Hopper
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Dish Network adds video on-demand streaming for iPad, enhanced Thuuz Google TV app
While Dish isn't yet ready to officially reveal the details of its new "Hopper" multiroom DVR setup or any wireless broadband plans, it has announced the addition of video on-demand streaming to its Remote Access iPad app. For users with the Blockbuster @Home package or premium movie channels like HBO, they can log in with their Dish Online ID and be in business. The remote viewing portion has also been refreshed, with what we're told is an updated guide. For Google TV owners, it also announced an official tie-in with the developers of Thuuz to record the live sports programs it alerts users to. Check out the details in the press release after the break, as well as a few hands-on pics of the iPad app in our gallery.
Draper Labs develops prototype Mars Hopper
The Mars rover, that self-propelled, solar powered box o' sensors 'n stuff that slowly inches along the surface (and battles the fierce environment) of the red planet may be a mainstay of space exploration, but it's certainly not the only way to get the job done. For instance, the kids at Draper Labs -- last seen in this space with their injectable nanosensor -- are in the process of developing vehicles that would (literally) leave traditional rovers in the dust. The Draper Hopper prototype is designed with a ducted fan propulsion system that uses compressed nitrogen gas to cover twenty-five miles in a few days or, at best, a few hours. By way of comparison, NASA's Spirit and Opportunity craft have covered roughly twenty miles since hitting the Martian surface in early 2004. Of course, the hoppers will have to bring fuel with them, so their lifespans will be cut drastically shorter than their wheel-based contemporaries, but we've always believed more autonomous vehicles should "live fast / die young," like Sid Vicious or James Dean. With any luck, we should see test flights by January 2011.
