Browser builder Opera smartly simplifies the Web on the iPad with touchable tiles.

While computers have changed drastically over the past 20 years, morphing from big boxes to svelte laptops, touch-screen tablets, and smartphones, the Web browsers we use on them have looked largely the same.

Previous versions of your apps are now available for re‑download by users who have already purchased them, allowing customers to use your apps on even more devices. If you do not wish to make these versions available, you can manage the availability of your apps' previous versions in the Rights and Pricing section of the Manage Your Apps module in iTunes Connect. Learn more.

Last weekend International Grandmaster Akshayraj Kore from India  (FIDE rating 2481) earned the title of 2013-2014 UMBC Chess Champion by being the top UMBC student to finish the UMBC Chess Championship held Sept 14-15 in the Commons.  Kore is a new MS student in CS.Former UMBC chess team member National Master Aaron Khan (2390) won the 5-round Swiss System tournament with 4.5 points in a dramatic finish, drawing International Master Levan Bregadze (2396) from Georgia and unexpectedly defeating Kore and International Grandmaster Niclas Huschenbeth (2537) from Germany.

The 2013-2014 UMBC Chess Team will comprise Niclas Huschenbeth, Akshayraj Kore, Levan Bregadze, Nazi Paikidze from Georgia, and Sabina Foisor from Romania.  Paikidze and Foisor are International Woman Grandmasters, and Paikidze is also an International Master.  The team is preparing to compete at the 2013 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Championship, which will take place December 27-30 at Texas Tech.

Govind Rao, a professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering as well as the director for the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) was recently quoted in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

“Advances in DNA biology, particularly those of the past three decades, catalyzed the emergence and expansion of experimental approaches to manipulate gene expression. Subsequently, these advances impacted protein science, a field that found itself increasingly positioned at the juncture of technology, science, and art,” wrote Richard Stein, in the article.

“We are trying to make bioprocessing more intelligent and provide a greater degree of measurement at all stages,” said Govind Rao, Ph.D., professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). A major effort in Dr. Rao’s lab is focused on developing noninvasive, disposable sensors to actively monitor culture parameters during growth.

“Most biological processes are very complex, and many parameters change during the growth of a culture,” added Dr. Rao. Recently, Dr. Rao and colleagues described the use of triple disposable noninvasive optical sensors that can be positioned inside culture flasks, and revealed that pH, oxygen level, and carbon dioxide level can be dynamically monitored during E. coli fermentation to collect information that would not be routinely available from shake flasks.

According to a paper co-authored by Dr. Rao in Biotechnology Progress in 2012, the sensitive element of the disposable noninvasive optical sensors is a thin, luminescent patch affixed inside the flask. The paper also noted that small electronic devices for excitation and fluorescence detection are positioned outside the shake flask for noninvasive monitoring.”

“New sales figures show slow the decline of the personal computer is accelerating, with consumers abandoning the desktop units in droves in favor of more portable devices.

New figures from the International Data Corp. show 1 million fewer PC shipments than tablets in the third quarter of this year,” wrote Nathan Porter of the Washington Times.

The article, addresses the question, will PC’s soon be a thing of the past with the increasing popularity of tablets?

Not so, says Tim Finin a professor in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, ”

“While I think this trend will continue, there are still going to be many people who will need to use PCs,” said Tim Finin, an engineering professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.”

A new company launched by Google will seek to extend human life spans.