Hasta La Gadget!

Tired of using your hands? Microsoft has reportedly applied for a patent that would allow you to operate devices hands-free, by flexing muscles in other parts of your body.

The technology is known as Electromyography (EMG), which translates electrical impulses from muscles to a computer, according to TechFlash. A Microsoft research video (above) shows a using strapping some sensors to their arm and then playing Guitar Hero via air guitar, or without an actual guitar hooked up to the console.

The technology could come as wearable gear for the arms, head, chest, or legs, TechFlash reports. Don’t add it to your wishlist just yet, though. Microsoft does not expect this to be on store shelves anytime soon.

NEPTUNE Canada, the world’s largest undersea cabled network, has powered up and will begin streaming data from hundreds of undersea instruments and sensors on the Pacific Ocean floor to the Internet, Scientific American reports.

The network will run around the clock and is expected to produce 50 terabytes of data each year. The data will include information about earthquake dynamics, deep-sea ecosystems, salmon migration, and the effects of climate change on the water column, the report said.

“It’s revolutionary in that it brings two new components into the ocean environment, which are power and high-bandwidth Internet,” says Project Director Chris Barnes, from the project’s offices at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, in the article. “We’re really on the verge of wiring the oceans.”

Shown in the photo is a rat-tail fish checking out the installation of a seismometer at “node ODP 1027” of the new network–buried at a depth of 2,660 meters underneath the surface. (Image credit: NEPTUNE Canada/CSSF)

Penbo, from Bossa Nova Robotics ($79.99 list), is an adorable interactive robotic penguin created just for kids. It’s recommended for children ages four and up, so my four-year-old daughter qualifies; she and I tried it out.

After fighting through the standard packaging with its multitude of wire-ties, I was finally able to hand Penbo to my daughter. Her immediate reaction: “She’s cute, and I like her bow. It looks pretty on her.” Happily, batteries are included with Penbo, so as soon as we got her out of the package we were playing with her.

Penbo also comes with a baby penguin, named Bebe, who you’ll find in an egg stored in Penbo’s tummy. Once you open the egg, you can use Bebe to interact and control Penbo, via infrared signals. Penbo can also interact with you through the sensors on its head and tail, and the microphone hidden in its neck. Push the hidden buttons in Penbo’s head and right wing, for example, and it plays a mimic game. Press Bebe’s right wing, and Penbo plays a
peek-a-boo game.

Like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, The Pleo robotic camosaur has reemerged, though without the help of dino-DNA. In a lengthy interview on Robotsrule, Ugobe founder and now COO of Innvo Labs Derek Dotson said Pleo is for sale again at Innvo’s web site. What’s more surprising is that Innvo’s Pleo is not simply an inventory clear-out item. Dotson told Robotsrule that there are actually a number of improvements, including better paint, more durable skin, biodegradable packaging and better battery chargers. Innvo is also planning on improving future Pleos, making better use of its camera and opening up a processing bottleneck so the robot companion can do more with its existing sensors.

One thing that hasn’t change, yet, is the pricing. The adorable bot is still $349. Innvo will want to get to work on lowering that price if they don’t want to Pleo to fade into extinction.