Jupiter, Venus, Moon to Converge

It's not just families that are getting together this Thanksgiving week. The three brightest objects in the night sky -- Venus, Jupiter and a crescent moon -- will crowd around each other for an unusual group shot.

Starting Thanksgiving evening, Jupiter and Venus will begin moving closer so that by Sunday and Monday, they will appear 2 degrees apart, which is about a finger width held out at arm's length, said Alan MacRobert, senior editor at Sky and Telescope magazine. Then on Monday night, they will be joined by a crescent moon right next to them, he said.

Look in the southwestern sky around twilight -- no telescope or binoculars needed. The show will even be visible in cities if it's a clear night.

"It'll be a head-turner," MacRobert said. "This certainly is an unusual coincidence for the crescent moon to be right there in the days when they are going to be closest together."

The moon is the brightest, closest and smallest of the three and is 252,000 miles away. Venus, the second brightest, closest and smallest, is 94 million miles away. And big Jupiter is 540 million miles away.

The three celestial objects come together from time to time, but often they are too close to the sun or unite at a time when they aren't so visible. The next time the three will be as close and visible as this week will be Nov. 18, 2052, according to Jack Horkheimer, director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium.

But if you are willing to settle for two out of three -- Venus and the crescent moon only -- it will happen again on New Year's Eve, MacRobert said.

Jupiter, Venus, Moon to Converge : Discovery News

New Details on Star Trek Online's Starship Gameplay

We haven't heard much about Star Trek Online since Cryptic Studio's big reveal back in August, after they took over the plagued project from Perpetual Entertainment. But in a new interview with Skewed and Reviewed (sknr.net), executive producer Craig Zinkievich spilled tons of new info, including more details on how the game will handle letting players command their own starships, and engage in ship vs. ship combat.

"About fifty percent of your time will be spent in space," Zinkievich explained, with players getting to fly their first ships as early as the game's tutorial. "Players will start with a basic starship, and as they progress through the game they will have the opportunity to upgrade to another ship or improve the abilities of the one they have. Some ships are more general purpose and some are more specialized. Your ship and the equipment you outfit it with help define the role you play in combat."

In Star Trek Online, each player is the commander of their own ship, meaning you won't have to rely on anyone else on board. "You have customizable bridge crew pets to help you, and you can increase the skills of those crew members during play. But as far as the direct flying and commanding of your ship goes, it's in your hands," Zinkievich said. As for combat, while battling on-foot sounds like it'll be similar to most other MMORPGs, Zinkievich explained that ship vs. ship battles will be slower paced and more strategic. "You'll have to think about positioning, transferring power to boost weapons or shields, and how to best exploit your opponent's weaknesses," he said.

Other topics covered in the interview include: the game's setting (it takes place in 2409, when "the Klingon Empire and the Federation are no longer allies and the universe is a much more volatile place," said Zinkievich); what kind of enemies will show up (Borg? "Definitely!"); and whether any fan-favorite actors will make an appearance (some may be involved, "but they might not be playing 'their' characters"). So check out the full interview for even more details. Star Trek Online is currently set for release some time next year.

New Details on Star Trek Online's Starship Gameplay

Lunscape - 1 browser, 3 rendering engines

Lunascape is a web browser for people who just can't decide which web browser to use. That's because the latest Alpha version of Lunascape supports three of the most popular rendering engines used in other web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome.

Upon setup, you can select your default rendering engine. Geck or WebKit are known for their blazing fast performance when loading many web pages and web apps,. Or you can choose Trident if you frequently visit web pages that only work with Internet Explorer.

The browser also supports bookmarklets, has a built in screen capture utility, skins, and has a full screen mode. Lunascape5 Alpha also supports add-ons, but right not there aren't a ton of plugins available. Unfortunately it will not work with plugins designed for Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer.

Lunscape - 1 browser, 3 rendering engines - Download Squad

YouTube goes widescreen

YouTube rolled out an exciting change to all of its users today, by expanding the width of their videos to widescreen (16:9), from the previous standard format (4:3), making the player 960 pixels wide.

A post, in the YouTube Blog, confirmed that all previous 4:3 aspect ratio videos will all still be watchable, and play just fine. This highly anticipated update to go widescreen comes as a surprise to many, as some dislike the change to the player going widescreen, where most think the change was needed to the aging player. This update could be the start of more changes to come, after YouTube announced it will be selling keyword searches to users and businesses.

YouTube goes widescreen

Foxit PDF Reader 3.0 for Windows now works with Firefox

While Adobe may have been the driving force behind the PDF, Adobe Acrobat Reader has grown to be a bloated application which can take an excruciatingly long time to load. One of my favorite alternatives is Foxit Reader, which can open most PDF files in just a second or two, while providing many of the same features you'd expect from Adobe Acrobat Reader, like the ability to fill in text boxes or open password protected documents.

Last week the Foxit team released version 3.0, with a ton of updates. Possibly the most exiciting is a plugin for Firefox that lets you open documents in your web browser. Adobe has offered this feature for ages, but again, it often takes forever to load. To be honest, the Foxit plugin isn't exactly a speed demon. You may find it faster to download some files and open them in the desktop version of Foxit Reader. But it's nice to have the option of opening them in your browser.
Here are a few other new features:

• Thumbnail previews of each page
• Attachment panel shows list of files attached to a PDF and allows you to open, delete, or perform other actions on them
• The text select tool now also lets you add annotations like highlights, strikeout, or underline
• You can transfer your preference settings by copying an INI file
• New Foxit OnDemand Content Management add-on allows users to share and collaborate on documents online

You can find a complete list of updates in the Foxit 3.0 release notes.

Foxit PDF Reader 3.0 for Windows now works with Firefox - Download Squad

Carbon Dioxide Detected on Faraway World

Carbon dioxide, a potential fingerprint of life, has been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star.

However, the planet,

HD 189733b, is too hot to be habitable.

But the discovery nonetheless has scientists excited, because carbon dioxide is one of four chemicals that life can generate, so being able to detect it shows that astronomers have the ability to find the signs of life on other worlds.

"This is the first detection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet, which means that three of the Big Four biomarkers for habitable/inhabited worlds have now been seen: water, methane, and now carbon dioxide," explained Alan Boss, a planet-formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington who was not involved in the finding. "The only one that has not yet been detected is oxygen/ozone."

Boss told SPACE.com that the detections provide "proof of concept" for what astronomers would search for in looking at an Earth-like world. The detection of carbon dioxide, Boss said, was made with a low degree of resolving power, the sort that could be provided by NASA's planned Terrestrial Planet Finder.

HD 189733b is about 65 light-years away. It is a giant, gaseous world known as a "hot Jupiter" because it orbits very close to its host star.

The finding was made by Giovanna Tinetti from University College London, UK and her colleagues, according to an article in Nature News, an online publication of the journal Nature. The researchers measured the spectrum of light reflected from the planet's day side by using an interesting trick: They recorded the light of the planet and its star, then recorded it again when the planet was hidden behind the star. The difference revealed what light was coming from the planet, which is otherwise impossible to see as a distinct object because it is overwhelmed by the light of the star.

Astronomers aren't sure why HD 189733b has carbon dioxide. It could be that since it is so close to its star, intense radiation is breaking other chemicals down to create the gas, according to an article in the online edition of the magazine Science News.

The detection was made using the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. The results will be detailed in the Astrophysical Journal.

SPACE.com -- Carbon Dioxide Detected on Faraway World

Gordon Freeman receives crowbar, will defend raging Hadron

They found him! The Large Hadron Collider is now under the vigilant protection of the world's least communicative hero, Gordon Freeman. You have the folks at Reddit to thank for equipping him with an iconic weapon, originally intended as an ominous gift before the potentially apocalyptic Collider was fired up for the first time. We wish Gordon the best of luck as he trains in the fine art of bludgeoning parasitic creatures to a pulp.

He has until Spring 2009 (view his progress in this photo gallery) -- that's when the Collider is expected to stop being broken.

Gordon Freeman receives crowbar, will defend raging Hadron - Joystiq

Buried Glaciers Found on Mars

Mars has vast glaciers hidden under aprons of rocky debris near mid-latitude mountains, a new study confirms, pointing to a new and large potential reservoir of life-supporting water on the planet. 

These

mounds of ice exist at much lower latitudes than any ice previously found on the red planet.

"Altogether, these glaciers almost certainly represent the largest reservoir of water ice on Mars that's not in the polar caps," said John Holt of the University of Texas at Austin and the main author of the study. "Just one of the features we examined is three times larger than the city of Los Angeles and up to one-half-mile thick, and there are many more."

The gently sloping mid-latitude debris flows have puzzled scientists since they were revealed by NASA's Viking orbiters in the 1970s — they looked very different than the fans and cones of debris found near mountains and cliffs in Mars' equatorial regions.

Since their discovery, scientists have been debating how the features formed, with some proposing they were debris flows lubricated by ice that had since evaporated away. But more recent observations suggested that the features "might be more ice than rock," Holt said. In other words, they could be Martian glaciers.

Holt and his colleagues used radar observations of the features, taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), to peer into the features. The findings, detailed in the Nov. 21 issue of the journal Science, suggest that the glacier theory is correct.

Finding huge deposits of ice at the Martian mid-latitudes is a boon to both the study of past potential Martian habitability, as well as future human exploration. Glaciers are huge reservoirs of water once they melt, key to all life as we know it.

Radar echoes

The team used MRO's Shallow Radar instrument to penetrate the rocky debris flows that lie in the Hellas Basin region of Mars' southern hemisphere. They examined the radar echoes to see what lay beneath the surface. All signs pointed to ice, and lots of it.

The radar echoes received back by MRO indicated that radio waves passed through the overlying debris material and reflected off a deeper surface below without losing much strength — the expected signal for thick ice covered by a thin layer of debris.

The radar echoes also showed no signs of significant rock debris within the glaciers, suggesting that they are relatively pure water ice.

"These results are the smoking gun pointing to the presence of large amounts of water ice at these latitudes," said Ali Safaeinili, a Shallow Rader team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

How old?

The sheer amount of ice present in the flows studied was surprising; extrapolating from the Hellas Basin feature to the many others present in both Martian hemispheres, there seems to be a lot of ice hiding under the Martian surface.

The researchers estimate that the amount of ice in these mid-latitude glaciers is about 1 percent of the ice that's in Mars' polar caps — roughly equivalent to the ratio of Earth's non-polar glaciers to its polar ice, Holt told SPACE.com. The glaciers could hold as much as 10 percent of the ice in the polar caps, similar to comparing Greenland's ice sheets to Antarctica, Holt added.

But just how the ice got there is still a mystery.

"You shouldn't have ice of this quantity at these latitudes," Holt said.

The theory is that the ice formed when Mars' orbital tilt was much different than it is now (the axis the planet spins on has considerable "wobble," meaning its angle changes over time) and the planet was much colder, allowing ice to form on the surface.

Ice on the surface of Mars today would immediately sublimate (or change directly into the gas phase). The rocky debris covering the ice is likely what keeps it in place today and has allowed it to survive below the surface for millions of years.

Scientists aren't exactly sure during which past ice age the glaciers may have formed, but by counting the number of impact craters in the overlying debris, they estimate them to be about 100 million years old, said study team member Jim Head of Brown University in Providence, R.I.

Water source

These ancient glaciers could hold clues that would shed more light on Mars' past, particularly whether or not it ever harbored life.

"On Earth," Head said, "such buried glacial ice in Antarctica preserves the record of traces of ancient organisms and past climate history."

Ancient ice layers in glaciers on Earth preserve the signature of the current atmosphere at the time that they formed. Head thinks the same could be true of the Martian glaciers. In particular, small bubbles that form as the ice layers are deposited could have "samples of the atmosphere at that time," he said.

A lander capable of drilling down several meters could be able to sample the ice in the glaciers.

"These are quite accessible to landers," Holt said.

They could also be a source of water for any future manned Mars expeditions. (When the researchers travel to Antarctica, for instance, they simply knock off chunks of ice and melt them instead of lugging water with them.)

"It's a lot of ice," Holt said. "You could support a base for a long time."

SPACE.com -- Buried Glaciers Found on Mars

Google: Not Looking So Lively Anymore

Google terminates 3D virtual world; one of company's few outright failures

When it comes to Google, the company can seemingly do no wrong.  From Google Docs to its much-talked-about Chrome browser, the company seems to cover all the common sense bases.  It even showcases seemingly crazy applications like Google Flu Trends or Google Goggles (a program to stop you from sending drunken emails).

However, even a company as unusually successful as Google is bound to have a couple of failures in tough economy times such as these.  So, while it was a bit shocking when Google announced the death of its "Lively" online world, it should not be considered entirely unexpected. 

The free virtual environment was an intriguing experiment, but failed to garner mass support.  Users could download the beta of the program and create custom avatars and rooms they could invite other users to enter.  Unique locations such as Jen's coffee house and the Brasil Party room quickly popped up. 

However, despite the enthusiasm of some users, like many MMO (massively multiplayer online) efforts the problem of too few overall users could not be overcome.  Google announced that it would be pulling the plug on the beta of the Lively service December 31, 2008. 

No explanation was offered, but Google did thank users for their enthusiasm.

States the Lively homepage, humbly:

Thank you for sharing this experience with us. We've learned a lot about how users interact in rich social environments, and we hope you've enjoyed your time with Lively.

Many in the online community are left to ponder its sudden demise and what possible meaning it could have for Google.  Many share the same sentiment -- "Rest in peace, Lively, we hardly knew you."

DailyTech - Google: Not Looking So Lively Anymore

Netflix on Xbox 360 No Longer Streaming Sony Columbia Pictures Films

Talk about a case of bad timing. On the eve of the big launch for the New Xbox Experience -- which, remember, marks "a new dawn in home entertainment" -- we've learned that Netflix streaming won't have quite as many films available as we had been hoping. Joystiq learned earlier this evening that a number of films -- including both Ghostbusters and Bad Boys -- are now unavailable to be streamed to the Xbox 360. The common link between the suddenly unavailable flicks is that they are all from Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The films haven't disappeared from Netflix altogether; they are still available to be played on PCs and on TVs through other devices, making this seem like a petty move on Sony's part to try and take the wind out of Microsoft's sails.

As it turns out, it seems like this is simply a matter of licensing. Given that Sony BMG music is available through the Zune Marketplace and other Sony Pictures Entertainment movies are still available for streaming through Netflix to the 360, this might not be the proverbial middle finger that some assume it is.

MTV Multiplayer contacted Netflix and received a reply from their VP of corporate communications, Steve Swasey. He confirmed that these movies "are still available to be watched on subscribers' computers and on TVs via other partner devices, and we hope they?ll be licensed for Xbox 360 shortly." While he wouldn't comment on whether the timing is pure coincidence or if Sony put in a request to put this in motion, but he did say:

As watching instantly becomes a more prominent part of the Netflix service, our goal is to have all of our streaming content licensed for all of our partner devices. We're doing well in this area, but it will take some time before we fully achieve that goal. Today, titles regularly come in and out of license and there is a natural ebb and flow to what we have on license at any given point in time.

We contacted Microsoft to see what their take was on the situation and, as you'd expect, they declined to provide any comment, saying that it wasn't their comment to make.

What this all seems to comes down to are the intricacies of the licensing process to distribute streamable video.

What would be interesting to find out is what take those involved in the affected movies have on the situation. If this really is a simple petty quarrel between Sony and Microsoft, you can bet the cast and crews would be none too pleased. Should it really be a licensing problem, it's nothing short of one hell of a big coincidence. Without any proof, we can't go around pointing any fingers just yet. But if Sony happens to release PlayStation Home to the masses tomorrow, we might just have our answer.

Netflix on Xbox 360 No Longer Streaming Sony Columbia Pictures Films

'Stealing' Keys by Camera Proven Easy

Hide those keys. A quick camera phone picture could unlock your doors.

Scientists in California have developed a software algorithm that automatically creates a physical key based solely on a picture of one, regardless of angle or distance. The project, called Sneakey, was meant to warn people about the dangers of haphazardly placing keys in the open or posting images of them online.

"People will post pictures with their credit cards but with the name and number greyed out," said Stefan Savage, a professor at the University of California, San Diego who helped develop the software. "They should have the same sensitivity with their keys."

When Savage and his students searched online photo sharing Web sites, like Flickr, they easily found thousands of photos of keys with enough definition to replicate. A more social person could simply use their cell phone camera to snap a quick picture of stray keys on a table top.

For a more dramatic demonstration, the researchers set up a camera with a zoom lens 200 feet away. Using those photos, they created a working key 80 percent on their first try. Within three attempts they opened every lock.

Three attempts could take less than five minutes. The replication process is very easy. Once the researchers have the image it takes the software roughly 30 seconds to decode the ridges and grooves on the key. If the angle is off or the lighting is tricky it takes the computer take a little longer.

The longest part of the process, about one whole minute, is cutting the key.

"I think that this work would be really easy for someone else to reproduce," said Savage of his work. "Someone familiar with signal processing, mat lab, and image transformation could do it in two days if they are good."

Keys, as the researchers demonstrated, are actually fairly easy to decode. A majority of keys marketed to consumers are basically just four to six different numbers. Each number corresponds to a ridge or valley in the key. When inserted into a lock, the ridges and valleys lines up a series of small pins that lets the lock turn.

"The premise is that a key holds some kind of secret that lets you unlock something," said Savage. "But it's a very funny secret, its a secret that can easily be seen."

Creating a new key is easy enough that some locksmiths and security experts do it by sight alone. The locks the UCSD team broke were some of the most common in the country.

Marc Weber Tobias, an attorney and security expert who has been picking locks since he was a boy, says the UCSD project does a good job of underscoring the insecurity of conventional cylinder locks. But the idea of someone standing up to a mile away with high resolution camera and stealing keys with a shutter is small compared to the next generation of video cameras being installed.

"The real issue is the new digital video cameras shooting at 30 frames a second," said Tobias. "There are millions and millions of these cameras everywhere." If someone got their hands on sensitive parts of the video they could easily duplicate key sets.

Locksmiths, and the UCSD scientists won't use their talents or technology for ill-gotten gains. But not everyone is so ethical, and experts urge people to take physical security more seriously.

"This isn't the biggest security threat that you might face," said Savage. "But you should only take your keys out when you are going to use them."

'Stealing' Keys by Camera Proven Easy: Discovery News

Microsoft Announces Free Antivirus Software for H2 2009

Microsoft looks to take the fight to malware makers with its own free product

Microsoft has long annoyed security software makers over the last decade as it has rolled out free products which often offer a competitive alternative to competitor's packaged software free-of-charge.  Microsoft merely offered a decently competitive product for a much cheaper price -- free.

With its firewall and antispyware (Windows Defender) built into Vista, business for private firewall software already has taken a hit.  Now in a move that is sure to make Trend Micro, McAffee, Norton, and other security software makers lose sleep; Microsoft has announced that in 2009, it will offer free antivirus software.

To understand this new announcement, a quick trip down memory lane is in order. 

Microsoft first entered the antivirus software business in 1992 with its Microsoft Anti-Virus product, which it contracted to Central Point Inc. (later acquired by Symantec).  The software was designed for Microsoft DOS 6.0 through 6.22 and could detect an impressive 1,234 viruses.  Unfortunately, there were no updates available, though a 1996 pack brought the total up to 2,371 viruses.  Embarrassingly, the software though the Windows 95 installer file was a virus.

After the mixed reviews of Microsoft A-V, Microsoft left the business until 2005 when it released betas of Windows Live OneCare.  The suite combined antivirus software with a tune-up utility, a stronger firewall, and a file backup utility.  The bundle was made commercially available May 31, 2006.  Subsequent Live OneCare 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 have also hit the market since, with the 2.5 iteration debuting in July 3 of this year.

Arriving in the present, Microsoft has announced it is axing the subscription based antivirus software business and will offer its antivirus tools for free.  The new suite is codenamed "Morro" and will available in the second half of 2009.  Microsoft describes the software as a "streamlined solution" and states, "[Morro] will provide comprehensive protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans. This new solution, to be offered at no charge to consumers, will be architected for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs."

The latter portion appears to be a clear nod to Windows efforts to push for a leaner footprint from top-to-bottom, a major focus of Windows 7 (which has been subject to recent doubts).

Microsoft will discontinue the OneCare subscription service June 30, 2009, but customers should fret not -- they will soon receive virtually the same solution entirely for free.

Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management for the Online Services and Windows Division at Microsoft states, "Customers around the world have told us that they need comprehensive, ongoing protection from new and existing threats, and we take that concern seriously.  This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware."

Microsoft has acknowledged that the suite may not contain some of the extra non-security utilities such as tune up and printer sharing available in some commercial antivirus solutions.  However, when it comes to its core AV product it brags that its malware engine has garnered many awards already, including the VB100 award from Virus Bulletin, Checkmark Certification from West Coast Labs and certification from the International Computer Security Association Labs.  Microsoft has made great strides in security, besting a Mac machine and tying a Linux box at a recent hacker conference.

The new software will be available for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.  Microsoft plans to integrate it with the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser which features many security enhancements including the much talked about "Porn Mode".

DailyTech - Microsoft Announces Free Antivirus Software for H2 2009

NASA's interplanetary Internet tests a success, Vint Cerf triumphs again

NASA is reporting the first successful tests of its Deep Space Network modeled after Earth's own Internet. Instead of using TCP/IP, however, the interplanetary communication network relies upon DTN (Disruption-Tolerant Networking) co-developed by none other than Google's Vinton Cerf. As such, NASA's network does not assume a continuous end-to-end connection -- if a link is lost due to solar storms or a planetary eclipse, the communication node will store the information until the connection is re-established. So, what's the big deal you rightly ask, after all, we've been (purposely) transmitting data to and from space for a half-century. As Leigh Torgerson, manager of NASA's DTN Experiment Operations Center explains it:

"In space today, an operations team must manually schedule each link and generate all the commands to specify which data to send, when to send it, and where to send it. With standardized DTN, this can all be done automatically."

Testing of the Deep Space Network began in October with twice-weekly communications between NASA's Epoxi spacecraft (on a mission to rendezvous with Comet Hartley 2) and nine ground-based nodes meant to simulate Mars landers, orbiters, and operation centers. The International Space Station is scheduled to join the testing next summer. Although the nature of the data transmitted wasn't specified, we can only presume that it was laced with Google ads for Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong.

NASA's interplanetary Internet tests a success, Vint Cerf triumphs again - Engadget

USB 3.0 Specifications Now Complete and Available

USB 3.0 is one step closer to being included in our computers

It seems like everything uses USB today from cell phone chargers to keyboards, mice, printers, and cameras. What many really want are faster USB connections. USB 3.0 has been on the horizon for a while now and for a time the future of the specification and cross compatibility was unknown.

The USB 3.0 Promoters Group announced yesterday that the USB 3.0 specification was finally complete. The specification is a sort of roadmap that allows manufacturers to build controllers and products utilizing the USB 3.0 standard. The specification has now been turned over to the USB Implementers Forum, the managing body for USB specifications.

Members of the USB 3.0 promoters group including -- HP, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, ST-NXP, and Texas instruments -- have had a long road with accusations from non-forum members that it was keeping the completed specification from other manufacturers in order to give member companies a competitive edge in the market.

The accusations led AMD and NVIDIA to announce that they intended to begin work on their own open host controller for USB 3.0. This move was potentially catastrophic for USB 3.0 as different manufacturers would not have been able to guarantee compatibility across platforms for USB 3.0 devices.

USB-IF president and chairman Jeff Ravencraft said in a statement, "SuperSpeed USB is the next advancement in ubiquitous technology. Today’s consumers are using rich media and large digital files that need to be easily and quickly transferred from PCs to devices and vice versa. SuperSpeed USB meets the needs of everyone from the tech-savvy executive to the average home user."

The specification for USB 3.0 debuted at the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference in San Jose on November 17. Among the new improvements that USB 3.0 will bring are higher data speeds and enhanced power efficiency.

The first USB 3.0 discrete controllers will be available in the second half of 2009 and the first consumer products using USB 3.0 are expected to be available in 2010. The first products to be commercially available for the specification will be flash drives, external hard drives, and digital music players.

Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA went around and around in June with accusations over how complete the open host controller specifications for USB 3.0 were. AMD and NVIDIA claimed the specification was complete and Intel wasn't releasing it in an attempt to gain a competitive edge. Intel maintained that the specification wasn't complete and when it was complete, they would release it to other manufacturers.

This is what led AMD and NVIDIA to announce they were starting work on their own specification for USB 3.0 open host controller. Exactly how far the two firms went with their own specification was never announced. The competing specification was never made available and if the two firms did begin developing their own product and just haven’t released it yet, the project is certainly dead now. It's a safe bet that the first specification to market will be the standard for USB 3.0. An AMD source claimed that it was at work on its own specification in June.

DailyTech - USB 3.0 Specifications Now Complete and Available

Trailers - Star Trek

Star Trek - Trailer 2

From director J.J. Abrams (“Mission: Impossible III,” “Lost” and “Alias”) and screenwriters Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (“TRANSFORMERS,” “MI: III”) comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, “Star Trek,” featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no one has gone before.

Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine

Space Shuttle Endeavour to Launch Tonight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Seven NASA astronauts and the space shuttle Endeavour are poised to launch tonight on what they've called an extreme home improvement job at the International Space Station.

Endeavour is set to blast off at 7:55 p.m. EST (0055 Nov. 15 GMT) tonight from a seaside launch pad here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center hauling a cargo pod packed with new life support gear, including a

$250 million recycling system that turns astronaut urine into drinkable water.

"This mission is all about home improvement," said Endeavour commander Chris Ferguson. "Home improvement both inside and outside the space station."

Ferguson and his STS-126 crew are launching on a 15-day mission to install a new kitchen, bathroom, two spare bedrooms, an all-in-one exercise machine and the water recycling system to help boost station crew sizes up to six people next year.

Four spacewalks are also planned during the mission to clean and grease an ailing solar array joint so the outpost can generate more power.

"There comes a time to start doing maintenance," said Endeavour lead spacewalker Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper. "This is it, and we're ready to go."

Set to launch spaceward with Ferguson and Stefanyshyn-Piper are Endeavour pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Don Pettit, Steve Bowen, Shane Kimbrough and Sandra Magnus. Boe, Bowen and Kimbrough are making their first spaceflight.

Magnus is set for a longer mission than her crewmates and expects to spend almost four months in space as part of the station's three-person Expedition 18 crew. She'll replace fellow NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who has lived aboard the station since June.

Endeavour has a 70 percent chance of good launch weather for tonight's planned liftoff, with the potential for thick clouds and nearby rain showers posing the only threat. Those chances dwindle to just 30 percent on Saturday due to an approaching cold front, but should clear up on Sunday, said NASA shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters.

A launching shuttle can trigger lighting if it flies through thick storm clouds and NASA flight rules require clear weather around a nearby runway so the shuttle can land in an emergency.

Space station makeover

Ferguson and his crew have a tall order ahead to deliver their cargo pod Leonardo and its load of new station equipment.

The centerpiece of the new gear is the water recovery system, which will collect astronaut urine, wastewater and sweat condensed from the station's interior, then filter it through a seven-step process to produce clean water suitable for drinking, food preparation, bathing or other uses. The water can also feed into a U.S. oxygen generator, which uses electrolysis to separate water into breathable oxygen and hydrogen.

"I don't think there's ever been a closed loop system like the one that's on the [International Space Station]," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's station program manager.

Since the launch of its first module in 1998, the space station has grown in size and capability, Suffredini said. It requires more than the current three-person crews to keep its systems in order while continuing space science research, he added.

If it works as designed, the system should be able to recycle 93 percent of the water put into it - 85 percent of urine alone, said Bob Bagdigian, NASA's project manager for the station's environment control and life support system at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

If all goes well, the new system should complete its testing regime sometime around May, Bagdigian said. It's then that NASA and its international partners hope to launch the first six-person crew.

Endeavour's STS-126 mission is NASA's fourth shuttle flight of 2008 and the second this year slated for a nighttime launch. Of the 123 shuttle flights since 1981, about one-fourth have launched at night, NASA officials said.

"We're really excited to share our version of a sunrise with you tomorrow night," said NASA test director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. "Night launches are always special."

NASA will provide live webcast coverage of Endeavour's launch tonight on NASA TV beginning at 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT). Click here for SPACE.com's live mission coverage and NASA TV feed.

SPACE.com -- Space Shuttle Endeavour to Launch Tonight

ATI Catalyst 8.11

AMD's award-winning ATI Catalyst graphics and HD video configuration software delivers unprecedented control of performance and visual quality with ATI Radeon™ graphics processors. Certified by Microsoft® Windows® Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL), ATI Catalyst drivers for Windows Vista® and Windows® XP operating systems deliver stable performance and push the limits of innovation with advanced user-oriented features.

Precision controls for power users. Tweaks for gamers and video enthusiasts. Simple wizard-assisted setup, easy multi-monitor configuration, and ultra reliable operation for working professionals. New user or seasoned expert, ATI Catalyst puts you in charge of The Ultimate Visual Experience™.

Download: Download
Link: Homepage
View: Release Notes

ATI Catalyst 8.11

Battlefield Heroes beta in ceasefire until early '09

Get back behind the sandbags, soldier! No, not those, they're far too realistic. These, more cartoony bags are much better suited to protect your rounded corners and chiseled jaw while waiting for Electronic Arts to decide when Battlefield Heroes will roll onto the front lines. EA once more postponed the official release of its free-to-play shooter, while the closed beta will soon go dark until sometime next year.

James Salt, senior producer on Battlefield Heroes, broke the news on the game's website, writing that the beta will close down Friday night at 6pm CET so the team can focus on "polishing the backend." In the meantime, we expect many brokenhearted, animated grenadiers to keep polishing their oversized rifles until early 2009.

Battlefield Heroes beta in ceasefire until early '09 - Joystiq

Major Breakthrough: First Photos of Planets Around Other Stars

Astronomers have taken what they say are the first-ever direct images of planets outside of our solar system, including a visible-light snapshot of a single-planet system and an infrared picture of a multiple-planet system.

Earth-like worlds might also exist in the

three-planet system, but if so they are too dim to photograph. The other newfound planet orbits a star called Fomalhaut, which is visible without the aid of a telescope. It is the 18th brightest star in the sky.

The massive worlds, each much heftier than Jupiter (at least for the three-planet system), could change how astronomers define the term "planet," one planet-hunter said.

Breakthrough technology

Until now, scientists have inferred the presence of planets mainly by detecting an unseen world's gravitational tug on its host star or waiting for the planet to transit in front of its star and then detecting a dip in the star's light. While these methods have helped to identify more than 300 extrasolar planets to date, astronomers have struggled to actually directly image and see such inferred planets.

The four photographed exoplanets are discussed in two research papers published online today by the journal Science.

"Every extrasolar planet detected so far has been a wobble on a graph. These are the first pictures of an entire system," said Bruce Macintosh, an astrophysicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and part of the team that photographed the multi-planet system in infrared light. "We've been trying to image planets for eight years with no luck and now we have pictures of three planets at once."

Astronomers have claimed previously to have directly imaged a planet, with at least two such objects, though not everybody agreed the objects were planets. Instead, they may be dim, failed stars known as brown dwarfs.

Multi-planet snapshots

Macintosh, lead researcher Christian Marois of the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Canada, and colleagues used the Gemini North telescope and W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii's Mauna Kea to obtain infrared images. Infrared radiation represents heat and, along with everything from radio waves to visible light and X-rays, is part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The trio of worlds orbits a star named HR 8799, which is about 130 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus and about 1.5 times as massive as the sun. The planets are located at distances from their star of 24, 38 and 68 astronomical units (AU). (An astronomical unit equals the average Earth-sun distance of 93 million miles, or about 150 million km.) Other planet-finding techniques work out to only about 5 AU from a star.

The planet closest to the star weighs in at 10 times the mass of Jupiter, followed by another 10 Jupiter-mass planet and then, farther out, a world seven times the heft of Jupiter.

By astronomical standards, the planets are fresh out of the oven, forming about 60 million years ago. That means the orbs are still glowing from heat leftover from their formation. Earth, by comparison, is about 4.5 billion years old.

The most distant planet orbits just inside a disk of dusty debris, similar to that produced by the icy objects of the solar system's Kuiper belt, which lies just beyond the orbit of Neptune.

The setup of this planetary system, along with its dusty belt, suggests it is a scaled-up version of our solar system, Macintosh said. That means other planets closer in to the host star could be waiting for discovery.

"I think there's a very high probability that there are more planets in the system that we can't detect yet," Macintosh said. "One of the things that distinguishes this system from most of the extrasolar planets that are already known is that HR 8799 has its giant planets in the outer parts — like our solar system does — and so has 'room' for smaller terrestrial planets, far beyond our current ability to see, in the inner parts."

Hubble's discovery

University of California, Berkeley, astronomer Paul Kalas led the team of astronomers who took the visible-light snapshot of the single-planet system. The exoplanet has been named Fomalhaut b, and is estimated to weigh no more than three Jupiter masses.

The Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys was used to make the image. The camera is equipped with a coronagraph that blocks out the light of the host star, allowing astronomers to view a much fainter planet.

"It's kind of like if driving into the sun and suddenly you flip down your visor, you can see the road easier," Kalas said during a telephone interview. In fact, Fomalhaut b is 1 billion times fainter than its star. "It's not easy to see. That kind of sensitivity has never been seen before," he added.

Fomalhaut b is about 25 light-years from Earth. Photos taken in 2004 and 2006 show the planet's movement over a 21-month period and suggest the planet likely orbits its star Fomalhaut every 872 years at a distance of 119 astronomical units (AU), or 11 billion miles (nearly 18 billion km). That's about four times the distance between Neptune and the sun.

Kalas suspected the planet's existence in 2004 (published in 2005) after Hubble images he had taken revealed a dusty belt that had a sharp inner edge around Fomalhaut. The sculpted nature of the ring suggested a planet in an elliptical orbit was shaping the belt's inner edge. And it was.

"The gravity of Fomalhaut b is the key reason that the vast dust belt surrounding Fomalhaut is cleanly sculpted into a ring and offset from the star," Kalas said. "We predicted this in 2005, and now we have the direct proof."

Kalas' team also suspects that the planet could be surrounded by a ring system with the dimensions of Jupiter's early rings, before the dust and debris coalesced into the four Galilean moons.

What's a planet?

The successful image results could change how planets are defined, said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at MIT who was not involved in the discoveries.

Until now, mass has been one of the critical pieces of information that could place an object into or out of the planet club. Objects that are too massive, above about 13 Jupiter masses, are considered brown dwarfs. But now formation could also be part of the formula. Both of the new planetary systems revealed dusty disks and suggest the planets must have formed similar to how planets in our solar system and elsewhere are thought to have formed.

So, most astronomers would call the four objects planets, although their masses are only inferred from the luminosities seen in the images.

"Taken together, these discoveries are going to change what we call a planet," Seager told SPACE.com. "Until now people have been arguing about how big can an object be and still be a planet."

Seager added, referring to the multi-planet system, "People want to call the upper mass 12 Jupiter masses. I think it's going to force us to reconsider what a planet is, because even if they are more massive than what we want to call a planet, they're in a disk." In addition, she said, nobody has ever spotted three stars orbiting a host star, as would have to be the case if you were to call the three planets something other than planets.

Aiming for Earth-like planets

These recent direct images reveal giant, gaseous exoplanets in a new light for the first time, revealing not the effects of the planets but the planets themselves. The next goal would be direct images of an Earth-like planet, the astronomers say.

"The discovery of the HR 8799 system is a crucial step on the road to the ultimate detection of another Earth," Macintosh said.

The problem is that terrestrial (Earth-like) planets are orders of magnitude fainter than the giant Jupiter-like worlds, and they are much closer in to their host stars. That means the glare from the star would be overwhelming with today's technology.

The pay-off could be big, though, as such rocky planets could orbit within their habitable zones (where temperatures would allow the existence of liquid water).

"There is plenty of empty space between Fomalhaut b and the star for other planets to happily reside in stable orbits," Kalas said. "We'll probably have to wait for the James Webb Space Telescope to give us a clear view of the region closer to the star where a planet could host liquid water on the surface."

SPACE.com -- Major Breakthrough: First Photos of Planets Around Other Stars

Microsoft bolsters PC gaming with new Games for Windows Live

Many gamers are critical of the slow pace at which Microsoft has implemented its plans to bolster PC gaming. The company seems to talk the talk on the matter, but exclusive releases of Xbox 360 software and an Xbox-centric focus from its game division suggests that it isn't walking the walk. Today however, the company's campaign aimed at bettering the PC gaming landscape has finally culminated in the release of the new Games for Windows Live service, which is now available to those who own Games for Windows-compatible software.

Ars was given an exclusive first look at the revamped service back in August. "If you look at how we design the service end-to-end, we learned from that last year of usability," Kevin Unangst, global director of Windows gaming, told Ars. "Gamers wanted the interface to be more Windows-like. It should be easy to navigate with a mouse and keyboard; it should look like a Windows application."

The new interface is more tightly integrated into the games, making it not only more pleasing to the eye, but also more functional. Improved speed of the interface and improved access to the various community features of the Live platform make the new interface a vast improvement over the old one.

There are a number of benefits to the new Games for Windows Live interface—some that make the system even better than the new Xbox dashboard. The keyboard and mouse have a significant impact on the interface design: users can easily click through menu tiers and type messages to friends directly, without the cumbersome and slow interface for text input on the 360.

Of course, the real selling point here is that the Games for Windows Live service is now free. This development came about back in July of this year, as Microsoft looked to respond to the increasing amount of negativity surrounding the PC gaming platform. With no subscription fee and a new interface both now in effect, Microsoft is hopeful that PC gamers will get on board with the company's offerings.

To that end, the company is touting its PC gaming platform with a number of high-profile titles under the Games for Windows umbrella alongside the launch of the new interface. Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as James Bond 007: Quantum of Space, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, Red Faction: Guerrilla, and Battlestations: Pacific are among the significant titles compatible with the new platform.

With this stage of the update now live, Microsoft is moving forward with plans to release a standalone client for the service, which will allow users to download games and interact with both their Games for Windows and Xbox 360 friends through the streamlined Windows application. No release date has been announced for the standalone client as of yet, but it will likely coincide with the release of the Games for Windows Live Marketplace.

The Marketplace, which will position Microsoft to compete with digital distribution services like Steam and Greenhouse, is set to go live in the next few weeks. In addition to downloadable titles, the Marketplace will also feature downloadable content for the supported games, just as the Xbox Live Marketplace does for Xbox games. Bethesda, creators of Fallout 3, is one studio that intends to support the Marketplace when it launches with premium content for its recently-released RPG.

Given that there is no longer a subscription fee attached to Games for Windows Live, PC gamers really don't have much of a reason to fuss about the system. In some ways, the developments actually make the platform attractive—especially for those of us who have friends with Xbox 360 consoles, as well. If Microsoft can come forward with a strong initial offering for the Games for Windows Live Marketplace and continue to corral high-profile titles for the service, Live could very well gain some footing quickly in the PC gaming space.

Microsoft bolsters PC gaming with new Games for Windows Live

AMD Announces "Shanghai" Availability

Shanghai is set to erase "Barcelona" memories

The once gleaming AMD name was tarnished in many minds when the company launched its Barcelona CPUs. Barcelona was plagued from the start with poor performance and poor availability leading many to jump the AMD fence for the greener pastures offered by Intel.

AMD announced today that its Shanghai quad-core Opteron processors are now available. The new Shanghai platform is optimized for virtualization, live migration capability, and promises up to a 40% improvement in virtualization performance.

In addition to improved virtualization performance, AMD also says that the new 45nm Shanghai parts will deliver up to 35% more performance and up to a 35% decrease in power consumption at idle.

AMD senior vice president for Computing Solutions Group Randy Allen said in a statement, "Flawless execution in bringing the 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor to market early results in new performance leadership on x86 servers. In concert with our OEM and solution provider partners, AMD is addressing the need for enterprises to focus on their bottom line while giving them the innovations they need to build for the future.

“This enhanced AMD Opteron processor represents the most dramatic performance and performance-per-watt increases for AMD products since the introduction of the world’s first x86 dual-core processors by AMD nearly four years ago. Simply put, the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor is the right technology at the right time.”

It's important to note that Shanghai isn’t a completely new architecture and is more a refresh of Barcelona, which was a 65nm CPU. Processors available today include 75-watt Shanghai parts running at clock speeds from 2.3GHz to 2.7GHz. All of the CPUs have a much larger 6MB L3 cache to support memory-intensive applications like Java and virtualization.

The chips support DDR2-800 memory, which AMD says is more energy efficient than fully buffered RAM. AMD also has enhancements to the AMD Direct Connect Architecture with coherent HyperTransport 3.0 technology in the pipeline for Q2 2009. The update will provide up to 17.6GB/s of bandwidth for processor-to-processor communications.

The new Shanghai parts that AMD launched today are not the last coming in the line. In Q1 2009 AMD will launch a 55-watt Opteron and a SE 105-watt part. Many sever makers will be offering servers using the new 75-watt Opteron parts starting today, one of which is HP.

HP's Paul Gottsegen, VP of marketing for Industry Standard Servers said in a statement, "Customers can drive down costs through new Shanghai-based HP ProLiant servers that set new levels of power efficiency and performance. HP has experienced unparalleled success over the past four years working with AMD in bringing AMD Opteron processor-based platforms to customers of all sizes. Early results indicate Shanghai is a winner."

CNET News reports that AMD also has a new desktop platform codenamed Dragon on the roadmap for Q1 2009. Dragon will use 45nm Shanghai desktop CPUs in conjunction with AMD 700 Series chipsets and ATI Radeon HD 4000 graphics. Whether or not the Shanghai-based Dragon platform can compete with Intel's new Core i7 X58 chipset duo remains to be seen, it's good to see AMD trying to mount a comeback. AMD is working hard to prevent another plagued launch like it executed for Barcelona.

DailyTech - AMD Announces "Shanghai" Availability

Hyperion mini nuclear reactors to supply enough cheap power for a small town

We've been hearing talk of mini-sized nuclear reactors for a year or longer, but now it looks like Hyperion is actually starting to build them. The hot tub-sized fission nukes, each capable of cranking out 25 megawatts of clean power (enough to run 20,000 homes), will use what's called "low-enriched" uranium fuel.

The $25 million mini-nukes, also called "nuclear batteries," will have no moving parts, and will be sealed up in a cask that's buried deep underground, operating without the need for human intervention for five years at a time. They're going to be cost-effective, too — in a 10,000-home community it would cost about $2,500 per home served. Many homeowners spend that much on energy in a year. If this happens, that'll be some cheap power.

The company says it's already begun construction of the first 4,000 units in three factories, with the initial 100 destined for industrial use in remote locations. Good thing "hype" is part of the company's name, because selling this idea to an illogical, radiation-terrified U.S. population is going to be a public relations and marketing nightmare.

DVICE: Hyperion mini nuclear reactors to supply enough cheap power for a small town

New Nanomaterial is Just What the Doctor Ordered for Medical Implants

Revolutionary material could offer clean, non-rejected implants of artificial organs or monitoring devices

Breakthroughs in medical science are almost always welcomed by the millions of people around the world that suffer from numerous illnesses and diseases.  The cutting edge cardiovascular implants and treatments, the tiny blood sugar monitoring devices, and advanced medical scans and tests are just some of miracles yielded by these kinds of breakthroughs that save lives yearly.

Now researchers at NC State have achieved a significant medical breakthrough of their own, devising perhaps the safest and most effective material for implants to date.

The challenge of designing implants is two-fold.  First, implants naturally tend to create inflammatory responses, as the human body's immune system is designed to attack foreign objects.  This can lead to the device being walled off, or rejected completely.  It can also put severe stress on the patient's body.

The second challenge is dealing with the deluge of proteins floating around the body.  Past implant materials, even if they could minimize inflammation, experienced a buildup of body proteins, which clogged any sensors.

In the new study researchers discovered that a special nanomaterial -- nanoporous ceramic membranes -- can fix these problems.  Dr. Roger Narayan, an associate professor in the joint biomedical engineering department of NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, devised the method and says the membrane can "create an interface between human tissues and medical devices that is free of protein buildup".

The material should allow previously unfeasible implants to reach the market.  The most pressing application of this tech will likely be to offer new dialysis devices.  Other potential applications contain blood glucose sensor implants for diabetics and artificial hemo-dialysis membranes that can scrub impurities from the blood.

The study is the first one to look at the biological and physical properties of nanoporous membranes in-depth.  The researchers were somewhat surprised to discover that the material was not rejected by the body.  However, the team's hand in the new research is unsurprising as Dr. Narayan is a pioneer in the field of nanoporous ceramic membranes.

Also contributing to the study were materials science engineering doctoral students Ravi Aggarwal and Wei Wei; NC State postdoctoral research associate Dr. Chunming Jin; Dr. Nancy Monteiro-Riviere, professor of investigative dermatology and toxicology at NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine and the Center for Chemical Toxicology Research and Pharmacokinetics; and Rene Crombez and Dr. Weidian Shen of Eastern Michigan University.

The new research will is published in a special issue of the journal Biomedical Materials.

DailyTech - New Nanomaterial is Just What the Doctor Ordered for Medical Implants

Google Predicts the Flu

Getting sick? Google knew you were going to...

If there's one Silicon Valley firm that's wildly creative it's Google.  Sure Microsoft might make all encompassing OS's and miss few details, Nintendo may make intuitive gaming devices, and Apple may make the most chic portable electronics, but these companies fall short of Google in terms of sheer zaniness of some of their ideas.

Perhaps it’s the playpens of multi-colored balls, or maybe something in the water, but ideas that anyone else would think of as crazy, Google not only listens to -- it goes for on a continual basis.  A perfect example was Google Goggles, a new Gmail API aimed at preventing you from drunk emailing.

Now the realm of weird, but strangely useful Google Apps has another addition -- Google Flu Trends.  Google Flu Trends is an initiative of Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm.

The device's base mechanic is either brilliant or invasive.  It tracks user searches of topics such as "flu symptoms" or "muscle aches" by location.  By aggregating this data and correlating it to location, Google Flu Trends develops maps of where flu outbreaks are occurring.

How accurate is Google Flu Trends?  On average, it has begun to pick up outbreaks a couple weeks before the Centers For Disease Control, the critical government organization tasked with tracking disease, can.  Considering the amount of medical data in the hands of the CDC and its vast funding, Google Flu Trends' superior accuracy is yet another impressive or perhaps scary testament to Google's power and all-seeing eye.

The new site has the potential to save lives as the flu still kills many elderly people and those with compromised immune systems yearly.  By identifying outbreak zones, hand washing protocols can be emphasized, public awareness campaigns can be carried out, and people can take supplements geared towards strengthening the immune system.

Google is diligently sharing its reports with the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the Influenza Division at CDC, perhaps to the Center's chagrin. 

If you want to check them out for yourself, you can head over to the main site.

What will Google dream up next?  It's hard to say, but nothing seems impossible for the Swiss-Army knife-like company.

DailyTech - Google Predicts the Flu

Sixth Annual Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity Launches

"It's time to be amazing again people."

So says Penny Arcade's Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, in a post announcing the official launch of the 2008 Child's Play Charity. As in years past, gamers (and anyone with a generous heart) can head over to the Child's Play website, pick the children's hospital of their choice (from a list spanning six countries), and either purchase new videogames and toys from Amazon.com to be sent to the hospitals, or donate money directly via PayPal.

Started in 2003, Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity is now in its sixth year. In 2007 alone, it generated over $1.3 million dollars in toys and donations, and this year's charity is already off to a strong start with over $100,000 donated so far. In addition to the standard donations of toys, videogames, and cash, Penny Arcade will also once again host their annual charity dinner auction, which will be held in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle on December 9. Additional details and ticket sales for the dinner will be made available within the next week.

Noting the harsh state of the economy, Krahulik went on to mention in his post that even the smallest donations can make a difference. "I wanted to make sure you knew that even giving a couple dollars to Child's Play helps out," he said. "Trust me when I tell you that it all adds up [...] You guys have never ceased to amaze me with your generosity and I'm sure 2008 will be no different."

Sixth Annual Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity Launches

Vigorous New Space Exploration Plan to be Proposed

Look for the Planetary Society to hold a National Press Club briefing in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 13, outlining "a vigorous new space exploration plan" – one designed "to achieve more, cost less, and engage the world."

The plan draws from town hall meetings, as well as a two-day workshop held in February at Stanford University that put NASA's

Vision for Space Exploration not only under a microscope but also on-notice.

The soon-to-be-issued roadmap was blueprinted "with an eye to the world's current economic situation," according to the Planetary Society, and touches on:

• the driving goal for human spaceflight;
• the future of the lunar program;
• renewed commitment to Earth observations from space;
• and possible new human mission objectives.

The carefully folded roadmap is to be presented to the Obama Administration and Congress.

Sure to be spotlighted in this week's press briefing is whether the Moon as a dead world is a dead end. Are there other publicly engaging milestones on the road to Mars, such as gravitationally stable Lagrangian points in the Earth-Sun system, the near-Earth asteroids and the Martian moon Phobos?

Also likely to be heard is that the Obama White House needs to hear a forceful message from a post-election NASA that Earth science is a critical part of the space agency's mission – something that has been lost in the current Vision for Space Exploration.

SPACE.com -- Vigorous New Space Exploration Plan to be Proposed

Circuit City Files Chapter 11

Closing 155 of its retail locations wasn't enough to prevent bankruptcy for Circuit City

The state of the global economy and that of the U.S. economy are making things difficult on many companies in the U.S. as sales fall and credit terms tighten. Consumer electronics retailers and computer manufacturers are among the companies that are feeling much of the economic pressure.

One of the biggest retailers to find itself in a serious economic crunch is Circuit City. The consumer electronics retailer announced today that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect itself from creditors after cash flow problems began to prevent it from completing its turnaround efforts.

The bankruptcy filing is far from the first sign that the electronics retailer was suffering. Circuit City announced just last week that it was closing 155 of its stores across America. The massive store closures would eliminate 17% of Circuit City's U.S. workforce.

Reuters reports that out of the last six quarters Circuit City has reported a loss in five of them. The consumer electronics leader is Best Buy followed closely by Wal-Mart according to Reuters. Losing the competition posed by Circuit City in the markets where its stores are closing would at a glance seem to be a good thing for other consumer electronics retailers.

However, Circuit City is having massive liquidation sales at the closing locations that could prove to be a big problem for Best Buy – at least in the short term. In the beginning stages of the liquidation sales discounts at Circuit City are said to be at least 30%. As time goes by and the stores get nearer to closing, the discounts will only get bigger. The discounted merchandise could pull important holiday shoppers from the more stable electronics retailers into closing Circuit City stores.

Analyst Dan Binder from Jefferies & Co told Reuters, "Longer term, you've got Best Buy, who's dominant in the sector, taking share. But in the short run it could feel the pain of the liquidation activity."

Filings from Circuit City for Chapter 11 showed the company had $3.4 billion in assets and $2.32 billion in debt as of August 31 with more than 100,000 creditors. Circuit City first started to consider closing stores in October. At the time the Wall Street Journal reported that the closing of the stores was an attempt to stave off Chapter 11.

Only a few weeks later Circuit City announced on November 3 its plans for closing the 155 stores across the country. A big factor in the decision to file Chapter 11 was the fact that Circuit Creditors had tightened credit terms extended to the retailer considerably. Some creditors were even requiring upfront payments before shipping goods.

Circuit City CFO Bruce Besanko wrote in a court filing, "In large part, a Chapter 11 filing is due to three factors, all of which contributed to a liquidity crisis that prevented the company from completing its turnaround goals outside of formal proceedings: erosion of vendor confidence, decreased liquidity and a global economic crisis."

Best Buy had said previously that it would consider taking over locations that rivals closed. There is no word from Best Buy on whether it will take over any of the Circuit City stores that are closing.

DailyTech - Circuit City Files Chapter 11

Microsoft to Release Windows 7 Release Mid '09, Reveals Vista Improvement Program

Windows 7 is set to drop mid-year 2009, says Microsoft

At Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), an important yearly event for the tech giant, new hardware details on the upcoming Windows 7 weren't the only revelation that Microsoft had in store.  Perhaps the most significant development of the conference came as a minor clarification -- Microsoft set a solid timeframe for when it plans to release Windows 7, barring unforeseen problems.

Originally, speculation was that Microsoft might field a Windows Vista successor in 2011 or 2012 as there was over 5 years between the release of Windows XP and Windows Vista.  However, with less than glowing reception of Vista, largely due to poor hardware partner support and a large footprint, Microsoft stepped up its efforts to launch its new Windows OS, which would set right the places where Vista went wrong.

Early this year, 2010 was what some Microsoft executives were saying to expect for a release date.  However, as the year progressed, Microsoft's top executives became increasingly optimistic that the OS could be delivered in late 2009.  Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer first floated the possibility of a 2009 release earlier this year.

Microsoft director Doug Howe showed slides in a WinHEC presentation that all but confirmed a 2009 release -- and even earlier than expected.  His slides stated that Microsoft will be releasing Windows 7 mid-year, in time to be included on the machines to be sold during the holiday buying season.  Mr. Howe stated, "Definitely the holiday focus is going to be on 7."
Also revealed by Mr. Howe were more details on Microsoft's secretive Velocity program aimed at improving Windows Vista PC quality.  The program, according to Microsoft, will run through next spring, conveniently terminating at about the time that Windows 7 will be preparing to ship.

The new program was initially only open to select computer manufacturers, but will now be opened to select software and hardware partners as well.  The basic premise is that the partners will have to engineer their products to work optimally with Vista and will have to undergo rigorous certification testing.  Partners will benefit from the good publicity, and Mr. Howe revealed in a slide that Microsoft might do some advertising for their products first-hand.

No list of the criteria was given, but one of the criteria, confirmed by Mr. Howe, was the ability to boot Windows Vista and have it ready to run within 50 seconds.  Many of the Velocity-certified machines boot significantly faster than this, according to Mr. Howe, but Microsoft wanted to set a widely obtainable goal.

After the debacle of Microsoft's "Vista Capable" program, which saw the company's stickers placed on underpowered bargain machines clearly not Vista ready, Velocity is both an effort on Microsoft's part to show that it's turned over a new leave and an effort to overall improve Vista machine quality.  The program launched in July 2007.

The program targeted the sluggish system performance that was plaguing many Windows Vista machines.  Originally intended as a three month program, it was extended far past the planned termination, due to Microsoft realizing there was still much work to be done.  In particular the program aims to speed up the time it takes for Vista computers to start up, shut down, sleep, and wake up.  Other goals include that all the hardware and software is completely compatible with Vista, as compatibility is a perennial trouble-spot or Vista.

Microsoft's labs in Redmond, Wash. are in charge of the Velocity testing.

Overall, Windows observers should be able to appreciate that Microsoft sincerely seems to be trying to improve the OS.  However, what it can't improve like memory and processing footprint, should be remedied with the release of Windows 7, which has now been all but confirmed for mid next year.   

One last interesting note -- Microsoft previously stated that it would release Vista's Service Pack 2 before Windows 7 -- so that means that if it sticks with this plan, Vista SP2 is likely coming in Spring of 2009.  Stay tuned for more details on that one.

DailyTech - Microsoft to Release Windows 7 Release Mid '09, Reveals Vista Improvement Program

Atari Officially Picks Up Ghostbusters

Confirming earlier comments by actor Dan Aykroyd, Atari today announced it will be publishing Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

"Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a fantastic addition to Atari's global line-up in 2009," said Phil Harrison, President of Atari parent Infogrames Entertainment. "The title has built considerable anticipation and excitement among game fans for its high quality action and all-out mayhem. There's no more thrilling Ghostbusting experience to be had, short of building your own proton pack."

 

Ghostbusters was originally a Vivendi Games-published title, but that company dropped the game following the Activision merger. Earlier, Atari signed The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, also originally on Vivendi's schedule.

In development at Terminal Reality (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) and Red Fly (Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS) and featuring the likeness and voices of the original movie actors, Ghostbusters will be released some time in 2009.

Atari Officially Picks Up Ghostbusters - Shacknews

Rocks That Capture CO2

Often it turns out that nature is way ahead of us. Scientists at Columbia University discovered that a type of rock found in Oman, New Guinea, California and other places is able to capture vast quantities of CO2.

Peridotite rocks produce calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate (both solids) when they come in contact with CO2. Researchers discovered that these rocks in the Omani desert naturally absorb 10,000 to 100,000 tons of CO2 a year.

While taking rocks to the CO2 would be expensive, CO2 could be brought to these rocks. Scientists believe that they could bore into the ground and inject water containing CO2. The CO2 would immediately produce calcium and magnesium carbonate and be permanently stored in the rock.

Successful tests have already been completed and the scientists want to try it on a larger scale. This type of CO2 capture seems more feasible and safer than many other options and it harnesses an already-occurring, natural process.

Rocks That Capture CO2 | EcoGeek - Clean Technology

Obama Pushes Ambitious Tech Agenda; Tops on List: Privacy, Fast Net

Obama is recruiting a transition team of former tech executives will help to push his vision of low-cost, fast, private internet

President-elect Barack Obama has an ambitious and comprehensive national agenda that seeks to put into effect many initiatives and changes.  To assist him in implementing this vision, he is recruiting top leaders to his transition team, which will prepare his plans and flesh out his plans, and ready them for proposal to the new House and Senate.

Top on Obama's agenda are many technology-related efforts.  President-elect Obama is no stranger to technology and has said that he wants more expansive protection of users rights to online privacy, a stance which surely runs counter to the RIAA, MPAA, and other groups' aggressive litigation efforts.  Also on the list are plans to free up unused government spectrum for public use.  Obama during his presidential campaign referred several times to the White Space, a section of the spectrum which Google and Microsoft have been lobbying for the government to free up.

Finally, Obama wants to fight bandwidth caps and mandate faster internet from internet service providers.  He is concerned of what he sees as a trend among companies like AT&T and Time Warner to give the customer less for more.

Among those whom Obama has recruited for his team are Google.org's Sonal Shah and Julius Genchowski, a former IAC executive.  Both individuals bring with them diverse and varied backgrounds to the table.

Sonal Shah is a part of Google's global development team.  She also served as a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs and Co. in the environmental protection department.  She is the founder of Indicorps, a U.S.-based non-profit organization offering one-year fellowships for Americans of Indian origin to work on specific development projects in India.  She's an expert on a diverse range of tech topics and an expert in global trade and the internet.

She also has government experience, serving in the Department of Treasury in a variety of roles, working in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Julius Genachowski, an executive with Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, likewise has government experience.  He worked with the Federal Communications Commission as chief counsel to former Democratic Chairman Reed Hundt.  He has been advising Obama on tech issues as is chairing the President-elect's Tech & Innovation Plan.

The pair first met in Harvard Law School, and he has helped sway Obama into making tech a focus of the campaign.  Mr. Genachowski is pushing for laws that would ban ISPs from slowing, blocking, or placing other controls on internet content over their networks, a plan tentatively approved by President-elect Obama.  The proposal has drawn harsh criticism from ISPs who argue that place limits on what their customers receive is critical to their business.

Rick Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel, says Mr. Genachowski is the perfect advocate with the technical know-how and desire to represent the average American, and the perfect leader for Obama's team.  Mr Whitt states, "Julius is a true believer in the power of technology to change lives and I think that bodes well for the Obama administration that someone like him is part of the transition team."

Both advisers eschew the traditional lobbyist background that many of the advisers from the past several administrations had hailed from.  Supporters say that this is a sign that Obama-administration really is about change, including in the tech industry.  With his party in firm control of the new House and Senate, barring a conservative filibuster, it looks like he may be able to pass through some impressive legislation which will protect citizens' rights on the internet.

DailyTech - Obama Pushes Ambitious Tech Agenda; Tops on List: Privacy, Fast Net