Hasta La Gadget!

Memory foam chair expands when hot, Ep. 118

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A Belgian artist has invented a memory foam chair that expands when heated up. Plus, we take a look at a $1,500 solar-powered scooter and try on the Predator Helmet. All that and more on this week’s super-futuristic episode of Crave.

Crave stories:

– Steering wheel music pad lets you drum and drive

– Solar Electric Scooter takes a shine to green transport

… [Read more]

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Solar Electric Scooter takes a shine to green transport
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Crave Ep. 116: Bubba Watson’s BW1 hovercraft golf cart
Self-assembling foam chair expands like popcorn

Rain — the scourge of the night driver! Too many times have distracting droplets proved an annoyance for those traveling roads after dark.

New technology co-developed by Intel and Carnegie Mellon University could one day change all that. I’ve spoken to Intel about the new tech, so hit play on the video above to find out how it works.

Instead of relying on a bog-standard bulb to beam light out over a darkened road, the futuristic setup would use something more akin to a projector.

Meanwhile a camera sits nestled beneath that projector, keeping an eye on drops of rain as they enter the headlights’ beams. Information from that camera is sent to a processing unit, which identifies raindrops and makes a guess as to where each droplet is headed.

Related stories

• Car Tech 101: Shine a light on headlight technology
• Smart headlight aims to defeat pesky precipitation

The projector then blots out the bits of its projection where the rain drops are. The result is a light that shines out from the front of a car in the dark, but doesn’t highlight any rain…. [Read more]

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Facebook’s one small step for mankind

North Carolina state Rep. Rodney Moore (D-Charlotte) supports background checks — for dogs.

Moore sponsored a failed bill in the state Legislature last week that would have required the owners of certain large dogs — including chows, pit bulls, mastiffs and Rottweilers — to undergo a criminal background check.

“There needs to be some kind of accountability,” Moore told WRAL. “A lot of people breed them the wrong way. You have very harsh incidents of these dogs maiming children, maiming older folks, and sometimes even turning on their owner.”

Read More…
More on North Carolina

CBS has renewed “Two and a Half Men” for an eleventh season, but there will be some changes.

Though Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer have signed on for Season 11, the fate of Angus T. Jones — who caused controversy for slamming the show’s content as “filth” last fall — is up in the air in regards to “Two and a Half Men” Season 11, TVLine was the first to report.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network and Warner Bros. Television are currently working on a deal for Jones to recur in Season 11. Jones’ character Jake has had a military storyline in Season 10, which limited the number of episodes he appeared in, but only slightly.

Read More…
More on Ashton Kutcher

Clemency is a failsafe for system failure. It’s a power held by governors and presidents to fix mistakes, to clean up when the courts get it wrong and convict and incarcerate the innocent, or over-sentence the guilty. Ideally, clemency is a tool where the poor and powerless can fight back against an overwhelming, all-powerful judicial system.

That’s the idealistic view. Clemency is more often used for political gain and/or for those lucky enough or wealthy enough to get access to the presidents and governors who hold the power.

Read More…