Gizmodo: damage

DARPA Technology Autonomously Lands Severely Damaged Aircraft

Sean Fallon — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:20:00 EDT

DARPA, the Pentagon's source for R&D (and lovers of acronyms big and small) have released a video illustrating the Damage Tolerance and Autonomous Landing Solution they developed alongside Athena Technologies. Basically, DTALS is designed to take over for a pilot in the event that the aircraft sustains heavy damage. The system automatically detects the damage and adjusts the flight control system to land the aircraft safely.

In the demo video, a scale model F-18 manages to return safely to the earth despite the loss of over 60% of its wing. At this point, the DTALS system is being confined to UAVs and other unmanned aircraft, but it seems that it could be applicable to manned an commercial aircraft somewhere down the line. Hit the following link to see the full video. [Rockwell Collins and Business Wire]

Kids Are Tearing Apart The OLPC Laptop's Keyboard Rather Easily

Jason Chen — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:20:00 EDT

You'd think a laptop from the One Laptop Per Child project would, I don't know, account for the fact that it's being used by a child? A child that likes to tear crap apart? Stuff like keyboards? No? Which is why people are seeing keyboards being ripped up rubber piece by rubber piece. A few of the commenters in the forums (no doubt just regular folks buying them for their kids) say that their units were developing rips within days. If this is happening in the relatively safe conditions in the US, how are these laptops going to fare in the harsh conditions they were supposedly designed for? [Laptop.org]

Safer Football Helmet Sends Impact Data to Sidelines

Charlie White — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:15:00 EDT

A few of us here at the Giz spent quite a bit of time on the football field in our youth, and after one too many ditzy posts are wishing we would've worn a football helmet like this one when we were out there busting some asses on the gridiron. This high-tech helmet has sensors inside that can tell just how hard you've gotten your bell rung, then transmits that info to doctors on the sidelines who might promptly bench you once you've reached the limits of consciousness, or at least the point of physical injury.

The helmets are already being used at seven universities and five high schools, and the NFL is studying the technology, too. That's a good thing, because the average lifespan of NFL players is considerably shortened because of the appalling violence applied to many of their brains while playing the game. Now remind me, what was this post about again? And no, I'm not that Charles White. [PopSci]

Schadenfreude: iPhone Dropped 1 Second After Opening

Jason Chen — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:00:07 EDT

What would you do if you opened up your iPhone box and dropped your precious phone before you could even look at it? We'd cry like a toddler that got kicked in the nuts, but Shawn is a braver man than we could ever be. Good on you for keeping a straight face, Shawn.

Thanks Ray!

iPhone Stress Test: Scratching and Dropping

Jason Chen — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:20:04 EDT

PCWorld is sadistic. To simulate a couple months of usage (read: damage), they threw an iPhone into a plastic bag with a set of keys and jiggled it around like crazy. They then rubbed the two together next to a table, to simulate when you'd go and rub your crotch next to a table—what, you don't do that?

In addition, they went and dropped the phone on carpet, tile and the concrete. The iPhone pulled through with barely any scratches thanks to the keys and just a little bit of scuffing on metal edges thanks to the concrete.

We cringed at all the tests, but this should give you a semi-accurate view of how the iPhone does after a couple months abuse.

iPhone Stress Tests [PCWorld via PCWorld]

Dell Bundles LoJack Anti-Theft Service With Inspiron Laptops

Jason Chen — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 20:00:04 EST

The word on the street is that laptops get stolen. A lot. That's why Dell's announcing that customers who buy their Accidental Damage plan (CompleteCare) with their laptops will receive a Computrace LoJack system as well. Bundled with select Inspiron notebooks, this laptop-LoJack allows the company to track down and recover your computer.

Plus, with their Accidental Damage plan, they'll fix all the wear-and-tear incurred when your laptop was stolen as well. Sounds like a good plan if you're always out and about, flaunting your laptop like some kind of hussy. – Jason Chen

Press Release [Dell]