CB2 Child Robot is possibly the most disturbing machine ever built

The 33 kilogram CB2 is literally beyond words in its freakiness, not only in its nailing of the uncanny valley, but in its description. Apparently it emulates "the physical ability of a 1- or 2-year-old toddler, can turn over and stand up with assistance," has 51 compressed air-powered actuators, and ...

Some VERY Interesting iPhone Developments

- iChat WON'T make it to the launch build- there is no way to access the sim card or the battery :(- it WILL have a vibrate mode- it WILL support tabbed browsing- You will be able to interact with it thru iPhoto....click on for more

GPLv2 Vs. GPLv3

chessweb writes "Here is a rather enlightening article by Richard Stallman on the reasons for moving to GPLv3 that puts the previous TiVo post into the right context." From the article: "One major danger that GPLv3 will block is tivoization. Tivoization means computers (called 'appliances') contain GPL-covered ...

Time to slow down on our roads

June 4, 2007 Its one of the great contradictions of modern transport - automobiles keep getting faster while statistics that prove we need to slow down in the interests of community safety keep rolling in. Governments across the globe are moving to curb speed, particularly where pedestrians at are greater ...

Using light to entrain the body's internal clock

June 2, 2007 Our body's biological clock influences a wide range of factors, including hormone levels, cognitive performance and sleep structure. Left to itself, this internal clock has an average periodicity of a little over 24 hours. For this reason, it has to be calibrated by external factors known ...

Video sunnies are on their way: MED's miniature eye-screens are now ready for mass-production.

June 4, 2007 We've long been excited by the possibilities offered by wearable micro-screens. The ability to mount a miniature display in a set of glasses opens up a whole new portable video experience where any seat on the bus can be a personal movie theatre and you'll be able to enjoy your video in ...

Blazing-fast HyperDrive4 solid state disk

June 4, 2007 Got a computing task so brutal that even a roaring Seagate Savvio 15K hard drive won't cut it? The HyperDrive4 is a 5.25" storage device which uses volatile DDR memory instead of a conventional mechanical hard drive. This might sound crazy, but with a variety of supported methods to seamlessly ...

iPod dock puts emphasis on video

June 4, 2007 The convenience of using MP3 players as a single portable sound library whether at home, in the car or walking the dog, has become second nature to many of us, but the more recent trend towards video enabled devices is yet to attain quite the same level of acceptance. One new product aiming ...

Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet.

The Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet is a group of middle-aged men playing classical music, like Schubert and Wagner using impossibly odd musical instruments like rubber trout, tea kettle, crumhorn, ocarina, melodica, and even a telescope! Link - Thanks Terry O!

Game Theory Analysis of the Toilet Seat.

Should you leave the toilet seat up or down? Here’s the game theory analysis of leaving the toilet seat down: In this paper, we internalize the cost of yelling and model the conflict as a non-cooperative game between two species, males and females.We find that the social norm of leaving the toilet ...

360 Cities: Panoramic VR Portal.

Our Pal Jeffrey Martin of Prague360 and his brother has completed an ambitious website that hopes to catalog the best of 360° panoramic Virtual Reality photos around the world. So far, they have Prague, Moscow, Venice, Los Angeles, Belgrade, and Syria listed for you to explore. The pic above is ...

Solomon?s Castle in Ona, Florida.

Solomon’s Castle in Ona, Florida (Image Credit: AlohaTiki [Flickr]) Solomon’s big and shiny castle (it’s made by printing plates discarded by the local weekly newspaper) was built by Floridian sculptor Howard Solomon to house his quirky artworks. Link - Thanks Gamzu!

The Origins of State Names.

A.M. Walzer Co. United States Inlay Puzzle Map (Image Credit: Marxchivist [Flickr]) The following is reprinted from Uncle John?s Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader. You know the names of all 50 states…but do you know where any of them come from? Here’s the best information we could find on ...

It's All About The Games: E3 '07: The Games

One of the exciting things about E3, if not the most exciting thing, is the games. Getting to try out a long list of games from various companies before anyone gets to play them is the one of the pleasures of geekdom that can't quite be matched. IGN regularly hosts a constantly updated list of all ...

Zombies: Clip: Umbrella Chronicles Japanese Trailer 4

Don't let the headline fool you. although this is technically a Japanese trailer, all the titles are in English with Japanese subtitles. I recently got a chance to check out Umbrella Chronicles at a Capcom event last week and I have to say, despite McWhertors feelings to the contrary, I really ...

Les Paul: Behold: The Guitar Hero III Guitar

The folks at IGn got a chance to check out the new Les Paul wireless controller for the upcoming Guitar Hero III for the 360. It looks pretty sweet although I have a certain fondness for the original PS version. I don't know why, call it short time nostalgia I guess. And it's about damned time the ...

History Is Cool!: This Day in Gaming, June 2nd

2000: Eidos releases Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour for GBC in the US. So why is the racing tour "magical"? Because it's Disney, duh! Magic didn't even exist before their polished animation and happy Grimm tales. 2003: 3DO releases CUBIX: Robots for Everyone: Showdown for GC in Japan. ...

Disgaea: Disgaea Heading To The DS?

If a recent interview by RPGamer with NIS America is accurate, it will be. The interview, which consisted of reader and interviewer questions posed to Nao Zook, a NIS America rep, went over many points, manygeared toward what popular Japanese franchises might get localized. When asked what franchises ...

iPod case made out of a gen-one GameBoy

Cory Doctorow: This Etsy seller has modded an original Nintendo Gameboy to function as a working iPod Nano/Mini -- the buttons even work! Link (via Wonderland)

DRM-free audiobooks of classic lit

Cory Doctorow: Silksounds sells MP3 audiobooks of trained actors reading classic works of literature from the public domain. They're reasonably priced and they sound great. Link (Thanks, Michael!) Update: Michael sez, "The Naxos site is a lot bigger - many more titles - and they quietly went DRM free ...