If you think that the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope is going to be boring, you haven't seen this video yet. Not only the astronauts will be risking their lives as usual at 366 miles above the Earth, but the sheer amount and the difficulty of the tasks—from repairing components to replacing them to installing new gadgets—makes the mission an almost-impossible one, with soundtrack to match. I never imagined this was going to be such an ambitious and daunting work.

First, there's the pressure the astronauts are going to be facing. In addition to the stress of the spacewalks and the manual work in a weightless environment, they know this is not only the final mission, but also a single shot to service the mighty telescope. If some of the tasks are not completed, there's no way to return back another time and fix whatever is broken. The mission crew knows that Hubble is a vital instrument to science—one that keeps expanding our knowledge of the Universe, helping to answer the most crucial question Humanity has ever faced: where the hell do we come from?—and that the astronauts are men and women of science. And they are going to be the ones responsible for giving science this amazing tool for ten more years.

Then there's the time constrain: just eleven days. As John Grunsfeld—one of the mission astronauts with Andrew Feustel, Gregory Johnson, Megan McCarthur, Michael Good, Scott Altman, and Michael Massimino—puts it: "We got a lot of things we want to repair in Hubble and upgrade in Hubble, and not a lot of time to do it." During that short time, this is all the things they have to do:

Repairs

· Repair two failed instruments in space, which is the first time such a task is going to be attempted. This will be a test to see if Nasa can do this kind of tasks in future missions to the Moon and Mars. The repairs will require removing 110 (yes, a hundred and ten) little screws. While this seems easy, not only it will take a lot of time in zero gravity, but the screws, like any other floating debris, may become a big problem for the security of the astronauts up there.

· The first instrument to be repaired is the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It was installed in 2002, and then died after being the most used instrument in Hubble for years.

· Then they have to fix the Space Telescope Imagine Spectrograph (STIS). This is a black hole hunter which also did the first detection and chemical analysis of a planet orbiting another star.

New instruments

· They will install the fanciest, most advanced spectrograph in space: the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph.

· In addition to the COS, they are also going to install the Wield Field Camera 3. This new camera is ten times better than the current instrument, and will let us see into the past of the Universe deeper and farther than ever before.

Spacecraft service

· In addition to the pure science aspect of the mission, Nasa also wants to upgrade and fix the spacecraft itself, starting with the gyroscopes, which will be upgraded.

· They also are going to install a refurbished fine guidance sensor.

· The batteries are going to be replaced for the first time since Hubble went into space.

· A new outer blanket layer, this time a solid shield, will be put on top of the current blanket.

· Thermal insulation will be replaced on several bays of the telescope.

· A new capture instrument will be installed to recover the Hubble at the end of its life.

Seems like a lot to me, but maybe is the Jerry Bruckheimerish soundtrack that makes it all more exciting. The really exciting part however, if the mission is completely successful, is that Hubble will be better than ever, ready for action for the next ten years. What does this really mean? Awesome eye candy for the next decade. And maybe showing to us that the origin of the Big Bang is really a huge bowl full of Fruit Loops that went horribly wrong during one of God's breakfast.

- Hugo

Maybe it’s just because I’m a Dad who refuses to get a minivan, but I seriously want Volkswagon to bring back the Microbus. (Or maybe BMW’s Mini should make one and call it the Minibus). VW showed off an updated Microbus concept vehicle a few years back, but now there is serious talk that VW is thinking about actually producing it in North America. I hope they do. It looks like a fun ride and, unlike the Mini, has enough room for two kids and luggage.

The popularity of the original VW Microbus from the 1960s outlasted its production life. VW’s research center in Palo Alto (yes, everyone has a research center there) retrofitted a 1964 Deluxe Microbus with electric batteries and and solar panels disguised as surfboards on the roof rack. I can do without the faux surfboards, but making the new VW all-electric or at least hybrid would double its appeal. Touch-screen Web tablets linked to a 3G or EVDO wireless network and built into the back seats wouldn’t be a bad option either.

Would You buy An Electric Microbus?
( surveys)

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Tomorrow night at 10PM, Food Network kicks off Alton Brown's latest TV show, Feasting on Waves, where the Mensa-smart kitchen geek and his crew hop into two 50-foot catamarans and sail around 15 different Caribbean islands in search of quality cuisine, shooting and editing the hi-def episodes right there on the boats. It turns out, despite his disdain for specialized kitchen gadgets, Brown is a certifiable gizmophile. He has owned maybe 20 Macs, most recently a MacBook Air and an iMac that has "never crashed." He also has a Panasonic ToughBook running XP, and an Eee PC which he totally loves. He carries an iPhone and at least one Garmin GPS units wherever he goes.

I got him on the phone to ask what, exactly, he used to document his Feasting on Waves experiences, and how he managed to keep it all juiced up, net-connected and dry while meandering through the islands. Here's our fun exclusive interview, with photos of Brown (and his gear) in action:

How do you produce a TV show from a sailboat?
One of the things about the Feasting shows in general is that they have a very small crew, and we are moving with very little space. We are extremely packed and technology dense. We had two 50-foot catamarans—it sounds fun but it wasn’t that fun.

So you shoot and edit as you go?
This year we decided to go completely tapeless: Panasonic P2 cards on 200s. We’re downloading them into our portable Avid edit system. We take as much audio equipment as we take video equipment. The funny thing is, professional audio hasn’t gotten a whole lot smaller. Although hi-def cameras have gotten smaller, lenses have gotten better and battery time has gotten better, audio is still the tricky part of the process for field reporting.

I see you were also using a little Panasonic?
I was lucky enough to be one of the first people in the US to get Panasonic’s HDC-HS100 AVCHD camcorder. It’s got a nice little Leica lens on it. We take everything through a DaVinci color correction system. Once we do that, you really can’t tell the difference between my little camera and the big cameras—it’s all 1080i. We have some scenes that were 100% shot with just my camera.

How did you connect to the internet?
It’s kinda funny, the entire time that I was in the islands, I had perfect e-mail with my iPhone. The entire time. I think there was once, during a midnight crossing, the Anegada Passage, where I lost internet for about half an hour. The rest of the time, I was getting e-mail through either EDGE or something else [probably GPRS].

I did not even take a computer with me on that trip. I decided I just didn’t want to see a computer for a while. And at the time, I figured you know, computers, boats, water, scuba diving. I thought about taking the ToughBook along, and then I thought about taking the Asus because that’s a great little box. Then I thought, the hell with it. I took a few pads of paper, some pens and my iPhone.

You also carry GPS everywhere, right?
As a motorcyclist, as a hiker and as a pilot, I’m pretty sold on Garmin. In the first Feasting on Asphalt, I had a touchscreen weatherproof version of the StreetPilot for my motorcycle that even worked with gloves on. I just really love how their interfaces work. You don’t even need manuals for most of their stuff, the stuff is so intuitive.

In New York, I use Google Maps with my iPhone, because I know where I am—I don’t need GPS. If I was going some place where I needed GPS, I’d use my Garmin Colorado [shown in top pic], which I really really like. It’s a really great marine box. It’s splashproof, but it comes loaded with all the marine functions, so it’s really easy to do marine chart info if you get the right cards for it. You can sail the world with one.

So it was your navi on land and sea?
Everywhere. We basically documented the entire Feasting on Waves journey in the Colorado. Every place we went, we popped a waypoint. It’s got so many easy functions for calculating distance it made navigating around the island easier. Even islands that didn’t have roads at all, we could get good topographic information.

Do you adhere to the old sailor’s adage that you should never have just one form of navigation?
Abso-stinking-lutely. When I fly, I may have full GPS on the plane, but I got a full set of charts too, and I keep the charts out while I’m flying to make sure I know where I am. In this day and age, if I have a major power outage, I just whip out my handheld, the 496, a spectacular handheld aviation GPS. But there could be a catastrophic satellite failure, different things could happen that could make GPS unusable—I guess.

I think your unit would fail before the satellite did.
Something could happen to satellites, you never know. So I always want to know where I am on paper, too.

And on the island, what was your backup?
There were a lot of times where I didn’t have a backup. On islands, I sometimes didn’t have anything else, because there aren't reliable paper maps for those places. The only time I wasn’t using Garmin to navigate was when we were underwater—I don’t think they have an underwater unit yet. We did a fair amount of scuba diving, and you’re still on your own under water. You still gotta use a compass.

I think you just invented something.
Underwater GPS would be spectacular. I don’t know how deep you can go with that technology without having serious problems. Even 50 to 70 feet would be useful. I wonder why they haven’t done that yet. I’ll ask Garmin when I can get that. For rec diving, having that kind of application would be fantastic.

Note: I asked Garmin why there wasn't a scuba GPS, and I got a quick reply: "The reason for no scuba GPS is simple... the signal is deflected by water."

So how do you keep everything charged up?
That’s a problem. Especially on the boats, it was really difficult. We got down there and realized that the power systems on the boats which were all 220V—the power wasn’t clean enough for our editing computers. On St. Martin, we had to go buy a Honda generator to run on the back of the boat to give us good steady clean 120V.

The Colorado runs on AAs, so I took a batch of rechargeable AAs. I ran the recharger for that in the cabin where I also charged my iPhone and my little camera batteries. I had to have three chargers. My other camera only runs on regular batteries, not rechargeables.

What kind of camera is it?
It’s an old metal Canon EF—about 30 years old. I also carry a 35mm Leica point-and-shoot with a fixed 40mm lens. I was shooting slide film in the Canon and print film in the Leica.

So you’re not shooting digital?
Not on this. I wanted Ektochrome—nothing looks like Ektochrome. I’m old school that way. I have a pretty decent Canon digital, and a Leica digital as well, but I didn’t want to have to deal with the chargers, and I wanted super robust technology, so I went film. I like film. You can’t beat it. I spent most of my career as a cinematographer before I went to culinary school, so I just got a thing about film emulsions. It’s still the way I think. I just don’t appreciate digital photography as much as I should.

I know, I know—we managed to get through an entire discussion about a food show without talking about the freakin' food. Good thing there are already clips of the show (alas, non-embeddable) up at Food Network's website, so take a look. The awesome photographs of Alton were shot—digitally—by Marion Laney, ForgottenGulf.com.

Sur beaucoup d’appareils portables, on retrouve le même genre de batteries, Thanko a donc eu l’idée de proposer un chargeur USB universel capable de s’adapter à la bonne taille. Les modèles pris en charge sont ceux qui ont les deux connecteurs du même côté. Les connecteurs du chargeur USB étant déplaçables, on peut facilement régler l’espacement. Regardez [...]

This high-capacity lithium-ion rechargeable battery is a replacement for the Samsung SB-L110 battery. Our batteries feature lithium-Ion technology, which ensures maximum battery life and maximum power. Also, lithium batteries are lightweight and can be charged or discharged at any time without developing so called memory effect? so they never lose their ability to hold a full charge.

Après avoir rechargé les batteries de mon appareil photo et posté les photographies du jour, voici les impressions prises ici et là durant le discours de François Bayrou et son point avec la presse.

Published today, a report by EETimes traces numerous iPod and iPhone hardware problems to a lack of “attention to the basics” of product design, including “component placement, sealing, USB protection and connector quality, along with batteries and LCDs.” The report spotlights the findings of Rapid Repair, a company specializing in media device repairs, as it has worked through problems with both iPod and iPhone models over...

We've seen capacity LED indicators on notebook batteries, we've seen rudimentary indicators on hard drives, but this is definitely a nice little bonus for users looking at a fast and easy way to check the capacity of their external hard drives. Lenovo released its newest external hard drive concept featuring a touch-sensitive display showing how much space is left on the hard drive. The hard drive's ability of not having to be plugged in to check space is perhaps superfluous and unnecessary, but it's still pretty cool. With a swipe of the finger over the sensor brings the display to life. Maybe they can integrate 128-bit or 256-bit security into the finger swiper similar to a fingerprint scanner so you can access the drive and see the remaining capacity in the near future, which would make this hard drive something to seriously consider. As of now, it's just a cool gimmick that sets this external HD apart from the crowd. What would you want to see integrated into the finger scanner?

 

Via Design Launches

Technorati Tags: Lenovo,Hard Drives,External Hard Drive,Touch
Originally Posted On GottaBeMobile.com - THE Source for Mobile PC News.

Cette Lampe de Bureau USB fait également haut-parleur, et elle a neuf lumières LED pour vous aider à lire les tout-petits caractères en bas des pages de vos documents juridiques le soir. Vous pouvez la brancher sur votre ordinateur via le port USB, ou la laisser débranchée et faire fonctionner les batteries internes rechargeables. Les deux hauts-parleurs sont situés à la base de l'appareil, mais ne vous attendez à casser la baraque - c'est probablement suffisant, car il y aura pas de bass et tout le toutim. Cette Lampe USB 22.50$, en version rose ou vert.

Unter dem Eindruck hoher Kraftstoffpreise und der anhaltenden Umweltdiskussion setzt die Autoindustrie voll auf Elektroantriebe. Es ist freilich nicht der erste Versuch. Doch bislang scheiterte das Vorhaben am Batterie-Problem. FAZ.NET - Homepage | Politik | Gesellschaft | Wirtschaft | Finanzmarkt | Sport | Feuilleton | Reise | Wissen | Auto | Computer

Who needs a high-paid r/t attorney when you can have your own My Pet Lawyer? The 10-inch tall dude has light-up mouth and eyes, and his arms are bendable. He comes with nine pre-recorded phrases or you can record your own. He can also laugh or growl. Stand him on his Scale of Justice briefcase that doubles as a remote with his magnetic feet. Your new pet comes with a spiked collar, crushed victim, and needs 5 AAA batteries (not included) at a mini-price of $4.95.

Tags: attorney (T), batteries (T), lawyer (T), my pet lawyer (T), r/c (T), remote control (T), toys (T)

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Never mind renting a tent with faux Palladian-style arched windows for that chic outdoor soirée - make your guests think a UFO has landed in your yard with the solar-powered Art Rainbow. Providing shade and psychedelic colors akin to multi-hued sunglasses by day, this design concept’s solar panels are charging up its batteries all the while, ready to light up the night with its flexible LED matrix display panels when the sun goes down. (We suggest the designer specify flexible OLED solar panels.)

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Quand on a plus d’idée dans le monde des gadgets, on sort un combo. Celui-ci sera donc une lampe à LED doublée d’un haut parleur le tout alimenté en USB. Mais les gadgeteurs sont pleins de ressources et ils n’allaient quand même pas se contenter de ça. Du coup, ils ont ajouté une batterie Li-Ion rechargeable. L’idée [...]

Toshiba recalls 340,000 laptop batteries - Gadgets- msnbc.comToshiba is recalling 340,000 laptop batteries worldwide made by Sony Corp., the latest in a series Japan-based subsidiary of Sony Corp. Tuesday s recall affects 100,000 laptop Source: ...

When I first got my Xbox 360 I completely and utterly poo pooed the idea of a Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit. I think, quite wrongly, I decided that my Xbox 360 controllers were going to stay powered with the supplied batteries for at least 500 years ...

Le Wind aura été une véritable saga. Elle commença par l'annonce fracassante mi-mars avec un portable très design et disposant d'une configuration aussi bonne que l'EEE 901. Le choix de batterie entre la 3 et...

MHC a ajouté le "Electronic Kits" à son bundle de batteries virtuelles, portant le nombre à 3 styles.

Le concept Pea Speaker system a l'air intéressant - chaque pod contient jusqu'à sept enceintes Bluetooth sans fil qu'on peut placer n'importe où, à condition de ne pas dépasser la portée de connexion. Il n'y a qu'une des sept qui puisse commander le volume global, et chaque sphère peut charger sa batterie lithium-ion quand il est dans le pod grâce à la magie de l'induction. Dommage que le son surround ne soit pas supporté, car le Pea Speaker System ne sépare pas les canaux. C'est un concept que j'aimerais bien voir en vrai.

This article has been published at RLSLOG.net - visit our site for full content.

Sony has been forced to undertake a massive global recall of 440,000 Vaio laptops because the computers can overheat and have caused a series of burning incidents around the world. The recall will involve Sony, which is battling to restore consumer confidence in its brands, offering free repairs to the laptops in 48 countries where the Vaio is sold. But the recall comes amid suggestions that the company knew about the problem for a year and lingered too long before ordering the recall. Reports in Japan suggest that the company knew about the problem when complaints began to surface in August 2007, but did not report it to the relevant Japanese ministry until last month. Sony told reporters in Tokyo that it had taken time to find the cause of the problems and establish what repairs were required.

Although the financial impact of the recall is expected by the company to be “greater than zero, but not a major impact”, it deals a heavy reputational blow to the iconic Japanese technology firm. The company has been struggling to recover its old dominance of consumer electronics but remains under constant attack from the likes of Samsung and Apple. Sony is still licking its wounds from a giant recall of 10 million lithium ion batteries two years ago – an incident that cost the company $430 million and temporarily derailed the efforts of Sony’s president, Sir Howard Stringer, to restore the company’s group-wide profit margins to five per cent.

Source: Times

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Cnet et Notebookreview viennent tous les deux de publier une review du Mini Inspiron 9 de Dell. Et celui-ci ne s’en sort pas si mal, puisque son poids, ses dimensions, et ses composants d’assez bonne qualité (haut-parleurs et écran entre autre) ont convaincu les testeurs. A l’inverse c’est la coque et l’écran brillant qui ont déçu, parce que c’est salissant et finalement pas très adapté à une utilisation nomade.

Pour rappel, le Mini Inspiron 9 embarque un écran LED brillant de 8,9 pouces (1024×600), une capacité de 16Go (SSD), 3 ports USB 2.0, un port Ethernet, une sortie VGA, 2 prises jack audio (1 sortie ligne, 1 entrée micro), un lecteur de cartes mémoire 4 en 1, une webcam de 1,3MPx, le Wifi b/g et le Bluetooth. Le tout tourne sous Windows XP avec un processeur Intel Atom N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz, 512K cache) accompagné de 1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM. Il fonctionne avec une batterie 4 cellules et ses dimensions sont de 232 x 16,8x 172 mm pour 1035g.

• Accéder à la review de Notebookreview (en anglais)