navi
NASA successfully tests autonomous lunar lander navigation system, codename GENIE (video)
Robonaut2 may have fantastic biceps , but raw muscle won’t put a man humanoid on the moon — that takes rockets. Rockets like the one in this RR-1 prototype lander, recently outfitted with a Guidance Embedded Navigator Integration Environment (GENIE) system to let the craft safely descend to the lunar surface. On June 23rd, NASA and partner Armadillo Aerospace put the system to the test, hoping it could figure out the complex algorithms necessary to process volumes of data from the laser altimeter, GPS and inertial sensors, and quickly enough to steer the rocket engine accordingly..
OnStar users now sending Google Maps directions to their cars, definitely living in the future
July is upon us — do you know what that means?
Early Windows 8 features to include startup performance boost, visual login, and improved graphics (Update: Windows Store app store, too?)
Sure, Microsoft might be selling seven copies of Windows 7 a second , but that doesn’t mean Redmond isn’t planning for the future: the software giant is purportedly beginning to prep ODMs on Windows 8, if these leaked slides are to be believed. It doesn’t look like anything is nailed down just yet, but some interesting larger themes are being discussed, like improving startup and and wake-from-sleep times to be nearly instantaneous, the addition of higher-speed interconnects like USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0, hard drive encryption, ambient light sensitivity, and facial recognition login / out.
iOS 4 privacy policy updated: Apple can anonymously collect location data, you can take away iAds’ cookies
It may not be a big deal — Android’s done it for years — but some will no doubt be interested to learn that Apple can monitor your GPS. In the latest revision of its privacy policy, presumably updated for iOS 4 , it revealed the company can anonymously track the “real-time geographic location” of devices and is free to share that data with “partners and licensees” as well.
Samsung Captivate is AT&T’s version of the Galaxy S, launching ‘in the coming months’
So much for the “AT&T refuses to release high-end Android devices” conspiracy theory, eh? T-Mobile had been widely pegged as Samsung’s launch partner for the Galaxy S in the States, but AT&T stole its thunder this morning by announcing the Captivate featuring a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, Android 2.1, 7.2Mbps HSPA, and a 1GHz Hummingbird processor.
Motorola Droid X stars in its clearest off-the-cuff preview yet
Let’s be honest, we’ve seen more Droid X / Xtreme / Shadow spy shots than we can keep track of at this point, but for the latest batch, Mr. Blurrycam must’ve forgot his trademark blur filter and delivered us the cleanest images yet — for shame, we know.
