Microsoft should start building some anti-aircraft defenses at Redmond because Google executives now have a fighter jet as part of their fleet of planes, or to be more precise, a Dornier Alpha of joint German and French design. Nice the things you can get a hold of when you have a huge bank account eh?
The plane is part of a company controlled by Google’s top executives, including Larry Page and Sergey Brin, called “H211 L.L.C.” The fighter jet is sitting at Moffett Field which is close to the Google campus and which is controlled by NASA. The plane is equipped with scientific instruments for NASA missions.
NASA released some documents under the Freedom of Information Act about H211 L.L.C. They don’t explain though why Google bosses have a NASA equipped jet and what it has to do with an internet search company. Is this just a case of rich boys showing off their toys? Or does Larry and Sergey have a radical business plan to wipe out their rivals in one quick bombing run? Watch out Bill. They’re coming for you! Arm those surface-to-air missiles!
For years, the Beatles have frustrated their fans with refusing to have their back catalogue released online on sites such as iTunes and others. Now the surviving members of the Fab Four have done a sudden U-turn by deciding to digitally release their music in the form of a Rock Band–type video game.
In case you don’t know what Rock Band is, it allows you to play along to your favourite bands and songs. So the Beatles version would be pretty much the same. It would play the Beatles back catalogue and you can sing, play the guitar or the drums, while pretending you’re part of the legendary band. Cue female screaming, worldwide fame – and Yoko Ono. OK, try to forget Yoko. Concentrate on the worldwide fame and the screaming females.
No doubt this digital game will be a huge cash cow for the Beatles, especially since Paul’s recent expensive divorce from his wife. He can probably use a bit of cash at the moment.
Now all we need are the iTunes songs. After a hard day’s night, eight days a week, in my job as a paperback writer, I could use some of that music. You might say all you need is love and that we can work it out. But from me to you, I would say that you can’t buy me love and that I will feel fine if Paul and Ringo just get those songs on iTunes.
I just ordered this today for my son from Thinkgeek. Ok, ok, not ONLY for my son. God, I can’t believe I’m 34 and still buying toys like these. I think I’m a lost cause.
This battery powered wand features a mini Van de Graaff generator inside. Push a button on the handle and the static charge built up in the wand causes the included 3D mylar shapes to levitate at your command. You can also do some cool tricks causing the shapes to jump back and forth from your hand to the wand. Not quite Harry Potter… but hey, we do our best for you.
Now all I can say after seeing this is: Wow. I have no idea how much building this automated underground garage must have cost, but I’m sure it approaches the cost of a small house, and this is without mentioning the value of the cars hidden inside.
No this is not a fake picture; it’s a real shot, taken by a radar camera, of Animal (From the Muppets), driving a British Audi, and driving the German police absolutely crazy.
At first, I’m sure the policeman thought this was an amusing situation, but the culprit continues to appear on camera again, and again, and again. The reason these pictures can’t be used to find the driver is because according to German law, clear evidence of who is driving a car is needed before someone gets fined for speeding. The problem with these photos is that the German radar cameras are calibrated to take pictures of a driver sitting in the right side of a car, so in this case, the driver’s face is out of focus and makes the shots useless for prosecution.
I don’t know about you, but there’s just something about this picture that cracks me up. Kudos to the British driver for a great sense of humor. Now let’s just hope he doesn’t go and kill anybody because of it.
Robotics engineers at the University of Bristol, UK, have developed a super-creepy robotic talking head that can mimic many “human” facial expressions as well as generate synched speech lip movements. Fortunately for humanity, the bored robot doesn’t have a body yet. This is a good thing because, as it says below, it wants to wipe out humanity.
TMCO, a manufacturer of metal products from Lincoln, Nebraska, recently held an open house party where they used one of their factory robots to pour beer to guests. If you keep on watching till the end, you’ll even see that the robot encourages tipping! A hat tip to the guys at TMCO for finding such a noble use for an industrial machine.
No doubt Arrington makes some good points — and certainly the web is inhabited by many trolls in various shapes, sizes, and political affiliations. But rather than giving them all the attention, I think we should “accentuate the positive” and talk about the comments that really are cool and insightful. Besides, we get more of those kind anyway here at [GAS].
So, here are eleven categories of comments that we like to see on Geeks Are Sexy, linked to examples from you, our cool and insightful readers:
In the following video, “human beatbox James “AudioPoet” Burchfield performs an intricate three-minute breakdown — sexy, propulsive hip-hop rhythms and turntable textures — all using only his voice.” Enjoy the show!
Epsilon Eridani was already special, even before today. It is one of only four stars that scientists have found to have an icy ring of debris, which indicates that it has begun the process of forming planets. Additionally, at about 62 trillion miles away, it is our closest known solar system, and was borrowed by Star Trek creators as the home of the fictional planet of Vulcan (Mr. Spock’s home planet).
But it just got even more interesting… NASA announced today that the star, only 10.5 light-years from the sun, has two inner asteroid belts as well as a Jupiter-like planet in a very familiar orbit. Basically, Epsilon Eridani resembles a younger version of our own solar system.
Some astronomers postulate that if the solar system is like ours, then it’s likely that there are planets like ours as well. Others point out that it isn’t really a twin, but a different beast altogether; there are three belts of comets and astroids whereas our system has two. Scientist Jane Greaves makes an interesting point: “This implies that planets can shape systems very differently, and if life emerged in this system in the future, the environment could be very different. [For instance, comets and asteroids could pummel a habitable planet] from all directions, so life might have to evolve very fast to survive.”
Of course, the real question is, if there is a habitable planet there, is it anything like Vulcan? As a Star Trek geek, I know this about the fictional planet: (1) it’s hotter than Earth, (2) the atmosphere is thinner, and (3) it has stronger surface gravity. This is why the human Captain Kirk had so much trouble in his fight to the “death” with Spock in the episode “Amok Time.”
Though what every Star Trek geek also knows is that the Vulcan civilization is much, much more advanced than humankind… which doesn’t make a lot of sense when you consider how much younger Epsilon Eridani is than our own sun. However, maybe Ms. Greaves’ point is an important one: who knows how fast life on other planets might evolve, given the right circumstances. Maybe Vulcans crawl out from the primordial ooze in the time it takes us to develop warp speed.
Why choose between science and science fiction when you can have both?
