Space Shuttle Discovery mounted on 747 for ride to Smithsonian (+video)

The retired Space Shuttle Discovery is now sitting on top of NASA's modified jumbo jet, in preparation for its delivery to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

NASA mounted space shuttle Discovery on a jumbo jet Sunday (April 15), in preparation for the retired orbiter's delivery to the Smithsonian. The paired air- and spacecraft are expected to depart Florida for Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning (April 17), weather permitting.

Skip to next paragraph The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off for the last time on February 24, 2011.

Discovery's mating to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft?(SCA), NASA's modified Boeing 747 jetliner, came a day later than the space agency had planned. On Saturday,?wind gusts?at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility set the 167,000 pound (75,300 kilogram) Discovery swaying under its lift sling, posing a risk that it could impact the Mate Demate Device (MDD), the gantry-like steel structure used to hoist the shuttle onto the jetliner.

Workers reconvened at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) on Sunday, to finish retracting the shuttle's landing gear. They then raised the orbiter 60 feet (18 meters) off the ground so that the carrier aircraft could be positioned underneath. Discovery was then lowered onto the jumbo jet's three protruding attach points to achieve a "soft" mating.

Work continued throughout the day Sunday to secure, or "hard" mate, Discovery to the 747, before removing the hoist sling and backing the paired vehicles out of the MDD on Monday morning. [How Space Shuttles Fly on 747 Jets (Photos)]

"Assuming the weather is good, we'll back out [of the Mate-Demate Device] in the morning, That will give a whole day of opportunity for the media, the public, and for our employees to come out and get a good view of Discovery's last time on top of a 747 here at Kennedy Space Center," said Stephanie Stilson, flow director for the transition and retirement for the space shuttle orbiters. [Gallery: Discovery Mated to Jumbo Jet]

Among the space program workers expected to come out and view Discovery on Monday are the members of its 39th and final spaceflight, the six astronauts who flew the STS-133 mission in March 2011.

According to Stilson, who also led the ground processing for Discovery's last 11 missions, seeing it be readied for one last ferry flight was eliciting mixed feelings.

"It's hard not to be happy, because we have achieved another one of our goals," Stilson told collectSPACE.com. "That is how we look at things. We have a job to do, and that is to get?Discovery to the Smithsonian. So this is the next step to get there. So we're very happy because everything has gone well to get to this point."

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Intel Core i7-2700K

When Intel released its line of second-generation Core processors a year ago (under the ?Sandy Bridge? code name), it offered consumers new opportunities in various areas of CPU performance, regardless of how much you wanted to spend. The top chip at launch was the Core i7-2600K (4 stars), a four-core, eight-thread, 3.4GHz powerhouse that clearly defined the high end of the mainstream space. But as Sandy Bridge approached the end of its brief life span, a minor update was needed to help guide the family into a more Ivy Bridge??friendly world. That CPU, the Core i7-2700K ($332 list) was to serve as a bare replacement for the Core i7-2600K, without upsetting too many digital apple carts along the way. At that job, and any others required of it, it succeeds?if not dazzlingly.

The Core i7-2700K represents a mere 100MHz speed bump above its predecessor, to 3.5GHz. But all of its other characteristics are identical: 8MB of cache, four cores and eight threads (thanks to Intel?s Hyper-Threading technology), integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000, and the full line of shiny Sandy Bridge features, ranging from Turbo Boost 2.0 (which temporarily increases processing speed when the appropriate head room is available), Quick Sync Video (for faster rendering and conversion of video files), and so on. Of course, the Core i7-2700K also shares some of the same limitations of the Core i7-2600K, most notably in that graphics system. It supports only DirectX 10.1 (DX10.1), not DX11, and won?t provide more than adequate support for any builder who declines (for whatever reason) to use a discrete video card.

For those who don?t already own a Core i7-2600K, the evidence is clear: There?s no reason to upgrade. Testing both the older chip and the new one in the same desktop revealed that there?s practically little performance difference between the two. As you might expect, the faster chip inspired a few marginal improvements. We saw, for example, scores of 7.28 versus 7.26 in CineBench R11.5, 3,725 versus 3,679 in the Futuremark PCMark 7 full-system test, and the newer chip needed five fewer seconds to complete the POV-Ray 3.7 single-CPU rendering test (14 minutes 54 seconds versus 14:59). But in other tests we saw no substantial changes at all; both chips took 2 minutes 50 seconds to apply a dozen filters and effects in Adobe Photoshop CS5, both took 32 seconds to convert a video in Handbrake 0.9.6, and both achieved the same 206MBps rate in our TrueCrypt 7.1a cryptography trial. Even power usage was functionally identical between the chips, with the full systems for both idling at 71 watts and achieving about 167 watts under full load.

We ran as much of our suite of gaming tests on the Core i7-2700K as we could to measure its graphics prowess, but the lack of DX11 support limited what we could do. As it was, it proved inadequate for most basic 3D gaming at a fairly standard gamer?s resolution of 1,920 by 1,200; in Tom Clancy?s HAWX2, usually the benchmark at which lower-tier video hardware does best, the Core i7-2700K could eke out only 15fps with all the details maxed. If you?re willing to dial back on the eye candy and play at a lower resolution, you will be able to get playable frame rates using just the Core i7-2700K. But our recommendation about this likewise hasn?t changed much from the Core i7-2600K days: Buy a discrete video card, even an inexpensive one, so you can leave the CPU to what it does best. (For better integrated graphics at this point, AMD APUs are the preferred way to go?but you?ll sacrifice raw performance as a result.)

At this point, with Ivy Bridge just around the corner, the Core i7-2700K is an upgrade that will appeal primarily to enthusiasts looking for every last drop of speed they can squeeze from a CPU. Its unlocked multiplier means it?s every bit as overclockable as its forebear, and that extra 100MHz gives you a nice, if subdued, additional nudge out the starting gate. But if you already have a Core i7-2600K, there?s no reason to replace it now. If you want to stay within the Sandy Bridge family, our favorite remains the Editors? Choice Core i5-2500K (4.5 stars), which lags behind the Core i7-2600K by 100MHz, lacks a bit of cache, and doesn?t have Hyper-Threading, but delivers nearly equivalent performance in most areas and costs considerably less ($216 list). If, however, you?re seeking out the fastest second-generation Core chip you can find, and aren?t concerned about its relationship to the Core i7-2600K or its rapidly approaching obsolescence with Ivy Bridge, the Core i7-2700K is a potent choice for powering a high-end middle-of-the-road PC.

More Chipset and Processor Reviews:
??? Intel Core i7-2700K
??? Intel Core i7-3820
??? Intel Core i7-3930K
??? AMD A8-3870K
??? Intel Desktop Board DX79SI
?? more

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HTC talks smartphone design: from inception to final product

At the Frequencies media summit in Seattle over the last two days, HTC walked us through the fine details on how its smartphones are developed, going from the boring rectangular ABS block to the more refined plastic mockups that are presented to carriers and focus groups -- the findings of which then shape the final product. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take photos of the One X mockups that were shown to us, but do read on to learn the general process of how an HTC phone goes from inception to the final product.

Continue reading HTC talks smartphone design: from inception to final product

HTC talks smartphone design: from inception to final product originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These Creepy Dolls Are Actually Real Humans [Image Cache]

Even if these were toys, they're be super, super unsettling to look at. The dead eyes. The bleached skin. The lack of any discernible genitalia. But they're flesh and blood humans, transformed into terrifying figurines. More »

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Dish adds Pandora to Hopper Whole-Home DVR system

Tired of walking from room to room, bringing your Entourage with you via your minty fresh Dish Hopper? Well, now you can sit down, relax and enjoy a hot cup of your favorite tunes from the same box. Dish has introduced the popular Pandora music service into its Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR System. So, you'll be able to pull up tracks, create playlists and all the usual recommendation delights you've come to expect from the personal radio service. We'd normally make Pandora's Box about this time, but we're already knee deep in the Jane's Addiction back catalog...

Continue reading Dish adds Pandora to Hopper Whole-Home DVR system

Dish adds Pandora to Hopper Whole-Home DVR system originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rivera's foe still unclear (tbo)

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Roseanne Barr on Ann Romney: A Clueless Liar!

Comedian slash sort-of presidential candidate Roseanne Barr is laying into Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, over her recent remark that being a mom was her full-time job.

It's not that Barr supports Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen's comment (and subsequent apology) criticizing Ann for having "never worked a day in her life."

It's just that Ann's claim of raising five kids on her own is BS, Roseanne says.

"Mrs. Mitt Romney claims to have worked her toned ass off, raising five Romney males all on her own, as privileged wives often do ... but, no, Ann, I call bulls--t on your Big Mama story, girlfriend," Barr wrote in a column for The Daily Beast.

Barr went on criticizing Romney for claiming she did it all solo, with the exception of a little assistance from a maid who would come in a couple of hours a week.

Roseanne writes that Ann is basically full of it:

"Of course Mrs. Mitt Romney [doesn't know] the name of the 'cleaning lady,' because like 99 percent of rich people, they are oblivious to those women who do work outside the home, even when they work inside the home of the Romney family."

"I say let's find that 'cleaning lady' (if she is even documented) and ask HER how many hours she worked per week over the years," concluded Barr.

There you go. It's not exactly Ted Nugent going off on Barack Obama, but this is certainly a fiery, unexpected and one-sided celebrity political feud.

[Photos: WENN.com]

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