We have all heard from the Apple rumor mill about the Apple Tablet that may come out sometime around March. Some say that it will kill the Kindle. Here are 3 reasons why the Apple Tablet will not kill the Kindle.

1. Kindle is easier on the eyes.
I’m talking literally on this. The Apple Tablet will probably have a screen a lot like the Ipod Touch, and yes, it is pretty attractive to the eyes. Even though, the kindle is probably not going to be as attractive as this Apple Tablet, it will give you less eye strain. Looking at the Apple Tablet and reading a book for hours on end is the equivalent of staring at your computer monitor for hours: Your eyes will feel like they want to pop out of your head. The Kindle, however works like a big electronic Etch A Sketch, which means that it has a screen that doesn’t light up whatsoever.  This Etch A Sketch type screen brings me to the second reson…

2. Battery Life
We could see a huge battery life difference between the Kindle and the Apple Tablet. The Kindle uses “Electronic Paper” which mimics ink on paper. It also rely’s on ambient light instead of a back light. The only time the Kindle uses power is if you changing the page. After the Kindle is done changing the page, it doesn’t use power (unless your using Wifi on the DX). This limited use of power allows the Kindle to have battery life of about a week or two of on and off reading. The Apple Tablet, however, will probably have a battery life of 7 hours at most (and I’m pretty generous on that prediction). The reason why I say that is because the Apple Tablet, will probably be equipped with a screen around 10 inches that is back lit, uses wifi, and probably has many underlying “workings”.

3.Pricing
This is by far going to be the shortest reason. The price point of the high-end Kindle DX is around $489. The Apple Tablet is expected to retail from around the $800 to $1,000 range.

Concluding…
If your a hardcore book/newspaper reader. Then your probably better off getting a kindle. The biggest plus of the Apple Tablet, is that it will probably connect to the internet and function as a little computer. The kindle is pretty much strictly for reading. Either way, I think that both the kindle are/will be great products, but I don’t believe the Tablet will kill the kindle.

If you just want to get to the launch, skip ahead to 5:00.

I thought that this launch looked fantastic. It almost looked like the first stage was going to hit the tower.

Attention Readers: Please pardon our dust. We are currently updating the theme.

UPDATE: 10/28/09 11:45AM: Ares 1-X has launched. Update tonight.

UPDATE 10/27/09 1:12PM: Launch scrubbed for today. Next attempt is tomorrow at 8a.m.

If your a Space geek like us, you were probably up watching NASA rollout it’s new rocket, the Ares 1 rocket early Tuesday morning. The Ares 1 is slated to be the replacement for the shuttle when the Space Shuttles are retired next year. This has been the first new human-carrying rocket to be introduced since the early 80s and is the highest rocket rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building since the Saturn V rocket was introduced for the Apollo program in the 60s. The whole rocket is is 327 feet tall (That’s 143 feet taller than the Space Shuttle!) This flight will not carry any people inside, it will just test the First stages of the rocket. The rocket is currently using a re-purposed 4 segment Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) from the Shuttle inventory with a dummy fifth segment. Lying atop of that is a dummy Orion crew capsule (often referred to as a “boilerplate“) and launch abort tower on the top. These dummy segments are used just for adding simulated weight to the top. According to NASA, this flight is only a test of the first segment and it’s parachutes, which are actually among, if not, the biggest parachutes ever made. I also have a feeling that they will be testing the vibration in the capsule as well.

I find this test really exciting but, we shouldn’t get too excited quite yet. The Augustine Commission, a commission appointed by the White House to determine the future of the U.S. space program, will submit their recommendations to president Obama tomorrow (Thursday). Some of those plans don’t even include the Ares 1 rocket. I hope that Obama does make the right decision to move on using a different, newer, mode of transportation to the International Space Station and beyond.

I would find it oddly humorous if I see the thing go “Boom” on the 27th. Lets hope not. Anyways, you can watch the Launch on NASA TV on Tuesday October 27th at 8am (Links Below). Be sure to start watching earlier than 8am because the candle will be lit exactly at 8. If the launch is scrubbed, there will be two more attempts, which will be announced accordingly.

How to watch:
Watch directly from NASA
Watch from Spacevidcast (Recommended!)

Found this on Lifehacker today about different methods for taking notes. Since I haven’t posted a good blog post in a while.

Five Classic Ways to Boost Your Note-Taking [Lifehacker]

I was checking out some airline safety videos earlier today and found Virgin America’s newest safety video and compared it to one of Delta’s newest safety videos. Both seem very modern day compared to the old corny videos made sometime in the 70s and 80s. My personal favorite is the Virgin America because it’s somewhat humorous and relaxed. What do you think? Which airline videos do you think are better?

This Delta safety video has a someone supermodel chick that seems to like her Botox… come on, are those lips natural? I don’t think so. You got to love 1:50.

Via Wikipedia/NASA

Space Shuttle Endeavour launched successfully this afternoon from Florida.

STS-127 Launch Information Click Here!

TechTwins.com wants to wish all of our American readers a happy 4th of July. And to those who aren’t a happy Saturday!

Here is a list of a couple great articles I found this past month:
10 Ways to Find People on Twitter – Mashable
How to Build Sturdy Basement Shelves - Art of Manliness
Spec-Ops TSA-Compliant “Better BDU” Belt – Practical Hacks
50 Great Non-Fiction Adventure Books – Art of Manliness
Broil Your Way to Perfect Pizza Crust – Lifehacker
How to Conquer Fear – Art of Manliness
Coffee Drinks Illustrated – Lifehacker/Lokesh DhakarKeep Firefox Open When Closing the Last Tab – Lifehacker
RunPee Iphone App – Mashable
Get a Straight Razor Shave - Art of Manliness
Top 10 Productivity Basics Explained – Lifehacker
Add Invisible Ink to your Spycraft Arsenal – Lifehacker
Start a Book – Art of Manliness
Nine Great Uses for Binder Clips – Lifehacker
Feed Your Family for Five Bucks Without Going to Taco Bell – The Consumerist
Is Your Handwriting up to Snuff? – Lifehacker
Synchronize Tomboy Notes with Dropbox – Lifehacker
15 Excellent Web Apps for Managing Your Finances – Dumb Little Man
Whip Up Homemade Bread Without Using a Bread Machine - Simple Productivity Blog
How to have a Persuasive Handshake – Wikihow
Five Ways to Get More from Boxee – Lifehacker
7 Basic Knots Every Man Should Know – Art of Manliness
How to Feel Motivated at Work – Dumb Little Man
TV-Browser – Online Didgital TV Guide for Ubuntu – Ubuntu Geek
Improve Your Posture -  Lifehack
6 Motivation Tips When You’re Feeling Depressed - Pick the Brain
First Draft Secrets – Write to Done
How to Write a Paper to Attract Clients – Dumb Little Man
Beware of these Speed Ticket Myths - Dumb Little Man
5 Ways Twitter Can Save You Money – Mashable
A Powerful Guide to Active Listening – Pick the Brain
Everything You Need to Take Better Breaks – LifeDev
10 Awesome Tools To Get More Out of Wikipedia - Dumb Little Man
Creatinga Budget – Art of Manliness
The Lifehacker Cookbook - Lifehacker
Some Motivation from George Washington - Art of Manliness
Outfitting a Minimalist Kitchen – Unclutterer
Make your Brown Bag Lunch More Appealing - Lifehacker
6 Amazing Techniques to Staying Happy During a Stressful Project – Zenhabits
Channeling Your Innter Entrepreneur – Pick the Brain
3 Critical Time Management Techniques – Dumb Little Man
Five Must-Have Tools For Any Kitchen – Lifehacker
The Best U.S. Airport Restaurants - Practical Hacks
Table of Condiments - Lifehacker
The Power of Paper for Everyday Life – Dumb Little Man
How to Tie a Tie – Art of Manliness
Saving Desk Space with Serious Magnets – Lifehacker
12 Tricks Your Brain is Playing on You - Dumb Little Man

Thats it Link-wise for this month. Please come back during the Month of July for more posts. The next Link Roundup will be posted July 31st.

Tuesday’s launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour was scrubbed due to the same hydrogen leak that scrubbed the first attempt to launch this past saturday. The second attempt to lauch the shuttle for it’s STS-127 mission was supposed to take place at 5:15 am EDT Wednesday morning. The team decided to scrub the launch at 1:55am wednesday morning. The next attempt to launch will be on July 11,2009 at 7:39pm EDT, so that two lunar probes can launch and do their missions.

Because of the rescheduled launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, the launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will be delayed to Thursday at the earliest. The launch of Endeavour was delayed on Saturday due to a hydrogen leak and is rescheduled for Wednesday at 5:15 am EDT. If Endeavour launches on Wednesday, the two orbiters will launched either on Thursday or Friday. If the Shuttle launch is scrubbed again, the orbiters will launch on Thursday.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

LRO. via Wikipedia

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a robotic spacecraft that will be placed in an orbit around the Moon.
Mission Objectives:

• Selenodetic global topography
• Characterization of deep space radiation in lunar orbit.
• study of the lunar polar regions, including water and ice deposits.
• High-res mapping to help with the selection of future landing sites.
• Provide first pictures of leftover Apollo equipment.

About LCROSS

LCROSS. via Wikipedia

The Lunar Crater Observation and sensing satellite will be piggy-backing on the launch of LRO. The LCROSS was designed to watch as the launch vehicle’s upper stage strikes  a permanently shadowed region of the moon’s south pole. After the impact, LCROSS will analyze the plume which will help confirm preliminary findings of water and ice. After this, LCROSS will, then, fly through the plume and crash into a different part of the crater. The amount of time inbetween the two impacts will be approxamately four minutes.