flare

Joby announces bright, precise Gorillatorch Blade

When I was a kid, holding the light while my father turned wrenches in some dark corner of the family car's engine bay was a sacred duty to be performed seriously and to the best of my ability. I don't have kids of my own, so when I find myself in need of illumination, I often find myself precariously balancing a hot work light into some odd angle or awkwardly holding a pen light between my teeth. For those who have found themselves in similar situations, Joby, creator of the Gorillapod camera mounting system, has just announced the … Read more

Solar satellite launched to study space weather

An Atlas 5 rocket boosted NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory into orbit Thursday, kicking off an $850 million mission to study the physics of the sun and the titanic magnetic storms, flares, and explosions that drive space weather across the solar system.

Using three sophisticated instruments that will collect enormous amounts of data over short time scales, scientists hope to improve their ability to predict the onset of major flares and other phenomena that can disrupt communications, satellite navigation, and power grids.

"SDO will observe the sun almost continuously for more than five years, sending back data at an … Read more

Light and strobes in a flash

Literally a flashlight of a different color, myLite goes beyond the majority of bland iPhone flashlight applications to bring you the full spectrum of colors and strobes, including SOS lighting and a lighter to get into the concert act. It's dead simple to operate, and you may one day find yourself needing its pulsing red rays as an emergency strobe or its neon green beacon to signal a friend in a crowded concert. At the very least, it will impress the kiddies and you'll be all set to host spontaneous dance parties.

Camera disguised as book exposes 10-year-old girl in all of us

Inside all of us, there lives an inner creep just itching to get out and secretly take photos of unsuspecting members of the opposite sex. The secret book camera, offered here by Keith Carollo and Chris Bick of Fred Flare, definitely confirms that theory. The camera uses inexpensive 110 film and is the perfect size to stick in your backpack or Miley Cyrus-approved clutch purse.

You know what this camera reminds me of? That one scene in Troop Beverly Hills where shevillain Velda Plendor hides a camera inside the Girl Scouts book so Herman can spy on the tragically affluent Girl Scouts of Beverly Hills. Wait, what? You're not as self-deprecating as I am? OK, well I loved TBH and now I can finally live out my cinematic fantasies. Never mind that it's seafoam green and made to look like an antique toy for children--I just so happen to have $55 burning a hole in my apron. Patches?! We don't need no stinkin' patches!

Check out more pictures of the camera after the jump.… Read more

Virgin Mobile kicks out new colors for Flare, TNT, and Arc

Aside from the new Shuttle, Virgin Mobile is also churning out new colors of some of its existing phone offerings for the fall season. The LG Flare will now be available in silver, the Kyocera TNT will be available in lavender and espresso (with matching earbuds as an option), and the Arc will be released in a rather audacious gold. The silver Flare will be offered via Best Buy Mobile with a dollar of each purchase going to benefit a nonprofit. The lavender and espresso TNTs are exclusive from Wal-Mart, and you can get a gold Arc at Target stores. … Read more

Virgin Mobile announces the Flare to little fanfare

In its tradition of affordable prepaid phones, Virgin Mobile has just launched the Flare (otherwise known as the LG LX175), a simple flip phone without a lot of bells and whistles. Features are predictably bare bones, like a speakerphone, mobile web browser, and Bluetooth -- there isn't even a camera on this thing. But for something as low as $29.99 without a contract, it's not too shabby. You can pick it up now via Virgin's website or any of their retail partners.

Solar storm warning: You have a year to prepare

The federal government now predicts a new cycle of solar storms will start in March 2008. Those storms are expected to peak around the end of 2011. That's the conclusion of some scientists at NOAA.

Solar storms lead to violent eruptions on the sun's surface. There'll be solar flares and explosions sending highly charged matter toward Earth's atmosphere. This jolts Earth's geomagnetic field and ionosphere. That can lead to disruption of electric grids and communications systems.

Sunspot predictions for this coming storm cycle run from 90 to 140. There were different prediction models among the … Read more

GPS services eclipsed by the sun

Solar flares have long been known to muck with some of our networks, namely satellites, communications systems and even power grids. Now we can add a new vulnerability to that list: navigation systems.

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say they observed two powerful solar flares in December of last year. Those were followed by a huge radio burst that knocked out GPS receivers on the sunlit side of the planet. The burst produced 20,000 times more radio emission than the entire rest of the sun, according to scientists at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

"… Read more