Submission + - Sony Paid Warner Bros. $400 Million to Go Blu-Ray (theglobeandmail.com)
eldavojohn writes: "How much would you pay to be the leading video media technology right now? Is $400 million too much? Sony didn't think so and this article speculates that's how they won the Hi-Def format war."
Submission + - Comcast Promising Ultra-Fast Internet (cnn.com) 2
Espectr0 writes: "CNN has a story where Comcast's Chief Executive Brian Roberts told The Associated Press in a preview of his speech at the Consumer Electronics show on Tuesday, that they are expected to demonstrate a technology that delivers up to 160 megabits of data per second: It will allow him to download a high-definition copy of "Batman Begins" in four minutes. The technology, DOCSIS 3.0, will start rolling out this year."
Feed Science Daily: White Dwarf Pulses Like A Pulsar (sciencedaily.com)
New observations have challenged scientists' conventional understanding of white dwarfs. Observers had believed white dwarfs were inert stellar corpses that slowly cool and fade away, but the new data tell a completely different story.
Feed Engadget: Nintendo support recommends Wiimote abuse to puzzled caller (engadget.com)
Filed under: Gaming
Controller abuse has always been a mainstay of the video gaming existence -- no need to blame your thumbs when there's this hunk of plastic to chuck at the floor -- but who knew Nintendo was working such violence into its own official support curriculum? Wired's Russ Neumeier gave Nintendo support a ring when one of his Wiimotes stopped sensing motion and none of the usual fixes seemed to work. After explaining his situation, the Nintendo rep asked Russ smack the controller into his hand, button side down, two or three times. After being assured that she wasn't kidding, Russ did as he was told and was awarded with a fully functional Wiimote. We could see why Nintendo wouldn't go shouting about this "fix" on its official support literature, but it has us wondering if "blow into the cartridge, whack side of NES, insert cartridge, repeat" was the Nintendo-approved method all along.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Submission + - One Last Ride for Hubble
necro81 writes: The NY Times has an in-depth piece describing an upcoming shuttle mission to make a final service call to the Hubble Space Telescope. After the Columbia accident and the scheduled shuttle decommission in 2010, additional service trips to the telescope were off the table. The resulting hew and cry from scientists, legislators, and the public forced NASA to reconsider. Next August, if all goes well, Atlantis will grab Hubble, replace its aging gyros, attempt to revive the Advanced Camera for Surverys, install a new camera and spectrograph. The telescope could then continue doing science well into the next decade.
Submission + - NASA Announces 120 Small Research Projects (nasa.gov)
eldavojohn writes: "NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) has released a list of the winning businesses that submitted research proposals in 2006. This is the second phase of a three phase award system and NASA has announced the winners. If you click on any of the projects, there is an interesting writeup of the proposal and technical abstract."
Submission + - OLPC news: Children's Reviews of the OLPC
A. N. Onymous writes: The OLPCNews got a short story about childrens reaction on the OLPC XO.
My first impression is "its just like when you give a kid a box of Lego".
My first impression is "its just like when you give a kid a box of Lego".
Feed Engadget: Nintendo DS slide controller add-on revealed in Japan (engadget.com)
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
Recall that motion-sensing patent from the Big N just, oh, two days ago? Turns out that may have a thing or two to do with the recent slide controller accessory unveiled for the Japanese market. Bundled in with the game Slide Adventure: Mag Kid, the device plugs directly into the GBA cartridge slot of the DS / DS Lite and essentially allows you to set the handheld on a flat surface and slide around 'til your heart's content. Unfortunately, there's no dirt on whether or not this peripheral will ever be released outside of Japan (sound familiar?), but for those making their home in Tokyo, you can become the envy of us all by picking the bundle up for ¥5,800 ($49). Click on for some closer shots of the slide controller itself, and check out a videoed demonstration here.[Via GameSpot]
Continue reading Nintendo DS slide controller add-on revealed in Japan
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Feed Engadget: Apple's new wireless keyboard hits the FCC (engadget.com)
Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless
Well somebody's on the ball today. Not even two hours after the announcement of Apple's new Bluetooth 2.0 wireless keyboard and the FCC's got it all approved to send 2.4GHz waves through your brain and the brains of your children. Unfortunately, they only got a pic of the keyboard's backside. That gold coloring? Our guess is the FCC's camera caught the colors wrong, but who knows, Apple could be bribing 'em with gold-plated peripherals to speed up that approval process.Continue reading Apple's new wireless keyboard hits the FCC
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Feed Wired: The Future of Bridges: Self-Replicating, Irregular Designs (wired.com)
Feed news.com: NASA wireless scanners inspect shuttle heat tiles (com.com) 1
Blog: Space agency uses wireless scanners to automatically detect imperfections in thousands of heat tiles protecting a space shuttle.
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