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Tony Ibrahim

Australia Lands On Mars

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Australia has played a key role in the landing on Mars early today with the head of NASA recognising the contributions of Canberra, Australia, and claiming all countries involved are now on Mars.

At a press conference this afternoon, the head of NASA praised the work done in Canberra for tracking the final landing. He also noted three other countries assisted with the mission, but chose not to name them.

The $2.5 billion robotic explorer travelled 352 million miles for more than 8 months, only to endure the hardest part of its journey in the last seven minutes. Described as “seven minutes of terror,” the 1 tonne rover sliced through Mars’ thin atmosphere at 21,240km/h.

To slow the rover down for a safe landing, The Australian claims NASA used a supersonic parachute and an elaborate sky crane powered by rocket blasters. Once it kicked in, the crane lowered the rover down by nylon tethers for a six wheel upright landing.

“Touchdown confirmed” said a member of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The room then erupted in cheers.

“We are wheels down on Mars. Oh, my God.”

Minutes after landing two images were relayed back to earth; one depicting Curiosity’s wheel on Mars’ red surface and another capturing its shadow.

 

“It was a great drama that was played,” said one of the engineers on NASA’s media conference Panel. “The team brought us victory today.”

NASA scientists don’t expect to find life on Mars, but they do hope to find signs of microbial life over the next two years of exploration.

“If we succeed, it will be one of the greatest feats in planetary exploration ever,” said Mars’ program director, Doug McCuistion to reporters. “Our success rate has been pretty darn good recently.”

President Obama aims to have humans touch down on Mars by 2030. In order to determine if it is safe to do so, Curiosity has been tracking radiation levels throughout its journey.

Although a $2.5 billion project, NASA engineers are calling the program a bargain at just $7 per American citizen, when compared to the inflated price of going to the movies. 

Pure Connect Is The Sound System That Can Do It All

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Pure has been solidifying its name in the audio space by including a gamut of wireless technologies in its products.

“Some day, we’ll wonder why we ever had to physically connect devices.” That was said by Pure’s Managing Director, Graeme Redmond, and it’s with the same tenacity the folks at Pure have approached their latest offering, infusing it with a vast variety of wireless technologies.

The Sensia 200D Connect and has a lengthy feature set, so we suggest you take a deep breath first. 

It can stream wireless on-demand content and radio, will replay music streamed from a home computer and will record music onto a USB thumb drive. At your instruction it will ‘Tag’ tracks played on the radio, present their biography and provide you with the option to add it to your personal music collection by buying it.


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Google and Apple devices can stream music and radio wirelessly to the 200D, while social network aficionados can view Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, RSS feeds, weather reports and Picasa pics on the vibrant 7 inch touchscreen. For a small orb like system, that’s quite the feature set.

 

“Pure Stream delivers similar convenience when playing from a Smartphone to compatible Pure wireless music and radio systems” continued Pure MD Redmond. “Pure Stream is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Pure’s vision for the digital home.”

Music is replayed over 30W speakers, is enhanced by a suite of custom Pure software and between the two, will deliver ‘completely immersive, room-filling sound.’

Other features include an input for an iPod/MP3 player; two fully featured alarms; countdown timer; sleep timer and a headphone socket. Add the optional rechargeable Pure F1 ChargePAK to listen to internet content anywhere within range of the Wi-Fi network or to digital and FM radio when further afield.

This action-packed system will go on sale from August 12th for $599.

Avoid $298 Mobile Fines With These Bluetooths + Cradles

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As of today, new mobile phone laws have come into effect disallowing drivers from holding their phone while driving. If you want to have a voice call or use your smartphone’s GPS, you’ll need to rely on a cradle or a Bluetooth car kit. Below you’ll find some smartphone cradle and Bluetooth solutions that are ideal for your car.

TomTom Hands Free Car Kit


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TomTom is offering the kit in two versions: one specifically for iPhones, and another that caters to microUSB devices, such as Android and Windows Phone smartphones.

The hands free car kit features an advanced noise and echo cancellation system, and also offers the option of adding an extendable microphone to the sun visor.

Belkin iPhone/iPod Mount ($39.98 from Dick Smith Electronics)


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This mount from Belkin has been designed for use with Apple’s iPhone and Apple’s iPad, but Belkin claim it’s an “adjustable universal cradle [that] fits most mobile devices.” Its arm can be rotated to accommodate portrait and landscape view.

Kensington SoundWave Amplifying Car Mount ($39.99)


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Kensington’s SoundWave is a sturdy iPhone solution that accommodates your existing phone charger. It’ll also amplify your iPhone’s speakerphone without influencing its battery life, and comes with two mounting solutions.

Uniden Bluetooth Car Kit BTSC 1500 ($79.95)


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This Bluetooth car kit from Uniden uses text-to-speech technology to announce incoming call, is compatible with voice dialling and will answer incoming calls automatically. Incoming numbers are also displayed on a blue OLED display.

A Full Duplex 1 Watt speaker articulates conversations, while the latest I noise and echo cancellation technology ensures clear sound production. The 1500 uses Bluetooth 2.1 and works with iPhones, Android smartphones, Blackberrys and other Bluetooth-enabled mobiles.

 

Jabra Cruiser 2 


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Jarba’s second gen cruiser uses dual microphone technology to ensure your voice is clearly picked up and distinguished from background noise. It can pair to two bluetooth devices simultaneously, uses stereo bluetooth for music playback and hosts a slew of sophisticated technology which has been kept simple. The long lasting battery can handle up to 14 hours of consecutive talk time and 480 hours on standby before needed a charge.

Plantronics M25 + M55 ($49 and $69 respectively)

Plantronics’ M25 and M55 Bluetooth headsets put to work DeepSleep technology in order to hold battery life for an impressive 5 months. DeepSleep technology is activated when the paired phone has been out of the headset’s range for 90 minutes, and can be reactivated by simply pressing the call button.

Internet Upgrade Coming This Wednesday

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In a few days IP addresses will undergo an upgrade: how will it affect you?

Every device that surfs the World Wide Web has an individual IP number or address. The current standard, IPv4, can accommodate four billion devices, which is a whole 3 billion less than the global population.

It is because of this IP deficiency on the current IPv4 standard that the internet will undergo an upgrade to a new standard, IPv6. The new standard can handle trillions of IP numbers or addresses, and according to a news.com.au report, will go live Wednesday at 12:01am GMT (9.01am AEST).

The new system endured testing last year, ahead of the World IPv6 launch, which will see web operators and co switch permanently from IPv4 to IPv6.

According to Leo Vegoda, a numbers resources manager for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, “most users shouldn’t notice anything. If ordinary internet users need to know stuff, then the technology isn’t right.”

However, people using equipment on the old standard might experience some “irritations,” Vegoda admitted.

By 2016, Cisco projects there will be 18.9 billion network connections – a significant increase from 2011’s 10.3 billion – and roughly translates to 2.5 connections per person. These connections include smartphones, tablets, notebooks, PCs and gaming consoles to name just a few.

 

Major internet service providers (ISPs) are prepared for the switchover, but over time home users may need to upgrade their modems and routers for compatibility’s sake.

The switch will also make it easier for different devices and networks to speak to one other. For this reason, big companies like Google, Facebook and Cisco are encouraging the move.
“Your current network running IPv4-based devices won’t be obsolete for some time,” Cisco’s Sampa Choudhuri said.

“However, if you haven’t already started making plans for the transition to IPv6, you should. The first step you should take is determining how and when to transition to the new internet protocol based on your business needs.”

Choudhuri advised those doing business with partners on an IPv6 network would benefit from migrating “sooner rather than later.”

As Oz Businesses Suffer Govt. Considers Online Tax

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Australia’s peak economic advisory body claimed there are justified grounds to charge GST on internet purchases of $1000 and less. But to do so effectively, it will take years and have a minor effect in reducing retail decline, reports the SMH.

“Other factors such as much lower prices, greater range of products-that is, choice- and convenience available online appear to be far more important drivers,” the Productivity commission said in a draft report on the retail sector.

Bricks and mortar stores have been facing difficulties coping with the shifting sales dynamic, as many struggle to adopt an online presence despite the help of different government bodies. With more consumers shopping online, the brick and mortar outlets are ‘invisible’ to prospective customers.

Although the commission acknowledged the pressures retail outlets are facing, they believe a broad restructuring will help them compete with domestic and online sales. Currently, online sales account for 6% of sales annually, a percentage that doesn’t really convey a $12.6 billion stake.

Although only a draft, the report believes changes to Industrial Relations laws are necessary as current legislation is too rigid. Also recommended are the state wide deregulation of trading hours and new planning and zoning laws.
 
Changes to zoning would increase competition for shopping centre landlords, whose high rental fees disadvantage smaller retailers.  

 

The government will not offer a formal response until the final report is compiled and released in November, but it is believed it will work with the states to overhaul zoning laws and retail rental policies to aid small businesses.

The inquiry was commissioned in December after big retailers demanded the $1000 threshold for GST and customs duty be lowered, as overseas goods being sold online do not incur the charges, allowing them to sell rival products more competitively.

If implemented, the checking of the millions of packages would cost more than the excess revenue generated, costing taxpayers more, generating delays and clogging up customs.

In 2010-11, the mail system managed 45 million purchases under the current $1000 thresh hold, with another 10 million being delivered by couriers.

33 million of the 45 mil were estimated to cost below $100. If the thresh hold was lowered to $20, an extra $500 million in revenue would be generated, however, the cost of checking the extra parcels would be $1.6 billion.

It has been suggested by the commission that the government should innovate the clunky custom process by putting together a taskforce, or by developing another way to calculate the taxes on low end purchases.

Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten, who was responsible for commissioning the inquiry, showed  little enthusiasm about dropping the current threshold, deeming it ‘crazy’ if it was implemented straight away.

The executive director of the National retail Association Gary Black condemned the commission, claiming their inability to act would result in business failure and jobs being shifted overseas.

DreamBook: Where Ultrabook Meets Tablet

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With the introduction of Intel’s Ultrabook category, and the hype surrounding tablets, computers are being released in a variety of form factors; some great, others downright whacky.

Heck, just last week Microsoft unveiled a tablet with a soft keyboard and a kickstand. Yep, even the traditionalist software manufacturer is venturing into hardware. How times are a-changing.

Now Pioneer computers are giving a new form factor a go, and they’re marketing department has coined the series the ‘DreamBook.’

The DreamBook satisfies all of the criteria needed to be an Ultrabook, but with a detachable ten-point touch screen that can operate independently as a tablet.

Aside from the detachable screen, it still offers the same cocktail you’d get from a cutting edge Ultrabook. It features Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors, Intel HD 4000 graphics, Up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM and SATA3 storage ranging from 32GB to 128GB.

Connectivity is just as well equipped, with the DreamBook including a USB 3.0 port, MicroSD card reader and Bluetooth 4.0.

The tablet component features a 1.3MP front facing camera and a 2MP rear camera capable of 720p video recording. NFC and a finger print reader are also optional extras.

 

A bare-boned DreamBook will set you back $1,199, but almost everything is an optional extra, including the introductory Windows 7 OS which is priced at $99.

A DreamBook with a 2.6GHz i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of SSD memory, the optional Bluetooth module, front and rear camera, and Windows 7 Home Premium totals to $1,564.

At that price, Pioneer’s DreamBook is one whacky device. 

Nike & TomTom Release GPS Exercise Sports Watch

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TomTom and Nike have combined their wits to produce the Nike+ SportWatch, a small watch that tracks a runner’s location and performance.

They’ve tried to keep the watch simple by including three buttons and a ‘Tap Screen’ for navigation. 

When on a run, the watch will record you’re route by capturing location information, calculate your pace, calories burned and running time. To accurately determine this information it works in tandem with the shoe-based Nike+ Sensor.

Once you’ve finished running, the watch can be plugged into a computer (Windows and Mac) where it will automatically open the Nike+ connect interface and transfer your information to nikeplus.com. The site presents a runner’s GPS mapping, total kilometres, pace and elevation data for their most recent run in an easy-to-digest fashion; one resembling the Nike+ GPS iPhone app.

“With more than 150 million runs logged since its launch in 2006, Nikeplus.com captures the pulse of the running world everyday,” said Stefan Olander, VP of Nike Digital Sport.

 

“Providing runners with accurate pace, distance and location information during and after their run gives them the information they need to better train and track their progress,” he added. 

Other Nike+ SportsWatch features include:
· Tap Screen for setting laps and activating backlight
· Stopwatch and alarm
· Run History with data from past runs
· Personal Records including those imported from Nikeplus.com
· Quick Start with optional shoe-based Nike+ Sensor
· Heart Rate Monitor compatibility
· Tracking options

Some of the unique motivating factors the Nike+ SportWatch GPS offer runners on-screen include:
· Recognition (or “Attaboys”) for personal records
· Run Reminders that appear after five days if a run has not been logged
· Post-run acknowledgement and encouragement

The Nike+ SportsWatch will be available early May at $199.99.