Hasta La Gadget!

Almost 30 years ago, a Japanese janitor casually drew a few lines, which turned into a few more lines, which turned into seven years of his life and the most demonically intricate maze—hand-drawn or otherwise—that I have ever seen. More »

An engineer in Russia has decided that building humanoid robots has been done enough, so he decided to go and build his own two-legged ‘bots to take on Honda’s Asimo and other bipedal machines. Despite being built in Russia, what you’re looking at here is something I like to call “TurkeyBot.”

If I’m understanding the specs correctly, creator Konstantin Ivanov claims this 180kg (~396 lb.) birdbot can walk at speeds up to 5km/h (~3MPH) while carrying a passenger on its back. He also calls it the “Robot Ostrich of Jurassic Period,” so I was completely wrong about that turkey thing. I love how its feet look like the bases of office swivel chairs. Here, check it out in action:

As you noticed in the video, there’s also another birdbot which appears to be much skinnier, and capable of pulling a carriage. In fact, the skinny ostrichbot supposedly hits speeds up to 70km/h (~43mph)! If that’s really true, it could even outrun a cheetah (robot.) Though until I see the ostrichbot running at full speed, I’ll reserve judgment. Still, I wouldn’t want to run into these things in a dark alleyway.

Good news are in for those who are avid users of Read it Later Pocket on iOS, as the handy application’s been updated with some social tools and a few UI improvements. For starters, version 4.3 now allows readers to share content directly to Facebook (Sina Weibo, too) without ever having to leave the app, while a “Delete” option was added to the Archive button in order to make it easier for folks to trash any article. Pocket also announced it beefed up the text preferences in the article viewer by including an increased font size, as well as noting that it’s taken care of some known Evernote-related bugs, among others. The Pocket refresh can be downloaded now from the App Store link below, or, what’s likely the easier route, folks could just grab it straight from their iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Filed under: Software, Mobile

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Source: Pocket, App Store

You’ve likely already heard of the Java security scandal, which was something Oracle looked to fix quickly with an update to the software. Even though Oracle says it has patched the issue, some entities disagree. The latest to add its name to the list of dissenters seems to be Apple, as it has decided to block the Java 7 browser plug-in, even after the update was delivered by Oracle.

According to MacGeneration and this thread on the Apple Support Communities site, Apple has blocked this latest version of Java using its Xprotect software. Apple uses Xprotect to keep malware out, and this is the same software it used to block Java earlier in the month. Just as it did before, Apple has made Xprotect block a version of Java that doesn’t yet exist, meaning all earlier versions (including the current one) are blocked as well.

Apple isn’t the only one taking issue with Oracle’s claim that the security concerns have been addressed. The Department of Homeland Security is still recommending that consumers refrain from using Java after the update, saying that all of the security flaws have not yet been fixed. The flaw could potentially allow unsigned applets to run without permission, which in turn means that some of the more undesirable people of the world could potentially take control of your computer.

So, with the Department of Homeland Security still warning against using Java, it may not be such a bad thing that Apple has restricted access to the browser plug-in. This will naturally prove to be headache for a lot of different Mac users considering that Java is everywhere these days, but until Oracle provides another update, there doesn’t seem to be much that can be done. Stay tuned, because we’ll probably be hearing more about this soon.

[via MacRumors]

Apple says no to Java 7, blocks browser plug-in is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Best Buy Canada announced today that it will be closing 15 locations across the country, including seven Best Buy-branded locations, and eight stores bearing the Future Shop moniker (a Canadian electronics reseller Best Buy acquired in 2001). The store closures will result in 900 layoffs, but those employees will have first dibs on jobs at smaller outlets focused on mobile device sales the retailer plans to open in place of the closing stores.

While the closures only affect 15 of the 228 locations operated by Best Buy under the Future Shop and Best Buy brands, that still makes up around 10 percent of their total sales floor surface volume, according to the National Post. Sales for Best Buy fell 6.4 percent internationally over the course of 2012, the company reported during its most recent quarterly earnings report. Sales also dropped 8.2 percent in the quarter ending in November of last year in Canada and China, so there appears to be a continuing decline overall in those markets.

The closure and launch of smaller stores reflects a preference to target the growing mobile phone and tablet market, over legacy products like TVs and computers that carry smaller margins and have higher carrying costs. Best Buy locations have massive sales floors, but also huge warehouses and stock rooms to house the goods that populate those floors since shelves can only hold so many TVs at once. Best Buy Mobile locations, by comparison, have far smaller physical footprints and drastically reduced requirements for storing in-stock items.

The retailer has been beefing up its online store at the same time as it is trimming back brick-and-mortar, adding entirely new categories of goods to its web-based selection, including sporting goods, outdoor items and various lotions, most of which are available online only, so it’s no surprise to see them shed costly real estate.