The Center of Apple's Universe

Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 makes it more clear than ever what Apple's real priorities are: iPhone and iPad. Mac OS X is an also ran.
In fact, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Apple only makes the iPhone and iPad—Mac OS X is barely mentioned, and almost in passing. Its most conspicuous absence, and most potent signal to developers that Apple believes the real place for innovation is the iPhone, is the fact that the Apple Design Awards are only for iPhone OS apps this year. Mac OS X applications simply don't matter enough anymore, apparently.
This was all kind of an inevitable trajectory. The iPad and the information appliance is the future of computing according to Apple, not the Mac, which still uses the same dated desktop metaphor as the original Macintosh over 20 years ago. Since its 1997 revival, Apple's always been aggressive about leaving behind legacy technologies—why would it be any different here? Continue: http://asurl.net/9Mu

Air Force's Falcon Hypersonic Glider Disappears Mysteriously

The Air Force's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2—designed to attack global targets at Mach 20—has disappeared nine minutes into its first test flight, just after separating from its booster. Contact was lost, and it hasn't been found yet.
The Falcon was supposed to splash down in the Pacific Ocean after a 30-minute, 4,100-nautical-mile test flight. Not to be confused with the unmanned X-37B space shuttle—which launched on April 22—the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 blasted off last week from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Minotaur IV rocket.
Instead of completing its flight, however, the Air Force lost all contact with the aircraft. According to DARPA's Johanna Spangenberg Jones:

Preliminary review of data indicates the HTV-2 achieved controlled flight within the atmosphere at over Mach 20. Then contact with HTV-2 was lost. This was our first flight (all others were done in wind tunnels and simulations) so although of course we would like to have everything go perfectly, we still gathered data and can use findings for the next flight, scheduled currently for early 2011.

Just that: The telemetry data signal vanished, and the aircraft is nowhere to be found. Being a semi-secret project, nothing else has been disclosed. The only logical explanations are 1) a massive structural failure, 2) Nazi UFOs or 3) somebody lost it in a beer garden. I will pick number two for the time being.
More: http://asurl.net/9IQ

A Fascinating View on the Apollo 11 Launch

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

This is something that not many people have seen: A close up of the fiery engines of the Saturn V rocket starting up July 16, 1969. The eight apocalyptical minutes in HD are simply awesome.

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 Starts On June 7

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 will start on June 7 in San Francisco. Five days of endless code orgies and hands-on sessions for iPhone OS 4 and Mac OS X. No word on any possible Steve Jobs' keynote yet.
More:  http://asurl.net/91H

First-Ever Patented Motorcycle From 1894 Sells For $131k at Auction

Fetching over $131,200 when it went on auction last week, this Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle from 1894 was the first two-wheelin' motorcycle ever to be put into production. Hailing from Germany, it's known as a motorrad, and was found in a barn in the US, where it's been for almost 70 years, gathering dust. It was auctioned off in England, but will be returning to Germany where it will undoubtedly sit on display—those wheels don't exactly look like they're in driving condition anymore. Check out the video below for a similar, restored model put-put-putting along.

Source: http://asurl.net/9jz