VMware Fusion 2 RC1
September 12, 2008
Chris Wiles, vnunet.com, Friday 12 September 2008 at 10:03:00
Test drive the new virtual OS manager
Built from the ground up for the Mac, VMware Fusion leverages nearly a decade of virtualization expertise to harness the full power of your Mac hardware, while still supporting Windows-only…
 |
 |
First Look: Asus Eee PC 901
August 15, 2008
Tim Anderson, vnunet.com, Friday 15 August 2008 at 17:31:00
The 901 is great when things are working, but Linux users may be in trouble when things go wrong
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been testing the Asus Eee PC 901, complete with Atom processor and 20GB total solid-state disk….
 |
 |
Review: Logitech Wave Keyboard
August 15, 2008
Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Friday 15 August 2008 at 14:30:00
Is there still a place for wires on the desktop?
While wireless keyboards are very popular for reducing desktop clutter there are still good reasons to buy a wired keyboard….
 |
 |
E200 Eco environmentally friendly mobile phone from Samsung
August 15, 2008
Samsung is releasing their new environmentally friendly mobile phone, the E200 Eco, which is manufacturer from bioplastic that is derived from renewable biological sources.
The E200 Eco mobile phone will be Samsung’s first totally encased bioplastic mobile handset, and should become available in Europe in September, and as yet no American release date has been announced.
The bioplastic used is a com derivative, and Samsung claims to be manufacturing the handsets “using techniques that eliminate harmful materials like lead, cadmium and mercury,” and “the F268 and the new E200 Eco devices and their chargers are also free of a common flame retardant that can harm the environment.”
A report in the New Your Times states that other mobile phone companies are also using bioplastics in their consumer electronics, companies such as NEC and Nokia.
Nokia also is planning to reduce the amount of toxic materials in their batteries, and in doing so”in markets like the US, Nokia encloses a pre-addressed, postage-paid envelope in sales packs, providing customers an easy method for returning used products for recycling, at no cost to them.”
Image via here
Source – hothardware
Mars robots begin test campaign
August 15, 2008
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
Engineers have unveiled the latest prototypes for a European rover that is due to land on Mars in 2015.
BBC News has had exclusive access to the test vehicles which are being put through their paces by space company UK Astrium at its HQ in Stevenage.
The British team on this European Space Agency (Esa) project has nicknamed the prototypes Bruno and Bradley.
The six-wheeled robots are claimed to be the most robust and manoeuvrable planetary rovers to be built.
According to Chris Draper, Astrium’s ExoMars rover vehicle industrial manager, they can go literally where no rover has gone before.
“Obviously, the American MER rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) that were put up by Nasa enjoyed an extreme amount of success. They were able to travel large distances, well beyond their planned lifetimes. But we’re hoping that with our baby, we’ll be able to go places that are actually much further.”
EXOMARS MISSION CONCEPT- Set to leave Earth in 2013; primary aim is to search for life
- Will launch on a heavy-lift rocket, such as the Ariane 5
- Vented landing bags allow for a larger payload
- Rover will carry a 16.5kg ‘Pasteur’ instrument suite
- 30kg geophysics/environment static station also possible
- This would study the weather and listen for ‘Marsquakes’
- Concept to cost Esa states more than first estimates
Each prototype has six-wheel steering, which means that they can turn all six wheels and crab sideways.
They also have what engineers describe as “wheel walking capability”. This means that when the vehicles come across a particularly steep or slippery slope, they can anchor themselves with five of the wheels and inch each wheel forward one at a time, to crawl over an obstacle.
The prototypes have a unique intelligent navigation system which enables them to plot their own course.
Such is the distance between the planets, it can take 20 minutes for an instruction sent from Earth to arrive at Mars. The delay means instant commands to change direction are not possible and so a rover must have autonomy to make decision if, for example, it is approaching a dangerous precipice.
And because the rover will make its own decisions, it can also cover more ground.
ExoMars’ primary mission is to search for signs of past or present life.
To do that, it will make its way to locations thought most likely to support life and drill up to two metres into the ground. Sub-surface soil samples will be analysed by an onboard laboratory.
The rover will have the largest array of scientific instruments to be taken to Mars. So if it gets strong indications that organisms might be present, it will be able to subject samples to a wide range of tests to confirm initial readings.
But the executives at Astrium are concerned that after having done the groundwork in developing the vehicle systems (the chassis, locomotion and navigation systems), the company might actually lose the opportunity to build the final flight vehicle.
"It’s quite a tense period for us in Astrium and for the other companies involved in building ExoMars"Dr Ralph Cordey, UK Astrium
The concern stems from the recent funding difficulties faced by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC), the agency which supports astronomy and space science in the UK.
The company won its role on the mission as leader of vehicle development partly because of the funding the STFC put through Esa. But Astrium’s science business development manager, Dr Ralph Cordey, said that given the recent squeeze on British astronomy and space resources, he was now unsure if that same level of funding would continue.
“It’s quite a tense period for us in Astrium and for the other companies involved in building ExoMars; and for all the many, many scientists who will depend on this mission,” he told BBC News.
“On the one hand, we are moving ahead with a great momentum, as you’ve seen. This is not a paper project - there is real engineering going on and we are on the verge of building the real hardware that will go on to the planet Mars. 
“But on the other hand, we do have a real problem. In order to complete the project, further funding needs to be made available and it won’t be until November that we are sure that that is in place.”
The cost of ExoMars has risen dramatically since European space ministers first approved the venture in 2005. Revised estimates to be agreed next month with industrial partners mean the price for ExoMars will nearly double from its original 650m-euro price tag.
If the UK wants to maintain its position on mission, it will have to boost its financial commitment to ExoMars or come to some other compensatory arrangement with Esa.
If the UK plays the wrong hand at the next space ministers’ meeting in November, UK Astrium warns, the contract to build the flight vehicle could go to a space company sited in another Esa member state.
The STFC said: “The UK will be working with its international partners to try to bring about a mission that has high impact and is affordable, in a process of negotiation that will culminate in decisions at the ministerial in November 2008.
“Meanwhile, it remains a high strategic priority for the UK as emphasised previously.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
Review: Brother MFC-7840W multifunction device
August 15, 2008
Anthony Dhanendran, Personal Computer World, Friday 15 August 2008 at 10:12:00
A compact printer/scanner suitable for home offices
For an office workhorse device, the Brother MFC-7840W is surprisingly small. Despite packing in a scanner, copier and fax facility (as well as the monochrome laser printer), it takes up…
 |
 |
Windows 7 details to be released
August 15, 2008
A first glimpse at the technology inside the next version of Windows will be given in October.
Microsoft has said that engineering information about Windows 7 will be shared with attendees at two technical conferences it runs.
Windows 7 developers will show off their work at both the Professional Developers Conference and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference.
Based on Vista, Windows 7 is expected to be released in January 2010.
The announcement about the unveiling was made on a new Windows 7 blog written by engineers putting the software together.
Before now details about Windows 7 have been scant. Writing on the blog the two senior engineers on the project, Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky, said this was because Microsoft did not want to talk up features that never make it to the final product.
It was also wary, it said, of talking about features and technologies in a way that would cause confusion among its partners.
Microsoft has also been reluctant to talk about Windows 7 as it continues to promote Windows Vista as its flagship operating system.
What is known about Windows 7 is that it will use components from Vista at its core and that it will have a touch interface that, with the appropriate screen, can recognise gestures to complete tasks. For instance pinching the screen could be used to close documents or manipulate images.
Industry experts have speculated that Windows 7 will also have more virtualisation technologies onboard as well as tools that make it easier for people to get at their data and programs as they use different machines
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
Sections
- Camcorder
- Cell Phone
- Computers
- Digital Camera
- Games
- GPS
- Laptops
- Mp3 Player
- News
- Robots
- Software
- Technology
Link
Tag Cloud
