The Daily Slash: July 8th 2010

Thursday night — the night before the end of the work week. We can feel the excitement. Can you? Well, unless your work week is just getting started, or doesn't even start until this weekend. Then we feel your pain. But let's try to focus on the fun tonight, shall we? Welcome to tonight's edition of The Daily Slash. In the Best of R3 Media, we've got a new release date for the Vibrant, Apple may have used their kill switch, and Opera Mini's been updated. And then in the Dredge 'Net, a solar plane flies 26 hours, AQUA2 is another aquatic robot, and a foldable bike exists.The Best of R3 MediaSamsung Vibrant Releasing July 15th: We can chalk this one up to pretty strange. After officially announcing the Samsung Vibrant, T-Mobile confirmed that the device would be hitting physical and digital store shelves beginning July 21st. But, thanks to some leaked T-Mobile documents, it's now been more or less confirmed that it's actually releasing on July 15th. A full week early, and on the same day as the Droid X by Motorola for Verizon. Interesting choice, especially considering they are still cutting it dangerously close to that date, and still haven't told anyone. Tricky, tricky, T-Mobile. [via Android Community]Apple Activates Their Kill Switch: The application in question is called NDrive, and it's a GPS app created from a small group of folks. Basically, it's an indie app, lost amidst the other high profile GPS applications out there in Apple's App Store. At least, that was the case until today, when the application suddenly disappeared from the App Store, and people's computers as well. Oh, and from iPhone owner's handsets, too. That's right — the app just disappeared. The company doesn't seem to know what's going on, either, but everyone's trying to figure it out. What it looks like at the moment, is that Apple pulled their kill switch, and this is the result: utter confusion. [via SlashGear]Opera Mini Updated to 5.1: Updates are bound to happen to anything out there that can be updated, and it's never a bad thing when they make things better. The update to 5.1 for Opera Mini brings the removal of some icons, as well as the visual speed dial tool for the User Interface, but the changes are said ot make the browser faster, and more stable for devices with less memory. So, if this fits your device's description, it looks like your browser choice just got a little better. [via PhoneMag]The Dredge 'NetSolar Impulse Flies Overnight on Just Solar Power: There's skeptics for everything out there, and solar power (and especially any kind of adoption of the alternate power source) has its fair share. One of the reasons for that skepticism is its fundamental behavior at night. Or, if it can work. Well, thanks to the Solar Impulse and the power of the sun, those skeptics can start to quiet down. The solar powered plane completed a 26-hour, straight, flight through the day and night. It was able to recharge its batteries throughout the night thanks to its 12,000 solar panels, which gathered more than enough energy through its flight during the day. [via Physorg]AQUA2 is Fast and Amphibious: The AQUA2 was created at McGill University in Montreal, and sure enough, it's the first of its kind. Specifically designed to be able to move around on land, but be just as free-roaming in the water, the AQUA2 can indeed traverse the landscape, as well as dive and swim under water. It can dive down to 120 feet, and it's capable of being controlled by a remote control tethered via ethernet or fiber optics. And thanks to those flippers, the swimming thing it's definitely got down. [via Engadget]This Bike Can Fold Around a Lamp Post: Keeping your bike safe is a pretty high priority for anyone that owns a bike. After all, it may be your best (or only) means of transportation. But, just using a chain to lock your bike to something may not be enough in today's day-and-age, so that's why we can thankfully welcome this new foldable bike design from a 21-year old by the name of Kevin Scott. He's created the world's first bike that can literally fold at the center, and be wrapped around a post, or whatever else you want, without the need of an extra chain. The lock is actually built into the bike itself, right under the seat, so you just wrap the bike around the post, so that the handlebars reach the lock, and there you go — safe and secure. We want this bad boy right now, and Scott is trying hard to get it picked up by a bike lover with money. So, keep your fingers crossed. [via Daily Mail UK]