Is this how the 'iProstate-exam' app works? No, this is how you get full bars in the iPhone 4

Source: Gizmodo.com

MIT takes the wrappers off autonomous, robotic helicopter with intelligent navigation

via ENGADGET
Advances in autonomous helicopters have been many over the years, but as far as we can tell, there's essentially no limit to how awesome they can get. MIT's recently developed an autonomous, robotic helicopter which is also able to navigate itself intelligently through a changing environment. The helicopter, which is equipped with a dual-camera array and a laser scanner, maps its terrain in real time, identifying changes along the way. An integrated autonomous exploration module allows the heli to interact with the changing, unknown environment it is mapping. The helicopter was shown off at the AUVSI 2009 International Aerial Robotics Competition, completing five missions -- a feat not before seen in the 19-year history of the show.

video here.

Why is Panasonic the First to Invent a Two-Way Iron?

GIZMODO - Unless my Google skills are failing me, this Panasonic 360-Degree iron is the first iron to have the pointed tip at both sides of the iron. It's been staring us in the face for 100 years, and Panasonic's is first?

By making the back of the iron pointed instead of flat, like every single other iron out there, you can go back and forth with the Panasonic NIW810CS as much as you want without screwing up your ironing pattern and wrinkling what you already pressed. Best of all, Panasonic only charges $50 for this bit of ingenuity.

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Microsoft's Anechoic Chamber: The Place Where Sound Goes To Die

GIZMODO (By Wilson Rothman) - Yesterday, while touring a new building on Microsoft's campus, I came across an anechoic chamber: A room designed to eliminate all noise from outside—and in. I spent about 5 minutes locked inside, and man is it freaky.

The chamber is actually its own "box-in-box" building, like the Time Warner Center's Rose Theater. It rests on a cushion of massive springs and is linked to the rest of the building with a metal gangway and nylon netting (so you don't fall down into the gap). There are two doors, massive ones that were, according to my guide, "a huge pain to install." When I went to close one, I was startled by its resistance.

Inside, it's like the Star Trek version of the proverbial padded room, with wedges that act as sound and RF-proofing. The second massive door is covered with these, so when it is closed, the only way to tell where the exit is is the almost-hidden release lever. The "floor" isn't a floor at all: The real floor has to be covered with the same sound-damping wedges, so you actually stand on a mesh trampoline. (Good thing I didn't wear my high heels.)

The company who built it, Eckel Industries, also built Steve Orfield's lab in Minneapolis, Guinness-certified as the quietest place on earth, at around -9dBA. Microsoft says that theirs measures something quite similar to this, except on the very lowest end, where it's really hard to eliminate unwanted sound.

This plug-in vehicle shoots for the moon

AutoblogGreen - With no time on its hands for promotional appearances at glitzy European autoshows, one of America's most advanced electric vehicles has been busy being put through its paces on the torturous terrain found at Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona. The Lunar Electric Rover (LER) has spent the last couple weeks wandering about this wasteland simulating a search for lost crew members in a trial that's putting the modern plug-in electric car architecture to the test.

Unlike the dune buggy-like moon rovers of yore, the Ford Ranger-sized LER depends on lithium ion batteries and is currently using a chemistry that packs 125 wh/kg of energy, though NASA, not unlike today's would-be electric car buyer, hopes to have at least a 60 percent improvement in that number before it leaves the launch pad. The pack will not only need to hold lots of juice but be engineered to perform without being affected by the exterior temperature which can swing from -153 C all the way up to 107 C. Unlike any electric earth-based vehicles (so far), the LEV has an exercise bike built in that can be used to give the batteries a boost in case of emergency or just to alleviate perceived range anxiety. Also, like many of the new breed of electric cars, the moon rover features an advanced navigation software. The improved smarts helped the rover track down the missing crew in less than an hour without any help from its heuristically programmed algorithmic computer. Hit the jump for a NASA Desert Rats video discussing the machine and its mission.

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A computer in a keyboard... the Asus Eee Keyboard

GIZMODO - The sleek device has a 5-inch touchscreen and Ultra Wideband HDMI (with receiver) to connect to your TV.

The Eee Keyboard's netbook-like specs include a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 16- or 32GB solid-state hard disk, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and HDMI.

The official confirmation backs up DigiTimes' "industry sources" who not only claimed that October looked likely, but estimated the price should be around $400-$500. Asus didn't elaborate on cost, but fingers-crossed that it can keep things that low. And with Windows 7 debuting on October 22, hopefully the Eee Keyboard will ditch XP altogether

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here is the video:

Foldable, Carbon Fiber Bike Is Sleek, Useful High Wheeler

Gizmodo - This weird thing is a 1.2kW electric motor powered, carbon fiber foldable bike called the YikeBike. It's real, unfolds in 15 seconds, and aims to solve the eternal problem of urban mobility, and probably become Woz's favorite new toy.

Folded, the YikeBike only takes 6 x 23.6 x 23.6 inches (150 x 600 x 600 millimeters) and weighs 22 pounds (10 kilograms), so it can be easily carried around. And while its pneumatic wheels may follow an old high wheeler configuration, according to the manufacturer, this thing is designed to be easy to maneuver, and it's equipped with electronic brakes with built-in anti-skid system.

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Una estadounidense de 46 años se convierte en la cuarta persona en el mundo en recibir un trasplante facial completo

ELPAIS.com - Connie Culp, de 46 años, ha vuelto a sonreír, o al menos ha conseguido gesticular con su nuevo rostro para conseguir algo parecido a una sonrisa. La primera paciente en recibir un trasplante de cara en Estados Unidos, y la cuarta del mundo, ha aparecido este martes ante los medios en la clínica de Cleveland donde fue operada hace cinco meses, informa The New York Times en su edición digital (enlace en inglés).

Hace cinco años su marido le disparó en la cara y la dejó desfigurada. La bala le destrozó la nariz, las mejillas, el paladar y un ojo, y cientos de fragmentos de huesos y restos de munición se le incrustaron en la cara. Tan sólo le quedaron las cejas, la frente, el labio inferior y la barbilla. Él recibió una condena de cárcel de siete años, mientras que ella fue ingresada en un hospital en estado crítico y desde entonces sólo ha podido ingerir líquidos y respirar a través de un orificio perforado en la garganta.

En total, Connie ha sufrido 30 operaciones para recuperar su rostro, en las que los médicos de la Clínica de Cleveland tomaron partes de sus costillas para reconstruirle las mejillas y con un hueso de una pierna dieron forma a parte de la mandíbula. Pero las 29 primeras no fueron suficientes. En la última de las intervenciones, la más importante, realizada el pasado mes de diciembre, durante 22 horas los médicos sustituyeron el 80% de la cara de Culp, incluidos huesos, músculos, nervios, piel y vasos sanguíneos, por el de una donante recién fallecida.

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The Geomagnetic Apocalypse — And How to Stop It

For scary speculation about the end of civilization in 2012, people usually turn to followers of cryptic Mayan prophecy, not scientists. But that’s exactly what a group of NASA-assembled researchers described in a chilling report issued earlier this year on the destructive potential of solar storms.

Entitled “Severe Space Weather Events — Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts,” it describes the consequences of solar flares unleashing waves of energy that could disrupt Earth’s magnetic field, overwhelming high-voltage transformers with vast electrical currents and short-circuiting energy grids. Such a catastrophe would cost the United States “$1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year,” concluded the panel, and “full recovery could take four to 10 years.” That would, of course, be just a fraction of global damages.

Needless to say, shorting out the electrical grid would cause major disruptions to developed nations and their economies.

Worse yet, the next period of intense solar activity is expected in 2012, and coincides with the presence of an unusually large hole in Earth’s geomagnetic shield, meaning we’ll have less protection than usual from the solar flares.

The report received relatively little attention, perhaps because of 2012’s supernatural connotations. Mayan astronomers supposedly predicted that 2012 would mark the calamitous “birth of a new era.”

But the report is credible enough that some scientists and engineers are beginning to take the electromagnetic threat seriously. According to Lawrence Joseph, author of “Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization’s End,” “I’ve been following this topic for almost five years, and it wasn’t
until the report came out that this really began to
freak me out.”

Source: WIRED.com

Fury over low-flying 747

A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened residents and prompted workers to evacuate buildings.

The aircraft, which functions as Air Force One when the president is aboard, was taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The incident outraged many New Yorkers, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Source: CNN/iReport

iHouse SmartFaucet with face recognition is more smug than smart

Meet the SmartFaucet from iHouse; a tap with built-in face recognition technology that automatically adjusts the water pressure and temperature to your preferred settings. The touchscreen display even features widgets for at-a-glance access to eMail, appointments, and the outside temperature while LEDs illuminate the flow with temperature matching colors. iHouse's Fadec (pictured after the break) also adds face recognition to a 2.8-inch in-house remote control.





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Skydiving to See Space Shuttle Launch

Terrafugia "Flying Car" Makes First Flight

Jalopnik.com -- We're expecting more details out of a Terrafugia press conference at 9:30 AM this morning, but for the moment we're able to announce that the Transition, their first "roadable aircraft" (we're going to go ahead and call it a Jetsons-like "flying car"), took its official first flight on March 5th, 2009 at Plattsburgh International Airport. It's the first time we've seen an actually plausible "roadable aircraft" work in real life

What do we know about the Transition? Well, it's an unleaded-fueled front-wheel drive vehicle on the ground, It gets a fuel economy of around 30 MPG and has a top speed of 65 MPH. The design features an automotive-style entry and exit and it'll retail at a street price of $194,000 when it eventually goes on sale. But, you can reserve one now for just $10,000 at Terrafugia's website.

UPDATE: Terrafugia's just sent over the press release from this morning's press conference providing a few more details on the Transition. The most important? The two-seat aircraft is able to fly 450 miles at over 115 MPH and is designed to transform from plane to car in less than 30 seconds.

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Rumor: Orange to Sell the LG GD 910 Watch Phone for £1,000

Orange gets cross-Europe exclusive on LG’s new phone

Orange has signed up to sell the Dick Tracey-inspired ‘watch phone’ at a staggering £1,000 per device.

The figure has not been announced, but it is known that Orange agreed the price for a cross-Europe exclusive on the device.

The Korean manufacturer unveiled the touch-screen watch phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, with many observers impressed with the device but arguing it was inappropriate in the more austere consumer environment.

The watch phone allows video and voice calling, but requires the user to constantly wear a headset. The quirky device is likely to only attract a small segment of the market, especially given that it will cost around £500 with an additional minimum line rental of £40 per month.

Prototypes of a watch phone have been shown by several manufacturers in previous years as a concept idea, but were never developed for large scale production.

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Orange becoming first in Europe with LG's G910 Watch Phone

Orange today announces it will be the first operator to offer the world's first Touch Watch phone (LG G910) in Europe, bringing customers the latest in breakthrough mobile technology in this tiny, wearable device from LG Electronics. This market-first innovation, available from flagship stores across Orange's European footprint later this year, will give Orange customers the chance to enjoy a whole new way of communicating.

Yves Maitre, Senior VP of Devices at Orange says, "At Orange, we are always finding new ways to bring mobility to our customers, from the simplest phones to feature rich devices. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Orange, and LG shares that vision. Together, we are pleased to offer Orange customers the first opportunity to experience this market leading Watch phone."

The compact and stylish wrist watch style phone comes with a blue-tooth headset and features a full touch-screen interface, 3G HSDPA and video-calling capabilities. Whether it is searching for restaurants and making video conference calls, or watching sports clips and listening to music on the built-in MP3 player, Orange customers will be able to enjoy the same multimedia experience on a watch, as they do on other mobile phones.

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Maxximus Acceleration: Zero to 60 in 2.1 Seconds

An Indiana businessman and a race car-driving chauffeur have built what they and the World Record Academy call the world's fastest street-legal car, a 1,600-horsepower beast that does zero to sixty in just 2.1 seconds.

That's right. Two-point-one seconds.

Designer Marlon Kirby and financier David McMahan unveiled the Maxximus G-Force this morning in Beverly Hills, and they'll happily sell you one for $3 million. That kind of money buys you a car with a 7-liter twin turbocharged Chevrolet V8 engine powerful enough to leave the Ferrari Enzo, McLaren F1 and even the mighty Bugatti Veyron in its dust. When Kirby let 'er rip at Rockingham Raceway in North Carolina a few months ago, the car did zero to 100 in 4.541 seconds and peeled off a zero-to-100-back-to-zero time of 8.861 seconds. (continue here)

Microsoft promises Windows Azure savings

Cnet - Microsoft still isn't quite ready to talk pricing for Windows Azure, but the company says it is increasingly confident there is room for it to make money at the same time customers can cut the cost out of running software on their own servers.

Speaking at a Thomas Weisel investor conference, Microsoft general manager Doug Hauger acknowledged that his case would be more convincing if he could share the hard numbers and promised that those would be coming soon. The talk was streamed on Microsoft's investor relations Web site.

Windows Azure is, essentially, a cloud-based version of Windows that allows developers to write programs that run off of servers that run in Microsoft's data centers.

"People are interested in pricing," Hauger said. "Before they make a decision they want to understand 'is there an economic savings?'... Us saying that (there is) is not necessarily helpful."

Microsoft announced its plans for Windows Azure at its Professional Developers Conference in October and opened the service up for limited testing. The company updated the Azure test code last month.

Hauger reiterated that, in general, Microsoft will price Windows Azure services via a pay-as-you-go model that he promised will be "very, very price competitive" with rivals such as Amazon. Customers will also be able to prepay for Azure usage to get some discounting, he said.

Sanyo's Human Washing Machine From 1970

Back in 1970, Sanyo envisioned a future where manual bathing was obsolete and head-washing was (apparently) optional. At the World Expo in Osaka, Sanyo unveiled their plan in the form of the Ultrasonic Bath.

Essentially, the device was a human washing machine that cleaned, massaged and dried the occupant in a fully-automated 15 minute cycle.

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The Transformers... Mac vs PC edition

You know how some jerk in a water gun fight always cheats by grabbing the hose? Well, this pilot could totally beat that guy at his own game.

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Who doesn’t wanna fly with a minimum of effort, and what better than jetpacks to do so. Wearable technology in practical life has come clear as a commercially viable advancement, and it’s now time for green jetpacks, yes literally. It goes without telling what this man wearing the jetpack must feel. It’s a jetpack that uses a conduit system to push water from an engine below the surface of a lake through thrust nozzles built into the pack.

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