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CubeSats will escort NASA's InSight lander to Mars in 2016
NASA's InSight lander will make its way to the red planet with two smaller companions: briefcase-sized CubeSats called Mars Cube One (MarCO). Each one measures 14.4 x 9.5 x 4.6 inches and is comprised of six 4-inch square cube satellites. All three of them will be ferried to space aboard an Atlas V rocket, but the smaller solar-powered spacecraft will be operating independently from InSight to act as its link with the ground team. See, the MarCOs are actually communications-relay satellites, programmed to fly over the planet while the lander is descending. Without them, InSight will first have to radio its landing and descent info to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will then forward it to Earth.
Samsung spills details on Odyssey and Marco Windows Phone 8 devices
If you thought the Apple and Samsung legal tussles weren't getting interesting enough, another filing has revealed that the father of all smartphones Galaxy has at least two Windows Phone 8 devices in the pipeline. According to the filing that's been unearthed by The Verge, both are running on a dual-core 1.5Ghz Qualcomm MSM8960 chipset -- which is currently Samsung's chip of choice for LTE regions. The Odyssey looks set to be Samsung's high-end Windows Phone, with a 4.65-inch high-definition Super AMOLED display and NFC ready for Microsoft's own mobile payment plans. Meanwhile, the Marco will apparently forego the near-field delights and house a humbler 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen, for a presumably gentler price. According to the legal documents, both devices are gearing up to launch in Q4 of this year -- after we've seen Windows Phone 8 in its entirety.
How to sell an iPhone app for $9.99
Marco over on the Instapaper blog (which, of course, is the blog of the app Instapaper), posted a really interesting commentary recently on a subject we've been following since the beginning: App Store pricing. As we've said before, it's a strange thing -- developers want higher prices so that they can put more effort into making iPhone apps better. But customers have a perception already that anything above $5 in the App Store just isn't worth it.So Marco offers his take: he's been selling an app in the store for $9.99, and it's going just fine. He has tips for how developers can sell their own apps for a higher price, and he settles on some good compromises for everybody: deliver a real value with your app (as economists know, an app is worth what people are wiling to pay for it, so if you produce an app that is worth $10, people will happily spend that much). Respect yourself as a developer, and don't cower to cheapskates (some people won't be happy with anything, even when it's free). And perhaps most importantly: offer a free version.That last one may be the key -- our own Michael Rose was sold on Instapaper only when he tried it out. More and more, I'm thinking that it was a major mistake on Apple's part not to allow developers to easily offer demos and upgrades in the same app -- people are willing to spend money on an app that's worth it, but not if they aren't sure, and trying it goes a long way to making sure. I'm not in favor of app store developers banding together to raise prices, but Marco is right: if you make an app that's worth $10 and put it on the App Store for $9.99 (with an easy way to demo it out), people will come and buy it.
Motorola Marco brings WiFi to the Z3
Motorola's newest slider seems to have slipped out of Schaumburg and right into the waiting grasp of Engadget pal The Boy Genius. The Marco features the same slider case, GSM / EDGE radio, and 2 megapixel camera as the MOTORIZR Z3, but updates the internals with a WiFi chip, making compatibility with T-Mobile@Home entirely possible. In addition, BGR says the JUIX operating system has been tweaked and refined, and that the case seems to have gotten just a hair thicker than before -- something we'll have to confirm when this thing officially launches late this year. Click on for more photos of the Marco doing its WiFi thing.
Saturday PSP background explosion
Every week, PSP Fanboy brings you new backgrounds to rejuvenate the look of your PSP. Remember, you can save these images directly to your PSP by accessing the site wireless at m.pspfanboy.com. We're finally caught up on our background requests, so if you want a background, now is the time to request it. If you already requested a background and it hasn't appeared, check the archive. It may have been created previously. Keep reading to see what backgrounds hit this week. Backgrounds after the jump ... New for PSP: Get selected wallpapers delivered automatically to your PSP via our new RSS feed.
"Marco" pasta is a good match for mushroom sauce, litigation
NeoGAFfer Chittagong found this bag of pasta in a Citymarket in Finland. The package is sending a very clear message, and that message is "It's-a not quite me, Maaaario!" Apparently when Mario and Luigi took off on their Mushroom Kingdom adventure, Mario's less-famous identical brother Marco stuck around and devoted his time to making delicious dried pastas. Either that or some unscrupulous company has shamelessly ripped off Mario's likeness. We'll leave it up to you to determine which is more likely-- that this is the work of an unknown relative of a fictional character or of real-world jerks. Hey, maybe Marco will show up in Good Smash Friends Battle for the Nintenco Wuu!
