Questões de Inglês

It's been a little more than five years since Apple re-leased the original iPhone. Meanwhile, the world has changed. People now expect fast, reliable Internet con-nections and bright touchscreens on devices they can fit in their pockets.

The iPhone, however, has remained recognizably the iPhone. Each successive generation has added wel-come features, but none have strayed so far from the previous one as to be unrecognizable.

Now the iPhone 5 is here, and is it any surprise that this model doesn't reimagine the iPhone in a completely new way? No, it too is recognizably an iPhone, an evolu-tion of previous models – yet it offers major advances on almost every front. In the technology industry's fastest-moving product category, it's the very best version of the most successful product produced by the world’s most valuable company. If the iPhone 5 bores you, you are deficient in joie de vivre.

Almost every new Apple product is thinner, faster, and lighter than its predecessor. But I've wondered how much further down that path Apple could go with the iPhone without rewriting the laws of physics. Given that the iPhone4S was just 9.3mm thick and weighed a mea-ger 140 grams, I had assumed that any changes in fu-ture iPhone dimensions would be perceptible only on spec sheets. Turns out I was completely wrong. In pho-tos, a silver-and-white iPhone 5 looks not much different from the white iPhone 4 or 4S. But photos don't do jus-tice to how thin it feels when you pick it up.

MacWorld Magazine. December 2012 (with adaptations)

It's been a little more than five years since Apple re-leased the original iPhone. Meanwhile, the world has changed. People now expect fast, reliable Internet con-nections and bright touchscreens on devices they can fit in their pockets.

The iPhone, however, has remained recognizably the iPhone. Each successive generation has added wel-come features, but none have strayed so far from the previous one as to be unrecognizable.

Now the iPhone 5 is here, and is it any surprise that this model doesn't reimagine the iPhone in a completely new way? No, it too is recognizably an iPhone, an evolu-tion of previous models – yet it offers major advances on almost every front. In the technology industry's fastest-moving product category, it's the very best version of the most successful product produced by the world’s most valuable company. If the iPhone 5 bores you, you are deficient in joie de vivre.

Almost every new Apple product is thinner, faster, and lighter than its predecessor. But I've wondered how much further down that path Apple could go with the iPhone without rewriting the laws of physics. Given that the iPhone4S was just 9.3mm thick and weighed a mea-ger 140 grams, I had assumed that any changes in fu-ture iPhone dimensions would be perceptible only on spec sheets. Turns out I was completely wrong. In pho-tos, a silver-and-white iPhone 5 looks not much different from the white iPhone 4 or 4S. But photos don't do jus-tice to how thin it feels when you pick it up.

MacWorld Magazine. December 2012 (with adaptations)

Centuries of underwater volcanic activity have blanketed the ocean floor in precious metals. Now, with the aid of the world 's most powerful excavation ma-chines, a company called Nautilus Minerals is set to begin extracting those metals from the first large scale deep-sea mine. The Toronto-based firm teamed up with the deep-sea trencher specialist Soil Machine Dynamics to build three remotely operated machines. Hybrids of land excavators, sea robots, and vacuum cleaners, they will work together to harvest rock from the seafloor, smash it into bits, and then send it to the surface.

Last year, Nautilus won a 20-year lease from Papua New Guinea to mine in the Bismarck Sea. The compa-ny's first customer, Tangling Nonferrous Metals Group of China, has already claimed the entire contents of the first site, Solwara 1, which is roughly the size of 21 foot-ball fields and contains 240,000 tons of copper and 25,000 pounds of gold, plus silver and zinc. Although metal prices fluctuate, the total take could approach $3 billion. Nautilus plans to put its machines to work by the end of next year.

Popular Science Magazine. November, 2012 (adapted)

Brazil presidency website hacked, jammed in attack claimed by Lulz collective

A cyber attack blocked traffic to the website of the Brazilian presidency and two other government sites on Wednesday, authorities said.

The Brazilian branch of the Lulz Security hacking collective claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Lulz members have claimed responsibility for recent attacks on the site of electronics giant Sony, along with the CIA web page and the U.S. Senate computer system.

The Brazilian president’s office said in a statement that attacks on the website of the presidency, along with the nation’s internal revenue service and a government portal began around 12:30 a.m. and lasted until 3 a.m.

The government said it stopped the hackers from obtaining data from the websites, but that the attacks made them inaccessible for about an hour.

Hours later, people who claimed to be Lulz members said on Twitter that they had taken down the website of oil company Petrobras, whose website was down Wednesday afternoon. Petrobras would not confirm whether the problems with its website were caused by an attack.

On a Twitter page in the name of the Brazilian branch of Lulz, posters justified the apparent attack on the Petrobras website by complaining about the price of gasoline in Brazil.

“Wake up Brazil! We no longer want to buy gas at 2.75 to 2.78 reals ($1.73 to $1.75) and export for half of that price!” stated one tweet from the group.

Adapted from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/brazil-presidency-website-hacked-jammedin-attack-claimed-by-lulz-collective/2011/06/22/AGb53KgH_story.html

Brazil presidency website hacked, jammed in attack claimed by Lulz collective

A cyber attack blocked traffic to the website of the Brazilian presidency and two other government sites on Wednesday, authorities said.

The Brazilian branch of the Lulz Security hacking collective claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Lulz members have claimed responsibility for recent attacks on the site of electronics giant Sony, along with the CIA web page and the U.S. Senate computer system.

The Brazilian president’s office said in a statement that attacks on the website of the presidency, along with the nation’s internal revenue service and a government portal began around 12:30 a.m. and lasted until 3 a.m.

The government said it stopped the hackers from obtaining data from the websites, but that the attacks made them inaccessible for about an hour.

Hours later, people who claimed to be Lulz members said on Twitter that they had taken down the website of oil company Petrobras, whose website was down Wednesday afternoon. Petrobras would not confirm whether the problems with its website were caused by an attack.

On a Twitter page in the name of the Brazilian branch of Lulz, posters justified the apparent attack on the Petrobras website by complaining about the price of gasoline in Brazil.

“Wake up Brazil! We no longer want to buy gas at 2.75 to 2.78 reals ($1.73 to $1.75) and export for half of that price!” stated one tweet from the group.

Adapted from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/brazil-presidency-website-hacked-jammedin-attack-claimed-by-lulz-collective/2011/06/22/AGb53KgH_story.html

Argentina builds a tower of books

This is simply an audio and visual celebration of the book - any books, all books, in whichever language you like. Works by Jane Austen, Dickens, Henry Blake, Ernest Hemingway, Cervantes, Vargas Llosa, Tolstoy and Argentina's own favourites, Borges and Sabato, line the walls of this tower, each wrapped in plastic for its own protection.

The United Nations has designated the city as the 2011 World Book Capital.

This book tower is 25 metres high and lined with 30,000 donations from more than 50 embassies. It'll be dismantled at the end of the month and the books will form the beginning of a multi-lingual library.

The Buenos Aires Book Fair, one of the biggest in the world, has just ended, recording more visitors than ever before. The city boasts hundreds of bookshops and some cafes even supply works by Argentina's most renowned literary icon, Jorge Luis Borges, to read over coffee. Buenos Aires is a city that  loves its books and now it has a tower to prove it.

Daniel Schweimler, BBC News, Buenos Aires. Fonte:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/05/110516_witn_bueno saires_books_page1.shtml