Filed under: Storage
Although it’s been several years since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, it looks like some of the data gathered during the orbiter’s final mission will be put to good use. A hard drive salvaged from the wreckage contains the results of an experiment to study the way xenon gas flows in microgravity, and the results were published in the April edition of a journal called Physical Review E. The 400MB Seagate drive was originally thought to be destroyed, but workers and engineers reconstructing the orbiter from the remaining debris found it during the process and sent it off for recovery, where 99 percent of the data was extracted. It then took several years for lead researcher Robert Berg and his team to analyze the findings, but they’re happy with the results — we only wish they hadn’t come at so dear a price.
[Thanks, Laura]
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Filed under: Cellphones
Vodafone’s just got a tiny, minor, insignificant announcement to make this morning: it’s signed with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten markets, including Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy (so much for Telecom Italia), India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. Expect the phone later this year — that’s all we know for now. Score one (or ten?) for Voda.
[Thanks, iB3nji]
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Almost everybody who has ever got a bike knows how dangerous it can be to ride it late in the evening. Though modern bicycles have different devices that are used to reflect the headlight of any transport, sometimes they can not ensure your safety because of the poorness of the reflected light. The idea of making a bicycle that would have its own source of light can hardly be regarded as a new one, still it was never interpreted in the way proposed by Rudi Moosmeier. The gadget he managed to create is called “Tong City Bike”.
True connoisseurs of coffee think that there is nothing better than a cup of fresh hot coffee. However it’s not quite so, because a fast cup of fresh hot coffee is better for sure. No doubt that at present there are a lot of ways to make an instant coffee, still according to the opinion of Hye-Yeon Choi it’s possible to improve the coffee making process.
All of us probably remember those days when real music lovers were walking down the street with the boom box on their shoulders. However, despite the fact that young people were satisfied enough having the opportunity to listen their favorite music everywhere they want, it wasn’t an easy task to carry those big boom box all day long. Yet designer Joonas Saaranen working on his B.A. degree has recently managed to invent Reppo II gadget that would probably simplify significantly the process of “boom box carrying”.
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Microsoft has quite a bit in store for the Zune faithful with its new Zune version 2.5 software update. The high points are the new Zune Card integration and the addition of TV show downloads on Zune Marketplace, but much-requested features like gapless playback, improved syncing controls, meta data editing, auto playlists and other tweaks have also been included. On the marketing front, Microsoft is really pushing the Zune Pass going forward, and will be launching a new TV commercial to help plug it. Subscribers will particularly benefit from the new Zune Card sharing, which lets you automatically score copies of your pal’s favorite songs, artists and recent plays — non-subscribers can view that Zune Card info, but will have to buy the tracks if they want to have a listen. Unfortunately, news on the video store front isn’t so compelling: Microsoft is only adding TV shows at this point, no movies, and there’s no way to pull video you’ve bought on your 360 over to your Zune. There’s no reason Microsoft can’t close this loop and turn some scattered media offerings into a compelling ecosystem, but until then we suppose we’ll have to thank our lucky stars that we can shell out 160 MS Points ($2.00) for TV shows we can watch for free online. The 2.5 Spring Update is a free download and should be available nowish.
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Filed under: Digital Cameras
It looks like Creative’s getting set to muscle in on Pure Digital’s Flip Video — online retailer JR.com has specs up for something called the Vado VF0570-P, and they’re basically identical to the Flip Video Ultra, apart from a slightly larger 2-inch screen. Other than that, you’re getting the same 2 hours of VGA-res video on 2GB of built-in memory and YouTube support for the same $100 price. No pics or ship dates yet, but we’re guessing we’ll see something official pretty soon.
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Filed under: Desktops
Do you absolutely love Gateway desktops? If you said yes, prepare to be seriously stoked. The company is releasing a slew of new systems this week, ranging from cheapos starter to pretty heavily equipped gaming / multimedia models. We’ve got all the info that’s fit to print (and frankly, some that isn’t), and we’ve rounded up the basic specs and features after the break. Enjoy!
Continue reading Gateway releases slew of new desktops, offers something for everyone
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Filed under: Desktops
Do you absolutely love Gateway desktops? If you said yes, prepare to be seriously stoked. The company is releasing a slew of new systems this week, ranging from cheapos starter to pretty heavily equipped gaming / multimedia models. We’ve got all the info that’s fit to print (and frankly, some that isn’t), and we’ve rounded up the basic specs and features after the break. Enjoy!
Continue reading Gateway releases slew of new desktops, offers something for everyone
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Archer Quinn promised the world a working demonstration of his homemade free energy device called the “Sword of God” by June 20th, but it looks like we’re getting a sneak peek a little early: Quinn’s detailing the build on his blog, and it’s just about at pigs-in-trousers insane as you’d expect. It’s hard to even pick one quote as an example here — Quinn rails on about how he destroyed his first machine because he didn’t want Arab nations to starve without oil money but then a picture of Dubai’s opulence changed his mind, how “gravity wheels” are perpetual motion machines, how Nikola Tesla presented BS theories, how Australian Nazis are reading his email, and on and on. Most importantly, however, he continues to update on how his project is going. We’re not sure if he’s done yet or what (it’s not exactly easy to follow) but it looks like something’s ready — anyone want to bet if it works? We also have a very nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
[Thanks, Curt]
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