Category: Sci/Tech

…you’re thinking seriously about staying up til 5am (or getting up then, for you “morning people”) to see the descent of the Huygens spacecraft enter Titan’s atmosphere tomorrow morning (Friday, Jan. 14, EST).

We’re apparently NOT that kind of nerd, but we’re tempted. Really, really tempted. Maybe if NASA TV had anything approaching a budget and we didn’t have to stare at the NASA logo in-between the same half a dozen segments on the int. space station and 3D simulations of descent profiles, run over and over and over.

Thank Gopod for digital video recorders and fast-forward buttons. Set those TiVos, kids, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

More on the mission at NASA and on Wikipedia.

Boing Boing has a pic of the just-announced Mac Mini.

Man, this really is the year of the “headless Mac.” First the much-rumored new under $600 box (see below) and now a new screenless iPod.

From Engadget:

10:48am – Something happened in the iPod market. They discovered a new way to listen to music: shuffle. Basing new flash-based player around shuffle. iPod Shuffle. No display on player. Looks like a little stick. Smaller than most packs of gum. Like an elegant thumb drive. Weighs less than one ounce. Button to play and pause. Volume up and down button. Previous and next song. That’s it. Nothing else.
10:50am – Cap on bottom hides USB 2.0 connector (you can use it as a flash drive!). PC or Mac. Shipping with lanyard. 12 hour rechargeable battery. Integration between device and iTunes. 10:52am – Something called “AutoFill”. Will automatically build a playlist for iPod Shuffle.
10:54am – 512MB = $99. 1GB for $149. No 2GB version. Shipping TODAY from the factory. Accessories, armband, dock, waterproof sports case. Battery extender. Accessories are $29 each.

Engadget is running a real-time blog of the Jobs’ keynote at Macworld. Latest entry:

10:33am – Things are getting good. “Why doesn’t apple offer a stripped-down Mac that is more affordable?” The Mac mini. About the width of a CD. Slot load combo drive (DVD/CD-R). DVI & VGA out. Ethernet. USB 2.0. Firewire. Runs quietly.
10:35am – Holding it in palm of hand
Ross Rubin: Looks about a third of the size of the cube. Like you took a slice of the Cube. BYODKM: Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, and Mouse. It’s about 6” x 6” x 2.5”. Comes with Panther, iLife ‘05. $499 with 1.25GHz G4 processor. 40GB hard drive.

GM is at it again, showing off their latest hydrogen concept car at the Detroit Auto Show. Environmentalists always get their drawstrings in a bunch whenever General Motors parades around another such car ’cause GM likes to lash some of the biggest millstones around any proposed government regulations dealing with current auto standards, while showing off these allegedly “greener” pie-in-the-sky concept vehicles.

That said, there are some nifty innovations on this car, called the Seguey…er…I mean the Sequel. It is “steer and break by wire” (meaning that the steering and braking functions are non-mechanical, instant-response electronics) and all major components are housed under the car, freeing up tons of legroom, cabinroom and additional cargo space.

The hydrogen stack uses 372 cells and can allegedly go 300 miles before needing a refuel. Those big-ass openings under the headlights and tailights are air in- and outtakes for the serious heat generated during power production. The business end of the hydrogen plant is under the car’s frame. All the gear under the hood is basically for air conditioning. No, not for cooling you down, Mr. Clammy Hands, for chillin’ out the fuel stack (tho you do get to share the coolth in the cabin as a fringe benefit).

[Above link to NY Times piece. Annoying registration required.]

[Thanks, Kate!]

Check out the latest issue of Sci Fi magazine (Feb 2005). I am the new “Tech Toys” columnist. The column looks at technologies that are fifteen minutes into the future (to steal a phrase from Max Headroom). In this issue, I cover the latest concept vehicle from Segway, human-skin band-aids, cellphone signal jammers, solar-power clothing, and more.

As Keanu would say: “Whoa”

HP has a prototype of a flat screen display printed on flexible plastic. The display retains an image without power; the article on ZDnet UK mentions an image still displayed on a screen that has been unplugged for two years. Sadly, the abysmal refresh rate renders it unfit for use as a monitor in its present state of development. HP expects commercial products based on the technology in three to eight years.

Reading like something out of the origin issue of a Marvel comic, the NY Times is reporting that scientists have discovered a young boy with an amazing genetic abnormality that gives him super strength. The abnormality is a double absence of the gene for producing the chemical myostatin, and had previously been found in mice and cattle, but never in humans before. While the long-term health effects are unknown, right now the 4 year-old boy is lifting more than my girlfriend does when she lifts weights. The discovery of course means that there are possibilities for treating other people with muscle-wasting diseases, but more importantly it raises the prospect that we’ll all be able to genmod ourselves to Schwarzeneger-like phyisiques in the not-to-distant future.

BoingBoing‘s got a running blog on the launch of SpaceShipOne, which is set to launch June 21. As part of the process, I suppose because the bureaucrats have to stick there nose in everything, the FAA is apparently going to officially license the site as the first officia spaceport. For some reason, this news sort of shook me — it brought flashbacks of my pre-teen years when I would read sci-fi until my eyes went all jiggly, thinking of a day when spaceports would be a reality…and that day seems to have finally arrived! Welcome to the future! Where do we board?