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Engadget Daily: Nexus 9, Google VP sets new space-jump record, and more!
It's Friday, ya'll. But before you checkout for the weekend, check out all our news highlights from the last 24 hours, including our hands-on with the Nexus 9, a new high-altitude jump record, the best gaming mice you can buy right now, and more.
Daily Roundup: interview with Felix Baumgartner, Apple announces WWDC 2014 and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Felix Baumgartner is the man who fell to Earth and lived to tell the tale
"I would not do it again because there's nothing else to accomplish ... The fact that it worked once, does not mean it will work again." Felix Baumgartner is a rock star. At least, he is to the bright-eyed group of tween boys crowding his Red Bull Stratos exhibit at the Smithsonian, the pieces of which are now set to become part of the museum's permanent collection. Baumgartner could also probably be an action movie star. He's brimming with braggadocio in that way only men who've dared and triumphed over the impossible can be; ruggedly handsome in a way you wouldn't expect from a daredevil. And he's also very stylish. Baumgartner refers to himself as the "fastest man in the sky," and the distinction is well-earned. In October of 2012, the Austrian stepped out from a custom-made space capsule 24 miles high and space dove toward terra firma, breaking the sound barrier along the way. As you might imagine, a free fall from the edge of space is not without significant risks. "I heard a lot of nightmare stories about flat spinning," he told me. "Which, if it happens too fast, you're facing too many RPMs; you cannot stop that spin anymore. And, at a certain point, the blood has only one way to leave your body and that's through ... your eyeballs. That means you're gonna die."
Australian firefighters test data-transmitting pills to monitor biometrics during work
A new swallowable pill has been trialled with 50 firefighters in Australia, aimed at monitoring body temperatures and other vital readings when working under extreme conditions. Using Equivital's VitalSense Core Temperature capsules, they transmit readings to the companion EQ02 LifeMonitor, housed on the chest. This then sends data on skin temperature, heart rate and respiration rate to an external computer. If a firefighter's core body temperature is increasing too quickly, they can then be moved from the frontline to a recovery area, hopefully reducing accidents and deaths caused by heat exhaustion. Until now, the standard method involved measuring body temperatures through the ear, but this new method -- which was also used to monitor Felix Baumgartner's 23-mile drop to Earth -- offers a faster, more effective way of monitoring multiple vital signs. Research has so far focused on monitoring a firefighters' core temperature when they've been exposed to temperatures between from -3 to 124 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes, but according to News.com.au, testing will continue on the Equivital capsules, with temperatures likely to go as high as 600 degrees Celsius -- about 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit. We're just hoping that electrical firewands are next on the list.
Art Thompson, Red Bull Stratos' technical project director, talks circuit breakers, wind shear and biomedical data
While Felix Baumgartner landed safely on the ground just a matter of hours ago, the internet is still resonating with the sound of tweets, status updates and YouTube clicks, all thanks to what was one of the most spectacular human endeavors in recent history. The mission was simple, to send a man up in a balloon higher than ever before, and have him safely jump to the ground. This kind of "simple" is usually anything but -- if you just look past the well-manicured exterior. Which, as luck would have it is exactly what we did. With the cheers of success still ringing in his ears, we got some quality time with Art Thompson, the technical project director, and Baumgartner's earliest collaborator on the Stratos mission. We wanted to know a little bit more about what went on behind the scenes, and Thompson was more than happy to oblige. They're understandably proud of what they just achieved.
Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space
BASE jumping might just be about to enter the mainstream. What has typically been considered a fringe activity, reserved for thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies, could soon be firmly cemented in the public view. For the uninitiated, BASE jumping is like skydiving, without the plane. Participants throw themselves off bridges, antennae, buildings, cliffs, and well, whatever high object they can find. It's not illegal, "in theory", but as many of the chosen launch spots are public or private property -- or pose a risk to public safety -- gaining access to, or jumping from them, can mean stepping over the legal line. This otherwise obstreperous activity has largely kept to itself, occasionally popping up in magazines, or YouTube videos, but -- all going well -- on Monday that changes. Serial boundary pusher (of wing suit across the English Channel fame) Felix Baumgartner is set to leap, in the most literal sense of the word, from relative obscurity into the history books. How? By jumping to earth from the edge of space, likely breaking the sound barrier as he does so. How does one go from humble Austrian beginnings to a capsule 120,000 feet (about 23 miles) above the Earth's surface? Make a comparatively tiny leap past the break to find out.
Man skydives from 13 miles above Earth, isn't satisfied (video)
Your worst nightmares? Felix Baumgartner's breakfast. Determined to cement his legacy in the Pantheon of Daredevilry, the famed skydiver successfully leapt from an altitude of more than 70,000 feet last week -- and that was just a trial. It's all part of Baumgartner's attempt to complete a record-breaking 120,000 foot "spacedive" later this year and, based on early returns, he seems well on his way. His latest jump, completed on March 15th, saw the fearless Austrian carried up to more than 13 miles above the Earth, protected only by a pressurized suit and capsule that hung from a 165-foot high helium balloon. Not long after jumping out, he reached a maximum speed of 364.4 mph, with the entire free fall lasting a little over eight minutes, according to Red Bull Stratos, which is sponsoring the effort. The idea behind last week's run was to test out the balloon and pressurized capsule, though Baumgartner is apparently hoping to complete another jump from about 90,000 feet above ground, before attempting the record breaker sometime this summer. Somewhere, Yves Rossy is furiously polishing off his jetpack. For more details on the equipment used to pull off the feat, check out Red Bull Stratos' video, after the break.