Kenaf Rescue Robot [Video]

Topic: Other Stuff

At the 2008 Tokyo International Fire and Safety Exhibition, the International Rescue System Institute displayed the Kenaf Rescue Robot, a highly mobile robot for use in disaster or emergency rescue situations.
See the video on JCN. Read more

Posted on Mon, 7 Jul 2008 09:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

World's first 16 Layer Optical Disc stores 400GB

Topic: Other Stuff

Pioneer Corporation unveiled a 16-layer read-only optical disc with a capacity of 400GB for the first time in the world.

The new disc has a per-layer capacity of 25GB, which is the same as that of a Blu-ray Disc (BD).
This multilayer technology will also be applicable to multilayer recordable discs. Read more

Posted on Mon, 7 Jul 2008 04:17:29 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Snailbot as slimy as real Snails

Topic: Other Stuff

Copying animals to make robots is nothing new. MIT's Anette Hosoi is now looking at snails to get inspiration for one slimy Snailbot.

The snailbot has moveable segments that ripple on top of a thin layer of synthetic snail sludge (mhm yummy!).
Like Stanford's Stickybot the Snailbot can climb up walls, but also sticks to ceilings. Read more

Posted on Sat, 5 Jul 2008 11:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Top 10 Summer Gadgets [Video]

Topic: Other Stuff

Our latest gadget video show highlights the top 10 summer gadgets.

Watch the Video now.
Read more

Posted on Fri, 4 Jul 2008 11:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Microsoft Zune Arts Releases “The Lost Ones” Graphic Novel

Topic: Other Stuff

Microsoft’s Zune Arts is most known for the customized Zune media players that are sold at different times. Zune Arts recently launched its first graphic novel called “The Lost Ones” written by Steve Niles, the writer of “30 Days of Night”.

The graphic novel is in digital format and in July 42,000 limited paperback editions will be available for free at select comic book stores nationwide. Artwork for the novel is from graffiti artists Dr. Revolt, Gary Panter, Kime Buzzelli, and Morning Breath. Read more

Posted on Thu, 3 Jul 2008 11:49:11 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Walt Mossberg’s Reviews Can Make a Company Gain or Lose Millions in Profits

Topic: Other Stuff

Joseph Johnson, an assistant professor at the University of Miami School of Business Administration has conducted a study that looks at the effect a good or bad review of an electronic item or gadget from Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal has on a company.

According to the study there is a direct correlation between a company’s stock gains or losses and reviews of its products by Mossberg. According to the study is Mossberg gives an item a good review the company stock sees average gains of $500 million. If Mossberg gives an item a bad review the company stock loses an average of $200 million. Read more

Posted on Thu, 3 Jul 2008 11:29:23 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Firefox 3 Download Guinness World Record official

Topic: Other Stuff

Mozilla announced it set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours.
The record-setting 8,002,530 downloads of Firefox 3 on download day have now been officially declared a Guinness World Record.

"The enthusiasm and creativity of Firefox fans was instrumental in achieving this record," said Paul Kim, VP of Marketing at Mozilla. "Our community members came together and not only spread the word, but also took the initiative to help mobilize millions of people to demonstrate their belief that Firefox gives people the best possible online experience." Read more

Posted on Thu, 3 Jul 2008 01:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Celestron Lowers Cost and Updates SkyScout

Topic: Other Stuff

Celestron announced today that it has reduced the price and updated the database on its cool SkyScout Personal Planetarium. The SkyScout retails for $399 and the most recent firmware update is now available.

The firmware 1.30 is a free update and increases the number of objects in the SkyScout database to over 50,000 objects. New accessories have also been added including a rechargeable SkyScout speaker and SkyScout expansion cards. Read more

Posted on Wed, 2 Jul 2008 09:49:35 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Microsoft Announces Microsoft Equipt

Topic: Other Stuff

Microsoft announced a new service today that allows consumers to subscribe to Microsoft Office and Windows Live OneCare in one package. The service is called Microsoft Equipt and will cost $69.99 for one year of service and will be sold through circuit City stores starting in mid-July.

Equipt provides subscribers with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Also included is Windows Live OneCare all-in-one security and PC management service. When new versions of Office or OneCare are introduced subscribers get the new version for free. Users wanting Outlook are out of luck with Equipt. Read more

Posted on Wed, 2 Jul 2008 08:42:10 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

1983’s WarGames Coming Back to Theaters

Topic: Other Stuff

If you were a kid in the early 1980’s you probably recall the film WarGames from 1983. Matthew Broderick plays a hacker named David Lightman who accidentally starts a countdown to World War III when he thinks he is playing a war game on a computer.

The computer he is playing is actually the Defense Departments war computer, which thinks the U.S. is actually under attack and starts a nuclear countdown. As part of the 25th anniversary celebration for the WarGames movie it is making a one-night return to select theaters. Read more

Posted on Tue, 1 Jul 2008 08:48:53 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Google crawls Text in Adobe Flash now

Topic: Other Stuff

Google announces that the Google crawlers can now "look inside" Adobe Flash files and index the textual content.

Now that Google has launched the Flash indexing algorithm, web designers can expect improved visibility of their published Flash content, and you can expect to see better search results and snippets. Read more

Posted on Tue, 1 Jul 2008 02:19:57 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr