The Inmarsat-4, or I4-F3 broadband satellite to its friends, is a big satellite. Almost as big as a double decker bus and with an unfurled solar wingspan as wide as a football field, it needed an appropriately big ride into space. And so it hitched onto a Proton Rocket, a 58m-high, 700-ton monster used for sat positioning since 1996, but before that, used in the 1960's to visit planets for scientific research and deliver parts of the International Space Station and Mir Space Station. The flight was perfect. [Baikonur Campaigns via BBC via io9]

The Motorola Q is finally getting the Windows Mobile 6.1 treatment through AT&T, who's stores are said to be taking in shipments of a new silver version of the handset. This is good news for enterprise customers who are tied into the WinMo world. No word yet on when these will hit the shelves, or if there will be an upgrade available for current AT&T Q9h owners, but it's likely we'll hear something soon. [BGR]

It seems a random app crash bug plaguing the iPhone 2.0 software has concerned El Jobso enough to make him personally reply to a user email. According to AppleInsider one of their readers received an email from jobs that read "this is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September."

AppleInsider says the app crash bug affects newly downloaded and updated apps, where they instantly quit upon launch. Sometimes reinstalling them helps, sometimes it doesn't. While the 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 updates have done nothing to remedy the problem, some speculate that the problem revolves around root permissions. Either way, this is the first apple acknowledgment of the problem. [Apple Insider]

Steven Sinofsky, Senior VP in charge of Windows 7 development, has just posted some details on the Microsoft's Windows 7 Engineering blog on what the internal structure looks like for the upcoming OS. It sounds (at least to us) equal parts logistical nightmare and brute force "1000 monkeys at 1000 typewriters", with 25 teams divided up to an average of 40 developers per team.

The organization is divided up into 25 teams, which encompases stuff like Applets and Gadgets, the File System, Core User Experience, Find and Organize, IE, Kernel & VM, Media Center, and Security. Of course many features span various parts of the OS, and it's up to the management to coordinate between the numerous groups. What would we want to see more of? Better and smarter integration between various apps on Windows, for example having their Mail application be tied into Calendars for meeting schedules and Contacts, or making Gadgets able to access various parts of the OS. These are just two examples we came up with in as many seconds, but you get the idea. More integration. [Windows 7 blog]

Steven Sinofsky, Senior VP in charge of Windows 7 development, has just posted some details on the Microsoft's Windows 7 Engineering blog on what the internal structure looks like for the upcoming OS. It sounds (at least to us) equal parts logistical nightmare and brute force "1000 monkeys at 1000 typewriters", with 25 teams divided up to an average of 40 developers per team.

The organization is divided up into 25 teams, which encompases stuff like Applets and Gadgets, the File System, Core User Experience, Find and Organize, IE, Kernel & VM, Media Center, and Security. Of course many features span various parts of the OS, and it's up to the management to coordinate between the numerous groups. What would we want to see more of? Better and smarter integration between various apps on Windows, for example having their Mail application be tied into Calendars for meeting schedules and Contacts, or making Gadgets able to access various parts of the OS. These are just two examples we came up with in as many seconds, but you get the idea. More integration. [Windows 7 blog]

Microsoft hasn't released its own Xbox Live iPhone app (and we're kinda thinking they won't), but it's definitely cool letting developers fill the gap, on one condition: They can't charge for the app. Of the three Live apps in the App Store, two are free right now, though iLive still charges $1.99, even though it has the worst interface of the three. Microsoft can boss them around 'cause they're all getting Live info through the Xbox Community Developer Program. Either way, that works for us. [Joystiq]

This isn't the first time we have seen a cellphone charger that is powered by kinetic energy, but the difference is that M2E is working on a charger that can produce 300 to 700% more juice than current technologies. They hope this will translate into a full-on replacement for cellphone batteries somewhere down the line. According to earth2tech, M2E's short term goal is to develop a charger that will produce an hour of talk time for around six hours of normal movement. Currently, M2E is in talks with major accessories manufacturers about bringing a device to market as early as 2009. [earth2tech via Inhabitat]

What is the best way for IE to gain market share back from Firefox? Porn. That's right—when it comes to the internet, the answer is always porn. You know it, I know it, and apparently Microsoft knows it because there are rumors floating around that they may incorporate a private browsing feature, a.k.a "porn mode," similar to Safari (Firefox pulled the feature from 3.0) that would allow users to thoroughly cover up their smutty tracks from anyone who might be checking their browsing history.

The IE 8 Beta 2 release should be hitting any day now, so we shall see soon enough whether or not this feature made it into the build. But, the question is, would private browsing make IE more appealing to you, or is it a non-issue? [istartedsomething via ZDNet Image via ninamariebarbuto]

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies have launched the the Bio Energy Discovery Kit, a product that they are calling "the fuel cell industry’s first direct ethanol product." The kit directly converts alcohol into electricity and can run non-stop for days on end. The purpose of the kit is to introduce fuel cell technology to students, scientists, teachers and engineers using a simple gadget that is easy to understand.

However, they claim that the kit could be the first step towards replacing conventional batteries in portable devices like iPods or mobile phone chargers. I don't know how practical a commercial application would be, or whether or not I would be willing to give up a single drop of my precious vodka, but you can pick up the kit now for $99. [Horizonfuelcell]

At the end of an otherwise tepid presentation at the Intel Developer Forum today, Dadi Perimutter, head of Intel's Mobility Group, dropped a bomb (via PowerPoint) on his audience: a mysterious tablet device, which could well be the next generation of the Classmate OLPC competitor. If that is the case, the OLPC might really have something to worry about. Sugar, the "revolutionary" Linux-based OS originally developed for the OLPC, is already in development for the Classmate project, not to mention that fact that this new picture indicates that Intel may have taken a few of Nick Negroponte's visions for the OLPC XO-2 to heart, and possibly to production.

The current Classmate PC fits a traditional form-factor and has been moderately successful, if not dominant, in its intended market. Without a truly unique design or an adequately modified (or new) operating system, the first and second generations of the Classmate amounted to little more than a very cheap laptop. Switching to a tablet-style design and relying on nontraditional input methods could push the new Classmate (or whatever this is) over the edge as the de facto digital teaching device for the developing world. That, and a ridiculously low price. In any case, we'll be at tomorrow's IDF keynote when this little tease gets filled out. [Laptop Mag]