How to fly a paper airplane from Germany to Australia

From: http://dvice.com/

The distance from Germany to Australia is approximately 10,000 miles. This seems like rather a long way for a paper airplane to fly. As it turns out, it's really not so hard, if you just launch a hundred of 'em from 20 miles up.

Samsung, in an effort to prove that its memory cards are durable enough for all of your high altitude paper airplane launching needs, has sponsored the launch of 100 paper airplanes from a helium balloon floating 122,000 feet above Wolfsburg, Germany. Each of the airplanes has a memory card as cargo, and the hope is that wherever the a plane lands, someone will fire up the memory card and then check in with where the plane was found. Plus, hey, free memory card!

The planes were launched on January 17, and so far, there are preliminary reports of landings in Australia, South Africa, India, Russia, Canada and even the U.S.


While the stunt is called "Project Space Planes," we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't point out that the launch height of about 122,000 feet isn't technically space. The generally accepted boundary between space and not-space is 62 miles (or 327,000 feet), or the altitude where you basically have to be traveling at orbital velocity to keep yourself aloft.

Even if these aren't really space planes, 23 miles up isn't bad for a bunch of little planes made out of paper, and if the reports of the planes making it as far as they did are confirmed, that's a pretty epic journey. Video of the launch below.


Project Space Planes, via New Scientist

Norwegian snowboarder Torstein Horgmo performs world's first triple cork X-Games

Can you snowboard? We can't. Seriously, it's like watching a stickman faint repeatedly at high speed, wearing a plank of wood on his feet and hurtling off a cliff. So it's with bruised bones and a real sense of appreciation that we introduce professional snowboarder Torstein Horgmo to you.

Why does he deserve our attention, you ask? Who is this waster loser who makes his rent spinning about on a wheel-less skateboard on the side of some mountains somewhere?

Well, he's the man who recently performed the world's first "triple cork" – spiralling the Norwegian 23 year old headlong into the history books at this year's X Games at Aspen, Colorado, and earning him huge legions of fans.

It won him a gold medal at the event (surprisingly enough), and just to make it even more exciting, he pulled off the stunt on his final run of the big-air event. Oh, and by the way, he had some broken ribs when he did it. You know, from a previous crash.

Johnny Knoxville is beginning to look like a coward, right?

"It's probably the stupidest thing I've done in my whole life," Horgmo said. "It didn't feel right doing it. I don't think the jump was right for that trick." Whatever you say buddy, whatever you say.

Just next time you're celebrating, try not to sling your goggles straight at someone's face, okay?




Torstein Horgmo's goggle-to-stranger's-face malfunction

Jerusalem UFO Spottings Over Islamic Landmark Spark Debate (VIDEO)

Dueling clips of a purported UFO hovering over Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine, on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, have created an online ruckus since surfacing online.

Not surprisingly, AOL is reporting on the blogosphere's ongoing debate over the legitimacy of the videos, which show round, bright objects hovering over the landmark's iconic dome before rocketing upwards. The videos, which include audio of the inspired reactions of spectators, were reportedly shot over the weekend.
Take a look at the rumored UFO clips here:

Fridge Runs for 10 Days Without Power

posted by Melissa Breyer

from http://www.care2.com/

Faced with potential power outages across the country this week, many powerless people will be shuttling the contents of their refrigerators outside to keep things chilled. But what happens if you’re in warm weather and are the victim of an extended power outage, and even worse, what if instead of milk and leftovers in your fridge, you have a large supply of lifesaving vaccines?

In many third world countries, where power failures and warm weather are common, some aid agencies are using the True Energy Vaccine Refrigerator. It can maintain temperatures of below 50F, without power, in ambient temperatures up to 109F for over ten days at a time.

According to a post on Gizmag, the refrigerator runs off mains power, solar power, or a combination of sources. It incorporates True Energy’s Sure Chill technology, which utilizes high-density polyurethane foam insulation and an undisclosed “innovative phase change material” to store energy until it’s needed, allowing for consistently cool temperatures regardless of interruptions in the power supply. It can run indefinitely on less than five hours of mains power per day. Once fully charged, as already mentioned, the phase change material can keep the fridge going for ten days without any power input at all. As a side benefit, this non-battery power-storing capability is also said to make it twice as energy-efficient as similar products.

True Energy Vaccine Refrigerators are currently in use by agencies such as the World Health Organization and Unicef. The company is also looking into using its Sure Chill technology in products such as commercial refrigerators, drinks coolers, air conditioners and telecommunications infrastructure cooling.

80s Synth Medley (3 guys, 6 keyboards)

From: EnvelopeGenerator


Three guys, six keyboards, fifteen hits of the 1980s. All played live!

Keyboards:
ARP Axxe
KORG MicroKORG
KORG Triton Extreme 61
M-Audio Axiom 61
Roland Juno 6
Yamaha SHS-10 Keytar

Verizon iPhone: A First Look

After almost a week with the Apple iPhone 4 for Verizon, it's clear that a new network makes one of the best smartphones even better.

By Lance Ulanoff

From: http://www.pcmag.com/

It's unlikely that, even without the "camouflaging" bumper on, anyone would've noticed that I've been carrying around a Verizon iPhone for the last few days. Except for some very subtle surface differences, this long-awaited phone is virtually indistinguishable from the AT&T model, but as I see it, the lack of major modifications makes this iPhone no less desirable or fun. I liked the AT&T Apple iPhone, despite a network about as reliable as my favorite team, the New York Mets. The Verizon iPhone features every bit of that fun, style, and power, and it adds a couple of new tricks that make it almost unstoppable.

Let's start with the network. I'm one of those unfortunate AT&T customers that lives in a dead zone. No, I'm not in some small, disconnected, backwater town. Instead I live just 50 minutes from the heart of New York City. Yet my AT&T connectivity has not improved one bit since I joined the network. This fact has filled my life with a never-ending series of bad connections and dropped calls on both myBlackBerry Torch 9800 and any AT&T iPhone I've tested.

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The Verizon iPhone features, of course, that little symbol in the upper left hand corner of the screen that tells you when you're on the Verizon network. And when I was on, I stayed on—everywhere. Call quality was consistently good, though not markedly better than the best AT&T connection. Those dual CDMA antennas that sit on either side of the phone (they're part of the metal band that wraps around the edge of the handset), kept me connected during calls and data sessions through every location I tested. Yes, I did see the phone drop to 2G speeds once or twice. The phone indicated this with a small circle next to the bars.

Testing Reception and the Hotspot
One of the other small changes in the Verizon iPhone is the reconfiguration of the antenna breaks. The Verizon iPhone is somewhat more symmetrical: there are two breaks per side. Some people believed that they could create the fabled "death grip" on the AT&T iPhone by bridging the somewhat asymmetrical antenna gaps on it. For fun, I took an AT&T iPhone and gripped it hard until I saw the bars drop. I also gave the Verizon iPhone a similar grip and never saw the bars drop down. Even so, I'm not sure what that proves. I tend to think of bars as stupid, inconsistent indicators that rarely give you the real picture of your connection quality.

There is one other thing that the Verizon iPhone brings to the picture and this may be my favorite feature: the personal hotspot. This is not new technology. Obviously, you can buy a MiFi personal hotspot or use competitor phones to achieve the same effect: a Wi-Fi hotpot for up to five of devices wherever you can find a 3G signal. Even so, it's a first for the now four-year-old iPhone brand. AT&T may want to hurry up and introduce the same capability on its iPhone.

The personal hotspot feature comes with the Verizon iPhone, but it's not free. It will cost an additional $20 per month (the Verizon iPhone is $199 for a 16GB model and $299 for a $32GB model, both with a two-year contract). Verizon has yet to announce specific data plans for the phone. I decided to see how the Verizon iPhone would handle a real-world situation, and this is where I fell a little in love with the new iPhone.

Looking for Differences
I asked my two children to come with me for a ride and bring both of their iPod touches. While in the car, I followed the on-screen instructions to set up a new hotspot. The Verizon iPhone automatically provides a Wi-Fi password you can share with those who want to connect to your phone (you can also create your own). The kids both saw the new Wi-Fi hotspot on their iPods and with the security key, they were connected in moments. I had a strong 3G signal and the kids had a strong Wi-Fi connection to the Verizon iPhone. We started driving and I asked my daughter to see if she could surf the Web. She went to Google and initiated an image search. The results came up immediately and she had no trouble browsing individual images. Simultaneously, my son opened Pandora and started streaming music. We hooked up the iPod to my car stereo. Only once during the 20 minute drive did the connection stutter, but it quickly recovered. The whole time, the Verizon iPhone noted on-screen that two people were connected to the personal hotspot. Apple said this alert is useful to ensure that there aren't more people leeching off your connection. If any of us had stopped using the hotspot for 90 seconds, the hotspot would have automatically turned off to conserve power.

I did dig around the Verizon iPhone looking for other notable differences, but I found little worth reporting. The buttons moved a millimeter or two on the body (this necessitated the creation of a new Universal bumper to support both iPhone carrier models), and the operating system got a point upgrade (to 4.2.6) to support the CDMA network.

I also tested the Verizon iPhone with the Jawbone Era, Aliph's latest Bluetooth headset. I put the Era in pairing mode and the Verizon iPhone instantly discovered it. Soon, I was listening to a Pink song in single-eared pseudo stereo along with the sound effects for Angry Birds. I also made a couple of calls which sounded good.

FaceTime and Final Thoughts
Since I also had an AT&T iPhone with me, I decided to have a little fun and started a FaceTime video call between the phones. Obviously, there's no reason an AT&T iPhone and Verizon iPhone can't do FaceTime. But as T-Mobile is quick to point out in its 4G commercials, you can't use FaceTime unless both parties are within range of a Wi-Fi network. We made sure our two phones were near Wi-Fi, and initiated the calls, which worked perfectly.

A few other Verizon-iPhone specifics: unlike many other Verizon smartphones, the Verizon iPhone does not come pre-loaded with any Verizon software. I like this: If I want something on my phone, I'll install it. Also, as a CDMA phone, there is no simultaneous voice and data capability unless you're also connected to a Wi-Fi network. If you're using the personal hotspot mode and a call comes in, the phone will prioritize the call.

The Verizon iPhone goes on sale to existing Verizon customers on Feb. 3 and becomes generally available on Feb. 10th. No ship dates were announced.

I think it's important to note that we are almost four years removed from the initial excitement of Apple's first phone, and there are reasons not to buy a Verizon iPhone. Nowadays there are many strong competitors on a variety of providers and from many different manufacturers. This iPhone isn't even on Verizon's new 4G LTE network, which makes it slower than some of the most exciting phones available today. But the unfortunate reality of these super-fast devices is that battery life is not so grand. Apple and Steve Jobs have always focused on performance in a variety of metrics, and if super-speeds have the potential to kill battery life—perhaps the most important factor in any mobile device—then it's unlikely we'll see a 4G iPhone any time soon. Considering the performance I found with the Verizon iPhone, I do not see this as a problem.

Overall, I liked the iPhone with AT&T, and I like it even more with Verizon. I expect many other consumers will feel the same. Sorry, AT&T.

'Dark Shadows' ready for the light

Burton-directed pic stars Depp; newcomer Heathcote in talks

By Justin Kroll

From http://www.variety.com/

Depp

Burton

Heathcote

 

After years of trying to get "Dark Shadows" off the ground, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are seeing their passion project finally near production.

 

Bella Heathcote, the up-and-coming Aussie thesp starring next year in David Chase's first post- "Sopranos" feature "Twylight Zones," is in early talks for the female lead opposite Depp in the Warner Bros. fantasy pic.
"Dark Shadows" is based on the 1960s supernatural TV soap opera that followed the life of vampire Barnabas Collins, to be played by Depp. He's forced to deal with all sorts of monsters, ghosts and other supernatural creatures. Heathcote would play a waitress whom Collins takes a shine to because of her resemblance to his long-lost love.

Seth Grahame-Smith has penned the script, and Depp, Graham King, Richard Zanuck, Christi Dembrowski and David Kennedy are producing. Production sked starts this spring for a 2012 release.
Warner Bros. acquired the rights from show creator Dan Curtis in 2007 and has been trying to get a movie going ever since.

Depp signed on early, but the writers strike derailed the project. Once it was resolved, Burton came on to direct and brought on John August to pen a first draft.

But August fell out, Burton and Depp's busy schedules got in the way and the project continued to be pushed back. Then, last summer, "Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies" and "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" author July Smith was brought aboard to rewrite the script.

If Heathcote gets locked in soon, a greenlight should follow, making a spring production start realistic.
Besides Chase's "Twylight Zones," Heathcote has also been cast opposite Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake in "Now."

"Dark Shadows" has the potential to solve another problem for Warners: the need for a franchise to replace the "Harry Potter" series. Though "Green Lantern," "Superman" and any number of DC Comics-centered pics are in the works, the studio is light on fantasy fare that can also appeal to female auds.

Though Burton and Depp haven't talked of franchising "Dark Shadows," there's a trove of material for them to work with.

Besides her upcoming slate, Heathcote was most recently seen in the indie "Beneath Hill 60."

She is repped by WME and Jackson-Medavoy Entertainment.