Nasa

Daily roundup is a summary of interesting news and articles I read with/without my opinion. You might find it interesting or you might want to skip it altogether, but ever since I cut down my Facebook usage, I have been using my blog to catalogue interesting pieces of information that I find.

And The Mountains Echoed

The Kite Runner and A thousand Splendid Suns author Khaled Hosseini‘s new book is out and the reviews are great. His books are worth reading just for the description of Afghanistan.

Android

Are you thinking about buying a tablet? If you are looking at Android options, then you might want to wait for a week before making your decision. Google is expected to make an announcement at Google I/O 2013 about the upgraded specs for Nexus 7. According to “leaked” information, the following should be expected

• 7-inch LTPS display with 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA) resolution
• quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor (APQ8064)
• 5-megapixel camera
• HD front-facing camera
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• NFC
• 4000mAh battery with Qi wireless charging support
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is interesting because there is another rumor about the Key Lime Pie, which could either be 4.3 or 5.0, but I guess we should expect that with the next version of Nexus phone sometime in October.

On a related note, Android phones now rule the mobile world. You can read more about it here.

Games

Hitman Absolution is available on Amazon for a huge discount. $4.99 for Standard Edition and $8.99 for Profession Edition and according to gaming community this is a really good deal. I am not buying it because I don’t know when I will get around to playing it. Make sure you are selecting the PC instead of PlayStation 3 or XBox 360.

This available only for those with US mailing address, but that can be easily managed 😉 and the code has to be redeemed through Steam, so expect a huge download. Watch the gameplay below

Amazon Deal Page

Science, Space and all things Geek

•  Emergency space walk on the ISS to fix an ammonia leak about to happen LIVE!

NasaTV

In a statement earlier on Friday, Nasa said crew members had spotted small white flakes floating away from an area outside the craft before reporting the incident.

The space agency said on its website that while the rate of ammonia leaking from the station’s truss structure had increased, the “station continues to operate normally otherwise and the crew is in no danger”.

“Ammonia is used to cool the station’s power channels that provide electricity to station systems,” Nasa said, revealing that the leak was coming from the same general area it did in a previous episode last year.

“This ammonia loop is the same one that spacewalkers attempted to troubleshoot a leak on during a spacewalk on November 1, 2012,” the statement said.

“It is not yet known whether this increased ammonia flow is from the same leak, which at the time, was not visible.”

The ISS is currently crewed by six staff, under the command of Canadian Chris Hadfield.

Source: Telegraph UK

Being Human

(via Wikipedia) Kola Superdeep Borehole project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth’s crust. Drilling began on 24 May 1970 using the Uralmash-4E, and later the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig. A number of boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) (2.21 leagues) in 1989, and is the deepest hole ever drilled, and thedeepest artificial point on Earth.^[1] For two decades it was also the world’s longest borehole, in terms of measured depth along the well bore, until surpassed in 2008 by the 12,289 m (40,318 ft) long Al Shaheen oil well in Qatar, and in 2011 by 12,345 metres long Sakhalin-I Odoptu OP-11 Well (offshore the Russian island Sakhalin).

And there are times I think humans will become extinct in my lifetime.

Computer Tip

• Want to invert the selection in Windows 7? Great when you want to copy/cut/delete everything except the ones you selected.

ALT+E+I

• The Complete Guide to Turning Your Video Game Console Into a Living Room Media Center (XBox, PS3, Wii)

Trivia

“That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind” – Neil Armstrong, 1st man on the moon. (Source)

“Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that’s a long one for me.”  - Pete Conrad. 3rd man on the moon, referring to the fact that he is short (5 feet 6) (Source)

Tech Support Humar/Horror

Customer: So I think my computer has a virus!
Tech: Ok let’s have a look here…
Opens computer
Tech: Well ma’am it actually looks like your screen is cracked.
Customer: No way!!!
Points to gigantic crack going all the way down the screen
Customer: See! That’s a virus!
Tech: Ma’m that’s not a virus….

One Rare Shot

A diver at the bottom of the ocean with a Southern Right Whale