space

Steve Wozniak rockets toward the final frontier

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Steve Wozniak
The Woz says the sky is no longer the limit.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr CC

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s next venture is a private space company. Details are still scanty about his newly formed company, Privateer Space, other than its goal is to “keep space safe and accessible.”

Additional details are expected soon.

Apollo 11 pictures make great wallpapers [Wallpaper Wednesday]

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Apollo 11 wallpaper
Who wouldn't want this as their wallpaper?
Photo: NASA

Apollo 11 is probably best known for being the first manned mission to successfully land on the surface of the moon. But a little over 50 years later, it should now be known as a seemingness endless source of great wallpaper pictures.

The iconic launch that gave mankind its first collection of moon rocks, invaluable data on tidal currents, and a renewed source of scientific belief that led to hallmark environmental reforms, also makes neat wallpapers for both iPhones and iMacs.

The Rock and Siri team up in new iPhone 7 ads

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siri in space
Siri can help you do everyday things. Like take a selfie in space.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s partnership with the Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) has spawned three new ads for the iPhone 7 that showcase Siri’s talents at performing everyday tasks.

The Rock cooks up something smelly and takes his selfie talents to space in the colossal ads that are a follow up to the short film Apple released last month starring Johnson and Siri.

Check out all three sequel ads:

Apple celebrates NASA’s Juno mission with hypnotic space video

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Music and space have a lot more in common than you'd think.
Music and space have a lot more in common than you'd think.
Photo: Apple

NASA’s Juno mission is set to arrive at Jupiter on July 4th, so to celebrate the space agency did the most sensible thing it could think of: team up with Apple and Weezer to make awesome videos about space and music.

While Weezer created the patriotic rock anthem “I Love the USA” to mark the occasion, Apple created a hypnotic short film called “Visions of Harmony” that explores the link between space travel and music. The soundtrack for the hypnotic film was created by Nine Inch Nails frontman and Apple VP Trent Reznor and collaborator Atticus Ross.

Watch it below:

Apple TV app will wow you with stunning shots of Earth

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The Aurora Borealis over the Atlantic Ocean as seen from the International Space Station
The Aurora Borealis over the Atlantic Ocean as seen from the International Space Station
Photo: Jetson Creative

I’ve always wanted to go into space. The now-familiar view of our “big blue marble” have always fascinated and entranced me, even as a young boy.

With Earthlapse TV, I can stare out of a virtual window from the International Space Station to watch the coast of Northern Australia spin past my high viewpoint, see the aurora borealis as it shimmers above the northern hemisphere, or watch as the world turns from London to Africa beneath my gaze.

This is a gorgeous app and a perfect fit for the big-screen TV in my living room.

Sisters spend Labor Day weekend launching kids space program

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Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung ready their space craft for flight into near space.
Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung ready their space craft for flight into near space.
Photo: Winston Yeung/YouTube

Ask sisters Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung about their Labor Day weekend and they could legitimately say, It was out of this world.

With a craft they constructed using light-weight wood and arrow shafts, Kimberly, 8, and Rebecca, 10, launched a weather balloon that reached a height of 78,000 feet. How do they know? Other than the two GoPro cameras aboard that recorded the flight, the girls outfitted their craft with a flight computer to record data, such as temperature and distance traveled.

Apple rejected Buzz Aldrin’s space app for having too much Buzz Aldrin

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Photo: Polar Motion
Photo: Polar Motion

Buzz Aldrin was one of the first humans to step foot on the moon. Now he’s trying to make the big leap toward becoming an iOS developer, but Apple keeps rejecting his app, Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager, because of one tiny problem: It features too much Buzz Aldrin.

The App Store admissions team reportedly told Aldrin’s development team that the his game “contains well-known third parties.” What?!

Apollo program inspired Jony Ive to make a ‘spacesuit’

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What would a Jony Ive spacesuit look like? Photo: Sotheby's
What would a Jony Ive spacesuit look like? Photo: Sotheby's

When you’ve designed some of the most successful consumer electronics in modern history, where else can you look but up?

One of the many interesting tidbits in The New Yorker’s 17,000-word profile of Jony Ive surrounds his fascination with the Apollo space program and, yes, designing spacesuits. It doesn’t sound like the spacesuit itself was what inspired Apple’s top designer as much as the process that went into it.

Ive mentions he’s been watching the old Discovery channel series Moon Machine about the challenges facing the Apollo program. NASA designers had no idea what goals they even needed to meet for the suit, but built up to the final design with invention after invention until they got it right.

An anecdote from The New Yorker’s time in Ive’s hallowed design studio (emphasis added):

Flatworms in space might hold key to human immortality

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Flatworms are headed to the International Space Station and their sacrifice in the name of research gets a salute on the Kentucky Space mission patch.
Flatworms are headed to the International Space Station. Their sacrifice in the name of research gets a salute on the Kentucky Space mission patch. Photo: Kentucky Space

Flatworms are the darlings of the molecular biology field. What scientist doesn’t love a species that can lose an organ or body part — even its head — and grow it back?

It’s quite a trick. We’ll see if they can do it in space.

About 150 planarian flatworms, creatures that are happiest living in rivers or under a log, have first-class tickets aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, which will take them to the International Space Station for an experiment that could unlock the key to human immortality.

Save Space On Your Hard Drive – Check Application Support Folder For Steam Game Files [OS X Tips]

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Application Support Steam

I suppose since I’m a gamer, I assume everyone else is. If you’re not, or you don’t use the fantastic cross-platform digital gaming portal, Steam, this tip won’t apply to you. Check out the last couple of tips for great space saving ideas, instead. Or, heck, read a review or two on Cult of Mac. I hear they’re pretty good.

For you Steam gamers looking to save some space on your hard drive, there’s one place you should really look.

Launch Your Mac Into Space With These Breathtaking Retina Wallpapers [Gallery]

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bigbag

Guys. Gals. We totally just landed on Mars. Again! Ok, that news is almost two weeks old, but my chest is still pumping with adrenaline after watching those NASA nerd geniuses dominate the red surface with their radioactive robot.

Images of space always make the best wallpapers, and your Mac deserves something better than the default space wallpaper Apple provides in OS X. Here are 10 breathtaking retina wallpaper alternatives that will launch your Mac into space.

Why The Curiosity Rover Only Has A Two-Megapixel Camera

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Why does the Curiosity rover only have a 2MP camera, along with just 8GB flash storage? Is it some special NASA trick that pulls more info from low-res sensors? Is it something to do with the kind of space radiation that turned Reed Richards and team into the Fantastic Four? Nope – it turns out that the reason that the Mars Rover is using 8-year-old camera technology is because the camera design was specced eight years ago, way back in the swirling mists of 2004.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: Dead Trigger, Astronaut Spacewalk & More [Roundup]

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Screen Shot 2012-07-06 at 23.31.10
There's something for everyone in this week's must-have games roundup.

Kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup is a fantastic first-person shooter from the creators of Shadowgun, in which you must take down hoards of bloodthirsty zombies before they take control of planet Earth. We also have a wonderfully unique astronaut simulator called Astronaut Spacewalk, plus lots more.

These High-Res NASA Images Make Great Wallpapers For Your Retina MacBook Pro [Gallery]

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Space never looked so good.
Space never looked so good.

The downside to buying a new Mac with a 2880 x 1800 display is that it’s not easy to find content that matches such a high resolution. All of your old Charlize Theron wallpapers you found on Google Images are going to look blurry and pixelated and just awful.

Fortunately for you, we’ve put together a gallery of high-resolution NASA images that look terrific on the new MacBook Pro’s Retina display.

Want To Become An Astronaut & Explore Space? There’s An App For That!

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astronaut-simulator-iphone-2
Live your dream of becoming an astronaut from the comfort of your favorite armchair.

Becoming an astronaut is every boy’s dream. Who doesn’t want to walk on the moon? Unfortunately that dream fades away for the vast majority of us when we grow up and realize NASA doesn’t employ overweight college dropouts. That’s when we take up blogging.

But thanks to an upcoming iOS app, we can all pop on a white suit and moon boots and dance with the satellites.

The Final Flight Of NASA’s Last Space Shuttle Captured By An iPhone On Instagram

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The Space Shuttle Discovery gets Instagrammed on the iPhone

Earlier today, the Space Shuttle Discovery took its final flight on the back of a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Washington, D.C. where it will go on display in the Smithsonian.

As it flew over the U.S. capitol, Instagram user Adam Wells took this totally sweet shot of the Discovery being piggy-backed to her final home at the Smithsonian’s Air & Space facility in Chantilly, Virginia. Beautiful.

[via ObamaPacman]

Angry Birds In Spaaaaaace!

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Angry Birds Space gains a laser sight to guide your birds
Angry Birds Space gains a laser sight to guide your birds

Angry Birds Space has just survived re-entry and is now in the App Store for just $1. The new Angry Birds, despite the release of the Seasons and Rio editions, is the true sequel to probably the most popular iOS game ever. Also, it rocks.

NASA Prepares Us For Angry Birds Space With A Physics Lesson From Space [Video]

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We’re two weeks away from launch day, the day Angry Birds boldly goes where no bird has gone before. I’m of course talking about Angry Birds Space, Rovio’s next Angry Bird iteration which looks to turn the series upside down. To prepare us for the challenges of launching a projectile in a weightless environment while compensating for the gravity fields of neighboring planetary bodies, NASA astronaut Dan Pettit gives us a quick physics lesson while aboard the International Space Station.

iPad 2 Survives Fall From Outer Space [Video]

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iPad-falls-from-space

Imagine cruising along in your rocket at 100,000 feet when you open the door to let out a wasp and your iPad falls out into space. It’s a situation we can all relate to. But thanks to the Extreme Edge case from G-Form, you no longer have to worry about your device shattering into a million pieces when it lands back down on Earth. What a relief, right?

Tour The Solar System From Your iPad [Review]

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NASA has released version 2 of its popular Space Images app for iPad, and it’s lovely.

It’s packed full of gorgeous images from pretty much every aspect of the space agency’s work. Each one comes with a brief explanation, and you can fave or rate the ones you like.

Even better, you can save images to your iPad and use them as wallpapers. And all of this is free. If you have an iPad and you have kids, or even if you don’t have kids, this is well worth downloading.

[xrr rating=100%]

Manage How You Use Your Disk Space on Any Mac [How To]

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macbookair_new1

Apple’s new 11-inch Macbook Air with a 64Gb SSD drive is said to be very popular and flying off the shelves at Apple Stores everywhere and beyond. It represents  the smallest notebook computer that Apple makes and the default base model ships with the smallest system disk drive available in any Apple notebook. Therefore it makes sense for users to seek ways to optimize the way they use disk space on this tiny new notebook and it was the computer that inspired me to write this How-To — which actually applies to any Mac.