First iPhones in Space: Final Shuttle Astronauts to Deliver $1 App (Mashable)

If every government program were this cheap, we'd have the debt problem licked in no time. The final, much-delayed mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis, which has a 30% chance of lifting off this Friday, will be carrying with it the planet's first astro-phones -- a pair of Apple iPhone 4s, ready for a first-of-its-kind experiment aboard the International Space Station, using a $1 app.

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The app, SpaceLab for iOS [iTunes link], uses the iPhone 4's in-built three-axis gyroscope to replace far more expensive custom-built equipment. It will measure altitude, the curvature of the Earth, and locate itself by looking for recognizable coastline via the iPhone camera. (Astronauts aboard the ISS will be taking the snapshots; no word yet on whether they'll also be choosing filters and posting them to Instagram.)

The idea is to help future spacecraft that might get knocked out of position, lost in low-Earth orbit. In other words, this may be the beginning of a GPS for space.

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But that's not all. NASA is also interested in discovering how well iPhones can withstand the rigors of space travel, particularly how much radiation they are exposed to. The phones will also be taking snapshots of QR codes to help calibrate their sensors, and because QR codes are impossible to avoid these days, even in orbit.

The one experiment that must be on the mind of every iPhone user -- seeing whether you can pick up an AT&T or Verizon signal from space -- is not an official part of the ISS experiment. But the iPhones will be hooked up to bulky external batteries, so astronauts won't need to worry about a weak signal draining their phones or finding somewhere to plug them in.

[via Macworld]

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Rickshaw iPad 2 messenger bag, sleeve put function first

This new messenger bag from Rickshaw is the perfect size for you iPad 2 and other daily essentials.

 

With the introduction of the iPad 2 of course comes the obligatory flood of companies rushing to create the perfect product to accessories for your new tech toy. While some of these brands choose to emphasize upscale fabrics and crazy designs, Rickshaw likes to keep things simple and focused on protection and on-the-go convenience. The company comes from a San Francisco background and has urban cycling influences, which means that each bag focuses on comfortable fit, quick access to whatever you might need, and colorful and unique patterns that reflect an urbanite’s sporty aesthetic. The Messenger Bag for iPad 2 ($75) was designed after the Zero series but with the new, slim Apple toy in mind. The bag has a square shape and features a padded front pocket and base to snugly hold your iPad or iPad 2 by itself or while in a simple sleeve.

A large main compartment has enough room for a few other gadgets, reading material, an extra sweater, and your basic everyday essentials. Two small front pockets give quick access to important items and a handy D-ring will keep your keys, a cross-strap, or a water bottle handy. The bag has an easy velcro closure and a quick-adjust tab on the shoulder strap for adjustable comfort on the go. Handmade in San Francisco, the Messenger Bag for iPad 2 comes in a variety of fabrics and colors, including cordura, tweed and X-pac styles. Rickshaw has also released a simple iPad sleeve ($30+) that fits neatly inside the messenger bag for even more padding and protection

First look at Pixable Photofeed: One photo app to aggregate them all

Photofeed doesn't have all the bells, whistles, and trendy filters other photo apps do, but it has one thing most of them don't: Convenience.

We’re not sure if you’ve heard, but photo apps are all the rage right now. Anyone with even a moderate penchant for photos has given Color, Instagram, or Hipstamatic a whirl at this point, and while they’re all entertaining (to varying degrees), they have a few things in common: Overlapping features, and a connection to a new mobile photo community that you find yourself keeping tabs on.

Pixable has something of a solution. The developer takes two extremely popular platforms – aggregators and photo apps – and combines them with its Photofeed app. It works by connecting to your Facebook account and pulling the popular photos of the day and week for you to peruse. It also offers up new profile pictures, and for those who want to venture outside their friends, a 24-hour look at the best of Flickr, as well as what’s trending on Instagram.

So what are you missing out on? Photofeed doesn’t have the flash many of its competitors do. It leans more toward an efficient way to browse Facebook photos: You won’t have to scroll through the day’s meaningless mobile uploads of food to find something worth looking at. Of course, it’s not like the app works on hard science, but it does take into account contacts you interact with most and those with photos you like, which will be sorted into your feed more often. After a few minutes playing around with the app, it seemed fairly reliable. Photos are arguably Facebook’s most used feature and, let’s face it, can be hit or miss depending on who’s behind an album. Trolling to find something worthwhile can be tedious and just plain depressing, and given Facebook’s popularity as a photo platform, Photofeed can help you wade through the mess and find the photos that matter.

You don’t have to have an iOS device or even a smartphone to get in on the fun. Pixable originally launched Photofeed as an application that integrates with your Facebook account and allows you to view popular photos and even create categories for its sorting purposes – such as “Just Ladies” or “Just Guys” as it suggests on its homepage. A nice, honest way to stalk the sex of  your choice.

HP’s first webOS tablet may start shipping in March, fulfill longstanding promise

Way back in August of last year, when temperatures were above zero and Honeycomb was still a great unknown, HP promised us the first webOS tablet will come “in early 2011.” Just yesterday, however, our noteworthy exposure of the vanguard members of the webOS tablet family led us to believe that at least one of them, the Opal, would take until September to arrive. That may still be the case, but DigiTimes is bringing us back around to HP’s original pledge, with word that Inventec has received instructions from HP to start producing and shipping a webOS slate (most probably the Topaz) in March. As usual, this comes from the (in)famous insider sources that tend to miss as often as they hit, but it does make sense for HP to follow up its February event with a relatively rapid product rollout.