Archive for the ‘real life news’ Category

Weapons-Grade Lasers

Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time — paving the way for energy weapons to go to war.

In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser — past the "100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for ‘weapons grade’ power levels for high-energy lasers," Northrop’s vice president of directed energy systems, Dan Wildt, said in a statement.

That much power won’t get you a Star Wars-style blaster. But it should be more than enough to zap the mortars and rockets that insurgents have used to pound American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

.: real-life ray guns -> via WIRED

Apple Finally Fixes iPhone OS

It doesn’t sound perfect - but little things like cut/copy/paste and landscape typing in email are a HUGE deal for us iPhone users, and are much appreciated. It’s nice to have all the feature a normal phone has, finally. Here are some of the new features that will appear in the iPhone 3.0 OS, expected sometime this summer:

Cut/Copy and Paste: The system will work by double-tapping or dragging across text, selecting cut, copy or paste in the bubble above it, and then using a similar routine to paste it into another place, or across applications.

Landscape typing in Apple Apps: Now you can turn your iPhone on its side and type with a larger touchscreen keyboards, a feature that was available in some situations but not in email. Finally.

MMS: the widely adopted Multimedia Messaging System will now work on the iPhone, letting you attach photos or audio clips to text messages for instant, you-are-there fun. You can also forward and delete messages.

Search: Last year Apple added search for contacts, and now there will be the ability to search your email, calendars, iTunes, and notes. Also added will be Spotlight, letting you search across the iPhone for a keyword.

Push Notification: While Apple promised one-way background functionality ("push notification") last year but never delivered, Apple’s SVP of iPhone software Scott Forstall says he means it this time.

Modified Google Maps application: now lets developers use Google Maps in their apps. But the big news is this will allow "turn-by-turn" applications, bringing GPS navigation to the iPhone. However, because of licensing issues, developers will be required to provide the maps.

Modified Google Maps application: now lets developers use Google Maps in their apps. But the big news is this will allow "turn-by-turn" applications, bringing GPS navigation to the iPhone. However, because of licensing issues, developers will be required to provide the maps.

Stereo Bluetooth: Inexplicably missing on the iPhone, now you’ll be able to listen to stereo music over Bluetooth. Still missing: wireless synching via Bluetooth. The bad news? This stereo Bluetooth goodness and MMS won’t work on iPhone 1.0.

More at DVICE [link below]

.:Apple previews iPhone OS 3.0, featuring cut, copy and paste -> via DVICE

Senator to AIG Execs : Think Suicide

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley has suggested that AIG executives should do the only honorable thing - commit ritual suicide, samurai-style.

"I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed," Grassley said. "But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.

"And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology."

My ninjas, PLEASE. That’s just too too serious…

.:full story - > via AP news

The Man with the Bionic Eye

EYEBORG- The Two Week Trial from eyeborg on Vimeo.

Take a one eyed film maker, an unemployed engineer, and a vision for something that’s never been done before and you have yourself the EyeBorg Project. Rob Spence, Kosta Grammatis and a team of others are trying to make history by embedding a video camera and a transmitter in a prosthetic eye. That eye is going in Robs eye socket, and will record the world from a perspective that’s never been seen before.

.:The Eyeborg Project->

Pope: Condoms don’t prevent AIDS?

The Pope courted further controversy on his first trip to Africa today by declaring that condoms were not a solution to the Aids epidemic a€" but were instead part of the problem.

In his first public comments on condom use, the pontiff told reporters en route to Cameroon that Aids "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".

Pope Benedict has previously stressed that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against Aids. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

I think that all of us with some com-sense can agree that this is irresponsible. I mean, have NO stance on condoms, and simply condemn sex / preach abstinence. Then when some NGO is handing out Trojans, people won’t think "wait, the Pope / my local priest said these things don’t even work", and toss them aside. Seems simple enough.

[note: yes, St Patty’s Day is the perfect time to call out the Pope, as he understands that all of my people are smash-faced]

.:Condoms don’t help against AIDS -> Times Online

Stewart V Cramer: Hilariousness

We’ve managed to not mention anything about this strange John Stewart vs Jim Cramer and all of the NBC family ridiculousness - but when I saw this video, I thought it summed everything up quite nicely / hilariously.

You’ve got to love how NBC AND CNBC are trying to make Stewart out to be some kind of clown who doesn’t know what he;s talking about - with CNBC suggesting that he [Stewart] should try his hand at predicting the market. Well, CNBC - that’s not his job, it’s yours. His job is to clown you for being inept, and probably contributing to the bubble in the first place. I especially like how Dora the Explorer explains things so concisely at the end of the video…and teaches all the youngens some Spanish!

Now you can tune in to the Daily Show tonight, when Cramer appears as the guest - should make for great television [or you can skip it - I’m sure I’ll be posting a clip of it tomorrow].

Parrots teach man to speak again | My Ninja Please!!! 3.5.09

Brian Wilson, from Damascus, Maryland, suffered life-threatening injuries in an accident 14 years ago. He also lost his ability to speak.

Assault with ‘ninja-type’ weapons

Police allege a 26-year-old man got out of his Jeep Liberty in Centre Square on Saturday night and charged at an officer while holding a sai, a short metal sword.

Steven Michael Henrick, of the 1200 block of Second Street in Catasauqua, allegedly ignored several orders from officer Joseph Arrendondo to drop the sai until Arrendondo drew his gun and pointed it at Henrick, according to court papers.

Henrick dropped the 15-inch sai, but while he was being cuffed he struggled and wrestled Arrendondo to the ground. Another officer deployed a taser, but the shock was ineffective, police said. Henrick was eventually subdued by several officers.

Police allege a second sai, a set of nunchucks and a stolen purse were found in Henrick’s Jeep.

He was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, public drunkenness, resisting arrest and other offenses. He was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail.

.::lehighvalleylive ->

Ninjas Don’t Use Doors

Rinspeed is rolling out the diminutive iChange in time for the Geneva Motor Show, which the company bills as "the world’s first car whose body adapts to the number of passengers on board," and everything from the shape-shifting seats to the ignition is controllable with an iPhone.

You’ve go to love the absurdity that gets designed now, all thanks to Apple and the iPhone’s influence on design and pop culture.

From Rinspeed:

An initial walk-around reveals that the concept car has no doors. The entire electrically powered roof sectiona€¦ tilts forward to allow passengers to board. Also gone are such mundane things as a key. Its role is filled by an Apple iPhone, which also controls the most important vehicle functionsa€¦ The energy for the electric motor comes from lithium-ion batteries that are available in two different stack configurations for short- and long-distance driving.

.:iChange -> via DVICE