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Although it’s been several years since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, it looks like some of the data gathered during the orbiter’s final mission will be put to good use. A hard drive salvaged from the wreckage contains the results of an experiment to study the way xenon gas flows in microgravity, and the results will be published in April in a journal called Physical Review E. The 400MB Seagate drive was originally thought to be destroyed, but workers and engineers reconstructing the orbiter from the remaining debris found it during the process and sent it off for recovery, where 99 percent of the data was extracted. It then took several years for lead researcher Robert Berg and his team to analyze the findings, but they’re happy with the results — we only wish they hadn’t come at so dear a price.[Thanks, Laura]

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We knew it! There was just no way a single WiFi router was going to provide coverage from Mercury to Pluto. In order to ensure that all intergalactic beings are given fair and equal access to the intarwebz (and to build a “constellation” that’ll act as a space-based network for communication, data storage and Earth observations, too), NASA is syncing up with m2mi. Of course, these two entities have worked together on occasion before, but this go ’round, they’re looking to craft (relatively) minuscule nanosats that weigh between 11 and 110-pounds and could be placed in low Earth orbit in order to create a new telecommunications and networking system. As expected, nary a launch date is even hinted at, but while we lowly Earthlings worry over the eventual rollout of 4G services, these two hotshots will be focusing on 5G — which incorporates VoIP, video, data, wireless and an integrated machine-to-machine intelligence layer. Far out.

[Via CNET]

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The necessity for the move to IPv6 is the focus of an article from Forbes recently. The article quotes Leslie Daigle, chief Internet technology officer for ISOC, who says it is simple math: the Internet Protocol addresses that are assigned to differentiate networks and individual computers at the edges of the Internet have 32 digits, allowing for only a finite number of addresses–about 4.2 billion. Daigle also says the move to IPv6 would help to limit spam since “[i]n today’s addressing system, large groups of IP addresses–what Daigle calls ‘the swamp’–are often assigned and then left unused for a period of time. Spammers can impersonate those virtual identities to circumvent e-mail filters based on blacklisted IP addresses.
“By starting a new accounting system from scratch, IPv6 could allow more careful tracking of which IP addresses are assigned where, limiting the IP identities that spammers can spoof, she says.”

Of course, the move to IPv6 is not so simple with IPv4 requiring the reworking of “the entire infrastructure of the Internet–not just revamping software but replacing much of the outdated networking equipment installed in Internet service providers, large enterprises and governments.”

However there are others who do not believe the end of the world is nigh, such as Gartner research analyst Lawrence Orans. He tells Forbes he’s “heard doomsday warnings for more than 10 years, he says, and year after year, businesses have found solutions other than switching to IPv6. He doubts that a shortage of IP addresses–even with the current technology–will severely cripple the Internet.”

Even so, the problem won’t go away by itself, Orans concedes and he likens the IP problem to that of the Y2K bug, though even bigger.

The 700MHz auction is over, but that doesn’t mean the days of high-stakes spectrum drama have come to a close — just like we’d heard, Google today began a renewed push for white space internet. Backed by Microsoft, Philips, Dell, HP and others, white space transmissions are designed to fit in between TV signals on channels 2-51, but there’s just one little problem — the stuff doesn’t really work yet. That’s all about to change, according to Google: the company says it’s done its own testing and will submit a proposal for an enhanced system to the FCC soon — hmm, that could explain that secret test 700MHz network on the Google campus we’ve been hearing about, no? What’s more, in an effort to open up the white space market and bring some competition to the broadband scene, Google says it’s willing to provide free technical assistance and reference designs to other would-be white space providers wanting to get in on the action — sort of like white space Android. Of course, all of this hinges on the FCC actually approving the tech, but if the 700MHz open-access drama showed us anything, it’s that Google is pretty adept at playing the system to get what it wants from Uncle Sam.

Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.

In honor of the loss of one of our greatest sci-fi heroes, Movie Gadget Friday is paying homage to the inimitable Arthur C. Clarke with a two-part series that explores the future of 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact. This week we’ll be diving into the luxurious exploration of deep space. Everyone knows HAL, but 2001 also takes an extraordinary amount of time to study the intricate details of each spacecraft — as such, this week we’ll focus on the Orion III and Space Station V.Space Station V
Serving as a meeting point between Earth and the Moon, Space Station V is a space structure of massive proportions. From the inside looking out, the view might be slightly disorienting, as the station constantly rotates, its rings providing a grounding effect, allowing travelers to enjoy the extravagance of Earth’s gravity in space. Upon arriving at Space Station V, visitors are greeted with a standard reception area where they are asked to move through to documentation, which involves a wall-embedded voice print identification system for each visitor. The interior design of each room stays true to its circular exoskeleton, while the furnishings appear to hold closer ties to the 1960s than the early oughts — just the way we like it. More after the break.
Continue reading Movie Gadget Friday: 2001: A Space Odyssey

source:engadget.com