During the test, the Navy’s Laser Weapon System (LaWS), guided by Raytheon’s Phalanx Close-In Weapon System sensors, engaged and destroyed four UAV targets flying over water near the Navy’s weapons and training facility on San Nicolas Island in California’s Santa Barbara Channel, about 120 kilometers west of Los Angeles. The Phalanx—a rapid-fire, computer-controlled, radar-guided gun More..system—used electro-optical tracking and radio frequency sensors to provide range data to the LaWS, which is made up of six solid-state lasers with an output of 32 kilowatts that simultaneously focus on a target.
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Navy laser system test successful, shoots down drone
Army tests ‘HULC’ super-strength gear
The Army is moving one small step closer to giving its troops super-strength, with a fresh round of biomechanical tests for Lockheed’s Human Universal Load Carrier exoskeleton. The trials, held at the Army’s Natick Soldier Systems Center, are supposed to gauge whether GIs can really move freely wearing the “HULC” system. It uses robotic leg braces to augment troops’ muscles, giving them the ability to carry loads of up to 200 pounds without tuckering out. If these tests work out, it could be on to field trials. (OK, OK. You can make your HULC joke now.)
In the promo video above, at least, the exoskeleton-clad soldier looks pretty agile — when he’s not staring off into the distance, assuming his best macho pose. He scampers up a mountain crag, hops from rock to rock, and trudges through sand. The maneuverability has long been the selling point of the system, originally designed at the University of California at Berkeley.
Unlike Darpa’s new robotic arm, the super-suit isn’t directly controlled by the user’s mind; instead, the exoskeleton senses the wearer’s movement, and augments it. Unlike its super-strength competitor from Raytheon, HULC doesn’t have arm attachments.
Steve Jobs: iPhone 4 still has the best reception, says attenuation affects all smart phones
Journalists poured into Apple’s headquarters this morning for a surprise press conference, at which Apple discussed issues with the iPhone 4′s antenna that have been plaguing the gadget — and announced free cases to fix it.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs didn’t unveil any new gizmos or gadgets, nor did he announce a partnership with Verizon, as many pundits had predicted. He also didn’t apologize, and didn’t announce a software fix.
But he did announce a fix of sorts: free cases for iPhone 4 purchasers.
As Jobs took the stage, he began his announcement by unveiling a 15-minute presentation — but Jobs promised that he would answer everyone’s questions shortly. In the presentation, which detailed Apple’s defense of the iPhone 4 from “antennagate” as he described it, Jobs demonstrated similar reception issues with other smart phones, notably the Blackberry Bold 9700 and a Samsung smartphone.
The message is clear: Cell phone reception is a challenge for the entire industry.
Sen. Schumer writes letter to Steve Jobs, calls for “transparency”
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I write to express concern regarding the reception problem with the Apple iPhone 4. While I commend Apple’s innovative approach to mobile technology and appreciate its service to millions of iPhone users nationwide, I believe it is incumbent upon Apple to address this flaw in a transparent manner. According to Consumer Reports’ review, released Monday on its website, the iPhone 4′s signal-strength problem is a hardwire glitch triggered by gripping the device in a particular manner. This finding, according to Consumer Reports, “call[s] into question” Apple’s recent claim that the problem is “largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software.” Consumer Reports declined to recommend the iPhone 4 because of this hardware design flaw.
South Korea deploys robot capable of killing intruders along border with North
Two robots with surveillance, tracking, firing and voice recognition systems were integrated into a single unit, a defence ministry spokesman said.
The 400 million won (£220,000) unit was installed last month at a guard post in the central section of the Demilitarised Zone which bisects the peninsula, Yonhap news agency said.
It quoted an unidentified military official as saying the ministry would deploy sentry robots along the world’s last Cold War frontier if the test was successful.
The robot uses heat and motion detectors to sense possible threats, and alerts command centres, Yonhap said.
If the command centre operator cannot identify possible intruders through the robot’s audio or video communications system, the operator can order it to fire its gun or 40mm automatic grenade launcher.
iPhone 4 antenna issues hit MSM, Apple to hold press conference tomorrow
Apple Inc. said Wednesday that it will hold a news conference Friday concerning its iPhone 4, which is facing mounting criticism over reception problems tied to antenna design.
An Apple spokesman declined to give further details, including whether the conference will address reported reception problems or Apple’s response to those problems. Apple plans to hold the conference at its headquarters, the spokesman said.
Apple watchers speculated that the company will offer a solution. “Given the intense pressure and scrutiny Apple has come under on the problem with the iPhone 4,It’s going to be about some kind of fix or compensation for the owners of the phone,” speculated Ed Snyder, an analyst with Charter Equity Research.
The Cupertino, Calif., company launched the phone last month to great fanfare as it boasted of a design that put the antenna in a stainless steel band around the phone’s frame.
But even as the phone has continued to sell well at stores, it has been plagued with user complaints about dropped calls when the phone is held in a way that covers part of the antenna.
Lithium deposit worth nearly $1T discovered in Afghanistan
The New York Times, “U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan”
by James Risen
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.
The New York Times article continues here.
FAA under pressure to open US skies to drones
My Way News (AP), “FAA under pressure to open US skies to drones”
by Joan Lowy
Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure’s on to allow them in the skies over the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to issue flying rights for a range of pilotless planes to carry out civilian and law-enforcement functions but has been hesitant to act. Officials are worried that they might plow into airliners, cargo planes and corporate jets that zoom around at high altitudes, or helicopters and hot air balloons that fly as low as a few hundred feet off the ground.
On top of that, these pilotless aircraft come in a variety of sizes. Some are as big as a small airliner, others the size of a backpack. The tiniest are small enough to fly through a house window.
My Way News (AP) article continues here.
Bloomberg wants ‘Big Brother Britain’ for NYC
WCBSTV, “Bloomberg Wants ‘Big Brother Britain’ For NYC”
by Charlie D’Agata
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his eye on more security against terror attacks. He went to London Tuesday to check out their surveillance camera system, one of the largest in the world.
Ever since the Times Square car bomb scare on May 1, the mayor’s been looking to build up New York’s camera network.
That means adding to the ring of steel in Times Square, similar to central London’s. The mayor said more NYPD surveillance cameras may prevent another terror scare.
London has 500,000 surveillance cameras, more than any other city in the world.
Bloomberg visited London’s mayor to see how these help Britain fight terror.
WCBSTV article continues here.
Obama laments the iPad and Xbox era
Google News (AFP), “Obama bemoans ‘diversions’ of IPod, Xbox era”
US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media.
Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing with political horse race coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.
“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,” Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.
Google News (AFP) article continues here.
Enter iPad
Bloomberg, “Apple IPad a ‘Winner,’ ‘Game Changer,’ Reviewers Say”
by Kevin Cho
Apple Inc.’s iPad touch-screen tablet is a winning product that threatens to replace laptops as the dominant format for personal computers, reviewers said.
The iPad, which will begin selling this weekend, is “wicked fast” and has a battery life that’s longer than Apple’s claim of 10 hours, Walt Mossberg, technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote in a review yesterday. It can be used as a replacement for a laptop for most data communication and content consumption, he wrote.
“The iPad is an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple touch interface on a slender, light device,” Mossberg wrote. The tablet “has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop.”
Bloomberg article continues here.