 350 companies, most of them SMEs, have taken part in the EU Gateway Programme in Korea. During these week-long business trips, participants receive financial help, information about their objectives on the Korean market, and of course they meet potential partners. The results are excellent. One of the architects of the EU Gateway Programme in Korea is Paolo Caridi. He said,EU Delegation to the Republic of Korea'For me there are three key figures: more than 60% of participating companies find a local partner through the programme, half of them decide to invest in targeting the Korean market, and 25% of them increase their turnover thanks to the programme.' Business opportunities in Korea are very attractive to European SMEs, and trading agreements are also very helpful. Paolo Caridi said, 'We have a free trade agreement, the only one with an Asian country. This agreement has had a huge impact: from 2011 to 2013, exports increased by 24%, and for the first time in 15 years we have a surplus trade balance with South Korea.' Summing up, Josef Zimmermann said, 'For me, there are 3 keys to success: identify your market and customers, find the right partner that fits you perfectly, and be aware that it makes take time to enter the market.'

Siemens and Bosch most active German applicants for EU patents

Among all German companies, technology firms Siemens and Bosch filed the largest number of patents with the European Patent Office (EPO) last year, the agency reported Thursday.

Both companies sent in about 1,600 patent applications each in 2013, followed by Chemicals giants BASF and Bayer.

Most German applications sent to EPA came from the southern German state of Bavaria, which accounted for 27 percent of the 26,300 filings coming from Europe's biggest economy. Runner-up was the state of Baden-Württemberg.

EPO reforms

Overall, the German firms in question only had to concede the top spot of the list to South Korea's electronics company Samsung which filed a total of 2,618 applications last year.

The European Patent Office had last year taken some pivotal measures to make filing procedures easier, among them the launch of a free online machine translation service.

It also worked closely with the US Patent and Trademark Office on creating a new joint classification scheme for applications, incorporating best practices from both agencies

Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona

The four-day event will enable visitors to catch a glimpse of new mobile gadgets and devices that producers are already marketing as must-haves.

Germany's Deutsche Telekom for instance announced in Barcelona it would soon launch an app for smartphones that encrypted voice and text messages and would be available to all its users. The company said it expected huge consumer interest in the technology as privacy fears have sparked a greater awareness of people's need to shield against data spying.

Deutsche Telekom said the cloud-based app would encrypt any data exchange between two devices using a unique code. It added the service would first be available for Android smartphones, with a version for iOS devices to be launched later this year.

Everything needs to be smart

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona also saw South Korea's LG Electronics join the battle for dominance in the relatively new market of computerized wristwatches. The company's Park Jong-seok maintained early smartwatch models failed to demonstrate why consumers should buy them.

He said LG's strategy was not to release a half-baked product, but one that would convince consumers right away and would be paired with a smartphone like those already available from some competitors.

Sony on Monday demonstrated a SmartBand fitness accessory, working with a liefelog app on the phone to record your day. The company said you could see key moments of physical exercise on a timeline, including photos taken and messages sent and received. Sony said that as the day progressed on that timeline, you saw the number of steps made and calories burned to a given point.

The Barcelona fair is the biggest event for the mobile technology sector. But while there will be no lack of novelties, a major revolution in the industry is not in sight this time around.

Huawei announces the world’s fastest MiFi device

Huawei takes to the Mobile World Congress stage, announces the world’s fastest mobile hotspot.

The Huawei E5786 offers Cat 6 LTE with download speeds to 300Mbps and upload speeds of 100Mbps, granted you have a phone network to support it.

The hotspot will be powered by a 28nm HPM Cortex A9 chipset with support for 802.11a/b/g/n and 802.11ac WiFi.

The device will also allow for up to 10 devices to be connected to it simultaneously and will offer up 10 hours of battery life from one single charge.

It can also provide reverse charging allowing users to plug in their devices to charge from the device’s power.

Its compact, pebble-shaped design makes it ideal for smartphone users on-the-go as it can easily be pocketed and carried wherever.

The MiFi device will also come with an accompanying app that allows users to control it via their smartphones.

The Huawei E5786 will appear in the second half of 2014, but Huawei says it will depend on network roll-out to support the speeds it offers.