As the clock continues to tick for brave Phoenix so far away on Mars, the discoveries keep on rolling: this time, that snow falls on Mars. A laser instrument called for pulsing the atmosphere and observing what gets bounced back detected Martian flurries at altitudes of 4km in the clouds. The snow is vapourising before hitting the ground, but the discovery lends some crucial insight into the Martian water cycle. As did another juicy finding dug up from the soil.
I like the 1940s Disney animation shorts. They may not get to the hilarity level of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery’s work at Warner, but some of them are really good. This How to Hook Up Your Home Theatre short is new, but it feels like one of them and summarises perfectly the dangers and absurd complexity of modern big home theatres, from impossible-to-open audio cable boxes to the sound system–with “centre channel, left and right speakers, bit more to the left and bit more to the right speakers, surround speakers, surrounding surround speakers”– to huge screens. [Cartoon Brew via Dark Roasted Blend]
Giz pick of the week: Iron Man
Digital downloaders, we haven’t forgotten about you while running This Week in Blu-ray. And to those in the audience with VUDU, a respectable 52 rentable HD movies have been added to the service in just the past two weeks. Read on for the full list.
This strangely sexy (for a networked storage device) Toshiba wireless media server concept on show at CEATEC takes a novel approach to design; as wires disappear, the necessity for an unimaginative stack of home theatre equipment is diminished. The device is loaded with wireless capabilities, including Wi-Fi, wireless HDMI (presumably the WirelessHD protocol) and for the sake of variety, Near Field Communication (NFC).
Generally I think “laptop coolers… meh” when I come across them, but the new Chill Mat from Targus—part of the new range for Macs—is actually a fairly sweet device. Mainly because it’s just a simple mesh-top gizmo, that tilts your Mac to a more wrist-friendly position and it looks like it’d sit quite well, stylistically speaking, next to a MacBook (and yes, I’m one of those people who’d think about that.) It’s got dual USB-powered fans to keep your Mac and knees chilled, and fits all Macbooks up the 17-inch Pro. Out now for $US50. [Targus]
Targus has been making peripherals since before sliced bread was invented, but as part of its first line of notebook accessories specifically designed for Macs it’s come up with two mice that are the only ones to have four-way touch scroll controls for Macs. They’re ergonomic, and both have 1200 dpi sensitivity: the wireless version uses 2.4GHz RF tech, with a micro-receiver that slots into a USB hub or the mouse base for travelling, and the laser mouse connects over Bluetooth. Both are out now, the wireless mouse for $US50, and the Bluetooth one for $US70. Press release below, alongside news about the Bluetooth presenter that’s in the same line.
A Nikon Coolpix camera belonging to the MI6–the British equivalent of the CIA–was sold on eBay for $US30 with images of al Qaeda suspects, fingerprints, names, rocket launchers, and missiles inside. That’s bad enough, but it gets worse: the camera also contained top secret information that may compromise the security of James Bonds in the field.
Toshiba’s Satellite E105 is almost run-of-the-mill as far as new notebooks go—Centrino 2, latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 4GB of RAM, integrated graphics (boo), HDMI out—but a couple of things make it stand out. What instantly struck me is that the silhouette—which you can see more of below—is obviously inspired by the MacBook Pro.
Following the apparent success of SeaGen, a small deployment of tidal turbines of the coast of Northern Ireland, Scottish Power is seeking approval for plans to build two farms of 20 30-metre, err, watermills promising a steady power supply for up to 40,000 homes. As with the previous example of tidal power generation, the most obvious problems have been pretty much addressed: fish, seals, and cryptozoological specimens (probably) won’t be harmed by the slow-spinning blades, and shipping routes won’t be affected on account of the depth of the deployment. Scottish Power claims that the project should be completed in about three years. Click the above image for a explanatory video. [BBC via CleanTechnica]
