Gizmodo Australia » launch

Live From The Windows 7 Launch Party

Nick Broughall — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:38:44 +0000

I’m here at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour for the official launch of Microsoft’s new Windows 7 OS. There are lots of people, lots of PCs and lots of posters for Windows 7. We’ve just been let inside the theatre, and – battery life dependant – I’ll let you know what’s happening here in this post. UPDATE: It’s starting!

9:37 – A video. And a very dark room not much good for photography…
9:39 – Alex Stewart on stage. Talking about how exciting it is they’re streaming live via ustream and Twitter
9:40 – Oh, dictating twitter hashtags. God I hate when companies try and do that.
9:41 – Tracey Fellows MD of MS Australia up on stage. They seem to be playing the riff from Coldplay’s “Clocks” every time something happens.
9:43 – Apparently Windows 7 was bigger than Obama. I think someone was playing with Hyperbole
9:44 – NSW DET using Windows 7 on Lenovo netbooks. We already know about this…
9:46 – James DeBragga on stage talking about making Win7
9:47 – “Using customer as guiding light as to how to bring Windows 7 to market” Good idea after Vista…
9:48 – Customers wanted MS to make using their PC easier. They also want it to work. Seems kind of obvious to me…
9:52 – 90 per cent of beta users said Win7 was good or excellent.

9:54 – Oh dear — laptop battery dying. Moving to iPhone. Stick with it Nick… Stick with it…
9:57 – We’re now doing a live demo. “It’s windows aero made useful”. Seems Microsoft are happier about moving from Vista than consumers…
10:12 – Nope… iPhone didn’t work. Laptop gone. Doesn’t matter – we’ve seen all this before. It’s not that exciting… I’ll update everything when I find a powerpoint…

A Trebuchet Launches Lenovo Laptops With Leverage

Chris Jacob — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Some stress tests fall way outside the realm of predictable scenarios, and those are our favourites. At Gadgetoff 2009, Lenovo let some guys launch two ThinkPads from a trebuchet, just because. They get destroyed, but fare better than expected.

The team recovered the hard drives from their battered casings, and unfortunately they didn’t boot when inserted into another, less smashed ThnkPad. The data was able to be recovered, and once it was it booted up the laptop fine. Not too bad considering they fell hundreds of feet to the ground. [Thanks, Jeffery!]

Private Rocket Successfully Puts Satellite In Orbit For The First Time

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:00:00 +0000

It may not be as exciting as the Apollo 11, but I do find exciting that SpaceX has put a commercial satellite in orbit for the first time, launching a Falcon I rocket from the Marshall Islands.

SpaceX launched a Malaysian satellite into orbit using the two-stage Falcon, a rocket developed and built from scratch by the company. The satellite, called RazakSAT, is designed to take high resolution pictures of Malaysia.

If all goes as planned, SpaceX will soon deliver material to the International Space Station in the future. [SpaceX]

Shuttle Delayed By Lightning

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:00:00 +0000

The little thing at the bottom of this image is the space shuttle Endeavour, which was supposed to launch today. That huge glowing thing is a lightning striking from the sky. Not surprisingly, the launch has been delayed:

Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 15 at 6:03 p.m. EDT.

Monday’s attempt was canceled due to poor weather conditions within the launch area at NASA’s Kennedy Space centre in Florida. Anvil clouds and storm cells containing lightning flared up toward the end of the countdown, violating stringent launch safety rules.

“Technically, we’ve been really clean the last two days with our vehicle,” Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses said of Endeavour’s launch attempts on Sunday and Monday. “It’s just been the weather scenario that got us.”

The outlook is better on Wednesday, with only a 40 percent chance of weather conditions prohibiting liftoff.

Hopefully, it will work out and a new Japanese module will arrive soon to the International Space Station. [NASA]

Sprint CEO: We Won’t Have Enough Palm Pres to Meet Launch Demand

John Herrman — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:22:59 +0000

It could be an innocent statement of fact, but Sprint CEO Dan Hesse’s ‘admission’ that the company will have trouble meeting early demand for Palm Pres reeks of hypemongering. He’s not necessarily saying that there’s a Pre shortage, per se, but that demand will be super high—the exact thing you’d expect any CEO to say in the same situation.

That’s not stopping some from drawing wider inferences, mostly from this shaky report that there will only be 30,000 units available at launch. There’s isn’t much reason to believe that report in the first place, but even if you do, it doesn’t even specify whether this 30,000 figure applies to one retailer or the supply as a whole. As you were, Preverts. [Slashgear via MyPre via Reuters]

Rumour: Palm Pre to Drop on May 17 or June 29, According to Sprint Leaks?

John Mahoney — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:38:55 +0000

Phone News is citing (without sharing) “internal memos circulating within Sprint Retail Stores” that suggest two potential launch windows for the Palm Pre, depending on shipping efficiencies. Sprint employees can also kiss May vacations goodbye.

The two-windowed launch is supposedly there to ensure retail stocks are sufficient before the “go for launch” order is handed down; shipments to retail stores will begin later this month, according to the rumour, and if enough stock is built up, launch will happen May 17. June 29 is plan B if retail stock is not ready to go in May.

Sprint retail employees have also been barred from taking any vacation time in May, which is apparently not SOP. These dates coincide with what we’ve heard before, and are coming up soon. As always, we shall see. [Phone News]

The Very First Tip of the Arex I-X Rocket Is Ready

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:20:00 +0000

This is the Ares I-X Launch Abort System, the mini-rocket that will be the tip of the main vehicle, responsible for saving the astronauts’ life in case of a major malfunction at launch.

This test unit was loaded into a C-5 transport to the Kennedy Space Centre, where it will be launched this summer to an altitude of 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) during a two-minute flight test of “Ares I first stage performance, and its first stage separation and parachute recovery system”.

Image Credit: NASA/Sean Smith

Windows 7 to Debut By Mid-2009?

Matt Buchanan — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:20:00 +0000

Microsoft reporter queen bee Mary Jo Foley has put together a few signs suggesting that Windows 7 may debut earlier than anyone imagined—in the first half of next year. While it’s been expected that it’ll be released to manufacturing by the end of the year, a few signs point to it being on track to RTM before mid-2009. In particular, Microsoft is now advertising that the Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference 2008 will be the only chance to engage with the team before Windows 7 is released. WinHEC 2009 starts on May 3.

This would mean, as Foley points out, that the public beta expected in December would probably be the only public beta before release. It also makes Steve Ballmer’s recent comments that it’s okay to wait for Windows 7 make more sense–it’s hard to push Vista with an aggressively straight face when the next Windows is really less than a year away. Of course, we’d prefer Windows 7 soon rather than later, but we’d also rather wait for a smooth, seamless launch that doesn’t resemble Vista’s rather ugly debut. It seems like Microsoft is really trying to get the launch (and the OS) right from the get-go this time, so we’re actually kinda optimistic. [I Started Something]

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Cleared by FCC

Gizmodo US Edition — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:00:00 +0000

The highly-anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 smartphone has been approved by the FCC and helpfully posted on their website so I can spend my Saturday mornings combing through confusingly bureaucratic PDF files looking for announcements like this. The specific model vetted by the fatcats in Washington probably isn’t the one we’ll be seeing here in North America: it’s referred to as the X1i, which in Sony terms means Europe, and it’s not yet equipped with 3G. Still, this is a good indication that we will be getting the X1 before 2009, though it’ll still be after those shifty Europeans. [Crave]

Sony Teases New Centrino 2 Notebook Line for Monday

Gizmodo US Edition — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Sony Style has posted a teaser on its front page promising that the company’s going to drop some knowledge on Monday at 9PM. Chances are, it’s about Sony’s new Centrino 2-based VAIO line, which should offer better performance while consuming less power than its older models. Laptops rumoured to be featured include the company’s first 16:9-ratio notebooks, including the 13.1-inch VAIO Z and the 16.4-inch VAIO FZ. [Electronista]