Tiny, robotic space shuttle to be launched into orbit in April

A long-delayed project initiated by NASA and carried out by Boeing may finally get to see the light of cold, beautiful day according to reports from the US Air Force. The X-37, a small, robotic space plane is set to make its first unmanned trip into orbit in April. Conceived by NASA as an unmanned re-entry lifeboat for crew of the International Space Station, the X-37 reportedly has a cargo bay of just 7 x 4 feet, and it has apparently been shipped to Florida for its maiden voyage, where it will be mounted to an Atlas V rocket for its launch into space. There aren’t any other details — the people running the project are keeping everything pretty quiet, but the shuttle itself is reported to have said that it’s putting itself “to the fullest possible use,” adding that that “is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.”

Tiny, robotic space shuttle to be launched into orbit in April originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix App Streams Gorgeously on Windows Phone 7 [NetFlix]

Here’s the first demo of Netflix running on Windows Phone 7. Keep in mind, it’s technically a prototype, but equipped with show subscriptions and 3G streaming, Netflix is super hot on the platform. We want this. Now:


Read more on Windows Phone 7 Apps in our mega guide. [MIX]

Samsung slate PC coming later this year

The Q1 UMPC failed, but Samsung is giving a slate-like PC another try. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20000449-260.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Circuit Breaker/a/p

Rumor: Details on the next Nintendo DS

Take this story with a grain of salt, but rumors are beginning to swirl around Nintendo and the possible successor to the DS portable gaming system. According to a post on CrunchGear, a writer for RPAD.tv has revealed some top-secret details about the yet-to-be announced handheld.

Cowon V5 review

Cowon‘s V5 has been out and about in South Korea for just over two months now, but thankfully for the Yanks who are downright flustered with the existing PMP options here in the States, the company has decided to bring this beaut stateside. Boasting a 4.8-inch resistive touchscreen (800 x 480 resolution), a Windows CE 6.0 underlying OS, HDMI / USB sockets (via adapters from a proprietary socket), a voice recorder, integrated speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, 8/16/32GB of internal storage, an SDHC expansion slot, a battery good for 45 hours of music playback (or 10 hours with video) and a format support list that would drive you batty to read, there’s a lot (lot!) to love about this thing on paper. We were fortunate enough to get our hands on one of the first units to ship to America, so hop on past the break for our two pennies.

Continue reading Cowon V5 review

Cowon V5 review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hack a DS to control your Canon dSLR

A remote control makes it easier to take HDR photos easier. The folks at HDR Labs have created one that uses the Nintendo DS.

Microsoft tells its Windows Phone 7 Series developer story, tools available today

At its dev-focused MIX10 event kicking off today, Microsoft’s closing the loop on some of the Windows Phone 7 Series third-party development details it started sharing in the days leading up to GDC last week — and as you might expect, Silverlight and XNA are the stars of the show. XNA will naturally be the core, critical element of Redmond’s gaming story while Silverlight is serving as a catch-all for the “rich internet applications” that make up much of your other mobile activities for those rare moments when you’re not… you know, blowing up aliens or navigating a race course littered with your opponents’ destroyed vehicles. To that end, Microsoft is kicking things off on the right foot by offering a free package of developer tools to would-be WP7S coders that includes both Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone and the Silverlight-focused Expression Blend for Windows Phone, pretty much everything you need to start building apps in preparation for the platform’s anticipated launch toward the latter part of the year. The beta dev tools are available today.

Developers are going to be treated to a host of must-have services out of the gate, including accelerometer support, location-based APIs using Microsoft’s own Location Service, a newly-announced Microsoft Notification Service for pushing notifications regardless of whether an app is running (sound familiar?), hardware-accelerated video with integrated DRM and support for Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming tech, multitouch, and camera / microphone access.

On a related note, Microsoft has shared some important details on the revised Windows Phone Marketplace (notice the subtle name change) for WP7S-based devices today. The revenue split remains unchanged — 70 percent goes to the publisher, 30 percent to Microsoft — but the developer portal for managing submissions has been “streamlined” and some of the incremental costs associated with it have been killed off; what’s more, students enrolled in the DreamSpark submission will have their registration fees waived altogether. The Marketplace has evolved from an app store to a content “destination,” housing apps, casual and premium Xbox Live games, music, and customized carrier stuff in one spot. We’ll be wandering MIX10 throughout the day, so stay tuned as we get more of the story.

Microsoft tells its Windows Phone 7 Series developer story, tools available today originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nanoscale computer chips set to invade your cells

Nanoscale computer chips set to invade your cells

If you’ve followed the progression of CPU tech you’ve surely learned that improving nanoscale chip fabrication of processors is the key to success these days. Smaller transistors means more speed in any given chip — or smaller chips of the same speed, an idea that has some researchers pondering what would happen if you were to inject a CPU into your cells. The team, centered at the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona, was able to insert 3µm chips into living cells. Of those receiving this augmentation 90 percent survived, meaning if you were to get this treatment today you’d only be 10 percent dead. Right now the chips do nothing, but future applications include the potential for embedding sensors inside you, down where you store your deepest, darkest secrets.

Nanoscale computer chips set to invade your cells originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Revived PC market to enjoy double-digit growth

Following a recovery in the second half of 2009, PC shipments are expected to see huge gains this year and on into 2014, says new IDC report. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10468274-92.html” class=”origPostedBlog”News – Business Tech/a/p

Crapgadget: ‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ edition

To be quite frank, CES this year was so tame that we kinda thought our beloved Crapgadget series would have to go on hiatus. We needn’t have worried. This latest batch of technological breakthroughs includes the regular team starters we know and love — a mangled animal-emulating USB hub and a heart-shaped Bluetooth dongle — but also some new recruits from way out of left field. We’ve got those crazy awesome finger lights above and a starfish-shaped quad-band cellphone that apparently manages to fit in a camera and space for dual SIMs, but the true winner has to be the camera-shaped spy camera. Working off the classic spy trick of double- and triple-bluffing, this pinhole camera is embedded inside what looks like a poor (really poor) man’s point and shoot compact camera, which we suppose is the last place anyone would look for a spy cam. Hey, maybe there’s something to this idea after all. Anyhow, get clicking then come back here and vote, won’t ya?

Read – Party rats finger lights
Read – Heart-shaped USB Bluetooth dongle
Read – Doggie 4-port USB hub
Read – Starfish GSM cellphone
Read – Camera-shaped spy camera

View Poll

Crapgadget: ‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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