A new website dubbed the Internet Observatory from German traffic management company Ipoque, offers real-time insights into what Internet users are doing online at any given time. via GigaOM

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Boston Dynamics’ BullDog The LS3 can haul up to 400 pounds for 20 hours straight. Boston Dynamics

That fun video of the BigDog robot we shared last week may have been impressive, but apparently the robot is about to be eclipsed by another member of its own family.

Boston Dynamics is building a bigger, sturdier version of … Read More → "Boston Dynamics’ BigDog has a big brother: BullDog"

The winners of this competition announced here: http://oregonmanifest.com/2011/09/26/the-constructors-design-challenge-winners/
Also, the winning bikes will be on display in Portland at the Museum of Contemporary Craft through October 29th: http://www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/

Iceland’s ailing economy isn’t going to keep it from making environmental strides – the city of Keflavik will soon be receiving 37 prefabricated components in order to complete the world’s first zero-carbon data center. The project, commissioned by UK start-up Verne Global (a data hosting company), will comprise 5,400 sq ft and will be powered completely by geothermal and hydroelectric power. via Read More → "Iceland to build world’s first zero-carbon data center"

Simon Singh demonstrates the German enigma machine from the Second World War. 

As technology increases, so do the methods of encryption and decryption we have at our disposal. World War II saw wide use of various codes from substitution ciphers to employing Navajo code talkers in the Pacific theater. Here, science journalist and author Simon Singh demonstrates the German enigma machine, a typewriter-like device used to encrypt communications. He demonstrates not only its operation, but both the strength and fatal flaws in its method. via Read More → "The enigma machine, explained"

A bio-fuel powered patrol craft.

The Clinton Global Initiative is all about forging partnerships between industry and non-governmental organizations, focused on sustainable economic development. It is not the sort of place you’d expect to find a discussion of the challenges of military deployments. Yet this year’s CGI meeting featured a talk by someone who spends his days at the Pentagon, as the US Navy’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Thomas Hicks … Read More → "The US Navy goes green with solar and biodiesel"

One of the things that sets our species apart from others is our ability to imagine the future in remarkable detail. We do this every day on a personal level and have been doing it since time immemorial on a cultural level, and do it across the entire spectrum of ludicrous misguidedness and uncanny accuracy. Revisiting these predictions in retrospect can be a source of both fascination and humor. After last week’s vintage versions of modern social media, today we revisit five such predictions for the future of technology, envisioning — with varying degrees … Read More → "5 vintage visions for the future of technology"

Heart of Gold A scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of nanowire-alginate composite scaffolds shows star-shaped clusters of nanowires. Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard University

Giving cardiac patients a heart of gold nanowires could ensure engineered tissue works like it should, pulsing in unison to make the heart beat. First growing nanowires and then growing heart cells, engineers … Read More → "Heart patch made of gold helps cardiac tissue rebuild itself"

In June of last year we reported on the success by researchers at Duke University in developing a technique capable of producing copper nanowires at a scale that could make them a potential replacement for rare and expensive indium tin oxide (ITO) in touch screens and solar panels. However, the water-based production process resulted in the copper nanowires clumping, which reduced their transparency and prevented the copper from oxidizing, thereby decreasing their conductivity. The researchers have now solved the clumping problem and say that copper nanowires could be appearing in cheaper touch screens, solar cells and … Read More → "Copper nanowires could mean cheaper touch screens, solar cells and foldable electronics"

Art Lebedev Studio’s Space Invaders cards use different arcade game sprites to denote the suits, and have a great, heavily aliased 8-bit design for the card-backs. via Boing Boing

Made in Russia at the Art Lebedev Studio. Get yours here for about $12 US.