Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

If you didn’t already know, the Mars Phoenix mission came to a close yesterday.  You may remember the Mars Phoenix as the robot that found water on Mars over the summer.  When the Phoenix outlived the original estimates, those in charge pushed it a little further until it finally stopped communicating with Earth yesterday.  Normally this might make an interesting story about the fact that it died, but would really only depress those that were involved.

This time was a bit different, though.  The Mars Phoenix was giving updates through its time through Twitter.  Through Twitter the Phoenix told us how its mission was going, when he went into safe mode, instances when its solar panels were blocked by a sandstorm, and even answered questions that other users posed.  Continued after the break.

MORE »

Sections: Gaming, Miscellaneous, Web

NASA plans on beaming The Beatles Across the Universe into space making it the first song to be used in such a way. The transmission of the song will mark the 40th anniversary of the song’s recording. It will be aimed at the North Star, Polaris, 431 light years away from Earth, and it will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. This will also mark 50 years of NASA, 45 years of the Deep Space Network and 50 years since the founding of Explorer 1, the first US satellite.

“Amazing! Well done, Nasa! Send my love to the aliens.“ was Sir Paul McCartney’s reaction to the news.

Fans can participate in the event by playing the song around the world at midnight GMT on Monday night - the same time it will be transmitted by NASA. Still no word yet on when we might see the mysterious “Yellow Submarine” branded iPod. Perhaps the little green men can help Steve Jobs with that.

Read [VNUnet]

• Mars Pheonix’s journey comes to a depressing end
• McCartney wants Beatles+iTunes deal, talks have stalled
• More storage for the Eee PC

US government computers are supposed to be the most secure in the world, but a Romanian hacker proved just the opposite.

A Romanian national was indicted on charges of hacking into more than 150 U.S. government computers, causing disruptions that cost NASA, the Energy Department and the Navy nearly $1.5 million.

While we know hacking is a criminal act, I would like to raise one question: Should hackers be jailed or rewarded? I ask this because computer security consultants employed by big corporations developing security solutions can never match hackers’ intuitive skills. If not for the hackers, no one would be able to prove that the solutions offered by these money-sucking companies actually have many loopholes.

I am proposing that hackers be sentenced to minimal jail terms as a deterrent, but put them behind a high-tech bar and let them hack more supposedly secure government computers in a controlled environment, and then pay them handsomely when they break through the security. The money can come from the government itself or a system where security solutions providers subsidize the cost for their own blunders.

What do you say folks?

Read [Top Tech News]

• Tiny camera powered by ethernet cable
• Japanese Chrono Trigger copyright protection bested by hackers
• Mars Pheonix’s journey comes to a depressing end