tech

The Replacement For The Hubble Space Telescope

The replacement for the Hubble is scheduled to launch in 2013.  The James Webb Space Telescope will have the ability to see further than Hubble and feature mirrors over 20 feet in diameter.  Its sunshield alone is bigger than a tennis court.  This new telescope will be situated about a million miles from Earth, putting it beyond our current ability to service it.  However, scientists have taken the problems with Hubble into account and have made the appropriated modifications to allow the telescope to self-correct.

NASA: http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/

CNN Video: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tech/2009/02/11/eoj.hubble.replacement.cnn.html

Posted by Chad Dotson in Technology, 0 comments

Interesting Twitter Feeds

Here are some Twitter Feeds of note in case any Twitter users reading this haven’t found them yet.Google Reader Team: http://twitter.com/googlereader

UStream: http://twitter.com/UstreamTV

Alaska Mt Redoubt Feed: http://twitter.com/alaska_avo

Wil Wheaton: http://twitter.com/wilw

Brent Spiner: http://twitter.com/BrentSpiner

Cobra Commander: http://twitter.com/CobraCommander

Mars Rovers: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers

LeVar Burton: http://twitter.com/levarburton

Patrick Norton: http://twitter.com/patricknorton

Leo Laporte: http://twitter.com/LeoLaporte

Alex Albrecht: http://twitter.com/alexalbrecht

Kevin Rose: http://twitter.com/kevinrose

Posted by Chad Dotson in Ramblings, 0 comments

DTV Transition

Well, the Congress has now delayed the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12.  Let me ask you… What will be different then?  The answer may surprise you.  NOTHING.  That is if you don’t count the amount of tax dollars going into it.  If you ask me this has been the most botched operation in history.  Heck, if it can confuse the tech savvy (and I know it has) it sure confuses the heck out of the general population.  Who do I blame for all the confusion?  Its simple, number one I blame the government.  All these ads they’ve aired are completely worthless and have done nothing but add to the confusion.  The next entity I blame is the very media that is being transitioned.  I’ve listened to months of “In x days TV will change as you know it.”  Ummm how helpful is that?  Of course, the media thrives on ratings reaped from fear mongering these days.  Quite frankly I’m sick and tired of hearing about it.  I mean if people don’t have enough sense to have already prepared, postponing the date a few months isn’t going to change anything.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/04/digital.tv.delay.vote/index.html

Posted by Chad Dotson in Ramblings, Technology, 0 comments

Google Earth 5 and Related Items

Google Earth 5 is now in the wild.  My first impression after maybe 30-40 minutes of tinkering is thumbs up.  Overall it is now alot faster and feels as though the gui has been tweaked for speed.  Occasionally there is some slowness but I’m guessing that is a side effect of some of the optimization stuff they’ve done.  Google Earth remains one great free resource everyone should download.Some KML Files you might want to add:

Posted by Chad Dotson in Technology, 0 comments