XCOR Aerospace Route 66

• The Samsung Galaxy S III was announced at special event in London on May 3. The Samsung Galaxy S III contains a Exynos 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, a larger 4.8 inch 720p screen, an 8 megapixel camera, 1 gigabyte of memory, 16, 32, or 64 gigabytes of internal storage, and up to 64 gigabytes of external storage. All this is packed in a phone that is only 8.6 mm thick, and weighs just 133 grams. The Samsung Galaxy S III ships with Ice Cream Sandwich and some exciting applications from Samsung. The best way to understand the new features is to watch this video on the Samsung Galaxy S III. If you are considering buying a Samsung Galaxy S III, you need to be sure to get the international model (I9300), as models for US carriers may only have a dual-core processor.
• Move over Google Currents and Pulse, Flipboard is coming to Android. Flipboard is the most popular newsreader on iOS, and is now making a jump to Android. It is an exclusive feature of the Samsung Galaxy S III, and will be released to selected Android devices in the coming months.
• Yet another update to the Facebook app for Android. Last week, Facebook bundled the Facebook app and Facebook Messanger into a single app, but with multiple icons. This week, Facebook unbundled the apps. Facebook Messenger is, once again, a separate app. The new version of Facebook Messenger includes new functions for the iOS and Android apps. You now have “seen by” for read receipts, “sent from” notifications, and the ability to group friends. These changes are part of Facebook’s “mobile first” strategy for testing new features.
• Saturday morning, Flash Player for Android received a security update to fix a problem which could cause applications to crash, allowing malicious code to be executed.
• Have you ever had a comment blocked by Facebook, with the error message “This comment seems irrelevant or inappropriate and can’t be posted. To avoid having your comments being blocked, please make sure they contribute to the post in a positive way.” As reported in TechCrunch, it happened to Robert Scoble. While the message appears like censorship, it is really the result of an overly aggressive spam filter, and a poorly written error message.

Other Top Technology News

• The MS Turanor PlanetSolar is the first solar powered boat to circumnavigate the world. The boat left Monaco on September 27, 2010. After a journey of 37,286 miles, the MS Turanor PlanetSolar arrived back in Monaco on May 4, 2012. The expedition stopped at six continents to promote solar energy. Along the way, they even had a close encounter with pirates. While ancient sailors worried about wind to power their ships, these sailors worried about having enough sun to charge the solar batteries.
• XCOR Aerospace took their piston pump technology for a test run on Route 66. Rather than depend on laboratory testing, XCOR outfitted an experimental motorcycle with their new engine technology. “We put twenty hours–the equivalent of 400 Lynx flights–on the rocket pump bearings by driving from Roswell to Mojave taking periodic data readings along the way to make sure things were in good condition,” remarked Dan Delong, XCOR Chief Engineer. “The trip was a great success and the bike performed flawlessly. Plus, we got to drive through some of the most spectacular parts of the American Southwest.” The piston pump technology is the basis of the engines for their reusable launch vehicle (RLV). For those interested, you can get a seat on a sub-orbital flight for a mere $95,000.
• A normally secretive company, Blue Origin finally released more details about its reusable Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL) launch vehicles. For the first time, you get to see their design ideas for a suborbital flight system. Blue Origin is a privately funded company started by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin recently received $22 million dollars in funding from NASA, as part of the Commercial Crew Development program.