Common Paradox Tech Blog

Every year, Hanover, Germany hosts hordes of tech journalists, analysts, and PR people for CeBIT. It’s like CES, sort of, except further away, and more boring. We decided not to go this year; it ends tomorrow. Here’s what we missed!

To be clear, these were some of the bigger stories of the conference, at least for American audiences. We’ve written a few other CeBIT stories up as well, which you can find here, but by and large, the event just sort of came and went. So, this is what was happening over in Hanover this week, while the rest of the tech world was going about their business.

Pierre Cardin Tablet: Wikipedia tells me that Pierre Cardin is a “Italian-born French fashion designer” who is famous for his “space age” clothing designs. He’s paired up with a small Taiwanese OEM to make a tablet—the old foldy kind, not the slate-like new kind. It’s pink, and it will cost $450, if it ever hits stores in the US.

ASUS EeeTop ET2010PNT and ET2010AGT On the exterior, ASUS EeeTops are basically a budget take on the AIO concept you’re familiar with from the likes of the iMac and HP’s Touchsmarts. On the interior, as with most ASUS products, they’re incomprehensible parts soup.

Shuttle I-Power External GPU: Breaking news, for people who would like to buy a box that’s nearly the size of a netbook and which can help boost their notebook’s graphics capabilities! (But only certain notebooks, because you need a special adapter!) The Shuttle I-Power External GPU is ready to accommodate your fantasies.

1Cross B’ook ereader: Entourage eDGe on a budget: The first step here is to try to remember what the Entourage eDGe is. Now that you’ve done that, the second step is to figure out why you care about this cheaper, gaudier, and somehow less practical take on the same concept.

Intel Atom for Storage Devices: Intel’s Atom processors, traditionally meant for netbooks and cheap laptops, are about as unglamorous as tech products get. I’d even hold that this was true five minutes ago, which was before I’d even heard about the Intel Atom for storage devices, which is a special version of the platform for household and small business network storage devices.

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New Intel Classmate: Intel’s ultra-budget Classmate convertible tablet PCs are evolving! (Slightly!) Here is the reference design for the newest one, which is quite similar to earlier reference designs on the outside, but adjusted slightly for cost and performance reason on the inside.

LG 12x Blu-ray drives: Did LG not have 12x Blu-ray writers before? Are these just new versions of their old Blu-ray devices? Such are the mysteries of CeBIT, which could easily be solved, if anyone cared enough to Google for backlinks.

ASUS O!Play USB 3.0: We’re big fans of the ASUS O!Play set-top boxes around here and we’re not very slightly more enamored with the concept, now that it supports USB 3.0.

If you live anywhere on the East Coast and are at all interested in cool stuff that happens in the sky, you’d be remiss not to stay up late tonight to watch for the last ever nighttime shuttle launch.

Or you could wake up early, that works too. Either way, at 4:39 A.M. early tomorrow morning NASA will launch the Endeavor space shuttle, and it will be the last time it does so at night.

On its way up to the International Space Station, the shuttle will fly parallel to America’s eastern seaboard and the shuttle’s rockets will thus be visible to a surprisingly huge area, weather permitting. Here’s a map of where the rocket will be in the first ten minutes after launch and what areas of the country will be able to see it:

I told you it was a surprisingly huge area! To find out more about what you’re looking for and where exactly you should be looking for it, check out Space.com’s comprehensive rundown of the late night launch. [Space.com]

If you’ve ever looked into small form factor PCs, you’ve probably looked at a Shuttle PC. Shuttle is showing off some small form factors (SFF) at CES, but also has a new all-in-one desktop as well. The SFF PCs fall into a number of categories, from entry-level to surprisingly robust gaming systems.

The SG41J1 is a low end PC based on the G41 chipset and runs Core2 Quad CPUs. You’ll get integrated Intel graphics on this model. The next step up is the SH55J2 which has the Intel H55 supporting both Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs, but still just integrated graphics here. If you’re out for performance in your tiny PC, the SX58HJ3 is the way to go. It will run Core i7 CPUs and somehow has room for a CrossFireX or Nvidia SLI setup.

Stepping a bit out of their comfort zone, Shuttle is also showing off their now Shuttle X50 V2 all-in-one. It will have a dual-core Atom and Intel GMA graphics. No availability or pricing information was released.

Hey you, Ground Controls and Major Toms orbiting out there! If you’re a space aficionado or know someone who’d like to blast into the cosmos, it’s time to take your protein pills. Here’s the definitive go/no-go holiday gift list.

Click here to see all the gifts in a single page.

From the Earth to the Moon – The Signature Edition: This is one of my favorite TV series of all time. It’s well scripted, acted, filmed, and directed, to the point in which you will get glassy eyes at some of the most dramatic and epic moments. My favorite is still the episode in which Apollo 12 arrives at the Moon, perhaps the most anticlimactic moment in the history of space travel. Even if you watched this on TV, each of the 12 episodes are a must to fully understand the titanic scope, knowledge, and courage that took humans into their trip from the Earth to the Moon. $15 [Amazon]

Lego Saturn V: This one is a given: Saturn V + command module + lunar module + lunar rover + Lego = Insane win. I wish it was as big as the gigantic Millennium Falcon, but it’s good enough as it is. Everyone will like the set, and it’s a perfect way to celebrate the 40 Anniversary of humankind’s first trip to the Moon. $139 [Amazon]

Moonfire: At $1500, this is one very expensive book. But it has a real lunar rock inside. Not all of them, however: Only 12 of its limited-edition 1969 (numbered from 1958 to 1968). And the moon rock is not from the Apollo mission, but from a certified meteor. Alternatively, you can always buy the beautiful—and a lot cheaper at $31—Full Moon. $1500 [Taschen]

Trip to the Kennedy Space Center to watch a shuttle launch: Going to the Kennedy Space Center is always fun. Going to see a launch and feel the ground tremble below your feet while the sky fires up in Halloween orange and chimney red? Simply amazing. Going to watch one of the last shuttle launches next year? An absolute must. If you give this trip to any space aficionado out there, he or she will love you forever. $38 adult/$28 child for the admission ticket, add $21 adult/$15 child for guided tour, plus cost of flight and hotel. [Kennedy Space Center]

NASA Flight Jacket: The other day I got a real USAF fighter pilot jacket at a second hand shop. I wish I had that for a perfectly dorky Tom Cruise impression at the Dubai Air Show. This NASA Flight Jacket is the next best thing. Kind of. And it comes with all the patches. You only have to provide the Right Stuff. $79.99 [The Space Shop]

American Optics Pilot Eyeglasses: OK, so you got the jacket. Now you need the sunglasses. Forget about Ray-Bans. These American Optics’ Original Pilot Sunglasses are the real thing, used by astronauts since the beginning of the human space program. You can choose different colors, lenses, and temples at their web site. Unfortunately, they no longer make the yellow bayonet model used by Michael Collins during the Apollo 11. Those are my favorites (pictured here). $70. [American Optics]

IMPOSSIBLE Ride in the Space Shuttle: Even if you had all the money in the world, NASA would never let you ride the shuttle. A Soyuz spacecraft, sure, but no space shuttle. Nosir, no big bang for you on top of this Reagan era wonder. You will have to enjoy this video and get over it, because sadly it wouldn’t happen even if you were Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and JesusChrist all rolled into one. No price tag. [NASA]

DON’T BUY Astronaut ice cream: This thing is disgusting. I want to like it every time I try it, but it has the most horrible taste. Maybe they should clean those astronauts more throughly before making ice cream with them. Die space ice cream, die! Give me Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie any day. $4 [The Space Shop]

Enjoy this beautiful image of the space shuttle Atlantis, ready for today’s 2:26pm EST launch, because you are not going to see it many more times: Sadly, it is Atlantis’ second to last launch. Update: Successful launch! Godspeed Atlantis!

If you are having problems, you can tune to NASA TV

Click on the small playback button—and sit through the 30 second ad—to watch it in the page.

This will be the last shuttle launch in 2009. Then we will only have five more launches:

• STS-130 Endeavour: ISS assembly flight 20A: Node 3 and Cupola. February 4, 2010
• STS-131 Discovery: ISS assembly flight Utility and Logistics Flight 4: Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. March 18, 2010
• STS-132 Atlantis: ISS assembly flight 19A: Mini-Research Module 1. Final planned flight of Atlantis. May 14, 2010
• STS-134 Endeavour: ISS assembly flight ULF6, ELC 4, ROEU, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Final planned flight of Endeavour. July 29, 2010
• STS-133 Discovery: ISS assembly flight ULF5, MPLM Leonardo, (to be left pemanently attached), ELC 3. Final flight of Discovery. Final Shuttle flight of the program. September 16, 2010.

All good (and bad) things have to end one day. It will be sad to see the last flight of the old space beasts from the Reagan Era. [NASA]

At last, here’s the droid we were all looking for. In this frame you can clearly see R2-D2’s cameo in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. This time there’s absolutely no doubt about it: It’s been confirmed by ILM.

Click on the image to see the high resolution version

Can you see him floating there, on the left, right below the huge arrow that I also missed when I saw the movie? That’s obviously him, a fact that has been confirmed to me by one of the movie’s sequence supervisors at Industrial Light & Magic—the same guy who said this previous sighting was just the shuttle.

I don’t know about you but, right now, I feel like what I imagine my dog Jones feels every time I take his collar off to scratch his neck. Oh yesyeyeyeyes. YES. Harf. Woof. [Image capture from Science Fiction Stuff—Thanks ILM tipster]

On Friday November 20, Scribd is teaming with a bunch of other well known startups in San Francisco to hold a new event called Startup Crawl, where they’ll be taking shuttles to check out the offices (and meet the teams) of a dozen different companies, including Engine Yard, Justin.TV, and Yammer.

The event is contracting three or four 56 passenger buses, which will be driving in a circuit between the startups (you can expect a bus every 15-20 minutes, but many of the offices are close enough to walk between them). Each office will be doing something different, with activies including everything from hacking sessions to happy hours. The first shuttle leaves the Embassy Suites SFO/Burlingame at 5:30, and the last bus begins its last run around the circuit at 11 PM. To participate you don’t have to start at the Embassy Suites — you can also show up at any of the participating startups beginning at 5:30.

Update: NASA has canceled today’s launch due to weather (specifically triboelectrification).

The last major televised NASA event was a slight disappointment (probably because everyone expected a huge, visible blast, which just didn’t happen), but it doesn’t mean we’ll stop getting excited about space exploration.

Today, NASA is poised to test launch a new rocket: the Ares I-X. It’s a suborbital prototype of a new booster that should launch NASA’s new craft (which will replace the current shuttle) Orion. The launch will last for a couple minutes, but that doesn’t make it a small event: it costs $445 million. The view, claims NASA, will be “spectacular.”

If you’re not near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the launch is taking place, you can still see it live. The weather hasn’t been perfect, so the time of launch was moved a couple of times. If the launch indeed happens today, it has to be soon, so tune in to NASA TV now.

Tags: Ares I-X, NASA

Hubble is alive—and delivering amazing images—after the successful mission that fixed it, the most difficult in the history of the shuttle program. Today, PBS’ Nova shows it all in the Hubble’s Amazing Rescue. Here’s the teaser. [PBS]

Hard drives have become so generic and commoditized, manufacturers are always trying to draw attention to their products in new ways. WD’s My Book desktop drives now get an ebook-like screen, while the portable My Passport Elite gets a dock.

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As cool as the e-labels concept is—soon to be found on My Book Elite (USB only, up to 2TB for $280) and My Book Studio (FW800 and USB, up to 2TB for $300)—I don’t know how profound a single 12-character label on the face of such a massive drive can be. Then again, maybe you’re supposed to buy them in identical pairs. The label, which, like the E-Ink found on Amazon’s Kindle, stays visible when there’s no power going to it, could in that case save you from embarrassment, possibly even job loss/misdemeanor charges/etc. Below the label is a status indicator—how many GB are left, plus a rough visual estimate.

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The My Passport Elite line gets a visual refresh that first appeared in the less feature-bestowed Passport Essential. Slimmer and more rounded at the edges, the Elite line gets a metallic red, blue or charcoal finish and a dock—top price is $170 for a 640GB 2.5″ USB 2.0 bus-powered drive. The dock thing makes sense in one particular situation: You have a laptop and a desktop that you regularly shuttle between. The Elites will show capacity status on an LED indicator, and will indicate encryption with a light-up key icon on the side, so you feel extra safe. Speaking of safe, all of the hard drives also come with 256-bit hardware encryption. [WD]