| Tech Coverage on Mashable ~ DailyTechBytes May 22nd 2012, 10:31 | TRENDING STORIES IN TECH & GADGETS | | | | | | ALL STORIES IN TECH & GADGETS | | | Samsung Galaxy S3 Pre-Orders and Two Other Stories You Need to Know | | 7:19:39 AM | Stan Schroeder |
|  Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. Today, we're looking at three particularly interesting stories. Samsung Galaxy S3 Now Available for Pre-Order at Amazon Samsung Galaxy S3 is available for pre-order at Amazon for a hefty sum of $799, in blue or white color. The blue version is expected to start shipping May 29, while the white will ship a few days later, on June 1. Have in mind that the version on sale at Amazon is the international one, the i9300. It's compatible with AT&T's HSPA network, but it doesn't come with LTE connectivity. SpaceX Dragon Successfully Launched Towards the ISS The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon capsule has launched successfully towards the International Space Station. If all goes well, the Dragon should dock with the ISS in a couple of days. California State Senate Passes Safety Regulations for Self-Driving Cars The California State Senate has passed new legislation which will establish safety regulations and requirements for self-driving cars. Google's autonomous vehicles recently got a license in Nevada, and Arizona, Hawaii, Florida and Oklahoma have all announced plans to consider legislation that regulates self-driving cars as well. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock |
| SpaceX Dragon Launched Successfully [VIDEO] | | 5:12:11 AM | Stan Schroeder |
|  The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon capsule has launched successfully at 3:44 AM ET. Dragon has separated and the solar arrays have deployed, SpaceX has announced. With this achievement, SpaceX is the first commercial company in history to successfully launch a spacecraft towards the International Space Station. The historic launch comes after several delays at the last second. If everything goes as planned, the Dragon capsule should dock with the ISS in a couple of days. Watch the live stream below. Developing... Stream videos at Ustream |
| SpaceX Fuels Private Rocket for Launch to Space Station | | |  This story was updated on May 22 at 12:15 a.m. EDT. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A privately built rocket carrying the first commercial spacecraft ever to visit the International Space Station has begun fueling for its planned early-morning launch into orbit on Tuesday (May 22). The Falcon 9 rocket built by the commercial spaceflight company SpaceX is making its second attempt to launch the company's robotic Dragon space capsule, with blastoff set for 3:44 a.m. EDT (0744 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here. The Falcon 9 booster is now being filled with liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel to power its nine engines. "Fueling has begun," NASA spokesman Mike Curie told SPACE.com. "There are no constraints, and weather looks good." Weather forecasts predict an optimistic 80 percent chance of clear skies for this second try at launch. [Quiz: How Well Do You Know SpaceX's Dragon?] The unmanned spacecraft was due to make its maiden trip to the International Space Station Saturday (May 19), but a rocket engine glitch forced a launch abort in the last half-second. Over the weekend, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve was to blame for the abnormally high chamber pressure in the engine that caused the abort. "Since then they replaced that check valve with a new unit and have tested all the other engines for similar problems and believe they are good to go," Mike Horkachuck, NASA project executive for the Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX, said Monday. Dragon is making its final test flight under a NASA program aimed at developing commercial U.S. spacecraft to fill in for the cargo-delivering capabilities of the retired space shuttles, which flew their final missions last year. SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp.) has a $1.6 billion contract to fly 12 delivery missions to the space station following a successful test flight to the orbiting lab. "Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft to orbit in an exciting start to the mission that will make SpaceX the first commercial company in history to try to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station," company officials said in a statement Monday. For this debut mission, the Dragon spacecraft is packed 1,200 pounds of cargo, including 162 meals for the station crew, science experiments designed by middle and high school students, and a supply of commemorative mission patches and pins. If Dragon lifts off Tuesday, it is expected to approach the space station on Thursday (May 24), and then be attached to the orbiting lab on Friday. The space capsule, while robotic, is not able to dock itself at the International Space Station. Instead, the spacecraft will pull up close to the station so that astronauts inside the orbiting lab can use a robotic arm to latch onto the vehicle and attach it to an available docking port. After several weeks linked to the space station, the Dragon capsule is expected to depart the outpost and splash down in the Pacific Ocean a few hundred miles west of the Southern California coast. A recovery ship will retrieve the capsule from the ocean. |
| Slide Is an iPhone Game You Already Know How to Play | | |  There are tons of iPhone games out there with complicated rules, levels, and moves to learn. One game, called Slide, is making learning how to play much easier by having you do something you already know how to do: unlock your phone. Playing off the slide to unlock feature on the iPhone, Slide involves doing just that, sliding your finger across the screen in the same way you might unlock your phone. The difference in Slide's case, however, is that you have more unlock bars than just one, and the bars will reappear after they've been slid open, often at a ferocious pace. The game has four different modes: classic, twist, doubles, and revenge. As you play you slide unlock bars from right to left and left to right, and the game keeps track of how long you've survived in the game, how many times you've successfully slid to unlock, and the rate of time between each unlock. All those factors are combined together into a score. Scores can be shared on Facebook and Twitter. The game also has OpenFeint and Game Center support, so you can compete with friends and keep track of how you're doing against your friends on leaderboards. While on the surface Slide may seem simple, the longer you play the game the faster the slides start to appear and the more difficult the game becomes. The result is a highly addictive game you're likely have a bit of trouble putting down. Slide is available now for free for iOS devices. Have any of you given Slide a try? Let us know what you think in the comments. |
| Manage Your Brand's Facebook Page From this New App | | |  Facebook unveiled its new app on Monday that lets you manage your branded Facebook page from your iPhone. Using the Facebook Pages Manager app you can respond, post and comment on your page, plus post updates and photos. Just install the free app, then login to your Facebook account. Last week, the app rolled out to markets around the globe for beta testing, reported Mobile Burn, and now all U.S. users can download it from the App Store. The new app requires iOS 4.2 or later. Facebook is a fan of apps, after all. In March, the company announced it will launch its own app store that will enable paid Facebook apps -- for both iOS and Android devices. Will you download this new app from Facebook? Tell us in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kevinjeon00 |
| Siri, Y U No Understand Me? [INFOGRAPHIC] | | Monday, May 21, 2012 10:32 PM | Sam Laird |
|  Siri is a loyal mistress, following you wherever you go -- but is she a good listener? Since the iPhone 4S began coming standard with Siri last October, the voice activated personal assistant has become a cultural phenomenon. Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel star in Siri-themed ads for the phone. A creepy iPhone case forces you to interact with Siri. A different project enables Siri to destroy your phone if it's lost or stolen, and a viral video shows what happens when Siri goes psycho. But everyone's not impressed. In March, a man filed suit against Apple, alleging that Siri "does not perform as advertised." Anecdotally, many others have complained that Siri doesn't respond to voice commands and questions as hyped. Given the controversy, Internet education portal OnlineDegrees.com rounded up a number of studies and statistics from sources including The Wall Street Journal, ABC News and others over the past several months to produce the infographic below. Among the findings: 87% of iPhone 4S owners use Siri at least once per month, with just over half describing themselves as "satisfied" with her performance. 9% say they're not satisfied, while 36% say they're somewhere between happy and unhappy. Only two-thirds of users, however, employ Siri for anything beyond searching the web, making a phone call or sending a text. At least 30% of users say they would never use Siri to schedule a metting, play music or even send an email, while just a quarter use Siri to send emails on a daily basis. Check out the infographic below for more on how iPhone owners do -- and don't -- use Siri. Then let us know in the comments -- do you think Siri really works? |
| Sprint's HTC EVO 4G LTE Starts Shipping After Customs Delay | | Monday, May 21, 2012 9:32 PM | Emily Price |
|  If you pre-ordered Sprint's EVO 4G LTE, then your wait is almost over. Sprint announced via a forum post Monday afternoon that it expects to begin shipping the HTC EVO 4G LTE to customers who pre-ordered the device soon, with phones expected to arrive on or around May 24th. The EVO 4G LTE was originally slated to be released on May 18, but was delayed in U.S. customs due to a "review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order." The exclusion order came from a court ruling last year when HTC was accused of violating 10 Apple patents. The judge ruled in favor of Apple in the case, and required HTC to adjust the software in its phones in order for them to be sold in the U.S. The problem in this case specifically centered around tapping a phone number in an email to launch the phone's dialer to call a number. The exclusion order went into effect on April 19, and both the HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE were both pulled for inspection last week. At the time HTC acknowledged the review, and issued a statement reading in part, "We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with customs to secure approval" -- approval which it now appears to have -- at least in the case of the EVO 4G LTE. If you have already pre-ordered the EVO 4G LTE, then you can expect the phone to arrive on or around this Thursday. Customers will be sent a shipping confirmation email with a tracking number as soon as their devices ships, and you can check the status of your pre-order on Sprint's website. |
| Steve Jobs Honored in Star-Studded Webbys Tribute [VIDEO] | | Monday, May 21, 2012 9:06 PM | Sam Laird |
|  Steve Jobs may have built Apple into the world's most valuable technology company in part by betting against the web. But global celebrities and some of the Internet's brightest stars joined together to create a heartfelt tribute video honoring the legendary entrepreneur during Monday night's Webby Awards in New York City. Barack Obama, Bono and Sarah Silverman were among roughly a dozen celebrities and political figures to appear in the video thanking Jobs for his company's role in changing the technology world and everyday life for millions upon millions of digitally savvy consumers. Jobs died in October after an extended battle with cancer, and the Webby Awards tribute isn't the only Hollywood treatment he's getting these days. Ashton Kutcher has signed on to play Jobs in one upcoming biopic, while Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has agreed to pen another Jobs-themed flick. The Webby Awards were founded by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in 1996, and annually honor the Internet's top sites, apps and personalities. Mashable is honored to take the title of best business coverage (blog) this year. Check out the full transcript of Monday's star-studded Jobs tribute below. Do you think it was an appropriate gesture? Let us know in the comments. The Webby Awards Honor Steve Jobs We thank you, Steve Jobs. For making us love Apple; For making technology into art; For a handheld internet; For still changing the world; For saving lives with red; For spreading American ingenuity worldwide; For exploring beyond our reach- A unique, far-reaching, irreplaceable mind; For making the classroom fun. Steve Jobs was insanely great. He made turtlenecks sexy again. A meticulous attention to detail. Forty-three patented inventions. Check Wikipedia. Thank you for thinking different. Here's to you, Steve Jobs. Here's to you, Steve Jobs. Here's to you, Steve Jobs. Here's to you, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was one of the great innovators of our time. And as his story, a story of American ingenuity, makes its way into history, from classrooms to boardrooms, future generations will marvel-just as we do-at this man, who dreamt so big and changed the way we live. The truth is, when we talk about Steve Jobs, we only need one word: amazing. |
| 'My Last Wish' Is a Social Network Based on Death | | Monday, May 21, 2012 7:40 PM | Emily Price |
|  A new social network has an interesting premise: connecting people around the world based on what they want to do before they die. Called My Last Wish, the app encourages users to post wishes on a 'Wish Wall' and then befriend others who might share their dreams. "I believed in the possibility that there can be two persons in this world with same hopes, dreams and wishes," Kirtan Thaker, co-founder of the White Lotus Corporation, the group behind the app, told Mashable. "I was confident that if we create a app where this possibility can be turned into reality, people will love this concept and they will get a chance to make friends who are unknown but having just one thing in common which is the last wish." When sharing a wish, users can also choose to attach their email address or phone number so others that share their dream can connect with them. Tapping on a person's contact information within the app will add their information to the contacts list in your phone. You can also receive push notifications when people add wishes to the wall. A palm icon appears beside wishes, allowing you to "aLike" a wish you share, or "give a five" to that person to express your support for their wish and become friends. SEE ALSO: What Does Social Media Mean for the Future of Mortality?/a> While definitely a little morbid, and certainly out of the ordinary, the app already has a little bit of a following. Posted wishes range from things such as traveling the world to writing a book. Thaker says that the ultimate goal behind the app is to help people make friends that share similar hopes and dreams, or even help someone potentially find his or her soul mate. White Lotus plans to add a location-based feature to the app in the future to help you find people located physically around you, and if the iOS version of the app does well the company plans to release an Android version as well. What do you think about My Last Wish? Is the app cool, or creepy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. |
| High-Definition 3D Printer Creates Objects With Light [VIDEO] | | Monday, May 21, 2012 6:24 PM | Joann Pan |
|  The B9Creator is a 3D printer that's flying off virtual shelves on Kickstarter. The B9Creator is a do-it-yourself 3D printer kit. Currently, it's one of the most successful 3D printer projects seeking funding on the website. Backers have already raised $164,418 with 21 days left until the funding deadline. The project surpassed the initial $50,000 goal within a day. Supporters of the project will receive a B9Creator 3D-printing kit with a donation of $2,375 or more. The estimated delivery date for a limited number of printers is August 2012. Guitars, custom prosthetic limbs and jawbone transplants are all products of 3D printing. These printers create solid objects by generating layers of material on top of each other. The B9Creator, developed by Michael Joyce, is made with anodized aluminum and stainless steel. The portable device is supposedly able generate more complex and detailed models than other 3D printers. It does so via a projector, which is attached to the machine mechanically and shines light to "cure" the resin material, setting it in place. This allows the B9Creator to generate fragile, high-resolution molds. The 3D printer generates about an inch of material every hour. SEE ALSO: 3D Printer Creates Chairs From Recycled Refrigerators/a> The resin costs 10 cents per gram. A miniature Eiffel Tower mold printed by the B9Creator is seemingly sturdy and extraordinarily detailed. The model, which weighs about 12 grams, only used about $1.20 of material. Once the B9 is in production, consumers will be able to build and print resin models at home. The machine is less than 30 pounds and about two and a half feet tall. The B9Creator kit will come up with basic software allowing users to come up with new models. The printer -- upon completion of the project -- will have an open API for developers to advance the existing software and hardware. Would you buy a 3D printer for office or home use? Tell us in the comments what you would create. |
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