sphere

ISS floating orbs to get Nexus S phones

The shuttle Atlantis is set to carry two Nexus S phones into orbit tomorrow that will turn a trio of floating satellites on the International Space Station into remote-operated robots.

The 135th and last flight of the shuttle program, set for 11:26 a.m. ET, will help advance the cause of robotkind when the Android handsets are attached to the bowling ball-size orbs.

Propelled by small CO2 thrusters, the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (Spheres) were developed at MIT and have been in use on the ISS since 2006.

As seen in the vid below, they look like the Star Wars lightsaber training droid but are designed to test spacecraft maneuvers, satellite servicing, and flight formation.

Normally, the Spheres orbs carry out preprogrammed commands from a computer aboard the ISS, but the Nexus Android phones will give them increased computing power, cameras, and links to ground crew who will pilot them. … Read more

O, yes: Philips shows new Apple AirPlay speakers

The CEA had its yearly line show earlier this week and we spent a little time in the Philips booth checking out several new audio products the company intends to release this year, including a handful of AirPlay-enabled speakers.

In case you don't know what AirPlay is, it's a wireless-streaming feature found on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or any Mac or Windows PC running iTunes (see "10 things you need to know about AirPlay" for more info). Right now you can only stream video to your TV using Apple TV but lots of AirPlay-enabled speakers … Read more

The 404 842: Where drummers are underrated (podcast)

There's never a dull moment when our analog buddy Steve Guttenberg graces the 404 show. Tune in to hear about his recent interview with Colin Hanks, his disdain for "Forrest Gump," and why we'll be calling him "Sphere" for a very long time to come. All this and more on today's hilarious episode!

The 404 Digest for Episode 842

Follow the "Gut Man" on Twitter Read Steve's Audiophiliac blog on CNET

Episode 842 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Pioneer's new flagship navigation system plays well with Pandora, iTunes

We were pretty impressed with Pioneer's AVIC-Z110BT when we reviewed it last year (we're talking Editors' Choice impressed), but that was last year, a veritable eternity ago in the consumer electronics world. What have you done for us lately, Pioneer?

Most recently, Pioneer has announced an update to its flagship model with its reveal of the AVIC-Z120BT in-dash navigation system, a double-DIN receiver that features some pretty heavy integration with Pioneer's software suite for multimedia and GPS navigation: PandoraLink, MusicSphere, and AVIC Feeds.

The new Z120BT combines the features we loved from the Z110, such as the … Read more

Microsoft, Google, and VMware redefine the OS

While the open-source crowd gets (rightly) excited by Linux's growing market share, three companies are pulling the rug out from under the feet of traditional operating systems.

Red Hat is winning in Linux while IBM cleans up the Unix market. But those are increasingly yesterday's markets as Microsoft, Google, and VMware create different breeds of operating system, each tuned to the strength of its product portfolio.

The easiest to understand are Google and VMware. Google, with its Linux distribution Chrome OS, is placing secondary emphasis on the operating system and primary emphasis on where it takes you: the … Read more

How SpringSource is taking on Java Goliaths

Some argue that open-source software can't innovate. In fact, one of the industry's former executives, Peter Yared, recently argued that "the only successful open-source companies sell commodities."

Yared clearly hasn't heard of SpringSource, an open-source application platform provider that is redefining the J2EE application server and, quite possibly, the future of open source.

Yared isn't alone in his beliefs. A friend recently wrote me to suggest that open source is at its best when disrupting big, profitable markets:

Commercial open source is a (commodity) replacement market. When it is not (i.e., people are … Read more

VMware revamps data center tools

CANNES, France--Virtualization specialist VMware has introduced its next generation of data center virtualization tools, called vSphere.

Speaking on Tuesday at the VMworld Europe 2009 conference here, VMware president Paul Maritz said vSphere would let companies virtualize all their workloads.

"VMware vSphere will gradually replace our existing generation of infrastructure products," Maritz said, adding that the first elements of the new suite will be delivered later this year. "On top of vSphere will be the new vCenter Suite. The idea is in a series of steps to move closer and closer to the management of service levels."… Read more

VMWare VI4 renamed to vSphere

For those interested in where VMWare's Virtual Infrastructure is heading, there was interesting news out of a Minneapolis VMWare User Group (VMUG) meeting yesterday: apparently VMWare is making it official that VI4 is now vSphere.

From Jason Boche's blog:

Today at the Minneapolis VMware User Group (VMUG) meeting, VMware employees disclosed to a group of 150+ attendees the new name for the next generation of Virtual Infrastructure many have been referring to as VI4 or VI.next. The new name is VMware vSphere. I value and respect the various relationships I have with VMware and thus before posting … Read more

Open source for the medical field: A comprehensive list

My father is a doctor, and isn't known for his technical prowess, so perhaps this list of 100 open-source projects geared toward medical professionals won't help him. Think of all the money you could save, Dad!

Actually, this sort of software will never appeal to people like my father, but he's not the one who buys software for his clinic, anyway. It's the system integrator specializing in the medical field who need this software, and who can make great margin gains by pushing open-source medical software like MedSphere to hospitals, clinics, etc.