You Can Trade In Your Old iPhone For A 5S (There's Just One Catch)

Looking to buy a brand-spanking-new iPhone 5S on the cheap? Your best bet might be to go somewhere you haven't been in a long, long time: a RadioShack.

The struggling electronics chain has a new promotion in which you can trade an eligible iPhone 4S for the fancy 5S. Crazy, right? It's not exactly straightforward, but here's how it works.

Normally, an iPhone 5S with a new or renewed contract costs $199. Starting Friday, RadioShack is knocking $100 off the price of a 5S with contract. Then, if you own an old 4S in working condition, you can get a $100 credit if you trade it in at RadioShack, which brings the price of that iPhone 5S from $99 to $0. Compare: If you were to buy an iPhone 5S without a contract, it would cost $549.

Of course, there's a catch. And of course, it involves your cell phone contract.

To take advantage of the deal, you must be eligible to start a contract with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. That means you must either start a new two-year contract for the first time with one of those companies or you must be eligible to renew your current contract for two years with one of those providers.

You can take advantage of this promotion in person or online, though it's not clear how long it will last. RadioShack seems to be desperate to get people into stores, especially since the company announced last month that it would close up to 1,100 of them.

Samsung launches new smart watch

 Samsung launched Sunday a new smart watch, the Gear 2, after a first version won over few critics, adding new features and ditching Google's Android in favour of its own operating system.

The South Korean electronics giant revealed the new watch in an unexpected announcement on the eve of the February 24-27 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Samsung is unveiling on Monday its new flagship smartphone, almost certainly the Galaxy S5, and it had been expected to show off the new watch at the same time.

Besides an array of features including sports tracking software and a heart rate monitor, the Gear 2 marks an important and widely rumoured step towards independence from Android.

The watch, available in two models -- the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, which has no camera -- will be powered by the Tizen operating system developed by Samsung with various partners to break free of the Android dominance.

Android powered 78.4 percent of smartphones worldwide last year, according to technology consultants Gartner Inc., making it easier for users to switch phones and harder for manufacturers to build customer loyalty. Apple's iOS system accounted for another 15.6 percent of smartphones.

The Gear 2, available worldwide from April, has a 1.63-inch screen, a 2.0 megapixel camera that can take high definition video, a heart rate sensor and pedometer, audio that can work with a Bluetooth headphone, remote control for devices such as televisions, and an alert system for incoming text messages and emails. The wrist strap comes in black, orange and brown.

The first Gear, launched last September, was criticised by many for being unfashionable and unwieldy.

Samsung, like other device makers, is banking on smart devices to boost revenue as sales of smartphones slow in the mature, and most profitable markets.

Though smartphone sales surged 42.4 percent to 968 million units last year, according to Gartner, the growth came from developing markets like Latin America, India and China while mature markets such as western Europe and the United States hit the brakes.

"We will see all of the handset companies responding to slowing growth in the smartphone market and the difficulty of making money," said Ian Fogg, senior principal analyst of electronics and media at research house IHS.

"They are going to launch a number of smart accessory devices including wearable devices that will give them opportunities in new markets to generate revenues and growth."

Despite perceived difficulties in selling the first watch to a broad audience, Samsung appeared confident in its latest version.

"With the Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, we have enhanced everything consumers love about the Gear to offer unparalleled smart freedom in their everyday life," JK Shin, head of the mobile division at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

The new watch has been designed to be compatible with a variety of Samsung devices including the Galaxy range of smartphones.

The South Korean group sold 300 million smartphones last year, 31 percent of the nearly one billion sold globally and double archrival Apple Inc's 15.6-percent share, according to US technology research house Gartner Inc.

The Galaxy S5 is variously rumoured to have a fingerprint scanner on the home button; a 5.24-inch, full high-definition display; a water and dust-proof case, possibly metallic, and a 16 megapixel camera.

The Experimental Flying Tanks

You might wonder what engineers were thinking when they came up with this idea.

In the run up to the Second World War, military chiefs wanted something that would get heavy artillery behind enemy lines.

What could be better, they thought, than using the power of a tank or the flexibility of a plane?

The answer: A flying tank – a concept that was pursued by both the Americans and the Soviets during the 1930s.

In the U.S., engineer John Walter Christie designed a four-tonne self-propelled flying tank that could be used with a pair of wings.

The idea was the tank would use its own power to race down the runway to about 55 mph, then the tank engine would be switched to a propeller and the vehicle would take off. 

‘The flying tank is a machine to end war,’ Mr Christie told Modern Mechanics magazine in 1932.

‘Knowledge of its existence and possession will be a greater guarantee of peace than all the treaties that human ingenuity can concoct.
‘A flock of flying tanks set loose upon an enemy and any war is brought to an abrupt finish.’
But engineering problems plagued the project and the vehicle never flew. The War Department and Mr Christie cut ties when he offered to sell his designs to the Soviet Union.
But the Soviet Union’s initial attempts were just as bad.
Gizmodo reports that when Soviet high command began looking into the issue, they decided to take an obvious route and simply drop tanks out of planet.
The problem was the tanks didn’t have any parachutes. Unsurprisingly, the idea didn’t work and the Soviet Union decided to strap tanks to TB-3 bombers instead.
In 1940, engineer Oleg Antonov came up with the idea to transform a 32-tonne T-34 tank into a glider.
His plan was to tow the tank, dubbed Kr'lya Tanka, behind a pair of ANT-20 planes, and then elegantly glide the armoured vehicle into enemy territory.
Whilst U.S. sources claim Kr’lya Tanka never left the ground, Soviet sources say a single successful flight was made in 1941 or 1942.