Earth’s 1977 interstellar probe: Beyond mere awesome.

Link. “The level of solar cosmic rays that Voyager detects coming from the Sun need to dramatically decrease, and the orientation of the magnetic field outside the spacecraft needs to change its direction from the east-west, the direction of the Sun’s rotation, to north-south, the speculated magnetic field of the nearby intergalactic region”

Ed Stone, age 76, is still Chief Scientist. The probe may function through 2025, and so may Ed. I am pretty sure they’ll make him Chief Scientist emeritus.

Stross: Samsung Galaxy Tab Sucks

Link. Other reviewers omit: “It’s full of Samsung-only apps … that you can’t delete. … take up around 20-30% of … 8Gb FLASH storage”. Talk about grading on a curve. The crapware alone is reason to wait for the 7″ iPad.

Public Transit in iOS 6 – the triumph of stupid

Link. Never underestimate stupidity. ” … nobody knows the extent of the secret deals that were made to keep Google out of certain markets. Those same deals would probably also make it impossible for Apple to get at this data. In a way Apple has to be thankful to Google for testing the waters and uncovering how difficult it is to get worldwide coverage on a voluntary (and free) basis.”