Gizmodo: sheep

Sheep-Shearing Robot Is Tough to Watch in Action

Adam Frucci — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:50:00 EDT

Now I'm no PETA member, and I consider a nice lamb chop to be one of life's great pleasures, but even I get uncomfortable watching this robot do its thing to a racked-up sheep.

Despite how unsettling this contraption is, the inventor, James Trevely, claims that the sheep don't mind it all that much. In fact, he says that the sheep often fell asleep mid-shear, which I find hard to believe. Even harder to believe? That according to physiological stress tests, copulation is the most stressful activity for sheep to withstand. You sheep need to work on your self-confidence.

[Shear Magic via BotJunkie]

Sheep-Powered LED Display Lights Up Welsh Hillside

Elaine Chow — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:15:27 EDT

In one of the funnest examples of merging animals with technology yet, these herders took to the hills of Wales to create huge sheep-driven LED displays. Baaaad ass!

It's blatantly a commercial (for Samsung LEDs), but hey - if that's what it takes to get those crazy next-level herding abilities displayed, I'm all for it. The sheep reenact a game of Pong, fireworks, and line up to form a pretty dead on representation of the Mona Lisa. [- Thanks Claudio!]

Modified New Zealand Wool Resists Blowtorches, Dog Bites, Sharp Knives

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:15:00 EDT

Call it cliche (or just inevitable), but those sheep-herders down not-quite under have created the ultimate fabric by weaving a synthetic textile fiber called Vectran with ordinary sheep's wool. It's so amazing, its said to withstand blowtorches, dog bites and even knife attacks.

"We have tested it...putting the fabric over a cushion. With a screwdriver or something, using two hands and all your force, it won't go through," Dr. Peter Ingham, a scientist at New Zealand's AgResearch government lab, told reporters. "A very sharp knife with the fabric horizontally on a benchtop, using two hands and all your force—it will go through. It will penetrate a little bit," he said, adding. "This is, if you like, stab resistant," he said.

Now that's a turtleneck sweater I can get behind. [SBS World News Australia]

Consumers Don't Care About Phone Features, Are Sheep

johnb — Wed, 31 May 2006 13:22:00 EDT

According to J.D. Power and Associates, the average Joe Twelve-Pack doesn't care about phone features. He wants something that's cheap and looks purdy, hence the meteoric rise of Motorola's four-letter phones. 39 percent of the users survey named style as the number one reason for picking their phones and 29 percent like their phones because they were free.

Just 12 percent of the users cited a color screen as a reason for buying their phone, the same percentage who were swayed by the fact that it had a digital camera. In addition, only 12 percent said they bought a particular model because it offered a speakerphone, though 26 percent of respondents said they use that feature regularly—three to five times per week. The phone's overall variety of features was cited by 16 percent of the consumers.

Apparently, all this fancy Bluetooth isn't working on America's phone-buying public. They like things because they're shiny. – John Biggs

Fancy Features Don't Sell Cell Phones [PC World]