Ben Watson

NASA set to launch cheap Android-based satellites with Nexus hardware later this year

Faced with a shrinking budget, NASA will in many ways need to reinvent itself if the agency hopes to continue leading the charge in space exploration. There’s perhaps no better example of that “do more with less” mantra than the PhoneSat project, the goal of which is to build the lowest-cost and easiest to assemble satellites ever placed into orbit. To create such a thing, engineers have turned to off-the-shelf consumer gadgets for parts, harnessing the internals of Google’s Nexus hardware as the brains of the operation.

Valve says it’s jumping into the computer hardware business

In a job listing for the “industrial designer” position on Valve’s website, the company has finally made its hardware ambitions explicit: Valve says “we’re frustrated by the lack of innovation of in the computer hardware space, so we’re jumping in.” The job listing says that “even in basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven’t really changed much in any meaningful way over the years,” but stops short of naming alternative hardware. For months, evidence suggesting Valve’s entrance to the hardware market has piled up: there’s the rumored “Steam Box” platform, murmurs of a wearable computing project, and job listings for engineers.

“There’s a real void in the marketplace.”

Valve hasn’t confirmed any specific plans for devices yet, but the…

Ireland calls for minimum Internet speeds of 30Mbps

With the exception of Google Fiber, the United States isn’t exactly breaking records when it comes to high-speed Internet policy. The National Broadband Plan, which was released two years ago, says that there should be a minimum level of service of at least 4Mbps for all Americans. Since then, not much has happened.

But across the pond in Ireland, Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, has recently decided that that’s not nearly enough.

On Thursday, he outlined a new broadband plan for Ireland that puts the United States to shame. He says that half the population, largely in the urban and suburban cores, should have speeds of 70Mbps to 100Mbps, with service of at least 40Mbps to the next 20 percent of the country. Finally, he writes, there should be a “minimum of 30Mbps for every remaining home and business in the country—no matter how rural or remote.”

New dvd standard can’t be far behind.  Still too big though. 

Ultra-HD TV sets to hit shelves just in time for Christmas

By December, U.S. stores will sell a TV set with four times the resolution of today’s best HDTVs, Sony says. The set will measure 84 inches on the diagonal, making the screen area four times as large as the common 42-inch set.

Photon scale imagery. 

Researchers achieve ‘highest possible’ 100,000dpi color laser printing

Researchers in Singapore have achieved what they claim is the “highest possible resolution” for color laser printing. The team demonstrated the technique by printing the common Lena test image at just 50 by 50 micrometers and around 100,000dpi — any smaller and the light would bounce off each pixel and diffract, resulting in a blurry picture. The pixels are actually constructed from tiny pillars topped with gold and silver nanodisks, but an effect called plasmon resonance means it’s possible to define the color of reflected light by varying the dots’ diameters and the spaces between them.

We’ve seen (and questioned the utility of) screens with Retina display-beating resolution, and color print technology has long been able to go beyond…

At least one report says some fonts are more trusted than others. 

Errol Morris on why some fonts are more trustworthy than others

Last month, filmmaker and writer Errol Morris (known for documentaries Standard Operating Procedure and The Fog of War) quoted a brief paragraph and asked New York Times readers if they agreed with its premise: that “we are living in an era of unprecedented safety.” Though the question ostensibly measured whether the reader was an optimist or pessimist, Morris was actually testing something different: are people more likely to trust text when it’s written in certain fonts?

Now, Morris has published his results, along with an interesting essay on writing and font styles and analysis from psychology professor David Dunning at Cornell University. It turns out that people who saw the statement in “starchy” and formal font Baskerville were…

Amazon launches rental service for paper textbooks

Juggernaut Amazon is striking another blow at the traditional textbook industry by offering semester-long rentals of physical books. The listings for a number of textbooks now include a “rent” option that’s usually around $50 for a title that sells for $170. According to Amazon’s FAQ, the books are rented out by the semester (counted as 130 days), with one 15-day extension allowed. Textbooks are shipped at standard prices, and the cost of returning them is paid by Amazon. Depending on their luck, renters might receive a book that’s new or one that’s gently used.

Ebay’s Half.com and other sites rent textbooks at roughly similar prices, but Amazon’s ubiquity means it’s likely to make the practice more mainstream. While Amazon also offers a…

They have a kickstarter page….

Vittles Film + Counter Culture Coffee = Cafe Sense

I’m glad I ran into the guys of Vittles Film at the Indy Weekly Awards outing this weekend.  It was gorgeous weather and lots of people jammed into the American Tobacco Historic District with vendors set up showing off their flair.  As I was walking around congratulating the recent winners I stopped at a tent because I noticed a small postcard with a coffee tasting wheel advertising a documentary called “Cafe Sense”.  I had heard about this documentary through Counter Culture Coffee but had yet to watch it.  First, its a great documentary and you should check it out below or at their website here  http://www.vittles.us/.  Second, support what they are doing.  Their craft is excellent and their story telling is superb.  Hats off Vittles crew, I hope we meet again very soon!