Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100105/1020367617/dailydirt-toys-are-too-cool-kids.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100105/1020367617/dailydirt-toys-are-too-cool-kids.shtml

Imagine a remote-controlled robot spider that shoots projectiles and wears explosive plastic armor. Help name this toy here. [url]

Kids used to play with everyday objects and use their "imagination" to interact with simple toys. Now there are "augmented reality platforms" -- so kids don't need to use their imaginations anymore. [url]

The Kackel Dackel is a crappy German toy. What kid wouldn't want to clean up the plastic pooh that came out of a toy dog? [url]

Satoshi Furukawa took 2 hours out of his busy day on the International Space Station (ISS) to build a Lego replica of the ISS. They just completely ignored the second rule of making scale models. Do not nest. [url]

To find some more bizarre/cool stuff, check out some things that other StumbleUpon users have found. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100105/1020367617 Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100922/10033611120/dailydirt-manned-missions-to-space.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100922/10033611120/dailydirt-manned-missions-to-space.shtml

Six fake astronauts from the Mars500 spaceship have emerged from a simulated mission to Mars that lasted about a year and a half. Probably not as entertaining to watch as Big Brother or MTV's Real World, but the mission was a useful experiment. [url]

The Energia Corporation is considering ways to sell tourist trips around the moon using Soyuz spaceships. The tickets would sell for around $150 million, and the trip would take about 9 days. [url]

The International Space Station boosted itself to a slightly higher orbit by turning on some thrusters for about 2 minutes. A few of the astronauts took advantage of the planned acceleration to show everyone how the maneuver affects the ISS occupants. [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100922/10033611120 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100802/22570010460/dailydirt-getting-to-space-aint-easy.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100802/22570010460/dailydirt-getting-to-space-aint-easy.shtml

The Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft isn't going to make it to Mars -- and some waterbears that were along for the ride won't make it back. Over the last year, about 10% of space missions that launched have failed (seven out of about 74). [url]

Iran's space program tried to send a monkey to space, but the monkey didn't survive the trip. Iran's space program will probably get a bit more attention when it succeeds... [url]

Fortunately, the International Space Station will be occupied by astronauts as planned, following a successful launch of a Soyuz re-supply mission. The ISS will resume a full 6-person crew in mid-December. [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100802/22570010460 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110214/17070013092/dailydirt-space-shuttle-discovery-sale-288m-obo-shipping-included.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110214/17070013092/dailydirt-space-shuttle-discovery-sale-288m-obo-shipping-included.shtml

Discovery's final mission was extended a bit, giving it a total time of 365 days in space. During that non-continuous year in space, Discovery traveled about 148 million miles -- more than the distance between the Earth and the Sun (but done in a relatively tight circle). [url]

The final resting place for Discovery will be announced on April 12th -- the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight. There are over 20 museums that have applied to get one of the last three shuttles after they've been decommissioned. [url]

The manager of the space station national laboratory makes an analogy that the end of the shuttle program for ISS means that they'll be using "pickup trucks" instead of an 18-wheeler to send equipment to the ISS. Ford or Chevy? [url]

A pretty big pickup truck, aka an unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket, launched from California in January, setting a record for the largest rocket to blast off from the West Coast. It took off from a launch pad that was originally designed for the space shuttles, but no shuttles ever launched from California. [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110214/17070013092 Tue, 1 Feb 2011 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110106/15422712557/dailydirt-im-leavin-space-plane-dont-know-when-ill-be-back-again.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110106/15422712557/dailydirt-im-leavin-space-plane-dont-know-when-ill-be-back-again.shtml

According to WikiLeaks, Turkey apparently tried to get a Turkish astronaut on the space shuttle -- in exchange for buying some Boeing planes. Is having a national astronaut really that prestigious? International politics shouldn't be like winning Civ and getting to Alpha Centauri.... [url]

Orbital Sciences Corp has proposed a space plane to replace NASA's shuttle for ferrying people and stuff to the ISS. Space plane versus capsule designs... I'd bet the capsules will win, but there's no denying the coolness factor of a winged spaceship. [url]

In 2013, Russia is going to start selling space tourism tickets again. A 10-day trip to space for over $35M... "We could buy our own ship for that! But who's gonna fly it kid... you?" [url]

NASA is also looking at some regular plane designs to make flying more efficient in 2025. Space is probably over-rated, anyway. [url]

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