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Alphabet’s Loon sets a new record for longest stratospheric flight
Google Parent Alphabet has revealed that one of its Loon balloons spent 312 days aloft, breaking its previous stratospheric flight record of 223 days, by a wide margin.
A fleet of sensor-packed balloons will hit the stratosphere this summer
World View wants to occupy the sky. Its sensor-packed balloons sit in the stratosphere, taking in data and imaging the ground. The company completed test flights to tweak flight and navigation issues, and is now ready for its balloons to operate in the stratosphere on a long-term basis. A preliminary fleet of Stratolites -- equipped with various sensors -- will be released over North and Central America this summer, helping scientists, meteorologists and governments to gather data that is more accurate than that of typical satellites.
World View successfully launches near-space balloon from its new HQ
World View's dreams of replacing satellites with edge-of-space balloons have been long in the making, and not without some hiccups: its initial flight, which included KFC chicken in a publicity stunt,ended prematurely thanks to a leak. Things are going more smoothly this weekend, though. The startup has completed the first launch of a Stratollite balloon from its new headquarters in Tucson, where it hopes to turn balloon launches into a routine occurrence.
Chinese space theme park to send tourists to the stratosphere
Until Virgin Galactic launches, the only way to get to space as a civilian is to pay Russia a cool $20 million. If you're willing to fudge your definition of 'space' however, you may have a much cheaper option in a couple of years: A theme park under development in China is working on a high-altitude 'deep space' balloon tour that will take visitors into the lower stratosphere.
Jack White's label played a vinyl record at 94,000 feet
Jack White's Third Man Records label is no stranger to using technological feats to draw publicity, but its latest feat is something truly special. The company recently teamed up with Students and Teachers in Near Space to become the first to play a vinyl record, the Carl Sagan-sampling "A Glorious Dawn," at the edge of space -- to be exact, in the stratosphere at 94,413 feet. As you might gather from the video (skip to 1:21:20 to see the maximum ascent), it involved a lot more than strapping a turntable to a high-altitude balloon. Key designer Kevin Carrico explains that there were quite a few technical considerations needed to keep the record spinning for as long as possible on its journey.
Apple wins a US sales ban on ancient Samsung smartphones
Many will tell you that patent lawsuits are useless as competitive weapons, in part because the years-long legal process makes any product bans pointless -- by the time you get a ban, the offending gear is off store shelves. And Apple is learning that first-hand. Judge Lucy Koh has awarded Apple a long-sought US ban on certain Samsung smartphones over alleged patent infringements, but all of the target devices are so old that you're highly unlikely to see them on store shelves. Let's put it this way: the most advanced of the bunch is the 2012-era Galaxy S III, which isn't easy to find even if you go searching through your carrier's bargain bins.
Refresh Roundup: week of April 22nd, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
G-Form drops an iPod touch in a case from 100,000 feet, rivals Felix's antics (video)
Just because Felix Baumgartner set records by jumping from 128,000 feet doesn't mean he has a lock on stratospheric freefall stunts: see G-Form's latest video (after the break) as proof. In keeping with the tradition of launching a case line and then subjecting it to abuse on camera, the company dropped a new Xtreme iPhone 5 case from a balloon that reached 100,000 feet before it and its payload -- which actually happened to be a 5th gen iPod touch -- fell to the Nevada desert. Not surprisingly, that we're hearing about the story means the drop went as planned -- apart from needing some time to warm up after a plunge through -60F skies, the MP3 player emerged in fine shape. Is the freefall a publicity play that won't affect how anyone uses an Xtreme in real life? You bet. Still, it's one of the more dramatic drop tests we'll witness, and evidence the case can take some exceptional abuse; after all, it's not every day that our mobile devices reach terminal velocity.
ITC rules that Samsung violates four Apple patents covering design, touch
The back and forth continues. US International Trade Commission Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender has made an initial ruling that some Samsung's devices violate four Apple patents, including one iPhone design patent (the one you see above) and three software patents. Apple didn't manage a clean sweep, as Samsung was cleared of treading on two more patents, but the verdict still carries the all-too-familiar potential for a trade ban if the ITC maintains the findings in its final review. It's bleak news for the Korean company, which faced an initial loss to Apple at the ITC just last month -- even though large swaths of the mostly Android-based Galaxy phones and tablets in the dispute have long since left the market, an upheld verdict gives Samsung one less bargaining chip in a protracted legal war.
Watch Felix Baumgartner's space dive live right here at 9:30AM ET (update: more delays)
Weather may have delayed Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking "space dive" by another (no doubt torturous) 24 hours, but all going well, the wait is almost over. In just over an hour, proceedings will kick off, and you can watch them live, right here. The latest reports indicated that conditions remain favorable, with the team sending a weather balloon up into the stratosphere earlier this morning. The fun begins at 8:30am eastern, but all you need to do is grab a coffee then head past the break for the live feed. Update: Pre-flight checks have postponed the set off. Earliest launch is now set for 12:30PM 1:30PM ET. Update 2: Sorry folks, the launch has been called off due to gusty winds. The team said that tomorrow was a possibility, but until the weather gives way, Felix will remain firmly on the ground.
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.
Samsung Galaxy Stellar pops up in Verizon docs, might light up our skies soon
Having launched an all-out blitz on the high-end of US smartphones, Samsung must be eager to conquer the mid-range as well. A Verizon rebate list finding its way to Droid-Life has the previously unknown Galaxy Stellar showing up amongst the carrier's more budget-minded smartphones for a $50 discount sometime between now and an August 19th expiry date. There's little we can definitively attach to that starry-eyed name so far, although we have our hunches: first and foremost is that it's the Jasper, the Snapdragon S4-touting spiritual successor to the Droid Charge. It might alternately be the even more mysterious SCH-i415, which just showed up at the FCC this weekend and could be a world-roaming sequel to the Stratosphere (SCH-i405) with CDMA, LTE and GSM all rolled into one. Whether the Galaxy Stellar is one of these two devices or something entirely off of the map, there's a strong indication between this, Sprint's mystery SPH-L300 and the slightly more tangible Galaxy Reverb that Samsung will leave no CDMA corner unturned in the near future.
Record-breaking freefall advances space suit technology (video)
Jumping to Earth from the edge of space is no mean feat. Not only are you dropping like a stone, there's also the minor issue of your blood boiling as you do so. These are challenges daredevil Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team will be taking head-on -- literally -- with their record-breaking 120,000 foot "spacedive." To ensure Baumgartner lives to claim his honors, the Stratos team is using a custom spacesuit. It's designed by the David Clark Company, which made the first pressurized suits for World War II fighters, and includes a gas-filled bladder and integrated valve to maintain pressure over the various altitudes. While Baumgartner hopes to set new freefall distance, and time (5 minutes 30 seconds) records, there'll also be a lasting contribution to science, with team medical director Dr. Jonathan Clark hoping the developments can lead to advances in space travel and tourism. So in the future when you're opening your pretzels, looking down upon the Earth, raise a complimentary glass to Felix
Samsung Stratosphere review
Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, Verizon was still in phase one of its LTE lineup, which consisted of nothing but 4.3-inch slate phones with questionable battery life and very little to stand out from the rest of the competition. Now that we're seeing the second generation of devices coming into the 4G fold, Big Red appears to be pushing choice -- not just in terms of size and feel, but price as well. The Pantech Breakout was the first to, well, break out of the mold, offering a smaller form factor for a much more reasonable cost. It was nothing to write home about, but the fact that it existed gave us hope that we'd see a slew of phones in the same price range, finally making high-speed connectivity a more affordable option. Shortly afterward, the Samsung Stratosphere sneaked up and snatched the spotlight away from Pantech, offering the very first QWERTY keyboard on an LTE-capable device for a cost similar to that of the Breakout. But when we first saw the phone, something felt eerily familiar: it looked almost exactly like the Epic 4G, a Galaxy S-era device that was released on Sprint's WiMAX lineup nearly a year and a half ago. Looks are one thing, but what about the internals? Does the brand new Stratosphere perform like an old phone, or does it give a completely fresh perspective on a 2010 classic? Read on for the full scoop. %Gallery-141746%
Samsung Stratosphere, Motorola Droid RAZR to be first Verizon LTE phones with Micro SIMs?
Looks like Verizon's got a hardware-crush on teensy 3FF Micro SIMs. The carrier's two latest 4G handsets, Samsung's Stratosphere and Motorola's Droid RAZR, both appear to make do with the diminutive cards. Neither, however, would be the first, as that honor was bestowed upon the carrier's version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. If you're eager to call one of these devices your own, but already sport Big Red's LTE service, then get set to bust out the scissors for a little SIM card arts and crafts. Further pictorial proof of these itsy, bitsy modules awaits you at the source.
Samsung Stratosphere for Verizon hands-on at CTIA E&A 2011 (video)
The selection of devices to show off in the Samsung booth at this year's CTIA Enterprise & Applications is a bit meager when compared to previous shows, but we hunted down a pearl: the Samsung Stratosphere. The newest addition to Verizon's LTE lineup is also by far the most unique of the bunch, simply due to its physical QWERTY slide-out keyboard. In fact, you're apt to find a hefty number of similarities between the Stratosphere and last year's Epic 4G, as both devices come with 4-inch Super AMOLED displays, 1GHz Hummingbird single-core CPUs and 5MP rear cameras, though the former brandishes a nicer 1.3MP front-facing cam and comes with Android 2.3.4 installed. Verizon's little beauty is priced smugly between the Pantech Breakout and LG Revolution at a cool $150 with a two-year commitment, and will be available on October 13th. Check out our full hands-on gallery and video below. %Gallery-136311%
Samsung Stratosphere lands on Verizon October 13th: LTE and QWERTY for $150
We had a pretty clear indication that the Samsung Stratosphere was headed to Verizon soon, and the carrier has now made it official. As expected, the Android 2.3-based phone will be available on October 13th, when it'll set you back $149.99 after the usual rebate / two-year contract business. In addition to LTE capabilities and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, that will buy you a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, and a 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash 'round back that's paired with a 1.3 megapixel counterpart up front. Press release is after the break.
Samsung Stratosphere lays it all out with spec sheet treatment
The upcoming Samsung Stratosphere for Verizon Wireless is hardly a secret, but other than a few rumored details, the specs for this LTE-equipped QWERTY slider have remained a bit of a mystery. Now, all that has changed, thanks in large part to its leaked spec sheet from Big Red -- just take a peek after the break. It'll be packing a 4-inch Super AMOLED display with WVGA resolution, a (presumably) single-core 1GHz processor, along with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 4GB microSD card that's pre-installed. Curiously, it'll be the first of Verizon's LTE phones to incorporate a Micro SIM in place of the larger, traditional offering. Other than that, it looks as if the speculation of Android 2.3, along with its 5MP rear / 1.3MP front cams were dead on. There will also be an LED flash in tow, although video capture will be limited to a rather mundane 480p. That said, if you're thirsting for speed but are needing a keyboard, the Stratosphere is looking like your obvious (albeit only) choice.
Mobile Miscellany: week of September 12, 2011
This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of September 12, 2011: Vodacom South Africa has joined the data throttling club, though this carrier is taking a slightly different spin: BlackBerry users consuming more than 100MB of data each month will find their download speeds downgraded to GPRS or EDGE. The company claims this will only affect less than five percent of its BlackBerry customers. [via N4BB] Bada fans: the Samsung Wave 578 is featured on Orange's site as "coming soon." [via The Inquirer] Motorola announced the availability of the Fire and Fire XT in India this week. [via Motorola] The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray is now being sold at Vodafone UK. [via Vodafone] Parrot announced the most recent addition to its lineup of Bluetooth products, called the Minikit+, a refresh of its popular hands-free speakerphone. The new model offers simultaneous pairing and voice commands. [via Parrot] Research in Motion is hoping to put the NFC functionality in OS 7 to good use, as it announced that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9330 as well as the Curve 9350 / 9360 will support HID's iCLASS digital keys, which means corporate folks will able to use their smartphone as an access card. [via PhoneScoop] While digging through the Droid Bionic's webtop app, the names of two unknown Motorola phones were discovered: the Edison and the Common. Little is known about the Common, but a recent FCC filing mentioned the Edison and is speculated to be the follow-up to the Atrix, albeit sans LTE as originally hoped. [via Droid-Life] The manager of the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, Matt Bencke, wrote a post pleading developers to submit their Mango-compatible apps as soon as possible, as the new update is coming to existing phones soon and it's obviously very important to have Windows Phone 7.5 run as smooth as possible. [via WMPowerUser] A leaked Radio Shack roadmap indicates the HTC Vigor should be available in stores by October 20th, and the QWERTY-packing Samsung Stratosphere will be up for online ordering as early as October 6th. As this is a third-party retailer, we can't say with surety that these dates reflect the carrier's official release. [via Droid-Life]
Samsung Stratosphere makes its obligatory FCC visit, confirms membership in Verizon's LTE club
We know, the image above is hardly as detailed as the ones we glanced at this morning, but it has its measure of significance nonetheless. It's a rough diagram of the Samsung SCH-i405 -- a phone known to us as the Stratosphere -- as it appears in FCC filings approved today. The documents' mention of LTE band 13 (as well as CDMA / EVDO) seems to confirm rumors that suggest the aforementioned device will be coming to Verizon's 4G network, likely sooner rather than later. If you've been eager to see an Epic 4G-esque QWERTY slider on the largest carrier in the US, this will be your golden opportunity. Of course, this may prove to be a drop in the bucket when compared to an impending flood of even more tempting handsets.
