stratosphere
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Samsung Stratosphere aims to be Verizon's first QWERTY-packing LTE device
Verizon's LTE network may be praiseworthy for its blazing-fast mobile broadband and high-end devices, but there's one area of the carrier's 4G lineup that's always needed improvement: variety. From renders revealed by PocketNow, it's apparent that one of the next-gen handsets slated for release soon (perhaps even this week) is the QWERTY-laden Samsung Stratosphere, also known as the SCH-I405. If true, this would be the very first LTE device that comes with a hardware keyboard, finally giving us a new option aside from the 4.3-inch slates that have dominated Big Red's offerings for so long. It's rumored to have an "awesome" screen (Super AMOLED Plus?), Android 2.3.4 preinstalled, 2GB internal storage and 5MP rear / 1.3 front cams; not much of a spec sheet to go off of, of course, but at least we know it's unique. With several other LTE handsets taking the stage between now and the holidays, there's no reason to make them all look the same... right?
Hybrid rocket / seaweed jet ready to fly in 2050, keep emissions above ozone (video)
What's cooler than jetting from Paris to Tokyo in under three hours? Getting there in a biofuel burning hybrid rocketplane. The recently announced superjet, the Zehst (short for "Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation"), loopholes around the whole pollution angle by only using its rocket engines in the stratosphere. Below the ozone however, seaweed-biofuel powered jet engines will kick in for some keen, green landings. Don't get too excited though, the EADS won't even have a prototype ready until 2020, and commercial flights aren't expected to follow until the hump of the century. Look on the bright side though, you've still got that airline-approved Galaxy Tab to keep you occupied for the next four decades of long, dark, redeyes. That's almost as cool, right?
Rocket Project team successfully launches a Vaio into the stratosphere
Earlier this spring, Sony's Rocket Project gave eight lucky high school students several Vaios, a crash course in rocketry, and the opportunity to design and build a rocket that could make it to the stratosphere. Well, what do you know? After a few weather-related setbacks, the thing finally launched on Friday, July 23 from its launchpad in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, achieving Mach 2.8 (nearly three times the speed of sound) in the process. Wernher von Braun never had it so good! Video after the break.
Teens take pictures of space with balloon, Nikon Coolpix camera
The closest most of us 'round here will ever get to outer space is blogging about the Lunar X Prize, so our inner astronauts get rather giddy any time an amateur makes it to the cusp of the gravity well. The above photos were taken by the Meteotek team, a teacher and his four students from the IES La Bisbal school in Catalonia, Spain. The group designed and launched a balloon kitted out with a Nikon Coolpix and custom built electronics, intending to get some shots at 30,000 feet. Well exceeding their expectations, the $80 digicam (held aloft by a $60 latex balloon) reached over 100,000 feet, at which point it lost inflation and fell to the earth. As the balloon rose, the team was able to map its progress using Google Earth via the craft's on-board radio receiver. After it fell back to earth, the group "travelled 10km to find the sensors and photographic card," said one of the students, "which was still emitting its signal, even though it had been exposed to the most extreme conditions." [Via Switched]
