SpaceX to fly humans to space by 2015

Commercial space firm SpaceX will send humans into space by 2015, according to a company executive, marking another major leap forward in the private space exploration industry.

 

The California-based company hopes to send astronauts into space in a currently planned demonstration mission in 2015, and while the aim is to secure additional contracts with US space agency NASA, SpaceX will be sending up its own staff first.

 

One of the potential candidates for the initial flights is Garrett Reisman, an ex-NASA astronaut who is now serving as project manager at SpaceX. He said that flight safety is very important to him and he will help ensure that the trips will be safe.

 

The announcement was made by Reisman during a news conference at the Kennedy Space Centre. He joked that SpaceX is not selling tickets, a reference to several space tourism ventures, including the well-known Virgin Galactic plans, backed by numerous celebrities.

 

 

The SpaceX mission will involve sending humans into orbit for three days, a change from its existing cargo supply missions to the International Space Station (ISS). We can likely expect a further manned test flight to the ISS before NASA agrees to send its own astronauts.

 

SpaceX's plans are being encouraged by NASA, which lost the ability to fly astronauts into and out of space with the retirement of its shuttle programme in 2011. Since then astronauts have relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

 

The commercial space industry is a quickly growing arena, with a number of rivals to SpaceX popping up, including Orbital Scienes and aircraft maker Boeing, which is working on reusable unmanned spacecraft. With national space agencies receiving budget cuts due to the global economic downturn the private space sector could be just what is needed to ensure space exploration gets the support it needs.

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Apple opens official eBay store for refurbished products

Apple is testing a new eBay store that sells refurbished products, according to sources close to 9to5Mac.

 

The store, simply called Refurbished Outlet, was discovered around a month ago, selling revamped MacBooks, iPods, and iPads, but there was no indication that this was an official store run by Apple until 9to5Mac got its hands on some as yet unconfirmed information.

 

“We discovered that this is in face an Apple-run Store within eBay,” the site reads. “It is in trial, and it could open the door to much bigger things. No one would go on the record at eBay, however.”

 

 

The store also has a few giveaways that Apple might be in charge, including similar conditions for refurbished products, such as a one-year warranty and new battery, the same prices as refurbished products sold by the company elsewhere, and the overall design of the Store. Of course, it could just be an elaborate mimicry of Apple's style, but 9to5Mac claims to have information that suggests otherwise.

 

If this is Apple's first foray into selling outside its own stores, it could pave the way for the sale of new devices on eBay, and will give the technology giant an even larger audience and the option to pay by PayPal.

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Plastic light bulb might replace fluorescent bulbs in the future

Developed by a physics professor, Dr. David Carroll, at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, Fipel technology utilizes three layers of white-emitting polymer that contains minute amount of nano-materials which glow when electric current passes through.

Carroll claims that fluorescent bulbs produce a harsh blue tint that can aggravate the human eye, but his Fipel-based bulb on the other hand can produce more natural tints that are more accommodating.

 

“I’m saying we are brighter than one of these curly cubes and I can give you any tint to that white light you want,” Caroll says.

Furthermore, the new lighting technology is made of plastic, so therefore it could be made into shapes that are constrictive to bulbs utilizing technologies derived from other materials.  Supposedly, Carroll has been running a Fibel-based bulb in his lab for the past decade or so, which is a testament to the technology’s longevity. 

Although fluorescent bulbs are the predominant popular ‘energy saving’ consumer products, LED and OLED technology is creeping into people’s mind.  Many LED lamps have quoted life expectancies of somewhere between 25,000 to 50,000 hours.  LED bulbs have also gone down in prices in recent years, making it much more affordable now as they did in the past.  Even so, Carroll claims that his plastic-derived Fipel bulb is ‘cheap’ to make and that he already has a ‘corporate partner’ interested in mass producing the new light source.  The first round of production could possibly start in as early as 2013.

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Singapore Flextronics acquires Motorola plants

In a December 10, 2012 press release, Flextronics stated that the agreement is definitive and that Flextronics will be acquiring Motorola’s manufacturing operations in both Tianjin, China and Jaguariuna, Brazil.  "We are very pleased to announce today's agreement and expand our long-standing collaborative and successful relationship with Motorola Mobility," said Mike McNamara, chief executive officer, Flextronics. "We look forward to leveraging our extensive manufacturing expertise and supply chain solutions to provide Motorola Mobility with increased value."

The press release says that all of the assets and employees working at both plants will be transferring to Flextronics.  The agreement with Motorola implies that the deal will also give Flextronics a manufacturing and services agreement on the Android and other mobile devices.  The legal end on the deal should come to a close in mid-2013.

Mike Randall who serves as senior vice president, supply-chain and operations for Motorola Mobility, said that the agreement with the two companies is a win-win situation. Randall states, “Flextronics has been our partner for many years, and their expertise and experience in manufacturing will enable us to focus on other areas of the supply chain where we can add the most value.”

Flextronics is a Singapore based Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) company that makes electronics for aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer, medical and mobile OEMS. 

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Scientists unveil greener, smarter sleigh for Santa

Scientists working at General Electric (GE) have made a number of modifications to Santa's sleigh, making it faster, smarter and more energy-efficient.

 

With only days to go before Santa's lightning speed trip around the world, which internet users can track via Google's Santa Tracker, GE has implemented a number of new features to Santa's aging vehicle.

 

First up is a thin cooling solution, which can help improve the sleigh's jet engine aerodynamics (yes, Santa did upgrade to jet engines) and even produce a thinner and cooler laptop for Santa (yes, Santa does have a laptop). The technology, unveiled earlier this month, is half the thickness of conventional cooling systems.

 

Secondly, GE added new Air Traffic Management Technology, similar to the one the company is working on with NASA to bring air traffic control “into the cloud.”

 

Thirdly, GE is fitting Santa's sleigh with an Electric Traction Motor with MEM switching technology, similar to technology used in electric cars.

 

 

Fourthly, the sleigh blades were made using a 3D printer, using a tougher and yet more flexible fabric, building on previous advances in 3D printing.

 

Finally, GE has added Ceramic Matrix Composites for energy saving, in addition to a Durathon battery for durable powering of the various equipment on board Santa's high-tech sleigh.

 

“It has been three years since we introduced a new sleigh for Santa, and we figured it was time to provide a few upgrades to make his ride even better,” said Mark Little, SVP and Director of GE Global Research. “With the advancements GE scientists have made in 3-D printing, new materials like CMCs and the great opportunities to make machines smarter with the Industrial Internet, we have incorporated several new technologies to give Santa and his reindeer team a greener, smarter sleigh.”

 

Santa was equally enthused. “I am looking forward to flying into outer space,” he said. “This will really save time by helping me get to destinations in different parts of the world much faster.”

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Bientôt la Gamescom 2012

La Gamescom aura lieu du 15 au 19 Aout à Cologne ! Pas de soucis, NextGen vous informera sur les futurs jeux qui seront présentés lors de cet événement.
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Street Fighter X Tekken PS Vita Crossplay

Voici une vidéo de démonstration de Street Fighter X Tekken qui utilise la fonction Crossplay. Le Crossplay, c'est s'affronter sur le même jeu, mais chacun utilise sa console. Par exemple, votre collègue lance un jeu sur la PS3 et vous le rejoignez avec la PS Vita pour l'affronter. Celui qui utilise la PS Vita , visualise le jeu sur la console portable et l'autre personne qui utilise la PS3, visualisera le jeu sur l'écran de télé. Mais comme dit l'autre, mieux vaut une longue vidéo qu'un long discours ...
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