New Year Honours: Astronaut Piers Sellers becomes OBE
December 31, 2010
British-born astronaut Piers Sellers has been appointed an OBE in the New Year Honours List for his services to science.
Dr Sellers, who was born in Crowborough, East Sussex, has flown on three space shuttle missions - most recently in May this year.
Ariane 5 makes final 2010 flight
December 30, 2010
Europe’s heavy-lift rocket, the Ariane 5, has completed its sixth and final mission of 2010, putting two satellites high above the Earth.
The launcher powered skyward from its Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 1827 local time (2127 GMT).
Tech tools for the ’snowpocalypse’
December 29, 2010
They won’t keep you warm or replace a good pair of snow boots, but a few digital tools have popped up to help people figure out how to respond to a major snowstorm that hit the northeastern United States this week.
Two “snowmageddon” websites, for example, highlight reports from the blizzard and put them on maps of New York and Boston.
Tech predictions for 2011: The winners and losers
December 28, 2010
Editor’s note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media. He writes a weekly column about social networking and tech for CNN.com.
This year in technology has been packed with surprises: From the rise of the iPad to Facebook’s global domination.
If this past year is anything to go by, 2011 will be anything but predictable.
The top 10 tech trends of 2010
December 28, 2010
Did the tech news ever stop this year?
In January, the world met a gadget called the iPad. In late December, federal regulators implemented groundbreaking rules for how the internet works.
In between, there were smarter phones, video games that make you actually stand up and do something and … oh, yeah … a little Web site called Facebook signed up a few more users.
Ka-Sat net-dedicated spacecraft lifts off
December 27, 2010
The second European satellite dedicated to delivering broadband internet connections has launched successfully.
The six-tonne Ka-Sat lifted off atop a Proton rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan at 0351 local time on Monday (2151 GMT on Sunday).
The flight lasted nine hours and 12 minutes.
The Eutelsat-operated spacecraft will concentrate its services on the estimated tens of millions of European homes in so-called “not-spots”.
Toshiba overhauls chip ops with Samsung, Sony deals
December 27, 2010
Toshiba Corp will overhaul its chip operations, outsourcing output of some system chips to Samsung Electronics and selling a production line to Sony Corp, as it reduces its non-memory chip exposure.
Ka-Sat net-dedicated spacecraft ready for launch
December 26, 2010
Europe is about to get a second satellite dedicated to delivering broadband internet connections.
Stuxnet ‘hit’ Iran nuclear plans
November 22, 2010
The Stuxnet worm might be partly responsible for delays in Iran’s nuclear programme, says a former UN nuclear inspections official.
Olli Heinonen, deputy director at the UN’s nuclear watchdog until August, said the virus might be behind Iran’s problems with uranium enrichment.
Jellyfish ‘may benefit from ecosystem instability’
October 31, 2010
A team of researchers have been trying to identify how jellyfish may benefit from marine ecosystems destabilised by climate change and overfishing.
There is concern that a rise in jellyfish numbers could prevent depleted commercially important fish stocks recovering to historical levels.