Trying to lean beyond one’s centre of gravity normally leads to a giant, awkward step forward to retain balance, so to achieve the 45-degree angle he wanted, Michael and his dancers used special shoes as well as a trick in the stage floor. When the time came for the move, a peg-like aperture would protrude from the dance floor. The heel of the dancers’ shoes featured a triangular cut out that could be hitched onto the peg, anchoring the dancers to lean much farther forward, and thus blowing the world’s collective mind. [Boing Boing Gadgets]

They were basically obsolete from the beginning: Massive plastic coffins that beamed media from your PC to your TV. That’s it. For $US400. And now they’re returning to the abyss, where they belong.

And even if the loan keeps going it still not “may not have sufficient liquidity to finance the ongoing obligations of our business, which raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”

So, uh, who didn’t see this coming? Unlike Circuit City though, this doesn’t exactly make me sad. [MSNBC via Technologizer, Image CipherSwarm/Flickr]

Yes, please join with me in admitting that you spent a fair share of time reading the Human Reproduction article on your beige IBM Aptiva back in the day. Or produced/plagiarised many a fine middle school research papers, culling facts from its bounty. Encarta, you will be missed.

If anyone hasn’t figured it out already, paid encyclopedias have been straight murdered by something called Wikipedia. In fact, I went to the Wikipedia page for Encarta to research this post. Oh, the irony; sorry to rub in the pain in your final hour, Encarta. The plug will be officially pulled in October of this year. [Reuters]

You have heard her voice many times: She was the voice of the Enterprise’s computer. She died yesterday age 76.

The First Lady of Star Trek, as she was known, married Roddenberry in Japan in August 1969, after the end of the original Star Trek TV series. She also worked in other TV shows, like Bonanza, The Untouchables, and The Lucy Show, with Lucille Ball. She also was the voice of the USS Enterprise in every single movie and TV episode of Star Trek.

She then returned in The Next Generation, trying to take the underpants off Jean Luc Picard as Ambassador Lwaxana Troi, and returned to the screen in Deep Space Nine, where she was actually able to take off the underpants of Constable Odo.

Her last work in the Star Trek universe was two weeks ago, reprising her role as the voice of the mighty Federation ship for the new Star Trek movie by J.J. Abrams. [Mercury News and Wikipedia via Boing Boing Gadgets]

His body was found yesterday by the Anna Gabriela, a tug working for Brazilian oil company Petrobras, 1,100 kilometres from Father De Carli’s starting point. His trip started on April 20 after a mass, and his last contact was a desperate attempt to learn how to use his GPS and communicate his position as the wind took him deep into the Atlantic Ocean.

I need to contact someone who can teach me how to operate this GPS, so I can give the latitude and longitude coordinates, which is the only way that people on the ground can know where I am.

An Petrobras official spokesman said that “his clothes and shoes indicate that it’s him.” And now I don’t know if I should say “Godspeed, Padre” or “this is another candidate for the Darwin Awards.”

[Editor's Note: I commend you for finding your way out of this world while trying to do some good for the rest of it. Rest in Peace, De Carli. -B.L.] [Bloomberg]

Like any proud inventor, Baur requested that his ashes be buried with his 38-year-old creation when he died. Correction: He requested they be placed inside the invention. When Baur passed on May 4, his family obliged, putting some of the ashes in a Pringles can, and the rest in a traditional urn.

Looking back on the history of gadgetry, this is a sad passing for snack lovers and DIY geeks alike. From homemade cameras to custom antennas, the timless Pringles can did much more than satisfy cravings and expand waistlines, it gave us a signal—and hope—when a Cincinnati.com]

That behemoth is none other than Roxio, hardened veteran of the utility software realm. Its latest offering is Roxio Crunch, a simple-to-use conversion program with output settings for Apple TV, iPod and iPhone. A few clicks will handle all the grunt work here, too, and the added functionality of batch conversion and automatic iTunes integration puts it a step above the competition.

Can David conquer Goliath? Not this time. If you’re dying for a cheap(er) solution to your video problem, check out DVD to iPhone’s free trial, or shell out the $30 if you’re on a small business kick. Mac users be warned: DVD to iPhone is, ironically, PC only. If you’re on a Mac or just want something that looks, feels and acts like a more polished product, you’ll need to drop $40 for Roxio’s Crunch. [DVD to iPhone Product Page] [Roxio Crunch Product Page]

They claim a feature-length film takes 45 minute to convert, but see for yourself with the free trial. If you like it, the full version is a $30 download. Unfortunately for Apple users, it won’t run on Mac OS X?

Product Page [DVDtoiPhone via Popgadget]