May 26
The agency releases footage shot by cameras attached to the booster rockets that lifted Endeavour skyward. If in space, no one can hear you scream, who’s that making all the noise?
May 26
Amphibious Aquapod might be the clumsiest robot ever (video)
Posted in: research, robot, robotics, Today's Chili, video
It may look like nothing more than a random piece of seaside trash, but that ugly little creature you’re staring at is actually known as Aquapod — an amphibious robot that crawls around by falling over itself. Literally. Developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Distributed Robotics, Aquapod uses two carbon fiber arms and a servo motor system to somersault itself around, like an inebriated horseshoe crab. It’s certainly not the swiftest of bots, but this guy’s durable enough to move across rough terrains and, per its nickname, is completely waterproof and in full control of its buoyancy. Creators Andrew Carlson and Nikos Papanikolopoulos say their $2,000 brainchild could one day be used to monitor fish populations and conduct underwater experiments — or to simply scare the bejesus out of beach-going children. Video after the break.
Continue reading Amphibious Aquapod might be the clumsiest robot ever (video)
Amphibious Aquapod might be the clumsiest robot ever (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 26
This article was written on December 29, 2006 by CyberNet.
I actually can’t believe this but file sharing just got a lot better. The new website that I found (thanks to Gizmodo) is called DivShare and it allows you to upload your files without limitations and without registration. There are already several sites that do something similar, like FileHo, so why is DivShare special?
- Upload unlimited files
- Serve unlimited downloads
- Files stay online forever
- No pop-up ads or spam
- Incredibly fast, reliable servers
- Add a link and logo to your download page
- Easy image galleries and thumbnails
- Nearly every file extension supported
I typically like registering at the file sharing sites because they keep track of the files that I upload. The user control panel is the best that I have seen with any file sharing service and having the ability to create photo galleries is awesome. Not only that but they let you co-brand the download page which means people will know that the file is related to your website.
In order to demonstrate the co-branded download page I tried to upload the Firefox image from yesterday…but like the other photo services it still had a problem. It sounded perfect because there was no photo size limit and they do not scale down the images, but after a few minutes I just got a blank white screen. I could have tried it in another browser (I was using Firefox), but I decided to make a portable version of the latest Firefox 3 nightly (currently pre-Alpha 2) which might give you something to tinker around with in addition to seeing what the download page looks like.
The download link will also show you the number of downloads, download size, and the date the file was uploaded. I don’t think it can get much more perfect than this?
Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com
Related Posts:
- File-Swap.com Provides An Entertaining File Sharing ExperienceThe New Way Of File Sharing Is With ‘Peer Pressure’Min.us Evolves into an Incredible Image AND File Sharing SitePassword Protect Your PhotosQuickly Share Files on Your PC
May 26
Skype goes down globally, investigation underway (update: restored)
Posted in: breaking news, desktop, Online, skype, Today's Chili, web
There’s a pretty widespread outage of Skype going on right this minute, judging by the explosion of tweets relating to it. It’s not universal, as we’ve been able to log in and use the internet communicator for both text and video chat, but something’s definitely gone wrong. So far, we’ve noticed our OS X machines are ticking along just fine, but our Windows computers are not. Importantly, we had to upgrade one of our Windows desktops to “break” Skype, which indicates it could be a fault contained in the latest version, but then again, it could have simply been just a case of terrible timing. The iPhone and Android apps look to be unaffected, but skype.com is down and out. Skype is on the case right now and will have more details for us “soon.”
[Thanks, Manthan]
Update: Skype has a solution for bringing tech savvy users back online. It requires deleting the shared.xml file, instructions for which are available for Windows 7, XP and Mac OS X (so yes, Apple computers have been bitten by the same bug too). A simpler fix is said to be in the works as well.
Update 2: Looks like Skype is back to normal now. Phew!
Update 3: If you’re still experiencing issues, a Windows software update is now out and a Mac update will follow tomorrow.
Skype goes down globally, investigation underway (update: restored) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 26
This Lego-clad room would be the ultimate den — if it weren’t filled with screaming kids
[UPDATE May 27th 2011. As pointed out in the comments by Joel P, the café closed a while back. A shame, but I guess that Joel, who lives two blocks away, no longer has to put up with strollers crowding the sidewalk outside.]
Café Boobah on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn is probably a place you want to avoid if you don’t have kids: it’s the kind of child-friendly café where the rugrats can run free while the parents take a break from their nightmarish, brat-dominated lives and wonder why the hell they had kids in the first place. Also, it’s for hippies. Sample menu items: Macaroni and no cheese and tofu hotdogs.
Still, the kids’ room is actually pretty sweet. Children are screened partially by a giant abacus, perfect for those little ‘uns that feel a sudden urge to do math. But the standout feature is the Lego walls. They are completely covered with plates of oversized Lego Duplo, and there are boxes and boxes of Legos for the kids to stick up there. I’m totally going to start working on the Lady to let me convert my bedroom to something similar.
I have a dream, and that dream is that some enterprising individual would open up a bar decorated just like this one. It would of course be way better, as kids would be banned, the mac and cheese would contain cheese, and the hotdogs would… Actually, tofu dogs probably have about as much meat in them as real hotdogs, so they can stay.
Café Boo Bah [i-Beam Design via Oh Gizmo]
See Also:
- Video: Super 8 Projector Made From Lego
- Modular Furniture 'Inspired by Lego'
- Ohio State Professor Builds Massive Lego Stadium
May 26
KDDI haptic smartphone prototype promises up to seven layers of touch, only shows off two
Posted in: Displays, prototype, screen, smartphone, Smartphones, Today's Chili, touchscreen
Ah, another possibly vaporous, yet intriguing addition to a long line of haptic patents and prototypes. Today’s offering: a KDDI smartphone mockup (utilizing Kyocera display technology) promising to render sensation through multiple layers of applied touchscreen pressure. Imagine depressing a camera shutter on a touchscreen, and you’ve got the idea. KDDI only had a screen sporting two haptic layers on hand when they demoed the prototype at Wireless Japan this week, but Kyocera reportedly told Akihabara News that the technology is capable of up to seven layers of tantalizing touch. Neat. Maybe we’ll get a few authentic haptic touchscreens on the market and do away with all the vibrational fakery we’ve been seeing.
KDDI haptic smartphone prototype promises up to seven layers of touch, only shows off two originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 07:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 26
The iDapt i1 universal charger will charge almost anything. It also has green accents.
I’m pretty sick of carrying a whole bagful of chargers whenever I travel. I doesn’t even have to be a long trip: just a weekend away can require chargers for a camera, iPad, iPod, Kindle, Bluetooth speaker and so on.
I have gotten around this mostly by choosing gadgets what will charge via USB, and running everything off the iPad’s power-brick. But I could also go for the iDapt i1, a new universal charger which costs $25, or less than an Apple charger alone.
The iDapt uses interchangeable “tips”, which hook into pretty much any device. These tips are more like plates, and they clip into one end of the iDapt. It ships with mini and microUSB, as well as a 30-pin dock connector, and also has a regular USB port on the side so you can plug in a second item for simultaneous charging.
The iDapt also has circuitry which cuts the power when your devices are fully charged, eliminating “vampire draw”, aka the tiny amount of power still supped by most anything that’s plugged in, even when it’s off.
Tips can also be had for various phones, handheld games consoles, Bluetooth headsets and games controllers. In short, if you can charge it, there’s probably a tip. Available now, in time for your summer vacation.
iDapt i1 product page [iDapt. Thanks, Valerie!]
See Also:
- Idapt Gadget Dock Charges Almost Anything
- Compact Power Station Cuts Cord Clutter
- Touch-n-Go: A Multi-Charger You May Actually Want
- iPhone Car Charger with Gesture Control
- Kensington PowerLift is a Chunky Charger for iPhone
May 26
Google is expected to announce plans for NFC-powered mobile payments today. The challenge of creating a usable service helps explain why no one has done it on a wide scale yet.
Originally posted at Circuit Breaker
May 26
Twelve South’s BookBook case for the MacBook Air is a fancy leather case for literary types.
May 26
Yahoo upgrades its email for everyone, puts Facebook updates and tweets in your inbox
Posted in: Email, Gmail, now available, NowAvailable, release, Today's Chili, Yahoo
Yahoo is the latest in a line of would-be champions to try to topple king Gmail from its perch atop the email mountain. The company’s newest Mail Beta (no relation to Gmail Beta) was introduced last October, but now its overhauled UI and fresh features are available to all. With the change comes quicker load times, stronger spam filtration, and it lets you send and receive Facebook updates and tweets. It also automatically turns picture and video links into thumbnail previews and handles up to 100MB attachments. These fancy new features are certainly a step in the right direction (even if the purple paintjob isn’t), but time will tell if it’ll rule the webmail world.
Yahoo upgrades its email for everyone, puts Facebook updates and tweets in your inbox originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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