Nissan Motor Announces Start of Production for All-New March

by SOHAIB: Nissan Motor (Thailand) Co., Ltd. NMT) today celebrated the start of production for the all-new Nissan March, a global compact vehicle. More than 200 guests and employees were at the kick-off event, which included representatives from the Thai government, including Trirong Suwanakiri, deputy prime minister.

Officially launching March 26 at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2010, the Nissan March will be the first model offered for sale under Thailand’s “eco-car” program, created to encourage the development of energy-efficient vehicles.

To receive eco-car designation, requirements for low fuel consumption and emissions must be met, as well as passenger safety standards for front and side impact under the stringent standards of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE regulation 94 and 95). The Thai eco-car program is an initiative of the Ministry of Industry’s Board of Investment, which was successful in establishing Thailand as a manufacturing hub for pickup trucks.

“With an increasing vehicle population in Thailand and valid concerns about higher pollution levels in cities across the country, we’re introducing a product that will have fewer CO2 emissions and less environmental impact,” said Toshiyuki Shiga, COO of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. “Very importantly, too, producing and selling the eco-friendly Nissan March in Thailand, as well as exporting it to other countries in the Asian and Oceania markets, will create jobs and contribute to the country’s progressive auto industry development,” added Shiga, who attended the event.

The start of production for March positions NMT as a center for excellence in manufacturing, R&D and customer care. Thailand will join China, India and Mexico as one of Nissan’s global manufacturing hubs for Nissan March (known as the Micra in Europe and other countries), which ultimately will be offered in 160 world markets.

Nissan March is built on a new versatile platform, the V-platform, and is designed to have broad appeal to customers in both developed and emerging markets. The designers in Japan worked to create a vehicle that would convey agility and robustness in the design. On this, they delivered. As well, March is a reliable, stylish and eco-friendly car for people who enjoy everyday driving. The compact hatchback, with its affable appearance, also is engineered for easy handling and sprightly performance, while realizing class-leading fuel efficiency. The newly developed March powertrain features a 1.2-liter, 3-cylinder engine with an output of 79PS (108Nm) and 120g/km CO2 emissions (under UNECE regulation 101). March is available with a five-speed manual transmission or an all-new continuous variable transmission (CVT).

“The all-new March will simplify city life,” said Toru Hasegawa, NMT president. “March is a smart eco-car for people who enjoy their daily drives. New March drivers in Thailand will be pleased as well with the car’s modern and roomy interior and the many user-friendly technologies. It’s really the right car at the right time for this market.”

Dealers will accept customer bookings for Nissan March starting tomorrow, and vehicle delivery will start within a few weeks for the five-speed manual transmission version. Delivery of the March with CVT will begin in early June.

Priced from 375,000 baht to 537,000 baht, March will be sold through the NMT dealer network across Thailand.

As part of its mid-term business plan (named “Revolution 2012″) announced last October, NMT has targeted a more than 10 percent market share for Thailand. The company expects to achieve this mainly through the success of the eco-car project, launch of at least one new vehicle every year through 2012 and continuing quality improvements in the sales network. NMT FY2009 sales are expected to total 34,000 units, an increase of 22 percent versus FY2008. The company plans to sell 48,000 vehicles in FY2010, including 20,000 units of March.

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Esmond says, Toyota may extend discounts past March

by SOHAIB: Toyota Motor Corp. may keep aggressive discounts available for U.S. consumers beyond this month after unprecedented incentives lifted U.S. sales in early March.

Toyota's U.S. sales surged 40 percent in the first 10 days of March compared with the year-earlier period in the wake of a zero-percent financing offer and other incentives, Don Esmond, senior vice president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said in an interview.

Esmond said Toyota would evaluate March sales results and reaction from dealers and consumers before deciding whether to extend the discounts, which the company called its most "far-reaching sales program in history."

"We'll continue to keep the dealers competitive in the marketplace," Esmond said, speaking to Reuters by telephone after meeting with the company's dealers in Cleveland.

"I think we will have to take a look at results and reevaluate, but the promise I made to dealers was that we will continue to make them competitive," he said.

Esmond said Toyota expects to regain most of its U.S. market share lost in the past two months following a damaging series of recalls that have tarnished its reputation for quality.

Toyota's U.S. market share plunged to 13.4 percent in the first two months of this year, down from 17 percent for all of 2009.

Standing by

"Toyota owners have stood by us,” Esmond said. “They've got good confidence in the brand and the products."

"For us, it's a pretty big step up, but still if you look at what the competitors spend per vehicle basis, we are still 30 percent below our competitors," he said.

As recently as February, Toyota's incentive spending averaged $1,833 per vehicle, compared with $3,434 per vehicle on average for GM, according to industry tracking firm Edmunds.com.

Toyota, which has traditionally spurned steep discounts in order to protect resale values, is offering zero-percent financing for five years on top-selling models, including the Camry, and free maintenance for two years to win back U.S. consumers after a series of product safety problems.

Gregg Lemos-Stein, an auto analyst with Standard & Poor's, said such deep discounts would appeal to people who remain undecided about the brand and to whom the price was a major impediment to buying Toyotas, but it has the risk of cutting into profit margins as well as resale values longer term.

"The reason why it's key," Lamos-Stein said of residual values, "is that, traditionally, Toyota has had an advantage on leasing and financing its new vehicles based on strong resale values."

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British Gaming: Vancouver 2010

by SOHAIB: Massive sport events mean two things. One, the TV schedules are packed with coverage of events I know little or nothing about, and two, tie in video games. With the Winter Olympics coming up, Sega’s released their inevitable Vancouver 2010 game.

Vancouver 2010 boasts a whopping 14 different events in its main menu. This, quite simply, is a lie. There might be 14 different options, but there’s realistically about 3 different games. It’s the equivalent of those 500-in-one knockoff cartridges for the Gameboy where every 7th game is Pacman. Don’t be fooled by the name MAZE EATER.

One of the first things to be copied and pasted is skiing. Under the guise of Men’s Downhill, Men’s Super-G, Ladies Giant Slalom and Ladies Slalom, it’s a mildly interesting game of skiing down a slope through flagpoles. It’s mildly amusing but they’ve tried to make it more exciting by adding motion blur so extreme you’d think they just discovered the effects section of Photoshop for the first time. It’s also slightly curious how smashing in to the posts seems to have no effect on momentum which stands out a bit when the game is meant to be a realistic and serious take on the sports within.

Next off the photocopier is the trio of Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton. Featuring almost negligible differences between them, you’re using the analogue stick to move up and down the sides of the course without falling off. It’s not too bad to play as you’ve got to balance the high speed and getting a good score for the cornet with being on the sides to the risk of falling off and losing. It’s good fun, up to the point of the death corner in the Luge track. That just ain’t possible, son.

Not all the games are as successful, such as the Ladies Freestyle Aerials, an event that can only be described as a mess. This is thanks to a series of timing bars and crazy moving circles which you have to follow with the analogue sticks and keep aligned that just feel awkward.

I just can’t for the life of me figure out who the audience for this game is. People who like… the cold…? Olympics videogames are practically minigame collections, a genre which is best as a party game. Vancouver 2010 doesn’t seem to have been designed for this, something emphasised best through the achievements – where only one is for playing with other people, with the rest being made up of single player tasks. What sort of person would want to play this game solo? Besides, half the fun of multiplayer games is giving your characters rude names, which the game doesn’t allow. Don’t think you can just use a 1 instead of an I, you’ll need to be more creative than that.

Most of the games are played by taking turns, understandable considering the sports chosen, but that doesn’t make it as fun. Among the exceptions to this you have the snowboard and ski cross events, where they didn’t even bother to make different courses, which is much more lively and enjoyable as a 4 player experience.

Although it might look as though there’s been a lot of time spent working on the game due to the high level of visual polish (it’s quite a good looking game), but beyond that it pretty much feels dead. There’s a complete lack of atmosphere (to THE OLYMPICS) and there’s not much depth to the game to make you want to go back. Sure, make a serious winter sports package, but if you’re doing that then make it in depth, new courses to unlock, have skills to develop…

Vancouver really suffers from a lack of content. An already small amount of included sports is made up of mostly repetitive content, hardly pulling the range of sports you can find at the real games. You can try and hide it by sticking in ‘first person athlete view’ nonsense, but you’re not fooling anyone. The game is lifeless, empty, and contains no content that’ll really draw you back to it. The most fun you’ll have is trying to come up with creative ways of writing rude names. Say hello the newest representative from China, Qi r Buii.

Besides, it’s a sports collection that very rarely asks you to mash buttons. Forget the speed skating sliding nonsense – THAT is what these games are supposed to be about. At least we get next year off from Olympics tie-in rubbish…

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BGB talks MAG with Seth Luisi: quick-fixes and data-mining

by SOHAIB: The 256 player online game MAG shouldn’t be facing long waits for bug fixes to reach users as Sony has told British Gaming Blog about how they plan to speed up what usually is a length certification process.

Seth Luisi, director of development at Sony Computer Entertainment America said that the game has a “two tier patching system” that will allow for quicker updates to the game. As well as ones that have to go through Sony’s platform QA team as seen with most games, “the other we can test on our own and release a data patch which addresses things that aren’t really related to the executable. And a lot of the items too we can address too on the server, so we don’t even need to patch the client to make a lot of the changes and improvements to the game.”

Much of the game’s testing before release was through an open beta release. “We were always planning on having an extensive beta period. With a game that’s 256 players, we couldn’t even play it at Zipper. They have less than 150 people there at the whole company so we couldn’t even fill a single game so the beta was really key to get out there.”

As well as getting written feedback from the community, Zipper used the beta to collect a lot of details on how the game was being played though data mining: “You know, where people are running in the world, how easy it is for them to kill other people, lots of statistics on kill heat maps, movement heat maps, shot heat maps so tons of data that we can look at and adjust the level layouts, adjust the level tuning, and everything else.”

However, the more important question… is if it would be theoretically possible to get all 128 people on one team to one spot and defend that way.

“Absolutely, you can do that – you can do all 256. We’ve done it internally! The issue with that is that there’s always somebody who has to throw a grenade or shoot someone.”

“Getting everybody to stop firing long enough to get all of those people to one spot is much more challenging than you may think.”

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MAG 256 Launch Event

by SOHAIB: Sony’s new PS3 game MAG, which stands for Massive Action Game, is both the laziest title in the history of gaming and a pretty accurate description of what happens. It’s certainly a game, shooting does classify as action, and it is of a considerable scale. MAG’s hook is that you can play it online with up to a massive 256 players. To celebrate this, the launch event, MAG 256, saw 128 journalists and gamers convene in one room in London. It quite literally sounds like they were half-arsing it.

Developed by Zipper Interactive, best known for the military shooter series SOCOM, MAG is what happens when you think 8 v 8 games aren’t exciting enough. Set in a modern war with three private military corporations in a ‘shadow war’, it’s a first person shooter set on a massive scale.

To match the scale of the game, the event was set around a giant structure of the numbers 256, and also featured a wall displaying tweets with the hashtag #mag256 projected larger than reason would allow. Being highly mature, I began to fill this up with tweets about my journey to the event, my desire to CONTROL the screen, and random twaddle.

“I am looking down on you all. This is because I am better than you. Also, I am on a balcony.”

Stopping me from texting were the announcements from the ‘Voice of MAG’, a man whose parents either hated him or was given a name to set him on one career path, instructing us to return to our “battlestations”, to play 2 rounds of each of the 3 game modes.

I tend not to enjoy online shooters too much as I find they’re over-competitive. Many multiplayer modes have their own game elements and rules and so the only time you get to practice at them is when you go online: and with the level of responsibility you get in your small team combined with the verbal abuse you’ll receive over the headset if you’re not good, it’s very offputting to get the practice in you need to be any good, and so I just avoid the game.

But with MAG, and this might seem like odd praise, you’re allowed to be a bit crap. This isn’t to say the game is broken, it’s not, rather that you’re one of 128, relieving the pressure, and within that you’ve got a group that’s structured and you can be given orders. You can choose to maybe focus on sniping, or do the most healing (because no-one else seemed to), or try and take people out but you can still feel that you have a role within the team. You might not have the entire war resting on your shoulders but you can still make a difference by sticking around that control tower and defending it as people from the opposite team made attempts one by one to take it. It might not be the best strategies used by both sides, but it worked and was enjoyable.

The thing that MAG is really effective at is getting the feeling of being at war. I mean that in a good way, if such thing is possible. The scale of the battles is huge and with other players running around too you really get a good sense of it. Instead of being limited to a linear path, there are huge environments to explore and fight in… although sometimes it did feel repetitive in terms of running to get to a point, dying, respawning and repeat.

The PS3 copes with the demands of the game fairly well. Visually, the characters and environment all looked good. The animation… less so, but I’m not sure whether it was the fact 128 people were on the same internet connection to the states or that the game is more jerky than beef jerky. Characters would sometimes judder around slightly making it hard to know whether your shot hit them (just wait a few frames and you’ll find out), but vehicles were the worst. The tanks would just make huge jumps around the map looking so awkward and stuttering so much that even the worst stop motion animator would tell you that you need to make that smoother.

For a game that could be a complete mess due to the sheer size of it, MAG is a great surprise. The levels feel of a great scale and if you manage to get a full game going it really does feel lively. The controls work (though having the healing gun and grenades one button press away from each other is highly dangerous) and the respawns didn’t feel too long away.

It wasn’t the most ideal situation to play the game, giving everyone headsets while standing so close with such loud TVs meant that it was easier not to talk to anyone and guess where your platoon leader goes. Despite that though, I’m really impressed with MAG. It pulls off a difficult concept really well, though how well that transfers to the real world playing of the game is another matter – hopefully Zipper will release new content and encourage people to keep playing it so you get the full experience of it.

Oh, also, MAG. Seriously, they couldn’t come up with another name? MAG? It sounds like something you might hear shouted while someone smashes the table. Sony clearly have high expectations of the target audience.

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Ricoh Adds Options to GXR System

by SOHAIB: At the current CP+ tradeshow, Ricoh is displaying two additional lens blocks that it recently announced for its innovative GXR camera system, pictured here.

Rather than using interchangeable lenses for its GXR cameras, Ricoh uses interchangable lens blocks, as explained in the link above. Essentially, the lens blocks include a lens and an image sensor, giving the camera the ability to create varying levels of telephoto shots without requiring long lenses.

The P10 lens block includes a 28mm-300mm equivalent, while the A12 lens block has a fixed 28mm lens. The new lens blocks will appear in Japan in the second half of 2010, and they'll then migrate to other parts of the world a few months later.

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New Sony Cyber-Shot W370 Available Soon

by SOHAIB: The Cyber-shot DSC-W370 from Sony may very well represent the company's most powerful beginner-level point and shoot digital camera it has ever offered. With an MSRP of $229.99, that's no small feat. (Compare Prices)

The W370 can shoot at resolutions up to 14 megapixels, and it includes an impressive 7X optical zoom lens. It can shoot in 720p HD video, and the W370 has a 3.0-inch LCD.

In addition, the W370 offers Sony's "Sweep Panorama" technology, which allows the W370 to easily shoot panoramic photos at 243 degrees and at resolutions up to 7152x1080 pixels.

The W370 will be available sometime in March in four different body colors: Graphite black, green, silver, and red. This model definitely has a lot of interesting features, and I'm looking forward to having a chance to test it.

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NASA Discover Three FASTSAT Instruments Pass Tests

by SOHAIB: The outer layers of Earth's atmosphere hold many secrets yet to be uncovered and three scientific instruments will fly soon on the FASTSAT-HSV01 satellite and seek to uncover them to benefit us here on Earth. Known as MINI-ME, PISA and TTI, these instruments recently passed a series of important final tests to prove their readiness for spaceflight.

These instruments were conceived and built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and were integrated to the satellite and tested at NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

MINI-ME, acronym for Miniature Imager for Neutral Ionospheric atoms and Magnetospheric Electrons, is a low energy neutral atom imager which will detect neutral atoms formed in the plasma population of the Earth's outer atmosphere to improve global space weather prediction. Low energy neutral atom imaging is a technique first pioneered at Goddard which allows scientists to observe remotely various trapped charged particle populations around Earth that we would normally only be able to observe in-situ through direct instrument contact with the particles.

Michael Collier, Principal Investigator for the MINI-ME instrument at NASA Goddard said, "The satellite has gone through vibration, thermal, and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) tests and everything looks great. The MINI-ME instrument is performing as expected."

PISA is an acronym for the Plasma Impedance Spectrum Analyzer, which will test a new measurement technique for the thermal electron populations in the ionosphere, and their density structuring, which can interfere with or scatter radio signals used for communication and navigation. PISA will tell scientists on Earth when and where the ionosphere becomes structured or turbulent. That will give us better predictions of how space weather will affect GPS signals.

Doug Rowland, PISA's Principal Investigator at NASA Goddard said, "PISA has completed the same tests that the Mini-ME endured and has just passed powered Electromagnetic Interference Test. PISA is on track for spacecraft to be packed up and delivered to the launch site." The EMI, vibration and thermal testing are critical tests for all instruments and satellites before they're loaded aboard a rocket and put into orbit.

The Thermospheric Temperature Imager, or TTI, will provide the first global-scale measurements of thermospheric temperature profiles in the 56-168 mile (90-270 km) region of the Earth's atmosphere. The temperature profile sets the scale height of the thermosphere which determines the density at orbital altitudes and therefore the aerodynamic drag experienced by military spacecraft.

John Sigwarth, TTI's Principal Investigator at NASA Goddard, said "The TTI survived the satellite launch vibration levels, being blasted with radio waves, and the TTI had a great thermal vacuum test. We were able to characterize the operation of the instrument in space-like environments and the TTI is ready for launch. We are eagerly anticipating obtaining great data from orbit."

Electromagnetic Interference or EMI testing is done to ensure that powerful ground-based communications and radar systems do not cause interference on the satellite or instrument systems.

Vibration testing is an important part of the testing process, because when the rocket carrying the satellite lifts off and travels through Earth's atmosphere it experiences intense vibrations. Successful vibration testing assures scientists and engineers that their instrument will remain intact and fully functional after launch.

Thermal testing is also critical, because of the extreme temperatures in space. Scientists need to be sure that the instruments will maintain function at extreme temperatures, from the extreme heat the rocket carrying the satellite will experience during launch and when it travels through Earth's atmosphere into the cold void of space.

"With the completion of the last phase of environmental testing of the integrated FASTSAT-HSV01 spacecraft, our team is focused on readying the satellite and its six science and technology instruments, for its near term shipment to Kodiak, Alaska, and for an on time launch no earlier than May 28, 2010," said FASTSAT Project Manager Mark Boudreaux at NASA Marshall.

"FASTSAT-HSV" means "Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, Huntsville" The development, integration, test and operations of the three instruments is a collaborative effort between NASA Goddard, NASA Marshall, and the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.

FASTSAT-HSV01 will be flying a total of six instruments approved by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Space Experiments Review Board multi-spacecraft/payload mission named STP-S26, which is executed by the DoD Space Test Program (STP) at the Space Development and Test Wing (SDTW), Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. which is a unit of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. The mission was designated S26 to correspond to the 26th small launch vehicle mission in STP's more than 40 year history of flying DoD space experiments. The mission will launch four satellites and three cubesats into low earth orbit.

The satellite was created at NASA Marshall with the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, in partnership with Dynetics, a corporate partner.    

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High-performance Porsche hybrid tops AW award Winners

by SOHAIB: The easy part of an international auto show is getting around to see the new cars and concepts (although at the end of the day, our feet are telling us otherwise.) But the hard part can be sorting out all the hardware to determine the winners of the AutoWeek awards.

But the talking, cajoling and voting are over for this year's Geneva auto show, so here are our picks:

BEST IN SHOW: Porsche 918 Spyder concept

"Of all the cars here, Porsche's 918 Spyder stole the Swiss spotlight," editor Wes Raynal said. "Years from now, enthusiasts everywhere will remember that the 918 made its surprising debut here."

The 918 Spyder is fitted with a 500-hp V8 and a trio of electric motors that crank out 214 hp. That might just qualify it as a hyper-speed hyper-hybrid. Porsche engineers say this plug-in hybrid gets 78 mpg. World Rally ace Walter Rohrl, a Porsche test driver, says the 918 can lap the famed Nürburgring racetrack quicker than a Porsche Carrera GT.

"Creating new Porsche models does not happen with great frequency," said Raynal. "While the 918 is technically a concept, Porsche executives reminded us that the firm has never made a concept it didn't build as a production car. We look forward to getting behind the wheel."

Other finalists considered: Pininfarina Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta concept

BEST CONCEPT: Mercedes-Benz F800 concept

With the new and exciting face of Mercedes, the F800 would slot in below the company's current C-class as the new "baby Benz" as the company aims to go smaller in its lineup. The F800 carries the looks of the next-generation C and E, and it will get a small supercharged engine that will be either front- or all-wheel-drive.

"The F800 carries aggressive, bold design from Mercedes that clearly signals its visual and emotional intent," Raynal said. "It is one concept that many companies around the world will look to as a way to determine which way the style wind is blowing."

Others finalists considered: Hyundai i-Flow, Opel Flextreme GT/E

MOST SIGNIFICANT: Audi A1

The subcompact, which hits European showrooms in May with a $22,000 sticker, attempts to bring standard luxury features to a segment that traditionally shuns them to keep prices low. Additionally, the A1 will get an electric version, dubbed the A1 E-tron, which also debuted. Audi says it does not yet have plans to bring it to the United States.

"Loading luxury into subcompact cars throws the traditional price-value equation out the door and is a fascinating concept," executive editor Roger Hart said. "In Europe and in some other global markets, the A1 could change that thinking about entry-level cars."

Other finalists considered: Volvo S60, Ferrari 599 hybrid

MOST FUN: Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Alfa celebrates its centennial in high style with the Giulietta five-door hatch. The visually striking car comes in five versions, topped by 235-hp variant, and it goes on sale around the world (but unfortunately not in the States) in May.

"This is another car we wish we could have in our driveway tomorrow," Hart said. This Giulietta channels the mythical model of the same name from the 1950s that's credited with building the allure of the sexy Italian brand. The modern interpretation is slathered with a curvaceous skin, wears the Alfa triangle grille proudly and leads with prominent headlights.

Other finalists considered: Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera, Citroën DS3 Racing, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Citroën Survolt.

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Acura TSX family to grow with new Sport Wagon

by SOHAIB: Acura's TSX stable is about to grow again. Following the addition of a V6-powered sedan for the 2010 model year, Acura will debut a wagon version at the New York auto show in late March.

Information regarding what powertrains the wagon will be available with hasn't been released yet, but it's probably safe to look at the two engines available in the sedan to get an idea. A 2.4-liter, 201-hp I4 and 3.5-liter, 280-hp V6 currently make up the sedan's engine portfolio. The I4 is available with both a six-speed manual and five-speed automatic transmission, while the V6 only comes bolted to the automatic.

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GodsWar Gets Graphical Love and New Mounts

by SOHAIB: It seems like things are going great for the team working  on Godswar Online. With update 2.0 now live on the servers, players are getting a chance to check out all the changes the team at IGG have been hard at work polishing up. This new update offers a nice graphical upgrade to armors, pets, and more offering even more kawaii than before. The level has been raised to 130, with the possibility of even more adventuring than before, as well as the addition of new class suits of armor and even mythical gear! There are even new mounts for Level 40 and higher players, to give your tired feet a rest.

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There is water on moon

by SOHAIB: NASA HAS announced that there is water on the moon. The evidence of this water was discovered after the NASA spacecraft LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observatory and Sensing Satellite) discovered water ice beds at the lunar south pole, when it impacted the moon. Cabeus - the lunar south pole crater was intentionally impacted by LCROSS.

 

The LCROSS spacecraft, which was built at a cost of $79 million, crashed the lunar surface so that scientists could probe the debris for the presence of water. The project scientist Anthony Colaprete, who is also the principal investigator for NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffet Field, said "Indeed yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount."

It might be remembered that Chandrayan, the Indian lunar probe had found evidence of water on Moon and shared the findings with NASA almost a month ago. Chandrayan has NASA’s lunar analysing equipment fitted on board.

For long, scientists have suspected that there is water on the surface of moon, particularly at its south pole, which is permanently shadowed by craters. These craters have frozen water since the temperature is cold. NASA has been analysing the debris of the lunar crater by its sensing satellite and is planning to launch a mission to the moon by 2020.

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Philips Go Gear Media Players

by SOHAIB: The Philips GoGear Connect PMP (portable media player) . With its ultra thin make-up, it is built to fit into the pocket. Measuring a mere 43 x 146 x 150 mm it sure packs a punch. With an expected frequency response of 80 – 18000 hertz, and an output power of approximately 3 mW, it provides immense sound clarity. Fitted with a 3.2 inch HVGA touch screen, it uses haptic feedback technology to receive touch based input from the user.It is said to include Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS and has an inbuilt VoIP suite allowing you to communicate through the VoIP protocol. It is one of the First Portable media players to feature an Android based operating system.

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Futuristic Dragon Skin Body Armor

by SOHAIB: You may have heard about Dragon Skin armor, since it’s been talked about since 2007. However, now piezoelectrics has a hold of it and to say it’s something else is a clear and crazy understatement. How is the Dragon Armor so tough? It’s crafted from ceramic and titanium composite discs that overlap each other. This enables it to block bullets and spread out any impact over a larger area. Amazingly, when bullets hit the armor it can generate electricity and even give you an idea of the kind of round that was shot at you. It can be used on your body or on vehicles, which gives it a lot of practical, possible uses. Soldiers may someday feel like they’re in the movies, since Dragon Armor will even have a HUD that tells them how much protection (or shield) that they have left.

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