Hasta La Gadget!

SpaceX and NASA’s second Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station successfully blasted off on its way into space, but encountered unexplained issues roughly twelve minutes into launch. Taking off at 10:10AM EST today to take new equipment and supplies to the orbiting astronauts, the Dragon capsule, climbing at 1km per second atop a cluster of nine rockets, is carrying around 1,268 pounds of cargo and had been expected to dock with the ISS on Saturday, March 2. Update: More on the launch issues after the cut.

There, Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA had been expecting to snatch it from the sky with the station’s robotic arm. The exact issues around the problem are unclear at this point.

After 3:14, the first stage rockets detached – you can see the assembly dropping away in the left half of the image below – leaving the second stage rockets to push the capsule further out of the atmosphere. At 9:30 after launch, Dragon had reached orbit, with the capsule detaching from the second stage around 45s later.

However, a few minutes after that point, the launch veered from the original plan. The video stream switched from Dragon back to the second stage, and then SpaceX cut the webcast, with a spokesperson saying that an unexpected problem had affected the capsule and that the team would be working on figuring out what was happening.

As well as food and other essentials for the ISS crew, the Dragon capsule is packed with scientific experiments, including both biological and physics tests. On the biology side, there’ll be experiments to see how plant cells react in low-oxygen environments, as well as in microgravity, which NASA says will be instrumental in developing potential food sources for longer trips, such as to Mars.

On the physics side, there’ll be tests to see how molten metals solidify in microgravity, which could potentially open the door to new types of materials. Procter & Gamble is also funding some research, into how microscopic particles clump and gather in liquids and gels.

SpaceX and NASA will hold a press conference in several hours time to discuss the issues Dragon is facing.

Update: We’re hearing that the problem is that the solar panels on the Dragon capsule did not unfurl as expected, though we’re yet to see official confirmation on that from either NASA or SpaceX.

Update 2: SpaceX’s Elon Musk has tweeted that there is an “Issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.”

Update 3: SpaceX has given us the following statement:

“One thruster pod is running. Two are preferred to take the next step which is to deploy the solar arrays.  We are working to bring up the other two in order to plan the next series of burns to get to station.”

Update 4: Elon Musk has tweeted that “Thruster pod 3 tank pressure trending positive” and that SpaceX is “preparing to deploy solar arrays.”

Update 5: “Solar array deployment successful” Elon Musk has tweeted.

Update 6: SpaceX gave us the following follow-up statement on its progress:

“Falcon 9 lifted off as planned and experienced a nominal flight. After Dragon achieved orbit, the spacecraft experienced an issue with a propellant valve. One thruster pod is running. We are trying to bring up the remaining three. We did go ahead and get the solar arrays deployed. Once we get at least 2 pods running, we will begin a series of burns to get to station.”

SpaceX 2 Dragon struck by problems after reaching orbit [Updated] is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Blocky, pixelated locks can really ruin a day of tomb-robbing, right? To put the feather back in those bangs, AMD’s just announced TressFX, software that’ll be seen in the 2013 release of Tomb Raider due on March 5th. The rendering tech offloads computation-heavy hair simulation to the graphics processor using Microsoft’s DirectCompute language, and was developed by AMD in partnership with Raider developer Crystal Dynamics — though it’ll work with any graphics card that supports DirectX 11, including those from arch-foe NVIDIA. The result is a coiffure that can move realistically in response to motion and external forces, detect collisions between strands, accurately reflect light and even allow for matting from moisture or rain. Lara may have preferred that AMD omit the latter, but anything’s better than the helmet-head look, no?

Filed under: Gaming, AMD

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Source: AMD

Have you heard about RuMe? Great concept. It is a Denver based company that created a line of reusable (hence ReUseMe…RuMe) bags, travel accessory bags, even a cuff with a pocket. Yet theirs don’t look like your typical ‘go green’ type bags. These have a sense of style. Recycled aluminum iPhone cases crept into the product offering too. In the interest of safety – both for property and people – RuMe has another product category that could come in handy for our luggage, pets or anything you don’t want to lose.

Using QR code technology, RuMe produced a line of pet tags, key tags, luggage tags and decals they call the RuMeID. After purchasing a unit you hop on their secure website to register your information. Then place the tag or decal wherever you choose. Should some kind soul find your coded item they simply scan the code and get necessary contact information – but never all your information – and can reach out to you. Obviously it is a cinch to hop online and change your information as needed, even per trip. Fido may get lost, but anyone with a QR scanning app can help him find his way home. And if your child has lost a Nintendo DS you can probably relate to the importance of the decals (and fellow sympathetic parents that know its importance in a child’s life). RuMeID pet tags, key tags and decals start at $9.95 with luggage tags starting at $14.95 on their website. And there are a variety of shapes, colors and patterns to suit anyone. What a unique gift idea! Or maybe you need it to just keep track of your own life.
[ Help Lost Stuff Find Its Way Home copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Apple’s greatest innovation in recent version of iOS was clearly enabling emoji keyboard support for all iPhone and iPad users, regardless of region. Emojis are fun for everyone, but they could potentially get better thanks to a new Kickstarter project. The TeleSound is an iPhone and Android device accessory that lets users send sound messages, by translating the emojis built into iOS into a corresponding sound and playing it back via a special speaker peripheral.

The TeleSound uses a dedicated app that lets you message your friends, using the emojis provided in iOS. You can line up a series of icons to play back a number of noises in rapid succession, which is likely exactly as irritating as it sounds. The sounds playback via a small speaker that looks like one end of an old-school rotary phone handset, which connects to the iPhone via Bluetooth 4.0 (so it’ll only work with later model devices, like the iPhone 4S and up).

The speaker automatically plays back received messages when on and within pairing range (around 30 ft) of your device, and you can simply flip it over to turn it off thanks to an included tilt sensor. Messages received while the speaker isn’t in range or is inactive will be stored for later playback, so you won’t miss a single duck noise or sparkly tinkling sound. Replaying the last received message is as simple as quickly flipping the speaker over and right-side up again in a single gesture.

Project creators Olivier Mével and Marc Chareyron are the founding team behind a Paris-based hardware startup that previously created reaDIYmates, which are roll-your own kits for building Wi-Fi objects that can provide different responses based on input from web-based applications and sources, as well as smartphones. The duo is interested in helping build the next generation of connected devices to fuel the advent of the so-called “Internet of things.”

The team sought only $25,000 for their first project, and are now looking for four times that amount — $100,000 — to fund the creation of the TeleSound. Pre-orders start at the $34 level, which is cheap, but then again this is just a peripheral that makes it possible for your friends and colleagues to yell at you by sending emoticons over the Internet. Still, it has a certain charm, especially when I think about the potential for freaking out my cat from across the world.

Last month, a giant meteor exploded over Russia. Ground zero was the Ural city of Chelyabinsk, where 1500 people were injured and thousands of buildings were damaged. About half the city’s million people saw the meteor, but most of them didn’t know it was a meteor at all. More »