University Researchers Use Xbox Kinect To Control Lasers
Researchers at the University of Dundee have used the Xbox 360 Kinect sensor to control optical tweezers, a set of laser beams used to manipulate particles.
Physicists control the particles through their body movements, which are read by a Kinect-based interface called "HoloHands." While not completely perfect yet, with a latency issue and the occasional misinterpration of the user's movements, the interface has been quite successfully tested moving silica particles.
US Navy SEALs Punished Over Involvement With Medal Of Honor
In an attempt to make its latest Medal of Honor unrivalled in realism in the first-person shooter stakes, EA Games has purportedly landed seven US Navy SEALs who consulted on the game in hot water. The U.S. Navy’s principal spec-ops forces, the SEALs have most recently been famed for the finding and killing of Osama Bin Laden.
'Pixels For Pistols.' Guns Traded For Cameras In Canadian Anti-Violence Program
Canadian Police have introduced a rather create anti-violence program by the name of 'Pixels for Pistols,' urging the public to trade in firearms for a camera.
Rather akin to the weapon amnesties UK police hold; but with the added bonus of teaching them to shoot perfectly composed images instead of people. A simple yet, so far, effective concept where the public have been asked to trade in their unused firearms, safely and without being charged, for a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH8 and a lesson on how to use it.
New Rising Media Will Be At Gadget Show Live @ Christmas
Just seven months ago in our vast age of infancy, we were given a fantastic opportunity to attend and cover Gadget Show Live. I am now pleased to announce that we will be popping along to London's own ExCel, entering the cornucopia of nerd behaviour, and covering Gadget Show Live @ Christmas.
UK To Invest £60m More In Space Program
Britain intends to spend an extra £60 million per year on space technology, by increasing it's investment into the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Chancellor George Osborne, in a speech to the Royal Society, announced that the UK is willing to commit an average of £240m a year, over the next five years to the ESA, increased from the usual investment of £170m. This has been done in the hope of encouraging domestic job growth via attracting lucrative contracts.
Four Teenagers Create Urine-Powered Generator
Four Teenagers have built a urine-powered generator at the fourth annual Maker Faire Africa in Lagos, Nigeria. This is one of the more unexpected products to see at the Faire, and holds the potential to provide otherwise unattainable energy to The Third World.
Habitable Super-Earth Found In A Solar System 44 Light-Years Away
Astronomers have discovered a new Super-Earth, which could have the same climate as our planet and have the ability to support life.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Locates Superman's Home Planet
Famed American astrophysicist and much-idolised geek hero Neil deGrasse Tyson has pinpointed a very real location in our own universe for Superman's home planet. No, really.
Three Playable Characters Confirmed For GTA V, Plus More Details
GTA V might just be the most anticipated videogame ever, and that's quite a feat. But while news on Rockstar's latest has been drip-fed up to this point, tiding us over before another snippet of information becomes available, Game Informer has today answered some of the more pressing questions surrounding the game.
Apple Awarded Design Patent On A Rectangle With Rounded Corners
The US Patent and Trademark Office issued Apple a design patent on rectangular devices with rounded corners.
Patent no. D670,286 pertains to the "ornamental" design of the iPad, and essentially covers a "Portable display device" that's a rounded rectangle. While it will cover Apple's claims to innovating such a design, the usefulness of such a vastly broad patent is questionable.
Microsoft Planning 7-Inch Surface Tablet For Xbox 720?
Microsoft seemingly isn’t keen on resting on its laurels any time soon. Despite just launching the Surface with Windows RT tablet to consumers across the globe, and with the Surface with Windows 8 just around the corner, the company has plans to build a 7-inch Surface gaming tablet that may well be used in conjunction with the next-generation Xbox, a la Wii U.
'A Slower Speed Of Light.' MIT Explores Relativity In New Game
Be prepared to bend time and space, as MIT Game Lab has created 'A Slower Speed of Light', which explores Einstein's theory of special relativity by allowing the player to travel at the speed of light in a game world based on real physics.
The 'Terminator Arm' Is The Most Advanced Robotic Prosthetic Ever
“I feel like the Terminator” is the statement coming from the once-limbless Nigel Ackland, 53, who lost his arm in an industrial accident some six years ago. He's one of just seven people in the world taking part in a four-month trial of a new hi-tech bionic arm that is being described as the most human-like limb ever. Seeing it in action, we're unwilling to disagree, it's something really quite special.
'Bounce Imaging' Ball-Shaped Camera To Help Emergency Services
As first responders face the common risk of entering areas without knowledge of the hazards they could be facing inside, US start-up Bounce Imaging have created something rather innovative to help with this situation: a ball with six cameras placed inside, instantly sending a 360-degree picture to a smartphone.
Text-Based Multiplayer Shooter Offers A Deathmatch Of Words
Developer Eigen Lenk has created a browser-based game titled Text-based Multiplayer Shooter, a retro demake of the standard online deathmatch.
Radioactive Orchestra. Nuclear Musicians Turn Gamma Radiation Into Song
Sweden's Kollektivet Livet began working on Radioactive Orchestra last year, turning isotopes into beats and beeps for all of us to hear in recordings. However, version 2.0 of the project is taking the show on the road, making sweet photonic melodies through a live instrument prototype.
HTC Droid DNA Leaked, Boasts 5-Inch 1080p Display
Picture a display with the very same resolution as a 1080p big-screen TV, shrunk down to the size of your average phone-meets-tablet smartphone at 5-inches. That’s what HTC is cooking up with its latest DROID, if a new leak as reported by SlashGear is to be believed.
Humans And Rats Interact Via Virtual Reality 'Beaming' Experiment
Researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Barcelona have built a virtual reality system that allows for humans and rats to interact. These cross-species meetings have tested a process known as 'beaming' in which people take control of digital representations of themselves to carry out virtual interactions. Think Avatar; but with rats.
Apple Posts Apology To Samsung In UK Newspapers
Apple has published apology ads to Samsung in several UK newspapers, acknowledging that the iPad does not infringe upon the range of Galaxy Tab devices. This follows the recently failed appeal in the courts, and the "incorrect" statement that was posted online.
Mechanical Ceiling Recreates The Feeling Of Being Underwater
The natural subtleties of water's surface is one that many would not assume as up for technological interpretation. That was until artist David Bowen unveiled his installation Underwater: real-time wave patterns captured by a Kinect, and mapped to a mechanical ceiling for recreation.