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Japan's space junk collection experiment ends in failure
Well that's disappointing. On January 27th, Japan's space agency (JAXA) successfully launched the Kounotori 6 spacecraft to the ISS. It was supposed to test a novel method of dragging space debris out of orbit however a technical issue prevented the spacecraft from carrying out that test before its fiery death in Earth's atmosphere on Monday morning.
Watch 58 years of space debris appear in 1 minute
You probably know that the proliferation of space junk is a real problem, but we won't blame you if you have a tough time wrapping your head around the concept. There are roughly 20,000 fragments up there, after all. However, university lecturer Stuart Grey is willing to help. He recently posted a 1-minute video that shows the accumulation of junk from 1957, when Sputnik first flew, through to 2015. As the clip shows, the amount of debris grows in fits and starts. While there were several thousand objects for quite a while, missile tests and satellite collisions added thousands more fragments to the mix.
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite MMO ship?
I finally got my ArcheAge fishing boat over the weekend, and now I'm setting my sights on bigger and better ship designs. And I'm doing a lot of fishing, naturally! I'm kinda partial to the Lutesong Junk, but then again the Eznan Cutter is pretty badass, too. What do you think -- what's your favorite in-game ship in ArcheAge or any other MMO? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
DARPA SpaceView program enlists us to track space debris, save a satellite today (video)
Space junk is an undeniable problem when there's over 500,000 dead satellites, spacecraft pieces and other human-made obstacles that could crash into active orbiting vehicles. DARPA is more than a little overwhelmed in trying to track all those hazards by itself, so it's recruiting amateur help through its new SpaceView program. The effort will buy time for non-professional astronomers on existing telescopes, or even supply hardware directly, to track the spaceborne debris without the sheer expense of growing an existing surveillance network. While that amounts to using hobbyists purely as volunteers, DARPA notes that the strategy could be a win-win for some when hardware donated for SpaceView could be used for regular astronomy in spare moments. The challenge is getting through the sign-up phase. While SpaceView is taking applications now, it's initially focusing on options for standard commercial telescopes and hand-picking those who have permanent access to hardware in the right locations -- there's no guarantee a backyard observatory will pass muster. Those who do clear the bar might sleep well knowing that satellites and rockets should be that much safer in the future.
UK engineers developing harpoon that could help space junk meet a fiery end
Sure, we can pull space junk out of orbit with lasers or use it to cobble together new satellites, but if engineers at space firm Astrium UK have their way, space trash could be disposed of with the help of harpoons. Currently in a conceptual stage, the system is designed to shoot defunct satellites or other debris with a harpoon mounted on a "chaser satellite" and use a tethered propulsion pack to send the rubbish in an atmospheric descent where it'll burn up. Since the projectile could shoot straight through targets and result in even more garbage, it's been fashioned with a crushable portion to reduce its speed upon impact. There's no concrete word on when the outfit's solution might be put in action, but they'll present their work on Wednesday at the 63rd International Astronautical Congress in Naples (Italy, not Florida, mind you). If you can't wait to see the harpoon at work, head past the break to catch tests of an Earth-based prototype.
Apple puts PCs on free recycling party list, opens doors to iPads, iPhones
After being forced to pay off the door man to get into Apple's electronics recycling party for years now, PCs are finally getting in for free -- VIP style. Apple has revised its Reuse and Recycling Program and opened the gates to sheep from another shepherd's flock. The new rules are quite a departure from past protocol, which charged PC users 30 bones to recycle non-Apple computers and displays -- unless of course they agreed to purchase a Mac, in which case Apple would kindly do it for free. As part of the restructured program, ripe old iPads and iPhones are now eligible for Apple's exchange program as well, where you'll get a gift card if your device is actually worth anything. The company still recycles old iPods and mobile phones (regardless of manufacturer) for free, and offers 10% off a new iPod if you hand over an old one. With the revised plan it's safe to say the folks at Apple ditched the program's old theme song, "It's Not Easy Being Green," and are instead spinning a new track. Sparkly silver jacket not included.
Are bulk app generators junking up the App Store again?
We've long written about the travails of the App Store, specifically about the hardships some developers have endured (particularly in the early days) trying to get their apps approved. Apple has, in the past year, made great strides in improving this process for developers, going so far as to publish a clear set of guidelines of what will fly. Apple has also been careful to shut down "content farms," which produce a raft of junk or merely promotional apps, and one vector for these happens to be ebook apps. One developer, Alex Brie, believes he has stumbled upon one particularly egregious junk app purveyor and possibly more. Ebook apps are somewhat of an anomaly. Apple must walk a fine line here, as most of these apps really are promotional and/or of limited use. Why not just publish via iBooks, for example, if your ebook contains no more than text and images? One answer is backwards compatibility, yes. Another is money -- the App Store is more of a shopping haven than iBooks. Money seems to be the motivation in this "app farm" mentality, as developers can churn out dozens of titles in a day and game the system for exposure. Alex discovered AppStudio2010 has stocked the store full of ebook apps. In fact, "on November 30, 2010 alone, AppStudio2010 got 28 apps approved." Alex goes on to claim that AppStudio2010 already has over 200 "apps" on the store! More curious is their title "Chronicles of Narnia," with a description matching that of the Amazon boxed set for the C.S. Lewis series. There are others mentioned as well, including an outfit called Libro Movil with over 360 apps, and Mobido LLC with almost 300. Yesterday Alex wrote another post revealing even more of these guys, possibly based in Vietnam and certainly beyond prolific. The point Alex makes is that submitting that many apps within a small time frame is unlikely to yield quality apps. Also, many of these apps wind up climbing the charts, nudging out higher-quality apps. How? They are being purchased, Alex claims, by the developers -- inflating the numbers in varying degrees. If Apple wants to maintain a curated store of the best quality, he suggests that it constrict the number of apps submitted per day. I think this is a fair compromise. Of course, there are many other issues with the store and developers -- critical updates and patches can go unapproved for days, as the recent store description for Sketch Fighter will show. There's also the issue of buying one's own apps in large numbers to get placement on a top 10 list. I don't see an easy solution there. For now, it is up to the consumer to wade through what is becoming a wasteland of shoddy ebooks being cranked out from these content factories. Just this past May we wrote about spammers and app clones junking up the store. One has to wonder how the Mac App Store will fare.
Dealing with bank inventory management
April's dealing with a problem that I've dealt with many times before: bank management. The other day I posted some tips on inventory management, but bank management is a knot that even I can't quite figure out how to untangle. On the one hand, bank space is supposed to be your refuge -- you can only pick things up out in the field as long as you have an empty inventory space for it. But on the other hand, especially on your main, you pick up a lot of things that seem important at the time -- tier gear, your first trinket, that piece you farmed for months until it finally dropped, that Blizzard Bear that you know is account bound, but you just can't bear to give it up. Stuff piles up after a while, and eventually you're carrying stuff around in your backpack that should really be sitting in your bank... and would be if you had room to keep it in there.The only real tip I have is that you have to be ruthless -- you'll probably never use those trinkets again, that Tier 0 armor won't ever really be needed anymore, and you might as well eat those Delicious Chocolate Cakes that you made for a rainy day. You might as well use those cooking and profession mats you've got sitting around now, because if they aren't worth anything at the moment, they probably won't be worth any more in the future. And yes, I know you've only got so much Noggenfogger left, but you might as well go ahead and drink it on the next fun guild run. It sounds harsh, but in a game that's really about collecting, we all tend to have a packrat side.And if worst comes to worst, just create yet another bank alt, charter yet another bank guild, and start filling those bags up also. With all of the junk we've got coming through, they'll probably be full to the brim in no time.
Five tips for inventory management
So I've been leveling an alt lately (yes, despite the fact that it makes my skin crawl a little bit, I've been leveling a Paladin so I can tank and heal with dual specs when they show up), and my biggest problem isn't the XP, since Blizzard has nerfed the leveling time so much. It's not the quests, either -- between Questhelper and having done the 1-60 jig five or six times before, I'm all set for quests now. Nope, it's managing my inventory -- I'm questing so quickly that the biggest problem I have is just keeping bag space open.So here's a few tips I've picked up along the way. Even if you're not leveling, maybe some of these will help. And I'm sure there are plenty of great ways to make sure your bags are clear that I haven't discovered yet (I know for a fact that there are plenty of addons out there that I haven't had an interest in yet) -- feel free to share your own tips in the comments below.
Breakfast Topic: Amazing grays
I picked up an interesting gray item in Wintergrasp the other day -- the Broken U.L.O.S.E. Button. Players who've played Alterac Valley will recognize it as the answer to the zone's gray drop, the Broken I.W.I.N. button. Even the flavor text complimented each other and added more whimsy to the already humorous items. One of the most memorable junk items from The Burning Crusade was The Stoppable Force, a parody of another Alterac Valley item, the epic Unstoppable Force.My wife enjoys fishing not just for the relaxing aspect but definitely for the profit. Take, for example, the Goldenscale Vendorfish. The name speaks for itself, as this piece of inedible junk sells for 6 Gold. That's still not her favorite gray item, though. The Broken Engine Part is another thing that anglers can get from fishing, and sells for 10 Gold. Not bad, huh? In Patch 3.1, though, Blizzard ups the ante with Porcelain Bell, a gray item that comes randomly from the Bag of Fishing Treasures. Lucky fishermen can sell this junk item for a pocket-fattening 100 Gold!Of course, Wrath of the Lich King introuduced us to a plethora of fountain coins, a lot of which are gray items. Among other things, I think Blizzard does an excellent job of infusing flavor into the game with junk items. There are over a thousand gray items that it's kind of difficult to pick just one. From puns like A Frayed Knot to lore-infused junk like the Dalaran coins to plain silly stuff like the Romance Novel series, there's just a lot of cool things going on with grays. What are your favorite or most memorable grays?
Terra Nova looks back (and forward) at the Diku legacy
EverQuest, World of Warcraft, The Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and many other MMOs all have one important thing in common. Well, okay; they have a lot of things in common -- like about 85% or more of their gameplay mechanics. But the main thing -- indeed, the reason why they have so much in common -- is that they are all descendants of a kind of text MUD game called Diku.Acknowledging that, virtual worlds blog Terra Nova published a "State of the Diku" article for the year 2008. The article was written by Timothy Burke. It's mostly a dispassionate look at game design -- serious business. Burke starts out questioning the purpose of "vendor trash" drops (or grey items as they're generally known in many popular contemporary MMOs). Then he analyzes the public quests of Warhammer Online, viewing them as a positive variation on traditional Diku design.If you're into thnking critically about MMO design, it's worth checking out. We take for granted the fact that most of today's MMOs are based on the Diku formula; maybe that means we're clinging to old ideas that don't make a lot of sense in today's world.
Sprint gets slapped with debt downgrade, lawsuit
If there's one thing Sprint doesn't need at the moment, we'd say that "a harder time getting cash" ranks high on the list. That's where big ol' number three finds itself at the moment, though, thanks to a credit downgrade by Standard & Poor's from "BBB-" to "BB," a move that puts its bonds squarely in junk territory. S&P has some harsh words for Sprint regarding the move, too, explaining that it went down thanks to its "assessment that Sprint Nextel's business risk profile is no longer supportive of an investment-grade rating given its deteriorating operating performance and lack of visibility in the wireless business." Lack of visibility in the wireless business, eh? Snap! The junkification of Sprint's debt coincides with the installment of a new CFO -- purely a coincidence, no doubt -- effective immediately.But wait, the bad news isn't over. A workers' lawsuit filed in US District Court last week alleges that Sprint dumped pension plan cash into Sprint stock at a time when... well, let's just say that it wasn't exactly a solid investment. The suit names 12 Sprint board members as co-defendants and looks to recover the money lost as Sprint stock slid into the basement; furthermore, it's looking to garner class-action status, meaning that the carrier could potentially owe money to a whole boatload of employees if the plaintiffs win the whole shebang.Read - Debt downgrade, new CFORead - Pension plan lawsuit
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck to make a bunch of press kits?
%Gallery-14791%In the press room at Macworld there was a little foyer with alphabetized buckets where you could pick up press kits from the various vendors. This is an exercise in wastefulness, as many of the press kits are glossy folders filled with photocopies and CD's.Now, I realize the coordination required to put all this on a single DVD or USB drive would be immense, so I'm not blaming Macworld/IDG here, but surely there's got to be a better way. I've made a gallery of the leftover press releases, CD's and cases I was left with-- and I didn't even take everything! I also had to discard all the covering folders for what I did grab, because I didn't want to pay $60 extra for the additional weight in my luggage (no kidding, it was like an extra 10 lbs. of junk). Sadly, that stuff got trashed in my hotel room, and I'm sure it didn't get recycled. Maybe next year the dream of a "paperless" Macworld can be realized...
Cardboard case mod comes ready to ship
Calling that thing pictured above a "case mod" is a near travesty, but we're at a loss for words outside of that. This box is almost devoid of specifications entirely, but judging by the artwork on the "chassis," it's powered by a totally rare Intel Pentium 3 CPU, hums along on Ubuntu and features a curiously placed fan, audio in / out, VGA output, a power supply and lots of fasteners tape. Truth be told, we're not even certain this concoction is capable of processing anything, but at least it's primed for a shipping label should the creator opt to cut his / her losses.[Via Technabob]
Gadgets blamed for teens' lack of sleep
We've seen gadgets blamed for increased violence, the fall of contemporary art, and even broken hearts, but the latest study to pin more blame on the gizmos we simply can't do without purports that teens are missing out on crucial sleep thanks to their gadget addictions. According to a recent report by The Sleep Council, "gadgets in bedrooms such as computers and TVs are fueling poor quality 'junk sleep,' and considering that nearly a quarter of respondents "admitted that they fell asleep watching TV, listening to music, or with other equipment still running more than once a week," it's not too hard to understand how the conclusion was drawn. Nevertheless, it was suggested that these electronics were hindering kids' ability to get the recommended eight hours of sleep each night, but hey, when (most) free nights begin at 9:00PM, how can ya blame 'em?[Thanks, Joel]
.Mac webmail now does server-side spam filtering
As with most big Apple announcements, at least a few features slip through the cracks. Thanks to TUAW reader Brandon Werner, we caught one that answers a long-time complaint of .Mac users and critics: server-side spam filtering. Until today (or at least recently; we've never noticed this before), checking your mail at the .Mac site would subject you to any and all spam you receive, since the webmail didn't filter anything out; Apple leaves that up to Mail (or your other client of choice). Now, finally, .Mac webmail offers this option to filter out junk mail right on the server, giving you at least some sort of a break from the stream of junk you might inevitably encounter. Be sure to check out the support document linked at this option, as it outlines a few steps to take to ensure that your email client and .Mac webmail keep in step regarding the messages that actually get filed into the junk mail folder. This will allow you to review those messages either from the webmail client or your desktop client, making it easy to pick out the few genuine messages that get swept away with the actual garbage.
'Refrigerator-sized' device to be heaved into space
If you thought hoisting a giant banana above Texas was outrageous, you may indeed chuckle to learn that a 1,400-pound refrigerator-sized container of ammonia will be jettisoned from the International Space Station next week. On July 23rd, to be precise, Expedition 15 crew member Clayton Anderson will have the, um, privilege of heading outside in order to toss "two large hunks of unneeded equipment towards Earth," and once ejected, they will be tracked by NASA for an entire year until they finally begin to enter the atmosphere. Notably, officials are still not sure where the debris will land just yet, but if you happen to find your fridge replaced with a partially disintegrated (albeit similarly sized) container of fetid material in the next year or two, you'll know exactly what went awry.[Image courtesy of MSNBC]
The woes of technology on display in 3D Mailbox
For those who thought the world of Second Life was too exciting comes 3D Mailbox: the virtual world for your email. A client that has been called "a waste of valuable processing power," 3D Mailbox takes everything you love about your boring 2D email and brings them to life in the form of shirtless, obese men.We've thought about it and after lots of chair throwing and Pokemon duels (Ludwig is a legendary jerk), we've decided not to convert our tips box to 3D Mailbox. Sure, the thought of seeing Kyle Orland swimming around as a virtual shark, hunting for the latest gaming news sounded good in theory, but we thought it'd be best to leave the cruel mistress of science out of our practice.
More Wiimote junk: 'Wii Cooking Mother Kit'
We've got a drawer set aside at Joystiq HQ for all the Wiimote doodads that accessory makers want us to buy. Admittedly, we haven't bought anything to put in there yet but, then again, the accessory makers haven't yet made that grappling hook accessory we've been dreaming of.That said, this "Cooking Mother" kit, custom made for all the Cooking Mamas out there, is just impractical enough to tie this Zelda junk for most useless Wiimote accessory ever. Impressive to be sure, but it's still not going into our drawer.[Via Engadget]
Wii cooling fan melts our minds, not our hearts
We've seen our fair share of lazy Wii peripherals -- and we've never been sold on the whole console cooling fan craze -- but this Wii cooling fan takes the cake, handily trumping our previous record holder for most worthless peripheral: the Phantom console carrying case. We imagine the target audience for this Wii cooling fan is urbanites, crammed into comically small spaces, forced to store their Wii game systems in the oven of all places. Every Thanksgiving, and on loved one's birthdays, they're forced to fire up the oven and plug in the old Wii cooling fan. On those rare occasions, they appreciate the China Shenzhen Firstsing Company's pursuit of excellence -- the device runs of the Wii's USB power ensuring that when the temperature goes up, your Wii's delicate duct-tape interconnects don't melt on you. [Via Engadget]
