In the wake of the passing of Neil Armstrong, many people have expressed sadness at the fact that the Apollo lunar missions were so long ago, and that soon there will be no one left alive who actually went to the moon. Randall Munroe of xkcd addressed that concept some time ago. It’s time we remembered -or got to know- the only twelve people who ever walked on a body other than planet Earth.
via Read More → "The 12 men who walked on the moon"

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has already fired its laser over 500 times as it studies its surroundings as engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) calibrate its sensors. In a classic example of “waste not, want not” Curiosity concentrated its activity on a patch of rocks that were uncovered by the rocket backwash of the sky crane that delivered the unmanned explorer to the Martian surface on  … Read More → "Curiosity’s ChemCam passes first tests with flying colors"

The Emotiv brain-computer interface was designed to let users control their computers with their thoughts alone, opening up a new avenue for hands-free computing as well as a potential means for those with disabilities to communicate through machines. So much for good intentions. Scientists at the University of California and the University of Oxford in Geneva have devised a way to steal a user’s sensitive information–account numbers, PIN numbers, etc.–via Emotiv’ … Read More → "How to steal personal data from someone’s brain, using a $300 off-the-shelf brain scanner"

After announcing it would take a ‘fresh look’ at the ban of using electronic devices during takeoff and landing, the FAA has just announced that it’ll be forming a new committee to study, analyze and reconsider the issue. That means there’s a very good possibility that we’ll be able to use our electronic devices whenever the hell we want when we’re on a plane.
via Gizmodo

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When you’re left-handed, you do learn to live with all the subtle little reminders that the world is designed for the right-handed majority. They’re everywhere, and they’re especially pervasive when it comes to PCs and related products.

Consider the evidence:

• Things like power buttons and disk-drive eject buttons are usually on the right side, so they’re easy to reach with your right index finger.
• Laptop optical drives are usually on the right side of the case.
• Numeric keypads? Right side. Always, … Read More → "Confessions of a left-handed technology user"

“I fully expected that, by the end of the century, we would have achieved substantially more than we actually did,” lamented original moonwalker Neil Armstrong, who passed away at the age of 82 last week. Implicit to his lament is the rather unsettling question of why — what is it that has held mankind back?

That’s precisely what the … Read More → "Richard Feynman on the role of scientific culture in modern society"

Moleskine has teamed up with mobile phone app Evernote to create a ‘smart notebook’.

Called the ‘Evernote Smart Notebook’, the limited edition notebook has features that let you digitize your scribbled pages—and was designed specifically for the new Evernote iOS app.

One of the features include special dotted patterns on the pages. With the patterns, the … Read More → "Moleskine teams up with Evernote to create ‘Smart Notebook’"

When it comes to choosing a location for a startup, many entrepreneurs head for the hills of Silicon Valley or a few other tech hubs across the country. Oftentimes this happens because of the perception that a high-tech startup must be located in a traditional urban “high tech hub” in order to be considered legitimate. However, remaining in your original hometown may actually be a better practice for business success, according to a recent study from the Yale School of Management. The study, from Olav Sorenson and Michael Dahl, suggests that startups that remain within … Read More → "Forget Silicon Valley — build your startup where you live"

Kodak is getting out of the photo paper and film business, the Associated Press reported Friday. The company is looking to sell its document imaging business in order to focus on printing and business services and lift itself out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
via ars technica

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Right after Curiosity’s success, NASA has announced a new Mars mission called InSight. It will be a spacecraft designed to get deep under the surface of Mars and find some its hidden secrets. It will launch in 2014.

InSight—which conveniently stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport—will carry various instruments, but its main tool will be HP3, which standard for Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package.
via Gizmodo

< … Read More → "Next NASA mission will go deep under the surface of Mars"