Space shuttle's final voyage will include recycling urine into sports drink, crafting hilarious brand name

Just because the space shuttle Atlantis is on its final mission, that doesn't mean NASA's run out of cool experiments. Its latest example? A shiny silver bag -- consciously inspired by the "stillsuits" from Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic, Dune -- that turns astronaut urine into potable drinking water. It's been done, you say? Sure, but the earlier tech relied on electricity: a precious commodity aboard the International Space Station. The Forward Osmosis Bag requires no outside power source, relying on, you guessed it, forward osmosis to produce clean, filtered water. Not only that, but the resulting water mixes with a sugary solution to make a electrolyte-rich sports drink. On Earth this process takes four to six hours, but Atlantis astronauts will test its viability in space near the end of their mission. For an extensive on-planet demonstration, see the video after the break.

Continue reading Space shuttle's final voyage will include recycling urine into sports drink, crafting hilarious brand name

Space shuttle's final voyage will include recycling urine into sports drink, crafting hilarious brand name originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4q6WrgjJBl4/

Antonia Koppe Gertrud Hölzl Ulrike Kellner Nicola Kohnen

My Android Apps: Chuzzles

I generally use my Smartphone for non-game activities, but I like to keep an assortment of good games around- backgammon, mah jong, solitaire, and so on. One of my old Palm favorites was a Pop Cap game called Bejeweled. I played it and some clones (mostly a nice version called JewelLust) but the game play [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/07/05/my-android-apps-chuzzles/

Sascha Dörr Kristin Gehrmann Annette Lechner Margarethe Lachner

Self-Cleaning Shower Uses Nano-Coatings to Destroy Dirt

I have always thought that showers were self-cleaning. They are, after all, splashed liberally with water on a daily basis. When I mentioned this to the Lady, though, she pointed out that things in the bathroom do actually have to be cleaned by humans. Who knew? The self-cleaning nano shower from BathEmpire, on the other hand, [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/07/self-cleaning-shower-uses-nano-coatings-to-destroy-dirt/

Malin Hock Helmut Hölzer Maurice Giese Frederik Faulhaber

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that

howsecureismypassword
We've all heard it before; you need to select a lengthy password, one that's hard to guess. Not a dictionary word. And it has to have some capital letters in it too, and some digits, and a symbol or two won't hurt either.

That's a handy set of rules to keep in mind, but How Secure is My Password helps us understand why they're important.

It's basically like a full-screen version of one of those password-strength meters websites sometimes use. But instead of showing you a bar going from "weak" to "strong", it shows you an estimation of how long your password would take to crack. That's a much more visceral way to understand why your password is strong.

For example, when I entered "rabbit", it came back with "your password is one of the 500 most common passwords. It could be cracked almost instantly". "rabbit5" would take two hours, "$rabbit5" would take 38 days, and "$rabbitZ5" would take 237 years. It's quite enlightening to see what a difference three simple characters can make.

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/05/how-secure-is-my-password-lets-you-know-just-that/

Antonia Koppe Gertrud Hölzl Ulrike Kellner Nicola Kohnen

Engadget Podcast 247 - 07.08.2011

BW, LON is our new favorite abbreviation. In addition to kind of looking like something you'd type into a graphing calculator, it also means means big week, lots of news: in the hardware department, we've got reviews of HP's latest tactile offering and a hazy outlook on Apple's next communications device. Software's riding out another week of Google+ and finding out what it's like to be more video-centric on facebook. Lots going on in legal, too, with patent trolls of various calibers doing their thangs. We managed to hang on to Engadget founder Peter Rojas after The Engadget Show to rope it all in, too, so come join us, won't you?

Host: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Guest: Peter Rojas
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Mo Money Mo Problems


00:01:46 - Flush with success, Microsoft hopes Samsung will be its next Android patent bounty
00:03:00 - Microsoft and Wistron come to terms in royalty agreement, Android and Chrome OS now targeted
00:05:00 - Microsoft inks Android patent deal with Velocity Micro -- sound familiar?
00:09:02 - Sony brings PSN back online in Japan, wants us to forget about all that hacking nonsense
00:11:10 - Can HP turn around the TouchPad?
00:30:18 - HP TouchSmart 610 review
00:36:17 - Skype comes to Facebook, and Facebook comes to Skype (update: available now!)
00:39:00 - Facebook video chat and Skype 5.5 beta hands-on
00:44:26 - Google+ iOS app already submitted for Apple's approval, employee says
00:46:15 - Google+ sneaks NFC into its Android app, gets caught red-handed
00:46:49 - Google+ to require that profiles be visible to all, will boot private profiles after July 31st
00:49:27 - Picasa, Blogger to get renamed: now with more Google?
00:50:35 - Motorola Droid 3 up for order, helps to usher in Verizon's new data plans
00:55:00 - iPhone 5 / 4S: the rumor roundup
01:03:50 - Spotify is coming to the US, invites are open now
01:08:10 - Listener questions

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Engadget Podcast 247 - 07.08.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/KGvFebJgFqc/

Hanna Wohlrab Henrik Brenner Karla Reusch Wilhelm Klassen

Line Grapefruit is a tricky Flash "path" game

linegrapefruit
Okay, see that snaking line coming in from the right on the screenshot? That's you. And see those large round circles? Those are supposedly grapefruits, only they won't sit still - they keep moving up and down and cutting across your path. And if you touch one, you die!

That's what you have to deal with in Line Grapefruit. But that's not all - you're also on a time limit. In fact, you have a very limited amount of time to make it through the "path" (for lack of a better word). You need to snake your way through the winding trail without touching anything. The good news is that a grapefruit only kills you if it touches the end of the line - once you've made it past the grapefruit, nothing happens if it crosses the path you've made.

This is not an easy game, but it's quite unique - I can't recall seeing another game quite like it.

Line Grapefruit is a tricky Flash "path" game originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/line-grapefruit-is-a-tricky-flash-path-game/

Elena Lasch Hans-Jürgen Haake Arno Zimmerling Jacqueline Kiesel

Toshiba Thrive in stock at Newegg and Amazon, is ready to ship free to your door


You'll need to wait until Sunday to get your hands on a Toshiba Thrive at Best Buy, but the Honeycomb slate is ready to head out Newegg's door, with free shipping to boot. $430 nets you an 8GB tablet with two-day shipping, or you can add 30 bucks to get it overnight. That's unlikely to mean tomorrow at this point, but if you play your cards right, you could be sliding through emails a la Swype before the weekend is out.

Update: Best Buy has confirmed that the Thrive will be available on July 10th, both in-store and online.

Update 2: Looks like it's live on Amazon, too!

Toshiba Thrive in stock at Newegg and Amazon, is ready to ship free to your door originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/toshiba-thrive-in-stock-at-newegg-is-ready-to-ship-free-to-your/

Joshua Heinlein Markus Wigger Alexander Berner Oliver Büdenbender

Army Uses Radar to Spot Suicide Bombers From 100 Yards [War]

The security at Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel wasn't nearly enough to stop nine suicide bombers from setting the place ablaze and killing 12 people last month. But the U.S. military thinks it can do better ? by spotting treacherous individuals before they get close enough to cause serious harm. Meet the CounterBomber. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lCDp_d2OP7I/army-uses-radar-to-spot-suicide-bombers-from-100-yards

Nathalie Füllgraf Janine Harrer Emilia Münchow Claus Rehberg

Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices

Firefox 4 MobileMoments ago, Mozilla stripped the release candidate moniker from Firefox 4 Mobile and pronounced it fit for public release. If you have a Nokia N900 phone, or a fairly-modern Android 2.0-or-later device, go ahead and install it from the Market, by using scanning the QR code after the break, or by visiting Firefox.com/m.

Accompanying the release is the launch of Spark, a cute social game that's designed to fuel the adoption of Firefox 4 Mobile, much like last week's use of Glow and Twitter Party during Firefox 4 PC's release.

While the browser still feels a little rough around the edges, it's definitely worth trying out if you're still using Android's stock browser. Its JavaScript performance is significantly better than any other Android browser, and if you use Firefox on your PC, its built-in Sync functionality is awesome.

Over the next few days we'll have plenty of tips and tricks for Firefox 4 Mobile, and a list of the best add-ons available for the new browser.

Continue reading Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices

Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/firefox-4-mobile-officially-released-for-android-and-maemo-devic/

Olga Kreibich Nathalie Donnerhacke Anna-Lena Baumgärtel Sabine Kinzler

Jailbreak iOS 4.3.1 on OS X or Windows with PwnageTool or Sn0wbreeze

iOS 4.3.1 jailbreakA jailbreak of iOS 4.3.1 is now possible with both PwnageTool on Mac, and Sn0wbreeze on Windows. RedmondPie -- who else? -- has some handy guides that you can follow for all iOS 4.3.1 devices on Windows, for iPhone 4 on OS X, iPad 1 on OS X, iPhone 3GS on OS X, and iPod touch 4G and 3G on OS X.

All iOS 4.3.1 jailbreaks are still tethered, meaning you'll have to jailbreak your device after every reboot. An untethered jailbreak is slated for release sometime in the next week -- but 4.3 was meant to have an untether, too, and that never emerged.

Maybe Apple's updated security mechanisms will finally keep hackers at bay!

Jailbreak iOS 4.3.1 on OS X or Windows with PwnageTool or Sn0wbreeze originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/jailbreak-ios-4-3-1-on-os-x-or-windows-with-pwnagetool-or-sn0wbr/

Carola Auer Luca Liebe Finja Kerkhoff Sascha Dörr