Space shuttle Atlantis was launched from Kennedy Space Center this morning at 11:29am. STS-135 is the last mission of over 30 years of space exploration. The two iPhone 4s taken into space are pre-loaded with the app SpaceLab for iOS, which will allow scientists to conduct several experiments, including the following –

Limb Tracker – This navigation experiment will involve taking photographs of the Earth and matching an arc to the horizon through manipulation of an overlay. This performs the function roughly equivalent to a "manual" horizon sensor. It will yield an estimate of altitude (height above the surface) and "off axis" angle, a measurement of the angle of the image with respect to the Earth’s center.

Sensor Cal – This sensor calibration experiment uses a series of photos of a reference image, combined with propagated information using three-axis gyro and accelerometer measurements to calibrate the gyros and the accelerometers (i.e. bias and scale coefficients). This will improve the knowledge and accuracy of subsequent measurements.

State Acq State Acquisition – This navigation experiment uses a series of photos of a reference image and of the Earth, combined with information from the three-axis gyro and accelerometer, to estimate the position of the spacecraft (latitude and longitude). The position estimation is generated by manipulating and matching a wireframe overlay of the Earth’s coastlines to the acquired Earth image(s). Performing multiple sequences, separated by a known amount of time, can permit estimation of the spacecraft’s orbit parameters.

LFI Lifecycle Flight Instrumentation – This experiment will characterize the effects of radiation on the device by monitoring certain areas of memory for Single Bit Upsets – an unintended change in value of a memory location caused by exposure to radiation.

The iPhone’s three-axis gyroscopes and accelerometer should perform well in zero gravity and let scientists conduct experiments in a more cost efficient way. The mission will last 12 days but the iPhones will remain in space. The Russian Soyuz vehicle will return the iPhone 4′s to Earth possibly as soon as this Fall. Flight data will be collected and analyzed once they return to Earth.

You can check out SpaceLab for iOS in the App Store now (iTunes Link). Not all experiments will work without a zero gravity environment but it’s still an extremely interesting app to check out.

[ SpaceLab for iOS, MacRumors]

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Kevin, Phil, and Rene discuss whether or not Google should buy RIM, how BlackBerry can fight back, is Google MIA in the patent wars, Google+ is here, the TouchPad has landed, and will there be a second new iPad this year? Bringing together the heads of state of Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, and Windows Mobile for full on round-table action. This is Mobile Nations!

Show notes after the break!

Agenda

• 10 Reasons why Google will buy Research In Motion
• The Way I See It CrackBerry Nation, We’ve Only Just Begun…
• Editorial: How long can Google and Android afford to remain silent on patents?
• http://www.androidcentral.com/android-app-review-google
• HP TouchPad
• Could 5 new iOS devices make up Apple's fall family?

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Spark Control: A creative idea turned into reality can change the world. Only you can keep the spark of creativity energized and get it to the inventor’s box! [Free for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]

• Templates for Keynote Pro: you get a framework of presentations that put your message in the center. No more worrying about the look of your presentation, no more waste of time to find the right template that fits your needs. [$4.99 for iPad - iTunes link]

• UltraDeep: Pickup diamonds which will charge your superpower. When the superpower gauge is full you can tap the screen to activate the superpower and smash down through obstacles at amazing speeds! [$0.99 for iPhone, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

• PizzaExpress Book a table when you're out and about, browse the menu to choose what to eat, store your downloaded PizzaExpress offer codes, and you can now pay your bill with PayPal using your iPhone. [Free for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Pudding puzzle: Connect two same color blocks with your finger in limited time. [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Apalon’s little iPhone game, Dress The Monkey – Fashion Monkey, is a relaxing fashion game with the only goal of dressing up your monkey.

• Make up an unusual outfit for one of the four adorable characters: Rebel, Princess, Sage, and Granny
• Be in control of just about every aspect of a model's look, including hair style, eyes and skin color, and even mood of your virtual friend!
• Take advantage of the large collection of different accessories: hats, wigs, scarves, bows, glasses and more!
• Choose fancy backgrounds for your monkey: Sunny Jungles, Icy Forest, and more!
• Share your monkey via email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or save it as wallpaper!
• Find additional "packs" of accessories and backgrounds that are available through the built-in store

Although primarily targeted towards children, I enjoy playing with this app. I like cute little cuddly things, and it’s fun dressing up my little monkey. My favorite feature is that in addition to accessorizing, I can choose a facial expression for my monkey that matches my personal mood. Such a great little time killer.

Dress The Monkey – Fashion Monkey is available for free with optional in-app purchases. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

Swype, the popular Android keyboard replacement, has been ported to iOS devices and is now available in beta through Cydia. Swype is an alternative way to enter text on a keyboard that enables you to slide your finger over the screen through the letters that form the word.

Swype provides a faster and easier way to input text on any screen. With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard, the patented technology enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods—at over 40 words per minute. The application is designed to work across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, game consoles, kiosks, televisions, virtual screens and more.

Swype is already a very popular keyboard alternative on the Android platform and with this jailbreak release, iOS users can now try it out for themselves. Restrictions by Apple have prevented Swype from being made officially available in the App Store; so developer Andrew Liu decided to port a version over to iOS.

As it is still in an early beta stage, some things don't work fully, as of yet. Swype will only work in stock iOS apps and not third party apps. Also there is no blue line indicating where you are swiping on the keyboard. These and other features will be added very soon; according to Andrew.

To try out Swype, you need to add a new repository within Cydia (http://wynd.x10.mx) then install from there. Once installed you can then use the current keyboard normally or use the Swype method too.

I have been using it for the last hour and it seems to work very well, at least with everyday words. Names and other characters are hit and miss at best but as it is integrated with the stock keyboard, you can use both methods to get what you need quickly. All in all it is a nice keyboard to have at your disposal and one that will surely improve as features are added!

[@Andrew Liu via Modmyi]

The TW Cable app has just been updated by Time Warner and has added in some nice new features to an already impressive app — but it now also blocks Jailbroken devices. So the good news is, you now have over 100 channels available to watch from within the app and also a remote DVR Manager for compatible cable boxes. The downside, if you decide to update and have a jailbroken iPad, the the app will block you from viewing any content.

TWCable TV is not supported on "jailbroken" devices. Please restore your iPad to factory defaults, then reinstall TWCable TV.

We can only imagine that Time Warner is trying to prevent jailbroken users from accessing its content in ways that are against its terms and conditions (i.e. the old “they’ll steal our content!!” bit). However, it feels more like a of overly reactionary discrimination going on here against the majority of honest jailbreak and TW Cable users!

Apparently, there is a way to bypass the jailbreak check and get the app working on a jailbroken iPad. It involves manually installing a .deb file on your device. FSM has a post up explaining how to do it, so hit the link below if you want to give it a try.

[iTunes link, FSM, Thanks Matthew for the tip!]

Remote Potato HD is coming soon for the iPad and if you're a Windows Media Center user this could be the perfect app. With Remote Potato HD you can browse and stream all of your Windows Media Center content directly to your iPad in high resolution; locally or over the internet. You can also access your Media Center EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and schedule recordings all from within the app.

Another great feature, if you have an Apple TV, is AirPlay. As Remote Potato HD uses the Apple video player, to play back content, AirPlay can be used to stream to your Apple TV 2. This would enable your Apple TV to become a type of Media Center Extender.

In order to use the app with your Media Center system, you will have to install an application that handles the streaming and transcoding. This is available free from Remote Potato. The app has already been submitted to Apple for approval; so expect it to arrive any day now. No news on pricing yet but the existing version for iPhone and iPod touch is priced at $6.99.

There is a video demo of the app after the break. It looks like a fantastic solution; if you are a Windows Media Center and iPad user. I will be trying this one out as soon as it is available!

[Remote Potato via The Digital Lifestyle]

If you have jailbroken your iPad with the recently released Jailbreakme exploit and use the official Apple Camera Connection Kit, you may have noticed that it no longer works. Apparently Comex knows all about the problem and will be issuing a fix for it today. The fix will enable you to use the Camera Connection Kit as normal and will also address some packages from Cydia that have had problems too.

According to Comex, if you are already jailbroken, the fix will be in the form of a download from Cydia. We assume then that it should be part of any new jailbreak in the future; but don't quote us on that!

[@comex]

AutoTrader’s new iPhone app, Autotrader.com, has hit the App Store. With it, you can shop for nearby cars and even scan the VIN barcode of a car you like so that you can save it or search for other similar cars.

• Search for new, used and certified cars near you.
• Contact a seller by phone or email directly from a vehicle listing.
• Map local dealerships, and view their services and amenities.
• Use keyword search to find particular dealer services and amenities near you.
• Scan the VIN barcode of a car you like to search for similar cars near you, or save it for later.
• Create a free "My AutoTrader" account to save your favorite cars and searches.
• Access your saved cars and searches from any other mobile device or computer.

Autotrader.com is available for free in the App Store. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Has all the furor surrounding Dropbox lately made you wonder how you can better protect your private information? It’s always a good rule of thumb to assume that any file you store using a service that has any internet connection at all is by its very nature not protected. (For a variety of reasons, legal or otherwise.) However, there’s nothing to stop you from making your files as secure as possible, encrypting them before they ever hit Dropbox’s servers. We’ll show you how, after the break.

Part of Dropbox’s own security document outlines the use of encryption before uploading files, and there are a variety of ways to do this. If you’re on a Mac, one of the easiest is to simply use Disk Utility in the OS X Utilities folder to create a special mountable folder that you can lock up to your heart’s content. In a few quick steps, you can be sure that your sensitive docs are protected long before they leave your LAN.

Note: iOS can’t mount encrypted files so if you used this, you won’t be able to open them on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Security is always at war with convenience and this tip is for when you’ve got to let the security Wookie win.

Step 1: Create A New Disk Image

Open Disk Utility (HD/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility) and choose New > Blank Disk Image from the drop down menu. Now you’ll need to choose a few parameters for your disk image.

Step 2: Choosing Features, Creating the Image

Here’s where it gets only slightly tricky. There’s a bunch of stuff you can pick here for your disk image, but it really depends on how much space you have in your Dropbox and how tight you want your security. First, give your new disk image a name (I usually use the same one for the “Save As” field and the “Name” field).

Now, you need to choose how much storage you want to use. Even if you aren’t going to fill it, Dropbox will see the new disk image as a single file, so if you only need 100 MB of storage, don’t choose the 500 MB disk image size, because it’ll be a lot of wasted space. Conversely, you can also choose a custom size if you need a lot more space.

Now, for the important part. If you’re doing this at all, there’s probably no reason for you to use anything less than 256-bit encryption, so go ahead and just pick that and make it easy on yourself.

Once you’re done, you can pretty much leave the other things as they are. Of course you can tweak as much as you like, but it’ll work fine with just those two settings. Click “Create” and Disk Utility will ask you for a password. Make it a good one and if you really want to be safe, you can uncheck the “Remember password in my keychain” box. This will force you to enter the password every time you need to access the image – so if you’re only concerned about storing it safely on Dropbox and you feel your machine is safe enough, it’s up to you how hardcore you want to get. If you leave it checked, your keychain should auto-unlock the image for you each time you open it. But remember, if you uncheck that box, and lose or forget the password, it’s really gone, along with anything in that disk image. So be careful.

Now that you’ve assigned a password, the image will be created. When it’s ready, it will auto-mount on the desktop and you can open it and begin adding files.

You can see available space in the bottom of your finder window.

When you’re done dropping your sensitive docs in, simply eject the disk image and it will begin uploading to Dropbox. That’s pretty much it! If you look in your Dropbox folder, you’ll see a disk image, and when you double-click to launch, it’ll prompt you for your password. Now you can rest a little easier, knowing that your documents are locked up long before they hit the web.