To kick off the ‘Year of the Ear’ at its theme parks, Disney will be releasing a series of limited edition ‘Couture Ear Hats’.
Instead of the plain black ones, Disney’s new line of Couture Ear Hats will come in various fashionable designs—such as steampunk, peacock and felt.
According to< … Read More → "Disney releases Couture Ear Hats"
You’ve just had dinner at one of the best restaurants in the country, the kind of place where the chef talks about his passion for perfection, obsession with detail and demand for the best, freshest ingredients. You know that there is probably one cook in the kitchen for every couple in the dining room. So you might feel surprised — even cheated — to discover that the coffee you are now enjoying was made by … Read More → "A “Turing Test” for coffee"
The U.S. military’s drones – or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – were probably the most talked about robots of 2012. Every other week it seemed there was some story or other that grabbed headlines around the world, giving them a rather nasty reputation. However, robotics technology is about much more than just killing machines and here are ten noteworthy examples from the past year that prove it.
via Read More → "Top 10 robots of 2012"
Lithuanian architect-turn-photographer Tadao Cern—whom we have featured previously for his ‘Scotch Tape’ and ‘Blow Job’ series—has re-imagined one of Van Gogh’s most famous self-portraits as a modern photograph.
Documenting the digital process of turning the painting into a photograph in a video, Cern has also made up a humorous story about how Van Gogh himself had commissioned Cern for a portrait, which … Read More → "Van Gogh’s famous self-portrait re-imagined as a photograph"
Someday we may control a variety of household objects and appliances with our smartphones. That future may be not be fully realized for several years, but one Indiegogo project wants to give you a head start. Tethercell is an adapter that lets you control any AA battery-powered device with your smartphone.
via gizmag
Read More → "Tethercell makes any AA battery-powered device controllable via smartphone"
Hooray, a new recruit!
Remember when Cambridge University announced they were opening The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, a think-tank designed to help prevent, among other things, a future robotic apocalypse? Well famed brainiac Stephen Hawking has just joined the force, and promises to destroy robots WITH HIS MIND ALONE.
</ … Read More → "Stephen Hawking joins anti-robot apocalypse group"
via Geekologie
Behind all the dazzling mobile-ready electronics products on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week is a looming problem: how to make the networks that support all these wireless devices function robustly and efficiently.
With less fanfare than you’d see in Vegas, potential solutions are arising in labs in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and New Brunswick, New Jersey. The grand challenge is to overhaul the Internet to better serve an expected flood of 15 billion network-connected devices by 2015—many of them mobile—up from five billion today, according to … Read More → "Your gadgets are breaking the internet"
Home automation is all over CES 2013. Tucked away in a small booth is Ivee, a company known for its voice-controlled alarm clocks. The newest Ivee creation is the Sleek, a voice-controlled home automation gateway.
You can tell Sleek to turn down the temperature, report stock prices, and share the weather. A pleasant woman’s voice communicates with you in turn. This really is like having a HAL for your home, only this … Read More → "Voice-controlled home assistant is like a nicer HAL 9000"
According to photographer Jamey Stillings, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) will be the “world’s largest concentrated solar thermal power plant” when complete at the end of this year. That’s if we want to get all technical.
In plain terms: There’s a huge solar plant under construction in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and Stillings has been documenting the process since the very beginning. … Read More → "Under construction: the world’s largest thermal solar plant"
A parade of fitness gadgets at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas may be just the antidote for the couch-potato behavior induced by all the 3-D televisions, gaming laptops, and other gizmos on display at the show.
Some of these activity-monitoring devices offer new ways to monitor your activity and health, including an iPhone and iPad pulse oximeter that can precisely detect blood oxygen levels, and sensor … Read More → "A glut of gadgets track your body’s vital signs"
