For all this year’s Apollo anniversary hype, Nasa faces a crisis of identity. At 50, it’s about to pension off the space shuttle amid budget concerns, even as it plans a Mars mission and a return to the Moon
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Nasa’s next giant leap
“Learning about the natural world is one thing. Learning from the natural world – that’s the switch,” says Janine Benyus. Benyus, who calls herself a biomimicrist, introduced people at this year’s TEDGlobal conference to
Every August, the best alternative performers in the world make their pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It can be tough to choose the performances on which to bestow your hard-earned pounds, so to save you fussing over your Fringe selections, we’ve dug through this year’s programme and uncovered a trove of geeky gems.
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Edinburgh preview: Wired combs over the Fringe
At least somebody seems to be surviving the recession, and that somebody is LG . They’ve reported record sales for the second quarter of this year (while most mobile makers are wondering where all the money went), and while their profits are still falling they confidently predict further sales increases over the rest of the year. They sold thirty million phones over the last quarter, a thirty per cent increase over the same period in 2008, and expect upcoming high-end phones like the Black Label and Louvre . Whether relying on more expensive models in a recession as actually a good idea remains to be seen, but for the moment LG looks pretty good.
Thanks Samsung! The Korean company yesterday announced the impending release of a watchphone, named the S9110 , which in the pictures actually looks good enough to wear. The reason for this is likely to be its slim face – a touch under 12mm – and the simple yet classy stainless steel and leather strap combination. Even LG’s GD910 has a challenging look and the less said about the failed Hyundai entry the better! The scratch-resistant glass covers a 1.7″ touchscreen and boasts voice recognition, a music player, Bluetooth and the ability to sync with Outlook. Unfortunately there’s no 3G or Wi-Fi, and there’s only 40MB of internal memory and no mention of a MicroSD card slot, so the S9110 won’t be storing hundreds of songs, speedily browsing the Internet or making video calls. But, as we’ve said before, these are fun gadgets rather than serious devices. So, do you want one? Tough, as Samsung currently has no plans to bring the watchphone to the UK, preferring instead to limited release to France. The S9110 is going to cost €450, about £390, so it’s not cheap, but still, it would have been nice to have a choice. All is not lost of course, as if the S9110 does well in France and the GD910 does well in the UK, Samsung may change their mind.
