A 30-meter asteroid came close to Earth

The NASA has published a rating rather unexpected: an asteroid with a size of about 30 meters rose this week near the Earth, that is to say, a distance of 350,000 kilometers at its furthest point close, or about 35 000 km less than our Moon . Named 2014 DX110, its passage was held this morning at 10:00 (French time).

If this kind of phenomenon is not very common, there is nothing exceptional, according to NASA, which indicates that its instruments detect "about twenty per year" , which graze the earth without causing hazards. However, the announcement came very late from the space agency, just hours before the passage of the asteroid. I must say that if the instruments for detecting objects of NASA are performing, they are not foolproof. In February 2013, a meteor had fallen over the city of Chelyabinsk, 1,500 km from Moscow, Russia. It was an asteroid having disintegrated at 5000 meters below the surface of the Earth, and causing heavy damage and many without NASA could react upstream injured.

Read More

Facebook wants to swallow drones Manufacturer

According to a report by the well-informed online magazine Techcrunch.com the social network Facebook is to be interested in a takeover of the drones manufacturer Titan Aerospace. In space, a purchase price of 60 million U.S. dollars to lie but could not be confirmed so far. The company specializes in solar-powered drones that can stay up to five years in the air and fly at a high altitude.

According to the report Facebook wants to use the drones for the Internet supply and the first in Africa. See the plans, according to Techcrunch for the construction of 11,000 drones of the model Solara 60 for this application. Titanium Aerospace was founded in 2012 by Max Yaney and so far has two drone models in the program.

The model Solara 50 can carry about 32 kg payload and 100 kg are at the aircraft Solara 60th The altitude of the drone amounts to approximately 20,000 meters. The provision of Internet access is to be improved with the high-flying drones, especially in rural areas not easily accessible.

Read More

An e-cig connected to vapoter while listening to music

Even electronic cigarettes set up their share of connectivity. After Smokio , another model made ​​its debut in the world of connected objects. In addition to contributing to smoking cessation, it acts as functional Bluetooth speaker.

Called SuperSmoker, this electronic cigarette connected focuses more of its audio capabilities.Thanks to built-in speakers, it can stream music from an iOS or Android smartphone. Just pair it with a Bluetooth device. Further, the vapoteur can be used to directly answer an incoming call, the image of a hands-free kit call. Powered by a battery, it is equipped with a tank e-liquid and has three settings buttons. A to activate the Bluetooth and two to increase / decrease the volume.Finally, it sounds and emits slight vibration during a call.

Recently available, the SuperSmoker is priced at a price of 84.90 euros. Available in black, silver and gold.

Read More

USB key to the future will be fine and sticky

And if the USB key was sticky? This is suggested by a design duo concept, reinventing classic support storage and data portability. Like the post-its, the next generation of USB key will be fine, self-adhesive and removable.

Baptized DataSTICKIES , these storage devices can be stacked together for easy storage. Each USB drive is made ​​from graphene sandwiched between two layers of protection. Designed to be practical, it is repositionable and can be stuck on any surface when it is not used.

Beyond its special shape, it is distinguished by its mode of operation. Indeed, instead of plugging into a USB port, each key is attached to a panel of data transfer, to install on a part of the computer or TV. A specific conductive adhesive allows it to adhere to the surface while facilitating data transfer. Once recognized, the edges of DataSTICKIES light.

Available in several colors and with different storage capacities, the ultrafine USB key has an upper part that the user can write to reference data. Designed by Aditi Singh and Anand Parag, the concept is the winner of the Red Dot Award competition.

Read More

Compact Outdoor Camera Nikon Coolpix AW 120 with Wi-Fi and GPS

The Nikon Coolpix AW120 with 16 megapixels and powerful lens with optical 5x zoom is waterproof to 18 meters, can withstand drops of up to two meters and withstand temperatures of up to -10 ° C. Thus, the model for versatile outdoor use even underwater suitable.

Integrated GPS and Full HD recording

Thanks to the integrated GPS , GLONASS, world maps and compass that helps Nikon Coolpix AW120  in the review of travel routes. About the built-in Wi-Fi can function just-experienced to be shared quickly via a mobile device, of course, filming in are full HD possible. The ultra wide-angle lens (24 mm, 1:2.8) with optical 5x zoom blur in low light - on land or under water - for optimum image brightness.

Clear picture even in low Light condition

With its advanced backside illumination CMOS sensor with 16 megapixels are even under low light conditions, such as in caves or in the rainforest, succeed clear images. The 7.5 cm (3-inch) OLED monitor with 921,000 pixels provides a crystal-clear playback with superb brightness values, even underwater or in direct sunlight. If an adventure to be recorded on video, the AW120 enables moving pictures in 1080/60i with optical zoom and autofocus. For explorers, the camera offers recording speeds with 15-240 frames per second.

Nikon Coolpix AW 120: Price & Availability

The Nikon Coolpix AW120 is available in four colors black, blue, orange and camouflage expected from the end of February 2014 for a suggested retail price of 349.00 EUR in trade.

Video: Underwater shooting Coolpix AW 120

Read More

An elevator to space, it is possible (and more convenient than the rocket)

The concept of the elevator into space has often been mentioned in various works of science fiction, but never really looked into reality. Yet it has aroused the interest of scientists from the International Academy of Astronautics, explaining that such a project is feasible.

In this 300-page report , scientists studying concretely so the possibility of setting up such a project.Better they even raise the question of whether such a solution does not present more benefits than the current system of rockets used to travel in space. Rockets have the drawback of being constituted 80% of the mass of a clean fuel, the rest generally becoming a new space debris once the mission is completed, and can not take a limited cargo . An elevator as that imagined by scientists system would free of these constraints and energy loading to some extent.

The true complexity of such a project obviously lies in its construction and implementation. The general idea would be to hang a cable carbon at the equator, it is down to a counterweight that would maintain a geostationary orbit. The cable shown in the example is nearly 99,750 kilometers, which involves many calculations regarding its mass to maintain the orbit and the tension of said cable. If this project seems crazy, the report take it very seriously. Of course, the idea is yet nowhere else in the imagination of its creators, but all the elements seem to be present for it to be feasible. In the late 90s, NASA had already presented a type of cable that could correspond to that required in the report.

Read More

Nokia X (Normandy): 75% of all Android apps will be directly compatible

Nokia is doing now on Android OS. So far so good - but the Finns make it exactly like Amazon with its Kindle tablets. Who can read the source code, recognizes Android (4.1 Jelly Bean), for all other presents on the surface of a completely different user experience.Apps are then also not over the Google Play anew Nokia X, but by manual installation or a store of Nokia / Microsoft. For users and developers there is now the question of the scope of the offer - the Play Store you can now at least be sure of a suitable for virtually all aspects of app to find. Nokia has been on the presentation in Barcelona promised that it would just fall developers to port their programs to the UI of the Nokia X. In the context of the associated SDK (Software Development Kit) is now the assertion in the room that at least 75%, that three out of four apps for Android, originally with the operating system of the Nokia X (as well as the X + and XL) are compatible. To test this, the Finns have even an appropriate tool provided. The adaptation of the remaining 25% should not each avail more than eight hours according to Nokia. Now, the developers just have the time to ship their apps into the new app display of Nokia. Who wants to try the Nokia X without abandoning his usual programs, so it has a good chance that its standard programs will run without major problems.

Read More