MSNBC - Moon probe could kill conspiracy theory

A European spacecraft now orbiting the moon could turn out to be a time machine of sorts as it photographs old landing sites of Soviet robotic probes and the areas where American Apollo crews set down and explored. New imagery of old Apollo touchdown spots, from the European Space Agency’s SMART-1 probe, might put to rest conspiratorial thoughts that U.S. astronauts didn’t go the distance and scuff up the lunar landscape. NASA carried out six piloted landings on the moon between 1969 and 1972. Fringe theorists have said images of the waving flag — on a moon with no atmosphere — and other oddities show that NASA never really went to the moon. No serious scientist or spaceflight historian doubts the success of the Apollo program, however. MSNBC - Moon probe could kill conspiracy theory

Track Your Family with Microsoft

Microsoft researchers have put a new twist on telling time, creating a digital wall clock with hands for each member of the family. Instead of numbers, the hands point to places — work, school, home — and can track a person's location to show where he or she is at any time. Not good for teenagers, perhaps, but something parents might find interesting. Don't expect to buy the clock in stores anytime soon. That invention, and hundreds of others, were on display yesterday at Microsoft's annual science fair of the most futuristic ideas from the company's research division. The people-tracking clock is an idea out of Microsoft's research laboratories in Cambridge, England. Technology in cellphones these days can easily track a person's location, and that information could be sent to the clock to be seen by those at home. "It sounds very trivial but it has very nice properties," said Andrew Herbert, the managing director of the Cambridge lab. "You can glance at it and know where everyone is." The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft's festival of future