This is Janet’s Whizbang Chicken Plucker, built using the instructions from the hit best-selling book Anyone Can Build a Tub-Style Mechanical Chicken Plucker. It is absolutely f—king horrifying, and I apologise in advance.

[Eat Me Daily via Kottke]

The twin-screen netbook concept splits into a smaller handset when you’re on the move, and it can also act as a computer, GPS and TV-connected media centre. In the video, Nokia also uses it to demonstrate how it sees cloud-based services being used. When you’re in an area with fast wireless broadband, the device could use remote servers to help crunch streaming video and sync data, but it would also be self-sufficient when you’re not.

Cool stuff, but 2015 is just five years away, Nokia. Better get a move on. [SlashGear]

Today’s Google homepage celebrated the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, but, as this video reveals, Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster celebrated Google in song form 27 years ago.

Yes, technically the song is about Cookie Monsters googly eyes, but somehow it could still be a tribute to the search engine giant, even if it was filmed 16 years before the company even existed. [Official Google Blog via Techie]

In honour of Halloween, the Today Show had a Star Wars themed episode. The only trouble is that no one considered that sticking a bunch of drunk midgets into Ewok costume might end with dry humping, fighting, and moon walking.

According to the Warming Glow, there’s confirmation that the people inside Ewok costumes were genuinely drunk, but whether that’s true or not, this is bound to turn into a Halloween classic. [YouTube via Warming Glow]

In the video you can see Prometheus (in the inner side) and Pandora (on the outer side), disturbing and smoothing the rings one after the other, which is why they are called shepherd moons. Things get even more spectacular in the Keeler gap, inside the A ring. There, Daphnis surfs the ring creating beautiful twirls.

These photos are very rare. You can only take them during the equinox, when the sunlight hits its rings at an angle that makes them look their best. That was one of the reasons that made NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory seek more funding to extend the mission. Here’s where Cassini is today.

The Cassini Equinox Mission mission is going to last until September 2010. Hopefully, NASA will be able to secure more funds for the next mission extension, which will take Cassini closer and closer to the rings, crashing against Saturn on 2017. The technical term to describe that mission is: Fraking kick arse.

Head to the Big Picture or NASA to see more stills and videos. [NASA via Big Picture]

That simple. Touch to activate. Touch to deactivate. That. Is. It. Off with handles. Off with indicator. Just capacitive touch built in the whole faucet, so you don’t have to anything with dirty, wet hands. Just with any dry, clean part of your body. Yes, any clean body part. You can even detach the tip.

Geeneeus functionality, and perfect, minimalist design. Jon Ive and Dieter Rams probably have theirs already. As soon as I get $US547 to throw away, I’ll get mine. [Delta Faucet via PopSci]

John Boswell who auto-tuned Carl Segan for us, has come back with another clip featuring our favourite stoner, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye in almost educational, entirely awesome Auto-Tune goodness. [YouTube via Nerdist]

Nilay from Engadget took a little road trip to visit Benjamin Heckendorn, gadget modder extraordinaire, in his natural habitat: Suburban Madison, Wisconsin.

Ben, a graphic designer by training, gives plenty of insight into his design philosophy—he calls the process “whoring it up”—and there’s plenty of oddmod eye candy to longingly gaze at, but let’s cut straight to it: this is kind of disappointing. Why? Because for every interesting new fact we learn about Ben Heck, a myth is shattered. Fantastic myths, these were! For example:

• He doesn’t wear goggle at all time; in fact, I doubt he wears them almost ever
• He—Herr Benjamin Heckendorn—doesn’t have a German accent, at all
• He favours printed tees over stained labcoats.
• His house hasn’t been modded into something unlikely (unless his house was originally much bigger? Obvious question, Nilay!

At any rate, to quote the great [subject of any MTV Cribs episode], this is where the magic happens. [Engadget]