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Asteroid With It’s Own Moon

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Radar images of 1998 QE2 (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR)

What’s cooler than an asteroid? How about an astroid with it’s own moon!

The asteroid is 1998 QE2 and NASA scientists have used radar technology to take images of it, as seen at the top of this article. This type of asteroid is known as a binary asteroid and some even have two orbiting moons, those are referred to as triple systems. This asteroid is in the Near-Earth population of asteroids and is about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) in diameter.

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70 Meter Deep Space Network Antenna in Goldstone, Calif. ( Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR)

The image was taken May 29th, 2013 using the Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone California which is very large.

The antenna itself is 70 meters or 230 feet in diameter and that makes it the largest and most sensitive Deep Space Network antenna on Earth. The DSN antenna is capable of  tracking a spacecraft travelling more than 16 billion kilometers (10 billion miles) from Earth.

You can read the full article on this asteroid from NASA/JPL.

World of Warcraft’s New Armored Bloodwing Mount

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How about owning the “undisputed ruler of the night skies”? Blizzard is offering up the Armored Bloodwing mount for purchase from the Blizzard Store for $25. The Armored Bloodwing is a giant bat with blood red eyes and a very dark and awesome look. The mount, when purchased, will be available for all of your characters on a single account.

Video: D11 Interview of Tim Cook

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Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg of AllThingsD yesterday and you can now watch the entire interview here on the embedded video below.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook (Source:Apple)

Tim Cook discussed quite a few topics during the interview but a few stand out from the rest. One of the more notable moments in the interview was when Tim Cook mentioned that there’s a possibility that iOS could offer a richer API toolset for developers. Apple has received a lot of criticism of being too locked down and developers have long wanted to get deeper access to iOS, which soon could be a reality. Cook did mention that although 3rd parties may gain more access into iOS, they would not do it in such a way that compromises the customer experience.

Of course no major announcements were made, not that we we’re expecting any, but Cook did seem to hint at a few things to come. One of those things is Apple TV, not the little content streaming box but an actual Apple Television. Cook mentioned that it’s an area that needed to be brought up-to-the-times as television hasn’t changed much over the years. Perhaps, Apple could do with TV what it did for the smart phone industry. Here is a quote from Tim Cook on the question about an Apple TV.

 I don’t want to go into detail, but it continues to be an area of great interest for us. The product and relationships we’ve built provide a lot more knowledge than we would have otherwise. And popularity has been larger than we thought, and we aren’t marketing it.” – Apple CEO Tim Cook

During the interview they touched on other subjects like wearable tech, Android, and they even went into taxes, which Apple has recently been under the microscope for, mainly in how it manages it’s finances over seas and how that tax money makes it back, or doesn’t, to the US. Cook does mention that it’s not a situation unique to Apple and it is an area that needs reform.

Thanks to MacRumors for the video link.

Blizzard’s Project Titan Back To The Drawing Board

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Blizzard Entertainment’s top secret MMO project “Titan” has apparently had a complete reboot and has essentially gone back to the drawing board. Many fans of Blizzard have been anticipating some details on the secret MMO project, but now they may not get anything until at least 2016.

ZAM contacted Blizzard about the rumors and received this response:

We’ve always had a highly iterative development process, and the unannounced MMO is no exception. We’ve come to a point where we need to make some large design and technology changes to the game. We’re using this opportunity to shift some of our resources to assist with other projects while the core team adapts our technology and tools to accommodate these new changes. Note that we haven’t announced any dates for the MMO.” – Blizzard Entertainment

It’s likely that they have pulled some resources form Titan, which currently has no release schedule, to work on higher priority projects while Titan catches it’s breath and gets an overhaul.

Microsoft Introduces New Sculpt Mouse

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With Windows 8 beginning  to really settle in, it seems that Microsoft has decided to launch a new mouse to make the whole experience feel better. The Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse is designed to work Windows and it also has some features that are specifically for Windows 8.

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Sculpt Comfort Mouse

 

The most obvious feature on the mouse is the Windows Touch Tab, which is the big blue strip on the side mouse that allows you to quickly return to the Start Screen when pressed in the center. With Windows 8, if you swipe up on the blue strip you can switch between open apps, if you swipe down it will show you all open apps. The stripe can also be used to open the Start menu on older versions of Windows.

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The wheel offers up four way scrolling and the mouse movement is captured using Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology. This mouse is wireless and uses bluetooth which will also allow you to connect it to a tablet. You can also get a mobile version of this mouse which boasts many of the same features except that it lacks the blue Windows strip on the side.

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Sculpt Mobile Mouse

 

The Sculpt Comfort is selling for $39.95 and the mobile version is selling for $29.95. You can read the full hardware specifications on Microsoft’s hardware page.