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Rocket Lab proves it can recover a rocket in mid-air
Last year, Rocket Lab announced that it would attempt to reuse the first stage of its Electron rocket. Rocket Lab pulled off this stunt in early March. One helicopter dropped the Electron test stage over open ocean in New Zealand.
Watch SpaceX catch a piece of its rocket as it falls from space
Yesterday, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. This was the third flight for this particular Falcon 9, and its mission was to carry the AMOS-17 satellite for Spacecom. While you can watch the full launch stream here, one of the most exciting parts of yesterday's event came as a tweet from Elon Musk. He shared a quick video of a SpaceX ship catching the rocket's fairing in a net as it fell from space.
Scientists build a robot arm that catches objects in the blink of an eye
Humans are good at catching fast-moving objects -- just ask any baseball fan. Robots typically lag behind, however, which is why the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has developed a robot arm with the reaction time needed to catch just about anything. After learning the basic concepts by imitating human behavior, the machine uses its cameras to predict the path of a flying object and grab it in less than five hundredths of a second -- roughly as fast as it takes you to blink. It can even adapt to objects whose center of gravity is likely to shift around, such as a half-full drink bottle.
EVE Evolved: The top five most dangerous solar systems
EVE Online is a PvP game at its core, with conflict built in at a fundamental level. Pirates lurk around key trade routes and stand ready to pounce on unsuspecting victims, while vast nullsec alliances protect their territories with watchful vigilance and never-ending bloodlust. Wander into the wrong solar system as a new player and your precious ship and cargo will be turned into molten slag and a few points on a killboard quicker than you can say, "Hello, new friend, and what does that red square on your ship mean?" The original map of EVE was generated one evening by an Icelandic developer who could scarcely have known he was deciding the fates of thousands of gamers for years to come. New systems have been added to the game over the years, and a few manual changes have been made to the stargate network, but most of the universe has remained the same for over a decade. In all that time, a few solar systems have stood out as brazen bastions of bastardly behaviour and made their marks on EVE's history. In this week's EVE Evolved, I run down a list of the top five most dangerous solar systems in EVE's long history and delve into why each has earned its reputation as a no-fly-zone for newbies.
Apple bought Catch and Broadmap in 2013, beefs up its note-taking, cartographical chops
Apple's bought plenty of companies this year, and while the number they bought is known, all the names are not. Today comes secondary confirmation of two more firms acquired by Tim Cook, as 9to5Mac and AllThingsD cite unnamed sources that BroadMap and Catch were taken into the Cupertino fold earlier this year. Apple, for its part has issued its standard non-confirmation confirmation of the story, stating that it "buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." Both acquisitions make sense, however, given that the technologies they bring dovetail nicely with existing Apple products. The headliner here is the acquisition of Catch, builder of a note-taking productivity platform not unlike Evernote. Catch has similar capabilities, with cloud syncing, image capture, voice recording and text notes all baked in, plus checklist creation, reminders, and collaboration features, too. Having such features in Notes for iOS and OSX would be pretty nice, no? As for Apple's other recently revealed acquisition, BroadMap? Its specialty is in dealing with massive amounts of mapping data and geographic information systems. Those strengths seem a natural fit given the still-fairly-daunting hill for Apple to climb before its cartography app catches up with Google's behemoth.
iOS notetaking service 'Catch Notes' shutting down August 30th
Users of the popular iOS app Catch Notes, take note (no pun intended): the note-taking and archiving service is shutting down as of August 30. The service allowed people to take notes via text, photos or voice and share them with friends and colleagues. The company has not been specific about why it's shutting down, but is urging users to download their data before it is deleted from Catch's servers on August 30. From an announcement on the company website: Catch has made the difficult decision to take the company in a different direction. As such, we will be terminating service next month. We value our users and have greatly enjoyed providing Catch to millions of people over the last several years, but it is time for us to move on. Catch will no longer be available after 30 August 2013. Please follow these directions to download your data before this time. We thank you for your support. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at support@catch.com. We apologize if we are not able to respond to all emails. - The Catch Team The provided export tools allow Catch users to export their data as CVS and ZIP downloads and will also optimize data for use with other services, like Evernote.
Catch Notes to hang up its boots on August 30th
Catch Notes never quite caught on as much as Evernote did, but we'll bet its loyal users will still be upset to know it's shuttering on August 30th. An announcement posted on the company's website reveals that it's terminating its note-taking service, which includes its Android and iOS apps as well as its browser extensions. While the end of Catch Notes is nigh, it doesn't seem the company itself is closing up, as the same announcement talks about moving "in a different direction." Until we hear what the firm has in mind, those who've been using the service over the years can export their notes via Catch.com. You can then import the CVS or the ZIP file to other productivity tools like Evernote, OneNote, Simplenote or Springpad. There's less than 30 days to find a new service that tickles your fancy, but at least you won't have to start from scratch. [Thanks, Michael]
Disney Research robot plays catch and juggles with humans, won't replace their parents (update: cameras explained!)
It's entirely possible for robots to juggle or play catch. They've usually been relegated to playing with their own kind, however, which is as good an excuse as any for Disney Research to experiment with a ball-tossing robot tailored to games with humans. The animatronic creation uses a depth-aware motion camera -- there's conflicting mentions of using both the Microsoft Kinect and ASUS' Xtion Pro Live that we're hoping to sort out -- to track any mid-air balls as well as throw them back to a human participant. Disney's robot does more than just move the robot's arm to account for imperfect tosses, too, as it knows to feign a dejected look after a botched reception. The company suggests that its invention would ideally bring two-way interaction to theme parks, so it's more likely to show up at Disneyland before it stands in for a parent in the backyard. It's just as well; when the Robopocalypse comes, the last thing we'll want at home is a machine that can toss grenades. Update: Team member Jens Kober has filled us in on just why both cameras are mentioned. The team started off using the Kinect and switched to the Xtion Pro Live, once it was available, to get hardware-synced timing between a regular camera and the depth camera. The project didn't require the panning motor or microphone array of Microsoft's system.
Rollin' Justin learns to throw like a robot
Our pal Rollin' Justin proved the old adage about teaching old robots new robo tricks wrong back in April, when he learned to catch balls by tracking moving objects, calculating their flight paths and then snapping shut his cold metal claws at the moment of impact. Now he's besting himself, thanks to a handful of improvements imparted upon him by way of his fleshy masters at the German Aerospace Agency. Among the upgrades are are an improvement to old Justin's dynamic performance -- he's now 1.5 times faster in his arms, thanks to new gear ratios, helping to make his game of robo catch two-sided, with the ability to actually throw. He's also adopted the more flattering moniker Agile Justin and likes to play catch with his older, similarly named sibling. Video evidence of his new-found skills after the jump.
Republic Wireless is only kinda, sorta unlimited, may ask you to take your business elsewhere (updated)
Republic Wireless certainly garnered itself a lot of attention with the promise of unlimited everything for only $19 a month and no contract. The company keeps the price so low by using what it calls "hybrid calling" -- a fancy way of saying it relies almost entirely on WiFi and VoIP, only falling back on Sprint frequencies when you wander away from an 802.11 connection. The service may be billed as all-you-can-eat, the reality is a little more complex. While you're free to plow through as much data and as many minutes as you want over WiFi, there are "fair usage" limitations on your cellular footprint. Specifically, if you cross a threshold of 550 minutes, 150 text messages or 300MB of data you may be asked to take your business elsewhere -- not exactly "unlimited" now is it. Update: Republic Wireless issued a clarification on its Facebook page, explaining that you can in fact go over the 550 minute "example" above. "People of the republic, we'd just like to clarify that 550 minutes, 150 texts, and 300 MB of data over 3G is just an example, not a limit. The more you offload to Wi-Fi, the more you can use. It's truly unlimited. We do have fair use guidelines and we encourage you to use Wi-Fi whenever possible."
Video: TOTO robot catches tennis balls, hopes for a deeper purpose in life
Fido conked out for the evening? Your youngster not really into "playing catch" at age 14? Enter TOTO -- a brilliant robotic contraption conceived at Reinhold-Würth University -- that can absolutely act as a suitable replacement. Short for Tracking of Thrown Objects, the camera-equipped system views and tracks incoming objects, and once said object is within catching range, it clamps down in order to grab hold. Eventually, the inventors would love to see the machine have an impact within a manufacturing facility, but considering just how effective conveyor belts have been over the past few scores, we'd say it has its work cut out for it. Video's after the break, and it's worth checking out.[Via PlasticPals]
ESRB rating hints at North American release of Let's Catch
While North America is still waiting for its first chance to lay fingers upon Yuji Naka's idiosyncratic brainchild, Let's Tap, a recent ESRB rating is hinting at the American release of Prope's second "Let's" project -- a WiiWare title by the name of Let's Catch. We'll give you one guess as to what the core gameplay mechanic involves.If you thought the gameplay in Let's Tap was bizarre, brace yourselves -- according to the ESRB description, Let's Catch features short sessions of "outdoor catch," where players participate in conversations with their computer-controlled partner. These conversations can apparently take a turn towards the topic of romance, with NPC's matter-of-factly stating things like, "I've decided to never think about chasing a married man again." Thanks, but we think we'll leave the computerized relationship chatter in more capable hands fins.[Via Sega Nerds]
Ape Escape Academy 2 downloadable demo
Yet another Ape Escape demo. This one lets you catch bananas, against the CPU or a friend.1. Download the demo ZIP file.2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file.3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.5. Copy UCES00302 folder into the GAME directory. Check out our new demos site:demos.pspfanboy.com
