NASA Visualization Explorer, v.1.5 (for iPad)

Version 1.5 of NASA Visualization Explorer (for iPad) improves on a useful science app that I reviewed in version 1.0.3. The latest version adds larger images, pinch and zoom-ability, marking of favorites, playlists of stories, and the ability to save stories for offline reading. The ability to save stories to your iPad is particularly significant. Although a fast Internet connection is still helpful in downloading stories?most of which contain one or more videos?stories saved on your iPad for later viewing will load instantly, whether you're online or not.

NASA isn?t only about space; it's had a fleet of Earth-monitoring satellites for more than 40 years. NASA Visualization Explorer (for iPad) combines images, videos, and simulations from both the cosmos and our own planet in a series of informative and visually stunning stories, each highlighting a different finding or aspect of NASA?s work.

Start Your Exploration

When you open the NASA Visualization Explorer (aka NASAViz) app, clicking on a menu icon at the screen?s lower left corner brings up the full menu of available stories, identified by title, date, and an associated image. You can also access lists of stories, sorted by topic: Earth; Planets and Moons; Sun; and Universe, as well as unread and saved stories and custom story lists.

Clicking on any of the stories brings up an image (or video) and caption, while along the bottom are thumbnails with more images and/or videos related to the caption. You can shrink the caption to show a full-screen image, or access the next story (or previous one), by clicking a right or left arrow. Holding your finger to an image lets you save it to a Photo Album on your iPad, print it, copy it, or email it, or share it to Facebook or Twitter. Stretching an image brings up a full-screen version.

At the screen?s lower right corner are four icons. A down arrow lets you save a story with all related images and video for offline viewing. A star arrow lets you mark stories as your personal Favorites. A plus icon lets you create custom lists of stories.

The last icon, at the lower right corner of the screen, is a right arrow. It lets you copy a story, open it in Safari on the NASAViz Web site (which includes the content of all the stories); share the story?s URL to Facebook or Twitter, e-mail or text it.

A gear icon in the screen?s upper left corner takes you to the Control Panel, which gives you information about the app and lets you change some basic settings. The About tab discusses the app?s creation by the Goddard Space Flight Center, while Instructions gives you a basic primer for using the app, and there?s a button for sending feedback to the app?s development team.

Stellar Content

There are plenty of timely stories, too, such as the one about the survival and amazing performance of sungrazing Comet Lovejoy, including videos of its reappearance after an exceedingly close encounter with our star. There's even a later video of the comet, now sporting a long tail, taken from the International Space Station. Another story that gained some play in the press was the discovery by NASA?s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope of antimatter bursts released by thunderstorms. It, too, is featured in NASA Visualization Explorer. Visions of Venus contains a superb video of our sister world?s transit across the face of the Sun, captured in multiple wavelengths by the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

I found the first entry, titled Artificial World Captures Reality particularly interesting, as it describes NASA?s use of computer models that it uses in both short-term weather models and long-term climate models. NASA satellites in earth orbit relay immense amounts of data back to Earth each day, and scientists create a numerical model based on the data. As new data comes in, they tweak the model in an attempt to get a better approximation of reality. NASA?s Goddard Space Flight Center uses a supercomputer-based climate model called GEOS-5, which?at least in the short term?is able to predict shifts in weather patterns.

Many of the stories detail changes observed over time by satellites, ranging from local phenomena such as Las Vegas?s shrinking water table to large-scale changes such as the melting of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland and rising mean global temperatures. The app provides both evidence supportive of global warming and NASA?s reasoning and conclusions.

Regular Updates

The app?s content is regularly updated. In 2012, new entries have consistently been added to NASA Visualization Explorer at the rate of 8 or 9 a month. A significant majority are Earth science stories. Of the 87 stories available as mid-June, 67 were indexed under Earth, 15 under Sun, 8 under Planets and Moons, and 5 under Universe.

This free app gives viewers a look at what NASA?s satellites are studying?in space and especially on our own world. Version 1.5 offers improvements over version 1.0, the most significant one being the ability to save stories for offline viewing. NASA's impressive app could still could benefit from links to additional material on the topics covered. Overall, NASA Visualization Explorer provides dazzling visuals and detailed explanatory text of some timely and compelling science stories, and it's definitely worth a download.

More iPad App Reviews:

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Hands-on: Maingear Shift running Saitek flight-simulation hardware (video)

Custom PC builder Maingear had something pretty nifty up its sleeve at Pepcom tonight: versions of its desktops configured to run Saitek's flight-simulation hardware -- in this case, with a full cockpit setup. In partnership with Mad Catz, the company developed configurations of its Potenza, F131 and Shift desktops optimized to work with the Saitek line of flight-sim systems.

Tonight we saw the Shift paired with some pretty heavy-duty hardware: we're talking 18 USB connections for the full Saitek cockpit. Maingear's pro-certified system packs a Core i7 CPU clocked at up to 3.9GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 graphics (with four GPUs), and with an experienced pilot behind the wheel, that translated into a smooth landing in Flight Simulator X. Maingear says the whole setup -- hardware controls plus the Shift desktop -- will go for $5,500 starting tomorrow. That's the top-of-the-line configuration, mind you; if your piloting aspirations are more modest, you could opt for the more affordable Potenza, which starts at $1,000. Check out a video demo below.

Gallery: Maingear Shift desktop running Saitek flight simulation hardware

Continue reading Hands-on: Maingear Shift running Saitek flight-simulation hardware (video)

Hands-on: Maingear Shift running Saitek flight-simulation hardware (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Syrian defector allowed to stay in Jordan

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'No-sleep energy bugs' drain smartphone batteries

ScienceDaily (June 13, 2012) ? Researchers have proposed a method to automatically detect a new class of software glitches in smartphones called "no-sleep energy bugs," which can entirely drain batteries while the phones are not in use.

"These energy bugs are a silent battery killer,"said Y. Charlie Hu, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering. "A fully charged phone battery can be drained in as little as five hours."

Because conserving battery power is critical for smartphones, the industry has adopted "an aggressive sleep policy," he said.

"What this means is that smartphones are always in a sleep mode, by default. When there are no active user interactions such as screen touches, every component, including the central processor, stays off unless an app instructs the operating system to keep it on."

Various background operations need to be performed while the phone is idle.

"For example, a mailer may need to automatically update email by checking with the remote server," Hu said.

To prevent the phone from going to sleep during such operations, smartphone manufacturers make application programming interfaces, or APIs, available to app developers. The developers insert the APIs into apps to instruct the phone to stay awake long enough to perform necessary operations.

"App developers have to explicitly juggle different power control APIs that are exported from the operating systems of the smartphones," Hu said. "Unfortunately, programmers are only human. They make mistakes when using these APIs, which leads to software bugs that mishandle power control, preventing the phone from engaging the sleep mode. As a result, the phone stays awake and drains the battery."

Findings are detailed in a research paper being presented during the 10th International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services, or MobiSys 2012, June 25-29 in the United Kingdom. The paper was written by doctoral students Abhinav Pathak and Abhilash Jindal, Hu, and Samuel Midkiff, a Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The researchers have completed the first systematic study of the no-sleep bugs and have proposed a method for automatically detecting them.

"We've had anecdotal evidence concerning these no-sleep energy bugs, but there has not been any systematic study of them until now," Midkiff said.

The researchers studied 187 Android applications that were found to contain Android's explicit power control APIs, called "wakelocks." Of the 187 apps, 42 were found to contain errors -- or bugs -- in their wakelock code. Findings showed the new tool accurately detected all 12 previously known instances of no-sleep energy bugs and found 30 new bugs in the apps.

The glitch has been found in interactive apps, such as phone applications and services for telephony on Android that must work even though the user isn't touching the phone.The app may fail to engage the sleep mode after the interactive session is completed.

Smartphone users, meanwhile, don't know that their phones have the bugs.

"You don't see any difference," Hu said. "You put it in your pocket and you think everything is fine. You take it out, and your battery is dead."

To detect bugs in the applications, the researchers modified a tool called a compiler, which translates code written in computer languages into the binary code that computers understand. The tool they developed adds new functionality to the compiler so that it can determine where no-sleep bugs might exist.

"The tool analyzes the binary code and automatically and accurately detects the presence of the no-sleep bugs," Midkiff said.

The Purdue researchers have coined the term "power-encumbered programming" to describe the smartphone energy bugs. Researchers concentrated on the Android smartphone, but the same types of bugs appear to affect other brands, Hu said.

The research has been funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Pathak is supported by an Intel Ph.D. fellowship.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Purdue University. The original article was written by Emil Venere.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Steven John Simmons Identified As Dead Body Found In Cadillac, LAPD Name Jacob Anthonisen 'Person Of Interest'

The decomposing body found in a Cadillac Escalade on Saturday in West Hollywood has been identified as Steven John Simmons (also known as Steven Atkin), 32, of Running Springs, Calif.

Los Angeles County coroner's investigators had ruled the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest Wednesday.

Steven John Simmons via Facebook

Jacob Anthonisen, the victim's step-brother, has been identified as the owner of the Escalade and a person of interest in the case, reports CBS2. In the video above, reporter Rob Schmitt reveals that the police don't know if the step-brother is responsible for the crime or an undiscovered victim.

Anthonisen is the owner of The Peanut Gallery in Los Angeles and is known to frequent the Hollywood party circuit. His Twitter pictures include images of Emile Hirsch, Nick Simmons, Mickey Avalon and Lindsay Lohan.

His last Instagram post was a photo of Lindsay Lohan on May 26, less than a week before his Cadillac was found parked on the West Hollywood street in which Simmons' body was later found. Anthonisen has since gone missing.

Since May 31, Anthonisen's Facebook page has chronicled the growing mystery -- beginning with a wall post from Melissa Atkin that states, "Hey Jacob it's your sis, miss you and love you I hope your doing well!"

She wrote again on June 10th, "Jacob please come home... I love you :(' your sis?." A friend of Jacob's replied to his sister's last post with, ":( whats the word? has anyone tried to ID the body...please say its not him."

An hour ago, Melissa Atkin addressed her family's loss on her Facebook page, saying, "Thank you everybody for all your prayers. This is the hardest thing my family has ever had to go through... Only god can help us now,... :('"

Anthonisen was reportedly evicted from his last known address years ago after reportedly falling behind on rent payments, reports LA Weekly.

It also appears that Anthonisen served jail time in Arizona for drug violations and was subsequently on parole.

Jacob Anthonisen via Facebook

From the LAPD: Anyone with information on this case is urged to call West Bureau Homicide detectives at 213-382-9470. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone. All text messages should begin with the letters ?LAPD.? Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Usher Had Plans To Record With Amy Winehouse

'It could have been one of the most incredible records ever,' he says of his attempt to record with Winehouse.
By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by Christina Garibaldi

Usher
Photo: MTV News

It's one of the great R&B duets that never was. While Usher was working on his seventh studio album, Looking 4 Myself
, he was determined to take fans on a musical journey and experiment with sounds
 he'd never explored before.

So, in addition to teaming up with Diplo for the seductive lead single, "Climax,"
, as well as EDM giants Swedish House Mafia, Usher said he sought out producer Salaam Remi because he was very interested in doing a song with Remi protege, Amy Winehouse,
 before the singer died unexpectedly died at age 27 in July 2011. "We met and we talked about it for a moment when I saw her," Usher said of a brief sit-down with the troubled crooner to discuss the potential soul summit.

"There was a few conversations that took place, but we never quite made it to it ... I would have loved it." One of those talks occurred while the unlikely duo were shopping at the ritzy London department store Selfridges. "I was shopping and she was doing some private shopping and she came out and we kind of crossed each other's [paths] and, [I was like] 'Is that Amy Winehouse?' ... And before you know it we talked and exchanged information and I invited her to a show ... and she didn't come."

Winehouse was out of the country at the time and sent a relative to the gig in her stead, but that missed connection has stuck with Usher to this day. "It could have been one of the most incredible records ever," he said. "A voice like that comes once in a lifetime."

Usher still wanted to get in the studio with Remi, and though it was a hard time for the producer, the pair met in New York and worked it out. "The style and the sound that we worked, I felt would definitely compliment what he does as a producer and what I have to offer."

The story that the two explored on "Sins of My Father" was a new one for Usher, who had never spoken about his feelings for his dad in song before. "That was a hard one, but he gave me a palette that really worked."

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