Amazon’s Kindle Fire has declared an all out price war with the iPad. But if you don’t need all those fancy color-screen bells and whistles, you can opt for the even cheaper e-ink Kindle. And if even that’s overkill, Conan O’ Brien has discovered Amazon is selling, or renting, an even cheaper solution. More »
No human has set foot on the moon for decades now. That might change in the coming year so as the Obama administration has recently talked about details on possibly returning US astronauts to the moon. The most intriguing aspect of the Obama administration’s plan is a prospect of a lunar outpost where explorers could live for months at a time.
This week NASA official Lori Garver gave a speech where she talked about the importance of exploring the moon. Garver also mentioned during her speech that NASA has an unspecified mission back to the moon scheduled tentatively as early as 2017. Garver stated, “We are going back to the moon.”
NASA has recently sent a report to Congress on “sustainable human exploration” of the moon and beyond. Some believe that an outpost of the moon could be used as a jumping off point for exploration even deeper into our solar system. Part of the report outlines what NASA calls a “nearly self-sustaining surface habitat.” This habitat would be capable of extracting oxygen, water, silicon, and other materials on the moon.
Being self-sufficient is key to exploring the solar system and spending an extended amount of time on the moon. The cost of getting basic supplies for survival into space is enormous. Garver also mentioned that President Obama wants to invest nearly $1.4 billion to upgrade and modernize the Kennedy Space Center. The last manned mission to the moon took place in December of 1972.
[via Wall Street Journal]
NASA talks about goals for future manned lunar outpost is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If you want to get an iPhone 5 on a conventional data plan, you can preorder tomorrow and have it in your greedy little mittens on September 21st. If prepaid is more your style? That can be arranged—but you’ll have to wait for it. More »
Just yesterday Acer was getting ready to unleash its CloudMobile smartphone on the Chinese public sporting an equally local (and equally not Android) Aliyun operating system. According to Reuters, however, when journalists turned up for the launch event today, an Alibaba (who make Aliyun) spokesperson told them the launch had been cancelled, before later releasing a statement saying Acer had received pressure from Google to pull the launch. The competing OS manufacturer claims that the Acer was told product collaborations and Android authorization would cease if the product was released. So far Google has declined to comment, but if true, represents some significant strong arming, in what is clearly a significant market. We have reached out to Google for comment ourselves. More as we know it.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Alibaba claims Google leaned on Acer to cancel launch of CloudMobile with Aliyun in China originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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“We must remember always that accusation is not proof.” So begins a report sponsored and published by Huawei, heavily quoting a 1954 US Senate report that condemned McCarthy and his anti-Communist hysteria. The document is a prelude to Huawei’s forthcoming public testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee, and its message is clear: the Chinese manufacturer is tired of how it’s being treated in America, where numerous telecoms contracts have been blocked over “national security concerns.” Huawei wants to be seen as an “opportunity” rather than a “threat,” claiming it has scope to expand its 140,000 workforce and would love to create more jobs in America — if only the US government would remove its “roadblock.”
Many other arguments are put forward, but some of the most interesting paragraphs deal with the background of Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei. The document claims that Zhengfei has been “tragically misunderstood” and that his alleged roles in the People’s Liberation Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are “unsubstantiated.” The report doesn’t deny those memberships ever existed, but instead downplays their significance — for example by insisting that the CCP is now focused on promoting “private entrepreneurs” and “democratization.” We admittedly stopped reading at that point, but if you’d like to continue then the full 78-page PDF, written by Dan Steinbock of the India, China and America Institute, is linked below.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Mobile
Huawei complains about US spying allegations, implies McCarthy-style victimization originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cricket has announced pre-pay availability for the iPhone 5, the first carrier to wade into the off-contract model for Apple’s freshly-revealed iOS 6 smartphone. Set to hit Cricket’s shelves on Friday, September 28, pricing for the handset is yet to be confirmed, though it will undoubtedly be higher than the subsidized $199 the iPhone 5 will go for on AT&T and Verizon.
Still, Cricket offered the iPhone 4S at $499 when that was Apple’s flagship, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see the same figure reappear for the 16GB iPhone 5 in a couple of weeks time. What remains to be seen is whether, like with the iPhone 4S, Cricket only offers the iPhone 5 in a subset of its covered cities.
Voice, messaging, and data pricing hasn’t been announced, though again Cricket offered a $55 per-month package which includes unlimited talktime and 2.5GB of 3G data. The upside is that, with no agreement required, you can cancel service at any time without any financial penalty.
Cricket will announce pricing closer to the point of launch, as will the other US carriers. More on the iPhone 5 in our full hands-on.
Cricket adds iPhone 5 to pre-paid lineup is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
A few days ago we said it did not make sense to expect an iPhone 5 with a global LTE chip. After all with carriers around the world that support LTE sporting different radio bands and frequencies, it would not be possible to accomplish that with a single model – at least for the time being. That being said, it looks like Apple will be releasing three different versions of the iPhone 5 that will play nice with different LTE networks around the world. There will be a model specific for AT&T and Canadian carriers Bell and Rogers, a CDMA model for Sprint, Verizon and KDDI Japan, and a GSM LTE model for European markets, Asia and Softbank Japan. The list of support carriers can be found at Apple Insider’s website, so if you were planning on getting your hands on the iPhone 5 and were wondering if it would support the LTE network by your carrier, head on over to the source link below for the details!
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple’s iPhone in 2012 to feature 4G LTE connectivity?, Sprint event in October to be about LTE?,
Streaming is fast becoming the way most of us consume media, whether it’s music, TV of film. But caught up by the sheer convenience of it all, it’s easy to forget to question its environmental impacts. Could streaming actually be bad for the planet? More »
When Sony revealed the Xperia T, they called it the James Bond phone because it is also the phone that James Bond will be using in the upcoming Skyfall movie. The good news is that if you’ve always wanted a James Bond phone, it seems that Sony has revealed a special edition Xperia T Skyfall edition, which as the name implies, is basically the Xperia T with some Skyfall goodies preloaded. The hardware will remain the same, so don’t expect the same sort of spy gadgets that James Bond will have on his version of the phone! It will come preloaded with a 007 ringtone, themes, screensavers, images and will come in an exclusive James Bond packaging. Unfortunately this Skyfall edition of the Xperia T will only be offered by O2 in the UK, which means that everyone else will be out of luck. Either that or they can scour eBay in hopes that someone will put it up for sale.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony Xperia T arrives at the FCC, gets ripped apart, Sony Xperia T AT&T press pic spotted,
Earlier we reported that Nintendo would be offering two different types of the Wii U for Japan, a premium bundle and a normal one. The premium one would come with Nintendo Network Premium which has since been revealed to be some sort of rewards program. Premium users who purchase games or DLCs will have 10% of their purchase go towards a redemption code which can be exchanged for DLCs in the future. Basically if you’re planning to purchase Wii U games anyway, those points can be accumulated and used to redeem a free DLC in the future. Oddly enough this Nintendo Network Premium service will be offered until the 14th of December. We’re not sure if that means the service will be over on the 14th of December, or if Nintendo means that regular users will then get to enjoy the service as well. Hopefully more details of this rewards program will be revealed later, so stay tuned for the updates.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 expected to land on Wii U on Nov 13, Diablo 3 patch 1.0.5 preview,
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