Activision Demos Real-Time Character Rendering [Video]
At the Game Developers Conference last week, Activision unveiled a new breakthrough in real-time computer rendering and animation. Take a look: [Via Cartoon Brew]
Category Archives: Technology
Festo’s New BionicOpter Will Amaze You [Video]
With the BionicOpter, Festo has technically mastered the highly complex flight characteristics of the dragonfly. Just like its model in nature, this ultralight flying object can fly in all directions, hover in mid-air and glide without beating its wings. [FestoHQ]
Take Music On-the-Go with This Solar-Powered, Wireless Sound System!
Meet the Etón rukus Solar. It’s Bluetooth-enabled, so stream music from any phone or MP3 player that is compatible. It even has an internal lithium battery, so when the sun goes down, you can still have 8 hours of music. It has two speakers and a bass boost button, as well as an AC adapter and [...]
17 year old says Yahoo! to multi-million app purchase
A British child who wasn’t born when I started journalism training has made an estimated $30 million from an app that automates the process of summarizing news. But hey, I’m not bitter. Nick D’Alosio created Summly two years ago when he was 15. It’s an app that uses a fully automated process to take popular [...]
Ebay style feedback could secure military networks
The US military is working on ways to improve security on wireless networks. It’s suggested adopting some of the tactics used by credit card firms and eBay. The project is the work of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is effectively the military’s gadgets division. It’s previously worked on making a robot that can [...]
Cameraphone works as makeshift microscope
A Canadian specialist in infectious diseases says he found some success in using a modified iPhone to diagnose worm infections in Tanzanian children. But Dr Isaac Bogoch says the results aren’t quite reliable enough yet. The main way to diagnose worms is to examine stool samples for eggs. They are around 40 to 60 micrometers [...]
Man Uses Real-Life Terminator Arm [Video]
Nigel Ackland, 53, was fitted with the Terminator-like carbon fibre mechanical hand which he can control with movements in his upper arm in November last year. The bebionic3 myoelectric (double corr) hand, which is also made from aluminium and alloy knuckles, moves like a real human limb by responding to Nigel’s muscle twitches. Incredibly, the [...]
One and Two Are the Magic Numbers for First Couple to Mars
Tell your spouse that you want to coat the walls in your own urine and faeces and he or she will likely walk out of the room in disgust. But take up a multimillionaire’s offer and that won’t be possible — because you’ll be in space. It’s all part of a proposal by Dennis Tito, [...]
BigDog, Our New Robotic Mule Overlord, Is Almost Ready to Take Over Earth [Video]
That’s it guys, first a block of concrete, next, a human body. We’re doomed, DOOMED! I tell you! BigDog handles heavy objects. The goal is to use the strength of the legs and torso to help power motions of the arm. This sort of dynamic, whole-body approach to manipulation is used routinely by human athletes [...]
If you’re reading this after sunset, you’ve failed a challenge
A group designed to bring cultural creatives together has deigned today to be the start of National Day of Unplugging. The group wants people to pledge that from sundown tonight until sundown tomorrow, you’ll give up electronic gadgetry. The ethos of the event is clearly stated: Do you have multiple cell phones? Take your ipad [...]
Stretchable battery could help wrists and hearts alike
Engineers and researchers in Illinois have developed a battery that can not only be bent but also stretched up to three times its original size. It could assist in tech as diverse as a smartphone wristwatch and a heart monitor. The battery is the work of Northwestern University’s Yonggang Huang and the University of Illinois’ [...]
Urine-Testing Phone App is no Pisstake
A new iPhone app will help analyze your urine for 25 different health conditions. But thankfully you won’t have to worry about Apple’s warranty exemption for passing water damage. Instead the app works by examining photographs of a strip onto which a patient urinates. The strip changes color depending on the presence and levels of [...]