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NASA and the UAE will team up for human spaceflight
The UAE is the latest country to sign a deal with NASA to cooperate on human spaceflight. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted about the joint letter of intent today, which was also signed by Dr. Mohammed Al Ahbabi, the director general of the UAE Space Agency. While there are no details about what the agreement entails, presumably UAE astronauts will be eligible for spots on NASA's crewed missions.
Internet Explorer claws back a bit of market share at the expense of Chrome and Firefox
It may have been on a steady decline for years (albeit still the number one web browser all along), but it looks like Internet Explorer has now once again found itself on a bit of an upswing. According to the latest numbers from Net Applications, IE (all versions included) gained a full percentage point in the past month (following a similar gain in January) to sit at a market share of 53.83 percent, its highest level since September of 2011. That growth came largely at the expense of Firefox and Chrome, which each dropped less than a percentage point to 20.55 and 18.57 percent, respectively (Safari and Opera also saw slight declines). As others have noted, Net Applications did recently tweak its method for measuring browser usage, although it's not clear if that alone accounts for the shift in IE's favor -- perhaps the new ad campaign is working? You can find the full breakdown at the source link below.
Use iConvert to scan documents directly to your iPad
I saw quite a few document scanners for iOS devices at CES last week, but this is about as elegant as they come. Brookstone is offering a scanner called iConvert, which uses your iPad as the receptable for anything you scan with it. Not only does it scan your documents with a 300 dpi scanner, but it even does a very nifty graphical representation of the document showing up on the screen. The iConvert is US$50 cheaper than the popular Doxie Go at $149, but of course this scanner is specifically built for the iPad or iPad 2 and offers fewer features than other scanners. There are also a few apps out there (including Scanner Pro) that will let you use the iPad's camera to pull in documents without extra hardware. Those don't work nearly as well, though. If often bring drawings or forms into a digital format, you'll want something more reliable. The iConvert seems like a solid option, and the fact that it's completely based on the iPad means it should be simple to port around. Brookstone is offering it for purchase next month. [via Dvice]
Device Analyzer Android study wants to track your every move, if you'll let it
And here we thought folks were concerned about protecting their personal data. As it turns out, however, a surprising chunk of Android users have volunteered to give a group of University of Cambridge researchers a look at exactly how they use their cellphones. By downloading the Device Analyzer app from the Android market, more than 1,000 participants have allowed the data collection program to harvest statistics in the background while they use their phones. Those statistics -- varying from when the power is switched on, to which apps are in use -- are then made available to users via the Device Analyzer website. Of course, this is Cambridge, a rather well respected institution of higher learning, and the researchers involved say the data collected is stripped of personal information "as best as possible," but we're not keen on anyone peeping our cell stats. If you're an Android exhibitionist, however, you can sign up for the study at the source link below.
Survey: Working on the go will be top iPad use case
A new survey by Sybase says that 2,443 of adults with a mobile phone, when polled, claim that their number one use case for an iPad would be working while out and about. 52.3% of those polled say they would work from a device like the iPad, 48.2% said they would use it to watch movies and television, and 35.4% said that they would use it to play games. Those are some interesting numbers -- we've already heard that a full third of potential iPad users would use it to read books (though of course for some people, reading books would be considered work), and we've even heard that 44% of the iPhone apps being tested so far are actually games. So basically, no one has any idea what we'll be doing with our iPads when we actually get them. No, my guess is that people suspect that they will use an iPad for working, but in practice, they'll use it more for what Apple expects them to use it for: games and consuming media. It could also be that "work" apps take longer to develop on the iPad, which would explain why we're seeing games made when most users believe they'll be working. But of course, we'll have to see -- it's possible that we may not know the main use for the iPad yet, as even Apple seems to be torn on what the real focus of the computer will be. [via AI]
Aftermarket sun visor boasts display, DVD / TV / MP3 playback
Anyone who lives in a moderately large city or has seen just about any episode of Cribs is probably familiar with the LCD-infused sun visor, but the Sun Visor Theater ups the ante on the usual rendition by including the multimedia playback utilities right alongside the LCD. This aftermarket visor is sure to look completely awkward installed all by its lonesome on just the passenger's side, but packs a seven-inch widescreen display, built-in DVD / CD /MP3 player, TV tuner, and even includes an SD slot and USB port for additional expansion options. Moreover, you'll get integrated controls and a wireless remote, and while we're not sure if this thing includes a built-in speaker, we do spot a couple of headphone jacks just in case. So if you're looking for an admittedly tacky way to add a bit of in-car entertainment before your next long haul, and aren't swayed by the fact that a one-year warranty costs an additional $45, the Sun Visor Theater is available now for $299.95.[Via TRFJ]
Safari's market share up 46% from last year
TUAW has long agreed that Safari support is not optional, and MacDailyNews is reporting that Apple's baby browser is continuing its market share march and has snagged 3.21% - up 46% from its 2.20 share in August of '05. However, MDN also notes that, from analyzing the data from NetApplications, it appears most of Safari's growth happened during 2005's holiday season, from about September to December of '05. In fact, Safari actually peaked this year in April with 3.30%, which could be attributed to anything - dropping Safari for Firefox being the most likely, since a lot of switchers probably use Windows/Firefox-heavy sites that might not play well with Safari - yet.Either way, (as a reminder) this represents a strong upward trend of Safari use, which is also a strong indication of Mac use, since the browser is Mac OS X-only (well, mostly). March on Safari, march on.
