noinput.net | plug it in

Was browsin around today and found this sweet AJAX app that gives Realtime Tracking on the shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station:

• http://gmaps.tommangan.us/spacecraft_tracking.html

Go Discovery! I remember going to see discovery land with my dad when I was a kid, such a great feeling to be there. Here’s a blurb from Yahoo! News:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Discovery and seven astronauts blasted into orbit Tuesday on America’s first manned space shot since the 2003 Columbia disaster, ending a painful, 2 1/2-year shutdown devoted to making the shuttle less risky and
NASA more safety-conscious.

At stake were not only the lives of the astronauts, but also America’s pride in its technological prowess, the fate of the U.S. space program and the future of space exploration itself.

“Our long wait may be over. So on behalf of the many millions of people who believe so deeply in what we do, good luck, Godspeed — and have a little fun up there,” launch director Mike Leinbach told the astronauts right before liftoff.

Photo lift off blogged by SeanMcNeil on Flickr

The Q - Motorola’s Super Thin Smartphone (Phone Scoop)

Motorola tonight announced the Q, the smartphone that has long been rumored as the RAZRberry. This super thin, extremely small device only measures ; 4.6 x 2.5 x 0.45 inches despite its 240 x 320 widescreen display and full QWERTY keyboard. The Q will be one of the first Windows Mobile 5.0 devices, and will be running the Smartphone version. Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone features Windows Media Player 10, advanced synchronization with Exchange, photo caller ID and speaker independent voice recognition.

In addition to the QWERTY keyboard, the Q features a D-Pad and all the keys required for Smartphone navigation as well as a thumbwheel to ease one-handed operation. The keyboard has EL backlighting like the RAZR, however it features raised individual keys. The Q also has a 1.3 MP camera and LED flash, Mini SD slot and Bluetooth. It is expected in Q1 of 2006.

This phone is just over the top, I want it. Not to mention then you can drop an RSS reader app on it like NewsBreak and you’re in business.

Was on the O’Reilly Radar feed today and saw that this developer hooked up a mashup of the infamous Hot or Not site to Google Maps. Pretty sweet integration, def needs the use of a stylesheet but it works. Just one more way of seeing how we love to use Ajax for the Web 2.0 revolution.

Another hot mashup is the EVDB integration found here.. very slick.

Wired News: NASA Aims for Tuesday Launch

NASA will try to launch Discovery on the first shuttle mission in more than two years next Tuesday, after tracing last week’s fuel gauge failure to, most likely, an electrical grounding problem lurking inside the spacecraft.

Shuttle program manager Bill Parsons said the only way to thoroughly check the system is to fuel Discovery and have all its equipment running.

“We believe the best way to go through this is to do a countdown,” he said. “If the sensors (gauges) work exactly like we think they will, then we’ll launch on that day. If anything goes not per the plan that we’ve laid out in front of us, then we’ll have a scrub and we’ll have to talk about it.”

In what would be an almost certainly controversial move in the wake of the 2003 Columbia tragedy, NASA may also proceed with the liftoff if the fuel gauge problem recurs but is considered well understood. That would mean revoking a launch rule requiring all four hydrogen fuel gauges at the bottom of Discovery’s external tank to be working properly, and instead relying on just three out of four.

As a big space-fan, this is exciting, I hope this launch turns out better then the last one, we just need to get up there and back home safe again to keep the space dreams alive. So much talk about the anniversary of the moon landing and all, its kind of sad to think we’ll probably never go back.

It’s official, the nextgen windows platform’s official name is “Windows Vista”. hmm, kind of odd but will take some getting used to I think. I mean XP wasn’t the most pretty name at the time but we caught on quick, seeing as it’s Development name was “Windows Whistler” and all. Longhorn never seemed like something you could pimp out in a conversation to your parents per-say, but I do feel bad for the owner of vistawindows.com, looks like they’re going to need a server upgrade when people start getting the URI wrong.. heh.

CNN.com - James Doohan, ‘Star Trek’s’ Scotty, dead - Jul 20, 2005

This is so sad to hear, Farewell James Doohan

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original “Star Trek” TV series and motion pictures who responded to the apocryphal command “Beam me up, Scotty,” died early Wednesday. He was 85.