Google and NASA are partnering up to let space beings (and astronauts) wander the web from up in orbit. Google VP Vint Cerf and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have started working together to create a standardized internet for space, which can finally replace the one-time-use radio equipment system we've been shooting up there since the 1970s.
Communicating in space presents a bunch of problemsâ??the Earth's rotation causes senders and receivers to be constantly changing positions, and the long distance causes equally long delays. Our current radio-based network is tailored to almost every new mission, meaning that older equipment can't be repurposed for newer shuttles.
Cerf, who more or less co-created the internet, is now figuring out new protocols that'll work in the final frontier. The project, called Interplanetary Internet, will be tested aboard the International Space Station in 2009. If it works out, space missions in the future will be able to use the same systems, ultimately making communicating from above much, much cheaper and easier. I wonder what their ping rates will be. [Technology Review]
Tagi: nasa team, ping rates, space beings, google, msis, space space, radio equipment, cerf, nasa, shuttles, orbit, receivers, stati, vp, 1970s, protocols, earth
With Halloween around the corner, there's one thought that scares us more than any other. It's not Dracula or reanimated corpses. It's not TP'd houses or razor blade candy. It's the day when robots turn on humans in the battle for Earth. And to prep for the event, we're throwing a contest. Dress up like a robot that's turned on the human race, maybe win a pizza.
Whoooooa. That was my reaction as I surfed from tile to tile in 
It kinda reminds me of Google Earth, but if the world were made up of copies of Dexter and The Godfather. While the idea is definitely still in its infancy—navigation is far from in-depth—check it out, it's an awesome, visually delicious experience that is totally what online shopping is going to look like in the near future—and it's perfectly suited for a multitouch UI too. Update: As people have pointed out, it's verrry similar