China launched a lunar probe.

China on Monday launched a lunar probe carrying an exploration rover in what is expected to be the nation's first soft-landing on an extraterrestrial body.

The Chang'e-3 spacecraft carries a lander, as well as a rover named "Yutu," which means Jade Rabbit, according to the Xinhua News Agency, China's official news service

The Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe lifts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan province on Monday. The Chang'e-3 lunar probe comprises a lander and a moon rover called "Yu Tu" (Jade Rabbit) which will be deployed to explore the surface of the moon. The lunar probe is expected to land on the moon in mid-December. (Photo: Reuters/China Daily)

The probe is scheduled to land on the moon in mid-December, Xinhua quoted Wu Zhijian, spokesman with China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Sky Charts (a.k.a. Cartes du Ciel)

sky charts

Who said you needed to buy an expensive Cd-rom to have a quality sky atlas ?

Sky Charts (a.k.a. Cartes du Ciel) computes and prints customized charts of the heavens, making use of the data in 16 catalogs of stars and nebulae. In addition the position of planets, asteroids and comets are shown.

The purpose of this program is to prepare different sky maps for a particular observation. A large number of parameters help you to choose specifically or automatically which catalogs to use, the colour and the dimension of stars and nebulae, the representation of planets, the display of labels and coordinate grids, the superposition of pictures, the condition of visibility and more. All these features make this celestial atlas more complete than a conventional planetarium.

Main features offered include:

• about 30 catalogues of stars, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies;
• ability to request portions of star catalogues online so as to plot charts until mag. 20;
• facility of self-updating online, from different sources, the comet and asteroid elements databases;
• option to request from SkyView - Digital Sky Survey, and similar sources, real sky images of the region drawn on the chart - with the ability of superimposing and easily editing, filtering and chromatically juggling them;
• DDE interface allowing the joint use with VAROBS - another freeware by Patrick Chevalley, consecrated to variable stars (in V3 this was included in the main program and there is no need for a separate download);
• Interfaces with Virtual Moon Atlas so as to get location charts for the Moon;
• Additional support of Real Sky and USNO Cds;
• Telescope control under ASCOM, INDI and a few specific drivers;
• Production of ephemeris tables;
• Eclipse charts;
• Satellite pass prediction and plotting;
• Get your location coordinates from a huge database on the Web.

Get it here

The newly announced Qualcomm Toq smartwatch.

The Qualcomm Toq smartwatch.

The revolutionary Qualcomm®Mirasol™ 

Display technology:Developed for maximum efficiency and visibility.
Always on, color touch screen.

Enhanced visibility in bright sunlight.

Sporting what is believed to be a 1.6-inch display it uses substantially less power than LCD displays for superior battery performance.The screen has a pretty low resolution, but that's not a huge issue as it is clear and it's not like you're going to be watching movies or viewing pictures on the Toq.
The Toq also uses a 200 MHz Cortex M3 processor -- rather than a high-end Snapdragon chip -- to extend battery life.

Will be available on December 2, 2013 starting at $349.99.

New video intro

The action Camera TCL SVC200 the sony HDR-AS15 clone from china?

TCL SVC200

I was Looking around on the net for a new action camera and this is the best action camera I've found in the €100 price range, and I don't believe any another action camera at this price can outperform it when it comes to video quality, and that's mostly down to the SVC200's unusually high 18Mbps data rate.

It also comes with a Rf transmitter and that's a bonus that all other action cameras at this price range don't have.

                                                                  remote control

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

OPTICS
Sensor Type: 5MP CMOS
Sensor Size: 1/2.5”
Lens: f/3.2 (true 170 degrees wide angle)

VIEWFINDER
Screen Type: TFT LCD LTPS Color Display
Screen Size: 1.5 inch
Screen Resolution:

VIDEO
Video Resolution: 1080p (30 fps), 720p (60 fps), 720p (30 fps)
Video Quality: High, Medium, Low
Video CODEC: H.264
Video Container Format: MP4

PHOTO
Photo Resolution: 5MP (true 2592 x 1944 pixels), 8MP (interpolated), 16MP (interpolated)
Photo Mode:
-Fast (30 photos continuously at 1280x960 resolution)
-Every 30 sec (continuous shooting)
-Every 2 min (continuous shooting)
Photo Format: JPEG

AUDIO
Built-in Microphone: YES
External Microphone Jack: YES (RCA 2.5mm)

BUTTONS
Photo Shoot, Video Record, ON/OFF, Menu, Up, Down, Select

CONNECTIONS
HDMI Slot: YES (output to High Definition TV)
Microphone 2.5mm RCA Jack: YES (attach external microphone)
USB Port: YES (Mini B Type, used for charging and file transfer)

Memory

-Tested with SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards up to 32GB for the following brands: Lexar, PNY, Transcend, Sandisk, and Kingston.

POWER
Battery Type: Rechargeable Lithium Ion
Battery Style: Nokia BL-5C compatible
Battery Capacity: 1050 mAh

MENU OPTIONS:

PHOTO SETTINGS
-Photo Size: 16MP, 8MP, 5MP
-Capture Mode: Normal, Fast, 30S, 2Min
VIDEO SETTINGS
-Resolution (NTSC/PAL): 1080p 30/25 fps, 720p 60/50fps, 720p 50/25fps
-Bitrate: High, Middle, Law
-System Type: NTSC/PAL
DATE & TIME: Option for time stamp on photos and videos ON/OFF
LANGUAGE: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese
AUDIO INPUT: ON/OFF
FORMAT: TF Micro SD Card

EXTRAS

Waterproof: YES (down to 30 meters with the use of the waterproof housing)
Write Protection: YES (ON/OFF)

DIMENSIONS
89.4 x 42.2 x 22.4 mm

New firmware for the SJ1000 action cam.

Great news for those  who have old firmware on your sj1000 action camera. I just got new firmware for my action cam. 

If the fact that the screen didn't automatically blank out wasn't an issue to you, I'd suggest skipping this update.The SJ1000 Firmware Y130615 fixes the screensaver bug.  As for 60fps on 720p will just have to see if this fixes it too. I will try it out and let you all know soon. Beware, if you somehow kill it, you are on your own.

SJ1000 action cam, New version underwater casing.

So I just ordered the new version of the sj1000 underwater case.

So why did I order the new version of the underwater case you might ask?

Well It's because the new case has been redesign, you now have only 3 buttons instead of 5 and the crop on the video dew to the front window being too small has gone with the new model. ( So the say.)
The 3 button on the casing are for Power on / off (you didn't have this with the old model) so the camera was always on and so the battery was used very quickly  , the ok button and the select button.
I will make a youtube video on it as soon as I get it.

And here is what the new redesign model looks like.
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Update: Here is the video of the waterproof housing.