Thursday, August 11, 2011

Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 (HTV-2) test flight



By the time you finish reading this sentence, the Falcon HTV-2, the fastest plane ever built, could have flown 18 miles. It would get from London to Sydney in less than an hour, while withstanding temperatures of almost 2,000C, hotter than the melting point of steel.

US Defence Advance Research Projects Agency will launch the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 on the back of a rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If all goes to plan, engineers will launch the Falcon HTV-2 to the edge of space, before detaching the plane and guiding it on a hypersonic flight that will reach speeds of 13,000mph (about 20 times the speed of sound) on its return to Earth.
The Falcon started life in 2003, part of a US military research project to build a plane that could reach (and potentially deliver bombs to) any part of the world in less than an hour.
The plane has been tested in computer models and wind tunnels, but they can only simulate speeds up to Mach 15 (11,400mph). A real test is the only way to determine if the plane will remain flying at high speeds.
Thursday's flight will also test the carbon composite materials designed to withstand the extreme temperatures the plane will experience on its skin and also the navigation systems that will control its trajectory as it moves at almost four miles per second.
The design and flight pattern of the plane has been tweaked since an aborted test flight in April last year. Nine minutes into that mission, which succeeded in flying for 139 seconds at Mach 22 (16,700mph), the onboard computer detected an anomaly and ordered the plane to ditch into the ocean for safety reasons.
Unlike most other rocket launches, this one will not be shown live online, though it will be possible to follow the plane's progress via tweets from@DARPA_News.



 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Firefox 4 RC2 released


Mozilla has just released the release candidate 2 (RC2) build of its Firefox 4 browser. It now seems that the final version of Firefox 4 will be available on March 22, the expected release date for it. Grab the RC 2 build of Firefox 4 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Mozilla Firefox 4 is almost here! We updated the Firefox 4 release candidate with some minor security fixes and updates to several localizations, including the addition of a Vietnamese localized version.

Firefox will now ship in 80 languages. We’re excited to deliver the new features, look and speed of Firefox 4 to our more than 400 million users worldwide.


What’s New in Firefox 4 RC 2:

  • Blacklisted a few invalid HTTPS certificates
  • Updated localizations for 29 locales
  • Added Vietnamese localization, bringing the total languages available in Firefox 4 to 83

    Tuesday, March 22, 2011

    Python + .NET = IronPython

    IronPython is an implementation of the Python programming language running under .NET and SilverlightIt supports an interactive console with fully dynamic compilation. It's well integrated with the rest of the .NET Framework and makes all .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers, while maintaining compatibility with the Python language. There also is Visual Studio tooling integration.

    IronPython is an open source project freely available under the Apache License v2.0. The sources are stored on GitHub as part of the IronLanguages project.

    IronPython is an excellent addition to the .NET Framework, providing Python developers with the power of the .NET framework. Existing .NET developers can also use IronPython as a fast and expressive scripting language for embedding, testing, or writing a new application from scratch.


    The CLR is a great platform for creating programming languages, and the DLR makes it all the better for dynamic languages. Also, the .NET framework (base class library, presentation foundation, Silverlight, etc.) gives developers an amazing amount of functionality and power.

    Thanks to all the users over the years who provided feedback that helped shape IronPython!

    Run IronPython in your web browser

    F#: a succinct, expressive and efficient functional and object-oriented language for .NET which helps you write simple code to solve complex problems.



    F# brings you type safe, succinct, efficient and expressive functional programming language on the .NET platform. It is a simple and pragmatic language, and has particular strengths in data-oriented programming, parallel I/O programming, parallel CPU programming, scripting and algorithmic development. It lets you access a huge .NET library and tools base and comes with a strong set of Visual Studio development tools. F# combines the advantages of typed functional programming with a high-quality, well-supported modern runtime system.


    This combination has been so successful that the language is now a first class language in Visual Studio 2010, and can also be used on Mac, Linux and other platforms. F# originates from Microsoft Research, Cambridge, and the MSR F# team, led by Don Syme, continues as partners with the Microsoft Developer Division. We seek to continue to break new ground in programming language design and implementation by making F# even better in upcoming versions.


    For further information on using F# today, see fsharp.net.

    Euro Fighter Typhoon vs Bugatti Veyron, the faster race


    Place your bets...

    The software war! who will be the winner?



    The Empire is going down?

    Monday, March 21, 2011

    The human evolution in minutes, enjoy.

    Timeline of programming languages


    Pre-1950

    Year Name Chief developer, Company Predecessor(s)
    ~1837 Analytical Engine order code Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace *
    1943-5 Plankalkül (concept) Konrad Zuse *
    1943-6 ENIAC coding system John von Neumann, John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert, Herman Goldstine after Alan Turing *
    1946 ENIAC Short Code Richard Clippinger, John von Neumann after Alan Turing ENIAC coding system
    1946 Von Neumann and Goldstine graphing system (Notation) John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine ENIAC coding system
    1947 ARC Assembly Kathleen Booth ENIAC coding system
    1948 CPC Coding scheme Howard H. Aiken Analytical Engine order code
    1948 Curry notation system Haskell Curry ENIAC coding system
    1948 Plankalkül (concept published) Konrad Zuse *
    1949 Brief Code John Mauchly and William F. Schmitt ENIAC Short Code
    1949 C-10 Betty Holberton ENIAC Short Code
    1949 Seeber coding scheme (concept) Robert Seeber CPC Coding scheme




    How to enable Remote Desktop... remotely... very useful

    In a case you want to remote access a Windows XP professional workstation and the computer Remote Desktop is not enabled, or no one over there to help you to enable it, you may have an option to enable Remote Desktop remotely by using regedit.

    To enabling Remote Desktop using regedit, follow these steps:

    Run REGEDIT from Start>Run
    Click on File, then select Connect Network Registry
    Type the remote computer IP or host name in the Enter the object name to select and the click OK.

    4. If you don't have permission to access the remote computer, the logon screen will show up. Type the username and password for the remote computer. Then click OK.

    5. Now, the remote computer is listed in the Registry Editor.

    6. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server, in the right panel, seelct fDenyTSConnection (REG_DWORD). Change the value data from 1 (Remote Desktop disabled) to 0 (Remote Desktop enabled).

    7. Close the regeidt.

    8. Enjoy!

    Gmail vs. Yahoo! vs. Hotmail

    Ever since the dawn of time mankind has an insatiable urge to communicate with one another. It seems that ultimate loneliness is no communication at all. From the early days of smoke signals to bongo drums to messenger boys mankind has found better and better ways to stay in communication.

    Communicating over vast distances became a problem. This was wrought with danger and took loads of time. Then came things like wired communication, radio and telephone. Mankind was once again happy. Then mankind began to get uneasy again. We wanted a cheaper, faster, personal, immediate form of communication. Enter the world of e-mail.

    To begin, only the select few had access to this precious technology. Then something amazing happened. Free email was born and everyone on the planet with internet access could get free email and stay in touch. Mankind was happy. But then, as more and more free mail services came onboard we were stuck with a choice. Which free online mail service should I go for?

    Hotmail a.k.a Windows Livemail.

    Hotmail, probably the most well known of the big three free online mail services. The Hotmail web-based email service was founded by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia and launched in July of 1996. Hotmail was one of the first free webmail services. It was subsequently acquired by Microsoft in 1997.

    Windows Live Hotmail offers an unlimited amount of storage. But they have a strict abuse policy in place. Most people believe that you are unofficially limited to 5GB mail box size. Although there are people from around the world that have 25GB, 19GB and 21GB mail box sizes.

    Windows Live Hotmail also allows for 10mb attachment limit for each mail. Windows Live Hotmail offers no direct pop features although you can use Microsoft products like Outlook Express and Outlook to pop your hotmail box. You would need Microsoft connector for Outlook. Hot mail is not the fastest service available. But when you sign up with a Live account you also get access to all the Live services like SkyDrive etc. Windows Live Hotmail lies second behind Yahoo! mail in terms of market share with roughly 254 million users world wide.

    Yahoo! mail

    At the moment, Yahoo! mail is the king of the hill when it comes to online mail market share. With around about 256 million users worldwide it seems that Yahoo! mail is just on top. But it must be said that it seems as though Yahoo! mail is losing users on a monthly basis.

    Yahoo Mail is very good, allowing users to access other email accounts (POP-in), but only offering POP-out access for an additional fee. They have unlimited storage, but just like the other service providers, also have a strict abuse policy. Although there are cases of them actually limiting your mail box. So their unlimited storage is actual.

    Yahoo! mail offers a 20MB attachment limit. With news and IM integration. Yahoo Mail overall runs very fast and offers an intuitive, Outlook-like interface. They also have awesome Instant Messenger(although less people seem to be using Yahoo Messenger for some reason) and RSS integration right into the mail platform. One of my bug bears of Yahoo! mail is the ads for the unpaid free service.

    Gmail

    Otherwise known as Google mail. It might surprise you to know that Gmail actually come in at a strong third position. With roughly 150 million users world wide. They are slowly growing and might even over take Hotmail who have about 156 million users.

    Gmail offers unlimited storage but this has been linked to the paid service. Although they advertise unlimited storage, when I log into my Gmail account, I am greeted with the familiar 7.5 GB limit. Although this is a moving target, because it seems the closer you get to your limit, the more you seem to get. So who knows?

    Gmail offers a 25mb attachment size. The largest limit of the top three. Of the three, Gmail is probably the fastest with the ability to use Pop with any desktop mail client.

    Gmail also has integrated Gtalk (their Instant Messenger platform) directly into the GMail interface, and continues to add other functionality as well(such as integration with Docs & Spreadsheets). Most recently, they launched the new social networking feature Buzz as a part of the Gmail interface.

    In June 2008, Gmail introduced Gmail Labs. It’s a tab on top of settings, that lists features that are rough and have gone through almost no filtering. The Gmail Labs feature that allows you to turn on and off some experimental features. When a feature is deemed “useful enough” to a wide range of users, it then graduates from the “Labs” section and becomes a standard feature.

    Conclusion

    For me I like Gmail better. Perhaps because I use it the most. I have it integrated into my desktop mail client, so it just performs in the background. I hardly have to use the webmail interface. It is speedy, and simple. I don’t want to be bombarded with other stuff while reading mail online. I do have both Yahoo! mail and Windows Live Hotmail, but use these more to catch spam that has somehow bypassed the spam filters. The amount of unique users of all the above three differ depending on which stats you read. But most put Yahoo on top with Gmail in third place.

    So which online mail service do you use and why? Which do you think is better?

    Gen-2 PAK-FA Sukhoi T-50/HAL FGFA Low-Observable Supercruising 5th-Generation Stealth Fighter Aircraft Begins Flight Testing: Raptor Alive and Well

    DefenseReview (DR) readers may remember a story we published back in February 2010 on the Russian PAK FA Sukhoi T-50 low-observable stealth fighter aircraft that’s essentially Russia’s developmental version of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Well, the program has developed since then into the more fleshed-out Sukhoi/HAL FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft) under the Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) project. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) of India as signed a contract for Preliminary Design with Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi.

    The Gen-2 PAK FA Sukhoi T-50/FGFA will reportedly enjoy all the advantages of 5th-Generation fighter aircraft, including low observability (i.e., stealth), supercruise, ultra-maneuverability, internal weapons carriage, enhanced situational awareness, a highly-integrated avionics suite, and network centric warfare capabilities.defenceWeb reports that “Mikhail Pogosyan, director of Sukhoi, estimates a market for a thousand PAK FA aircraft over the next four decades.

    Two hundred will be produced for India, two hundred for Russia and the rest will be for export.” They also state that “Russia will buy the first ten aircraft after 2012 and will induct the type into service around 2015, making it the first all-new warplane to enter Russian Air Force service since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.”


    You may remember that the Indian Air Force (IAF) supposedly kicked the tar out of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in 2004 AND 2008 in mock dogfights using the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, the last one being a Red Flag mock dogfight. The made-for-export Russian/Indian “Version 5″ Su-30MKI used in the 2008 Red Flag exercise incorporated both thrust vectoring (vectored thrust) AND canards (so they were pretty maneuverable!), and integrated the Russian R-77 (RVV-AE) Missile (NATO reporting name: AA-12 Adder) “AMRAAMsky” active radar missile and R-27/AA-10 (“10 Delta”) mod Alamo IR (infrared) missile with 30-mile range.

    According to an Aviation Week article published in May 2002, the Russian Su-30MK “Beats F-15C ‘Every Time’“. The article describes the Su-30MK’s advantage over the F-15C thus:

    In certain circumstances, the Su-30 can use its maneuverability, enhanced by thrust-vectoring nozzles, and speed to fool the F-15’s radar, fire two missiles and escape before the U.S. fighter can adequately respond. This is according to Air Force officials who have seen the results of extensive studies of multi-aircraft engagements conducted in a complex of 360-deg. simulation domes at Boeing’s St. Louis facilities.

    “The Su-30 tactic and the success of its escape maneuver permit the second, close-in shot, in case the BVR [beyond-visual-range] shot missed,” an Air Force official said. Air Force analysts believe U.S. electronic warfare techniques are adequate to spoof the missile’s radar. “That [second shot] is what causes concern to the F-15 community,” he said. “Now, the Su-30 pilot is assured two shots plus an effective escape, which greatly increases the total engagement [kill percentage].”

    THE SCENARIO in which the Su-30 “always” beats the F-15 involves the Sukhoi taking a shot with a BVR missile (like the AA-12 Adder) and then “turning into the clutter notch of the F-15’s radar,” the Air Force official said. Getting into the clutter notch where the Doppler radar is ineffective involves making a descending, right-angle turn to drop below the approaching F-15 while reducing the Su-30’s relative forward speed close to zero. This is a 20-year-old air combat tactic, but the Russian fighter’s maneuverability, ability to dump speed quickly and then rapidly regain acceleration allow it to execute the tactic with great effectiveness, observers said.

    If the maneuver is flown correctly, the Su-30 is invisible to the F-15’s Doppler radar–which depends on movement of its targets–until the U.S. fighter gets to within range of the AA-11 Archer infrared missile. The AA-11 has a high-off-boresight capability and is used in combination with a helmet-mounted sight and a modern high-speed processor that rapidly spits out the target solution.

    Positioned below the F-15, the Su-30 then uses its passive infrared sensor to frame the U.S. fighter against the sky with no background clutter. The Russian fighter then takes its second shot, this time with the IR missile, and accelerates out of danger.

    “It works in the simulator every time,” the Air Force official said. However, he did point out that U.S. pilots are flying both aircraft in the tests. Few countries maintain a pilot corps with the air-to-air combat skills needed to fly these scenarios, said an aerospace industry official involved in stealth fighter programs.

    Of course, the Russian and Indian air forces both do maintain pilot corps with these air-to-air combat skills. The same article noted that skeptics contend the simulation results were engineered to justify development and fielding of the F-22 Raptor, AIM-9X high-off-boresight, short-range air-to-air missile, Joint Helmet Mounting Cueing System (JHMCS), and possibly also the development a new long-range air-to-air missile that can match the F-22 radar’s ability to identify targets out to 120 miles.

    Skeptics of the Red Flag exercises have made the same argument: that the USAF essentially lost on purpose to justify Raptor procurement. The Raptor, of course, more than compensates for the Su-30MKI’s superiority over the F-15.

    Enter the Sukhoi/HAL FGFA stealth fighter aircraft, which will probably bridge at least most of the gap between the Su-30 fighter series and F-22. When you add the Russian radar and IR targeting and missiles (along with their own helmet mounted cueing system) to the package, you’ve got, well, a pretty formidable package.

    The F-22 isn’t necessarily invincible under all circumstances. Let’s not forget that an F-22 got shot down during an air-to-air combat simulation at the hands of some F-16 Falcons from from 64th Aggressor Squadron. Here’s what War is Boring had to say about it:

    I totally agree: failure is the best way to improve. And if losing one simulated dogfight against other Americans flying F-16s was such a profound experience for our Raptor jockies, imagine what they might take away from a no-holds-barred match with experienced foreign pilots flying a genuinely dissimilar aircraft, say Indian aces in Su-30s or veteran Russian pilots in Su-27s – or even top British aviators in the Royal Air Force’s new Typhoons. So far the Air Force has kept its Raptors on a short leash, letting them play in only the most controlled circumstances. Maybe it’s time to cut them loose for some real education. Just think how prepared they’ll be after 50 mock shoot-downs.

    How about our Raptors flying towards a swarm of Chinese Chengdu J-20 fighter aircraft? The J-20 might not be anywhere close to a match for the F-22 on a one-to-one basis, but what happens if the Chinese produce enough J-20s to make it a 20-1 ratio, or 30-1 for that matter, in their favor?

    Let’s just hope that the Chinese don’t handle unpaid debts like the Mob. That would be unpleasant.

    Desarrollarían un sistema para detectar Tsunamis desde el espacio


    La catástrofe de Japón sembró una semilla de alerta en todo el mundo que, a raíz de eso, inició un proyecto de prevención contra este tipo de sucesos en todo el mundo.
    En estos momentos, la única manera de detectar un tsunami es a través de boyas submarinas y sismógrafos, con los cuales se puede alertar a la zona que será afectada con pocos minutos de anticipación.
    Más allá de que haya riesgo de tsunami o no, este sistema activa una alarma cuando se produce un sismo mayor a los 6.5 grados en zonas aledañas a las costas marinas.
    El ingeniero español Manuel Martín Neira desarrolló este nuevo sistema de prevención, que será conocido como PARIS. Este proyecto cuenta con aplicaciones que permiten anticipar con un tiempo importante de antelación a los tsunamis.
    PARIS está en proceso de estudio, pero se sabe que dispondrá de la tecnología de los satélites que observan y analizan la tierra para medir la altura de la superficie del océano. Se estima que el mundo podrá disponer de éste sistema para el año 2018.