Tag Archive for 'News'

NASA’s new Spacesuits look more like a Body-Builder!

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NASA\'s new Spacesuits look more like a Body-Builder!

Check out the new spacesuits (on the right) that NASA has been working on.  It definitely looks more like a body builder now when you wear one.

NASA just awarded its future spacesuit contract to Oceaneering International. The US firm must now design, test, and produce two suits — the default suit (pictured after the break) worn on-board for launch and landing and a second, more versatile, cheese-proof suit worn during space walks and upon the surface of the moon.

via engadget - newscientist

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TiVo Will Offer Disney Movies, TV Critic as Downloads

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On the heels of The Netflix Player by Roku announcement and in the face of rumors about Blockbuster preparing to announce its own set-top box for streaming videos, TiVo is inking some deals of its own.

TiVo subscribers will soon be able to download movies from the Walt Disney Studios to broadband-connected TiVo DVRs directly from the TV. Subscribers will also be able to receive recommendations for TV shows from the Chicago Tribune and have them automatically recorded.


Downloading Disney

TiVo will make Disney titles available to rent through an agreement with Disney-ABC
and CinemaNow. The companies will offer the movies for a 24-hour period in standard definition, with many also available in high definition.

“Adding Disney movies really delivers on TiVo’s promise to offer the best television entertainment experience with unlimited content choices that are easy to navigate across broadcast, cable, and broadband using one device, one remote, and one user interface,” said Tara Maitra, vice president and general manager of content services at TiVo.

The service will be available to all broadband-connected TiVo Series2 and Series3 subscribers later this year. TiVo offers more than 30,000 titles through Amazon Unbox, Music Choice and more than 50 other content providers. The company recently announced that TiVo subscribers will be able to access YouTube videos directly on a TV via the TiVo DVR this summer.


TV Critic Comes to TiVo

TiVo this week also announced a partnership with the Chicago Tribune to deliver the recommendations of the newspaper’s TV critic, Maureen Ryan, directly to subscribers’ televisions while TiVo automatically records the recommended shows listed in the newspaper’s TV grids.

Ryan’s authoritative and popular print and online column, The Watcher, has made her, according to the entertainment trade publication Variety, one of the TV industry’s “favorite (or most feared)” newspaper TV critics. TiVo subscribers will also be able to download…

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Blu-Ray Sale

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This is for all of you looking to beef up your high-def library. Amazon will be holding a sale on Blu-ray movies till June 9th. You will have your choice from 116 titles, all from different studios. I checked it out and they have some pretty cool movies for sale and for pretty cheap as well. Beats paying full price I’ll tell you that. So get that skrilla ready ’cause I am sure some of the titles will go faster then others.

[via High-Def Digest]

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HP to, like, totally launch PC line for teens

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Apparently HP’s gotten so desperate to connect with the youth market that they’ve actually hired on a “teen council” to help design a new line of products — likeliest PCs — from top to bottom. Will it be another bomb like the hip-e? Guess we’ll find out when the line launches this fall.

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Second Galileo GPS satellite goes into orbit

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Giove-B satelliteFinally, the EU’s Giove-B GPS satellite was shot into space by the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Strapped atop a Soyuz-FG rocket, the Giove-B reached orbit at 8:01am this morning, and is the second satellite launched for the nascent next-generation European Galileo satellite navigation system. This particular model is kitted out with dual redundant rubidium atomic clocks that the ESA says are “the most accurate in space”. The next bird — just three of thirty — is slated to go up in 2010 with a full-system launch around 2013. Until then, it looks like they’ll be stuck using the US’s crappy, less-sensitive GPS network (boo hoo).

[Via Physorg]

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eMachines launches two new desktops, puts your pennies into play

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Look, eMachines is just here to help. The low-cost PC maker has introduced a few new desktop models, destined to sit beside your paper plates, can of beans, and tin of generic instant coffee. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. The new budget models come in two flavors, the T3646 and T5254, both featuring AMD CPUs (2.2GHz Sempron LE-1250 versus the 2.1GHz dual core Athlon BE-2350), an NVIDIA 6100 graphics chipset, 1GB or 2GB of RAM, a 160GB or 320GB hard drive, DVD+R/RW SuperMulti drive, a handful of ports, a mouse, and really nasty looking cases. Available right now, $299.99 and $399.99, respectively.

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Vista Media Center update for HP’s MediaSmart HDTVs now available

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Owners of HP’s older MediaSmart HDTVs, your sometime is now as Chris Lanier reports the company’s posted the long-awaited Vista Media Center Extender update. The SL4278N and SL4778N model TVs should prompt for the update automatically if they’re connected to the internet, and afterwards connect to your fully patched Vista Home Premium or Ultimate edition machine and access your Media Center library (DivX, Xvid, h.264, MPEG-2 and WMV of course), live TV, recorded TV or other features directly through the TV. Check out HP’s support page for a full walkthrough on the process and keep your Windows Media Center remote close by.

[Via Chris Lanier, HP press release]

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World’s Smallest Vista Capable Computer From Sharp and Willcom

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WILLCOM_D4_WSO16H_002 1.jpg

If this thing has more than ten minutes of battery life, it could be the best UMPC yet. The Willcom D4 weighs only 470g (1lb), comes with a gig of RAM, Bluetooth EDR, WiFi, a two Megapixel camera, a 5″, 1024×600 touch screen, a 40GB hard drive and runs on a 1.33GHz Intel ATOM Z520 chipset.

The keyboard slides out from underneath the LED backlit screen, which means that in tablet mode this looks more like a PSP than a miniature PC. The D4 will be on sale in Japan from June for ¥130,000 (around $1300), and will be able to run Windows Vista Home Premium. Of course, any self-resecting gadget lover will wipe that immediately and load this up with XP or Ubuntu Linux. And about that battery life. The specs says that this aspect is still being measured. An extra, bulk battery pack is mentioned several times, so don’t get your hopes too high.

Press release [Sharp via Akihabara News]


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Adobe Announces CinemaDNG: An Open RAW Format For Video

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DNG_Logo.jpgAdobe wants to do the same for video as it did for print documents and RAW camera files. The new CinemaDNG (digital negative) format was announced today at the NAB show in Las Vegas, and promises to simplify video editing for professionals, as well as bringing some kind of standards to the amateur.

Like the DNG format, and PDF before it, CinemaDNG will be an open standard, free for manufacturers to implement, and also like DNG, it will improve compatibility between RAW video files from various hardware and software vendors. Many of the big names are already on board: Panavision, Silicon Imaging, Dalsa, Weisscam, and ARRI.

This is good news. Adobe appears to be opening up. By promoting and giving away standard formats, and even running beta programs of major software like Lightroom, the company is moving toward a kind of transparency almost unheard of amongst the industry giants. Great for the consumer. Not so good for the blogger. If every camera used DNG, we wouldn’t be able to post about the continual RAW support updates.

Press release [Adobe]


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Panasonic Plans Plasma Screens For Cellphones

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pannyplasma.jpg Panasonic isn’t giving up on plasma screens just yet. With many shifting away from plasma TVs and embracing LCD, Panasonic is going small and will bring plasma screens to the cellphone. Wait. You’re thinking that a plasma display might burn a hole in your pocket? Nope. They will be both cool and cheap.

Mark Balsama spoke to the press on Tuesday and revealed a secret plot that rival’s Apple’s iPhone obfuscation:

For nearly a decade, Panasonic’s engineers have been secretly working on a thin, lightweight low-voltage compact plasma display.

According to Balsama, not only will the screens “rival OLED displays for brightness, contrast and thinness”, they will also be cheaper. Now that the secret is out, Panasonic is moving fast. The mini plasma displays will start showing up in phones the fall.

Press release [PR Newswire]


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