Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Mars , Like You have Never Seen it Before



NASA's Curiosity rover robot is now sending from Mars high-res pictures of the red planet like we have never seen it before. Of course, some will say "well, it looks like some of our deserts". Sure, it does, and personally the closest thing where i've been that it reminds me is the Wadi Rum desert, in Jordan, where David Lean filmed many scenes of Lawrence of Arabia. This area of Mars looks a lot like the Wadi Rum. But, hey, it's MARS that we are looking at, a planet that we've dream about through movies and readings! Mars that we can see now more sharp than ever, just like if we were there ( click to enlarge the pictures ). Fantastic, really!







Pictures: copyright NASA

Friday, August 24, 2012

Rare Apple iMac Pixar Short Animated Commercials



Ten years ago, Apple released the iMac G4, and at that time this new iMac was not only beautiful but also, as said Steve Jobs during his presentation a "technical tour de force". I had one and i loved it, it has been one of my favorite iMac, in terms of design.

What you may not know is that Pixar which since became famous worldwide for its great animated movies did for Apple some short animated commercials! Here they are below, and most of you, Pixar fans, will probably discover them for the first time!







And those of you interested to watch Steve Jobs original presentation of the iMac G4, with his unique talent to unveil a new device, can watch it below.




Picture and videos: copyright Apple Inc

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Mars , Just like if you were there



Fascinating: Mars just like if you were there! just go on this link on your iPad or iPhone or any mobile phone which include a gyroscope then click on the bottom left of the image where it is written "gyro" so it'll be on "gyro on" and not "gyro off" and then turn your device all around 360 degrees to explore this view of Mars shot by the rover robot Curiosity just a few days ago! If your mobile phone don't include a gyroscope you can also watch the picture below and look all around, just click and drag with your mouse.



Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2 in New Mexico

Picture: copyright NASA

Monday, August 6, 2012

" We Are Safe On Mars " - Curiosity Has Landed On The Red Planet !



Curiosity, the largest and most advanced robot vehicle ever sent to another planet, succeeded its extraordinary landing Sunday night on Mars. May be it don't look like but the success of this new NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory $2.5-billion mission is amazing. Why? because Curiosity is a huge robot, three meters long, more or less the size of an Austin Mini, and sending such a huge robot vehicle which weight 900 kilos at 250 millions kilometers from Earth and have it landing perfectly on another planet was not so obvious.

"The landing sequence, which NASA had dubbed “seven minutes of terror,” required the largest supersonic parachute ever deployed in space, a perilous-looking “sky crane” and 76 pyrotechnic explosions. If any one of those “pyros” had not occurred, “we die,” said Adam Steltzner, a leader of the landing team. Officials had spent much of the day Sunday speculating about how Curiosity might fail, and what the consequences might be for America's space program".



Below, William Shatner - Star Trek Captain Kirk himself! - narrates this thrilling video about NASA's Curiosity rover, from its entry and descent through the Martian atmosphere to its landing and exploration of the Red Planet. So, have a look and you'll understand why everyone who worked on this mission had good reasons this morning to be so happy when they finally heard the voice telling them "We Are Safe On Mars " - enthusiasm that you will see on the second video.




Pictures and video: copyright NASA

A "Space Age" Dream Come True



Fifteen years ago, i had the luck to be allowed to enter the Kennedy Space Center for a special photographic report for a french magazine. I was allowed to go almost everywhere including the legendary Vehicle Assembly Building where all Space Shuttle and the huge Saturn V rockets were assembled. I went also in the facility where the space shuttles were repaired between two missions and was almost as close as the space shuttle than i am right now of my computer writing this article. Then i had lunch in the NASA Space Center restaurant, surrounded by NASA people including probably some astronauts. People of the press office have been wonderful and delivered to me some amazingly beautiful printed pictures from the NASA photo library and you'll seen one of them tomorrow in my next post talking about how a former Mercury missions astronaut became a WDI Imagineer.

It was an awesome day and it happened because at that time we still were in the pre-Sept 11 era, in a time where the "system" didn't yet became totally paranoid. Of course, now it will be probably more difficult to have the authorization to come inside what was known previously as Cape Canaveral, and the fact that we entered the digital age doesn't help as photographers have less good reasons to come inside the Kennedy Space Center now that they they can download pictures directly from the NASA website.

That said i have a great news for you as you'll be able to visit right now the same places where i've been fifteen years ago. And this thanks to Google Maps as the Google guys in partnership with NASA have been inside Kennedy Space Center and were allowed to shoot inside the most famous locations just like they do when the Google car is taking pictures of your street. All you have to do is to go at THIS LINK and there you go for an exclusive look inside what was considered as the holy of the holies by any space age fans.

Ready for the visit? Then here is a selection of the places in which you'll be able to "walk in" as Google Street allows you to move all around a place, turn left or right, or look up and down. The top picture shows you of course the Endeavour space shuttle. If you move a bit you'll be able to see next to it the Atlantis space shuttle, both being if i'm right in the huge Vehicle Assembly Building. Don't forget to look up to the ceiling to see how huge this building is. The VAB was built in the 1960's when NASA needed it to assemble the huge Saturn V rockets for the Apollo missions.



Not so far you'll be able to move inside the facility where are the Space Shuttle main engines.



Another great location that you can explore is the famous Firing Room 4 from where were launched the legendary NASA rockets in their missions to the Moon.



You'll be allowed also to move inside the Firing Room 3!



Then you can go and explore the famous launch pad 39A and move around not only at the bottom...



...but also at the top of it with spectacular views of the Space Center and the ocean nearby.



Amond others locations inside the Kennedy Space Center you'll find the Space Station Processing Facility but Google Street also have been in the other Space Center, the one that tourists can visit where can be seen most of the famous NASA rockets. Below, the huge Saturn V rocket, the one which was used for the missions to the moon.





Others locations include the room with the Apollo 14 Command Module where you'll see also a collection of astronauts suits!





NASA and Google have released a video to introduce all this and here it is below.



To be able to move inside and explore these legendary places is really something that you must not missed and, again, HERE is the direct link to the Google page. Enjoy the tour!

Screen Captures: copyright Google - NASA

Sunday, August 5, 2012

How Life Will Look Like With Augmented Reality Seen Through Contact Lens



If you want to have an idea how life will look like with augmented reality seen through contact lens, have a look at the video below. In two words, everywhere you'll go or do - including dating with a nice girl - infos will appear in your field of vision almost all the time. Sure the video looks great and is very well done. But in real reality, it probably will be fun five minutes and then just like hell. Except, of course, if you are an android. Bad news, if you reading this post chances are that you're only human.




Video: copyright Eran May-raz et Daniel Lazo