February 2009 Archives

Last week Reaction Engines 'Skylon' reusable rocket concept was awarded an investment of nearly £1 million

Some people have suggested it owes its looks to the Naboo cruiser from 'Star Wars' films (pictured above).

But I think it looks much more like the Luna spaceship from the 1950 film, 'Destination Moon' (pictured below).

At the New York Toy Fair last week these rather nifty skates were on show.

I wonder if we'll start to see these around town soon - the video makes it look very cool.

Half-term is often a good time to take a trip to the Zoo.

Q: Is the galaxy simply smooth and rounded, with no sign of a disk?

It uses members of the public to look at and categorise some of the thousands of pictures captured by telescope - the picture at the top shows a typical question with a picture and some simple response buttons.

The information gathered from over 200,000 registered users has already led to a new understanding of galaxy development and evolution.

There is even the possibility that, if you take part, you might discover something new - just like Hanny Van Arkel, a Dutch schoolteacher.

'Samurize' is a utility for those who like to "tinker" with their computers and try to make them more effective.

It can be used to monitor not only your own PC but others across a network too - useful for getting the best out of those LAN-parties.

This week - a couple of useful, and free, programs to try out over half-term

'AutoHotkey' is a neat little Windows program which can help speed up many of the daily activities you do at your PC.

It allows you to create scripts which automate tasks that may require many key-presses and mouse clicks.

This week - a couple of useful, and free, programs to try out over half-term