Almost a decade ago, NASA sent a spacecraft called Deep Impact into space, tasking it with providing the agency with information about comets. This was achieved by bashing the space rocks open, sending particles from the comet spinning free to be analyzed by researchers. Now, after about nine years and traversing nearly 5 billion miles, […]
Facebook is aiming to get inside its users’ minds, figuratively speaking, to find out what they mean when posting statuses. Such is coming by way of an artificial intelligence being created by the social network that MIT reports as functioning with simulated networks of brain cells, all of them crunching away at data to perform […]
Today Blackberry announced a $1 billion loss and the layout of 4,500 employees, along with a refocus on enterprise markets instead of the consumer area. What went wrong?
A couple of years ago, Tobii made headlines when they unveiled their eye-tracking sensor. We first saw it installed on a laptop and then on gaming machines. Now Tobii wants to ride the tablet revolution with the EyeMobile, an add-on for Windows 8 Pro tablets.
The EyeMobile makes use of Tobii’s USB-based PCEye Go sensor, a custom mounting bracket that doubles as a tablet stand and a Windows 8 Pro tablet. Tobii will be selling a bundle that includes the Dell Latitude 10 tablet, but you can also buy the sensor and the bracket separately if you already have a Windows 8 tablet.
In their hands-on with the EyeMobile, Digital Trends found the sensor to be quite accurate. Going back to the tablet in the top image, you can see a virtual dock on the right edge of the screen. You first have to look at one of the icons on the dock then look elsewhere to perform an action. For instance, if you want to left-click on something, you can’t just look at the thing you want to click. You first have to look at the left-click icon on the dock and then at the thing you want to click. It’s a bit tedious, but for people with certain disabilities this is a great way – if not the only way – for them to use modern technology. In addition, the PCEye Go sensor can be detached from the mounting bracket and used with a laptop or computer.
Tobii will be selling the PCEye Go sensor for $3,900 (USD) while the bracket costs $350. They’re pricey for sure, but it’s way better than nothing. Check out this video if you want to see how life-changing Tobii’s eye-tracking sensor can be (and if you need a good cry.)
Head to the EyeMobile website for more information.
[via Digital Trends]
I really don’t care for those reality TV shows where people walk around with metal detectors looking for junk. Most of them end up turning up crappy old coins and cans. But I have to show props to the guys on NatGeo’s Diggers for digging up something epic for once. They managed to find a long lost time capsule buried with stuff from Steve Jobs way back in 1983.
Jobs and other attendees filled the 30-foot-long time capsule with all sorts of stuff after the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado some 30 years ago. Most notable among their contributions was Steve Jobs’ mouse from an Apple Lisa he used for the day’s presentation – which apparently is still in mint condition. Bet that’ll fetch some serious buckage at auction.
Despite being known as the “Steve Jobs Time Capsule,” there were many other contributors to the capsule, then known as the Aspen Time Tube. Among them there’s an original Rubik’s Cube, a six pack of Ballantine Ale, some name tags, and a Moody Blues 8-track tape. I’m not sure what the deal is with all the aluminum foil pie tins though.
While they haven’t released images of everything inside, I’m sure you’ll be able to see everything they found in the capsule on an upcoming episode of Diggers on the National Geographic Channel.
[via C|Net]
We’ve seen many examples of LEGO used to build something practical. This one’s the exact opposite. LEGO enthusiast Jason Allemann built his own take on the infamous useless machine using the newly released Mindstorms EV3 kit.
Like the original useless machine, Jason’s contraption exists only to turn itself on. However, Jason programmed it to do other things before it turns itself off. For instance, it can delay the act of turning itself off, so you think that you’ve outsmarted the machine. It can also move away from you. In a hilarious bit of ingenuity, Jason also made the machine so that it can troll itself.
Head to Jason’s website to download the instructions and other files needed to build your own Useless Machine. You can buy the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kit from Amazon for $350 (USD). Don’t worry, you can do other more useful things with it.
[via Viral Viral Videos]
With Summer all but gone, there’s not much time left to grill outdoors. Thankfully, just in time for Fall and Winter to set in, T-Fal has introduced this little kitchen godsend – the OptiGrill – not to be confused with the OptiGrab in Steve Martin’s The Jerk. Though unlike Navin R. Johnson’s silly invention, the OptiGrill is a really great idea.
This handsome stainless steel kitchen appliance distinguishes itself from other tabletop electric grills by its groundbreaking technology – which tells you when your food is cooked just right. This sensor can indicate the temperature of meats you’re grilling, as well as when the grill is at optimum temperature to start cooking your food.
Setting up the OptiGrill is super easy. Just take it out of the box, remove the packing materials, and “bless” its surface with a little oil (I used some PAM spray) before cooking to give the non-stick surface an added boost, and to impart some extra flavor into your grilled foods. Once plugged in, simply press the Power button, select the type of food you’re cooking, and “OK”. If you’re dealing with meat that needs defrosting, press the snowflake button first.
You can choose from six different types of food programs to cook: burgers, poultry, sandwiches, sausage/pork, red meat and fish. You can even start off with foods that need defrosting, or set a manual mode where you can cook items as long as you want.
The grill is even smart enough to measure the thickness of foods to take that into account when cooking. Keep in mind that T-Fal doesn’t recommend cooking meat that’s more than 1.5 inches-thick, nor meat with bones which can cause uneven heating.
As it heats up, a colorful LED light show begins – starting with a blinking magenta to indicate pre-heating, then a solid magenta accompanied by a beep when it’s ready to cook – a process that takes about five minutes. Just place your meat or panini on the grill, close it and watch the light show. The light starts off green to indicate that cooking has started, and gradually goes through a range of yellow, orange and red shades to indicate level of doneness.
In my case, I started with a inch-thick, 10-ounce ribeye steak on the grill. In a matter of about five minutes, the light reached the shade of orange that indicated medium rare. And if you can’t tell one color from another, it beeps when it achieves Rare, Medium and Well Done levels.
My steak turned out just right, along with those perfect sear lines you want when grilling foods. Given the fact that I just went to a fancy restaurant with a professional chef last week and had to send my steak back because it wasn’t cooked properly, I’m impressed.
As an added bonus, I found that the amount of smoke that the OptiGrill produced from cooking was significantly less than that I get when cooking steaks on the countertop in a pan. Never mind that the grilled meats are healthier than those soaking in their grease in a pan. I also put the defrost mode through its paces, and it turn a hockey puck of ground bison into a perfectly cooked burger in about 12 minutes from plug-in to chow-time.
When you’re done cooking with the OptiGrill, all you need to do is turn it off, unplug it, and wait an hour (or more). Once it’s cool to the touch, you snap off the non-stick grill plates and slide out the drip tray and wash them. One note – the drip tray isn’t dishwasher safe, so you need to hand wash it.
I’m very impressed with the T-Fal OptiGrill. It’s a must-have appliance for kitchens if you like grilled foods and either don’t have space for an outdoor grill, or don’t want to deal with the hassle of starting up and cleaning your grill. Also, I can speak from experience that it’s no fun to fire up my outdoor grill in the middle of winter in Chicago.
The T-Fal OptiGrill ships this October, and will be available from Bed Bath and Beyond stores for $179.99(USD). It includes everything you see here, including a 72-page book with 32 recipes, offering everything from buttermilk-rosemary chicken thighs to BBQ ribs and herb-roasted potatoes.
Is Justin Timberlake’s top-forty hit tune "Mirrors" a soulful lullaby to his better half — or indeed is that
mirror-image really — himself? The more you analyze the lyrics with refrains such as "my
mirror staring back at me", the more you realize the song could be
considered this generation’s anthem or mantra.
If you’ve never heard a trombone quartet, you’ve been missing a
spectacular music experience. There’s nothing like four talented trombone-crazy
musicians playing a classical or jazz piece together. It’s just – well,
it’s wild and infectious.. And the pBone, the world’s first full-size
trombone manufactured with ABS plastic, caught on so well that it became
the world’s best selling trombone last year partly because Bones Apart, a British trombone quartet, took it up as their cause, giving educational tours in British schools with their pBones.
iOS 7 is very controversial, but it does include quite a few new features you may not know about, things that will help you and your users work more efficiently on your devices. Be ready for the next release by knowing what comes next.
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