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Mars

Mars Rover Opportunity Sets Longevity Record 61

Posted by Soulskill from the keeps-going-and-going-and-going dept.
s31523 writes "The Mars rover Opportunity has beaten the original record of six years and 116 days operating on the surface of Mars, originally set by the Viking 1 Lander. While the Spirit rover has been on the surface longer than the Opportunity by three weeks, it has been out of communication since March 22. If Spirit comes back online, it will attain the new Martian surface longevity record. This feat, right on the heels of another longevity feat (Voyager 2 and twin on the verge of entering interstellar space and still kicking) is healing some of NASA's past black eyes. It is quite remarkable given original spec of 90 days for the mission. With the passing of the solstice, warmer temperatures and more sun will likely mean the rover will continue on."

Comment Ahead of their time (Score 1) 263

by oprahwinfree (#26304665) Attached to: The Secret Origins of Microsoft Office's Clippy

I will go out on a limb here and say that the digital assistant is an idea that is yet to be fully realized.

Clippy, or something like it will be a regular feature of computers years from now. With improved AI, processing power, speech recognition, always on Internet connections and better search engines a virtual assistant will be able to really do something for users other than annoy them.

People who aren't nerds/geeks//. readers would likely find comfort in having a "little man" in the computer that can talk to them and understand what tasks they would like it to perform. Heck, if its good enough even /. readers might want one on their desktops, too.

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