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18 April 2011

China Space Official Confounded By SpaceX Price

China Space Official Confounded By SpaceX Price

China Space Official Confounded By SpaceX Price

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 02:48 PM PDT

hackingbear writes "Declining to speak for attribution, the Chinese officials from Great Wall Industry, a marketing arm of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CAST), say they find the published prices on the SpaceX website very low for the services offered, and concede they could not match them with the Long March series of launch vehicles even if it were possible for them to launch satellites with U.S. components in them. According to the SpaceX website, launch on a Falcon 9 — which has an advertised lift capacity of 10,450 kg. (23,000 lb.) — from Cape Canaveral costs $54 million — $59.5 million. If the SpaceX price is real and its quality is proven, both are big IFs, it is remarkable to see that US can beat China in term of price. Between August 1996 and August 2009, the Chinese rockets have achieved 75 consecutive successful launches were conducted, ending with a partial failure in the launch of Palapa-D on August 31, 2009. If we all learn from SpaceX, maybe soon China will outsource from the US."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

HP planning Veer launch party for May 2nd, AT&T brings cake for webOS 3.0 devs

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 02:07 PM PDT

We still don't have a solid release date for HP's tiny Veer -- we've been told it's "coming around the corner" and will be here "soon" -- but if we were the guessing type, we'd say that the pint-sized webOS 2.2 smartphone will hit the market on or about the 2nd of May. That's because a PreCentral reader stumbled across what looks like an official invitation to an "HP Veer Launch Party Event" in Los Angeles on that very date, and it's typically fairly difficult to launch a handset without a handset to launch, if you know what we mean. Still, this looks like a business-to-business event, so we wouldn't circle your calendar quite yet -- but if you've already got that red marker out, you might want to put a X over May 12th instead. That's the day that AT&T is hosting a webOS 3.0 developer webcast -- which might be worth attending in and of itself -- but is particularly noteworthy given that HP hasn't announced carriers for the Veer or SIM-slot packing HP TouchPad just yet.
[Thanks, Brian L.]

HP planning Veer launch party for May 2nd, AT&T brings cake for webOS 3.0 devs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PreCentral (1), (2)  |  sourceCvent, AT&T  | Email this | Comments

The Date Is Not A Lie [Coming Attractions]

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 02:00 PM PDT

There's some game due to release by Tuesday, its name is on the tip of my tongue. Something about potatoes. Eh, it'll come to me. If not, Mortal Kombat, SOCOM 4 and Conduit 2 are all A-list drops arriving on the same day. More »

How the Social Tech Bubble Is Different

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 01:31 PM PDT

theodp writes "Tech bubbles happen, writes BW's Ashlee Vance, but we usually gain from the innovation left behind. But this one — driven by social networking — could leave us empty-handed. Math whiz Jeff Hammerbacher provides a good case study. One year out of Harvard, 23-year-old Hammerbacher arrived at Facebook, was given the lofty title of research scientist and put to work analyzing how people used the social networking service. Over the next two years, Hammerbacher assembled a team that built a new class of analytical technology, one which translated insights into people's relationships, tendencies, and desires into precision advertising and higher sales. But something gnawed at him. Hammerbacher looked around Silicon Valley at companies like his own, Google, and Twitter, and saw his peers wasting their talents. 'The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads,' he says. 'That sucks.' Silicon Valley historian Christophe Lecuyer agrees: 'It's clear that the new industry that is building around Internet advertising and these other services doesn't create that many jobs. The loss of manufacturing and design know-how is truly worrisome.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Of Course Crytek Wants 16 Times More RAM In The Next Console Generation [PC]

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 01:00 PM PDT

Crytek took it in the shorts from PC loyalists who felt Crysis 2 was handled in a way that catered more to console users than to PC gamers. In an interview, the studio's graphics engineer said Microsoft and Sony have way underweight RAM configurations, and whatever they build next needs 8 GB of RAM, minimum. More »

Samsung's super slender Galaxy Tab 10.1 snacks on some Honeycomb (video)

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:51 PM PDT


Honestly, we were a little bit worried that Samsung's rail-thin Galaxy Tab 10.1 was a mockup -- you know, seeing as how Sammy never turned it on -- but fast-forward to today and there's a working model in Tinhte.vn's capable arms. Yes, the Vietnamese site that's been leaking delicious Apple prototypes -- not to mention the HP TouchPad's SIM slot -- found the 0.33-inch thin slate at an unnamed Samsung booth, powered it up, and proceeded to dive into the sticky-sweet mess of Android 3.0 and iPad 2 comparisons that such a discovery affords. You'll find all that and some Angry Birds in the video immediately above.

[Thanks, Nate]

Samsung's super slender Galaxy Tab 10.1 snacks on some Honeycomb (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcetinhtevideo (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

The One-Hour Hat

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:31 PM PDT


Late April is probably not the ideal time of year to get interested in designing and making fleece hats, but that’s what has happened to me over the past day or so. The other night, I decided that the fleece hat I’ve worn for most of the winter is too tight, and resolved to make my own. Sewing is new to me, and I’m trying to build my skills with this ancient craft and learn more about how to use my recently acquired sewing machine. As I’m doing this, and other sewing projects, one of my goals is to develop classroom projects for my high school students. The slideshow above shows the photos documenting the process of creating a hat in one hour.

Initially, I needed to figure out how a hat is built. This was done by looking at this winter’s hat, taking some notes, making drawings, and figuring out how the fabric was cut and assembled. Grocery bags are turning out to be a good prototyping and pattern-making material lately, so I found one of those and opened it up. Over Saturday afternoon, I made one fleece hat, which turned out to be full of beginner’s mistakes. The points in the pattern needed to number six, not five as in my first one, and the edges of the points should be curved to form a rounded top of the hat. The two seams on each side of the head should be sewn first, and the last seam should be the one that reaches from the front of the head to the back. For material, I picked up four inexpensive fleece throw blankets from a local store. One was seven and three were eight dollars for each.

After dinner on Saturday, I resolved to redesign my template and make another hat in the evening. After making some adjustments to the design, I was able to cut a piece of fabric that went together pretty well, but was too big. As I sussed out the design and created my patterns, I created photos of the designing through deconstruction process.

On Sunday morning, it became obvious that the loose-fitting hat mostly just needed another identical one fitted inside. At this point, I started to become more conscious about time, trying to get it done as quickly and accurately as possible. Cutting that one from the same pattern, sewing it together and matching it to the first one took about 40 minutes. I went out to show it to a friend, who gave encouragement and a few tips on how to improve the technique.

On returning home, I resolved to make a complete hat in under an hour. This time, cutting both fabric pieces at the same time seemed more efficient, and I extended the bottom of the pattern by taping a strip of bag to it. Looking at the clock, I started, pinning the template to the double layer of material, using the hem at the edge of the blankets as the bottom. I cut the basic shape, then returned to cut the sawtooth shape. Once they were all cut, I then pinned the end seams, and went over to the sewing machine. After the end seams were sewn, I moved in to the second set of side seams. The last part of the basic hat shape is the front seam, which reaches over the crown to the back of the head. When the basic hat was complete, I inverted one and placed it inside the other. The seams of the outside hat were facing out, and the seams of the inside hat were showing in. Doing it this way allowed me to pin the bottom edges of the hats together and sew them, leaving a three inch gap. Sewing this bottom edge holds them to together, and the gap allows them to be turned right side out. The opening was sewn up with a blind stitch. Looking up, the clock read just under an hour to complete a new hat from scratch. It was complete before noon.

As a project, this seems like a great one to learn how to sew. Yesterday, I had never made a hat, and now I’ve made several and have a pattern for making more. More importantly, this project has shown me how to deconstruct an existing piece of clothing and make my own version of it. Once a basic hat has been made, there are lots of variations on it, including variations in pattern and material, embedding headphones, personal lighting systems and ornamental details. As with most important learning through doing experiences, this allows the maker to interact with the end product, looking at it, touching it, showing it to other people. After connecting with the thing you’ve made, you often have a list of things that you would do differently next time. It is pretty easy to do, and encourages variations and future iterations.

Making the first hat was the most time consuming, since everything had to be figured out, and mistakes were made. The second hat had fewer mistakes and flaws, The third hat, completed in an hour, was faster to make, had a more consistent result. Now that the design is more settled, thoughts can turn to how to optimize it for a production run of twenty or thirty, more than will be useful for my household, which leads to how much it could sell for and what potential buyers might want. This project and design also evokes a nice image of the hundred or so students who will make theirs next year, wearing their hats to school, showing them with pride to their friends, empowered by their skills of making.

Apple Wants To Store Your History In the Cloud

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:21 PM PDT

bizwriter writes "Most online backup is about keeping the latest and greatest version of what resides on a device, whether a PC, tablet, or smartphone. Three recent patent filings suggest that Apple has a super version of backup on its mind. Someone would be able to go into an application (like iTunes or the App Store), find what material was available at a previous time, and recover any or all of what once was there without having to use a separate recovery program."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Add Ground Effects to Your Bed for Gentle Night Lighting [Ikea Hacks]

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:00 PM PDT

It's the middle of the night, and you have to go to the bathroom. Sure, you can stumble to the bathroom in the dark, possibly hitting your shins or toes on anything on the floor or in the path between you and the bathroom door, but you don't want to blind yourself by turning on the light. The solution? Ground effect lighting for your bed! More »


Top 5 of 10: Marketing Geniuses [Lists]

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:00 PM PDT

Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What's better? A list of those. Here's a roundup of the rundowns out there. More »
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