Archive for October, 2011
Space capsules and CCDev and private human spaceflight oh my
October 31st 2011 at 3:14 pm
Boeing’s answer to private space access and NASA CCDEV program is the Beoing CST-100, a capsule that looks much like the Dragon. At this point we now have 3 capsules vying for the future of US manned flight. One has been created the usual way: NASA designs what it wants, then picks a manufacturer to [...]
Reality bites Richard Muller
October 27th 2011 at 10:51 am
Climate change deniers turn on one of their own who did the science, created his own data, and realized he was wrong: Muller didn’t reject climate science per se, but he was a skeptic, and a convenient one for big polluters and conservative anti-environmentalists — until Muller put their money where his mouth was, and [...]
Apple’s design aesthetic for a thermostat, sure why not?
October 27th 2011 at 3:50 am
As Dan Frommer notes: Yes, it’s not the first thermostat on the market that uses software to “learn” how to heat and cool your house properly, just as the iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player on the market. But it looks great, seems to have a user interface that is well ahead of the competition, [...]
Excalibur Almaz gets involved in NASA’s commercial space access program
October 26th 2011 at 2:06 pm
How did I miss realizing these guys even existed? NASA has entered into a currently unfunded CCDEV contract agreement with Excalibur Almaz, a private space company. What this means is that a) NASA thinks they might have something going on, even if a long shot (the United Launch Alliance and ATK are the two others [...]
Guy Gonzalez says smart things about the shifting grounds of modern publishing
October 26th 2011 at 1:03 pm
Sensible commentary on the layout of modern publishing and disruption from Guy LeCharles Gonzalez here: I’ll repeat what I said in the Spring of 2010: don’t sleep on Barnes & Noble. The value of a brick-and-mortar presence is grossly underrated these days, but there’s a reason Apple started opening retail stores 10 years ago, five [...]
Cool leap in 3D photo insertion technology
October 24th 2011 at 11:37 am
This video got my attention. These guys are trying to make it easy for non-technology experts to be able to add in 3d objects to existing photos (not just ‘photoshopping’ it in, but naturally so that all the shadows work and it looks like it belongs). Just check out the video: Rendering Synthetic Objects into [...]
Fascinating article about Rwanda
October 20th 2011 at 2:05 pm
Foreign Policy magazine has a very interesting look at Rwanda, which is using Singapore to model a fast change to a new future for itself… including the autocratic side of things: Welcome to the capital of Rwanda, where cleanliness and order prevail. Trash is hard to find, even on the dirt roads outside the main [...]
SpaceX gets another milestone under its belt
October 20th 2011 at 12:47 am
SpaceX is going to be able to compete for military space launch contracts, which is a fantastic step forward. By doing this they’ll be able to add some profit to the bottom line, which they will be using to do more maverick stuff. Kudos. If you’re curious about SpaceX’s plans, here’s their roadmap out through [...]
The Willat Effect
October 18th 2011 at 9:52 pm
From BoingBoing, I just learned about the Willat Effect: I discovered the Willat Effect when my friend Carl Willat offered me five different limoncellos side by side. Knowing that he likes it, his friends had given them to him. Perhaps three were homemade, two store-bought. I’d had plenty of limoncello before that, but always one [...]
Large airship purchase for polar north activity
October 18th 2011 at 5:07 pm
Discovery Air Innovations has asked Hybrid Air Vehicles to build 45 new cargo airships for use in Canada’s Northwest Territories. They are capable of carrying 30 tons lifting directly up. These guys are going to be all over the polar north, particularly once oil companies begin drilling up there. Arctic Rising can’t come out soon [...]
