Cosmonauts on ISS take a spacewalk

I think one of the coolest things an astronaut or cosmonaut can ever do is take a spacewalk. Being out in space floating above the Earth would have to be one of the most amazing experiences any human could have. Yesterday a pair of Russian cosmonauts living on the international space station took a spacewalk to upgrade some components on the space station.

The cosmonauts who participated on the spacewalk were Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko. The pair were expected to be outside the ISS for about 6 1/2 hours to complete maintenance and repairs on the exterior of the space station. The Russian cosmonauts ventured outside the ISS after exiting the Pirs module wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits.

The spacewalk was the first for the Expedition 32 mission. Another spacewalk for the mission will be conducted by two other astronauts for NASA on August 30. Padalka and Malenchenko focused on installing new micrometeoroid debris shields over certain parts of the Russian Zvezda service module. The cosmonauts also moved a hand-operated crane called the Strela-2 from the Pirs docking module to the Zarya control module.

Once the primary mission goals for the spacewalk were completed, the cosmonauts were going to try to retrieve a pair of science experiments from the outside of space station. The experiments included panels that were being used to determine how different materials reacted in the vacuum of space. If the cosmonauts were able to find themselves with even more time, they were planning to launch a small spherical satellite from the ISS.

[via Space.com]


Cosmonauts on ISS take a spacewalk is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


LG Optimus Vu to make global arrival

When it comes to modern day smartphones, there is this particular trend which works like an elastic. Remember more than a decade ago, you had the state of the art handsets from Nokia that seemed to get smaller and smaller? The Nokia 8250, Nokia 8810 and Nokia 8850 were all miniature wonders, sporting a pocket friendly form factor that packed quite a punch in terms of performance as well. After that, with the advent of color displays and a decade later, touchscreen displays, we get phones with a form factor that starts to increase, getting larger and larger again.

It is like a bad dream that Alice could not wake up from, where she ate the cake and drank a potion to shrink and grow as she needed to, depending on the situation which she is in at the moment. Well, I guess you can say the same applies to the world of modern day smartphones, with the overall screen size getting larger on average, crossing the lines between the tablet market as well, leading some to call such devices a “phablet”. The LG Optimus Vu which managed to debut successfully in South Korea and Japan has now been announced to debut globally in select markets in Europe, Asia, Middle East/Africa and Latin America from September onwards.

Just what kind of hardware can we look forward to with the LG Optimus Vu? Well, this is touted to come with the world’s first 5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio display at a rather impressive 768 x 1024 resolution, delivering a truly unique smart device experience in a phablet form factor. Having sold more than half a million units in South Korea since it debuted earlier this March, the LG Optimus Vu has also experienced a positive Japanese reception.

The global version of the LG Optimus Vu will run on the NVIDIA Tegra 3 mobile processor, sporting a speedy 4-PLUS-1 Quad-Core with the fifth battery-saver core, where it is touted to deliver a superb balance of performance and power requirements. The quartet of cores will see action for high performance tasks including games and multitasking, while when it comes to less taxing tasks such as voice calls, handling email, music and video playback, only the fifth core will be used. Other than that, it comes with a 8-megapixel camera at the back and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, augmented by 32GB of internal memory. Any takers for the LG Optimus Vu?

Press Release

[ LG Optimus Vu to make global arrival copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]


Cowon X9 Media Player: Easily Upgradable PMP

I’ve actually stopped using my 160GB iPod Classic, ever since I got my iPhone 4S, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no room for dedicated music players – if done right. While a lot of people use their smartphones to play their favorite tunes, others still prefer standalone media players.

cowon pmp x9 media player music

Korea’s Cowon just released their X9 media player and it sports a large 4.3-inch touchscreen display. You can choose between 8 GB, 16 GB or 32 GB of internal memory, but you can augment this with a microSD card. The player includes a variety of sound processing modes including simulated 3D surround, virtual listening environments, and BBE enhancement among others.

cowon pmp x9 media player music hand

The X9 is supposed to be able to deliver 110 hours of audio playback, or 13 hours of video playback on a single charge, and it takes 4.5 hours to juice this thing up. The X9 starts at $229.99(USD) for the basic model and goes up for more storage.

cowon pmp x9 media player music book

[via Ubergizmo]


Diamond Multimedia outs AMP1000 Android set-top box: Gingerbread-based, 1080p, sells for $120 (update: ICS coming this week)

Diamond Multimedia outs AMP1000 Android set-top box: Gingerbread-based, 1080p, sells for $120

Diamond Multimedia’s more commonly known around the web for selling Mac and PC capture cards (among other things), but as of today, the company’s officially entering the set-top box game with its AMP1000. The media player itself is running a not-so-new flavor of Android — Gingerbread, to be exact — which will be used to bring a slew of familiar entertainment tidbits to the bigger screen, such as a media player capable of 1080p playback, an evolved internet browser and an oversized photo viewer, as well as other content like games, ebooks and magazines — all of which can be downloaded from Google’s Play repertoire. Although Diamond Multimedia’s formally pricing the AMP1000 at $120, there’s a Facebook-only offer that knocks the price down to a mere $100. Now, will it be enough to compete with, say, Vizio’s $99 Google TV box? We’ll let you be the judge of that.

Update: Well, in case you weren’t fond of the AMP1000’s Gingerbread innards, Diamond Multimedia’s got something in the works to solve that problem. A company rep has contacted us to let us know Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming to early adopters “later this week,” as well as noting that all future units will come with the creamy OS already onboard.

Continue reading Diamond Multimedia outs AMP1000 Android set-top box: Gingerbread-based, 1080p, sells for $120 (update: ICS coming this week)

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Diamond Multimedia outs AMP1000 Android set-top box: Gingerbread-based, 1080p, sells for $120 (update: ICS coming this week) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jawbone takes a cue from Colorware, will let customers order the Jambox speaker in custom colors

Jawbone takes a cue from Colorware, will let customers order the Jambox speaker in custom colors

Want a blue-and-black Bluetooth speaker to match your Engadget t-shirt, messenger bag and whatever other paraphernalia you have lying around? You’re in luck: Jawbone is about to start accepting orders for the Jambox speaker in custom colors. All told, you’ll be able to choose from 13 shades for the grill, and nine for the end caps. Jawbone says it can see customers choosing school and team colors, not that you need an excuse to want an orange piece of kit. The personalization is free of charge, meaning the price of the speaker is still $200. The only downside, so far as we can tell, is that the Big Jambox isn’t included. For now, the site is only open to select users (i.e., loyal customers who have participated in company forums, surveys and such), but starting August 28th it’ll be open to everybody. In the meantime, which of you has the cojones to order it in purple and yellow?

Jawbone takes a cue from Colorware, will let customers order the Jambox speaker in custom colors originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon announces PowerShot SX500 IS, SX160 IS superzoom cameras ahead of Photokina

Canon announces PowerShot SX500 IS, SX160 IS superzoom cameras ahead of Photokina

Digital imaging buffs are certain to experience a whirlwind autumn, but there’s nothing on the books saying that manufacturers need wait for the biennial Photokina expo to roll out new models. Just in time for the back-to-school season, Canon is announcing two new superzoom cams — the SX160 IS will serve as the successor to the SX150, while the SX500 IS is an entirely new camera, set to sit alongside the company’s SX40 HS and SX260 HS point-and-shoots. Both new models include identical 16-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CCD sensors, intelligent image stabilization, a relatively modest ISO range of 100-800 and the ability to capture 720p video at 25 frames-per-second.

As you may have guessed the SX500 IS is the higher-end flavor, offering a 30x, 24-720mm lens with a maximum aperture range of f/3.4-5.8. That model boasts autofocus improvements of 32 percent and decreased shutter lag of 33 percent over the SX40 HS, Canon’s former top model in this category. The SX160 IS, for its part, packs a 16x, 28-448mm f/3.5-5.9 lens and offers 22 percent faster autofocus and 46 percent less shutter lag than the SX150 it replaces. It’s also powered by AA batteries, which some users may find to be an advantage, considering wide availability during trips abroad. Both cameras include 3-inch LCDs — 461k-dot for the SX500 and 230k-dot with the SX160 — and are set to ship in September, with the black SX500 IS priced at $330 and the SX160 IS available for $230, in both red and black.

Continue reading Canon announces PowerShot SX500 IS, SX160 IS superzoom cameras ahead of Photokina

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Canon announces PowerShot SX500 IS, SX160 IS superzoom cameras ahead of Photokina originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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B&N Reports Nook Revenues Are Flat On The Year, Expects To Close $300M Partnership With Microsoft This Fall

nook-simple-touch-glow

Barnes & Noble just released its 2013 first quarter financial results. The company’s Nook business continues to hold strong, accounting for 13% of its revenues last quarter. That’s at the same level from last year.

Despite what the company’s CEO says below, the Nook business was essentially stagnant last quarter. B&N stated in the financial release that Nook device sales declined over the last quarter, noting lower average selling prices and production scaling issues for the Glowlight model as the chief causes. Nook revenues are flat on the year, with the company reporting $192M versus last year’s Q1 $191M. That said, digital content sales — digital books, digital newsstand and apps — increased 46% during the last quarter.

“During the first quarter, we continued to see improvement in both our rapidly growing NOOK business, which saw digital content sales increase 46% during the quarter, and at our bookstores, which continue to benefit from market consolidation and strong sales of the Fifty Shades series,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble.

B&N also notes that the company’s strategic partnership with Microsoft should be up and running this fall. The company expects to close the $300M transaction in the coming months, giving Microsoft a 17.6% stake in the NewCo. Under this new deal announced last April, B&N will combine its College and Nook segments with the two companies setting patent litigation in relation to the Android-powered Nook tablets. The B&N Nook digital bookstore will also be bundled with Windows 8.


Doctor Who USB Dalek Desk Defender

Are you a huge fan of Dr. Who? If so, you would definitely have wished upon a star once in your lifetime for a real life Dalek as your personal assistant. After all, there is nothing cuter or more nerdy than a Dalek scurrying around, following you about while yelling, “Exterminate! Exterminate!”. Definitely the ideal desk companion to have whenever you are sick and tired of issuing a verbal command to shoo away unwanted visitors to your work space, outsourcing the dirty task to the $39.99 Doctor Who USB Dalek Desk Defender.

It is nice to know that the Doctor Who USB Dalek Desk Defender will be accompanied by an extremely lengthy USB cable, ensuring that it does not matter just where the final available USB port is located on your machine – the Dalek on your desk is more than capable of handling whatever comes its way. The integrated motion sensor on this puppy is capable of detecting movement between 6 to 9 feet away, depending on the kind of lighting that you have in the vicinity. Turn it on before you leave for lunch, and it will serve you well.

[ Doctor Who USB Dalek Desk Defender copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]


Walmart selling $100 iTunes gift cards for $80

If you or someone you know spends a lot of time buying music, apps, movies, and other digital content via iTunes, Walmart has a serious deal for you. The retail giant is offering 20% off on digitally delivered iTunes gift cards. Specifically, you can purchase a $100 iTunes gift card for $80.

Anyone who purchases a lot of digital goods can see the value in a $20 discount off the gift card. When purchased, the electronic card is sent to the users via e-mail. The e-mail with the card can be sent to the buyer or as a gift to a secondary user. Each of the digital cards has a unique iTunes Store code allowing them to be redeemed for music, movies, TV shows, apps, and other content.

That content can be sent to your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or used on your computer via iTunes software. This still might sound a little too good to be true for some users since it’s basically giving you $20 free. PCMag reports that customers will likely receive their pin access e-mail for the digital gift card within a few minutes, but Walmart notes it can take up to 48 hours.

One person who took advantage of the Walmart gift card deal claims that he was still waiting for the e-mail 22 hours after purchase. The s buyer said that he typically gets other Walmart based iTunes card codes in under 30 minutes. Some users are reporting the code was received within 15 to 30 minutes, while others are claiming to be waiting after the 48-hour window Walmart cites.

[via PCMag]


Walmart selling $100 iTunes gift cards for $80 is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Acer launches Liquid Gallant, Liquid Gallant Duo in preparation for IFA

Acer

Acer’s itchy trigger-finger has caused it to launch two new Ice Cream Sandwich-powered smartphones before IFA kicks off next week. The Liquid Gallant comes in single (Solo) and dual-sim (Duo) variants, packing a 1GHz MT6575, 1GB RAM, a 4.3-inch qHD capacitive display, 5-megapixel camera and a 1,500mAh battery. It’ll include 4GB on-board storage, which can be bolstered with microSD up to 32GB, there’s 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR. The budget-nature of the specs gives us hope that it’ll be moderately priced when the Duo arrives in September, rapidly followed by its single-sim kid brother — with both available in “Gentle Black” and “Ceramic White.”

Continue reading Acer launches Liquid Gallant, Liquid Gallant Duo in preparation for IFA

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Acer launches Liquid Gallant, Liquid Gallant Duo in preparation for IFA originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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