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September 18th, 2010 | 
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Bidder buys $1.5 million space date with Leonardo DiCaprio
Spacebound: Leonardo DiCaprio acknowledges the audience at the opening of the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
(Credit: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images)
If you thought $200,000 was a lot to pay for a Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of space, try $1.5 million. Do note, however, that the steep ticket price includes Leo DiCaprio as your travel buddy.
A bidder at a Cannes charity auction agreed to fork out that much for a seat in space beside the star who played flight-mad Howard Hughes in “The Aviator.” The money will benefit amfARa Cinema Against AIDS, hosted by amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.
The winning bid was made by 37-year-old Vasily Klyukin, a Russian living in Monaco, according to Reuters.
“I want to be a bit daring,” Klyukin was quoted as saying. “I will have to give up smoking now for sure!”
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Lambda Labs readying Google Glass face-recognition API
Based on its face-rec API released last year, Lambda Labs’ Google Glass Face Recognition API could help you recognize people who are less famous than Tiger Woods.
(Credit: Lambda Labs)
Amid questions to Google from Congress about privacy concerns related to Google Glass, a San Francisco startup is preparing an API to recognize faces with the controversial gadget.
The Google Glass Face Recognition API (application programming interface) from Lambda Labs will be available to developers within a week, TechCrunch tells us, quoting co-founder Stephen Balaban.
Lambda Labs released its open-source Face API last year, and it’s apparently being used by 1,000 developers including large companies.
The Glass app would be based on that. It would let users recognize faces in a crowd as well as remember faces by storing data from personal encounters. That’s great if you’re terrible with names and faces — not so great if you care about privacy.
Beyond being a mnemonic tool, the app could show you who shares your interests. By looking up people’s faces at a gathe… [Read more]
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Could storm-chasing UAVs help predict tornadoes?
(Credit: Oklahoma State University )
In the wake of the colossal tornado that rampaged through 17 miles of central Oklahoma, plans for storm-chasing UAVs are taking on new significance.
Students at Oklahoma State University have been working on “storm-penetrating air vehicles” that could help cope with deadly tornadoes.
The aircraft are “designed to penetrate thunderstorms, including the supercells that spawn tornadoes” to gather data used to predict storms and warn people about them, the university said in a release.
The three vehicles designed by engineering students could also be used to build better predictive models of tornado-spawning storms.
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Storm chasers, who put themselves at risk gathering storm and tornado data, could benefit from the use of UAVs, too.
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If Earth had rings like Saturn, the sky would look like this
If Earth had rings, Congress would have even more glory to bask in, according to this Ron Miller illustration.
(Credit: Ron Miller)
The sunsets would be impossibly beautiful. The evening sky would glitter with a thousand silver arcs. If Earth had rings like Saturn, you’d only have to look up to get a spectacular show.
Veteran astronomy artist Ron Miller has created some stunning views of what our skies would look like if Earth were a ringed planet, and they make me want to launch a Kickstarter campaign to make it happen.
In a recent article for sci-fi blog io9, Miller presented his wild visions of a ringed Earth and what the sky would look like from various places on our planet.
He notes that Earth did have a ring long ago. It was the result of a cataclysmic planetary crash that precipitated the formation of the moon.
Earth: If you like it, put a ring on it (pictures)
1-2 of 6 Scroll Left Scroll Right
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Staying at the Burj Al Arab? Enjoy a 24-karat gold iPad
(Credit: Burj Al Arab)
It’s the most golden hotel perk since gold-bar vending machines: gold iPads.
As if the Rolls Royce and helicopter services weren’t enough, guests at Dubai’s opulent Burj Al Arab now have access to gold-plated iPads.
The 24-karat tablets are engraved with the property’s logo on the back, which also features a black Apple logo. Ironically enough, the hotel chain’s slogan is “Stay different.”
The iPads, meant to act as “virtual concierges,” are loaded with Interactive Customer Experience (ICE) software that gives guests information on services such as dining options at the landmark property.
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The iPads were produced by Gold & Co. of London, which made a 24-karat rose-gold iPad for the hotel last October in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
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13.3-inch Sony tablet is like Etch A Sketch on steroids
Sony's 13.3-inch Digital Paper tablet is based on durable plastic TFT technology.
(Credit: Sony)
If you love doodling with a pen but hate accumulating paper, Sony and E Ink are coming out with a tablet/digital notepad that’s large and relatively light for its size compared to big e-readers.
The 13.3-inch Digital Paper touch-panel display was recently shown off at Educational IT Solutions Expo (EDIX) in Tokyo. Sony is planning to try it out at Japanese universities and bring it to the general market this year.
It incorporates the E Ink Mobius electronic paper display, announced earlier this month. Mobius is based on thin film transistor (TFT) technology developed by Sony and is being billed as the first large-format flexible display to enter mass production.
Built on a plastic substrate, they can be much lighter than glass-based TFTs, with 13.3-inch screens weighing only 2.1 ounces.
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Zap your pet’s blues away with Petcube laser pointer
Rocky poses with a prototype for Petcube, which keeps him entertained when he's alone.
(Credit: Petcube)
If you feel bad about leaving Fluffy home alone, consider giving her the laser treatment.
Petcube is stylish box that lets you play with your pet when you’re away. It beams leasers around the room while you control it from afar via smartphone.
Connected to your home Wi-Fi network, Petcube is a 4-inch cube that has a wide-angle camera, microphone, and low-intensity laser pointer.
The prototype is made of glass and aluminum and is being developed by robot enthusiast Alex Neskin, along with Yaroslav Azhnyuk, and Andrey Klen. The Ukranian startup recently showed it off at Seedcamp Week Berlin.
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Credit for Petcube goes in part to Neskin’s chihuahua, which goes nuts for lasers.
“I came up with the idea for Petcube when I had a real problem with my dog Rocky,” Neskin tells CNET. “It couldn’t get used to our new place and spent hours barking at the d… [Read more]
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Want a 10-foot-tall painting of ‘Star Wars’ action figures?
Full of delightful details, ‘The Birth of a Jedi’ by Rob Burden measures 128×88 inches.
(Credit: Kickstarter)
Do you still have your original “Star Wars” action figures? Mine are tucked away in storage, but looking at Rob Burden’s artwork makes me want to dig them out.
The San Francisco artist is so obsessed with his old “Star Wars” figures that he does 10-foot-tall oil paintings of them, like “The Birth of a Jedi,” above. The works don’t portray the characters from the series, but the actual action figures themselves.
Now he’s taking his passion to new heights on Kickstarter with a $24,000 campaign to produce two enormous 10×14-foot “Star Wars” canvases.
The two paintings will depict dozens of “Star Wars” action figures and toys. A character will be the central subject of one, while the other will have a vehicle like the AT-AT Walker or a creature as the focus. Burden wants enthusiasts to vote for which toys are included in the paintings; you can vote on his Facebook page.
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Trekify Bing by searching for ‘beam me up’
(Credit: Screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)
I like my Khan clad in real Corinthian leather, so I’m not warping over to the closest theater to catch “Star Trek Into Darkness.” And while many fanboys and fangirls are, Trek enthusiasts can also try Bing for some animation that’s as fun as a locker full of tribbles.
The search engine will respond to “beam me up” with a series of interactive scenes promoting the latest installment in the J.J. Abrams reboot series.
Clicking on the floating Enterprise brings you to the bridge (littered with furry friends), where you can explore the science behind concepts from the show like the tractor beam and the tricorder.
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Dream Chaser space plane to begin NASA flight tests
A flatbed truck carrying the Dream Chaser, its wings and tail removed, pauses at Hangar 4802 at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California.
(Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida)
In another sign of ever-increasing commercial spaceflight activity, Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane has arrived at NASA for testing.
Wrapped in plastic, the craft arrived at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where it will eventually undergo its first autonomous free flight Approach and Landing Test (ALT).
Part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program along with SpaceX and Boeing, the Dream Chaser is designed to launch vertically on top of an Atlas 5 rocket, dock with the International Space Station, and then return to Earth like a glider, landing on a runway.
Successful tests of the Dream Chaser could help end U.S. reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get people to the ISS, which costs U.S. taxpayers over $60 million a seat.
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