CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - As NASA prepares to double the number of astronauts living aboard the International Space Station, nothing may do more for crew bonding than a machine being launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on Friday.
It's a water-recycling device that will process the crew's urine for communal consumption.
"We did blind taste tests of the water," said NASA's Bob Bagdigian, the system's lead engineer. "Nobody had any strong objections. Other than a faint taste of iodine, it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water."
"I've got some in my fridge," he added. "It tastes fine to me."
Delivery of the $250 million wastewater recycling gear is among the primary goals of NASA's 124th shuttle mission, which is due to launch at 7:55 p.m. EST on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Meteorologists predicted a 70 percent chance the weather would be suitable for launch.
With no technical issues, NASA managers told the launch team on Friday morning to fuel the shuttle for liftoff, a three-hour operation to pump 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the spaceship's tank for the 8.5-minute climb into orbit.
If the shuttle lifts off on time, it would arrive at the space station on Sunday so astronauts could begin 11 to 12 days of home improvements.
In addition to the water recycler, Endeavour carries two small bedrooms, the station's first refrigerator, new exercise gear, and perhaps most important for a growing crew -- a second toilet.
"With six people you really do need to have a two-bathroom house. It's a lot more convenient and a lot more efficient," said Endeavour astronaut Sandra Magnus, who will take over as a space station flight engineer from Greg Chamitoff.
Chamitoff has been aboard the outpost since the last shuttle flight in June.
NASA wants to make sure the water recycling system is working well before adding another three astronauts to the station's crew.
SHUTTLE SUPPLIES DRYING UP
Reusing water will become essential once NASA retires its space shuttles, which produce water as a byproduct of their electrical systems. Rather than dumping the water overboard, NASA has been transferring it to the space station.
But the shuttle's days are numbered. Only 10 flights remain, including a final servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA is preparing to end the program in 2010, after which Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be the only way to ferry crew to the space station.
"We can't be delivering water all the time for six crew," said space station flight director Ron Spencer. "Recycling is a must."
NASA expects to process about six gallons (23 liters) of water per day with the new device. The goal is to recover about 92 percent of the water from the crew's urine and moisture in the air.
The wastewater is processed using an extensive series of purification techniques, including distillation -- which is somewhat tricky in microgravity -- filtration, oxidation, and ionization.
The final step is the addition of iodine to control microbial growth, Bagdigian said.
The device is intended to process a full day's worth of wastewater in less than 24 hours.
"Today's drinking water was yesterday's waste," Bagdigian said.
AT&T to try limits on monthly Internet traffic By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer Tue Nov 4, 11:39 am ET
NEW YORK – AT&T Inc., the country's largest Internet service provider, is testing the idea of limiting the amount of data that subscribers can use each month.
AT&T will initially apply the limits in Reno, Nev., and see about extending the practice elsewhere.
Increasingly, Internet providers across the country are placing such limits on the amount of data users can upload and download each month, as a way to curb a small number of "bandwidth hogs" who use a lot of the network capacity. For instance, 5 percent of AT&T's subscribers take up 50 percent of the capacity, spokesman Michael Coe said Tuesday.
But the restrictions that Internet providers are setting are tentative. And the companies differ on what limits to set and whether to charge users for going beyond the caps.
Starting in November, AT&T will limit downloads to 20 gigabytes per month for users of their slowest DSL service, at 768 kilobits per second. The limit increases with the speed of the plan, up to 150 gigabytes per month at the 10 megabits-per-second level.
To exceed the limits, subscribers would need to download constantly at maximum speeds for more than 42 hours, depending on the tier. In practice, use of e-mail and the Web wouldn't take a subscriber anywhere near the limit, but streaming video services like the one Netflix Inc. offers could. For example, subscribers who get downloads of 3 megabits per second have a monthly cap of 60 gigabytes, which allows for the download of about 30 DVD-quality movies.
The limits will initially apply to new customers in the Reno area, AT&T said. Current users will be enrolled if they exceed 150 gigabytes in a month, regardless of their connection speed.
"This is a preliminary step to find the right model to address this trend," Coe said. The company may add another market to the test before the end of the year, he said.
Customers will be able to track their usage on an AT&T Web site. The company will also contact people who reach 80 percent of their limit. After a grace period to get subscribers acquainted with the system, those who exceed their allotment will pay $1 per gigabyte, Coe said.
Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider and AT&T's competitor in Reno, last month officially began a nationwide traffic limit of 250 gigabytes per subscriber. Comcast doesn't charge people extra for going over the limit, but will cancel service after repeated warnings. Previously, it had a secret limit.
Two other ISPs, Time Warner Cable Inc. and FairPoint Communications Inc., are planning or testing traffic limits as low as 5 gigabytes per month, which is easily exceeded by watchers of DVD-quality online video.
Among the largest ISPs, Verizon Communications Inc. is a holdout, and has said it does not plan to limit downloads.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 – Critical Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (958644) Published: October 23, 2008
Version: 1.0
General Information Executive Summary This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Server service. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an affected system received a specially crafted RPC request. On Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 systems, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability without authentication to run arbitrary code. It is possible that this vulnerability could be used in the crafting of a wormable exploit. Firewall best practices and standard default firewall configurations can help protect network resources from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter.
This security update is rated Critical for all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and rated Important for all supported editions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.
The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way that the Server service handles RPC requests. For more information about the vulnerability, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.
Recommendation. Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately.
And this is why I hate checking my bags when I go to hacker cons
from Slashdot:
TSA Employee Caught With $200K Worth of Stolen Property The plane moves me or I move the plane? writes "After years of people complaining about their luggage locks being broken in the name of the Transportation Security Administration, and after countless properly-stowed utilities and tools had been scrutinized from a paranoid point of view, an employee of the TSA (which is part of the Department of Homeland Security) has been captured with evidence of over $200,000 worth of stolen property he was selling on eBay. With the help of local police and the USPS, a search of his house found a great deal of property pilfered from the un-witnessed searches that occurred after luggage had been checked, where the rightful owner was not allowed. 'Among the items seized were 66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, 20 cell phones, 17 sets of electronic games, 13 pieces of jewelry, 12 GPS devices, 11 MP3 players, eight camera lenses, six video cameras and two DVD players, the affidavit said.'"
One year ago ASUS began selling a notebook that would change the laptop industry. It was October 16, 2007 that the ASUS Eee PC 701 went on sale in Taiwan (don’t believe us, Wikipedia says so!), ten days later LAPTOP Magazine was one of the first media outlets to review the sub-notebook. Today, we threw that little one-year-old (and now outdated) notebook its first birthday party, with cake and hats and even noise makers (pictures and video of the first-ever laptop birthday party below).
Why a party for the little guy and not any others? Because no matter how you look at it that 7-inch mini-notebook, which was priced at $399 at the time, set off a spark within the laptop industry.
Since its debut 360 days ago, mini-notebooks, now dubbed netbooks, have begun to run off the manufacturing lines of the top laptop companies. HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer all have their own netbooks on the market today. Why? In part, the birth of the ASUS Eee PC proved that consumers were interested in a smaller, low-cost laptop for children or to complement their larger PCs.
ASUS sold over 350,000 Eee PCs in the fourth quarter of 2007 and had sold 1 million by June of 2008. And according to recent reports, the company has now shipped 4 million. That original Eee PC 701 was only the start of ASUS’ plunge into the category and, since then, they have released over 10 netbook models.
Evolution may have taken hundreds of years, but not Eeevolution. The basic timeline: in April, the Eee PC took on a 8.9-inch larger screen with the 900. A few months later in June, ASUS released a new design and the 8.9-inch evolved into the Eee PC 901 and incorporated the new Intel Atom processor. At the same time it also expanded into the 10-inch category with the Eee PC 1000 and 1000H models. Then somehow models started reproducing faster than flies on feces, and the Eee PC 903, and 904 were added to the line up. And to bring us up to date, this month we’re expecting the premium Eee PC S101.
We did what we thought was appropriate for the ASUS Eee PC on its one year anniversary; we threw him a birthday party (and taped it all in the video below!) Of course, we invited all of its netbook friends (even the OLPC XO and the Dell Mini 9 popped in, though for some reason the MSI Wind refused to attend). Why, you ask, would they want to come to their competitor’s birthday? Well without him, they might just not exist. They shared some cake, some laughs, and then parted ways to conquer the ever-expanding netbook market.
Disclaimer: The video below depicts laptops having a party. Warranties were voided; hats are sold separately.
You still have two weeks to register for free for CES
Only Two Weeks Left for Free Registration
If you're in the home theater business or if 'green' is your favorite color (ecologically and financially speaking), then this edition of CES Up to the Minute was crafted with you in mind.
Only two more weeks of free registration. A $100 registration fee starts November 1.
Take note of these important dates and registration fees:
Mozilla has announced the availability of the first Firefox 3.1 beta release, an important development milestone for the popular open source web browser. Mozilla aims to make Firefox 3.1 a strong incremental improvement with user interface enhancements, new features, and increased support for emerging web standards. The new beta release includes a modest handful of noteworthy changes that improve the user experience.
Mozilla had originally planned to start code freeze for beta 1 in the middle of August, but decided to delay the beta release and do an additional alpha release instead.
The beta includes Mozilla's new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, which uses tracing optimization to deliver a massive performance boost that makes it faster than Google Chrome's V8 engine. Although it still falls short of Apple's recent Squirrelfish Extreme project, the Mozilla developers say that TraceMonkey still leaves plenty of room for additional optimization.
Although TraceMonkey is finally included in beta 1, the new engine isn't actually enabled by default. It is still under heavy development and it reportedly exhibits some bugs that could impact JavaScript reliability. To configure TraceMonkey in beta 1, browse to "about:config" and then toggle the "javascript.options.jit.content" variable.
Another major feature that is included in this release is Mozilla's new implementation of the W3C Geolocation Specification. It allows web applications to obtain information about the user's geographical location through a simple JavaScript API. In beta 1, this functionality is built on top of the Loki web service, which is supplied by Skyhook and determines the user's position by comparing local WiFi access points with information in its global reference database. For privacy reasons, the browser will automatically prompt the user before supplying a web site with geolocation data.
Several web sites already have basic support for the feature, including Yahoo's Fire Eagle and the Pownce microblogging service. We tested it with Outside.in Radar, a new web service that displays news headlines and other information about things that are near the user's current location. Earlier this month, Mozilla Labs also released the Geolocation Specification implementation as a Firefox 3.0 extension called Geode so that users and developers can start testing the functionality and incorporating support for the APIs into their web applications without having to use Firefox 3.1 prerelease versions.
In addition to these new features, beta 1 also includes a lot of other improvements that we have looked at in previous alpha and nightly builds. Firefox 3.1 alpha 1, which was released in July, introduced new tab switching behavior and a new visual tab switcher with graphical thumbnails. The alpha 2 release, which was made available earlier this month, added support for the HTML 5 video element which makes it possible for the browser to natively display playable video and seamlessly intersperse it with HTML and SVG content.
Mozilla is actively working on many other features that are planned for Firefox 3.1, but haven't been fully implemented in this beta release. Future versions will include a new private browsing mode that is similar to the one in Google Chrome. Mozilla is working on some nice user interface improvements too, such as support for tag autocompletion in the bookmarking interface.
Firefox 3.1 is evolving swiftly and each new prerelease delivers impressive changes. Users can look forward to a great 3.1 release with lots of good improvements and great support for open web standards. The new beta release is available for download from Mozilla's web site and additional information can be found in the official release notes.
