Archive for July 21st, 2009

If The Moon Landing Happened Today

On the 40th Anniversary of the moon landing, Slate V analyses how the media would cover the story if it happened today. From beaming astronauts into studios to following Twitter updates.

(Youtube Link)

How times have changed!

Link

No Comments | Posted in: Entertainment | Sci/Tech | Television

Total Solar Eclipse 22 July 2009

On 22 July, a total solar eclipse will be able to be seen in India, a number of of the Japanese islands, Pacific Ocean and China.

The eclipse will start at dawn in the western division of India, move to the eastern division of India, cross to Mynamar and then move to the tiny islands of Japan & China. The eclipse will be the longest total eclipse this century, lasting 6 minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.

However, whilst scientist are flocking to Asia to see the eclipse, millions are planning to lock themselves indoors, giving in to superstitious myths about the phenomenon. What a shame.

No Comments | Posted in: News | Sci/Tech

Riding A Roller Coaster On Skates

For most people, riding a roller coaster strapped into a seat is excitement enough, but not for Dirk Auer. Dirk decided he wanted to ride the Mammoth roller coaster at a Stuttgart theme park on in-line skates.

The 860 meter wooden coaster enabled Auer to reach speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour and experience up to 3Gs of force. The speed-junkie set a new world record for in-line skating down a roller coaster and said afterwards that the stunt was “a lot of fun.”

I think i’ll stick to the teacups thanks Dirk.

2 Comments | Posted in: Lifestyle | Sport

World’s First Luxury Underwater Hotel

Hydropolis will be the first world’s luxury underwater hotel when it is completed later this year.

Located in Dubai, guests will arrive at a station on land and be transported via a connecting tunnel to the main area of the hotel. The complex covers an area of one square mile, houses 220 suites and comes at a cost of $490 million.

Hydropolis will be located 65 feet (20m) below the Persian Gulf and will feature restaurants, bars, a ball room, meeting rooms and theme suites. The developer, Joachim Hauser, says “Hydropolis is not a project; it’s a passion.

“We want to create the first ever faculty for marine architecture because I believe that the future lies in the sea, including the future of city planning,” says Hauser. “I am certain that one day a whole city will be built in the sea. Our aim is to lay the first mosaic by colonizing the sea.”

Link

2 Comments | Posted in: Business | Lifestyle | Sci/Tech

Swine Flu Tracker Website

With swine flu spreading at it’s fastest pace across the world, scientists in the UK have launched an online swine flu survey to monitor the spread of the virus and keep people better informed.

Flusurvey.org.uk contains information about symptoms, transmission, treatment and asks visitors to answer a number of questions in order to gather information about swine flu hotspots and the latest figures on how many people have the flu in different areas.

If you’re interested to find out more, please visit Flusurvey.org.uk here.

No Comments | Posted in: Health | Internet

Go To The Moon With Google Earth

Google Earth is great for exploring the Earth at a click of a button, but now Google offers you the chance to land on the Moon and explore it with tours from Apollo astronauts. With rare TV footage of the Apollo missions, 3D models of landed spacecraft and 360-degree photos you should check it out.

(Youtube Video)

No Comments | Posted in: Entertainment | Internet | Sci/Tech

Google Debunks Youtube Myths

With pessimism surrounding Youtube’s performance, Youtube’s owner, Google, set out to prove it’s critics wrong. On the YouTube Biz Blog Google writes “we can debunk the top five myths about YouTube we repeatedly see.”

Myth 1: YouTube is limited to short-form user-generated content.

Google’s rebuttal: “The world premiere of Joy Luck Club director Wayne Wang’s film, “The Princess of Nebraska,” was viewed 165,000+ times during the first 48 hours — the equivalent of landing the 15th spot on Hollywood box office charts.”

Myth 2: YouTube videos are grainy and of poor quality.

Google’s rebuttal: “We already have more HD videos than any other video site.”

Myth 3: Traffic, growth, and uploads are bad for YouTube’s bottom line.

Google’s rebuttal: “With revenue estimates ranging from $120 million to $500 million, and costs on an equally large spectrum, it seems people can pick any number to fit any theory they have about our business. The truth is that all our infrastructure is built from scratch, which means models that use standard industry pricing are too high when it comes to bandwidth and similar costs. We are at a point where growth is definitely good for our bottom line, not bad.”

Myth 4: Advertisers are afraid of YouTube.

Google’s rebuttal: “Over 70% of Ad Age Top 100 marketers ran campaigns on YouTube in 2008. Advertisers just want control, so we’re continuing to develop tools and targeting products that give advertisers more control over where their ads appear on the site.”

Myth 5: YouTube is only monetizing 3-5% of the site.

Google’s rebuttal: “This oft-cited statistic is old and wrong, and continues to raise much speculation. Monetized views have more than tripled in the past year, as we’re adding partner content very quickly and doing a better job of promoting their videos across the site.”

It seems Google had a lot of steam to let out and it sure did that. Has this stopped the critics in their tracks though? I think not.

Link

1 Comment | Posted in: Business | Internet

Advertise On The Moon

Advertisements are everywhere. From billboards to television and newspapers to hot air balloons. Every company wants maximum exposure so as many people as possible know about them. Well one company wants to take advertising one step further. They want to carve ads onto the moon!

The company proposes to use robots to graft adverts onto the moon’s surface. Take a look at the video.

(Youtube Link)

Moon Publicity is the company that has it eyes set on advertising on the moon. This is what they said:

New Shadow Shaping technology creates images on the moon that can be seen from Earth. Robots are used to create several small ridges in the lunar dust over large areas that capture shadows and shape them to form logos, domains names or memorials.

So what are your opinions on this? Who wants to see the moon covered in advertisements? Personally I like the plain old moon as it at the moment.

Link

No Comments | Posted in: Business | Sci/Tech