The week in tech video: Space dreams and ancient clocks

It’s Friday again, and we’ve got another roundup of online videos that caught our eye this week. We’ve got a bit of an eclectic mix, from a Swiss watchmaker that has recreated a mysterious astronomical device to a recruitment advert for a job where the sky isn’t the limit.

If you have any amazing tech videos that you think we should feature next week, let us know in the comments.

Recreating an ancient mystery

Swiss watchmaker Hublot has created a miniature version of an ancient Greek astronomical computer, the Antikythera. The mechanical device was created in Greece during the final century BC and was centuries ahead of its time. It was lost in a shipwreck and only discovered after two millennia. It was found by a Greek sponge diver in 1900, but remained cloaked in mystery for another 50 years.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

[caption id=“attachment_133891” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Hublot Antikythera. Image from Hublot website.”]  [/caption]

Hublot watches don’t come cheap. One of their less expensive watches, a black steel gentlemen’s watch, will set you back 7500(approximately Rs six lakh. Of course, if you’re feeling rich, you can splash out on titanium and white rubber model. That beauty will set you back a cool 92,000( nearly Rs 75 lakh). You won’t get sticker shock from this one-off museum piece, however: immediately after being shown at the Baselworld watch show next spring, it will go straight to the permanent collection at the Muse des Arts et Mtiers.

Green data centres slash energy use

As our demand for data increases, more energy intensive data centres need to be built. All of those Facebook photos have to be stored somewhere! But packing lots of powerful servers close together means that data centres get hot: not only do the servers use a lot of electricity, the air conditioners needed to cool them use even more. It’s global warming by status update. Facebook is now trying to do its part. The social network is building its first data centre outside of the US in Lapland in Sweden so that it can use outside air to cool it up to 10 months a year.

Another option is being developed by universities in the US uses micro-turbines fuelled by natural gas to generate electricityto power a green data centre. The turbines also use heat exchangers to provide heat and cooling for nearby offices and cooling for the data centre itself. The maker of the micro-turbines says it cuts energy use by 50%.

Wanted: The next generation of astronauts

If you’ve ever had space dreams, then you’ll want to watch this video. US Space Agency Nasa is taking applications for its 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class. As Nasa says, this will be the first class to graduate in a new era of space flight for the US after the shuttle was retired this year. Now, the space agency is turning to commercial companies to build a new space industry and also provide the rockets to shuttle people and material to the International Space Station. If you want to take a shot, you can apply online at USAJobs.gov.

Visions from space

If you needed a bit of inspiration to apply for a job in space, take a look at this amazing video. Filmmaker Michael Knig edited these time lapse images taken by the crew of the International Space Station from August to October of this year. The video shows both the Aurora Borealis and Australis, the northern and southern lights, and images of lightning from space. A full list of the views is included on Vimeo where the video is hosted.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael Knig on Vimeo.