Space
junk is everywhere, and it’s high time that someone takes charge to
clean it up. And Switzerland is that someone: the country is building
CleanSpace One, the first in a family of “janitor” satellites
to clean up space.

To be launched as soon as three to five years from now, CleanSpace
One will rendezvous with one of two defunct objects in orbit, either
the Swisscube picosatellite, or its cousin TIsat, both 1,000 cubic centimeters
(61 cubic inches) in size. When the janitor satellite reaches its target,
it will extend a grappling arm, grab it and then plunge into Earth’s
atmosphere, burning up itself and the space junk during re-entry.

Think of it as the WALL-E of satellites (why it kind of looks like it,
too): Link

Continued here:
Switzerland to Build Janitor Satellites to Clean Up Space Junk

We all know we need to exercise to stay fit and healthy, but sometimes it’s difficult to find the time. Don’t worry: scientists have worked out the minimum amount of exercise you can get away with in order to get fit. More »

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Scientists Find the Bare Minimum Exercise You Need to Get Fit [Health]

Seemingly out of nowhere, Mountain Lion, the next version of the Apple’s OS X operating system, is formally in the works and will be on our computers later this summer. Most intriguing is that it will further blur the lines between iOS and OS X, bringing apps like Messages, Notes, and Reminders along with utilities such as Notification Center and—finally—AirPlay mirroring from your Mac. More »

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OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: More iPhone-Like Than Ever [Os X Mountain Lion]

With so many things intentionally built so you cannot easily open them up and monkey with the innards, it’s refreshing to see the design of HP’s new Z1 workstation: The machine easily flips into a horizontal position for servicing, and the screen pops up as easy as a car hood. Even better, it’s been designed for completely tool-less adjustments—you can swap everything in and out with your bare fingers, so you don’t need one of those micro screwdriver sets with bits shaped like all of the individual Lucky Charms.

The attendant video is one of those that’s been branded a “Making of” but is in fact more commercial-y, though it’s worth watching to hear some of the inspirations and thinking behind the design:

(more…)

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HP’s Z1 Workstation: Designed So You Can Mess With It

When it comes to streaming music services are you something of an agnostic? That’s not necessarily a bad thing — Spotify, Rdio, MOG, Grooveshark, etc… all have their strengths and weaknesses (Spotify, for example, is a great source for Norwegian black metal). The trouble is, it’s neither fun nor easy to jump from app to app, web site to web site just to find what you’re looking for. Music Smasher simplifies things by letting you search most of the big sources in online streaming tunes simultaneously. It trolls the four services mentioned earlier, as well as SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Well, it searches Grooveshark in theory, but every query we tried simply returned undefined results. Hit up the source to try it out for yourself.

Music Smasher searches Spotify, Rdio, MOG and more in one shot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge, Lifehacker | Music Smasher | Email this | Comments

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Music Smasher searches Spotify, Rdio, MOG and more in one shot

The 70,000 daily visitors to popular music site RnBXclusive.com were met with a purposely terrifying message on Tuesday and part of Wednesday. The UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) took the site down, arrested its operator, and threw up a splash page that warned downloaders of “up to 10 years imprisonment.” Thought statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringement in the US were ludicrous? SOCA warns that downloaders from the site could face an “unlimited fine under UK law.”

SOCA also showed users their own IP address and warned that “the above information can be used to identify you and your location,” adding that “SOCA has the capability to monitor and investigate you, and can inform your Internet service provider of these infringements.”

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Visit site:
Police: download a file, go to jail for 10 years and pay an “unlimited” fine

kkleiner writes “A group of 15 patients suffering from either epileptic seizures or brain tumors volunteered to allow scientists to insert electrodes into their brains. After neurosurgeons cut a hole in their skulls, the research team placed 256 electrodes over the part of the brain that processes auditory signals called the temporal lobe. The scientists then played words, one at a time, to the patients while recording brain activity in the temporal lobe. A computer was able to reconstruct the original word 80 to 90 percent of the time.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Brain Implants Can Detect What Patients Hear

Yesterday, the Canadian Conservative government introduced a “minor” change to its sweeping domestic spying bill. Instead of being called the “Lawful Access Act” it is now called the “Protecting Children From Internet Predators Act.” (Thanks, Robbo!)

Read More:
Orwell would be proud of Canada’s Tories

garyebickford writes ” As The ETH Lausanne says: ‘The proliferation of debris orbiting the Earth – primarily jettisoned rocket and satellite components – is an increasingly pressing problem for spacecraft, and it can generate huge costs. To combat this scourge, the Swiss Space Center at EPFL is announcing today the launch of CleanSpace One, a project to develop and build the first installment of a family of satellites specially designed to clean up space debris.’ This looks like a reasonable method, although I think that at some future point it might be useful to just put at least the smaller stuff in a higher ‘parking orbit’ for later destruction or recycling. This way you wouldn’t lose one vacuum cleaner for each satellite retrieved. And much later down the road, it might be useful to collect bigger units — expended boosters, for example — as raw materials and/or containers. The cost of getting the mass into space has already been spent.
I optimistically foresee a future where much of the stuff sent into orbital space has a recycling function built into the design.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Swiss To Build Orbital Cleaning Satellite

Apple’s asked the Chinese Amazon store to stop selling iPads because of its not-going-so-well legal mess with Proview Technology. Proview’s also trying to get all imports and exports of the iPad banned. So if neither side wants iPads sold in China, why are they still on shelves? Local customs officials, of course, who have responded to this whole thing with a laugh and a good hair ruffling. More »

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Apple Pulled iPads from Amazon China, But Won’t Face Total Ban (Yet) [Apple]