The Air Force and Boeing achieved a directed-energy breakthrough with these tests. MATRIX—Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments—performance is especially noteworthy because it demonstrated unprecedented, ultra-precise and lethal acquisition, pointing and tracking at long ranges using relatively low laser power.

I’m sure that description would get Governor Tarkin wet. Boeing — along with the Air Force and the Army — also tested the Laser Avenger, a kinetic-laser hybrid weapon that fires a high power death ray coupled with a 25mm machine gun.

Obviously, the kids in the funny uniforms are happy with their new toys, but I would like to see if they can do the same with a small thermal exhaust port only two metres wide. [Boeing via PopSci]

Yes, definitely. Bring’em on. [Flickr via Brothers Brick]

We have few details at the moment, but here’s a shot of a WiiZii prototype installed. It can connect an external SATA drive and features a tiny bit on onboard storage so that the chip’s firmware can be updated as needed. With the use of the WiiZii+drive, you can load mass amounts of ISO and homebrew files quickly. In fact, I daresay that with a large enough drive, you could load far more content than is actually worth playing on the Wii. [Maxconsole]

Using paper also allows the Matrix’s models to be fashioned with a blade, rather than a laser, which also keeps costs down. After the models come out, they can be sanded, painted and finished just like they were made of wood.

The Matrix has been in prototype form for a while, but Mcor has recently fought through the vapourware stage that keeps many 3D printer concepts down, claiming availability in Europe, with the rest of the world to follow next year. [Mcor Matrix via Gadget Lab via Hack-a-Day]

The Price: $US80 (after two year contract)

The Verdict: For an $US80 phone, the Pantech Matrix is really good deal. Pantech could have skimped on the build quality and pushed out a cheap, flimsy phone, but instead created a product that feels solid and slides smoothly in any direction. Despite being about an inch thick, the Matrix doesn’t feel oversized—they made it as narrow and short as possible so that it doesn’t feel too cumbersome. As a result, the Matrix sits nicely in the hand, and when the backlit keyboard is exposed, it almost feels sleek. I really like the 0-9 keypad, as its flat design and glowing numbers gives it a clean look. And though buttons aren’t physically separated, each one has a bit of a bubble on it that gives a nice click when you press down.

Call quality is crystal clear and signal strength is never a problem wherever I’m at in San Francisco. The microSD port allows for memory expansion for files like photos or mp3s. The non-smartphone OS is responsive and well organized, suiting a phone like this well.

Some features aren’t as powerful or developed as they could be, but given the price, it’s understandable. It only has a 1.3 MP camera, and doesn’t have much in the way of an internet browser or media player. But that’s not what Pantech is focused on with the Matrix. This is a phone for texters and emailers, and as a result, it has most major IM clients preinstalled, and preconfigured access for Yahoo, AOL and Hotmail (No Gmail?! Hello, 1997!). GPS features are also limited to AT&T’s TeleNav subscription service.

But there are also features which are inexcusably lacking. My biggest complaint lies with the keyboard. It’s not that it’s too small as much as it’s that the buttons are too mushy and flush with the surface. Sometimes you push a button down and there’s no tactile response; and each button seems to feel a little different which doesn’t help the familiarity factor. If buttons were just a tad more distinguishable and clicky, they keyboard would be perfect. The soft keys and call/end buttons feel a little small and understated on the front of the phone, undermined by the (admittedly cool-looking) circular layout.

The bottom line is this: the Pantech Matrix is an inexpensive, multi-functional phone that does more good than bad. If you can work with the flawed keyboard and accept that its not a multimedia powerhouse, you might be impressed with what it does well—call and message.

You adjust the chair using all sorts of fancy motorised hydraulics, with loads of small adjusters that allow you to position it just so. Not that it looks like any position would be all that comfortable.

It’s a one-of-a-kind piece, an original prototype that was never used for a full line. Because of that, and because it’s made out of parts from, you know, a nuclear submarine, it ain’t cheap. We’re talking US$37,000. For a chair. An awesome looking chair, but a chair nonetheless. I’ll stick to my cheap office chair, thanks. [Device Gallery via BornRich]

The Mac in question is a 2.2GHz MBP with an undisclosed amount of RAM installed. The user, Flickr member burnflare92, stated no slowdown was detected at all. I find that a little hard to believe, as mine lags a bit with a mere 20-plus apps running, even if it is a 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM MBP. What do you guys reckon: is zero lag with 150 apps running total BS? [Flickr]