Hasta La Gadget!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so what happens when you give a pig a toy for it to play with while it is being fattened for the slaughterhouse? I suppose those green piggies from the Angry Birds franchise would be able to appreciate such a plaything, as they would then leave the birds’ eggs well alone. As a result, they would be slaughtered and green slices of bacon (theoretically, anyways) would be served up, being tasty to the last bite. That is what a pig welfare group in the UK are doing, investing up to £100,000 in chews and toys for the animals, claiming that doing so results in less stress, producing tastier meat along the way.

One of the bigger hits among our porcine friends would be the plastic gizmo called the Porcichew, where our fattened dinner on legs are able to swing on in circles like children on a roundabout. Less anxious pigs release less of the stress hormone known as cortisol, which in turn affect muscles – and the quality of meat directly. It is said that pork from stressed pigs end up looking paler and softer. Hmmm, I’d better take a closer look at my bacon slices the next time round…

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Lego motorized Tumbler and The Bat vehicles will bring out the Batman in you, Swimmable Mermaid Tail might be the perfect summer purchase,

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant who is most famous for assembling Apple’s products, did deny earlier reports of their plant in China being crippled by a strike over renewed quality control measures. In fact, they say that their production is right on track during this rather crucial time period for the fruity company from California, Apple, and we would want to go out on a limb here to say that the iPhone 5 is not the only device being referred to here, but the unicorn-like, mythical iPad mini.

According to China Labor Watch, this strike saw a total of 3,000 to 4,000 workers over at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou complex in central China participate in order to vent their anger at the over-exacting quality controls in addition to demands that they will have to slog it through the week-long National Day holiday that kicked off on Monday. Foxconn has denied this particular report, touting that the only disputes happened several days prior – being ‘brief and small’ in the process.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Foxconn riot; will the iPhone 5 be affected?, Thousands queue up for jobs at Foxconn, in hopes of building the next iPad?,

It appears that there is no end in sight for the patent wars between tech giants. Virtually every major tech company is embroiled in patent litigation, not with one adversary but with many of them. This has also recently attracted criticism towards the US Patent office.

Microsoft has been pursuing Motorola Mobility rather aggressively. In Germany, Microsoft has so far won three patent infringement cases against Motorola, which has recently been acquired by Google. In a fourth case, however, the court has ruled that Motorola didn’t infringe any Microsoft patents. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google perform evasive maneuvers to avoid US smartphone import ban, Moogle and the Future of Mobile ,

We reported earlier about the tiny Japanese satellite termed ‘FITSAT-1‘ by the researchers. This palm-sized satellite was earlier carried to the International Space Station. The original plan was to release FITSAT-1 to orbit the Earth and flash Morse code in the sky so that it would be visible in Japan.

However, now the researchers have decided that the small satellite would be allowed to orbit around the Earth and flash its Morse code so that it would be visible around the globe. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Boeing patents unique idea about removing space debris, Comet headed towards Earth discovered by anstronomers,

Earlier this month, we saw how the Samsung Galaxy Camera made a pit stop over at the FCC in order to gain approval for release to the masses, while it was yesterday when AT&T issued an official announcement that they will be offering the Samsung Galaxy Camera on their network. The thing is, pricing details have yet to be thrashed out, but if it is of any indication, perhaps those of us living Stateside can extrapolate the Galaxy Camera’s final price here based on what the German market will fork out for theirs.

This Android 4.1 Jelly Bean powered camera will hit Germany at the end of October for a rather hefty 599 Euros as its recommended retail price which of course, can change depending on who the vendor carrying this device is. That would translate to still under a grand, but at that price point, one might be able to pick up an entry level DSLR instead which will definitely pack more image shooting power. The thing is, playing Angry Birds and Bad Piggies on your dedicated digital camera does make a whole lot of sense, actually.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung Galaxy Camera heads for AT&T, Samsung Galaxy Camera stops by the FCC with AT&T’s radios on board,