Tuesday, November 2, 2010

American Astronauts Cast Ballots, From Out Of The World.

In today’s Election Day activity, the most precious three votes were the highlight of the event. These three votes were not from earth, these votes were casted by the three American astronauts flying on the International Space Station. They still voted as an idol citizen, even from space!

U.S. Army Col. Douglas Wheelock, physicist Shannon Walker and Navy Capt. Scott Kelly – these were the names of the precious NASA's astronauts voters who casted their votes at the  space station from 220 miles (354 km) above Earth, in their local county elections of in and around hudson.

The ballots are kept very carefully and transparently prepared by county officials and beamed up from Mission Control. It is NASA’s plan to help space station crewmembers stay involved with their local politics; hence they make arrangements with county officials that allow astronauts to vote from space.
 
"I voted on Sunday through an electronic e-mail system," Kelly spoke via a video link today. "I think Texas actually passed a law where we could vote from space, and it felt like an honor and privilege to exercise our rights as U.S. citizens from the International Space Station."

Astronaut David Wolf, was the first astronaut to cast a vote from Russia's Mir Space Station at election time in 1997. It was since then, the Texas law is passed to grant the ability to American astronauts have been able to vote each time.

Now After Solar Rays, Even Indoor Lights Light Up Logitech’s New Wire-Less keyboard.

Just when you found a way to tackle the wires of the traditional key-boards with the ones having wireless technology, better known as wireless keyboards, you realized that only stays wireless until their batteries die. Hence, the convenience comes at a cost anyway. Now however, the new solar-powered keyboard from Logitech, being released into market this month, are said to keep your figures typing long after traditional batteries have run out. The promised price of this key-board will be $80, and the model will be called Logitech's K750 Wireless Solar Keyboard.

It may just look alike every other standard keyboard, with its jet black color, traditional QWERTY keys, numeric keypad and function buttons; and measured just a third of an inch thick.

However, the couple of Solar Panels attached at each sides of the Logitech logo above the main keypad, is what sets it apart. The panels function is to soak up light from the sun and according to Logitech— even indoor light. Which means, theoretically, the keyboard should function indefinitely in a normally lighted office. Furthermore, the company claims that their K750 will keep working forever given enough light, but it did say that the fully charged keyboard will work up to three months in complete darkness.

More interestingly, the downloadable desktop app will inform you whether there’s enough ambient light to keep the keyboard powered. Moreover, even better, the user will be able to keep track of the keyboard's charge with help from an integrated light

But as the K750 connects to your desktop or laptop using a USB dongle over a 2.4GHz RF connection, it’s a little disappointing for the Bluetooth fans, as they won't be able to type on their iPhone with this solar keyboard However, at least they'll be able to type away securely in the knowledge that your keystrokes are encrypted by 128-bit AES encryption. Also, The minimum requirements for the K750 listed on Logitech's website list only Windows XP, Vista and 7, which means no Mac. This is obviously believed to be another potential downside of this upcoming technology.

America Chosen To Be The Market Of The New Viewsonic Viewpad 7 And 10

The stery about where on the map would Viewsonic would land its products is not a mystery anymore. ViewSonic's American team reported, the company will initiate its tablet’s overtake in the US Market with the ViewPad 7 in this November.

This devise has the useful 7-inch device running on the Snapdragon processor, Android 2.2, two cameras (a 3 megapixel cam on its rear and a VGA front facing one), 512MB of memory and 3G capabilities are the key features. But what really distinguishes it from the rest of Android Devices is that this one from ViewSonic will most definitely have access to the Google Market and come preloaded with Google's apps! However, its $479 MSRP still seems a bit high to many reviewers.

Whereas for the latest on the ViewPad 10 fans have to wait until the first quarter of 2011 as no official statement is expected any sooner. Though it is rumored to be sold on the retail price of $629, Moreover the unofficial rumors state it has a 1.66GHz Atom processor, 16GB SSD, 1GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Hence the long awaited Viewsonic's expectation for it to win it with tablets, will soon be put to test.

Update your Xbox 360 Dashboard Now!

Accoding to the scheduled time, the new Xbox Dashboard update was made available on the November, 1st 2010. Further this new Fall 2010 Xbox Live Dashboad update prepares for the for Kinect to release on November 4th (or November 10th in Europe). This update is now mandatory, it's not like you have a choice. You'll lose all Xbox Live functionality unless you comply.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/09/xbox-dash-hed-rm-eng.jpg
The biggest change is the Xbox Dashboard, and also the welcome UI with its reviewed Customized Avatar screen. Your ‘Virtual Doppelganger’ now stands front and center as you go through the selection of wares and facial adjustments. The new ESPN Entertainment Hub means that now you can watch live sporting events and replays of anything ESPN have the rights to stream(Although that requires to have an affiliated ISP? You miss out on the live events and full replays, but all other clips and highlights will still be available).
The Netflix search, now means that searching the library would be much easier after the updates as even the results will update with each letter added. Another remedy of the problem that you still needed another device altogether to explore the library, as the software limited you to a pre-selected array of films (organized by category) and what was already added to your Instant Watch queue is included in the update.
Zune music got upgraded as Zune video got a handful of UI tweaks, and other exhilarating updates of Kinect and Wrap-up gave have give expectation to this update. 
Free counters!