mercury

Fifty years on, Glenn's flight remains a giant leap

Seconds away from liftoff, astronaut John Glenn monitored the instruments in his cramped Mercury capsule, listening intently as fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter called out milestones in the final moments of a tense countdown.

Earlier attempts to launch Glenn on America's first orbital spaceflight had been scrubbed by technical snags and bad weather. But this time around, the Atlas rocket, the Friendship 7 capsule, and the weather cooperated, clearing the way for the long-awaited, high-stakes attempt to reach orbit.

Millions across the nation and around the world hung on every word from mission control, gathered around black-and-white television sets and … Read more

50 years ago, John Glenn became America's biggest hero

As far as the United States was concerned, John Glenn's Feb. 20, 1962, flight aboard Friendship 7 could not have been more important.

Less than a year earlier, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space, and by the time of Glenn's launch, Americans Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom had already made their way into the heavens, if only briefly.

But with his 4 hour, 56 minute flight, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, doing so three times at an altitude of up to 162 statute miles and speeds of up to … Read more

Huawei Mercury review: Cricket's most advanced Android phone yet

Score one for Cricket, whose Huawei Mercury is arguably the most feature-rich phone in its lineup.

I say "arguably" because the Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone lacks Muve Music, the all-you-can-download music portion of the unlimited voice and data plan for select Cricket handsets, such as the Samsung Vitality.

Muve would be the icing on the cake, but if you're no audiophile, the Mercury is absolutely a phone that Cricket fans should eye.… Read more

Cricket pins hopes on Huawei Mercury rising

The weeks leading up to CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show, are usually slow, but a new Android smartphone, the Huawei Mercury, is heating things up for Cricket.

At least, that's what Cricket hopes will happen with the phone it's claiming as its most advanced ever.

Previously known as the Huawei Honor (see review) or Glory, the Mercury boasts a 4-inch FWVGA touch screen (480x854-pixel resolution), a 1.4GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera with HD video capture, and a front-facing camera (with a basic VGA resolution). The device has 2GB of internal storage. Cricket's new tethering plan lets you use the Mercury to provide an Internet connection to up to five other devices.

Although the Mercury ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Cricket apparently hasn't decided whether it will upgrade the device to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, according to a Cricket representative.

The Huawei Mercury is available now and costs $249.99 without a contract.… Read more

Ford recalls about 129,000 Fusion and Milan sedans

Ford Motor today announced the recall of about 129,000 Mercury Milan and Ford Fusion sedans that may suffer wheel stud fractures, causing the vehicles' 17-inch steel wheels to fall off.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall affects 2010 and 2011 models built from April 1 through April 30, 2009, and from December 1, 2009, through November 13, 2010. (To see the recall notice, click here and search on NHTSA campaign ID number 11V574000. No permalink, unfortunately.)

The recall announcement states that while the car is in use, "multiple stud fractures could occur at the … Read more

iPhone 5 rumors

Amazon.com gets a redesign, Toshiba releases what it calls the world's thinnest laptop, and iPhone 5 rumors heat up with employees at Best Buy and Apple stores leaking release information.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

The 404 897: Where you both owe me 14 bucks (podcast)

Remember the story we told you last week about the woman who spent $180 on what turned out to be a wooden Apple iPad? It happened again! In the same city! There's a lesson to be learned in all of this, and that lesson is to never trust anyone with more than four gold teeth.

Same rule goes for mustaches, and Google's celebrating Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday with a Web app that lets you add a mustache to every face on the Internet! We'll demo it today using someone else's face, however, since none of us are creepy enough to grow our own mustache.

We'll also talk about Amazon.com-branded delivery lockers popping up in select 7-Eleven stores, adding fuel to the fires already burning through the United States Postal Service, and introduce a new photo caption segment that Wilson cooked up over the weekend.

The 404 Digest for Episode 897

This is why Jeff and Wilson owe me 14 bones. After the $180 wooden iPad comes the $250 paper laptop (same city). Google honors Freddie Mercury with Mustachify.me. Google doodles a complex piece for Freddie Mercury. Amazon starts putting the USPS out of work, one 7-Eleven at a time. The U.S. Post Office says a winter shutdown is possible. Did somebody ask for pizza on a bullet-capsule to the moon? Check out this 404 photoshop, courtesy of Captain Carlos! Join The 404 Facebook Group! Add The 404 on Twitter, and while you're logged in, follow Jeff, Wilson, and Justin too!

Episode 897 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Google doodles a complex piece for Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury would have been 65 today (Monday).

That seems a very peculiar thought. Still, in his honor, Google's doodlers--who have truly risen to their metier over the last year--have labored with verve to deliver a doodle of which the shy and understated lead singer of Queen would have been proud.

To the tune of "Don't Stop Me Now," we see the full gamut of Mercurial splendor, animated with amusement and complexity. NBC Bay Area reports that the doodle took three months to put together. That's about as long as "Bohemian Rhapsody."

"… Read more

OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD review: Good deal for big spenders

When it comes to 2.5-inch SATA solid-state drives (SSDs), prices are so high that so far it only makes sense to buy those with lower capacities, 256GB or less. However, with OWC's new series of Mercury Extreme Pro 6G drives, it seems you only get a good deal when you buy the top capacity.

The drive's 480GB version gives you the most storage for your money, at just $1,280. If you think that's still high (and you're right!), look at the prices of some competing products; the 480GB OCZ Vertex 3, for example, costs … Read more

NASA snaps first images from Mercury orbit

NASA this afternoon released the first-ever photo of Mercury taken from a spacecraft in orbit around the innermost planet of the solar system.

The most arresting element of the photo is the rayed crater Debussy, which lends to the overall image the impression of the vine end of a cantaloupe after the vine has been snapped off. Straight out to the left of Debussy and much smaller, about halfway to the left border, lies the crater Matabei "with its unusual dark rays," NASA says.

The space agency has seen Debussy and Matabei before. What it hasn't ever … Read more