Hasta La Gadget!

Today, NASA launched the eighth Landsat satellite into space, continuing the tradition of tracking various environmental changes and resource usage around Earth. The Landsat program has been around since 1972, and has been providing quality data of our planet for over four decades now. The satellite officially launched at 1:02 pm ET from from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Landsat 8 rode on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket hurdling at 1,700 mph into space. In fact, the rocket burned so much fuel in a short amount of time, that less than five minutes after lift-off, the rocket weighed 25% of its original lift-off weight. One the satellite gets settled in space, it’ll cruise along at around 428 miles in a polar orbit.

The Landsat program is a joint venture between NASA and the US Geological Survey. NASA essentially provides the rockets and the technology to get the satellite up and running, while the US Geological Survey takes all of the images that are collected and turns them into information and data that everyone can interpret.

Over the next three months, NASA will be operating the satellite to make sure it functions as necessary. Then, after all operations appear steady, NASA will hand over the satellite to the US Geological Survey, where’ they’ll take over control of the spacecraft in order to collect information about the planet.

[via Space.com]

NASA launches Landsat 8 into orbit is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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The next-generation console race started a few months ago with the Nintendo Wii U, and now it’s up to Microsoft or Sony to unveil their next-generation consoles. We heard a report a few weeks back concerning all of the details of the PlayStation 4, but today, we’re hearing some new reports concerning the next Xbox.

The report is coming from Kotaku, who has received “white papers” from the same source who leaked PlayStation 4′s info a few weeks back. The report highlights a number of features of the next Xbox, one of which is the new Kinect, which apparently will be shipped along with the console. The next Xbox will rely heavily on the Kinect as it “must be plugged in and calibrated for the console to even function.” (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony PS4 Will Focus On New Playing Options, Not Hardware Specs [Rumor], Report: Xbox 720 To Feature Siri-Like Voice Control,

Kanex may be more famous as a cable maker, but it still has priors when it comes to knocking out the odd device. meDrive is a small white box that’s designed to turn any old USB HDD into a network attached storage (NAS) drive. We’re no friend to buzzwords like “private cloud,” but as the unit promises to swell the capacity of our microSD-slot lacking iOS devices, we couldn’t resist giving it a go. Does this $99 box do all that it promises to do? Find out, after the break.

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Apple has just issued iOS 6.1.1, a bug-fixing update aimed at the iPhone 4S specifically to address issues around cellular issues on 3G connections for some European carriers, per the release notes. The update had been in beta for only five days, which is a much shorter cycle than Apple usually goes through for new iOS updates. The new release is a different one from that already in testing, according to Apple, which addressed Maps fixes for users in Japan.

Vodafone UK and 3 Austria had warned customers not to update their iPhone 4S to iOS 6.1 via text messages sent out to subscribers, advising that it prompted 3G connection issues including an inability to make or receive calls or texts. iOS 6.1 also caused issues for AOL corporate employees, creating errors around meeting management.

Those errors, as well as ones that users are reporting around battery drain and device overheating, aren’t specifically mentioned in the release notes for this update. Those problems also extend beyond the iPhone 4S, so it’s likely they’ll get zapped in another, less urgent bug-fixing update aimed at all the hardware to be released later.

Geeks love a good cup of coffee. The caffeine buzz drives the geek. So what better way to have a cup of java then be able to create your very own coffee cup.  Introducing the new coffee cup from ThinkGeek called Build-on Brick Mug.

It’s black in color and doesn’t come with bricks, but is compatible with Lego, PixelBlocks, MegaBlocks, KRE-O, and K’NEX Bricks and has all sorts of holes, so you can attach your favorite blocks.  This opens up the cup to whatever geeky vision you might have while drinking your next cup of coffee. Just image creating the next masterpiece of Lego blocks while sitting at your desk or stuck in a mundane meeting.

The coffee cup is priced at $19.99. Its capacity is 12 ounces, which should be enough java for most people. The cup is unfortunately not dishwasher friendly, so you will have to wash your own cup by hand. This coffee cup is made of BPA-plastic free material and can handle the heat of coffee, but it is not recommended to put it in the microwave as it will be melted.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Reportedly Developing iOS Smartwatch Featuring Curved Glass, Pedestal Stand Helps You Use Your iPad On The Porcelain Throne,