Hasta La Gadget!

I’m going to start saying that I’m taking this with a huge grain of salt. This robot looks very realistic, yet has a somewhat cheesy and viral attempt feel to it at the same time. Watch the video for yourself and see what you think. The video is supposed to be a how-to video from a company called Suidobashi Heavy Industry.

The video goes over how to ride a robot called the Kuratas. The 13-foot-tall wheeled robot is clearly a nod at the Mechwarrior series of video games and any number of Japanese animated shows. In the video, you can see petite Japanese woman climbing into the chest cockpit cavity of the robot and going over the controls, including a remote smartphone-operated mode.

The controls look easy-to-use and seem realistic. You’ll note on the left arm there are twin multi-barreled cannons. How scary would it be as a soldier on about film to have one of these massive robots come walking up? The video claims the top speed of the bot, which has a torso and two arms but rolls on wheels, is 10 km/h. The bot uses a diesel engine and can be driven in high or low modes. The missile launcher appears to be packed with water bottles and will “from time to time” hit its target.

If this is just a fake viral video, it’s extremely well done. If it’s real, we could soon have mechs walking the streets of Tokyo.

[via Daily Mail]

If you grew up in the 80s, you saw E.T. at least a few times – it was practically required of any child of the era. Depending on how old you were, you may have even had some of the tie-in toys, including the bike with the plastic alien sitting in the milk carton up front. Now, E.T. is celebrating its 30th anniversary (if you can believe it) and will be coming to Blu-ray for the first time on October 9th.

The special edition Blu-ray will include the complete 1982 theatrical movie and is a combo pack with the Blu-ray, DVD, digital copy, and Ultraviolet copy of the film. The movie has been digitally remastered for Blu-ray and supports 7.1-surround sound. Special features of the movie will include The E.T. Journals with never before seen behind-the-scenes footage.

Other extra features will include a cast reunion and interviews with Steven Spielberg. One of the things I’ve always wanted to see are the scenes that were cut from the film with Harrison Ford. I’ll certainly be buying the movie so I can watch with my kids, as this is one of my favorite movies of all time. You can pre-order the disc set over at Amazon now for just $17.96(USD) – that’s nearly half off the $34.98 list price.

If you’ve ever played the video game Portal 2, you surely remember the floating robotic orb or personality core known as Wheatley. If you’re a fan of Wheatley, you will certainly appreciate this. An unnamed tech working at NASA has etched a likeness of Wheatley with the phrase “In spaaaaaaace!” underneath the likeness on the side of a component that actually went into space.

It’s not clear what the etched component is. Whatever the component is meant to do, it blasted into space aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle that launched on Friday to resupply the ISS. Valve attributes the quote “In spaaaaaaace!” to Wheatley, but apparently another character in the game, the Space Core, said that phrase.

Valve said in a blog post, “thanks to an anonymous tech at NASA, Wheatley is actually going to actual space.” It’s cool when NASA and other scientists actually have a sense of humor and do things like this.

[via CollectSpace]

This week the folks at Universal Pictures are offering up a closer look behind the scenes at The Bourne Legacy, the next chapter in the super-agent film series. A larger conspiracy has been uncovered in the newest installment of the Bourne timeline, a genetically enhanced agent by the name of Aaron Cross – played by Jeremy Renner – explains his excitement in joining the series as the cameras roll on this action-packed extravaganza. With a storyline that plays out alongside the third film and the Treadstone program, this movie keeps with the fast-paced explosion-loving idiom of the first three films while expanding upon the universe with a whole new chapter in the world of secret agent warfare.

The science of this film – inside the storyline, anyway – is in the modification of the body of the lead character, Aaron Cross. He is subject to both changes in muscle efficiency and pain suppression in the government’s quest to create a perfect force of one-man armies to take out their enemies under heavy cover. Edward Norton plays a vital role in making sure these human experiments do not get out of control, his character Eric Byer subscribing to a “higher morality” as any classic “license to kill” official very well should.

You’ll find de-railed train cars, grinding motorcycles, and lots and lots of gunshots in this film that’ll certainly rely on your believing in the unbelievable in and out of quick-action shots for the entirety of the feature. Pay close attention to the clip near the end of the first video in the embedded player above to see Cross jump straight down quite a few stories off a building to snap the neck of a police officer to see what’s meant by “you must simply believe.”

This film will be in theaters on 8/10/2012 – pick up some early release tickets now or get in line, this is gonna be a big one!

Bourne Legacy behind the scenes unleash genetically modified action is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Hey look! The Doctor fixed the Chameleon circuit. It doesn’t look like a Police Box at all now. More of a Police Shed. However, you’ll notice that that Dalek isn’t fooled for one minute. Unless he’s just after some pruning sheers or something.

This is a nice bit of TARDIS art. It was actually completed about a decade ago, but the man behind the project, Tardisbuilders user Einstein19, is just getting around to sharing it with the world now.

That only makes sense. He was clearly busy exploring time and space with some hot young companions. Hey, if I had a TARDIS shed, I would have done the same. The internet can wait. Any neighbors who come over to borrow tools naturally get sucked into an adventure or two. That will teach them.

[via Walyou via Nerd Approved]