Space station crew movin' on up

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- The commander of the international space station and an Italian astronaut, wearing goggles and surgical masks, on Saturday opened the hatch to christen the complex's brand new room.

Commander Peggy Whitson, left, and astronaut Paolo Nespoli check out the new Harmony module Saturday.

The grand opening came about a half hour ahead of schedule. Commander Peggy Whitson and astronaut Paolo Nespoli delayed their lunch so the event could happen before the station's orbit temporarily blocked the ability to send a video downlink to Mission Control.

After struggling a bit to unlatch the door, the pair slipped inside the new addition. Nespoli floated around the room while Whitson collected air samples. They wore the protective gear in case any debris was shaken loose inside the module during launch or installation.

"It's a pleasure to be here in this very beautiful piece of hardware," said Nespoli, who joined Discovery's crew to personally deliver the Italian-made pressurized chamber.

The other eight crew members aboard the orbiting complex set aside their work to watch the hatch opening, snapping photographs throughout the process.

Astronauts added the school bus-sized room -- called Harmony -- during a 6?-hour spacewalk Friday, using a robotic arm to lift it from the shuttle's cargo bay and install it on the station.

The compartment will serve as the docking port and nerve center for European and Japanese laboratories that will be delivered on the next three shuttle flights. It also will be a power and thermal distribution center, providing air, electricity, water and other systems for the space station. Racks of computer and electronic equipment are already inside the cylinder, which will double as a living space for the crew.

All of the equipment inside was locked down to protect against the jarring rocket ride to orbit. The astronauts will have to undo more than 700 bolts to free the equipment.

A block of time had been set aside Saturday for more inspections of Discovery for launch damage. But NASA decided Friday that a focused examination wasn't necessary because the shuttle's thermal shielding appeared to be in good shape.

Examining the shield that protects the shuttle from the searing heat of re-entry has been a top priority for NASA since Columbia's loss in 2003.

NASA examined images of Discovery gathered during launch, a second-day wing and nose scan and a pre-docking backflip maneuver before determining there was no significant damage. Another inspection two days before landing will check for any impacts from orbital debris.

Astronauts Daniel Tani and Scott Parazynski also were scheduled to spend time Saturday preparing for the next day's spacewalk, the second of a record-tying five outings planned for the mission.

They plan to install spacewalking handrails and other equipment to the outside of Harmony. The spacewalkers also will take a look at a rotary joint for the space station's solar wings that has exhibited electrical current spikes in the past 1? months. The joint is necessary for turning the solar wings toward the sun.

More computer repairs are also on the crew's Saturday to-do list. Both Discovery and the space station have had some networking problems over the past few days.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Spacewalkers attach Harmony module to station

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Astronauts using a robotic arm attached a bus-sized addition to the international space station Friday, with help from a pair of spacewalkers.

Astronauts Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock conduct first spacewalk of Discovery's mission.

The live-in compartment carried up aboard shuttle Discovery -- called Harmony -- weighs nearly 16 tons and increases the space station's living and working area by more than 2,500 cubic feet.

"Now the crews that are hot on our heels have a place to come," spacewalker Scott Parazynski said.

He and Douglas Wheelock got the Italian-made Harmony ready for its move out of the shuttle cargo bay. Then Daniel Tani and Stephanie Wilson, working inside, used the station's robotic arm to slowly move Harmony toward its new home.

Earlier Friday, the spacewalkers removed a broken antenna from the station and packed it aboard Discovery for its return to Earth, and got a giant girder ready for relocation later in the mission.

Parazynski encountered a few ammonia ice crystals that floated his way while he was disconnecting the girder's cooling lines, but his spacesuit did not seem to be contaminated. Just in case, he followed safety procedures once he was back inside the space station, which involved taking a contamination test.

"Great day in outer space," Parazynski said as the spacewalk wrapped up.

Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who joined Discovery's crew to personally deliver the pressurized chamber, coordinated the six-hour spacewalk from inside.

Harmony's location on the station is temporary. The station crew will move it to its permanent spot once Discovery leaves in just over a week. The chamber will also serve as the docking port for European and Japanese laboratories that will be delivered on the next three shuttle flights.

The shuttle launched from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday and linked up with the space station Thursday. It was the first time two female commanders met in space: Retired Air Force Col. Pamela Melroy is commander of Discovery, while Peggy Whitson is the station's skipper.

The 10 astronauts aboard Discovery and the space station face the most challenging construction tasks ever attempted in a single mission.

They may get a little more time to tackle their to-do list because engineers have not spotted any significant problems with the shuttle's thermal shield. The crew set aside three hours Saturday for a focused inspection of any trouble spots, but mission management team chairman John Shannon said that examination probably won't be necessary.

NASA has made damage inspections a priority since the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia in 2003. A piece of foam broke off Columbia's external fuel tank during liftoff and gashed a wing.

Further analysis is needed before NASA can say for sure that Discovery suffered no significant launch damage. But given all the construction work on this mission, "We are extremely lucky that we have a vehicle that is in such incredible shape," Shannon said.

The spacewalkers started their jaunt about a half hour ahead of schedule and were quickly wowed by the view of the Andes and the Amazon rain forest as they floated over South America.

"You're not going to believe this," Parazynski told Wheelock as he opened the hatch.

A veteran spacewalker, Parazynski will participate in four of the record-tying five spacewalks scheduled for this mission. This is Wheelock's first trip to space.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Review: Audiovox XpressR a fully loaded XM radio receiver

(CNET.com) -- The XpressR is Audiovox's top-of-the-line XM Satellite Radio receiver, providing a plethora of customizable settings not offered in entry-level units such as the Xpress and Xpress EZ.

The two main features that distinguish the XpressR from the competition are a split-screen display that allows artist and channel information to be displayed side-by-side, and a 30-minute recording buffer that lets users pause and review broadcasts.

The retail price of $129 will likely scare away XM newcomers, but for existing users looking to take their XM experience to the next level, the XpressR is a logical choice.

Design

The Audiovox XpressR is one of the more attractive XM radio receivers we've come across. Removed from its dock, the XpressR measures a slender 4.5 inches by 2.5 inches by 0.5 inch and sports a glossy black finish with silver plastic preset buttons. The high-contrast, monochromatic screen measures 2.5 inches by 1.25 inches and presents large, legible text on a clean, uncluttered interface.

One of our favorite design features on the XpressR is the multifunction navigation control. The solidly constructed control works as an incremental dial for scrolling menus, a four-way joystick for switching between stations, and a push-button that acts as an enter key. Surrounding this main navigation control are dedicated buttons for power, info, and menu, as well as play/pause and scan controls for the 30-minute automatic recording buffer.

Features

While the XpressR could easily rest on its good looks, the receiver's features are what set it apart from the herd. To start with, the XpressR offers four display modes that can be easily toggled among. The first two display modes offer a typical XM radio readout (track and channel information) using either a large or regular font size.

The third display mode shows a split display that allows you to see information on the current channel on the left side of the screen, while browsing channel listings on the right side of the screen.

The last display mode also splits the screen, simultaneously showing the currently playing channel and previously played channel, providing a means to visually monitor what's playing on two channels at once. We found the split screen displays to be very effective at allowing you to juggle stations, but with so much information presented on one screen, we would hesitate using the feature while driving.

If you're wondering why Audiovox tacked an "R" onto the end of this product's name, it's because the XpressR includes a 30-minute recording buffer that allows you to pause and replay live broadcasting. The recording buffer resets each time you turn off the device, but it's a great way to pause talk shows while you're pulling into a toll booth, or for replaying your favorite songs.

The XpressR also offers common features like station presets (up to 30), a stock and sports ticker, and a TuneSelect function that alerts you whenever a favorite artist or song is being played on another station. If you're interested in using the XpressR both in the car and at home, the universal plug-and-play dock makes it easy to swap the receiver between systems. A remote control is also included, although its usefulness for in-car use is debatable.

While it's recommended that you get your XM receiver professionally installed in your car, the XpressR does come with a handful of accessories and adapters that will allow you to use the system right out of the box. If you can't get the XpressR up and running using the included cigarette lighter power adapter, cassette audio adapter, adhesive mount, or fan grill mount, Audiovox offers additional adapters for a price.

If you're looking to use the XpressR at home, you'll need to purchase a separate Audiovox Universal Home kit in order to power and dock the receiver. We were disappointed that despite its high-end price, the XpressR does not include a functional FM transmitter for wirelessly transmitting audio to an existing in-car radio. For an extra $20, Audiovox does sell an FM transmitter attachment.

Performance

While XM radio certainly offers a step up in audio quality from standard FM radio, it still presents some audible digital fluttering common to all streaming digital audio. If you're listening to the XpressR in a compromised listening environment (such as a car) the audio quality should be more than adequate.

We tested the reception around San Francisco and Oakland and never found ourselves without a signal. An antenna-aiming utility is built into the XpressR's menu, giving visual feedback of satellite and terrestrial signal strength.

We ran into some trouble using the included cassette audio adapter in our car. Out of the two possible ways to orient the adapter into our cassette deck, one method seemed to immediately eject the adapter, and the other had our cassette deck continually switching playback directions back and forth. A third-party cassette adapter we had lying around worked just fine. Because cassette deck sensitivity can vary wildly from car to car, your results may vary.

Final thoughts

The Audiovox XpressR is a classy-looking XM radio receiver with an outstanding user interface and a 30-minute recording buffer. Compared to entry-level systems such as the Xpress and Xpress EZ, the XpressR is a delight for the type of user who loves customizing and tweaking their gadgets.

We recommend paying the extra money to get the system professionally installed; otherwise you'll be burdened with unattractive cables running all around your dashboard.

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Hey you, with the iPod...keep it down!

NEW YORK (AP) -- Dave Legeret silently fumed as the man seated beside him on the plane blasted techno music on his iPod at full volume.

In quite environments, an iPod playing at full volume could bother others.

"It was kind of rude," recalled Legeret, 38, a jewelry designer from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, who was forced to listen while flying from New York City to Disney World with his wife and 8-year-old son.

"Listen to it at a level that just you can hear it and everyone else doesn't have to be subject to it."

Apple Inc.'s ubiquitous iPod is best known as an instrument of solitude -- unless the user ignores standards of etiquette by invading the eardrums of fellow commuters, officemates or other innocent bystanders. Then it starts to get annoying. Especially when you're stuck in close proximity.

Amped to its highest volume, the iPod is not nearly as invasive as the classic loud cell phone conversation. But it can have its moments. Like when you're standing in an elevator at 9 a.m. and a co-worker cranks up Amy Winehouse's "Rehab." (Too early for that song.) Or when an ear-budded subway rider belts what sounds like a Whitney Houston tune with careless abandon, causing other riders to inch away or flee into another car altogether. (True story.)

"I've heard that problem quite a lot, people singing along," said Leander Kahney, managing editor of Wired magazine's Web site. "And, of course, my kids -- when they have the iPod in, they shout. They don't realize with the headphones they're being too loud, so they'll conduct conversations without taking their ear buds out. And they're yelling."

That kind of behavior -- an ignorance by the user of volume levels and surroundings -- is more odious than the low buzz of the iPod, Kahney said.

"Did anyone ever complain about the noise coming from a Walkman or a CD player?" he said. "Unless you're in a quiet environment, you're really gonna have to strain to hear any kind of noise from somebody else's iPod."

Our world, he said, has become freakishly quiet. "It's not noise pollution -- it's noise absence. And I find it almost more disturbing and upsetting than I did loud noise. It's sort of unnatural."

But in places and spaces where silence is golden -- planes, trains and office cubicles, for example -- even slightest thump-thump-thump of bass can feel like a violation.

And then there's the impromptu karaoke problem. Kahney said a colleague at Wired, which covers technology and how it affects culture, has a bad habit of crooning to his playlist at work.

Any Celine Dion in the mix? "Oh no, he listens to these dreadful old hippie songs," he said. "You know, Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Allman Brothers."

All is forgiven after a friendly tap on the shoulder, Kahney said. A less confrontational approach may in order, though, when someone refuses to cooperate.

Anna Post, an etiquette instructor at The Emily Post Institute, said she'd heard a story about a woman who asked an iPod-using subway rider to turn down the volume, only to have her request ignored. So she used another tactic: Singing along to the music.

"And, all of a sudden, boy, did that iPod get shut off," said Post, who stressed that "a little social shame can go a long way."

Like the cell phone, the iPod and other music players can foster a sense of apathy when the user is among strangers. It's easier to blow off social norms -- and channel Justin Timberlake during rush hour -- when you don't know who you're irritating.

"Sometimes people can feel a little anonymous in public," Post said. "Like, 'Oh. You know what? I didn't hear you. I didn't make eye contact with you. I can just ignore you and pretend like I'm not a bad person for doing this."'

Of course, many iPod noise polluters should be given the benefit of the doubt. They might be unaware that the volume is up so high. Or they may be hard of hearing (probably because they listen to such loud music).

If the noise is bothersome, Post said it's OK to speak up because most people would be hard pressed not to listen. If they don't, just "grin and bear it and let it go and just be the bigger person," she advised.

Or get an iPod of your own.

"I got to the point where I'm like, 'You know what? You really can't beat it,"' said Aimee Wendt, a 27-year-old web designer from Madison, Wisconsin. "If you look around, there are so many people with iPods -- you might as well join 'em."

Legeret, the man stuck listening to techno on the plane ride to Florida, owns an iPod, as does his wife. They listen at respectable levels, and expect others to do the same.

"I'm really conscious of that," he said. "I'm the type of guy where if I'm in public, I'll try not to offend anybody if I can help it."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Apple unveils slimmer iMac

CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) -- Apple Inc. unveiled a line of slimmer desktop computers Tuesday in a long-expected update of its iMac brand, positioning it for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.

The new iMacs, which will sport thinner aluminum casings, have displays measuring 20 inches and 24 inches and will cost $1,199 to $1,799, depending on their configurations, said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs at a media event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

The cost of the 24-inch iMac has been dropped by $200, and Apple has eliminated the 17-inch iMac computer, Jobs said.

The last update to the iMac line was in September 2006, when Apple introduced a model with a 24-inch screen -- its largest -- and said the entire model line would be powered by Intel chips instead of ones from International Business Machines Corp.

"Apple has grown two to three times the market for the past several quarters," said analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research. "This product launch should position them well for the back-to-school and holiday seasons."

Apple recently launched the iPhone mobile device in a bid to build a third major product line alongside its Macintosh computers and iPod media players, but desktop and laptop sales still account for the bulk of its revenue.

In its third quarter, Apple sold 634,000 desktops for revenue of $956 million, accounting for about 18 percent of total revenue.

"The iMac has been really successful for us and we'd like to make it even better," Jobs said. "We've managed to make it even thinner than before."

Apple laptop sales totaled $1.58 billion in its most recently reported quarter. The MacBook laptop line was not affected by Tuesday's announcement.

Sales of Macintosh computers have grown faster than the overall PC market, but Apple's share of the market by unit sales is estimated to be less than 5 percent.

Apple has also used the iPod and, now, the iPhone as "halo" products to draw customers into stores and get them interested in its computers.

Jobs also said that the company was adding a software "button" to the iPhone that allows users to upload photos taken with the built-in camera on the iPhone to Apple's .Mac online data and Web-hosting service.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Review: If you love bling, the Iomega eGo is the thing

(CNET.com) -- The Iomega eGo portable hard drive sports a stylish look and compact size. It's currently offered in just one capacity -- 160GB -- but it's available in two colors, red and silver.

The look and feel of this drive is impressive.

The anodized-aluminum-and-polished-steel case resembles a flask and we find ourselves wanting to handle it constantly. But looks aren't everything, and unfortunately, this drive proved to be a slow writer (its read times were fine, however).

If you're looking for a stylish, flashy drive and don't mind slow write speeds, this $130 drive is a great choice. But if you can't do without fast write speeds, check out the Seagate FreeAgent Go (which is stylish in its own right).

The major downside of this product -- and it's an important one -- is its performance. Among external drives tested in the CNET Labs, its write performance was on the low end. It wrote a 10GB folder of mixed file types in 18 minutes, 46 seconds.

The Seagate FreeAgent Go wrote the same folder in 10 minutes, 33 seconds.

The Iomega eGo read back that same folder to the testbed drive in 8 minutes, 38 seconds; the FreeAgent Go did the job in exactly the same time.

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Copyright © 1995-2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Review: Solid construction, biz-friendly features from HP laptop

(CNET.com) -- Fans of ultraportable laptops have had a lot of products to be excited about in recent months, with two excellent models in particular standing out - -the Toshiba Portege R500 and the Sony VAIO TZ150.

Those are flashy consumer systems, designed to be thin, light, and eye-catching, but with high-end prices to match ($2,000 and up). HP offers a more business-oriented answer to these systems in the HP Compaq 2510p, which boasts similar stats but a more button-down design along with some corporate extras.

Basic models start around $1,500, but our review unit cost $2,478, or about as much as the Portege R500 or the VAIO TZ150. Business features on the HP Compaq 2510p not found on the Toshiba or Sony units include hard-drive encryption and Intel's Active Management Technology (or AMT), which allows for remote IT management even when the laptop is powered off.

We found using the solidly built 2510p a genuinely enjoyable experience and though you can't put a price on security (or maybe it costs $2,500), those looking for an ultraportable at a lower price should check out the Averatec 1579, which lacks the corporate-friendly features but costs only $1,299.

Compared to the impossibly slim body of the Sony VAIO TZ150, which measures less than an inch thick, the HP Compaq 2510p looks almost boxy. In truth, the HP's 1.2-inch thick frame is still very easy to carry around, although at 3.4 pounds, it's markedly heavier than other recent ultraportables that come in under the 3-pound mark, such as the VAIO TX150 and Toshiba's R500. On the plus side, it feels much sturdier than either the R500 or TZ150, and the HP's keyboard and lid are both extremely inflexible, good points for frequent travelers to keep in mind.

Besides a solid keyboard, the touch pad on the HP Compaq 2510p is also noteworthy. While a bit on the small side, like most ultraportables, the touch pad has a finger-wide discrete scroll zone marked off. This highly responsive bar is much easier to use than the invisible scroll zone found on most laptops, where we just end up running our finger along the right edge of the touch pad trying to find it (or else randomly accidentally scrolling when we just want to click on something).

You won't find a Webcam or media control buttons on the 2510p, but you do get a fingerprint reader, plus more of the touch-sensitive buttons we like so much. Besides a volume scroll bar, tiny buttons along the top of the keyboard tray can launch a display utility for routing your signal to external display (useful when showing off PowerPoint presentations), control the Wi-Fi antenna, and bring up a window with all the built-in security programs in one place.

These programs include HP's ProtectTools, which can encrypt a hard drive so that data on the drive can't be read unless an authorized user is logged in. That way, even if the laptop is stolen and the drive removed, sensitive information remains safe.

Despite the LED backlit display, dubbed Illumi-Lite by HP, the screen is not nearly as thin as those in the Sony and Toshiba ultraportables. Its native resolution of 1,280x800 is standard for a 12-inch wide-screen display, and you should have no problem reading text and seeing icons. As do most business laptops, it has a matte screen finish, as opposed to the glossy and bright but glare-prone screens found on many consumer systems.

The ports and connections on the HP Compaq 2510p are in line with what we'd expect from an ultraportable, and it includes support for 802.11n Wi-Fi technology, aka Draft N, although on HP's Web site, we can't tell which configurations include this, as they all just list the older, but still prevalent, 802.11g standard (which is what you'll find at almost every Wi-Fi hot spot). Mobile broadband is quickly becoming a must-have, and you have a choice between AT&T and Verizon (our review unit had the latter).

While we love mobile broadband, you can actually save a significant amount by skipping it and choosing one of HP's other preconfigured builds of the 2510p. An identically configured system, minus the mobile broadband antenna, is only $2,228 on HP's Web site. By dropping the RAM down to 1GB and the CPU to a slightly slower Core 2 Duo U7500, and opting for a smaller 60GB hard drive and no Bluetooth, you can get the price down to $1,549, although we generally suggest sticking with 2GB of RAM for Windows Vista.

Compared to other recent ultraportables, nearly all of which use CPUs from the same Intel ultralow-voltage family, the HP Compaq 2510p performed on par, with the exception of the Sony VAIO TZ150, whose collection of resource-hogging bloatware led to generally lagging scores. Surprisingly, the Averatec 2371, a sub-$1000 ultraportable powered by a 1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, easily matched or outclassed ultraportables costing nearly three times as much. Although the Averatec's poor battery life, when compared with the ULV Intel systems, shows that the AMD laptop may not have been playing on equal footing.

While the company sells the HP Compaq 2510p with a nine-cell battery, our review unit arrived with two batteries, a three-cell and a six-cell unit, which it offers on other 2510p configurations but not on the model we reviewed. We tested both batteries. Like the nine-cell battery, the six-cell battery extends beyond the end of the system, but ran for an impressive 3 hours, 24 minutes on our demanding DVD battery drain test. You can expect even longer life under typical usage scenarios. We attribute the long battery life chiefly to the Compaq 2510p using an ultralow-voltage Intel CPU.

Competing ultraportables from Sony and Toshiba with similar or identical ultralow-voltage Intel processors ran longer, but we believe most users will be content with the 2510p's battery life, particularly since you can safely assume the standard nine-cell battery will run even longer. The three-cell battery that's available on other 2510p models sits flush with the back of the system and ran for 1 hour, 38 minutes, or roughly half the time the six-cell battery lasted.

HP includes a decent, three-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system, although the battery is only covered for the first year. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, an HP has a robust online knowledge base and collection of driver downloads, especially for their business systems.

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