Saturday, September 13, 2008
Gadgets
Tech-laden Storm Chasers Fly Headlong Into Hurricane Ike with a Smurf on Their Wing
11:10PM Jack Loftus | First off, I hope everyone who stayed behind in the path of Hurricane Ike is OK this morning. Second, we know what we knew about Ike due in part to the guys, gals and tech shown in these storm chaser photographs. The photo above shows a “Smurf,” or the Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer, which has adorned the wings of hurricane hunting WC-130J aircraft since 2007. The device, and the 24/7 missions run by the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, have helped increase the National Hurricane Center’s accuracy rate by 30%. More »
Gadgets
Modified New Zealand Wool Resists Blowtorches, Dog Bites, Sharp Knives
11:15AM Wilson Rothman | Call it cliche (or just inevitable), but those sheep-herders down not-quite under have created the ultimate fabric by weaving a synthetic textile fibre called Vectran with ordinary sheep’s wool. It’s so amazing, its said to withstand blowtorches, dog bites and even knife attacks. More »
Cameras
Camera Nerd Puzzle: WTF Is the Nikon D60 ‘Black Gold’ Edition?
10:30AM Wilson Rothman | The folks at Nikon Rumours are puzzling over a new product SKU appearing on inventory lists, a Nikon D60 body only that lists for US$649.99, US$50 more than the standard D60. As you can see in the listings, it’s named “Black Gold,” utilising all two of Nikon’s favourite colours. We don’t know what it is, but maybe you do. Frankly, we’re kinda just relieved it’s not White Gold. [Nikon Rumors] More »
Online
Hackers Hit LHC, Sorta Maybe Came Close To Actual Damage
10:00AM Wilson Rothman | Bad news today at the Large Hadron Collider, that big-bang tester everyone’s been nervously joking about all week: Some badasses who call themselves the Greek Security Team hacked computers at the facility. In fact, they got in so deep, say reports, that they were “one step away” from cracking into the computer control system of one of the LHC’s “detectors.” Sounds scary, but it seems that, for scientists, it was more irksome than apocalyptic. More »
Software
App Store Blacklist: Podcaster Too iTunesy
9:30AM Wilson Rothman | The latest casualty in Apple’s App Store blacklisting is Podcaster. A native app built according to exact SDK specifications, it goes beyond its creator’s web-bound streaming-only Podcaster.fm by letting you download and manage podcasts in a nice straightforward interface. Insidious, right? Apple thought so. More »
Games
Novint Falcon Controller with Gun Attachment Reviewed (Verdict: Awesome)
9:00AM Sean Fallon | It has been almost a year since we first heard that Novint would add a pistol grip accessory to their 3D Haptic Joystick—but the update has yet to hit the market. Nonetheless, Wired got a chance to play a few FPS games with the add-on and were blown away by the level of feedback and control, saying that it completely changes the experience. Targeting was precise, and each gun used in the game takes on a different recoil intensity—which can sometimes be violent when dealing with high calibre weapons. There is also a steep learning curve with the haptic controls. More »
Gadgets
Amish Farmers Fight Government to Battle Bovine Mark of the Beast
8:40AM Matt Buchanan | Generally, the government doesn’t meddle too much in Amish affairs—it doesn’t make them educate children after the eighth grade, for instance, ’cause of the First Amendment and all that. So it’s kind of surprising to see many Amish threaten to quit farming in a battle with the government over lojacking their livestock with the Mark of the Beast. More »
Gadgets
Marilyn Monroe’s Typewriter: Used By One of the Great Minds of the 20th Century
8:20AM Sean Fallon | Yesterday we feasted our eyes on the wristwatch of the great Albert Einstein, today we get a look a personal effect from a celebrity of a very different sort. Behold…Marylin Monroe’s typewriter. One has to wonder whether the essence of these icons lives on in these artifacts, and whether or not using them would somehow magically fuse your life with theirs. If I wore Albert Einstein’s watch, would I come to a more profound understanding about the universe? If I used Marylin’ Monroe’s typewriter, would I get the urge to send tear-stained, hysterical love letters to a dead president? Who knows? [Vanity Fair via Geeksugar via Boing Boing Gadgets] More »
Gadgets
Paralympics: The Games Where Bionic Athletes Reign
8:00AM John Mahoney | Tech and the Olympics are a recipe for controversy. Before double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius (right) was finally approved to compete in the Olympics (he failed to qualify, barely), naysayers claimed his carbon-fibre Cheetah blade prostheses gave him an advantage over non-cyborg competitors. And Speedo’s LZR suit has been decried for rendering meaningless any world records that came before. But that debate is dropped entirely for the Paralympic Games, which are currently going on in Beijing and as we see in today’s Big Picture, is where the sports tech comes out in force. More »
Gadgets
