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When the LHC first went down, it was believed that repairs could get the system up and running by April 2009. Then we saw repairs pushing the timeline back to summer 2009. But now, CERN has arrived at a fork in the road regarding LHC repairs.
Time will tell whether or not it's a repeat problem, but one tech editor found his out-of-warranty iPhone home button slowly failing to respond to the point where, rather than pay for repairs, he just bought a new phone. Depressed that he couldn't open the phone himself and still keep it in functional shape, he decided the circumstances (and his nerves) called for an autopsy, along with a monumental retelling of the event.
CDs and DVDs tend not to last long in my house... but since I just fling them in a pile in the cupboard, that's entirely my fault. The Sanwa CD-RE1AT might be just the ticket, though: it works on 8cm or 12cm CDs, DVDs and BDs. With a push of a button it removes dust, fingerprints and "oily spots" from discs, and with the "repair" button it solves skipping problems and coats the discs with a protective layer, without grinding. Available now for US$79. If only it found missing CD case inserts too, it'd be perfect. [Akihabaranews]
It must be a relief for the ISS crew to hear that their malfunctioning toilet will get some urgently-needed repairs next week, now that Discovery will be whizzing a new pump aloft. The dodgy loo has been unable to deal with liquid waste, and repair attempts failed. So NASA has cleared Discovery to fly on Saturday with a 13kg replacement pump, even though it means leaving other stuff behind. "Having a working toilet is a priority for us," said Scott HigginbothamHigginbottom, in charge of shuttle payloads. The Russian-made pump was even give special treatment: it was flown in a diplomatic pouch from Russia. Clearly when spacemen need to go, they need to go... [New Scientist]
Just two days after touchdown, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander—photographed here by Mars Odyssey— is having problems with their UHF radio, which was used more than a hundred times before but now is refusing to work. Without it, you can't give orders to the spacecraft, but don't fret: fortunately they can use the orbiter to relay signals, as well as activating the secondary radio unit available on board. NASA said the problem was caused by a "transient event." What does that mean? They don't know for sure, and that means we can pick our own.
University of Pennsylvania roboticists—who talk like robot versions of Alan Alda—have developed modular artificial creatures capable of recomposing themselves in case they are destroyed—effectively taking the first step toward global annihilation, thank you very much. Happily for Humanity, they are far from T1000, and closer to Jerry Lewis, as the (quite funny, yet sad) end of the video shows.
Giving up your Xbox 360 to Microsoft for four to six weeks while they repair a red ring error is fine if you can survive that long without gaming or using it as a Media Center Extender, but why would you own an Xbox 360 if you could? Team Xecuter, a mod/hacking group that's famous for making stuff like modchips, is releasing a do-it-yourself repair kit for the 360. It's worked on 18 out of 18 broken Xboxes (according to them), but we don't have any details on how the kit works. We'll check into it some more, since US$12.95 is a pretty cheap price to pay for a fix you could do by yourself in your spare time. [Team Xecuter via Xbox Scene via Crunchgear]
What exactly are you saying when you give someone one of Blue Raven's Mail-In Service and Repair Kits for iPod? You buy the box at the store, wrap it up and put it under the tree. When your loved... Read More »
Your hard drive is seriously f*cked, and you have some big shiny balls (or you're dumb as hell), you might be interested in how a fellow from Mandible Games claims that he recovered data from his drive. According to the article, he noticed that his drive would spin, but it would not show up in BIOS and there was a distinct and repetitive clicking noise.
Instructables has a tutorial on a CD repair technique designed to bring nearly any disc (barring any cracks, breaks, etc...) back from the dead. The fix requires you to heat the underside of the CD over a gas burner, boil it in water and dry off your freshly resurfaced disc. The process seems to leave a slim margin of error, so if you're trying to recover something valuable, you better know what you're doing. [Instructables]
