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According to actual scientific research, a robotic Pied Piper can lead a flock (gaggle?) of roaches out of a secure location and into the open, where they could technically be exterminated more easily. José Halloy, a biology researcher at the Free University of Brussels, was lead author on a paper published today in Science, wherein…
Witness the mother of all big mechanical toys: the GE90-115B turbofan engine, the most powerful gas turbine engine in the world with a 127,500-pound maximum takeoff thrust, even if it’s rated at a maximum 115,000 lb. It may not look big on video, but with a 128-inch fan tip diameter, up close and personal this…
The $40 Chewbacca backpack is what would happen if your MyBuddy grew a pair, took some steroids and helped you conquer the galaxy instead of your backyard. This backpack is a smaller version of your favorite Wookie, stuffable with your favorite books and lightsabers. And seriously, we prefer him to the real thing. Chewbacca seems…
There’s little info available about this robot drone’s ill-fated flight, but it appears that the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) got confused and flew right into a truck full of soldiers. We can’t be sure why this happened, but according the U.S. Defense Department, “A significant contributor to UAV mishaps is the experience level of UAV…
Crave just uncovered the meaning of the weird Alienware emails we’ve been getting, obliquely worded invitations to a November 19 product unveiling. Well, the product, or products, are two new laptops, the Area-51 m15x and m17x. The 15″ and 17″ systems are ground-up redesigns featuring crazy angles, Martian runes (as seen above) and as many…
This Zune Original Steve Ballmer edition is good. Its unapologetic adolescent humor was jut the ticket to making us lol a bit on a Friday morning. (In truth, it’s tough to screw up a Ballmer parody.) But it made little Christmas lights illuminate in our otherwise dusty heads. Our question to you: Who wouldn’t want…
We don’t care about the Ford Sync car this commercial’s trying to sell you, but we find its depiction of balky voice-activated devices all too realistic. Knowingly chuckle along with us as these tools/fools who think they’ve mastered voice commands get their comeuppance. If this Ford Sync is like our Honda Civic Hybrid, its voice…
Garmin has decided not to pursue purchasing Tele Atlas, and instead signed a six-year deal with Navteq, agreeing to help Navteq improve its data. For those of you playing along at home: TomTom will likely get Tele Atlas, and Nokia’s takeover of Navteq won’t affect Garmin’s long-term relationship. [Garmin] https://gizmodo.com/garmin-buying-tele-atlas-317104
sneaking into the fastest turboprop private plane in the world, I got into the cockpit of the Typhoon Eurofighter at the Dubai Air Show. From the ground the aircraft is amazing—you don’t realize how huge these things are until you start to climb the stairs to get into the cockpit. To get in you have…
We’re mega geeks, so if we had our choice, we’d only eat freeze-dried “astronaut” foods that come in tiny, metallic packs. We’d rest easy knowing how simply we could get up and go when the aliens finally came, taking us to their planet where we are revered as gods for our unshowered musk and supple…
It’s a fact of life: when you buy a 1080p set, you never see true 1080p resolution when things are in motion. Gary Merson (of Home Theater Mag and HDGuru.com) looked at 19 TVs listed as 1080p, and found that while their “static” resolution ranged from true 1080 down to a miserable 400, the “motion”…
If you’re not quite heartless enough for that Voodoo Knife Holder, the poor guy who gets continuously stabbed in five places with various knives (remember him? There he is on the lower right), here’s a tricky alternative: Throwzini’s Knife Block, which causes no apparent harm to the hapless red dude. Store the five included stainless…
The Wall Street Journal has confirmed Gizmodo’s report on Kindle coming out next week. Unfortunately, the WSJ doesn’t give any new details about Amazon’s electronic book reader, just claiming that it will be announced “at a New York event Monday” according to “two industry sources.” [Reuters] https://gizmodo.com/amazon-kindle-e-book-reader-coming-next-week-323432
Probably all the US treehuggers ignored this but yesterday there was an international call for a five-minute blackout to save some watts and call attention to the staggering energy consumption on the planet. Too little you say? Try Blackle, a non-official version of Google, which claims to have saved 307,326 Watt hours by using a…
Zumreed’s raindrop-shaped iPod dock is waterproof, so it’s perfect for singing along to sad songs in the shower, if you’re that kind of person. Available in three colors, white, turquoise and orange, it weighs just over a pound, costs $49.95 and is compatible with most 4th- and 5th-gen iPods. [AudioCubes via Sci-Fi Tech]
WW2 code-breaker behemoth Colossus was beaten by amateur Joachim Schuth in yesterday’s code-cracking challenge. Bonn-based Schuth had written his own suite of software specially for the challenge. [BBC Online]
If you are a virtual console fan, a Club Nintendo member and live in Japan, here’s the perfect retro gamepad for your Nintendo Wii: a Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller for the Wii. It will be out in April of next year and hopefully it will be such a raging success that Nintendo will have…
A wireless gaming chair for desktop gamers is an cool idea, although it’s not as cool as this massage gaming chair from a few weeks back. In the sheltered little life that I scuzz around in, gaming chairs are floor-height cack-magnets, rocking delights such as sweat patches, condiment stains, popcorn husks that look like toenail…
Anke Weiss has designed these neat lights made from packaging, by pricking holes in soap boxes and juice cartons. There is one problem, however: They lose their mojo somewhat, once you see them in broad daylight. [Anke Weiss via Dezeen]
More E-Book News, this one a prototype from Seiko Epson, makers of the cool E-ink watch. The device’s form factor is at least as thin as Sony’s Reader, but it has a 1200×1600 display. That’s a lot of res on that 6.7-inch screen. UPDATE: Res independence, good point brilliant readers. [MobileRead via TechnoBob] https://gizmodo.com/seikos-e-ink-spectrum-watch-hands-on-video-gallery-262581 *…
