Aug 20
NASA might have garnered their fair share of attention with the introduction of the Curiosity Rover on Mars for some time now, but that does not mean the organization is resting on their laurels. You can be sure that they have plenty of concurrent projects running, and the aerogel is one of them. This particular flexible material is the second generation of its kind, where researchers over at NASA triumphantly claimed that they have made a “major improvement” to the aerogel, allowing it to come in the form of a stronger and ultimately, more flexible version of the original. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: NASA reveals mission to study Mars’ core, NASA plans Curiosity’s path using gaming technology,
In life, there are themes all around us – a themed party, for instance, or how about a certain theme for a notable event in your life? Well, having video game themes around us are nothing new, but here is something that Bioshock fans might just fall in love with. We are talking about the efforts of DIY enthusiast “rasmadrak” who hails from Sweden, coming up with this rather interesting Bioshock-themed custom pinball machine that sports plenty of neat little touches from Rapture, ranging from Little Sister vents to its fair number of Big Daddy homages. Not only that, two different systems – Arduino and chipKIT are used to cobble this particularly impressive DIY effort, but I guess you will not be able to find this for sale anywhere else in the world since this is a one off creation.
We do know that DNA are veritable biological libraries, holding their fair share of information, but here is a novel way of making use of them. Researchers have managed to encode a full book in DNA, which would make this achievement the largest amount of information stored on the biological medium to date. Just what kind of data has been encoded? Well, the digital version of the book comprises of over 50,000 words, 11 images and a solitary computer program, with the amount of data weighing in at around 0.7MB. This project is led by George Church of Harvard Medical School, relying on off-the-shelf technology.
What is life if there is no progress at all? The Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG for short) has just issued a new video standard draft which claims to offer double the video quality at a similar size, and if you want to look at it the other way around, we are talking about an identical video quality at half the data rate, which is what today’s MPEG-4 H.264 standard stand for. The new H.265 draft is targeted for a release sometime next year, where it will specifically address mobile devices as well as networks overloaded with video. Devices that are able to take advantage of the new H.265 video compression standard might being as early as next year, with Apple having a very high probability of adopting support for the new H.265 specification in a jiffy for their collection of portable media players, smartphone, tablet and notebooks. What do you think of the upcoming MPEG H.265 draft standard, and will it really blow your eyes away?
According to a financial expert, Apple has overstated Samsung’s profit margins when it comes to mobile products, which in particular, is an issue that strikes at the very heart of the issue in terms of damages that concern the high profile patent trial that is happening between the two tech companies. Michael Wagner, the accountant who testified on Thursday for Samsung, claimed that Samsung’s profits generated in the US from the sales of smartphones and tablets should actually stand at around $519 million thereabouts – which is 19%, compared to Apple’s expert witness who testified a 35.5% mark instead. 
When it comes to camping as well as spending time in the great outdoors, you might want to consider taking the water resistant route – at least, that is what this particular water resistant down sleeping bag is all about, where it is supposed to give you unparalleled comfort whenever you spend your free time in the woods or by the lake. DownTek, a kind of water-resistant down, relies on a nano polymer treatment which helps it repel water, enabling it to maintain its unmatched warmth-to-weight ratio even when it is wet all around. Definitely a step up from the standard issue down as the fabric of choice when it comes to cold-weather insulation. Not only that, it will also include anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties for added peace of mind. 
The Force is strong in this one – the Steampunk Lightsaber Flashlight that is the creation of one particular Star Wars fan who has her fair share of technological wizardry. Working together to be a rather nifty night light, you will need a plumbing extension pipe to complete the project. In fact, vent holes were also drilled around the pipe in order for the LED light to shine through, but that is not really necessary anyways. The plumbing pipe used above is made out of solid brass, so it will take a fair amount of skill to cut and drill it through. Sanding the metal gave it a brushed look, and even better news is doing away with any need for glue or additional rings to connect the flashlight to the “case”.