Airbus A400M Atlas

As of July 2012 the A400M is undergoing flight testing. Orders totalled 174 aircraft from eight nations as of July 2011. Airbus Military is expected to deliver the first aircraft in early 2013.

Top 5 Important Pictures That Shaped America

On July 20, 1969, the United States Apollo 11 space flight landed on the moon. It was the third lunar mission of NASA’s Apollo program and the vessel was crewed by Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin Jr.

Nokia Lumia 900 review

The Nokia Lumia 900 is a good-looking phone that boasts a bright 4.3in screen that shows off the software’s distinctive live tiles

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 release rumoured for August 30th

Further blurring the lines between smartphones and tablets, Samsung is rumoured to be preparing a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 release for IFA 2012

Addis Ababa’s Future National Stadium And Sports Village In Ethiopia

Entertainment is an essential part of our lives; without entertainment, sports or games, our lives would be like a barren land.

Sabtu, 30 Juni 2012

How to Create an Invoice Using Your PayPal Account ~ Fourtriangle


How to Create an Invoice Using Your PayPal Account


If you have an online business and you give quotes to your customers for custom jobs then you probably use some form of an invoicing system to collect the money from the customers.

You have most probably used or are currently using PayPal in some capacity to receive payments for your products or services. PayPal is the most popular payment gateway for online merchants and consumers alike and is used by tens of millions of people to sell products from their websites.

Apart from giving you the ability to accept payments from customers via “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” buttons on your site, PayPal also has functionality which makes it possible for you to create and send invoices directly from your PayPal account.

The invoice functionality offered by PayPal is free and is a somewhat overlooked and seemingly little known feature.

PayPal’s invoicing feature can be a very useful tool for anybody who wishes to request a payment from someone in a professional manner. This is in contrast to the simpler “Request Money” feature which is also available from your PayPal account and which allows for a basic message requesting payment to be sent to anybody with an email address.

As we’ll see in the example below, with the PayPal invoicing feature, you can tailor your invoices to look official and professional and hence add that extra touch of quality to how you request payments from your clients.

The added beauty of using PayPal’s invoices is that they not only allow people to pay you using their PayPal account, but they also make it possible for people to send money even if they don’t have an account with PayPal but they simply want to pay using their credit or debit card.




Kamis, 28 Juni 2012

Top 5 Most Important Battles in History ~ Fourtriangle



5. Battle of Tours, 732


Chances are you never heard of this battle, but had the Franks lost it, we might all be bowing towards Mecca five times a day and studying our Koran each night. The battle near the city of Tours pitted about 20,000 Carolingian Franks under Charles Martel against a Muslim force of up to 50,000 soldiers under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi intent on bringing Islam to Europe. Though outnumbered, Martel proved to be an especially able commander and routed the invaders, driving them back into Spain and, ultimately (through his son, Pippin the Great) off the continent. Had Martel lost, Islam would probably have become the predominant faith of Europe and, eventually, the main religion around the world today. How this would have impacted western civilization can only be guessed at, but chances are it would have taken a dramatically different tact than it did.

4. Battle of Vienna, 1683


In something of a remake of the earlier Battle of Tours (see no. 5) the Muslims were again on the march in an effort to claim all of Europe for Allah. This time, riding under the banner of the Ottoman Empire, somewhere between 150,000 to 300,000 troops under Kara Mustafa Pasha met a mixed force of some 80,000 troops under the Polish King John Sobrieski near Vienna one fine September in 1683 and somehow lost. The battle proved to be the end of Islamic expansion into Europe and resulted in their commander, Mustafa Pasha, being executed by the Turks for his mishandling of the siege and battles for Vienna. How close were things? Had Pasha attacked when he first arrived at the city earlier that July, Vienna probably would have fallen; in waiting until September, however, he gave time for the Polish Army and their allies to arrive to break the siege and provide the forces necessary to send the Turks packing. Still, you’d think that with a 2 to 1 or even 3 to 1 advantage, they should have something to show for their efforts.

3. Yorktown, 1781


In terms of numbers, this was a pretty puny battle (8,000 American troops, supported by 8,000 French troops, against some 9,000 British troops) but by the time it ended on October 19, 1781, it changed the world forever. The indomitable British Empire, the super power of its day, should have easily defeated the rag-tag colonists under George Washington, and for most of the war, they generally had the upper hand. By 1781, however, the upstart Americans had learned how to fight and, having acquired the assistance of England’s arch enemy, France, had become a small but professional fighting force. As a result, the British under Cornwallis found themselves trapped on a peninsula between the determined Americans on the one side and a French fleet on the other that made escape impossible and so, after a couple of weeks of fighting, they surrendered. In doing so, the Americans defeated the world’s premier military power and gained independence for some backwoods country in the new world called the United States of America.

2. Battle of Salamis, 480 BCE


Imagine a sea battle today that involved over a thousand ships and one can begin to appreciate the magnitude of this single engagement between the outnumbered Greek Navy under Themistocles and the massive navy of King Xerxes of Persia. The Greeks had used guile to get the Persian fleet to sail into the narrow Straits of Salamis, where they were able to deprive them of taking advantage of their superior numbers, and dealt the Persians a humiliating defeat. As a result, Xerxes was forced to withdraw most of his army back to Persia, thereby leaving Greece to the Greeks and preserving western civilization in the process. A number of historians believe that a Persian victory would have stilted the development of Ancient Greece, and by extension ‘western civilization’ per se, making Salamis one of the most significant battles in human history.

1. Adrianople, 718


What The Battle of Tours (see No. 5) was for western Europe, and the Battle of Vienna (No. 4) was for central Europe, the battle of Adrianople was for eastern Europe in that once again, the armies of Islam were stopped in their tracks just as they were prepared to take all of Europe. Had this battle been lost and Constantinople—at the time the largest city in Christendom—fallen to the Muslims, it would have allowed the armies of Islam to move practically unimpeded throughout the Balkans and into central Europe and Italy. As it was, Constantinople was to act like the cork in a bottle, keeping the armies of Allah from crossing the Bosporus and taking Europe in force—a role it was to play for the next 700 years until the city finally fell in 1453.


Dell XPS 13 review ~ Fourtriangle



Ultrabooks took the forefront at this year’s CES and Dell, one of the industry’s top guns, unveiled the Dell XPS 13 to us all. It’s got some catching up to do – after all, the Asus Zenbook UX31 and Toshiba Satellite Z830 have impressed us for some months now.

Luckily it seems more than a match for its Ultra-competition and some remarkable design choices instantly set this apart from others we’ve seen. With Intel, as ever, providing the latest Sandy Bridge performance specs, this could be the Ultrabook to tip the balance. The Dell XPS 13 we've been looking at is a pre-build model, so the full retail version could potentially vary slightly, but we'll keep you posted on that.

Dell XPS 13: Features

The Dell XPS 13’s aluminium chassis is jaw-droppingly attractive. Outwardly, it’s a smaller, thinner version of the Dell XPS 15z and the Dell XPS 14z – no bad thing. A curving silver shell measuring 7mm at its thinnest point and a barely-there weight of 1.4 means holding the XPS 13 is akin to holding a tablet.

Once you lift the lid and peer inside, the craftsmanship of the device becomes apparent. Unlike the silver interiors of rivals like the Acer Aspire S3, the XPS 13 is a rubberised jet black and devoid of stickers or markings.

Because of the thinness of the chassis the backlit chicklet keyboard, like other Ultrabooks, has a shallow travel. But spacing of the keys is well proportioned, as is the slightly curving design of the keys themselves.

Dell XPS 13: Screen


We had to marvel at the engineering of the screen on the Dell XPS 13. There’s almost no bezel around the edge, so the 13.3-inch screen seems like it’s sitting in an 11-inch laptop. The whole screen is made with tough Gorilla Glass and the 1366 x 768 pixel resolution is good enough to enjoy 720p high-definition movies.

Dell XPS 13: Performance


When you’re done admiring the outside of the Dell XPS 13, you’ll find the interior components just as pleasing. Sporting a quad-core Intel Core i7-2637M CPU, you get lightning quick response times and can comfortably multitask between a range of programs and web pages.

The Sandy bridge chip runs with an integrated Intel graphics card with about 1.5GB given over to shared video memory. Movie and photo editing shouldn’t be a problem, but games will be beyond this machine.

Dell XPS 13: Battery

Battery life is a key feature of the Ultrabook platform and the 6-cell battery built into the XPS 13 isn’t accessible to the likes of you and me. But, Dell claims it will run comfortably up to 8 hours, giving you an entire day at the office without needing the mains.

Dell XPS 13: Verdict

While we've only been able to get our hands on a pre-build version so far, the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook matches jaw-dropping design with characteristically strong performance. Although we would have liked a little more connectivity, there’s very little to fault with this device.

It differentiates itself from the competition with a head-turning design and keeps up an impressive battery life. The Gorilla Glass display is given room to shine thanks to a minimal bezel and we felt we could use it as much for work as for kicking back with a high-definition movie.

We feel this is easily one of the strongest Ultrabooks in the current line-up and a spectacular piece of engineering from Dell. We'll bring you more info as soon as we've had the final retail model on our test bench, as well as a confirmed retail price.

  • Dell XPS 13 availability: March 2012
  • Dell XPS 13 price: £TBC (estimates suggest £899)

Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 preview ~ Fourtriangle



Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 has a tough challenge ahead of it. The latest entry in the biggest shooter franchise on the planet faces stiff competition at the end of this year in the form of EA’s Medal Of Honor: Warfighter.

Not only that, it’s likely the game’s publisher expects it to improve on the sales of last year’s COD game, which, in spite of the fact it has sold upwards of 9m units, still hasn’t broken the record for the series of 13.7m units – which is currently held by the first Call Of Duty: Black Ops.

This means that Black Ops’s developer, Treyarch, is no longer in competition with Infinity Ward, the studio behind the Modern Warfare games. It’s mainly competing against its own past record. This is a pretty tall-order, so it’s to the developer’s credit that the first reveal of the game it’s shown T3, packs a sizable wallop.

Call Of Duty Black Ops 2: Plot

Unlike its predecessor, which was set during various intervals during the Cold War, the story in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 takes place in the not-too-distant future. The game’s weapons are more advanced, the gadgets are very high-tech, and a lot of the USA’s defence systems have become automated.

The story kicks off when terrorist group hacks into the system that controls these robot defences and turns them on their users. Then all hell breaks loose.

The sequence of events Treyarch reveals to T3 in the first-look demo is mind-blowing. The COD series has always had a reputation for mixing authentic shooter action with epic action set-pieces, but even so, Treyarch have outdone themselves here.

The reveal begins inside a Hummer speeding down the Los Angeles freeway. The game’s protagonist, Mason, tries to save the life of a presidential aid choking to death on his own blood. The President Of The United States is sat beside him, talking to one of Mason’s comrades, Harper, about getting her to safety.

Overhead, UAV drones are firing missiles into the LA traffic, and cars are being blown off the road. Suddenly the entire screen shudders and the POV tips sideways as a missile hits the Hummer.

Call Of Duty Black Ops 2: Gameplay


Mason scrambles from the wreckage, leaps onto the back of the car, and takes control of a missile turret. He quickly targets the UAV drones overhead, as Harper covers the president. After shooting a fair number of enemies down, he has to abandon the turret, as UAV shoots a hole in the raised freeway beneath the Hummer, and the vehicle goes tumbling through it.

The action comes thick and furious. We watch, open-mouthed, as Mason and his troops avoid flying cars, rapel into the streets, commandeer a car and then hurtle into downtown LA as explosions detonate all around them.

They then have to shoot their way through a shopping mall; here, the demo showcases some of the hardware players can expect to use, such as remote drones that strafe enemies, and guns sporting bullets powerful enough to shoot through a building’s support columns.

The battle spills back out onto the street where T3 watches as a skyscraper comes crashing down into the middle of the street. After a brief exchange between Mason and Harper, the former leaps into a jumpjet and takes to the skies, firing missiles and explosive rounds at the unmanned bombers attacking the city.

Call Of Duty Black Ops 2: Verdict

In terms of spectacle, this puts the likes of Michael Bay and Tony Scott firmly in the shade. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 looks bigger, badder and better than its predecessor and its wall-to-wall action is relentless. If the rest of Black Ops 2’s package is as impressive as this, Treyarch should be onto a winner this November.

  • Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 availability: 13 November 2012
  • Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 price: TBC


Senin, 11 Juni 2012

iPhone 5 News: Release date, price & specs rumours ~ Fourtriangle

Update: Our iPhone 5 rumours post has grown to accomodate more gossip - which you'll find across all three pages - in addition to some amazing iPhone 5 concept images.

Rumours surrounding the iPhone 5’s release date, potential specs and features, and price have fuelled reports that Apple is gearing up to launch its next-gen smartphone around summer time.

The handset, which is rumoured to be named the new iPhone, is reportedly under construction – and the rumour mill has been busy speculating about what we can expect to see from the device, if and when it lands.

While none of the below have been confirmed by Apple – the company is notoriously good at keeping secrets – we’ve rounded up all the speculation dished out by sources, experts & fanboys to get some clue on what to expect from the iPhone 5.

Apple iPhone 5: Release Date

Respected Japanese Apple blog Macotakara has allegedly received word from "Asian sources" who claim that Apple will launch the device in September or October 2012 which would fit with last year’s arrival of the iPhone 4S.

"According to Asian reliable source, next iPhone will be released in September or October, and this cycle seems to be kept for years," read a translated portion of the report.

If the article proves to be accurate, it would mean the company is returning to the 12-month launch cycles we saw for the first four versions of the beloved device.

Last year's October iPhone 4S launch was the only time Apple has verged from the summer cycle, making users wait 15 months instead of the usual 12 for a new handset.

While the iPhone 4S was more of an evolutionary upgrade, with a faster processor an improved camera and the addition of the Siri voice control app, the iPhone 5 is likely to bring a more revolutionary approach, perhaps with the addition of a 4G LTE internet and a larger screen size.

Apple iPhone 5: Price

The 16GB iPhone 4S lines up in retailers with a hefty £499 price tag. Prices continue up all the way to £699 for the 64GB edition.

Ahead of the iPhone 4S successor’s announcement, it is believed that the sixth-gen model will simply replace the iPhone 4s in terms of price points and range of models with any 128GB storage option likely to hit the £799 price mark.

Apple iPhone 5: Name

Following the March launch of the new iPad, eports have suggested that Apple is to cease the numbered naming convention of its pocket blowers and move the market leading iPhone range in line with its Mac offerings which see multiple product overhauls occur whilst maintaining the same base name.

“About two weeks ago we got a tip from a reliable source that Apple was going to call the iPhone 5 the new “iPhone,” according to Apple blog 9to5Mac.

 “That seemed a little nuts at the time but what a difference a Keynote makes. Apple chopped the suffix off if the iPad as part of a branding makeover that will likely expand.

The report added: “Just like iMac is not called iMac 1,2,3 it looks like Apple won’t be doing the numbering on iOS devices (though it never did with the iPod touch).”

Apple iPhone 5: Display


Update: Apple has reportedly begun manufacturing on its rumoured iPhone 5 handsets. Reports suggest Sony has been working on display components for the Californian company’s next-gen smartphone since February – and will ramp up production on the panels at the end of this month.

According to AppleInsider, the consumer electronics manufacturer is working in conjunction with other firms, such as Toshiba Mobile Display and LG Display Co, to roll out enough panels for the heavily rumoured device, expected to launch later this year.

Stone Wu, a senior analyst at IHS Displaybank, said: “Even for those companies that start mass production in May, they can only reach an average yield of 65 to 70 per cent at present.”

Although there has been no official word on the iPhone 5’s screen size, rumours suggest growing competition and market pressures will see Apple introduce a new plus 4-inch model.

These rumours have been backed up by a selection of industry analysts that have suggested Apple will be forced into the screen size overhaul as competition from rival handsets, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, intensify.


Speaking with T3, industry specialist Daniel Ashdown from tech analysis company Juniper Research suggested Apple may opt for a larger screen for the iPhone 5.

He said: "It will be particularly interesting to see what the size of the display will be given that it has not changed thus far since the iPhone was launched with a 3.5-inch screen.

"Competitors have increased their devices to up to 4.3". We would be surprised if they [Apple] didn't break from tradition this time and increase the size of the next model."

Contrary to these claims, other reports have suggested Apple will retain its 3.5-inch iPhone display for future handsets as a larger screen could disturb the iOS platform’s offering of apps.


Apple iPhone 5: Specs

Update: The key reason for current users to upgrade to an iPhone 5 later this year will be a 'sleek unibody casing', according to an industry analyst.

In a note to investors, Brian J. White of Topeka Capital Markets reckons production will begin on a new 4-inch iPhone in June this year, following a recent visit to suppliers in Taiwan and China,AppleInsider
 reported.

He says the sixth generation iPhone device will boast a look similar to the single sheet aluminium casings featured on recent iterations of the Apple MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines.

He wrote: "In our view, this will be the most significant iPhone upgrade with a four-inch screen and a new, sleek look that we believe will require a Unibody case.


“This new, sleek look will be the most important reason that consumers decide to upgrade."

Meanwhile, despite the on-going legal battles between the two companies over repeated patent infringements, Samsung looks set to continue its role as a component supplier for Apple’s iDevices.

The Korean firm is reported to be providing the quad-core A6 chips to feature within the iPhone 5.

“Apple has been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core mobile processor (AP) chips to be used in the next iPhone,” sources told
 KoreaTimes.


They added: “It appears that Apple clearly has concluded that Samsung remains a critical business partner.”

Meanwhile, further reports have suggested Apple is to shave millimetres off the form of its next-generation handset thanks to the introduction of a new streamlined Sony camera sensor.

Whilst handsets and tablets continue to ship with increasingly slim form factors, the lack of cut sized camera sensors has started to slow the possibilities of even slimmer devices.

Sony, however, has announced a new back-illuminated CMOS sensor tipped for inclusion within the Apple iPhone 5 that will allow for increasingly thin designs with improved functionality.

"This image sensor layers the pixel section containing formations of back-illuminated structure pixels onto chips containing the circuit section for signal processing, which is in place of supporting substrates for conventional back-illuminated CMOS image sensors," the component's description declared.

"This structure achieves further enhancement in image quality, superior functionalities and a more compact size that will lead to enhanced camera evolution.”

Apple iPhone 5: Design


Update: The next generation Apple iPhone 5 could appear longer and thinner, with a widescreen aspect ratio, reports suggest.

9to5Mac has received word from its sources that the company will launch the device with a 3.999-inch screen (diagonally) with a resolution of 640 x 1136, compared to the existing 640 x 960, 3.5-inch offering.

The width of the screen will remain the same, but the device would be longer, if the article is correct. This contradicts claims that the Californian firm will include a 4-inch screen on the rumoured device.


The Apple news site says it knows of two prototype iPhone 5 devices currently being tested, both of which sport the new screen size.

A key advantage of the new aspect ratio, which is close to 16:9, will be full-screen native video, but 9to5Mac reckons the company is planning to integrate an extra row of app icons on the homescreen, making five in total.

It'll also allow for "extended application user interfaces that offer views of more content," according to the report.

The site added that it also believes current plans will see a smaller, redesigned dock connector, which will eventually graduate to all iOS devices.

Other reports have claimed something similar.


Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that its 'in-the-know' contact believes the iPhone 5 will feature a “different form factor”, adopting a brand new design following the antennagate issues that resulted in signal problems with the iPhone 4.

Since then Engadget has spoken to multiple sources who claim that a complete redesign of the handset body is on the cards and that the device is already being tested by staff at Apple HQ.

Also on the cards for the iPhone 5 is an all-metal back, similar to that found on the original iPhone, reportedly in a bid to avoid the embarrassing antenna issues experienced on the iPhone 4.

The glass posterior of the iPhone 4 was also prone to unsightly cracks if treated roughly, and was rumoured to be the cause of the delay of the white model - a headache all round for Apple.

An Apple patent also points to the iPhone using smaller conductive nodes beneath the screen, allowing for the overall device to be slimmer.

Apple iPhone 5: Camera

New reports have suggested the iPhone 5 will land with a high-spec 3D snapper.

In fact, Cupertino-based Apple is also expected to include the hardware in all of its upcoming mobile devices, TrustedReviews reports.

In March, the Apple-dedicated site Patently Apple published details of what it claims to be of a patent registered by Apple. The patent outlines a 3D imaging camera that will reportedly allow users to make use of advanced micro lenses to add visual depth to extra-dimensional snaps.

A post on the site reads: “Apple has invented a killer 3D imaging camera that will apply to both still photography and video.

“The new cameras in development will utilize new depth-detection sensors such as LIDAR, RADAR and Laser that will create stereo disparity maps in creating 3D imagery.

“Additionally, the cameras will use advanced chrominance and luminance Sensors for superior color accuracy.”

We’re not sure what to make of a 3D camera, purely because we’ve played with them before and had mixed opinions.

But then again, this is Apple, so we could possibly see something remarkably new (and improved) than the lacklustre 3D kit found in, say, the Nintendo 3DS (please don’t shoot us!).



Source:http://www.t3.com/news/apple-iphone-5-news-release-date-price-specs-rumours/design-camera

Antonov An-225 ~ Fourtriangle




The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, Dream, NATO reporting name: 'Cossack') is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft, designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s. It is the world's heaviest aircraft. The design, built in order to transport the Buran orbiter, was an enlargement of the successful Antonov An-124. The An-225's name, Mriya (Мрiя) means "Dream" (Inspiration) in Ukrainian.

The first An-225 was completed in 1988 and a second An-225 has been partially completed. The completed An-225 is in commercial operation with Antonov Airlines carrying oversized payloads.

Development

The Antonov An-225 was designed to airlift the Energia rocket's boosters and the Buran space shuttle for the Soviet space program. It was developed as a replacement for the Myasishchev VM-T. The An-225's original mission and objectives are almost identical to that of the United States' Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

The An-225 first flew on 21 December 1988. The aircraft was on static display at the Paris Air Show in 1989 and it flew during the public days at the Farnborough air show in 1990. Two aircraft were ordered, but only one An-225 (tail number UR-82060) was finished. It can carry ultra-heavy and oversize freight, up to 250,000 kg (550,000 lb) internally,or 200,000 kg (440,000 lb) on the upper fuselage. Cargo on the upper fuselage can be 70 metres (230 ft) long.

A second An-225 was partially built during the late 1980s for the Soviet space program. The second An-225 included a rear cargo door and a redesigned tail with a single vertical stabilizer. It was planned to be more effective for cargo transportation.Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the cancellation of the Buran space program, the lone operational An-225 was placed in storage in 1994.The six Ivchenko Progress engines were removed for use on An-124s, and the second uncompleted An-225 airframe was also stored. The first An-225 was later re-engined and put into serviceBy 2000, the need for additional An-225 capacity had become apparent, so the decision was made in September 2006 to complete the second An-225. The second airframe was scheduled for completion around 2008, then delayed. By August 2009, the aircraft had not been completed and work had been abandoned.In May 2011 Antonov CEO is reported to have said that the completion of a second An-225 Mriya transport aircraft with a carrying capacity of 250 tons requires at least $300 million, but if the financing is provided, its completion could be achieved in three years.According to different sources, the second jet is 60-70% complete.

Design


Based on Antonov's earlier An-124, the An-225 has fuselage barrel extensions added fore and aft of the wings, which received root extensions to increase span. Two more Ivchenko Progress D-18T turbofan engines were added to the new wing roots, bringing the total to six, and an increased-capacity landing gear system with 32 wheels was designed. The An-124’s rear cargo door and ramp were removed to save weight, and the empennage was changed from a single vertical stabilizer to a twin tail with an oversized horizontal stabilizer. The twin tail was essential to enable the plane to carry large, heavy external loads that would disturb the aerodynamics of a conventional tail. Unlike the An-124, the An-225 was not intended for tactical airlifting and is not designed for short-field operation.

Initially the 225 had a maximum gross weight of 600 tonnes (1,320,000 lb) but the aircraft was modified in 2000–01, at a cost of US$20M, with a reinforced floor that increased the maximum gross weight to 640 tonnes (1,410,000 lb).
Both the earlier and later takeoff weights establish the An-225 as the world's heaviest aircraft, being heavier than the double-deck Airbus A380 even though Airbus plans to pass the An-225's maximum landing weight with 591.7 tonnes (1,304,000 lb) for the A380. The Hughes H-4 Hercules, known as the "Spruce Goose", had a greater wingspan and a greater overall height, but was 20% shorter, and due to the materials used in its construction, also lighter. In addition, the Hercules only flew once, making the An-225 the largest aircraft in the world to fly multiple times. The An-225 is larger than the Airbus A380 airliner, and also bigger than the Antonov An-124, Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter, and Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the nearest equivalent heavy cargo aircraft.

Operational history

In the late 1970s, efforts were begun by the Soviet government to generate revenue from its military assets. In 1989, a holding company was set up by the Antonov Design Bureau as a heavy airlift shipping corporation under the name "Antonov Airlines", based in Kiev, Ukraine and operating from London Luton Airport in partnership with Air Foyle HeavyLift.



As the Soviet space program was in its last years, the An-225 was employed as the prime method of transporting the Buran Shuttle.

The company initiated operations with a fleet of four An-124-100s and three Antonov An-12s, but by the late 1990s a need for aircraft larger than the An-124 became apparent. In response, the original An-225 was re-engined, modified for heavy cargo transport, and placed back in service under the management of Antonov Airlines.

On 23 May 2001, the An-225 received its type certificate from the Interstate Aviation Committee Aviation Register (IAC AR). In September 2001, carrying 4 main battle tanks at a record load of 253.82 tonnes (279.79 short tons) of cargo, the An-225 flew at an altitude of 2 km (6,600 ft) over a closed circuit of 1,000 km (620 mi) at a speed of 763.2 km/h (474.2 mph).

The type's first flight in commercial service departed from Stuttgart, Germany on 3 January 2002, and flew to Thumrait, Oman with 216,000 prepared meals for American military personnel based in the region. This vast number of ready meals was transported on some 375 pallets and weighed 187.5 tons.

The An-225 has since become the workhorse of the Antonov Airlines fleet, transporting objects once thought impossible to move by air, such as locomotives and 150-ton generators. It has become an asset to international relief organizations for its ability to quickly transport huge quantities of emergency supplies during disaster relief operations.

The An-225 has been contracted by the Canadian and U.S. governments to transport military supplies to the Middle East in support of Coalition forces.In November 2004, FAI placed the An-225 in the Guinness Book of Records for its 240 records. An example of the cost of shipping cargo by An-225 was €266,000 for flying a chimney duct from Denmark to Kazakhstan in 2008.

On 11 August 2009, the heaviest single cargo item ever sent via air freight was loaded onto the Antonov 225. At 16.23 metres (53.2 ft) long and 4.27 metres (14.0 ft) wide, the consignment–a generator for a gas power plant in Armenia and its loading frame–weighed in at a record 189 tonnes (420,000 lb).[Also during 2009, the An-225 was painted in a new blue and yellow paint scheme,after Antonov ceased cooperation with AirFoyle and partnered with Volga-Dnepr in 2006.

On 11 June 2010, the An-225 carried the world's longest piece of air cargo, when it flew two new 42-meter test wind turbine blades from Tianjin, China to Denmark.

Specification

SPECIFICATIONS
Official Name:
An-225, Mriya
Wingspan:
290 ft.
Length:
275 ft. 7 in.
Height:
59 ft. 8-1/2 in.
Cargo Hold:
Length: 141 ft.;
Width: 21 ft.;
Height: 14 ft. 5-1/4 in.
Engines:
Six ZMKB Progress Lotarev D-18T turbofans each producing 51,590 lb. of thrust
Crew:
7
Max Takeoff Weight:
1,322,750 lb.
Max Payload:
551,150 lb.
Cruising Speed:
497 mph
Max Speed:
528 mph
Range With Max Payload:
2813 miles
Range With Max Fuel:
9625 miles


Sabtu, 09 Juni 2012

HTC One X Review ~ Fourtriangle


HTC’s new One range - which also includes the HTC One S and HTC One V - aims for the Android heights with slick design, fast NVIDIA processors, greatly enhanced cameras and Beats Audio from the Wonka-esque lab of Dr Dre. The HTC One X is the flagship, sporting a truly spectacular 4.7-inch screen, yet remaining thin, easily pocketable and usable by everyone short of Tiny Hands McGee.

HTC One X: Design

This is not just a slight reworking of the HTC line. Long-standing problems such as samey, mediocre looks and poor battery life have been addressed and the result is an HTC handset unlike any other, even if it talks the same design language.
It’s a highly tactile phone that you want to stroke and roll round your hand like a worry stone, it’s perhaps the most touchable handset since the iPhone 3GS.
That’s partly because there are no visible seams apart from the power and volume buttons, the micro USB charging slot and a tiny cover for the micro SIM.

It’s under 9mm thick and this makes it manageable in all but the smallest hands. There’s a sealed battery, so no removable back to spoil the look, and more space to squeeze in more battery with less cladding; vital with such a big screen in such a thin body.
Like the Nokia Lumia 800, this handset proves that you can achieve a high-end feel without relying on aluminium or glass. The One X is made from polycarbonate – posh plastic, basically – making it light in spite of its size. The unibody frame means it all holds together effortlessly, with no creaking, no matter how much you try and flex it.
Look closely and you’ll see the white back is matt but the edge and front are gloss. Matching these different finishes so smoothly is further proof of HTC’s forensic attention to detail.

HTC One X: Screen

About that screen: turn the phone on and you can’t miss the remarkable display. At 4.7 inches, it’s massive, sure, but actually it’s the resolution that stands out. This measures 312 pixels per inch, almost as high-definition as the iPhone 4S, and the larger size means it looks arguably more impressive.
It’s sharp, colourful and deeply attractive, looking as detailed as a printed photograph. It’s especially good with video or showing off photographs.

HTC One X: Camera

You’ll likely be doing plenty of that because the eight-meg/1080p camera with backside illuminated sensor and LED flash is another standout feature. It take great pics and vids, with minimal shutter lag, but HTC has really aced it with the extra features.
You can shoot stills while recording video or even extract stills from video in “post-production”, picking the frames you want from recorded footage. Stills shutter and video recording buttons are onscreen at all times, along with a lens which, in Instagram style, lets you add sepia, vignette, distortion and other effects which you can view as you snap. Then, when you’re playing back video, touching the shutter icon will capture still images from the moving ones.

HTC One X: Speed

The One X is one of the first phones to employ a NVIDIA Tegra quadcore processor, and it is BRISK. Video playback is stutter-free, games are quick and glitchless. The touchscreen’s responses are Teflon-smooth and immediate. In every department, the phone’s speed knocks you out.

HTC One X: Ice Cream Sandwich

It’s also one of the first to market with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android. As ever with HTC, its overlaid with the company’s Sense skin. Sense is far better than similar overlays from LG, Sony and Motorola. HTC Sense is all-encompassing, with really well thought out apps and features.
Take the lock screen. There, you drag a ring up the screen to wake the phone, but you can also drag one of four, user-selected icons – defaults are phone, mail, messages and camera – into the ring, to launch that app or function.
Lists and menus on Android phones used to have an elastic spring to them as you scrolled. Now when you reach the top of a menu, contacts or missed call list, say, a blue light seeps out to tell you you’re at the end. On the One X, the list’s entries separate like carefully arranged slips of paper sliding apart. It’s really rather satisfying.

HTC One X: Battery Life

Battery life hasn’t always been HTC’s strongest suit, the One X rights that. It gives a good 12 hours of power usage, making it to its nightly recharges with few alarms. The good stuff really is laid on thick, here.

HTC One X: Browsing

The web browser works well, including a well-executed, Apple-style Read button that strips out images to leave just text. Zoom in on this and the words reformat to fit the screen. The menu button offers neat extras like a tab option that makes incognito browsing easy and one-press access to Flash player or desktop versions of sites.

HTC One X: Beats

The sound is all processed via Dr Dre Beats Audio software and hardware, giving improved sonics on everything from the The Byrds to Angry Birds. It’s actually difficult to find things to criticise here. Some might balk at the lack of a microSD slot, but 32GB of built-in storage is plenty, and you also get access to bonus Dropbox storage for two years.
Similarly, some don’t like non-removable batteries but if the result, as here, is greater longevity, it’s pretty hard to complain.

HTC One X: Apps

Furthermore, older caveats about range and quality of apps and functionality compared to iPhones barely apply anymore. Okay, the App Store and iTunes Store are better than Google Play and Amazon MP3, but really not by much. Similarly, while the experience of iOS could be described as a little slicker, what was a gulf in quality is now more like a narrow alleyway.

HTC One X: Verdict

The HTC One X is a handsome, speedy handset with power and versatility. You can see that a lot of thought has been applied to key features – the OS, the camera, the Beats Audio – but also to details such as the carefully milled holes that form the earpiece and rear speakers. If you can live with the size, this is currently the best Android smartphone around.


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