Satellite

One of the all-time best sci-fi film taglines is to be put to the test. Is it true that "in space no one can hear you scream"?

You could survive exposure to the hard vacuum of space for several seconds, long enough to attempt a yell or yodel. After that, however, bad things will happen.

But thanks to some British boffins at the University of Surrey's Surrey Space Centre and Surrey Satellite Technology, humanity doesn't need to test the "Alien" tagline firsthand. They've launched a satellite into orbit equipped with a screaming smartphone. … Read more

An asteroid big enough to level a major metropolitan area (probably several of them, actually) will definitely not be doing any such thing this month, but it will come pretty darn close.

First spotted by a Spanish observatory last year, small asteroid 2012 DA14 (in this case "small" means about 150 feet in diameter, or roughly the size of a supermarket) will pass within 3.5 Earth radii of the surface of our planet on February 15.

That means that this big, menacing, but ultimately harmless space rock will actually be closer to us than our many satellites in geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles above the equator.… Read more

It's a bummer running out of gas, especially when the nearest station is 22,000 miles away.

But a project to set up a gas station on the International Space Station made a big leap forward this week with the successful refueling of a mock satellite by a robot.

Dextre, a twin-armed robot from Canada, topped off the fuel tank in the mockup, showing how satellites' life can be extended, according to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Operating on the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) module, Dextre removed safety caps and cut through retaining wires before transferring liquid ethanol to the mockup, which is about the size of a washing machine.

The CSA-NASA achievement is the first of its kind, and may help reduce the growing pile of dead satellites and space junk orbiting overhead. … Read more

Aw, shucks: imaging company GeoEye could not capture a super high-resolution image of Obama's inauguration today from space.

Using its GeoEye-1 and IKONOS satellites positioned 423 miles above the Earth, the company tried and failed -- due to clouds -- on two separate attempts to capture the image of the inauguration, a GeoEye representative told CNET. GeoEye planned to release an interactive map of the ceremony with a built-in zoom and a slider that would have let the user compare this year's image to the one captured four years ago. Feel free to zoom around in the 2009 Inauguration image embedded below.… Read more

Dish Hopper with Sling: new HD DVR almost has it all

LAS VEGAS--Dish Network holds its Consumer Electronics Show press conference at 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET) on Monday, and CNET will be there to cover it live. We'll have a live video stream, along with a blog full of news and analysis, as it happens.

You can tune in to the blog and video stream here:

What does Dish Network have in store for us?

At last year's Consumer Electronics Show, Dish managed to make some waves with its Hopper digital video recorder, … Read more

Ever-higher subscription fees for satellite and cable are a fact of life, and DirecTV confirmed as much by announcing rate increases yesterday that will take effect in February 2013.

The average subscriber's bill will go up about 4.5 percent, although the individual increases vary quite a bit. The entry-level Choice package goes up a buck from $63.99 to $64.99, while the top-end Premiere package goes from $119.99 to $124.99. An HBO subscription goes from $15.99 to $17.99.

Here's the full rate card with the new pricing.

DirecTV claims that its own … Read more

Dish has been given the official green light to fire up its wireless spectrum. The satellite TV provider announced today that the Federal Communications Commission has approved its request for wireless spectrum use.

"The FCC has removed outdated regulations and granted terrestrial flexibility for most of the AWS-4 band," Dish senior vice president and deputy general counsel Jeff Blum said in a statement today. "The Commission has taken an important step toward facilitating wireless competition and innovation, and fulfilling the goals of the National Broadband Plan."

Dish started talks with the FCC earlier this year. Initially, … Read more

When the skies darken and the lights flicker on, the areas of Earth we populate gain a surreal glow that traces our existence in a breathtaking way.

A new series of photos released by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's jointly-operated Suomi NPP satellite gives us a clearer view than ever before at our illuminated world during nighttime. Perhaps you could compare the view to a series of electrified blood vessels and arteries. … Read more

Unlike most of my colleagues, my recent Windows 8 experiences have been distinctly nontouch. As it turns out, the only two laptops I've reviewed with Microsoft's new operating system preinstalled both lacked touch screens: the Sony Vaio E17 and the Toshiba Satellite U845W. Both are what you'd consider "classic" laptops -- although the U845W has a unique, extra-wide screen.

Based on these early experiences with two "Windows 8-optimized" laptops, I'm not a fan of the nontouch Windows 8 world.… Read more