Mar 17

Students Accepted to, Rejected From College After Computer Glitch

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili, Weird News
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The University of Delaware did some serious backtracking after a computer glitch caused the school to mistakenly accept 61 out-of-state students for next year’s fall semester. The school sent acceptance notifications to the students on March 12th. The university has since had to issue a correction, adding half to a waiting list and outright rejecting the other half.

The school’s admissions director Louis Hirsh told the press that the university felt terrible, but it could have been worse–it could have been 62 students. “To have a blunder like this cause such pain is terrible,” explained Hirsh. “I’m grateful it’s not more students, it’s just 61. But for those 61 kids–my heart goes out to them.”
In all, the University of Delaware accepted 2,400 non-computer glitch students for next fall.
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Mar 16

Game on the iPad with an NES Controller and RoboTouch

Posted in: diy, gaming, ipad, Robots Robotics, Today's Chili, video games, Weird News

RoboTouch

RoboTouch isn’t so much a commercial product as it is a pet project of some folks at ProtoDojo who were looking for a way to combine their favorite console controller (the NES controller,) with their favorite touch-screen gaming platform (the iPad.) 
The gadget is actually a series of small robot arms that accept controls from an Arduino board that the NES controller is plugged into. Press the A or B buttons and different arms tap different parts of the screen. Use the directional pad and different arms on the other side of the iPad tap the screen there corresponding to your character’s movement controls. The video behind the jump shows one of the inventors using RoboTouch to play a game of Reckless Racing. 
Admittedly, the arms would have to be repositioned around the screen and re-tested depending on the game you’re playing. If you have a virtual on-screen joystick that requires you move your finger in a circle or requires constant contact to work, it might be tricky to use. Still, RoboTouch isn’t the kind of project you should expect to see on store shelves anytime soon: but if you love DIY projects and would get a thrill out of playing iPad games with an NES controller, this is the project for you. 
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Mar 15

Bon Jovi Blames Steve Jobs for Music Industry Woes

Posted in: itunes, MP3 Digital Audio, Music, Today's Chili, Weird News

Bon Jovi

Jon Bon Jovi has a bone to pick with Steve Jobs. He wrote in the Sunday Times Magazine that Jobs is “killing” the music industry, that iTunes is to blame for the death of the album, and that no one experiences albums anymore the way artists intend to them to be experienced. 
The argument is far from a new one, a number of musicians blame digital music stores and services for killing the album, and blame digital music in general for the “death” of the music industry, but considering iTunes rakes in money from music sales and controls over 66% of the online music market, it’s doubtful the industry is going anywhere anytime soon.
Bon Jovi says that kids today aren’t getting the experience of buying music in a music store based only on album art the way their parents did, and they’re missing the experience of listening to an album end-to-end as a story. At the same time, both of those issues: the trend towards buyers wanting to preview music before they buy and the desire of music fans to not spend money on an album that contained one or two songs they wanted both pre-date iTunes, or digital music sales entirely. 
Still, Bon Jovi also bemoans the end of the neighborhood music store as more people take their purchases online, and the end of physical distribution of music, both of which can – directly or indirectly – be at least partially attributed to digital music sales. 
[via TUAW]
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Mar 14

Awesome Nike Shoe is Made From Old Computer Parts

Posted in: Today's Chili, Weird News

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Ever see the movie The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes? Well, we don’t have humanoid computers yet, but take out the word “Wore” from the movie title, and Gabriel Dishaw has exactly what you’re looking for!

Dishaw, of Indianapolis, created the above sneakers out of “a motherboard, an old typewriter case, a USB port, chipsets, power connectors and even an oxygen mask from a 747 airplane.”

Okay, so they don’t look like the most comfortable things ever, but they do look undeniably cool. It’s the latest project for Dishaw, who has been engaging in the curious art of junk-made shoes since he was in 9th grade. He’s now 30 years old.

Via Freshness Mag

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Mar 09

Mark Zuckberg, The Action Figure

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili, Weird News

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He looks really familiar, doesn’t he? I know I’ve seen him somewhere before. Maybe he’s just got one of those faces. I’m sure M.I.C. wouldn’t steal someone’s likeness for their “Poking Inventor” action figure. That would be wrong. Especially after the Chinese company was on the wrong side of an Apple lawsuit after offering the world a Steve Jobs action figure.
The sweatshirted/Adidas flipflopped figure comes with “Poke” and “Like” signs and a familiar little “F” logo that sits on the base. Like the Jobs figure, Poking Inventor also ships with a number of blank speech bubbles, so you can put words in his billion dollar mouth.
The figure runs $69.90, “while supplies last,” which almost certainly means, “until someone tips off Facebook’s lawyers.”
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Mar 09

Oldest Bird Raising Young

Posted in: science, Today's Chili, Weird News
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Here’s some inspiration for older parents everywhere. When the stress of the kids is proving to be too much, just channel a little bit of Wisdom, the 60-something Laysan albatross who is currently raising child number 30. 

Wisdom is the oldest known bird in the U.S. She was first spotted in 1956, when the US Geological Survey stuck an identity run on her leg. She was laying on a egg at the time, putting her around at least eight or nine-years-old, the breeding age for her species. 
Says researcher Bruce Peterjohn, “While the process of banding (ringing) a bird has not changed greatly during the past century, the information provided by birds marked with a simple numbered metal band has transformed our knowledge of birds.”
The USGS recently snapped the above image of Wisdom with a chick on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific. 
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Mar 08

DIY Pulse Laser Gun Actually Burns Holes in Things

Posted in: diy, laser, Today's Chili, Weird News

Real Laser Rifle

When I was an undergrad, lasers this powerful were generally kept bolted down to equipment and you had to wear goggles when you were using them. Admittedly, you were only in trouble if you sat down right in front of one or held your hand in front while it was firing. Still lasers this powerful can be dangerous depending on how you use them, and Patrick Priebe decided he wanted to use his laser to build a pretty cool looking pulse laser gun. 
At the heart of the beast is an actual 1-Megawatt laser, fitted with a pulse head that opens when the gun is “fired.” The gun is capable of emitting powerful, short bursts of focused IR light, enough to burn holes in plastic, thin metals, and even Styrofoam. The whole thing is about 2 pounds and is about a foot long, and is powered by four lithium-ion high capacity batteries, which will buy you about 50 shots on a full charge. 
Priebe even built a futuristic-looking casing around the gun to make it look like a real sci-fi weapon. Before you start wondering why police and soldiers aren’t carrying these things around, remember how few fires you get on four batteries. Also worth noting is that while Priebe’s pulse laser is great for popping balloons and burning holes through plastic sheeting, it’s not powerful enough to be used against people or vehicles – although it would probably deliver a pretty nasty burn if used repeatedly on bare skin. 
Check out the video of the gun in action behind the jump.
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Mar 08

Smell Your Video Games with Sensory Acumen and Scent Science’s New Gaming Gear

Posted in: gaming, peripheral, Today's Chili, video games, Weird News

Scent Gaming

Smell-o-vision has been a long-standing joke about television technology: something that in the early days of television every futurist thought would come true, but simply never made it into reality, partially because it’s a ridiculous idea. Still, that hasn’t stopped two companies, Scent Science and Sensory Acumen, from showcasing their new devices that both use atomizers and a connection to your computer or game console to spray specific smells into the air that correspond with the games that you’re playing. 
For example, if you’re playing a racing game, the gadgets will spray the scent of burning rubber into the air so you feel like you’re at the racetrack. In fact, this was the example both companies used at the Game Developer’s Conference last week when showcasing their devices. 
Both devices would allow users to load cartridges that contain the essential oils required to create smells for specific games. This way game publishers could sell the newest Gran Turismo game, for example, with a scent pack that smells like rubber and gasoline. 
As interesting an idea as this is, it’s doubtful if it will ever catch on. Both companies claim their devices would retail for between $60 and $70, but cartridges will have to be sold separately. Also, racing games are great, but I don’t know too many people who would want to buy the cartridge for a game like Dragon Age or Duke Nukem Forever. Still, the cartridge for Cooking Mama would probably be a treat. 
[via DVice]
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Mar 08

National Geographic Brings Pixar’s Up to Life

Posted in: Today's Chili, Weird News

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Forget those 10,000 Homefront balloons dumped into the Bay (well, don’t forget it, necessarily)–here’s something really exciting, without all of the nasty environment havoc that comes with sticking a lot of rubber in a body of water. It’s Up! 
The National Geographic Channel went all Mythbusters on this one, setting a 16 x 16 x 18 foot house afloat over the weekend, with the aid of 300 giant balloons.
The house floated up 10,000 feet, staying in the air for about an hour. The bit was filmed for the channel’s upcoming How Hard Can it Be program. Floating a real house, it turns out is pretty tough–the channel constructed an extremely basic house, sans-furniture for the show.

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Mar 07

This Tattoo Machine May Put Shady Artists Out of Business

Posted in: Robots, Robots Robotics, Today's Chili, Weird News

Auto Ink

Visualize your local tattoo parlor. If you don’t have a lot of tattoos, or don’t know a reputable, clean, and sanitary tattoo artist, you’re probably thinking of some seedy back-alley shack with hanging lights and cigarette smoke hanging in the air while some beefy guy with aviator glasses and a bandana tells you to get in the chair and pick what you want on your arm from the poster on the wall. Well, the future is now and the Auto Ink, an automatic tattoo machine, could spell the end of those seedy parlors forever.  
The Auto Ink is essentially a tattoo-drawing Maker Bot, which can be programmed to move the needle in any pattern you choose, or you can leave it up to the bot to determine what would look nice on your skin. Right now, the bot randomly chooses a religion, and will tattoo you with the faith’s relevant symbol – which isn’t necessarily a great thing if you get the wrong one on the inside of your arm. 
Still, the Auto Ink right now is part robot and part art project – Chris Eckert, the man who invented it, is making a statement about religion with his box, but perhaps what’s more interesting is the fact that you can build a robot tattoo artist that can be programmed to draw whatever you like. Sure, it’s not about to put any real body artists out of business, but it’s definitely a safer way for an 18-year old to rebel than visiting Big Jimmy and his house of dirty needles.
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