A robot that balances on a ball

A robot that balances on a ball: "

Erico Guizzo says: 'Japanese roboticist Masaaki Kumagai has built wheeled robots, crawling robots, and legged robots. Now he's built a robot that balances and rides on a bowling ball. You say why? Kumagai says why not?'

A Robot That Balances on a Ball

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Best Buy Begins Advertising HTC EVO 4G

Best Buy Begins Advertising HTC EVO 4G: "

Unlike Verizon with the HTC Incredible, which was kept heavily under wraps up until its release today, Sprint has been playing a little more loose and free with the HTC EVO 4G. Now on Best Buy’s page you can begin signing up to receive updates about America’s first 4G handset.

The page also covers some of the more anticipated features of the phone that will surely steal the Incredible’s thunder come summer:

• Large, vibrant 4.3-inch screen


• Blazing-fast 1 GHz Snapdragon processor


• Top-notch HTML Web browser


• Two cameras, including an 8.0MP


• 3G/4G mobile hotspot capability connects up to 8 Wi-Fi-enabled devices


• Google mobile services including Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube


• Social network integration with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and more


• Works in 3G and 4G markets


• HDMI connection

Rumors are also floating around that Best Buy has given a price of $199 on contract for the EVO, quelling some worries that this uber-phone may come at an uber-price. This hasn’t been substantiated, but there have been a few reports of Best Buy employees quoting this pricing.

Still no firm release date is given, but with Sprint planning to give a handful away to Premier customers at the end of May, we’re guessing this one should be out to the general public sometime in June, if not July.

[Best Buy via Wireless Goodness, thanks to webby for the heads up!]

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The iPhone Can't Quite Handle 9Gs [Oops]

The iPhone Can't Quite Handle 9Gs [Oops]: "

What happens when you take an iPhone up in an F16 fighter jet for a few dog fights, bringing it up to speeds of 9Gs? The pixels start to melt off the screen. Badass. [Flickr, Thanks, Jason!] More »

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How To: DIY Soda Fountain in your Kitchen!

How To: DIY Soda Fountain in your Kitchen!: "

Why install a soda fountain in your kitchen? This DIYer asks “why not?” The unit is constructed from an 8 head soda fountain and ice dispenser. The unit is mounted into the wall with an assortment of pumps powering the system.

From the kitchen, the soda lines are fed through into the garage where the soda syrups are connected to the pumps. A CO2 canister adds a little fizz to proceedings.

Does it add value to the home? Depends. Any bachelor with a ton of friends would love it. A regular family…probably not. None the less, it’s still a uniquely cool mod and we couldn’t pass it by

DIY Home “Improvement” Mods:

• DIY Virtual Reality Windows using a Wiimote


• iKitchen – DIY Touch Screen Wall-Mount Computer


• DIY Home Surround Sound System

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Cub Scouts award for video games

Cub Scouts award for video games: "The Boy Scouts of America has an official award Cub Scouts can earn for playing video games:

Requirements
Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, and Webelos Scouts may complete requirements in a family, den, pack, school, or community environment. Tiger Cubs must work with their parents or adult partners. Parents and partners do not earn loops or pins.

Belt Loop
Complete these three requirements:
Explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games. Check your video games to be sure they are right for your age.
With an adult, create a schedule for you to do things that includes your chores, homework, and video gaming. Do your best to follow this schedule.
Learn to play a new video game that is approved by your parent, guardian, or teacher.

Academics Pin
Earn the Video Games belt loop and complete five of the following requirements:
With your parents, create a plan to buy a video game that is right for your age group.
Compare two game systems (for example, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and so on). Explain some of the differences between the two. List good reasons to purchase or use a game system.
Play a video game with family members in a family tournament.
Teach an adult or a friend how to play a video game.
List at least five tips that would help someone who was learning how to play your favorite video game.
Play an appropriate video game with a friend for one hour.
Play a video game that will help you practice your math, spelling, or another skill that helps you in your schoolwork.
Choose a game you might like to purchase. Compare the price for this game at three different stores. Decide which store has the best deal. In your decision, be sure to consider things like the store return policy and manufacturer's warranty.
With an adult's supervision, install a gaming system.

[via Neatorama]


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Researchers Witness and Image Atomic Spin for the First Time [Atoms]

Researchers Witness and Image Atomic Spin for the First Time [Atoms]: "

Theoretically speaking, we could exponentially increase computing power by manipulating the way in which electrons in individual atoms spin. Researchers in Germany have seen atomic spin for the very first time, and captured a few tiny images to prove it. More »

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Submarine-Powerboat Hybrid Soon To Be On Sale For $3.5 Million [Boats]

Submarine-Powerboat Hybrid Soon To Be On Sale For $3.5 Million [Boats]: "

Not even James Bond would scoff at the beautiful Hyper-Sub. After all, how could he not want to step foot onto a $3.5 million submersible powerboat? More »

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A gallery of stunning Hubble images from new book

A gallery of stunning Hubble images from new book: "These images are featured in the stunning new book Hubble: A Journey Through Space and Time by Edward J. Weiler, published by Abrams in collaboration with NASA. All images: Courtesy NASA. Click images for enlargement.

Hubble's survey of planetary nebulae reveals surprisingly intricate, glowing patterns spun into space by aging stars: pinwheels, lawn sprinkler-style jets, elegant goblet shapes, and even some that look like a rocket engine's exhaust. These nebulae record the complex processes that happen in the final stages of a Sun-like star's evolution when it burns out and collapses to a white dwarf star. This is the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543), one of the first to be discovered. Credit: Hubble Heritage Team

Eerie, dramatic pictures from the Hubble show newborn stars emerging from dense, compact pockets of interstellar gas called evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) that lie in the Eagle Nebula, a nearby star-forming region 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens. The columns--dubbed 'elephant trunks'--protrude from the wall of a vast cloud of molecular hydrogen like stalagmites rising above the floor of a cavern. Inside the gaseous towers, which are light-years long, the interstellar gas is dense enough to collapse under its own weight, forming young stars that continue to grow as they accumulate more and more mass from their surroundings. Credit: Jeff Hester (Arizona State University)

A 3-light-year-long pillar in the Carina Nebula photographed in visible light is bathed in the glow of light from hot, massive stars. Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of changed particles) from these stars are sculpting the pillar and causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of gas and dust can be seen flowing off the top of the structure. The fledgling stars inside the pillar cannot be seen because they are hidden by gas and dust. Although the stars themselves are invisible, one of them is providing evidence of its existence: Thin puffs of material can be seen traveling to the left and to the right of a dark notch in the center of the pillar. The matter is part of a jet produced by a young star. Farther away, on the left, the jet is visible as a grouping of small, wispy clouds. The jet's total length is about 10 light-years.

The Sombrero Galaxy (M104) is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes that make up its spiral structure. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is titled nearly edge on: We view it from just 6 degrees north of its equatorial plane. At a relatively bright magnitude of +8, M104 is just beyond the limit of naked-eye visibility and is easily seen through small telescopes. The Sombrero lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies and is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is 28 million light-years from the Earth.

This is the sharpest image taken of the merging Antennae galaxies. During the course of collision, billions of stars are formed. The brightest and most compact of these star-birth regions are called super star clusters. The two spiral galaxies started their interaction a few hundred million years ago, making the Antennae galaxies one of the nearest and youngest examples of a pair of colliding galaxies. Nearly half of the faint objects in the Antennae image are young clusters containing tens of thousands of stars. The orange blobs to the left and right of center are the two cores of the original galaxies and consist mainly of old stars crisscrossed by filaments of dust, which appear brown in the image. The two galaxies are dotted with brilliant blue star-forming regions surrounded by glowing hydrogen gas, appearing in the image in pink.

Hubble: A Journey Through Space and Time by Edward J. Weiler

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What to Wear to the End of the World [Sci Fashion]

What to Wear to the End of the World [Sci Fashion]: "

Obviously, when the Apocalypse comes you want to be dressed for it. You want to look good, and have a place to keep your tools and weapons and jerky. We've got some tips for end-of-the-world fashion you can wear today. More »

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Hubble's Trip Into the Carina Nebula Is Delicious Eye Candy [Space]

Hubble's Trip Into the Carina Nebula Is Delicious Eye Candy [Space]: "

This is the majestic Carina Nebula—a cool hydrogen and dust titan in the Milky Way Galaxy—like you have never seen it before. The beautiful video is a 3D volumetric recreation by NASA using Hubble's image data. [Hubble] More »

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