Ground-based telescopes have long struggled to achieve the image clarity and resolution of their orbiting cousins due in large part to atmospheric distortions. That’s why we build observatories on mountain tops: to minimize the amount of atmosphere between the telescope and incoming starlight. But with the help of a cutting-edge adaptive optic system, astronomers are getting an unprecedented and undistorted look at deep space sans the perilous rocket launches.
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Blue is to Windows as Gemini is to Office. Any questions? Well, that’s unfortunate — we don’t have a ton of answers. What we do know, courtesy of some top-notch ZDNet reporting, is that Microsoft’s next Office release is codenamed “Gemini,” and that it could be making its way to your desktop by the end of this year. The site quotes a potential fall ship date, at least for the first release, which is set to include new versions of Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint and Word. Rumor has it that the next version will be somewhat platform-independent, and will rely heavily on the Office 365 subscription concept. Beyond that, there isn’t really much to share, but you’re welcome to hit up our source link for a few more (minor) details.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: ZDNet
Yesterday, we brought you word that Microsoft has already confirmed that the next version of their Windows operating system will be known as Windows Blue, but this does not mean that the Windows operating system is the only thing from Microsoft to receive a revamp. No sir, here we are with whispers that Windows Blue actually has a “twin”, so to speak, where the future version of Microsoft Office will be simply known as “Gemini”.
Gemini is said to be a wave of Office releases that will arrive in the coming time span of over two more years, where the first wave will be aligned with Windows Blue, and users will be able to enjoy updated versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, assuming all goes well and it is released later this fall. It remains to be seen whether these apps will take on the appearance of full Metro-Style/Windows Store versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and only time will tell, so sit tight and enjoy the ride. It might be a paradigm shift with Windows 8 and subsequent operating system versions, but as long as life gets easier and better, we’re all for it.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Amazon’s Cloud Accounts Carry Unsecured Data, Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Ready For Delivery, 
It’s a story that we hoped we’d never have to report. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on Earth’s Moon, has died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery three weeks earlier. His greatest accomplishment very nearly speaks for itself — along with help from fellow NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, he changed the landscape of space exploration through a set of footprints. It’s still important to stress his accomplishments both before and after the historic Apollo 11 flight, though. He was instrumental to the Gemini and X-series test programs in the years before Apollo, and followed his moonshot with roles in teaching aerospace engineering as well as investigating the Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Challenger incidents. What more can we say? Although he only spent a very small portion of his life beyond Earth’s atmosphere, he’s still widely considered the greatest space hero in the US, if not the world, and inspired a whole generation of astronauts. We’ll miss him.
[Image credit: NASA Apollo Archive]
Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt
Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Last time we saw Skytex, it was serving up a warm slice of Windows 7 on its tablets. Now, it’s back with a pair of Androids, one under each arm. The Skypad Protos ($279) is 9.7 inches of Ice Cream Sandwich, while the Skypad Gemini ($179) measures in at just 7. Both slates run on 1.2GHz Cortex A8 silicon, shacked-up with a Mali 400 GPU. Other internals include 8GB storage, and 1GB or RAM, HDMI and a microSD card slot for expansion (up to 32GB). The larger Protos has an IPS screen, and a pair of cameras (5- and 2-megapixels) while the smaller Gemini just has the one (2-megapixel). It’s not all about what’s inside those box these days, as both also come with 5GB of cloud storage, showing these slates know what’s on trend right now. With competition getting intense at the cheaper end of the scale, though, is there enough to get your credit card out when they start shipping this month?
Continue reading Skytex announces Gemini and Protos: ICS tablets that sound like X-Men
Skytex announces Gemini and Protos: ICS tablets that sound like X-Men originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 06:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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