On February 1st, 2003 many of us woke up that Saturday morning, rubbing the sleep from our eyes while staring in stark disbelief at the television news reports. America had lost the Space Shuttle Columbia during reentry on it’s return to Earth. And while the tragic loss was a shock to us all, others were busy putting feelings aside for the moment and performed the arduous task of recovering the Columbia wreckage to find out what went wrong.

One of the items discovered during Columbia reconstruction efforts was a hard drive that contained data from the CVX-2 experiment that studied the behavior of xenon gas in a microgravity environment. The Seagate 400MB HDD, originally thought to be lost, was able to be sent off for data reconstruction. Amazingly, specialists at the Johnson Space Center were able to recover 99 percent of the data from the hard drive. Researchers then combed over the recovered data for several years and recently published the results of their findings to the April’s edition of Physical Review E, a scientific journal.

Just goes to show how tough and resilient hard drives are these days and provides further proof how even severely damaged hard drives can still be successfully mined for data.

Read more at Engadget.

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HP’s MediaSmart TVs will soon be able to view YouTube videos straight on the TV without the need for a keyboard and mouse, as all one needs would be a simple remote control. Since the MediaSmart line has already made accessing digital media content from networked home PCs a snap through a single menu, this new alliance with YouTube will bring even greater functionality to the big screen in your living room. All you need to do is have a YouTube account and you’re good to go. Perfect for those frat parties where watching short crazy videos are the norm, but a more serious family will probably find something else that is more fitting and cultured.

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by Nilay Patel, posted May 6th 2008 at 8:18AM
We’ve been hearing about MIT spinoff VectraSense’s Verb for Shoe “smart shoe” since 2004, but the company is finally taking preorders, and if you’ve got an extra $700, you can now blow it on some of the most ridiculous kicks ever designed. Four years and several hundred melodramatic product renders later, the basic idea is the same: an embedded computer automatically adjusts the shoe to your feet, syncs with your PC, and communicates with the shoes of others to exchange contact information. We’re not sure why you’d want to drop seven Bens on this functionality (we’d rather carry a cell phone and laptop and wear non-ridiculous shoes, you know?) but hey, if you’re going to be a fashion disaster, you might as well do it with wireless capabilities.

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I know that the PSP is used primarily for games, while others also use it for watching media and answering Skype calls, a few among us will probably use its bright display as some sort of torch at night instead. No longer do you need to do that with the XCM Magic Night Glow face plate which was created specially for the PSP Slim (read our review). While it looks pretty much ordinary during the day, everything changes at night as it glows eerily, making mom think that the PSP is possessed. There is no word on pricing as at press time.

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Phoenix Technologies will be collaborating with Fujitsu in order to make remote disk control and disk data protection for mobile computing environments equipped with Fujitsu’s new full disk encryption (FDE) 2.5″ 7,200RPM SATA hard disk drive possible. This allows the laptop owner disable the Fujitsu FDE drive in the laptop remotely, providing a “failsafe” protection against data theft and personal information loss. The first hard drive in the series will be the Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ, supporting the hardware-based AES-256 bit encryption standard. Sounds pretty good to me - hopefully it will be affordable for everyone as well.

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The Creative Vado you see here will definitely strike a chord with our older readers, as it strangely resembles the Flip Video Camcorder which features a built-in USB 2.0 connector. Heck, even its specifications are eerily similar to the Flip which has already been out for the better part of the last year. Some of the specifications include :-

• Up to 2 hours of recording with 2GB internal memory
• Rechargeable with up to 2 hours of battery life per charge
• VGA video quality (640 x 480 resolution)
• Ultra lightweight (3 ounces including battery)
• Built-in Microphone and speaker
• Built-in flexible USB connector
• TV-output (Vado Audio/Video cable available separately)
• Anti-flicker support for adjustment to 50Hz or 60Hz

Each purchase comes with relevant software that makes uploading videos onto YouTube and Photobucket a cinch.

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Internet TV is cool and is starting to redefine the way consumers watch TV programs. But what would be even cooler is if you can watch your Internet TV programs in high definition, right? Actually you can soon do that with the newly launched and uber-cool device called the ZVBox. ZeeVee, the manufacturers of the ZVBox call this technology localcasting, whereby anything that you have on your PC will be streamed by way of the ZVBox into your HDTV display.

How is this possible? Actually, it works as simple as hooking your ZVBox to your monitor and your HDTV. The ZVBox will stream everything that you do on your PC and localcast this to your HDTV via channel ZV that goes through your cable. What makes ZVBox even better is the fact that it is not limited to localcasting Internet TV programs. Like we said, it can broadcast everything from your PC. So, you can view your own video, view high resolution photos, do your internet activities and many other things. What’s more, you can connect the ZVBox to multiple HDTVs. So, while you and your wife are watching in the comfort of your living room, the kids can watch on their own TV in the comfort of their bedroom.

But of course, all cool devices come with a price, and for the ZVBox it doesn’t come cheap. You can snag one ZVBox by pre-ordering at Amazon for $499. However, you’ll have to wait until June to find out if the price is worth it as that is when they are estimated to begin shipping..

Product [ZeeVee] Via [Gear Live]

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by Darren Murph, posted May 5th 2008 at 6:28PMWe’ve heard your cries for USB-to-DVI adapters that don’t cost two arms and a good portion of your left leg, and apparently so has EVGA. Announced today with DisplayLink, the company is serving up two new USB graphics adapters (UGAs) in the UV Plus+ family of wares, both of which are hitting resellers as we speak for “well under $100.” Both peripherals are designed to play nice in Windows XP and Vista, and while the UV12 supports resolutions up to 1,280 x 1,024 (1,440 x 900 widescreen), the UV16 goes all the way up to 1,600 x 1,200 (1,680 x 1,050 widescreen). Kudos for lowering the bar EVGA, now it’s time for everyone else to follow suit.

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