It's that time of year again, and this guide should help keep you out of trouble -- or get into the trouble you always wanted to get into!

Filed under: fireworks

The Lorikeets at the National Aviary were just adorable! Here's a happy pair, hope you enjoy.

Filed under: lorie and lorikeet

The research began by asking whether certain promiscuous gay men were able to have sex with AIDS carriers without getting the disease themselves.

The AIDS virus, like other disease carriers, needs a foothold in the body in order to invade cell and do its destructive work. A certain gene pattern, carried by the aforementioned gay men, made this foothold possible.

By removing that gene pattern, scientists were able to run successful experiments on mice. When they were injected with HIV they did not get the disease.

Even people who already have AIDS may be helped. By injecting cells with the new gene pattern into the body, they may be able to overwhelm the existing AIDS-carrying cells and reduce the impacts of the disease.

Further research will, of course, be necessary but this is a very promising field of inquiry.

Filed under: aids, research, and medicine

Top Gear magazine of the UK pitted a BMW M3 against a Toyota Prius for fuel economy.

An easy win for the Toyota, right?

Turns not, no, not if the Toyota is driven as fast as possible. If you're trying to get the most performance out of your car, it's better to drive the performance car.

In their test, the Toyota got 17.2 miles per gallon and the BMW 19.4.

So if you want to drive fast, don't buy an economy car. You'll get just as bad economy and have less fun.

The hilarious video is at the link.

Filed under: prius, BMW M3, test, fuel, and economy

Earlier, we mentioned technology that used microbes to convert biological junk like wood chips into an oil-like substance that was both non-polluting and usable in today's gas tanks.

Today we talk about invasive species like Kudzu, that grow like crazy and choke up native plants, and how they can be used as fuels.

Put this all together and tomorrow's fuels of the future look pretty exciting.

Now if we can just get through the present ...

Filed under: biofuels and kutzu

Well, if you have a big enough back yard, that is. Two electric motors propel the beast, and you can roll around your yard, creating the same vertiginous effects as a coaster.

The project is in development, and there's video at the link.

Filed under: roller coaster, buzzball, and backyard

From the National Aviary here in Pittsburgh, we feature Max, who can sing Happy Birthday to the audience.

He sounded a bit like a Pittsburgh blue collar worker, but he did sing. Fun stuff.

Sue, can your birds sing?

D

The bird show people asked for someone with a good camera to volunteer, so of course I did. They positioned me in the exact right place to get the owl, but of course it was up to me to actually capture the shot. The presenter helpfully put up her hand and told me to focus on it, and then they unleashed the owl.

I got several pictures of the owl as it sped towards me, and of course this is the biggest and best. If you ever get this opportunity yourself, the thing to do is put your camera into continuous shooting mode, hold down the shutter and make sure your camera's aimed properly.

By an interesting coincidence, Rick Lee gave a D300 tip telling his fellow owners to use this technique with people shots. He is right, and the photo I show here demonstrates that even with slower cameras like my ancient Canon EOS D30 (over five years old!) you can still do the same thing. Not as well as the D300 - and the D300 has much better autofocus so I would have had much sharper pictures with one - but sometimes you can get lucky even with an ancient camera like my own.

I am nonetheless planning to get a D300 as soon as I can afford one, but I thought it would be good to point out that this technique is useful even with ancient digital SLRs like my first generation D30.

D

Filed under: D30, Canon, bird, flight, national aviary, and pittsburgh

One of the amazing things about Pixar is that they deliberately seem to seek a challenge. Who would want to see a film, however brilliant, about a fish looking for his son? A rat chef? Or, in their latest venture, a trash-collecting robot who can't even talk?

Well, I did, and the odds are you will too.

There are too many reviews of Wall*e out for me to detail the plot, but I'll mention a few things I think others have missed.

First, one of the few flaws of the plot is that I think I liked the dystopian world of the shiny BuyNLarge ship better than the dystopian, trash-strewn, worn out earth. Why would you want to leave the glittering ship for that?

Second, Andrew Stanton said the film wasn't meant to be political, even though it was about BuyNLarge Corporation taking over the world. I think his critique of our society is much more about lifestyle choices like getting fat and becoming a sedentary nation of TV watchers and computer users. The sequences where people on the ship were made to ignore the telescreen and see each other were great. "Hey, I didn't even realize this ship had a pool!" was a great line.

BuyNLarge is an obvioius Wal*Mart parody although I wonder if we would ever trust Wal*Mart to take over space exploration and public transport.

It's amusing that even though we have a dystopian future where things don't quite work out as planned, once we are in the ship all the technology works flawlessly.

No question, Pixar has created a brilliant, hilarious hit with heart, again. Go see it!

Filed under: walle, buynlarge, dystopia, and pixar

Otherwise known as the giant, automated warehouse that looks like something out of a big-budget science fiction movie. It's complete with robots that move smoothly in the vast expanse of Lego.

Check out the video at the link for more.

We covered this about a week ago, but this article has more detail on how environmentally friendly biofuels from genetically engineered bacteria will work.

"By swapping natural genes in yeast and bacteria for synthetic ones, scientists have tricked the microbes into producing hydrocarbons—creating, in essence, billions of tiny refineries to turn simple sugars into environmentally friendly diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and biocrude."

This looks like an exciting breakthrough - fuel that works just like gas or diesel in a car, but is non-polluting and based on renewable resources.

We do live in interesting times and sometimes, unlike the Chinese proverb, that's GOOD news.

Filed under: biofuels, diesel, energy, and generic engineering

The latest uber-extravagance in Dubai, the most extravagant city on the planet, is a new rotating skyscraper which constantly changes views and the skyline.

Apartments range from a humble $3.6 million to a dazzling $36 million!

Filed under: rotating skyscraper and skyscraper

Up today is a firmly tongue in cheek guide to all those strange organizations you hear about from the guys in the tinfoil hats.

What's Masonry? the Trilateral Commission? The Order of Skull and Bones? And more?

What's behind the vague names of all these meeting groups of the powerful?

Find out at the link.

Filed under: Trilateral commission, freemasonry, skull and bones, bilderberg, world economic forum, and davos

At this point, probably more people have heard of Snow Leopard as the name of Apple Inc's new operating system release than have heard of the animal itself.

So what's a Snow Leopard like? This beautiful set of photos from National Geographic Magazine, shows us the life of these magnificent animals, their endangered status, and their threatened future.

Filed under: snow leopard and apple

The Corona, the outer edge of the sun's atmosphere, is hundreds of times hotter than the sun's surface.

Why?

NASA is determined to find out, with its new Solar Probe +, designed to withstand the intense heat and million mile an hour solar wind ...

What will it find and will it survive?

We'll have to wait until 2021 to find out ... in the mean time, check out the article for more.

Filed under: solar probe +, sun, exploration, and corona

Traditionally, a nightclub is a giant energy sucking machine, with its powerful sound system and thousands of watts worth of flickering lights.

Club4Climate decided to change this - up to 60% of the energy used by the club comes from spring-filled floors set up to generate power!

It's a cool idea but looks a little hypocritical - that remaining 40%, after all, comes from good old fashioned generators.

I still admire the idea, but the promoters could be a shade less sanctimonious about it. Perhaps that's why Friends of Earth refused a donation -- they claim the Club encourages international flights.

Filed under: climate, club, and dance

License agreements, those annoying blocks of text that go on forever, and that you have to agree to in order to use the software you've purchased or downloaded, are a staple of modern life.

So how many people read them? One developer decided to find out, by offering "consideration" to anyone who read the agreement. After 3,000 downloads of the software, someone finally emailed the special address in the agreement.

He was promptly mailed a check for $1,000.

I assume the offer is now closed :-(.

Click on the link for the full story about license agreements and the nasty things you've probably agreed to

Filed under: software, licensing, and agreements

This compressed air powered car is a cool innovation from India. You can fill the tank at filling stations with special compressed air pumps for about $2 or fill it with a home air compressor in about four hours. It doesn't say how much that is, but it sounds comparable to an electric car which is very, very cheap.

How cheap? At $2 to fill up and a 125 mile range, it would cost about $0.016 per mile in fuel. A Toyota Prius feels like a fuel hog - at $4 per gallon and 50mpg, it would cost $ 0.08 per mile in fuel.

And if you didn't guess already, compressed air is, well, compressed air and so there is no tailpipe and no emissions. Cost in India is about $12,700.

Unfortunately this car is made of extremely lightweight materials that would not be durable in crashes and so it's unlikely to be legal in the US.

At least not yet.

Filed under: air, car, green, energy, and electric

Want to know what whale sharks, which are not really sharks but rather the world's biggest fish, do when nobody's looking?

Researcher Rory Wilson of Swansea wanted to know and so he attached sensors to the giant beasts that recorded their movements.

He was amazed to see that they behave like birds of the sea, soaring up to the top of the ocean and diving deep below, in playful movements ... of a creature the size of a truck!

Filed under: whale sharks, soar, and dive

Here is a grouping of amazingly dramatic images of our planet, space and the world around us.

Filed under: space, land, and images

This entertaining video shows two humanoid robots in a realistic boxing match.

No RoboGore, just two robots doing their best to win.

Filed under: robots, video, and battle

Here at amazing.com, we try to highlight the strangest, most eccentric and bizarre stuff around. But usually what we show off is meant to be useful.

The Sat-Nag is none of these things, but it's a hilarious concept: A fake GPS that spits out the occasional nagging message like "I know you're a man, but it's been 35 minutes now, so can you please admit you're lost and ask someone the way"

I guess with the competition from the 3G iPhone's GPS, GPS makers had to think up something new.

It made me laugh, so here it is.

Filed under: sat-nag and gps

If you're lazy and fear performing, why not design a bunch of little robot players to produce a live performance whenever you want it?

"The Trons" did exactly that, and at the link we have a video of one of his performances. He even named the individual robot players so they have personalities, of a sort.

Filed under: robot band and music

The Wii Fit, an add-on for the Nintendo Wii game console, is encouraging people all over to jump and gyrate in response to commands from the popular device.

Unfortunately, there are some interesting side effects: Bumped furniture, upturned flower pots, and kicked televisions.

Apparently exercising in close quarters isn't such a great idea after all.

Filed under: wii fit, exercise, and damage

We're all worried about gas prices, which seem to hit new highs every day. Scientists have discovered how to synthesize fuel using waste biological materials, like grass and wood chips, into usable oil and gas.

It turns out that many biological raw materials are just a few steps away from oil, and the digestive system of microbes can be genetically engineered to turn them into oil.

The biologically generated fuel consumes greenhouse gases, so unlike regular fuels the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere will actually go down.

The images to the left shows some of the lab equipment used to do the conversion on a small-scale, experimental basis.

The cost: About $50 per barrel, or less than half today's prices.

In short, our cars may no longer excrete greenhouse gases in the future, and the fuel on which they run will be much cheaper. So maybe the SUV has a chance for a comeback.

Filed under: oil, biofuels, and bacteria

What happens when you set up a camera in a crowded place and take a long, long time exposure of the scene?

They turn into roiling clouds, or ghosts, as bits and pieces of them pile up into a haunting whole.

Is your city dirty? Grimy? Gloomy? You're ready for the reverse graffiti project, which creates beautiful images from scrubbing off dirt, making the dirty clean, and making us wonder about how bad things look.

The movie at the link was done by a professional filmmaker and is really fantastic, beautiful and worth the 3.5 minutes of your time it takes to watch.

The image is part of a frame from the film, which shows the finished image. The white parts are clean parts; the black parts were left untouched.

Filed under: city, urban, and grime

Are you sick of all the cool male robots wandering around? Think it might be time for some equal opportunity action?

Check out Sega's EMA, which features a glamorous body, walks like a lady, and kisses on command.

Come to think of it, it sounds like a male designer's idea of a lady.

Maybe someone should hire Gloria Steinem to design a robot?

D

Filed under: robot and feminine

Increasingly, real pets are sharing the household with robotic ones ... and considering them threats.

From dogs chasing Roomba robot vacuums to cats sniffing Aibo the robot dog's tail, the intriguing stories are all here, in this story from the WSJ.

The picture shows Ugobe's new robot dinosaur Pleo (left) interacting with a real flesh and blood pet. "That dog really believes it's another animal and, apparently, a frightening animal." Shortly after the picture was taken, Pleo found a new home at the owner's fiancee's mother. who "fell in love with it and treats it like a pet".

Robot pets attracting love? Amazingly common - people name their Roombas and empathise with their struggles with furniture.

See the article for many more great robot/pet stories.

Filed under: roomba, pleo, and pets

Have you ever thought your existing computer display was too heavy and bulky? Check out this new invention, active-matrix e-paper, which you can fold in your hands, like real paper.

A lot more development is needed in this process, so widespread availability is expected around 2015.

Filed under: paper, e-paper, electronic paper, lcd, and display

It looks pretty cool, and the $199 price is definitely going to make a lot of people happy. App-happy folks probably want the 16GB for $299, but that's still one heck of a price cut.

The 3G connections, where available, are very close in speed to WiFi.

I was hoping for an improved camera and GPS. It looks like the camera is unchanged but GPS is official and looks very nice.

No word on changes in AT&T's plans, or whether the $199 price is available to current and previous iPhone customers or just new ones.

Engadget's coverage is at the link.

D

Filed under: apple, iphone, 3G, and GPS

Here's a clip from Wall-e, perhaps their most challenging movie ever, with robots, self-destruction and (in a separate clip) an encounter with a fire hydrant.

I have to say, it's amazing how they made an old robot expressive and charming.

Can't wait for the premiere!

Filed under: Wal-E and pixar

A new theory proposed by researchers gives us some fresh ideas about why optical illusions occur.

Because it takes about 1/10th of a second for the brain to process images flooding in from the eyes, the brain has learned to try and "look forward" for that 1/10th of a second so that what we see is actually what is happening 1/10th of a second later.

So when it sees something it thinks could be moving, it tries to project that movement in the future, meaning that some innocuous patterns can make you think they are moving without actually doing so.

The scientist hopes this theory will stand up under further study, but believes it is promising because it explains a very large range of illusions.

For more details, and more illusions, follow the link.

Filed under: optical illusions

Someone decided to enter a Radiohead remix contest using a comgination of the strangest musical instruments ever -- old scanners, hard drives, dot matrix printers and ancient computers!

Don't be too spooked by the computer at the beginning - the better parts come to those who are patient.

Here's another link with more videos.

Filed under: music, ancient hardware, dot matrix, scanner, and hard drives

Have you ever wondered how the amazing creation we call the Internet came to be?

From its obscure beginnings in research labs to the Browser Wars and early successes and failures, it's all here, in an oral history. We hear directly from the pioneers who beat new paths in this weird and wonderful world.

The picture is of the very first IMP, a device that connected the huge mainframe computers of the time to the Internet, and its creator.

Filed under: internet, history, and oral history

A story I read many years ago had an alien civilization drop a "matter duplicator" down to us, with a cryptic warning saying that it could break the very fabric of civilization.

The management of a small department store bought a set of two, and struggled with the fascinating reprecussions - merchandise marked down 90%, and "no duplicators in the store".

We now have the beginnings of that technology today. It looks young, gangly and awkward like a new child.

RepRap is a machine that fabricates plastic parts you can use to build your own inventions.

Today, the company issued a press release showing that the machine can make itself - or at least all of its plastic parts. In the picture you can see the machine and on the right you can see the new machine it made.

Filed under: duplicator and fabrication

Clever and simple if you can afford two iPhones (or iPod Touches).

The robot reads the color of light coming out from the iPhone placed on the robot, and you control the robot with another iPhone that sends the proper color to the robot's unit.

A pretty amazing, albeit expensive way to do a remote control.

Filed under: iphone, control, remote, robot, and lego

Don't have a car to enter in a car show?

Rent one!

This guy rented a Hummer H2 for $75 a day, detailed the heck out of it and won First Prize!

I wonder what the reaction was from the rental car company when it was returned in better condition than when it was taken out?

Filed under: car show, rental, and hummer

Roomba, the robot vacuum cleaner, has been around for a long time. We've seen Roombas patiently rolling through our houses, making them spic and span. We've called our Roombas pet names, and mourned them when they've broke.

But what else can you do with a Roomba? Well, you can put a cylon face to it and make it look just like the creature from Battlestar Galactica!

You can also get it to sing, play Pac-Man and much more, at the link.

(Be sure to check out the video at the very end of the linked page to see the full terror of Cylon Roombas).

Filed under: roomba and robot vacuum

Scanned articles from a 1985 issue of Fortune magazine detail the tragic fall of Steve Jobs within Apple ... and, in a casual mention of Pixar, the seeds of his meteoric rise a decade later.

Filed under: apple, steve jobs, and fortune

Want to get into macrophotography - like the stunning image to the left - but can't afford $600-odd for the special lens needed?

No problem - convert an old standard 50mm - which can be had for very little used or less than $100 new - into a macro lens using the instructions in the article.

Filed under: macro, photography, and lens

The Lunar X-Prize was supposed to be so simple - an array of teams fighting their way to the moon, with a $20 million prize at the end.

But Robert Cringley of PBS saw something more interesting - a way to make an actual profit going to the moon. Mission cost: $5 million. Mission prize: $20 million. Not a bad return.

But bureaucracy got in the way ... or was that bureaucrazy?

Team Cringley wanted to use the media rights to help raise the money for the prize. The Prize foundation required the media rights to itself, to be shared between teams.

Team Cringley wanted to create small, light rovers ... the Prize foundation required a large payload that couldn't fit.

So Cringley is going to go to the moon on his own ... and more power to him!

Filed under: moon, cringley, pbs, and to the moon

Are you really good at that video game?

You may have already started your military training -- because the military is increasingly using Xbox-style game controllers to run their most advanced weapons.

The game sector is such a huge market that it dwarfs even the massive sums spent by the Department of Defense. So they have the money to do all the ergonomic research needed to make a truly effective weapon control system.

In our strangely detached world it can seem like a miracle to build something out of pieces and see it work.

The Navy's Office of Naval Research gave a bunch of robot model kits to students, and they took a month's worth of classes to explore the mathematics, physics and electronics of their new creations.

Then, in the climax of the course, they were able to use a US Navy test basin to check out their creations in action!

This seems like a really great way to get students interested in science.

Filed under: science and robots

Wouldn't it be great if your cellphone company spent a few more bucks to give you fewer dropped calls and better service?

Call us cynical, but we know that's about as likely to happen as an invasion of Mars.

But how about trying to make the reality of things easier? This Apple patent, as reported by Appleinsider, covers a system that will check to see when your call is about to lose coverage, and automatically notify you and your caller that the call may be dropped.

And, to make things even better, if you lose your Bluetooth keys or phone, this system will track them and tell you when they are near or far.

Looks like life may indeed becomre easier for the absent-minded and those who live in dangerously bad cellphone areas, both of which happens to describe me -- and probably even you.

Filed under: cellphone, apple, patent, poor connections, and lost

Yamaha's new Disklavier Mark IV V 3.0 sounds like a computer product, not a piano, but there it is in the flesh and perfectly real looking. It can record sequences of music, play them back and even has a hard drive to store your tunes.

A beautiful and intriguing meld of traditional and modern, this piano has the potential to jump-start a distinctly stodgy industry.

Filed under: piano, musical instrument, and automatic

In the shape of a dragon, this design shows the modernist genius of Sir Norman Foster, Architect.

Reaction from passengers is said to be positive, which is a big change from some other terminals, such as the UK's Terminal 5.

More pictures at the link.

Filed under: airport, norman foster, and china

To fund his search for the legendary Titanic, Bob Ballard asked the US Navy for money. They said no ... unless you help us out by looking for two lost submarines.

And that's exactly what he did, finding debris from the USS Scorpion and USS Thresher, two subs that sunk with all hands during the 1960s. He discovered that contrary to the Navy's fears, there was minimal environmental damage from radiation from the two ship's reactors. He also determined that the Scorpion was sunk by one of its own torpedos and not Soviet activity as suggested.

Then, using the same techniques he perfected finding the subs, he was able to locate the Titanic.

Filed under: titanic, submarines, ships, and exploration

The Phoenix mission to mars landed successfully. Congratulations to everyone on the team!

Here we see the solar panel unfurled and ready to provide energy to the lander, which should start its mission to dig into Mars, look for water and analyze dirt samples.

Filed under: mars, mission, and lander

Starting 6:00pm today, May 25th, 2008, NASA will begin live coverage of the Phoenix Mars Lander (pictured).

In what CNN describes as "Seven Minutes of Terror", the lander will go through immensely complex maneuvers, which all have to go correctly to make it work.

Previous missions of this type have had about a 50% chance of success, so at 6:00pm go and root on Mission Control as they start their descent into the magnificent madness of landing.

Filed under: nasa, mission, mars, and landing

A couple of days ago, we had a solar cruiser - now we have a solar speedboat. Capable of speeds up to 30 knots (which is about 35 mph and feels a great deal faster on the water than it does on a car), this beauty has solar panels on pretty much every surface.

Unlike the cruiser, the design of the speedboat is very beautiful. The solar panels cover almost the entire boat, and I was impressed by how attractively they were integrated into the body. They look almost like the old wood plank style construction and so you could think of this as a throwback to the beautiful Chris Craft wooden boats of yore.

The boat can do 30 knots on battery or 10 knots on solar power alone. So if you want to dawdle along you might not have to charge the boat at all, but if you want to do 30 knots, the batteries will have to be charged to make that happen.

Unfortunately, specifications like how long it can run at 30 knots without a recharge, and how long it takes to charge the batteries with the solar panels were not available. Price was also "on request". In short, the practicality of this undeniably beautiful creation is not easily determined.

Still, it's great to see that we don't need to sacrifice the pleasure of fast boating in this new solar age. Hopefully continued refinements will give this a good range (if it doesn't already have one) and higher speed.

Filed under: solar, boat, and speedboat

Edmunds presents a giant fuel economy run. Which is most efficient, a hybrid Prius, a diesel Jetta, a conventional Ford Focus or a Smart?

The answer is that the Prius is more efficient in stop and go traffic but the Jetta cleans up everywhere else.

And the conventional econobox Focus, with its low price, might be your best option after all unless you really drive a lot.

Click on the link for the full video test.

The AMP, a Saturn Sky converted from gas to electric power, doesn't have the thrilling statistics of the Tesla Roadster. 0-60 in 6 seconds instead of 4, for example. But my S-Class Mercedes does 0-60 in 6 seconds too, and it sure does feel fast, so that might not make that much difference.

What might make more difference is that it's half the price of the Tesla - $50,000 instead of $109.000. And as a less complex project, delivery snags might - hopefully - be less of a problem. After two years of development, Tesla only recently delivered its first car - that's singular - to a customer.

A lot of potential Tesla customers were looking at that price point, so I wonder if the lesser acceleration time and the shorter range - about 150 miles instead of about 225 - will scare away buyers.

Hopefully not - the converted Saturn still looks very nice, and this segment could use more competition.

Filed under: tesla, saturn, and AMP

When you think of motor yachts, you probably think of powerful, fuel-guzzling diesel engines, creating enormous amounts of pollution and ever-higher operating costs. Surely we can do better, but still enjoy the water.

An interesting answer is here, in the form of the DSe Hybrid, essentially a 40' yacht with every square inch of its decks covered with solar panels. During a sunny day, you can cruise indefinitely at up to 6 knots (this is about 8 mph) using solar power alone.

How does it do it? Well, to start with, the boxy vessel has a lot of room on it for solar cells, so it's in a perfect position to grab the sun's energy.

Second, the catamaran design has two thin hulls as the only part of the boat that's actually in the water. This makes it extremely easy to push and so it can use low power engines to operate.

Third, six knots just isn't that fast. In fact, it's about the same speed as sailboats typically run. Because of the mathematics of water resistance, pretty much any vehicle, including this boat, is more efficient the slower it is driven. At the same time, this is not an outrageously slow speed - as I pointed out, many sailboats run more slowly, even under power.

So what happens when there is no sun, or if you want to operate at night? The yacht has twin diesel engines which can generate power for the electric motors to run the boat to 13 knots, which again is a fairly respectable speed on the water.

This is a really clever idea. They have made the world's first viable perpetual motion machine, as long as you let it stop at night. As long as the sun shines, you can dawdle along.

After all, who's in a hurry when you're in the sun?

The DSe is expected to be available in Fall 2008, for about $500,000. Pre-production discounts are available.

Filed under: yacht, green, and hybrid

In buttoned-down Japan, a site with no registration, no censorship, pure free speech. And a lot of libel lawsuits.

"I used to show up in court," he says. "Then one day I overslept, and nothing happened. So I stopped going."

Filed under: 2channel, libel, and bbs

There are Network Operations Centers, or NOCs, where your data goes and gets rerouted to its final destination. They have big screens that monitor possible choke points and outages, and people constantly on the altert for problems.

Some of them are beautiful. Some of them are ugly. But your web requests have probably been through all of them at some point.

Filed under: noc and network operations centers

From Thai temple to Cuban disco (left), these amazing uses of caves are spectacular eye candy

Filed under: caves, uses, disco, temple, school, and hotel

An earlier story showed that if you use the Nintendo Wii to play its version of sports, you wave your hands around a lot but don't really get much exercise.

So Nintendo struck back with a dedicated exercise system, which seems to be working for the person in this review. Basically, it consists of a thing you step on and sensors that show your weight and monitor your exercise rate.

Check out the link for details.

Filed under: wii fit, exercise, and geek

We race Go-Karts to have extreme fun, but they are also extreme pollutants. With their inefficient two stroke engines, they spew as much pollution into the air as ten cars.

So how can you have your fun and stop the excess pollution? An electric go-kart would seem like a promising start, but could it win on the track?

Check the article for details and results.

Filed under: go-kart, green, and electric car

Here, watch him mow the lawn while his family enjoys a normal day in the yard.

The video is quite a sight, even though the strange creature eventually trips and falls while trying to free the mower from the clutches of a small outbuilding.

Does this portend more flexible robots? Most lawn mowing robots are boxy and stay low to the ground. I think I might prefer the boxy type based on this one's struggles, but if we are to have a Jeeves who hands us tea and gives us good advice, this is the beginning.

But will the modern day robots give us the sound romantic advice Jeeves did? That might be an entirely new frontier ...

Filed under: robots and humanoid

A robot with a heart? Sound silly? It could be a very practical idea to help calm accident victims waiting for rescue. The idea is to calm victims with a link to their rescuers and relatives, and to "be a companion" until help arrives. What that means exactly is not that well defined beyond "playing soothing music".

Here's inventor Robin Murphy posing with some of her robotic creations

Filed under: robot and rescue

Here's an idea in sync with the times - an airship with solar panels that can drop down power to the ground, anywhere it would be needed. The possibilities in politically sensitive areas, such as Myanmar, where aid is tough to provide seem unlimited. Imagine an airship giving direct aid to the Tsunami victims, bypassing the government. It would create an enormous amount of good will the government would be unable to counteract.

The airship has solar cells on top of it, so it can provide electricity from anywhere sunlight can be found low enough for it to route its giant power cords down to the ground.

Power to the people, and clean solar power at that.

Cool.

Filed under: power, solar, airship, and blimp

The cool time lapse video at the link shows 40 hours of very hard work in Illustrator to create the picture to the left.

If you've ever wondered how an artist works, this is your chance to find out.

Warning: The music is a bit loud, so you might want to turn down your speakers before checking it out.

Filed under: time lapse, illustrator, and Science Machine

Of course he's just doing it to impress the girls, but he gets big props for building the flying machine himself, and having the guts to try it out personally.

Soaring and gliding at up to 185mph, Rossy may have the ultimate view up in the sky ... but he can't enjoy it - "I am so concentrated, I don't really enjoy the view".

He plans to cross the English Channel in his wings when they are further developed.

Filed under: personal flight, jet, and rocket

Take a tour of the Blue Whale from its eye on..

Note that you can span over the image like Google Maps does, or click on parts of the small whale icon on the upper right of the screen.

Filed under: blue whale and nature

I thought this was an intriguing idea to help make the bird lovers' house less messy and the cleaning situation less chaotic.

But would it work in practice?

And what do you think the bird thinks? African Greys (see picture) are intelligent.

D

Filed under: african grey, bird, and diaper

Pots and pans built the city, rugged cookware, and a foreground looking oddly like a real cooktop. I love how this artwork evokes the city of San Franscisco while at the same time being fresh, new and science fictiony.

Filed under: san franscisco, art, cookware, and sculpture

The GEN H-4 Personal helicopter brings the old sci-fi idea of a individualized jetpack to life.

We look forward to testing on May 25th.

Amazingly enough, even before this test flight, the helicopter is on sale for the relatively modest (by aviation standards) price of $58,250. They have sold six units, two here in the USA.

With a top speed of 31mph, I'm not sure how useful this thing is, but I salute the brave and slightly masochistic people who decide to purchase it.

Filed under: helicopter, personal, and flight

I normally try to post positive, uplifting stories on amazing.com, but this one's close to my heart.

Martin Eberhard, founder of Tesla Motors, is not being treated well. He was kicked out of the company by financier Elon Musk, despite having attracted numerous fans as the company's open and genial public face. Martin created the whole conception behind the company.

During the employment negotiations, he was promised Roadster #2. Even after his firing, he recommitted his order for Roadster #2 and was told it would ship as the second production prototype.

Tesla appears to have broken that promise by shipping serial number 3 to a happy new owner but #2 has yet to leave the Lotus factory on its leisurely way to the US.

The whole shameful story is at the link. Not so amazing, but an interesting clash of egos over what is still said to be a wonderful car, well worth your interest ...

if the company survives long enough to build it for you.

Filed under: Tesla, Tesla Roadster, and Martin Eberhard

An ex girlfriend of mine was a real Brickhound, so I know exactly how this person feels.

But this made it up to amazing because of this:

9. Agree That the World Would Be Better If Totally Made of LEGO
How simple life would be. A couple of tiles came off your roof? Buy them from the LEGO store, then go up a ladder and clip them back on again. Kids, we're going to build a swimming pool this weekend. A leaky one, but still, a swimming pool. No, honestly. Imagine, if the world was made out of LEGO you would just be able to unclip rogue states from the globe and dismantle them before putting them back in the cupboard, and then the world would just be a safer place. And what if everyone's hands were shaped like those of the LEGO figures? Well, you wouldn't get any work done, for a start.

> by David H Dennis    comments (none)    permalink

Thinking up clever ideas to promote your business?

It might be a good idea to check out this list of strange marketing ideas gone mad, to see what not to do.

Featuring apparent bomb threats, the Zune and a bizarre Olympic stunt.

Filed under: guerilla marketing

There are hidden energy gluttons in your house ... and they are so inconspicuous you don't even know they're around you.

They are computers, printers, VCRs and other appliances in "sleep mode" that still consume precious power while staying ready to serve you. The chart at the link has a list of each appliance and how much energy it generally consumes.

It's no small matter - collectively, these sleeping appliances amount to about 10% of total energy usage.

In the future, these low wattage vampires may lose their sting thanks to technology being developed by Rohm. Their new chips use no power in standby, helping save your energy bill ... and give our long-suffering planet a breather.

Stuff was everywhere, and the good stuff was gone missing. This was the view when thieves took about $5,000 worth of electronics, including a Macbook computer, from a home.

The victim, though, was smart. She used her computer's Back to Mac feature to check out the files on the machine, and activate the camera to take pictures of the perps.

Astonishingly, the perps were people who she had invited to a party a few weeks ago and so they were rapidly identified, and her property was recovered. (One of them is pictured on the left).

See, sometimes it really pays to be computer savvy!

Filed under: computer, theft, and recovery

How much fuel do you have left when that pesky reserve light goes on?

Tankonempty.com will tell you, complete with votes, stories and more good stuff.

Unscientific but very interesting.

Filed under: gas, energy, and tank

Including butterflies big as birds, and a stick insect people keep as pets.

Of course the Giant Burrowing Cockroach is considered one of the best insect pets ... because it can't get out of its cage, having no wings!

Filed under: insects, biggest, and animals

This clip, from WGBH's NOVA, shows various electric car alternatives including Click and Clack's sadly brief drive in a Tesla Roadster.

For those who are not aware, the Tesla is the world's first production electric sports car, an amazing feat of derring-doo and engineering. Over a year late, Teslas are only now starting to dribble off the assembly line in agonizing slowness, but at least they are coming.

The film seems to have been back in the good old days when Martin Eberhard was in charge, since he is featured and it looks like both Martin and the Brothers were driving prototypes.

Filed under: tesla motors, sports car, click and clack, wgbh, and tesla

Well, this is certainly a radical approach to green motoring.

This peculiar looking vehicle has a horse inside, which runs a treadmill, which generates electricity, which runs an electric motor to drive the car.

In other words, it is a one horsepower animal/electric hybrid vehicle. Top speed is a surprising 50mph (80kph) but sadly this is rarely achieved. You are more likely to get a sedate 12mph (20kph) out of it.

Well, as gas prices get higher, why not?

Filed under: horsepower, naturmobil, car, and hybrid