Hasta La Gadget!

NASA isn’t immune to software glitches that can cause some of its incredibly expensive hardware to stop functioning. Such was the case about a week ago when a software update caused a fault on the Curiosity Mars rover, leaving it immobile for almost a week. NASA has announced today that Curiosity is rolling again on its way to the base of the 3.4-mile tall Martian mountain that’s its goal by next spring.

NASA officials say that Curiosity begin moving again early Thursday morning leaving the rocky outcrop called Cooperstown where its been parked during its cross-country trek. Mount Sharp is the ultimate goal destination for Curiosity and is in the middle of Gail Crater.

Curiosity went into safe mode on November 7 after the machine’s internal computer froze while ground controllers were attempting to switch to new upgraded software. There was some sort of discrepancy between a data file and catalog file inside the rover’s computer. Reports indicate that when running on the new R11 software, Curiosity’s catalog file showed data was still written to the computer memory. The computer inside the rover was unable to access that data because the older R10 software handles data differently than the upgraded R11 software. Curiosity was eventually reset and is using the older R10 software while engineers update to R11. It’s just like a Windows update.

“Unfortunately, the handover didn’t work well,” Jim Erickson, Curiosity project manager at JPL, said. “It was a transition problem. We can easily fix this now that we know what the issue is by clearing out the ready-to-send catalog before we switch to R11.”

[via SpaceFlightNow]

A few years ago we saw a View-Master that was upgraded with digital picture frame displays. Alec Smecher took the classic toy to the next logical progression. He bought a very old model of the View-Master and installed a pair of 0.9″ 96 x 64 OLED displays, a Raspberry Pi and a laptop CD-ROM drive on it. After a lot of hacking and programming, he was able to make it play 3D video.

All of the electronics fit on the View-Master because this particular model has an attachment for a light bulb and two D batteries so that the toy could be used in low light. The Mini-CD actually sticks out of the top of the View-Master as it spins, a nod to the cardboard reels used with the toy. Alec also made the smallest possible modification to the case of the View-Master so that he could still restore it to its original state if he wanted to.

Alec says that his hack isn’t 100% done yet but as you saw in the video it does work. Check out Alec’s website for more details on his hack. I bet a lot of people would like it if Oculus VR released a View-Master case for the Rift.

[via Hack A Day]

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Robo Faber. Designed by LA-based Matthias Dörfelt, this little robot is designed to be a self-portrait of the artist’s creative style, and is programmed to replicate it until the end of time…or until it breaks down and stops working. Whichever comes first; really.

I find that receiving too much information while I’m driving can be a major distraction, but I guess that Nissan thinks that Japanese drivers can handle it. They’ve just unveiled their own augmented reality glasses which appear to compete directly with Google Glass.

It’s expected that Nissan’s 3E glasses will connect to the Internet, allowing you to overlay real-time information on the heads-up display. You will be able to record projected images, communicate with your friends on Facebook, and more! Tipsters believe that the AR headset will use low-energy Bluetooth in order to save power, and will be able to pair up with a smartphone.

Assuming these ever make it past the concept phase, I’m pretty sure there will be a lot more accidents on Japanese roads, unless of course Japanese cars start driving themselves.

[via Jalopnik]

The touchscreen and app combo of today’s mobile devices makes one gadget act as many. Different apps display different interfaces, and the touchscreen lets you interact with those interfaces in a natural manner. But what if, aside from changing what you can see, your gadget’s display could also change its shape? That’s what MIT’s Tangible Media Group wants to realize.

What you’re looking at is Tangible Media Group’s inFORM. It’s made of a Kinect, a projector, a computer, pins, linkages and actuators. inFORM can mimic the shape and motion of 3D objects in real time. For example, a monitor can show a two-dimensional replica of your arm, but with inFORM you can have a tangible, 3D replica of your arm. And since it’s 3D you can use that replica arm to carry or move objects just by moving your own arms.

Equally important is inFORM’s ability to act as a collection of 3D pixels, a way of giving physical manifestation to digital information. For instance, it can make actual 3D charts, give you a tangible version of a 3D model in an instant and present even more intuitive user interfaces.

inFORM is a step towards the Tangible Media Group’s dream that it calls Radical Atoms, a “hypothetical generation of materials that can change form and appearance dynamically, becoming as reconfigurable as pixels on a screen… so that dynamic changes of physical form can be reflected in digital states in real time, and vice versa.”

Imagine watching horror films on a Radical Atom TV.  Imagine “holding” your loved ones as you chat with them on Radical Atom walls and floors. Imagine controlling a giant mech made of Radical Atoms. Imagine visualizing mind-boggling equations and predictions on a Radical Atom spreadsheet. Imagine having a physical keyboard or game buttons on your Radical Atom mobile device. Aww yiss.

[MIT Tangible Media Group via Colossal]