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Latest Gear Live Videos
GPS Designed For the Blind
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, GPS, Misc. Tech, Science, Wireless / WiFi,
Italian company Il Village has come up with a concept that is designed to give more mobility to the blind. The Easy Walk is a combination of a mobile phone with 2 keys that runs on Symbian operating system, a small Bluetooth GPS receiver with text-to-speech talk, and 2 dedicated keys.
The first key tells the user his/her exact location and the other is sent to a 24/7 call center that gives navigational instructions. Currently under testing, Easy Walk’s launch is expected this fall. We’re thinking that the innovative gadget might have other applications, such as assisting lost children or climbers who venture up on Mt. Hood.
Read More 
| BBC
Gallery: GPS Designed For the Blind
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SpaceX Relaunches Falcon-1
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Science, Transportation,
Real life counterpart “Astronaut Farmer” Elon Musk has launched his own rocket from the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. The 21 m-long Falcon-1 rose to a height of 200 miles. This is the second time he has attempted a launch, but a previous fuel leak shut down the main engine after only 29 seconds. Musk, the co-founder of Paypal, is hoping to lower the cost of going into space by creating his new company Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX). Considering that it would cost us $20 million to get us out there now, we are hoping he will continue his efforts.
Read More | BBC
Gallery: SpaceX Relaunches Falcon-1
Beer Fridge Moves Up From Metacafe to Letterman
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Science,
Last month we told you about the wonders of the beer-launching refrigerator that we discovered, and tonight its inventor, John Cornwell, will be making an appearance on David Letterman’s “Late Show.” Posted on Metacafe, the ingenious gadget that tosses you an icy cold brew on demand has received over a million hits and earned its creator over $6,000.00 in revenue. We believe that this is proof positive that you can claim your 15 minutes of fame just by posting your ideas on the Internet. Of course, John’s being an award-winning computer and robotics engineer at Duke University didn’t hurt his chances either.
Read More | John Cornwell
Gallery: Beer Fridge Moves Up From Metacafe to Letterman
Raytron has given birth to Chapit, a diminutive bot that will take care of all the menial tasks that you would rather not have to perform. He can turn on electric lights, appliances, and electronic devices, and has the capacity to recognize whether you are a man woman or child, (although we are not sure that should be an issue.) Pre-programmed with about 100 words, the bot can learn up to 10,000 total and hooks up to your PC for remote control. Personally, we think the little guy is cute, but only slightly more useful than our Furby.
Read More | Akihabara News
Gallery: Chapit Turns On and Tunes In
Germans Who Crash Cars Dig Car Crash Video Games
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Science, Transportation, Video Games,
New research has indicated that those who play crashing car-racing video games may be more aggressive and take more risks when they drive in the real world. The study was made after German officials utilized a trial run to see if drivers licenses should be reinstated to those who lost them due to road rage.
“When they take your license in Germany, you must do a specific test to get it back. We took a special part of that test to measure risk-taking behavior,” said Peter Fischer, assistant professor of psychology at Munich’s Ludwig-Maximilians University.
Of the 83 men in the initial trial, which was composed of winning by violating traffic rules such as speeding and crashing into other cars, all took more risks to total the cyber vehicle or run into objects in their paths. The findings were presented at the recent annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago. While this may hold some validity in Germany, we find that it bears the same logic that children who play violent video games will go postal and create the next Columbine disaster.
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: Germans Who Crash Cars Dig Car Crash Video Games
Mospemg-kun Designed For Those With the Sniffles
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science, Videos,
InterRobot has developed a bot that dispenses tissues. Really. Designed for hospitals or elite social gatherings, Mospeng-kun detects a human, greets it cheerily, and offers her/him a pack of Kleenex. If the gift is taken, the bot merrily thanks the recipient, reaches into a cartridge, and pulls out another pack for the next human, all the while keeping track of whomever he meets. Mospeng-kun is available for rent for your next shindig for 100,000 yen ($835.00) for 5 days. The tissue idea may be clever, but we would prefer our robot handing out weenie wraps and tequila shooters.
Read More | Pink Tentacle
Gallery: Mospemg-kun Designed For Those With the Sniffles
Lower CO2 Levels and Win $25 Million
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Misc. Tech, Science,
It’s time to put your scientific acumen and geekability into practice. With all the recent flack over Al Gore and “An Inconvenient Truth,” scientists in very high places, such as NASA, are beginning to take notice. They will soon be releasing a report on certain concepts designed to reduce global warming. Although many of them are far-fetched, such as “The Geritol Solution,” dumping iron dust into the ocean to increase plankton, which creates more algae that will suck up carbon dioxide, perhaps others such as a “Space Sunshade” will not seem so extreme.
Also concerned with the situation, billionaire Richard Branson offered a prize of $25 million to the first feasible solution to the high CO2 levels on our planet. We are wondering if our most basic idea, that of planting 2 trees on the part of every human to replace the oxygen that we use up, would qualify us for a couple of those millions.
Read More | USA Today
Gallery: Lower CO2 Levels and Win $25 Million
FIRST Gives Awards to Teenage Robotics Wizards
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science,
This year’s Los Angeles regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition has just convened, with teenage winners coming from Hope Chapel Academy in Hermosa Beach, Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, and L A’s High Tech High School. The victors will be competing in the FIRST Robotic Championship in Atlanta in April.
Contenders got the chance to participate in “Rack ‘N’ Roll” as their bots grabbed colored rings and put them on a 10 foot high circular rack located at the arena’s center. Although we would have preferred a bout of Rock’em Sock’em Robots, we think it’s great that students this young are getting an early start in robotics.
Read More | Space Daily
Gallery: FIRST Gives Awards to Teenage Robotics Wizards
Prototype Aptera Becomes Working Model
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Science, Transportation,
A working prototype of the Aptera has finally been released. This diesel-electric hybrid, which weighs only 850 lbs., can get up to 230 mpg at 55 mph. Going from 0 to 60 in less than 10 seconds, the vehicle can go up to 150 total miles without a charge. Steve Fambro of Accelerated Composites, aka Aptera Motors, created the bullet-shaped two-seater in his garage, proving small town ingenuity still lives. The company has set a tentative price of $20,000 to its 3-wheeled creation and is already taking pre-orders.
Read More | Aptera Motors
Gallery: Prototype Aptera Becomes Working Model
There is more than one way to get sushi inside your body. When scientists from Hokkaido University realized that salmon skin often goes to waste in local seafood processing, they decided to replace the aortas of rats using the marine life collagen to create artificial blood vessels. Although cow and pig collagen has been used in the past, this is the first time anything fishy has been utilized. Not only will we not have to worry about contracting Mad Cow Disease, we can forsee a time when humans keep getting more bionic. The research results will be announced at a meeting of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine, which begins in today in Yokohama.
Read More | Pink Tentacle
