Hasta La Gadget!

It seems like the folks over at the Flying Machine Arena are finally starting to catch on — those quadrocopters are going to kill us all. Thankfully, after teaching them to juggle and tap out some tunes, the researchers came to their senses and put the flying machines on a Kinect-controlled leash. Instead of flitting about autonomously, the four-rotored nightmares are directed by a puppeteer waving his hands. Movement is controlled by the right hand, while raising the left one tells the copter to do a little flip for its master’s amusement, and a commanding clap makes it sit down like a good little pup. Best of all, if you don’t give it any arm-waving instruction it just hovers and waits until you tell it otherwise. On further consideration, maybe we haven’t been creating our own murderers, but a new man’s best friend — after all, they don’t eat much and can’t chew up your remotes. Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Quadrocopters reined in by Kinect leash, we feel safer already

Quadrocopters reined in by Kinect leash, we feel safer already originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Flying Machine Arena (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

We know, Samsung already took the wind out of your “price cut!” sails, but hey — we’re pretty certain you’ve still got a few things you’d like to see changed on the altogether lovely Series 9. Sammy’s sexiest laptop to date has surely found its way into the homes of quite a few ultraportable aficionados, boasting a Core i5 chip, USB 3.0 and lovely all-in-one trackpad. ‘Course, even those enamored with the design have probably found a few chinks in the armor after a few month’s use, so we’re anxious to hear what you’d recommend Samsung do with revision B. Would you tone down the gloss? Arrange the ports any differently? Toss in a magnetic power connector? Boost the screen resolution? Voice your opinions down in comments below — it’s a free country, you know?

How would you change Samsung’s Series 9 laptop? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The summer sun supercharged green technology this week as Inhabitat reported that IKEA flipped the switch on a massive 65,000 square foot solar array and designer Markus Kayser unveiled an awesome self-sufficient solar-powered laser cutter. We also spotted a clever off-grid Tropicana billboard that is juiced by oranges, and we learned about a new piezoelectric film that could lead to laptops powered by typing. Energy-generating architecture also made headlines as SMIT announced plans to roll out their Solar Ivy system on several buildings and one designer unveiled plans for a green energy island large enough to power Copenhagen.

Green transportation also reached for the sky this week as the sun-powered Solar Impulse airplane made its public debut at the Paris Air Show and EADS unveiled plans for an innovative all-electric commercial aircraft. Efficient autos also hit the streets as the Nissan Leaf became the first electric car to tackle Pike’s Peak, and we learned that Porsche is working on a new breed of cars that are able to drive themselves. If pedal-powered transportation is more your speed you won’t want to miss this beautiful kinetic energy-storing Potenza vehicle, and we were wowed by the solar panel-clad Emax Excalibur hybrid yacht.

In other news, we shined a light on green consumer electronics this week as we brought you a lunar LED light modeled after the moon and Peter Rojas explained how wasteful it is to keep gadgets chargers plugged in as part of our Ask a Tech Geek column. We also shared a low-tech tablet that’s perfect for kids, and we showcased a new type of climate-controlled clothing that beats the summer heat. Finally, we were excited to see Sprint launch a contest where you can recycle your old cell to score a Vespa scooter and an eco smartphone, and we brought you seven sustainable designs for a greener Fourth of July.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: IKEA’s massive solar array, climate-controlled clothing and ultra-green yachts originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 21:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This week’s release of the HP TouchPad, the first device other than a handset to feature webOS, aptly demonstrates the promise and perils of HP’s adopted operating system. The 4:3 tablet provides the large canvas that webOS seemed born to cover. However, like the Xoom and PlayBook before it, the TouchPad suffers from an impoverished app library among other holes. To help share development costs of webOS and expand the market for its developers, HP has warmed to the idea of licensing the Palm-developed operating system.

HP’s willingness to license webOS while continuing to make devices based on the operating system serves up a healthy helping of déjà vu for those who followed the history of Palm, Inc. The PDA pioneer sought to take advantage of its dominance in handhelds, and stave off rival Pocket PCs powered by Windows CE, by licensing the Palm operating system while continuing to use it.

The decision proved to be Palm’s short-term salvation and long-term ruin. One of the first companies to license the Palm OS was Handspring, founded by former Palm executives. Handspring created the Treo, which became Palm’s entry into smartphones when Palm acquired Handspring. A few other companies licensed the Palm OS for smartphones, including Kyocera and Samsung, but the inherent conflict created by competing with licensees forced Palm to spin Palm OS out into a company called PalmSource, which folded three years later.

Continue reading Switched On: webOS wherever

Switched On: webOS wherever originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This article was written on January 16, 2007 by CyberNet.

To help cope with my addiction to Flash games I have been receiving several emails with sites to checkout that offer fun games. One of the better ones that I have been playing with is wiicade.com, and the great thing is that most of the games were unique (at least to me).

The one game that really got me going was Minefields 2204 (pictured above). You start off with a battle tank that you need to direct through an obstacle course full of other tanks and mines that are all there to blow you up…if you enter their line of sight. Using the tools available you’ll need to blow up some of the tanks and try to go around others. I highly recommend that you look at the very brief instructions before getting started so that you understand how the various items work.

The screenshot above was taken when I was on level 9, but one of my friends (thanks Mike) made it a little further by pointing out that blocks can be “reused” if you run your tank back over them. I would say that you can get up to level 9 rather quickly (less than 10 minutes) so here are the passwords for tail end of the levels in case you get frustrated and want to move on:

Level 09: KALU
Level 10: VAKA
Level 11: UA33
Level 12: M3LK
Level 13: SYS4
Level 14: BTB7
Level 15: DR66
Level 16: GAL3
Level 17: PS69
Level 18: 55BJ
Level 19: There is no level 19, 18 was the last one

Those aren’t exactly walkthroughs, which might be more helpful for some people, but we can say from experience that all of the levels are doable…despite what you might begin to think. After the last level was completed my friend had a score of 463,490!

Another great game that I found there was PaintBall. It isn’t exactly what you expect it to be…because I thought it would have paintball guns and it is far from that. The game is as easy as you decide to make it. You can draw direct paths to the destination, but it is much more fun if you try to minimize the number and size of lines that you draw.

I deleted the email before checking who sent this tip in, but I’m pretty sure it was CoryC. Thanks!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Ping Pong Flash Game Overly AddictingOptical Illusion: Are you Right or Left Brained?Several Fun, Simple, And Addicting Online GamesCyberNotes: A Few More Games For FridayUSA Today Online Offers a Variety of Puzzles