Cutting Edge Robotic Exploration

Mexican Sinkhole May Lead NASA to Jupiter, Washington Ppst

"For the next two weeks, the fully autonomous robot, which bears an uncanny resemblance to a Volkswagen Beetle, will plumb the previously inaccessible microbial mysteries of the sinkhole -- or "cenote" -- El Zacatón.
Relying on an eclectic team of scuba divers, engineers, biologists and geochemists, NASA is hoping the mission will be the first leg on its journey to Europa."
An underwater robot, shaped like a flattened orange, maneuvered untethered and autonomously within a 115-meter-deep sinkhole during tests this month in Mexico, a prelude to its mission to probe the mysterious nether reaches of the world's deepest sinkhole.

Measuring the Success of Vista's First 100 Days

As Windows Vista reaches its first meaningful milestone--100 days of widespread availability, as measured from its January29 consumer launch--it's time to begin analyzing whether the product is truly successful. Back in March, Microsoft announced that Vista sales were record setting, with over 20 million licenses sold in its first 30 days, a rate that doubled that of its predecessor, Windows XP. And in April, when Microsoft announced record quarterly revenues of $14.4 billion, the company credited better-than-expected sales of Vista for the improvement.

Improvement on Microsoft's earnings mat be, but how hot is Vista on the User list of headaches? I place it on the Top of that list! When will Microsoft wake up and smell the coffee? Microsoft! Wakie Wakie!

Xbox 360 Spring 2007 Update Review

This week, Microsoft finally shipped the long-awaited Xbox 360 Spring 2007 Update, which overhauls the Xbox 360 user interface, or Dashboard, and provides other useful functionality, such as integration with Windows-based Windows Live Messenger (see my review) instant messaging. Microsoft's been talking up the update for quite a while now. Does the reality match the hype?

Installing the update:
To find out, you're going to need to install the update first. Fortunately, this is fast and painless. If you're running an Internet-connected Xbox 360 on which you've created an Xbox Live account (Silver or Gold), you will be prompted to download the Spring 2007 Update as soon as that account logs onto the service. Note that this is a required update. If you choose not to install it, you will be logged off Xbox Live until you do so. Amazingly, given the amount of functionality here, the update takes about 8 seconds to install. Then, the console reboots and you're presented with the new Dashboard, which at first glance looks an awful lot like the old version. Let's take a look at the new features, starting with the big changes.

Steve Jobs to Kick Off WWDC 2007

Apple has announced that Steve Jobs will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 11, 2007. At the five-day event, Apple plans to demonstrate a feature-complete version of Mac OS X Leopard (scheduled to ship in October) and provide developers a BETA copy for final testing.

Something comes to mind: What is he going to present to the Developers? Is there a new iPod in the works? For sure the iPhone is not ready! OS X 10.5 (code named Leopard) is delayed! A new iMac may be? Hmmmm.. a lot of questions! Not many good answers. Time to refer to one of the better rumor sites! LOL!

Apple “Most Innovative Company” Third Year in a Row

“For the third year in a row,” report the editors of BusinessWeek, “the design-driven masters in Cupertino, Calif., lead the pack of creative firms on our list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. Apple manages to dominate any would-be contenders, beating out two-time runner-up Google with more than twice as many votes.”

Problem is, with all this innovation and great products, Apple still can not capture a bigger share of the computing world! Why is that?