Speed the key to next-gen Bluetooth

The next version of Bluetooth technology should mean lower power consumption, higher transfer speeds and wireless syncing of music and video libraries between computers and portable devices. The changes are part of Bluetooth 3.0, which effectively became official today when the industry’s Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) agreed to adopt the standard. It’s the last […]


Microsoft agrees to free repairs on E74 Xbox bug

Microsoft has agreed to extended the warranty on the Xbox 360 to cover the ‘E74’ error. This bug is different to the much-publicized ‘red ring of death’. It’s indicated by one quadrant of the power indicator glowing, and an on-screen message displaying the error code E74 and informing users to contact Xbox customer support. Once […]

Feature: Wait, did you say “Flamethrower”? – The Robogames Combat Robots

Combat robots aren’t exactly new – the first season of the Comedy Central show “Battlebots” aired in 2000 and the games had been going strong since 1997. What’s interesting, however, is how 11 years of robot evolution have affected the sport. Back in 2002, the spinners ruled the day. But today’s robots are meaner than […]

Feature: The Ponginator – A Robotic Combination of King Kong and Ping Pong

By Brian Boyko Contributing Writer, [GAS] Ponginator is a robot, and as far as robots go, this one is fairly simple. It plays music, says a few words cribbed from audio files, and shoots ping-pong balls from pressurized air guns. We’ve been doing a series on crazy inventors with crazy inventions. Vernon Graner and the […]