NASA's new virtual tours of the Space Station and new Mars Rover exactly approximate the sensation of not being in space

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/08/nasas-new-virtual-tours-of-the-space-station-and-new-mars-rover/

NASA's grabbed Microsoft's fancy Photosynth software once again to build virtual tours of the International Space Station and a full-scale model of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover. The interface lets you dive through endless, 3D-oriented photographs of the station's modules, both inside and out, and gives a really good impression of the size and complexity of the lab-on-wheels NASA is prepping for a 2011 mission to Mars. It's not like being there, but it's a good way to kill a lazy Saturday morning.

[Via PhysOrg]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots

NASA's new virtual tours of the Space Station and new Mars Rover exactly approximate the sensation of not being in space originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 May 2009 21:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xerox's ColorQube Promises Cheap Color Printing With Solid Ink [Printers]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DVeD4NmZ3iw/xeroxs-colorqube-promises-cheap-color-printing-with-solid-ink

Xerox's new ColorQube printer promises to revolutionize the pricey color-printing game using a waxy ink that can reduce the cost per page by as much as 62%.

Like traditional multi-function printers, the ColorQube can print, copy, scan and fax—it can also be networked by several dozen people in an office. However, it's the crayon-esque ink that's the real star of the show. The ink is melted and sprayed onto a spinning drum which deposits the ink onto the page.

The goal here is to try to break the price barrier and get more customers to use color," said Ursula Burns, Xerox's president. "We're trying to replace a lot of black-and-white machines." Ms. Burns said that only 15% of the 2.25 trillion pages printed in offices world-wide last year were in color.

Sounds great, but the machine costs $20,000 ( Oooh...that's how they get you. Bastards). Still, serious office laser printers are not cheap to begin with—and this technology could mean big cost savings over time. [WSJ via BBG]

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Samsung Alias 2 and Motorola Rival a445 appear in the wild

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/07/samsung-alias-2-and-motorola-rival-a445-appear-in-the-wild/

Got enough electronic ink yet this week? Hope not, cause here's the Samsung Alias 2 in the wild, complete with that segmented E Ink keypad. Apparently mode changes happen smoothly and quickly, so our usability fears now just boil down to feel -- those buttons do not look fun to press. We'll see when it launches on May 11.

Oh, and teenyboppers on the V might want to check out the blurry pic of the Motorola Rival a445 / Rush 2 after the break -- it's not going to blow your mind, but we hear you're into the colorful QWERTY slider scene these days. You scamps.

Continue reading Samsung Alias 2 and Motorola Rival a445 appear in the wild

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung Alias 2 and Motorola Rival a445 appear in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 May 2009 13:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Casio's 1,000 fps Exilim EX-FC100 unboxing

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/07/casios-1-000-fps-exilim-ex-fc100-unboxing/

Sometimes 30 frames per second is enough to catch your summer moments. Sometimes, though, you need to re-live things in super slow-mo, and for those times Casio's EX-FC100 should have you covered with its 1,000 fps capture mode. We've got one in-house for testing and we'll be posting up full impressions soon (along with some gratuitous footage of random high-speed hijinx), but for now check out some time-lapse photography of how this one escaped from its cardboard confines.

Gallery: Casio EX-FC100 Unboxing

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Casio's 1,000 fps Exilim EX-FC100 unboxing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 May 2009 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BBC reveals stunning sample footage shot with TyphoonHD4 camera

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/07/bbc-reveals-stunning-sample-footage-shot-with-typhoonhd4-camera/

The BBC has already proven itself to be quite the source for some impressive HD images, but the network's Natural History Unit looks to have really outdone themselves for their forthcoming South Pacific documentary, which makes use of a modified, $100,000 TyphoonHD4 camera. Of course, those exact modifications appear to be a closely-kept secret, but it has apparently been outfitted with a special underwater housing designed by German high-speed camera expert Rudi Diesel, and the camera itself is able to shoot in high definition at 20 times the speed of a normal HD camera, which results in some pretty amazing super slow motion footage. You can get a taste of that after the break but, trust us, you'll want to head up the read link below to really get a sense of what this thing is capable of.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading BBC reveals stunning sample footage shot with TyphoonHD4 camera

Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV

BBC reveals stunning sample footage shot with TyphoonHD4 camera originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 May 2009 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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