Bungie announces Halo 3 Recon at Tokyo Game Show

At around midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, Bungie revealed a new expansion to the halo series, Halo 3 Recon at the Tokyo game show, an annual event held in Japan. Bungie, the developer of the game, previously released a teaser for this two weeks ago, in which dedicated fans speculated what the game will be about.

From the trailer, fans will notice that you will not play as Master Chief, the protagonist of the other Halo games, but instead an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST). The new game will not continue Halo 3's storyline either, but between Halo 2 and Halo 3, where the prophet entered slipspace over New Mombasa, the city in the trailer (this may be an overload of information, but it would be good to play the games and read the books to get the background information).

This game will set to release in fall 2009, so I'll keep you updated.

SpaceX Owner, Elon Musk, says private sector will play a big role in Space

About a week after his company made their historic launch, Elon Musk said today that private companies will be a major player in space. The Entrepreneur has invested $100 million and six years into SpaceX and is not a bit worried about the risks. They plan to help NASA deliver cargo to the International Space Station by 2010.

This will be a significant change to how private companies work with NASA. Usually they are under contract to build parts for the space agency, with NASA keeping the hardware at the end.
NASA administrator Michael Griffin is very happy for Musk though, saying that the private sector needs to get involved in space. NASA, however, does not plan to fund SpaceX, since they have to focus on creating their own spacecraft.

No matter the outcome, Elon Musk will join the rank of Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin Galactic space tourist project, and Robert Bigelow, who wants to create a Private space hotel, as pioneering entrepreneurs in space.

China's Third Manned mission successful

Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, successfully landed in Mongolia today, concluding a historic 5-day mission in space to complete the countries first space walk. China is the third country, behind the US and Russia, to have launch a spacecraft by their self. The launch of China's spacecraft, Shenzhou 7, on the Sep 25 was broadcasted live in the country, which reinforced the national pride they've had since 2003, when they first launched into space.

The 20 min long space walk was completed by lead taikonaut, Zhai Zhigang. In that time, he gathered solid samples outside of the spacecraft placed there before it launched. Zhai was very excited about it too, as he said "To all the people in my country and the wold, my greetings." and proudly waved the flag of the republic of China.

Although China officially said that their goal is to build a space station, many people believe that they have started space race with the United States to the moon. I think this is great and will lead to more developments in space.

First Video Game Post: Bungie's Teaser Trailer

I'm happy to bring you the Teaser Trailer that Bungie, the developers of the Halo games, releases last Thursday. For those who do not know, this teaser was the result of a 12 hour countdown on Bungie's site and have many people speculating rather this is for a Halo 3 expansion pack, or a whole new game altogether. Anyway, enjoy a taste of what Bungie is developing for the Xbox 360.

Oh no! the Large Hadron Collider shut down for two months!

You read it right! After its historic launch on September 10, the Large Hadron Collider has shut down due to a superconducting magnet failing saturday. Scientists say that fixing the malfunctioning will take at least 2 months. What happen was a large amount of Helium (used to cool the magnet, entered tunnels of the collider.

Although many scientists say that the LHC will not achieve collisions before the end of the year, others remain optimistic. "It's too early to say whether we'll still be having collisons this year." said James Gillies, chief of communication for CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research). They also say that these setbacks are expected with such a complex experiment and device. Hopefully they can quickly patch the helium area and recool the magnet so we can see the 7 trillon volt collision before the end.

Can Facebook get you a job?

Normally, people think of websites like Facebook and MySpace as the virtual scene to post pictures from spring break or parties and communicate with friends. But, did you know that these sites might get you your new job?


In a recent article, “Status: Looking for work on Facebook”, Stephanie Rosenbloom expresses that employers are using networking sites more in terms of seeking potential candidates. This article interests me because it brings a new aspect of these sites. Marilyn Mackes, an executive director of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, comments that in the past employers were only interested in viewing profiles of who might work for them, but now, “more than half will use the sites to network with potential candidates”.


The article also references several employers and executives who say that the ease of using Facebook and the informality of it allows for a more comfortable and possibly fun experience. More employers, at least for the time being, favor using business sites, like LinkedIn, over social-networking sites. On the other hand, Leila Hebden, whose career is in music management, favors MySpace’s casualness in networking. Music executives even search through social sites, not only finding future singers and musicians, but also promoting themselves, witch would benefit the industry.


Employers are currently taking advantage of the social sites, with real success. Although I do not see myself using Facebook to find my dream job, it is still good to see a different use and people benefiting from this. Perhaps in the future, social networks may have a search feature enabling employers to seamlessly find candidates interested in their field.

NASA to extend shuttle use after 2010

Although NASA agreed to disconinuing the use of the space shuttle by 2010, news leaked from an e-mail shows that NASA might consider using it longer. This may be a good idea too, seeing that the shuttle's successor, Ares, will not be operational until 2015. Also, retiring the shuttle would require NASA to rely on the Russian Federal Space Agency with Soyuz space craft.