Hasta La Gadget!

A Google app that allows users to change their eye shape and add stereotypical “Asian” accessories is drawing fire from the Asian-American community for being racist, CNN reports.

The “Make Me Asian” app works by narrowing eyes, adding a Fu Manchu mustache and a rice paddy hat. A similar app called “Make Me Indian” darkens skin, adds face paint and a headband in an apparent effort to make users resemble a Native American.

KimberyDeiss, a user on Google Play, seems to be the creator of a host of similar Android apps, including “Make me Russian,” “Make me fat,” “Make me bald” and “Make me Irish.”

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Parking Panda, a new service that allows drivers to list their empty spaces and others to rent them as needed, is looking to solve the problem of an ever-increasing shortage of parking spaces nationwide.

By compiling a network of unused parking spaces, Parking Panda provides drivers with a list of available spots, allowing them to reserve and pay online.

Anyone using the service can register an unused spot. Those looking for a parking spot at a particular time can log on and search available spaces, rent and pay online with a guaranteed empty spot. However, spots may not always be available as availability depends on how many people register empty spots and where and when they are accessible.

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It seems as if the robots are getting ready for an assault from both land and air these days. Just yesterday, we saw a creepy hexacopter that could also crawl, and now we have a drone that can both roll along on the ground and fly.

The Hybrid Terrestrial and Aerial Quadrotor (HyTAQ) robot was designed by Arash Kalantari and Matthew Spenko at The Robotics Laboratory at Chicago’s IIT. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary quadrotor, set into a cage. But that cage serves more than just a decorative purpose – it provides the means for the robot to roll on the ground.

The polycarbonate and carbon fiber cage is attached to an axle which can spin freely around the center of the quadrotor. By landing the quadrotor on the ground and and using the same actuators to drive it along the terrain. It’s a really cool and elegant design that also is able to protect its rotors from damage. Check out HyTAQ in action below:

Man, that thing can switch from ground ops to air ops so fast. The robot apocalypse can’t be far behind now – or at least the coolest robot toys you’ve ever played with.

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The Senate’s top Republican says President Barack Obama has asked congressional leaders to convene at the White House for last-minute talks on a deal that avoids automatic tax increases and broad spending cuts.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the leaders are expected to meet with the president Friday, just four days before the government goes over the so-called “fiscal cliff” if Congress and Obama don’t act.

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‘Tis the season for giving, but in Australia, wild dolphins have been documented offering gifts to the researchers studying them for quite some time.

We hope those “gifts” came with a receipt, though, as the offerings seem likely to trigger the gag reflex in some humans. So far, the presents include eels, tuna, squid, at least one octopus and a variety of other fin fish. Discovery News reports the gifts are highly valued food sources for dolphins.

The first gift, from an adult male dolphin named Fred, was a dead moray eel, offered in July 1998, the Daily Mail notes.

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