technology books: April 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012

PSA: Space Shuttle Enterprise flying over NYC this morning

JFK may be a place that many, many people have gone to before, but it's safe to say that the Space Shuttle Enterprise will be going there boldly. Much like the Space Shuttle Discovery turned heads in DC last week, Space Shuttle Enterprise will be stopping traffic in New York City today. NASA has confirmed that today's 747-100 ferry flight across Manhattan is a "Go" and that the duo will "fly at a relatively low altitude over various parts of the New York City metropolitan area on Friday" before landing at JFK. The Shuttle will then, in the coming weeks, be put on a ferry of a floating variety and brought to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Today's flying tour is scheduled to take place between 9:30 and 11:30 am and... oh look, at the time, we must be going.

Update: NASA has confirmed takeoff from Dulles! The flight plan is not known, but as before your best bet is to follow the #spottheshuttle hashtag on Twitter.

PSA: Space Shuttle Enterprise flying over NYC this morning originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

NASA | Email this | Comments

packers stock sale packers stock sale jason mayhem miller margarito margarito horton hears a who horton hears a who

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Tonight's Stoner Channel: Dr. Zaius on Mark Twain, Terrible Transportation Tactics, and Old Men with Lightsabers Ain't Nothin' to F*ck With [Video]

Click here to read Tonight's Stoner Channel: Dr. Zaius on Mark Twain, Terrible Transportation Tactics, and Old Men with Lightsabers Ain't Nothin' to F*ck With

amas 2011 black friday elliot elliot la galaxy la galaxy jordy nelson

Kim Kardashian Nude Photo Leaks: Naked Cooking Eggs

Kim Kardashian claims that a nude photograph leaked online this week is not her. The photo shows a woman, that sure looks like Kim before [...]

Kim Kardashian Nude Photo Leaks: Naked Cooking Eggs Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

joe avezzano kanye west theraflu joey votto the masters live mega millions winner holy thursday chris stewart

A MicroReview Of The Fantastic $9.99 MicroStylus

This just might be the best stylus ever made. I'm completely serious. The problem with most styli is that there is never one around when needed. Besides that, the pen form factor is often not conducive for use on a small screen. But the MicroStylus, well, it's so tiny but yet functional that's perfect for the task. Plus it's only $9.99 and stores neatly in a 3.5mm headphone jack.

cybermonday deals steve johnson norman reedus norman reedus sears office max office max

Friday, April 27, 2012

Congress to examine government's dominance in wireless spectrum

The US federal government is, by far and away, the largest user of wireless spectrum in the States -- much of which is spoken for by the Department of Defense. A new Congressional committee will, however, be re-examining that position with the goal of freeing up airwaves for public and commercial use. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), who will co-chair the group, hopes the effort will ultimately end up saving taxpayers money and satiating the country's "exploding demand for mobile broadband services." Of course this isn't the first time the idea has been broached, but the bi-partisan collective suggests that an actionable plan to ease the spectrum squeeze might not be too far off. Let's all hope that the findings don't become quite as contentious as some of the other issues currently being debated in Congress's hallowed halls.

Congress to examine government's dominance in wireless spectrum originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

CNET | Email this | Comments

brian van gorder blazing saddles lsu alabama lsu game lsu game beezow doo doo zopittybop bop bop cordova

Pitbull Goes 'Back In Time' On 'Men In Black' Video Set

Mr. Worldwide walks MTV News through his 'Back in Time' music video set.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Vanessa White Wolf

Pitbull on the set of his music video for "Men In Black 3"
Photo: MTV News

Not only does the "Men in Black" movie franchise boast great acting and stunning visual effects, each of the three films features a pretty kicking soundtrack as well. For "Men in Black 3," which hits theaters May 25, Pitbull contributes the lead single, "Back in Time."

MTV News caught up with Mr. Worldwide on the Los Angeles set of the "Back in Time" video and he gave us a pretty cool walk-through.

"What we're doing here, to sum it up in layman's terms, is making history," Pit said. "The concept is basically all about the movie. The slogan for the movie is 'Back in Time.' In the record I say, 'In order to understand the future we have to go back in time.' "

The clip not only features "MIB3" movie scenes, it was actually filmed on the movie set, blending the Miami rapper's performance shots seamlessly into Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones' action shots. "As far as the sets that you see right now, it's just integrating and running parallel with everything that you see in the movie," Pitbull explained.

It was the Fresh Prince himself who recorded the theme songs — 1997's "Men in Black" and 2002's "Black Suits Comin' " — for the first two installments of the "MIB" trilogy. For the upcoming flick, Pit took over and used a sample of Mickey and Sylvia's 1950s classic "Love Is Strange" for inspiration.

Now that he's clocked his first collaboration with Big Willie, Pitbull hopes that they can work together some more. "I would love to follow in Will Smith's footsteps," he said. "We're working on the music for the movie, and hopefully, one day, we'll work in a movie together."

What do you think of Pitbull's "Back in Time" video? Tell us in the comments!

Related Artists

Pitbull

bethenny frankel miguel cabrera michael bay ninja turtles san antonio weather mike daisey nicollette sheridan apple dividend

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Ball Kicks Off Amid Protests

Seoul, South Korea, set list heavy on new material, but Gaga's biggest hits come out to play.
By John Mitchell

<a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/lady_gaga/artist.jhtml">Lady Gaga</a> kicked off her hotly awaited Born This Way Ball at Seoul, South Korea's Olympic Stadium on Friday (April 27) in front of 45,000 fans, and despite <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17867102" target="_blank">protests</a> from Christian groups saying Mother Monster was "obscene" and could "taint" young people with her performance, the concert appears to have gone on without incident. Intrepid Twitter fans are already showing off pictures and video of the BTW Ball's enormous Gothic castle backdrop and myriad costume changes, making it clear that Gaga has outdone even her own Monster Ball in terms of spectacle. While we wait for reviews to trickle in from halfway around the world, one thing is certain: No minors were corrupted at the show. Earlier this month, the Korea Media Rating Board decided to <a href="http://newsroom.mtv.com/2012/04/02/lady-gaga-unfazed-by-south-korean-concert-age-restrictions/">elevate the age rating</a> for the concert from 12 to 18, prohibiting minors from seeing the concert. When the board notified Gaga's tour promotion company and a sponsor of the change in age restrictions, it did not offer a reason why the show — which at the time was still in rehearsals and had not been reviewed publicly — was considered unsuitable for children under 18. <CENTER><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:717952/cp~vid%3D717952%26uri%3Dmgid%3Auma%3Avideo%3Amtv.com%3A717952" width="430" height="242" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="."></embed></CENTER> The likely catalyst for the board's decision came more into focus as the concert neared and protests from a group of conservative Christians calling itself the Alliance for Sound Culture in Sexuality ramped up. The group <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57419977-10391698/lady-gagas-born-this-way-ball-met-by-protests-in-south-korea/" target="_blank">covered Seoul with posters</a> accusing Gaga of "spreading unhealthy sexual culture" through "lewd lyrics and performances." The superstar and her fans, however, were undeterred. Though she <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/ladygaga/status/186886867118080000" target="_blank">tweeted</a> her hopes that the Korea Media Rating Board would reverse its decision (it didn't), she continued on as planned. Many fans reportedly arrived at the show wearing versions of Gaga's most well-known flamboyant costumes, and there have been no reports of disturbances at the concert. Before the show, Gaga <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/ladygaga/status/195815732494348288" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, "I can you hear you Korea. I'm shaking." Gaga's performance was heavy on material from her Born this Way album, though her biggest hits, including "Bad Romance," Poker Face" and "Just Dance," were represented. Lady Gaga's Born This Way Ball set list: » "Highway Unicorn" » "Government Hooker" » "Born This Way" » "Bloody Mary" » "Bad Romance" » "Fashion of His Love" » "The Queen" » "Just Dance" » "Love Game" » "Telephone" » "Just Dance" » "Heavy Metal Lover" » "Bad Kids" » "Hair" » "Yoü and I" » "Electric Chapel" » "Americano" » "Poker Face" » "Scheiße" » "The Edge of Glory" » "Marry the Night" Did you see Lady Gaga's Born This Way Ball? Let us know what you thought of the show in the comments below!

Related Artists

Lady Gaga

pacquiao vs marquez pacquiao vs marquez junior dos santos junior dos santos evelyn lauder devin hester devin hester

London Olympics To Visitors: Don?t Share What You See

Don't copy that pole vault! According to the London 2012 Olympic "conditions for ticket holders," you are not allowed to take pictures or video of the events nor are you allowed to "exploit" any video on social networks.

Images, video and sound recordings of the Games taken by a Ticket Holder cannot be used for any purpose other than for private and domestic purposes and a Ticket Holder may not license, broadcast or publish video and/or sound recordings, including on social networking websites and the internet more generally, and may not exploit images, video and/or sound recordings for commercial purposes under any circumstances, whether on the internet or otherwise, or make them available to third parties for commercial purposes.

loft old navy cyber monday best deals cyber monday best deals brownback brownback salvia

TLC Would Feature Left Eye On Tour 'If Budget Permits'

T-Boz addresses reports that group's surviving members are planning massive tour, complete with images and voice of the late rapper.
By James Montgomery

Left Eye, T-Boz and Chilli
Photo: Courtesy of Arista

On Wednesday, as the world marked the 10-year anniversary of the death of TLC's Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, news broke that her former bandmates were planning a tribute of their own.

As first reported by TMZ, the two surviving members of TLC — Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas — are in the early stages of routing a reunion tour and they intend to make Left Eye a part of the show by projecting her image onto a screen and incorporating her vocals into live performances.

It's not clear whether TLC plan on using the same technology that two companies, Digital Domain and AC Concepts, employed to bring a hologram of Tupac Shakur to the stage at the Coachella Festival, or if the group will rely on archival footage of Lopes, who died in a car accident in Honduras in 2002 at the age of 30. Either way, the news only adds to the idea that, thanks to technological advances, deceased artists could soon be returning to a stage near you.

At a 2003 radio show — which was billed as TLC's final concert — the group paid tribute to Lopes by projecting images of her onto video screens. Watkins and Thomas have also subsequently performed a handful of shows, including a 2011 "American Idol" appearance that earned a standing ovation from the live audience.

According to TMZ, TLC have already booked dates in five major U.S. cities and more shows are currently being lined up. Reps for the surviving members of the group could not be reached for comment on the report, but Watkins addressed it on her Twitter account late Wednesday. In response to a fan's question about whether Lopes would be incorporated into a TLC tour, she wrote, "We don't know yet. We tried seven years ago; it was too expensive, but if the budget permits, we might."

Would you like to see Left Eye in hologram form on a TLC tour? Tell us in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Related Photos

Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes: A Life In Photos

Panasonic teams up with NHK on 145-inch 8K Super Hi-Vision plasma TV

We thought the 8K 85-inch Super Hi-Vision LCD we saw during CES was impressive, but Japanese broadcaster NHK is already looking to surpass that by going even bigger. To that end it worked with Panasonic (above: that's Panasonic's Keishi Kubota on the left, Yoshio Ito of NHK on the right) to create this 145-inch prototype plasma, unveiled today as an example of the kind of displays we can expect to see once broadcasts jump to the higher resolution some day. The world's first self-illuminating Super Hi-Vision TV, it features every pixel of its expected 8K resolution -- 7,680 x 4,320. After working for months on smaller (only 85- or 103-inch) 4K plasmas, the two companies had to come up with an entirely new drive method for the display that works by scanning the pixels vertically to achieve a uniform picture quality. The NHK plans to show off the new display at its open house in May, although we're a bit more interested to see if we can watch the Olympics on it this summer. Check the gallery below for a few more pictures from DigInfo.TV's Ryo Osuga, or hit the more coverage link for a breakdown of the difficulties encountered in building a high resolution display that's this massive.

Gallery: Panasonic 145-inch Super Hi-Vision plasma

[Image Credit: Ryo Osuga, DigInfo.TV]

Panasonic teams up with NHK on 145-inch 8K Super Hi-Vision plasma TV originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

Panasonic Japan | Email this | Comments

grover norquist grover norquist nfl week 12 picks nfl week 12 picks jason witten ucla vs usc rich rodriguez

Square's feeling good, on pace to take $5 billion in payments per year

Despite growing competition from PayPal, Intuit and Verifone, it appears that Square's business is still going gangbusters. The grandaddy of all smartphone payment systems is set to take $5 billion in payments this year, up from $2 billion a scant six months ago. According to company COO Keith Rabois, such expansive growth has been fostered by the fact that Square makes the cash from transactions available to merchants the next business day -- a feature greatly appreciated by small businesses. Clearly, Huey Lewis was right, and you can see what we mean after the break.