8 Bit Future

Autonomous NASA rover released on Greenland ice sheet. GROVER,...

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:40:00 +1200

Autonomous NASA rover released on Greenland ice sheet.

GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, is an autonomous, solar-operated robot that carries a ground-penetrating radar to examine the layers of Greenland’s ice sheet. Its findings will help scientists understand how the massive ice sheet gains and loses ice.

The robot’s tests on the ice began on May 8, defying winds of up to 23 mph (37 kph) and temperatures as low as minus 22 F (minus 30 C). The tests will continue through June 8. Its trial in Greenland will also serve as a test of using rovers in harsh polar regions to gather data.

Samsung hopes for 2020 launch of 5G. Despite 4G technology still...

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:32:00 +1200

Samsung hopes for 2020 launch of 5G.

Despite 4G technology still only just reaching many consumers, Samsung have been working on the next generation of mobile data transmission, claiming speeds of up to 1.056 Gbps. By comparison, real world tests on speeds of 4G networks in the US hardly got above 10 Mbps, or 0.01 Gbps.

Samsung said it plans to accelerate the research and development of 5G technologies, including adaptive array transceiver at the millimeter-wave bands, to commercialize those technologies by 2020.

Is Yahoo trying to buy Tumblr? According to reports, Yahoo could...

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:41:00 +1200

Is Yahoo trying to buy Tumblr?

According to reports, Yahoo could be preparing to offer up to $1 billion for Tumblr.

Here’s hoping that deal doesn’t go through, I used to love Flickr until Yahoo took it over (Related, this is a great read on that subject). Delicious was good before Yahoo took it over too… And Geocities… And probably many of these 76 companies. Yahoo just shouldn’t have nice things!

Opportunity breaks NASA’s distance record. The Mars rover...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:32:00 +1200

Opportunity breaks NASA’s distance record.

The Mars rover Opportunity has clocked up 22.22 miles since arriving on Mars, breaking NASA’s previous record for distance covered on another planet which was previously set in 1972 when two astronauts drove 22.21 miles on the surface of the Moon.

The international record is still held by the Russians, however. In 1973 the then Soviet Union’s remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 rover traveled 23 miles (37 kilometers) on the surface of the Moon.

Could Dekko be the killer app for Google Glass? Dekko claims to...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:21:00 +1200

Could Dekko be the killer app for Google Glass?

Dekko claims to turn the real world into an operating system, bringing images, information, and animations into the world using augmented reality through Google Glass.

It’s hard to explain exactly, so check out the video!

Google I/O day one highlights. Google’s I/O developer...

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:37:00 +1200

Google I/O day one highlights.

Google’s I/O developer conference got underway Wednesday without anything like the headline grabbing demonstration of Glass at last years Day One keynote, but there were still a few interesting points:

Also announced were some statistics: 900 million Android activations worldwide to date, and 48 billion apps downloaded from Google Play. That compares to 50 billion app downloads on iOS, which was reached earlier this week.

Wow, check out those ‘3D’ graphics. In my mind the...

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:16:00 +1200

Wow, check out those ‘3D’ graphics.

In my mind the graphics in Myst were still amazing, so it’s kind of disappointing to actually see it again and realize how dated it looks now.

This was the 1993 entry for Wired’s ‘Most jaw-dropping game graphics’ list of the last 20 years - check out the full list here.

Timelapse lets you view Google Maps over time. Google have...

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:48:00 +1200

Timelapse lets you view Google Maps over time.

Google have worked with the US Geological Survey, NASA, and TIME to release more than 25 years of satellite imagery, compiled into a global time-lapse map able to be viewed and navigated in your browser.

Check out how your town’s changed over time by looking it up here.

It’s a trap! By Budi Satria Kwan. It’s available to buy...

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:26:00 +1200

It’s a trap!

By Budi Satria Kwan. It’s available to buy here.

Video: Google Glass app shows off facial recognition...

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:47 +1200

Video: Google Glass app shows off facial recognition features.

MedRef for Glass is a new “Glassware” app designed for doctors to allow them to quickly identify a patient through facial recognition and pull up relevant files and information on that person. The app also allows users to add photos and voice notes taken with Glass to a patients file.

The video here also gives a good insight into how it looks to see someone using Glass itself. He looks freakin ridiculous, staring off into space and stroking the side of his glasses like Dr Evil stroking Mr Bigglesworth. Damn I wish that was me.

Google celebrates 37 years of breakout. Google has slipped a small easter egg into their Image...

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:52:00 +1200

Google celebrates 37 years of breakout.

Google has slipped a small easter egg into their Image Search page in the form of a playable Breakout game, which was originally released in 1976.

To get access to the game, navigate to the Image Search page and type in “Atari Breakout”

Click below for an interesting backstory (tl;dr - Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak originally produced the prototype Pong game):

Breakout, a discrete logic (non-microprocessor) game, was conceptualized by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, after the latter had “rejoined” Atari after the merge of Atari subsidiary Kee Games.

They had an idea to turn Pong into a single player game, where the player would use a ball to deplete a wall of bricks without missing the ball on its rebound. Bushnell was certain the game would be popular, and the two partnered to produce a concept. Al Alcorn was assigned as the project manager, and began development with Cyan Engineering in 1975. The same year, Alcorn assigned Steve Jobs to design a prototype. Jobs was offered US$750, with an extra $100 for every chip fewer than 50. Jobs promised to complete a prototype within four days.

Jobs noticed his friend Steve Wozniak—employee of Hewlett-Packard—was capable of producing designs with a small number of chips, and invited him to work on the hardware design with the prospect of splitting the $750 wage. Wozniak had no sketches and instead interpreted the game from its description. To save parts, he had “tricky little designs” difficult to understand for most engineers. Near the end of development, Wozniak considered moving the high score to the screen’s top, but Jobs claimed Bushnell wanted it at the bottom; Wozniak was unaware of any truth to his claims. The original deadline was met after Wozniak did not sleep for four days straight. This equated to a bonus, which Jobs kept secret from Wozniak, instead only paying him $375.

Atari was unable to use Steve Wozniak’s design. By designing the board with as few chips as possible, he also reduced the number of TTL (transistor-transistor logic) chips to 42. This made the design difficult to manufacture—it was too compact and complicated to be feasible with Atari’s manufacturing methods. However, Wozniak claims Atari could not understand the design, and speculates “maybe some engineer there was trying to make some kind of modification to it”. Atari ended up designing their own version for production, which contained about 100 TTL chips. Wozniak found the gameplay to be the same as his original creation, and could not find any differences.

Oh grow up, Mars rovers. The tracks shown are from both the...

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:14:00 +1200

Oh grow up, Mars rovers.

The tracks shown are from both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, in this image released by NASA.

Photo: NASA’s Sounding Rockets Launch from the Marshall...

Sat, 11 May 2013 07:01:00 +1200

Photo: NASA’s Sounding Rockets Launch from the Marshall Islands

Red and white vapor clouds filled the skies over the Marshall Islands as part of NASA’s Equatorial Vortex Experiment (EVEX). The red cloud was formed by the release of lithium vapor and the white tracer clouds were formed by the release of trimethyl aluminum (TMA). These clouds allowed scientists on the ground from various locations in the Marshall Islands to observe the neutral winds in the ionosphere.

The EVEX was successfully conducted during the early morning hours on May 7 from Roi Namur, Republic of the Marshall Islands. A NASA Terrier-Oriole sounding rocket was launched at 3:39 a.m. EDT and was followed by a launch of Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket 90 seconds later. Preliminary indications are that both rockets released their vapor clouds of lithium or trimethyl aluminum, which were observed from various locations in the area, and all science instruments on the rockets worked as planned.

Volcanic ash cloud to be recreated for test flight. An...

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:05:17 +1200

Volcanic ash cloud to be recreated for test flight.

An aviation-industry group is preparing to test an airborne ash avoidance system by releasing a tonne of volcanic ash collected from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.

The team behind the AVOID (Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector) system say they will disperse the ash from an Airbus plane at an altitude of over 30,000 feet, before flying a second aircraft as far as 100 kilometres behind towards the cloud. If successful, the second aircraft will use AVOID to detect and navigate safely around the ash cloud.

Annular eclipse today. On May 10 the Moon will move directly in front of the Sun, leaving a thin...

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:58:00 +1200

Annular eclipse today.

On May 10 the Moon will move directly in front of the Sun, leaving a thin fiery ring visible around the outside.

The eclipse will only be visible from a few locations within a 100 mile wide track.Viewers in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon and Gilbert Islands can expect to see the eclipse properly, with people in nearby locations such as Northern New Zealand able to see a partial eclipse.

BBC shows off ‘Surround Video’. BBC’s R&D...

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:51:00 +1200

BBC shows off ‘Surround Video’.

BBC’s R&D Production Labs have shown off a similar system to Microsoft’s Illumiroom technology, allowing video to be projected around walls and ceilings for a more immersive viewing experience.

The company started working on the project in 2006, when 250 engineers were given a week to work on a number of ideas that “the company didn’t really know what to do with” at the time.

The system, which requires about an hour of calibration in a new room, uses a standard HD projector with a fish-eye lens that bounces off a nearby mirror. It mimics the eye’s natural tendency to focus on details at the center of our vision, while picking up movement in our peripheral vision.

Mobile phone ownership could average one per person this...

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:42:00 +1200

Mobile phone ownership could average one per person this year.

According to data from the International Telecommunication Union the world has almost 1 mobile-cellular subscription for every person on the planet.

An estimated 6.8 billion subscriptions are already active, with an estimated world population of 7.1 billion.

It’s worth noting that data from 2012-2013 is estimated only, and there is no data to indicate how many people have multiple subscriptions.

I finally finished Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Master System....

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:50:15 +1200

I finally finished Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Master System. Took me 22 years but totally worth it! My two year old Son helped a little.

Graph: Stress vs Time whilst playing Snake. Yep, the science...

Wed, 08 May 2013 07:39:00 +1200

Graph: Stress vs Time whilst playing Snake.

Yep, the science checks out.

I also just watched this game of Snake the whole way through, it’s mesmerizing.

Instabeat monitors and displays real-time information on your...

Wed, 08 May 2013 07:33:00 +1200

Instabeat monitors and displays real-time information on your goggles.

The creators of Instabeat say it can fit on any pair of normal swimming goggles, tracking information such as heart rate, calories, number of laps, and flip turns. Heart rate information is displayed through the goggles as a series of different colors indicating how close the swimmer is to their target, and the other information can be downloaded and tracked via a PC.

The device has no buttons, and automatically turns on when placed on your head. It’s currently approaching its Indiegogo goal, with 42 days to go, check out the campaign here.