Monthly Archives: January 2010

192 Laser Beams Combined to Form One Megajoule Laser Shot [Lasers]

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The folks at the national Ignition Facility decided to demonstrate fusion by focusing the energy of 192 super powerful lasers onto a tiny target. They certainly proved their concept by producing a one megajoule laser shot. Yeah, that's pretty powerful.

This demonstration is being proclaimed as a "key step towards nuclear fusion" by the National Nuclear Security Administration. After all, this is apparently the first time such a level of laser energy was reached. More experiments will occur in the summer of this year, but you can start with the pewpew jokes now. [Physorg]

Laser beam pictured is not the 1 megajoule beam, instead it's a picture by Daily Galaxy


You Can’t Have It Both Ways, Mike

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Griffin's statement, Huntsville Times

"Today we have in orbit a $75 billion International Space Station, a product of the treasure and effort of 15 nations, and the president is recommending that we hold its future utility and, indeed, its very existence hostage to fortune, hostage to the hope that presently nonexistent commercial spaceflight capability can be brought into being in a timely way, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle."

Mike Griffin Reveals His Commercialization Vision for NASA: Part 1 (2005)

"So it is a real dilemma - it is a real dichotomy: how do we engage competition and position ourselves to take advantage of the successes and accept the failures which inevitable occur in that environment while, at the same time, meeting the goals and objectives that we have as managers? What I've come to, after considerable thinking (with some discussion and modifications to come) - for NASA: the best way to do that is to utilize the market that is offered by the International Space Station and its requirements to supply crew and cargo as the years unfold."

Constellation Cancellation Reaction

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NASA to get more money, but must scratch moon plan, AP

"The money in the president's budget is not enough to follow through with NASA's Constellation moon landing plan initiated by President George W. Bush. An aide to an elected official who was told of Obama's plans, but who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said Obama is effectively ending the return-to-the-moon effort, something that has already cost $9.1 billion."

Congresswoman Kosmas' Statement on the President's State of the Union Address

"The President has pledged to minimize the spaceflight gap and Space Coast families are looking for him to fulfill that promise. It will be unacceptable if his budget does not reflect a commitment to a robust human spaceflight program."

President's NASA "Plan" Is A Giant Leap Backwards and Would Be Devastating to America's Space Program and the Space Coast, Rep. Posey

"My biggest fear is that this amounts to a slow death of our nation's human space flight program; a retreat from America's decades of leadership in space, ending the economic advantages that our space program has brought to the U.S., and ceding space to the Russians, Chinese and others. I will do all that I can to stop this ill-advised plan."

XP log off hang….

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In the past, when I was done with my work on the home system I would log off and it would go back to the start page where other family members could log on. After fighting with a couple nasty virus (my son swears he didn't click anything) I think I am clean.

Now, when I select log off it will

Dell Adamo Drops Under $1000 [Dell]

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Dell's Adamo is a beautiful, slender machine with girly guts. But now it's coaxing you to ignore the sissy insides with its distracting new $999 base price tag.

If you prefer your Adamo more beefed up, there's always the more powerful Desire model, but that one will run you about $1800. Yikes, at least the basemodel, Admire, is now a reasonably cheap catch. [Dell via Engadget]


Remainders – The Things We Didn’t Post: Eurotrip Edition [Remainders]

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In today's Remainders: The Old World. We visit Michael Dell in Switzerland, showing off the Dell Mini 5. We swing by Germany, to see one baaaaad reaction to the iPad and 10,000 watts of homemade light-porn. Last stop: Russia!

It'll Be Out In a Couple Months
TechCrunch caught up with Michael Dell at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where Dell was sporting fingerless gloves (as well as the forthcoming Dell Mini 5). We've already seen the Android-powered Mini 5 and got to play with it a bit, so there's not too much to get excited about in this clip. But it does present us with some small pleasures. One of them being Dell's suggestion that the Mini 5 will be coming to the States in a matter of months. The other is how awkward things get when the interviewer asks what processor is inside the Mini 5. The video cuts off pretty abruptly at the end, so further awkwardness is left to the viewer's imagination. I'm cringing just thinking about it. [CrunchGear]

iMeme
If you thought Adam Frucci was hard on the iPad, wait until you see how Hitler responded to Apple's newest creation. As usual, the Fuhrer's expectations were exceedingly high and his disappointment proved inevitable. Okay, okay, there have been hundreds of these—the director of the original film himself, who finds them "hilarious," estimates he's seen 145 of them—but there is something about seeing one of modern history's greatest villains reacting to one of history's most anticipated gadgets in one of the internet's greatest meme's that just feels so right. [YouTube]

Sight For Sore Eyes
If you've ever wondered what a homemade array of nearly 200 florescent tubes totalling over 10,000 watts looks like, here's your answer: terribly, blindingly bright. Its German creators claim this Arduino-running monstrosity is part of a giant scrolling text installation that is going up in Berlin tomorrow, but I fear there's some more nefarious purpose for this awful creation. [Hack A Day]

Back In The U.S.S.R.
The richest man in all of Russia, Mikhail Prokhorov, has big plans. For one thing, he's trying to buy the New Jersey Nets. For another, he's developing a new high-tech city car, a venture detailed by the image you see to the left. The automobile will be built by Yarovit Motors, looks like a giant loaf of bread, involves iPhones, and will apparently be driven by the creepy robots from iRobot. Prokhorov hopes to sell the car for just $12,500, but something about the weird Tomorrowland aesthetic of that picture makes it hard for me to believe that this project will get off the ground. Or on the ground, as the case may be. [Luxist]


Alienware’s M11x Gaming "Netbook" Will Cost $800 [Laptops]

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What do you get when you mix a dedicated GPU, 50FPS Crysis gaming, A Core2Duo, an 11-inch screen, and a $800 price tag? An absurd(ly powerful) little laptop, which nobody—and apparently Alienware—is comfortable calling a netbook.

We first saw the M11x back at CES—impressions here—where we were told it'd hit the market in about a month, for under $1000 dollars. Well, a tipster sent Engadget a little bit of info scraped from the HTML of the notnetbook's official product page, which is currently holding some kind of "Guess the Price" sweepstakes:

The Alienware M11x, with over 6.5 hours of battery life and weighing under 4.5 lbs. will start at an amazing $799! Leave it to the folks at Alienware to enable truly mobile performance gaming at an affordable price.

Er, contest's still open, folks!

[Engadget]


My Experience as a Newbie at The Planet

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Ryan RobsonSmack dab in the middle of downtown Houston’s theater district sits the somewhat ambiguous – and intriguing – structure we call The Planet HQ. Just walking into the place is an awe-inspiring undertaking. It’s an old conference center that has been completely renovated with offices, conference rooms and catwalks. At this very moment, if I look to the right I see a neon blue-lit Ferris wheel spinning at the Aquarium restaurant complex across the road, and I can’t help but feel a little intimidated by the environment.

I recently joined The Planet as a Sr. Technical Support Specialist, so part of the intimidation might be the “new job” aspect. The place looks nice and the people seem great, so there has to be a catch. I’ve been around the block in the IT industry’s call centers and their ilk, and my honest expectation was to be hurled into the important, but somewhat soul-sucking, role of being a nameless cog in a corporate machine. That isn’t the case at all here.

I’m amazed by the depth of effort each of The Planet’s departments puts into interconnectivity. Yes, I answer phones, take care of customer concerns and work on servers, but what makes the real difference is the fact that everyone – and I mean everyone – has the opportunity to participate in the inner workings of The Planet as a whole.

My primary focus is helping our customers get the results they want, and at the same time, I have the opportunity to research, develop and contribute to every aspect of The Planet’s business. If I think something could be done better and have an idea on how to fix it, I won’t be dropping a card into a bottomless suggestion box … I’ll be contacting the person in charge – even up to the CEO – and presenting it myself. From what I’ve witnessed, those recommendations are taken seriously. Employees are empowered to make their jobs better and make customers happier. That’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

I’m still pretty new here, and the natural intimidation I felt when I first walked into this building hasn’t completely worn off. But as I start to feel a little more comfortable, I can’t help but be proud that I have the opportunity to work with a company that treats its employees the way The Planet does. Not only does the environment give me the enthusiasm to do what needs to be done, but I honestly believe this approach will take the company to the top. If you ask me, that’s the kind of company I want to be a part of.

This may all sound like a PR spiel, but I can’t think of any other way to be more honest about my impressions as a first-month employee entering the fray. In the coming months, I hope to elaborate more on some of the actual operations happening here and talk about some of the services we’re building and providing. There’s definitely some exciting stuff in the works, and I’m looking forward to diving in head-first and giving you all a sneak peek.

-Ryan

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Floppy Disk Paintings Redefine Renaissance Art [Art]

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British artist Nick Gentry's paintings give long-forgotten floppy disks a new lease on life. They're still storage media, just in a much more literal sense.

At some point recently, you've probably uncovered an old box of videos, cassettes, and floppies in the basement and thought to yourself, "what am I supposed to do with these?" It turns out you just weren't thinking hard enough.

Painting on canvases comprised of 3.5" floppy disks and VHS tapes, Nick Gentry puts these bygone forms of storage to use in his art.

To see more of his incredible work, check out the artist's website. [Nick Gentry]


NASA Jet Studies Haiti’s Fault Lines for Signs of Further Trouble | 80beats

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tp-nasa-radar-jetNASA is sending a radar-equipped jet to conduct flights over Haiti and the Dominican Republic to capture 3-D images that could help predict future earthquakes. An estimated 170,000 people were killed in the 7.0 earthquake that battered Haiti on January 12. Unfortunately, experts predict more quakes as the country is situated in a seismically volatile zone.

A Gulfstream III jet is now on its way to map Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two nations that share the island of Hispaniola. The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, or UAVSAR, was originally on its way to Central America to study volcanoes, forests, and Mayan ruins, but on its way south it will now also study Hispaniola’s fault lines.

The principal investigator for the Hispaniola overflights, Paul Lundgren, said the aircraft will take images of the Earth’s surface and other changes associated with the Haiti earthquake. He said NASA will then analyze the 3-D results for features that could signal “aftershocks, earthquakes that might be triggered by the main earthquake farther down the fault line, and the potential for landslides” [Wired.com]. Lundgren expects the future earthquakes to be “either along adjacent sections of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault that was responsible for the main earthquake, or on other faults in northern Hispaniola, such as the Septentrional fault”[Wired.com]. NASA has used this kind of radar-equipped jet in the past to examine California’s dangerous San Andreas fault.

UAVSAR flies at 41,000 feet and sends microwaves, from a pod located on the aircraft’s belly, down to the ground. It then records the returning signal. The differences in the times it takes waves to return from points on the ground to the plane gives information about the topography. By hitting the same target from different angles as the plane flies overhead, a 3-D image can be made. Very precise details about ground motion can be calculated by flying over the same area later, giving scientists information about strain buildup on a fault [Wired.com].

Haiti is located on a part of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone–a fault that had been building up strain over the last 240 years. Scientists were expecting an earthquake in that region, but no one could predict exactly when and where. But about 100 miles to the northeast is a long segment of a similar fault, the Septentrional, that has not had a quake in 800 years. Researchers have estimated that a rupture along that segment — and again, they have no idea when one might occur — could result in a magnitude 7.5 quake that could cause severe damage in the Dominican Republic’s second-largest city, Santiago, and the surrounding Cibao Valley, together home to several million people [The New York Times] . The data collected by the UAVSAR is expected to help scientists study the potential for future earthquakes on this particular fault. The 3-D images are due to be released to the public in a few weeks.

Related Content:
80beats: Where in the World Will the Next Big Earthquake Strike?
80beats: Satellite Images Show the Extent of Haiti’s Devastation
80beats: Haiti Earthquake May Have Released 250 Years of Seismic Stress
80beats: Science Via Twitter: Post-Earthquake Tweets Can Provide Seismic Data
80beats: A Major Quake Could Release Plutonium from Los Alamos Lab
The Intersection: Ways to Support the Relief Effort in Haiti

Image: NASA/JPL


Company-Wide Apple Town Hall Today to Chat About the iPad [Unconfirmed]

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Ars hears there's a company-wide internal meeting today at Apple to talk about the iPad, just like Apple had shortly after the launch of the iPhone. While you're possibly more interested in the serious chance everybody who's been at Apple for a while will walk out with their own iPad—like with the iPhone—the likely employee Q&A session will probably peel back in more detail how Apple's thinking about the iPad. Oh to be an Apple employee velcro'd to that wall. [Ars]


2001’s Newspad = 2010’s iPad?

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Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 Newspad finally arrives, nine years late, TAUW

"Those who read Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of the movie will remember that he described this device as the "Newspad," something that was used by people of the future (as envisioned in 1968) to watch TV and read newspapers. You can read the full description of the device after the break -- it's described as a newsreader, with two-digit codes for each article online, and a constant stream of information from the hourly updates on "electronic papers."

Microsoft Earnings Saved By Windows 7, Its "Fastest-Selling Operating System in History" [Earnings]

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Microsoft made a record revenue numbers last quarter, but only its Windows division did substantially better than last year. In fact, practically every other aspect of Microsoft's business did worse.

Don't get me wrong, revenue of $19 billion is extremely impressive. But other than the Server business—which was basically flat—all of the growth came from sales of Windows 7. And I'd be willing to bet that a large percentage of that growth came from netbooks. Bing must have been especially disappointing for Ballmer, with online advertising revenue actually decreasing 2% in the same time period when Google saw its revenue increase 17%.

To date, Windows 7 has sold 60 million copies, making it the fastest-selling operating system in the company's history. Of course, a large part of the reason for Windows 7's success is that so many businesses and individuals decided to pass on Vista. Microsoft's essentially been picking up two refresh cycle's worth of business here.

We'll listen in on the earnings call, and will let you know if there are any more interesting details or fun Ballmerisms ahead.

REDMOND, Wash. - Jan. 28, 2010 - Microsoft Corp. today announced record revenue of $19.02 billion for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009, a 14% increase from the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $8.51 billion, $6.66 billion and $0.74 per share, which represented increases of 43%, 60% and 57%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period.

These financial results include the recognition of $1.71 billion of deferred revenue, an impact of $0.14 of diluted earnings per share, relating to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program and pre-sales of Windows 7 to OEMs and retailers before general availability. Adjusting for the deferred revenue recognition, second-quarter revenue totaled $17.31 billion, and diluted earnings per share totaled $0.60 per share.

"Exceptional demand for Windows 7 led to the positive top-line growth for the company," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "Our continuing commitment to managing costs allowed us to drive earnings performance ahead of the revenue growth."

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 launched globally on October 22 as anticipated. Through the second quarter, Microsoft has sold over 60 million Windows 7 licenses making it the fastest selling operating system in history.

"This is a record quarter for Windows units," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "We are thrilled by the consumer reception to Windows 7 and by business enthusiasm to adopt Windows 7."

Business Outlook

Management will discuss second-quarter results and the company's business outlook on a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) today.

In addition, Microsoft offers operating expense guidance of $26.2 billion to $26.5 billion, for the full year ending June 30, 2010.

[Microsoft]


The Apple iPad Is For Old People [Apple Ipad]

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The guys at Ultimi Barbarorum came up with an idea—an idea we were tossing around after the event yesterday, and even talked about a little last night—and put it into words. The iPad is for old people.

Those that are dubious of the iPad's impending success (and I suspect that you are one of them, Baruch) are of course in danger or repeating history (qv iPod, iPhone). I have no intention of replicating all the arguments pro- and con the iPad, so I will limit myself to just one wholly original observation as to why I think the doubters once again are not getting it:

1. The iPhone was a success from the start, but it really became a ubiquitous device when it proved competent at a whole range of tasks beyond Apple's original marketing copy. (It was just "a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device," remember?) Now games rule on the iPhone, and as many parents will attest, the iPhone's one true calling is as breakthrough child pacification device.

A similar role awaits the iPad. No, not for children; rather, look to the burgeoning end of the demographic curve: baby boomers.

I know many baby boomers who are intimidated by computers. Plenty are not, but a great many spend far too much time wrestling with viruses and drivers, wondering what a DLL is, and generally not knowing the difference between their RAM and a hard disk - all just so they can read emails and check their bank account online. Some boomers have sired offspring who gladly help them with remote tech support sessions, but many others have not, and suffer for it. The reason for all this misery is simple: Computers are still too complex for those not prepared to give them their undivided attention. That's even the case for Macs.

Not so with the iPhone. I've seen that thing understood within minutes by 2 year-olds and 84 year-olds. It does one thing at a time. Your finger is the cursor. There is no need to tap things twice before stuff happens. You are allowed to turn it off with the power button.

But the iPhone isn't perfect for baby boomers. The screen and text are too small for aging eyes, the keyboard too cramped for confident typing, making it unusable for even basic office productivity tasks.

Enter the larger, faster iPad. It's a complex computer simplified, which makes it a perfect fit to those whose remaining life is too short to spend it defragging drives. Add the keyboard dock, and the iPad is versatile enough to be a baby boomer's only computer. The only thing it won't let them do is videoconference with their grandchildren - which is an omission I hope they fix in next year's version - but on the other hand, at $500 this much is forgiven.

My prediction: Within 2 years you will be reading articles describing how it was obvious - with hindsight - that the iPad would be a hit with aging baby boomers. But who needs hindsight when you have Ultimi Barbarorum?

Post syndicated with permission from Ultimi Barbarorum


Amazon Kindle Sales Are Officially Not Embarrassing [Amazon]

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Amazon's announced its quarterly results for Q4 2009, and they're pretty good! Lots of dollars, in this here document. But tucked somewhere between the currency symbols and financial jargon was a choice quote from Jeff Bezos, about a little secret he's been keeping:

Millions of people now own Kindles, and Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books.

Amazon doesn't provide Kindle sales figures. In fact, Amazon doesn't even provide a Kindle sales ballpark, so "millions" is the most specific information we've ever seen about how well their ebook reader, and in turn the ebook reader as a product category, is doing. The answer? Not terribly, but not necessarily very well. Baby steps!

Assuming their app runs on the iPad, which seems safe, those already impressive book sales rates could go through the roof. [Amazon via Ina Fried]