Protecting Your Tablet From a Fall From Space

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Protecting Your Tablet From a Fall From Space

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday January 10, 2012 @06:22AM from the nobody-can-hear-your-ipad-fall dept.

First time accepted submitter xwwt writes "G-Form has a nice video of an iPad launched into the stratosphere via weather balloon and protected using its new protective gear 'Extreme Edge' to see how well the gear worked in the iPad free fall to Earth. The gear is being introduced at this year's CES where our own timothy will be attending and reviewing new products. The cool part of this whole video is really that the iPad survives the free fall from space, remaining fully functional."

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Could've been awesome. by nman64 · 2012-01-10 06:22 · Score: 5, Funny

...the iPad survives the free fall from space...
Aw, shucks! I would've preferred video of a different outcome.
Also, we've had better slashvertisements.
and the camera they took it with? by BabaChazz · 2012-01-10 06:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

Appeared on Fark a couple days ago, with the comment that the (unprotected) camera they used to document the flight and fall also survived. So...
1. Re:and the camera they took it with? by countertrolling · 2012-01-10 06:45 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  So did the unprotected metal rod.
  Did it win an 'Employee of the Month' award and get a parade?
  
  --
  For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
2. Re:and the camera they took it with? by Lumpy · 2012-01-10 08:02 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Honestly, the way it was falling tells me it was weighted to fall with the face pointing up. Plus it lands face up, let's try that again making sure it lands face down without an arm making sure it does not land on the glass front.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
3. Re:and the camera they took it with? by Jjeff1 · 2012-01-10 08:23 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The camera isn't exactly unprotected. It's a GoPro Hero, which comes with a fairly thick acrylic case. They're designed to be attached to all sorts of stuff for extreme sports. Among other things, they're water proof to 180 feet.
Misleading title by Hentes · 2012-01-10 06:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Contrary to popular belief, balloons still can't fly in space.
1. Re:Misleading title by tripleevenfall · 2012-01-10 06:35 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  They don't really fly in the atmosphere, either.
Why so high? by rHBa · 2012-01-10 06:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

Wouldn't it reach terminal velocity from a few hundred meters?
1. Re:Why so high? by MetalliQaZ · 2012-01-10 06:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Publicity.
  
  --
  "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
2. Re:Why so high? by jd · 2012-01-10 06:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  If it was running telnet, then all velocities would be terminal.
  
  --
  It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
3. Re:Why so high? by FunkyELF · 2012-01-10 08:04 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It was curved because of a wide angle lens.
  With that lens you can see a curved earth from sea level if the center is above the horizon.
  When the center is below the horizon you get a concave looking earth.
  Didn't you notice how the earth appeared concave up there too?
Rules? by hawguy · 2012-01-10 06:39 · Score: 4, Interesting

What are the laws for sending something high up in the atmosphere and dropping it to the earth at high speed like a poor-man's ballistic missile? Is there a law that keeps people from doing this over an inhabited area? What counts as an "inhabited area"? The last thing I'm thinking of when hiking in an uninhabited wilderness is that someone's iPad might land on my head.
It seems that these amateur baloon experiments are becoming more common (or maybe Youtube just makes them better publicized), but in any case, I'm wondering what the rules are for dropping random things from the sky.
1. Re:Rules? by rHBa · 2012-01-10 06:47 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  The only thing I'm legally allowed to drop from my paraglider is water, that's over inhabited or uninhabited space
2. Re:Rules? by PPH · 2012-01-10 06:54 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Coke bottles, OK. At least they are worth a few cents for returns.
  iPads, no. Not unless they've been rooted and we can load something useful.
  
  --
  Have gnu, will travel.
3. Re:Rules? by vlm · 2012-01-10 06:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  in any case, I'm wondering what the rules are for dropping random things from the sky.
  This is a secondary source, but pretty good
  http://www.eoss.org/pubs/far_annotated.htm
  If you mean legal civil liability its not a whole heck of a lot different than dropping things from a bridge, or tossing something off the top of a building.
  
  --
  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
4. Re:Rules? by OzPeter · 2012-01-10 07:07 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  The only thing I'm legally allowed to drop from my paraglider is water, that's over inhabited or uninhabited space
  Is that before or after you have drunk it?
  
  --
  I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Re:No reentry by jd · 2012-01-10 06:44 · Score: 5, Funny

If it's designed to make sure an exec dropping an iPad out the window of a Virgin Galactic can retrieve it later, there's no point in reaching orbit.

--
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Fall? Hell, What About The Cold? by cmholm · 2012-01-10 06:49 · Score: 3, Insightful

Per the Apple iPad 2 spec: Nonoperating temperature: -4 to 113 F (-20 to 45 C)
We didn't get a *real* good look at the display post-flight, but it seems the system was still usable after a cold soak down around at -23 F. Ok, so it wasn't that far out of spec, the system probably enjoy some solar heating, and it was a *dry* cold.

--
Luke, help me take this mask off ... Just for once, let me butterfly kiss you with my own eyes.
Re:Irrelevant stunt by GameboyRMH · 2012-01-10 07:12 · Score: 4, Insightful

The remains of the balloon are enough of a parachute, and the placement of the camera and mount can help it fall level as well.

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Can't read the article on an ipad. :( by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-10 07:15 · Score: 5, Funny

Ironically, TFA wont load properly on an ipad.
Re:"Space", my ass by fnj · 2012-01-10 07:35 · Score: 3, Informative

The article says "The high-definition video shows the iPad falling from a height of 100,000 feet (30,480 meters)".
Cosmic irony by clyde_cadiddlehopper · 2012-01-10 08:17 · Score: 4, Funny

The video cannot be viewed on the iPad it features.

--
Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden