Two cosmonauts will be making the spacewalk along with the Olympic torch in order to celebrate the games that will be taking place in Russia. The torch walk is scheduled to begin on October 7 this year, and it will span 123 days and travel more than 34,000 miles. The torch will also be carried by 14,000 different people, which would be a record for Olympic torch walks.

The deputy head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, Vitaly Davydov, said that the torch that will be carried to space will be “the same as the torch at the Olympics,” although the torch will not be lit on its way to space, since open flames are prohibited from being carried inside a spaceship while traveling to the ISS.

The spacewalk with the torch is set to take place in November, and it’s expected to return back to Earth on November 12. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazansky are expected to perform the space walk with the torch. Other places that the torch is scheduled to go to is Mount Elbrus (the highest peak of Europe), the bottom of Lake Baikal, and the North Pole.

[via Russian Times]

Google has added high-resolution images for 25 cities and around 72 regions. That includes the Olympic Village towards the east of London, plus a spectacular view of Bryce Canyon in Utah. Not only that, but the company has added new 45 degree angles for 28 cities. The update adds 21 cities in the United States, plus 7 additional countries across the world.

New cities include Munich, Chicago, and Springfield Illinois, with users able to zoom in on various landmarks at a 45 degree angle. Google highlights the Frauenkirche in Munich, and the famous Trump Tower in Chicago. A full list of cities and regions that have received updates is available on Google’s website.

The company says that the new updates have rolled out to Google Maps and Google Earth, and more cities and countries will be added in the future for both high resolution images and 45 degree angles. Google can also notify users of any new updates via email thanks to its Follow Your World app.

First have a peek at this extremely short snippet of the Queen and her escort, agent 007. This scene displays the breadth of the influence England has had on the planet, everything from the most serious of business, the Queen herself, to a fictional character so well loved by the planet that he’s become essentially real. Of course there is no “real” 007, right? (shhhh)

Next you’ll see a video that NBC called “Pandemonium”, showing off the rings of fire as they float across the opening ceremonies in a grand display. You’ll also get to see some real live emotion from some very proud Brits as they reflect on the significance of the events while the rings connect.

Finally (for now), you’ll get to have a glance at the start of the musical portion of the events with none other than Davie Bowie starting things off right with real rocket packing men jamming through the arena. A dash of the greatest band in the history of the world sits afterward as well: Queen from beyond the grave.

Expect a whole lot more as the night pushes on – hopefully a full-on video of the entire night’s events before the bigger set of events are done!

What you’ll be looking for online on your desktop computer for live video is a collection of feeds from NBC. While there are other streams out there, the Olympics committee appears to be working directly with NBC for this event for all streaming content via YouTube. Of course the BBC will also be streaming all of the events, including the opening ceremonies, all via Facebook. Have a peek at BBCSport on Facebook to see what your options are right this minute!

Have a peek at the following presentation video to get connected:

For those of you looking to connect via Android, you’ll want to check out the NBC Olympics app which will be working asap starting tonight. This same app is available for iOS and made for both the iPhone and the iPad. You can check out our whole collection of iPad apps for the Olympics in iPad Olympics app set to cover from all angles.

Adobe is onboard, as is Reuters for photos, there are several official scores apps as well as your very own London 2012 Official Mobile Game – fun stuff! Check out the timeline below as well to get caught up on all things London Olympics here at the start!

Users will be able to bring in their iPhone or Android smartphone and use the 3G connection as they normally would, but apparently enabling hotspot functionality is a no-no: “Personal / private wireless access points and 3G hubs (smart devices such as Android phones, iPhone and tablets are permitted inside venues, but must not be used as wireless points to connect multiple devices).”

There are several explanations we can think of for the ban. Interference is the first and foremost: mobile networks are already going to be packed to the brim thanks to the sheer number of people descending on one location, so adding a couple of hundred (thousand?) hotspots into the mix probably won’t help the limited spectrum availability.

Still, GigaOm believes there may be some funny business going on, as BT is the official hotspot provider for Olympic venues, charging £5.99 for 90 minutes or £9.99 for 24 hours worth of access. Draw your own conclusions. If you and your friends happen to be in the area and ride the information superhighway tgoether, make sure to use an inauspicious hotspot name. Something along the lines of “This is definitely not a hotspot” should do the trick.

[via IntoMobile]

Twitter workers will spend huge amounts of time over the duration of the Olympic Games taking millions of tweets from athletes, their families, fans, and NBC television personalities and putting them all on the twitter Olympics hub. Twitter hopes that its Olympics effort will help push into more sustainable business according to the Wall Street Journal. Twitter is seeking a larger audience in an effort to gain profitability, and it’s using the Olympics and the huge buzz around the games to do this.

The Olympics will attract millions of users from all around the world and twitter hopes that its unique content directly from athletes and other people associated with the games will help lure new users to set up an account. Twitter wants the Olympics to come to be a place where new users can sample what twitter is about. There is no money changing hands according to NBC as part of the twitter partnership, but NBC will help advertise the hub. Twitter actually went out and pitched athletes and national sports associations to use the service and the company has sought out advertisers specifically for the Olympics hub. The Olympic Games could turn out to be a big payday for twitter.

[via WSJ]

The light show will start at 2100 BST each day of the Olympics and Paralympic games. People can tweet their comments on London 2012 using #Energy2012 to have a say in how the Eye glows. The algorithm that controls the lights was designed by experts on sentiment analysis according to EDF Energy.

The algorithm splits the tweets into positive and negative conversations and then feeds them through software that converts them into a light show. The algorithm works out a percentage, so if the tweets using the special hash tag are 75% positive, three-fourths of the Eye will glow. The top sporting moments of the day will also be projected using different colors each night.

[via BBC]