LOLA

NASA sends Mona Lisa to the moon with lasers

NASA scientists, having apparently nothing better to do, have shot an image of the Mona Lisa to the moon by piggybacking it on laser pulses. Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece was successfully received by an instrument aboard the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) some 240,000 miles away.

"This is the first time anyone has achieved one-way laser communication at planetary distances," MIT's David Smith, head of the spacecraft's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), said in a release.

"In the near future, this type of simple laser communication might serve as a backup for the radio communication that satellites use. In the more distant future, it may allow communication at higher data rates than present radio links can provide." … Read more

Do remote music collaboration for real with LOLA

We've seen plenty of apps promise to allow musicians to play with each other in real time across the Internet, as if they were in the same room. However, they generally didn't work perfectly due to the signal taking too long to traverse an Internet already teeming with cat videos and Angelina Jolie's right leg. As for adding video too--it's just not happening.

The answer could be LOLA--not from the eponymous Kinks song, but standing for "LOw LAtency."

Unlike apps that use the Internet, which either tend to include a delay or employ … Read more

Indie filmmakers: Piracy and Google threaten us

In the debate over the illegal file sharing of films online, independent filmmakers have largely been forgotten.

While the antipiracy efforts of the top studios, such as Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros., and their trade group, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), have attracted plenty of attention, the impacts of illegal file sharing on indie studios are much more dramatic, according to three indie movie makers who spoke to CNET. Now, some in their ranks have begun to fight back.

About a dozen production companies have filed lawsuits against tens of thousands of individuals they accuse of illegally distributing … Read more

A Race Winner: The Lola T290

As I noted earlier this week, American race car driver Bobby Rahal won the final European-based Classic Endurance Racing event that took place in the UK this past weekend driving his Lola T290 race car. For those of you not familiar, the Lola family of race cars is a British-made brand of race cars with a long and successful history. They have made many a variety of sport car, including Formula 1 and IndyCar makes among many others throughout the years. And while Lola is not quite a household name in the States, it is a manufacturer that is well … Read more