Supposedly, the radar will be able to see through fog and dust — even walls. It’s also compact enough to be practical — no more than 1kg with less than 0.5kg of hardware actually mounted to the helmet. Sounds like an awesome tool to keep our soldiers safe, but there are a few problems that would need to be addressed. Outside of possible health issues, the radar helmet would need to be able to distinguish enemies from friends and woodland creatures. Plus, the power supply feeding the device would need to be compact and powerful. That’s easier said than done of course, so I wouldn’t expect this technology to see action anytime soon. [Danger Room Image via Flickr]

The HUD replaces technical manuals on a bulky laptop with floating instructions, labels and oh yes, 3D models of tools right in front of the mechanic. The wrist-mounted interface is run off an Android-powered G1 (which looks much cooler as gauntlet). Apparently Android’s seeing a lot of use as a tool of war. You can check out a video of it here. [Technology Review via PopSci]

Oh ED, you’re a lifesaver! A general who lead an infantry division in Iraq recently said that of the 155 men killed in combat, 122 could have lived if autonomous robots were doing the shooting instead. (Strangely, the other 33 would have died whether robots were around or not.) Replacing infantrymen with robots is a no brainer if you want to save your own boys, but Smokey from The Big Lebowski would probably say if nothing did the killing, even more lives would be spared. [Wired]

Am I reading this right? Slashdot says the entire domain .se—a million souls, I mean sites—up and vanished from the internet. Some didn’t deliver successful replies for more than a day. Maybe I need to call Tim Berners-Lee for interpretation, but I don’t get why more people aren’t freaked out that an entire country up and disappeared, even if it was just for a moment. [Slashdot]

Someone did a comprehensive study of 836 people to see how people managed to keep username/password logins straight in their head. The test noted that only 4.4% of people showed no “deviations” from the ideal password rules, deviations including jotting down the password, reusing it time and again, using a deliberately short password or—and here’s probably where most people failed-having no mix of characters and symbols. Having “best practices” that insanely rigid probably upped the failure rate substantially, but I think the important thing here—as Ars points out—is that the username/password system is a joke to begin with. [Ars Technica]

The 23-year-old guy who founded the International Church of Jediism obviously needs to watch Star Wars a few more times. The other day, he wore his hood into a supermarket and got yelled at something fierce. His very Jedi response? To run to the press and cry like a little bitch:

They said: ‘Take it off’, and I said: ‘No, its part of my religion. It’s part of my religious right.’ I gave them a Jedi church business card.

No lightsabers, no waving of the hand in the air, not even “Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!” Just a business card? He continues:

They weren’t listening to me and were rude. They had three people around me. It was intimidating.

“Inimidating”? For a Jedi? Just remember, intimidation leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Don’t look now, but I think someone’s headed for the Dark Side. [Guardian UK]

This direct mail campaign is incredibly effective in how it brings forth childhood memories for many while emphasising the reality of those who may never have one: Child soldiers in countries such as Africa. The campaign may be aiming to find corporate sponsorships, but they’ve earned a cheque from me, too. [Direct Daily]

Howie Choset, an associate professor at CMU, engineered the robotic arm with various sensors so it can monitor and assess a soldier’s condition. The are detectors on it can determine if a person is breathing. Eventually Choset hopes to attach an ultrasound that would allow the arm to detect internal bleeding. An oxygen mask can also be attached the robotic arm. Controlled wirelessly though a joystick, the arm has multiple joints allowing it to flex, retract and twist, allowing it the flexibility to do different tasks.

The team is collaborating with the U.S. Army’s Life Support for Trauma and Transport system (LSTAT), a stretcher that is a basically a portable intensive-care unit that is being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem with the LSTAT is that it’s sensors need to be moved by hand and assisting medics on the battlefield would be easy targets, something that the snake bot could help solve. Still the uses of the snake bot aren’t limited to just biotechnology: Choset hopes to apply it to search and rescues, surgical procedures, bridge inspections, bomb disarming and more. [CMU via Technology Review]

Specifically, the Pentagon is soliciting proposals to “develop a highly interactive PC or Web-based application to allow family members to verbally interact with ‘virtual’ renditions of deployed Service Members.”

Parameters include:

“The child should be able to have a simulated conversation with a parent about generic, everyday topics,” the solicitation says. “For instance, a child may get a response from saying, ‘I love you,’ or ‘I miss you,’ or ‘Good night mommy/daddy.’ This is a technologically challenging application because it relies on the ability to have convincing voice-recognition, artificial intelligence, and the ability to easily and inexpensively develop a customised application tailored to a specific parent.”

Like other DARPA-esque endeavours, this task is much easier said than done. And, to be honest, I don’t know what to make of it. I understand that deployed parents might not have internet access at all times, but this solution seems preposterous and costly when compared to, say Skype. On the other hand, its kind of touching—like the military’s awkward cloak-wearing, bony-fingered way of expressing compassion. [Information Week via Medgadget]

The demo iPod looks to have the stock Apple OS, running a custom translation application. It allows the user to select a language, then a situation, and finally a command or question, like “Get down!” in Arabic, which I’m sure comes in handy. The app will also show a video of a CGI soldier saying the selection, in case your platoon is made up of visual learners. It’s a pretty cool little program, but I hope the soldiers actually use it instead of playing Tap Tap Revenge like I’m sure they want to. [The Pentagon Channel, thanks Paul!]

Part of me is happy for the Army and Air Force troops at the Yokota Air Base in Japan. I am all for taxpayer dollars going to improve our overseas troops’ American TV watching experience (even if Heroes has crashed and burned, at least Fringe is there to take its place). But this seems like a form of suppression: The channels playback in realtime, 9 hours later. As far as I can tell, you can’t even fast-forward through commercials, let alone the hours of crap TV in between the good bits.

Each of the 33 channels gets its own dedicated server, so why can’t each channel timeshift at the whim of whoever’s watching that particular channel? Give our boys (and girls) in uniform a damned remote, Uncle Sam! I’m pretty sure they’ve earned it.

If this was a true rant, I’d get more into this “9 hours ahead” business. Sure, it’s showing American TV at the Japanese prime time, but if my calculations are correct, it’s a day off. Which means they get Thursday’s Must See TV on Friday night? I’ll take Liz Lemon any day of the week, but making people wait till Monday to see Amazing Race, that’s just cruel and unusual. That said, at least sports and news will be broadcast in realtime. [Stars and Stripes via CNet]

The images above illustrate two design concepts: the first is focused on amplifying a swimmer’s lower body movements in the water—like a motorised version of swim fins. The second concept goes a little further by attempting to mimic how a penguin uses its upper body to swim. Apparently the project is still in development, and since the image illustrates that the motorised lower body fin has actually been tested, I am going to assume that is the direction they have decided to pursue. That’s probably for the best. [IHMC via Wired]

The MIT engineers used nanotech to measure the thickness of a single scale (about 500 millionths of a meter thick), and decipher the makeup of its four different layer materials. They discovered that the materials, in tandem with the geometry and thickness of each layer, all contributed to a pretty amazing suit of armour.

They even tested the armour plating by “biting” scales that had been surgically removed from a living fish. What they discovered then was that P. senegalus armour will probably replace the bulky ceramic plates that adorn our fighting men and women in warzones today.

The P. senegalus armour kept the crack localised by forcing it to run in a circle around the penetration site, rather than spreading through the entire scale and leading to catastrophic failure, like many ceramic materials.

Lighter, thinner, and better? I think with those kinds of results soldiers and law enforcement officials alike could probably turn a blind eye to the fishy smell. Either that, or baking soda just became the next indispensable item in their arsenal next to bulletproof vests. [MIT]