An anonymous reader writes with some new information on the happenings of the Hacker Space Program. From the article: “At the Chaos Communication Camp 2011 Jens Ohlig, Lars Weiler, and Nick Farr proposed a daunting task: to land a hacker on the Moon by 2034. The plan calls for three separate phases: Establishing an open, free, and globally accessible satellite communication network, put a human into orbit, and land on the Moon. Interestingly enough, there is already considerable work being done on the second phase of this plan by the Copenhagen Suborbitals, and Google’s own Lunar X Prize is trying to spur development of robotic missions to the Moon. But what about the first phase? Answering the call is the ‘Shackspace,’ a hackerspace from Stuttgart, Germany, who’ve begun work on an ambitious project they’re calling the ‘Hackerspace Global Grid.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More:
Hackers In Space: Designing A Ground Station

While Nvidia is no stranger to the mobile computing game, until now it’s only really been providing scraps of technology required to build mobile phones. ZTE, however, is about to launch the first entirely Nvidia-driven smartphone, and this is it. More »

View original post here:
This Is the First Solely Nvidia-Powered Smartphone [Phones]

Required Snark writes “A remote control drone operated by an animal rights group was shot down in South Carolina by a group of thwarted hunters. Steve Hindi, the group president said ‘his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft from flying.’ After the shoot was halted, the drone was launched anyway, and at this point it was shot down. ‘Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots rang out,’ Hindi said in the release. ‘As an act of revenge for us shutting down the pigeon slaughter, they had shot down our copter.’ ‘It is important to note how dangerous this was, as they were shooting toward and into a well-travelled highway,’ Hindi stated in the release.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read the original:
Hunters Shoot Down Drone of Animal Rights Group

Depending on what tactics you use, your passwords might be great or they might be awful. One thing is certain, though: if you reuse the same password across multiple websites, that is definitely a bad idea. Mozilla are keen to show you just how bad. More »

Read the article:
Visualize How Dumb Your Password Reuse Is [Passwords]

The Portuguese-language blog BlogdoiPhone has somehow gotten its hands on a Pre-GM build of the upcoming iOS 5.1 update. Here’s what could be in store for the expected March 9th-ish update. More »

More:
Leaked iOS 5.1 Build Shows Off a Camera-Slider and Expanded Siri Functionality (UPDATED) [Rumors]

The Portuguese-language blog BlogdoiPhone has somehow gotten its hands on a Pre-GM build of the upcoming iOS 5.1 update. Here’s what could be in store for the expected March 9th-ish update. More »

Read more here:
Leaked iOS 5.1 Build Shows Off a Camera-Slider and Expanded Siri Functionality [Rumors]

Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage service is set to receive some substantial upgrades this year, according to news from both official and unofficial channels. File synchronization, secure remote access, and Windows 8 integration have been demonstrated by Microsoft, and rumored improvements include paid storage upgrades, secure storage of BitLocker keys, a new Mac client, and support for OpenDocument (ODF) files.

Pictures leaked by Brazilian site Gemind showed off the paid storage options, allowing an extra 20, 50, or 100 GB to be added to SkyDrive’s base 25GB, for $10, $25, or $50 per year. The same pictures also encourage users to download a SkyDrive client for Windows or Mac OS X.

Read the comments on this post

Read the article:
Bigger files, remote access, OpenDocument, and more coming to SkyDrive

Still using Windows Vista? XP? Why? Well, whatever the reason, Microsoft has clarified some of their end-of-life dates for older versions of Windows, including XP. This is mostly about support on the business side but it could be useful if you’ve got an old machine that’s acting up (or you refuse to upgrade).

Ed Bott found the actual dates in a Japanese Microsoft blog post:

As he explains, this doesn’t mean you can buy a copy of XP right now for any money but you can get “Mainstream and Extended” support for implementations of the OS. Good to know if you have something mission critical running on an old Compaq.

photo credit: @Doug88888 via photopin cc

Read this article:
Microsoft Nails Down Windows End-Of-Life Dates

Multiple class action lawsuits filed over the iPhone 4’s antenna design flaw have been settled, with those that suffered from reduced reception being offered their choice of a free iPhone Bumper case or $15. The settlement is essentially identical to the free case Apple offered all iPhone 4 users in 2010.

A controversy over the iPhone 4’s unique antenna design erupted after it began shipping in July 2010. Apple had designed the device’s stainless steel bezel to serve as antennas for its WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular radios. It moved the antennas outside of the phone, allowing Apple to make it thinner while gaining improved reception. While the design did increase overall reception for the iPhone 4 compared to previous iPhones, a weak spot was discovered on the bottom left area where a small gap existed between two antenna segments. Some users bridged that gap with their hand, which could significantly attenuate cell reception and result in poor call quality or frequently dropped calls.

Apple tried to show how other cell phones suffered from similar attenuation, but the unique design of the iPhone 4 antenna resulted in a sharper drop for a certain percentage of users. Steve Jobs famously said that users were holding it wrong, but later the company admitted that it was a real problem for some users and offered a free case to any iPhone 4 buyer.

Though a case mitigated the problem, some users decided to sue instead. Multiple lawsuits were filed claiming that Apple misled users about the antenna problem, and those suits were later combined into a single class-action case. According to CNET, a preliminary approval of Apple’s proposed settlement was reached on Friday afternoon. Any US resident that bought an iPhone 4 can make a claim to receive either a free iPhone Bumper case or $15. (Ironically, those same consumers could have gotten a free case almost two years ago.)

The “Antennagate” issue never slowed sales of the iPhone 4, and Apple claims that the problem was isolated to a small percentage of users. “This settlement relates to a small number of customers who indicated that they experienced antenna or reception issues with their iPhone 4, and didn’t want to take advantage of a free case from Apple when it was being offered in 2010,” an Apple spokesperson told CNET.

Apple resolved the flaw with the iPhone 4S by using dual cell antennas that can be switched on the fly to whichever one is currently receiving the strongest signal.

Read the comments on this post

View post:
iPhone 4 antenna lawsuits settled with choice of free Bumper or $15

There are something like a bazillion apps in the App Store. Do you know what that means? A lot of craptacular apps that should never be put on your iPhone. But sometimes you download an app not knowing it sucks or doesn’t work or is buggy or isn’t what you thought. Can you get a refund from the App Store? Yes! Here’s how. More »

Read More:
How to Get a Refund from the App Store [Apple]