YET ANOTHER PROJECT I WIL NEVER FIND TIME TO DO:
Surveyor SRV-1 bot monitors your home on the cheap
Posted May 26th 2006 6:55AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Robots

If you have one of those floors that need very close monitoring
throughout the day, the Surveyor SRV-1 is the robot for you. The
little unit can crawl around your home at around one foot per second,
and reports back on its surroundings with a miniature VGA camera. A
100 meter range Zigbee 802.15.4 wireless receiver is included to let
the SRV-1 stream its findings to your computer and up onto the web,
and you can control and monitor the bot with any major operating
system or via a web browser. If you don't feel like taking manual
control of SRV-1, he can do fine by himself driving around,
navigating obstacles, and even communicating with others of his kind
via IR. The best news is the price: at $375 for the bot, the charger
and the wireless base station, SRV-1 shouldn't break the bank, and
seems ready to provide some good times for the robot hobbyist within
us all.
http://tinyurl.com/zpb3t
Soldiers bond with bots on battlefield
Posted May 25th 2006 8:35PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Robots

They may not be as cuddly as RI-MAN or as human-like as EveR-1, but
Reuters is reporting that soldiers in Iraq have nonetheless formed
strong bonds with their battlefield bots, giving them names and
grieving when they meet an unfortunate end. When one bomb defusing
PackBot from Roomba-maker iRobot named "Scooby Doo" was blown up
after 35 successful missions, the bot's operator asked of iRobot,
"Please fix Scooby Doo, because he saved my life."Of course, humans
forming meaningful emotional attachments to their robot companions
and servants is by no means unusual; studies have shown robo-pets to
be as therapeutic as the real thing, and bots like Paro the seal have
been helping patients in nursing facilities for years now (and are
even crossing over to starring in movies). Still, if there's one kind
of robot we'd want to stay away from as the robot-revolution looms
near, it's that kind designed for military use. Ruh roh, Raggy.
http://tinyurl.com/pfrd6
ANOTHER SIMULTANEUS MULTI-USER TOUCH PAD VIDEO, WITH COOL MUSIC AND
NEAT FEATURES, WORTH NOTING:
http://tinyurl.com/18r
The world’s fastest catamaran May 25, 2006 At 36.8 metres, Orange
II is a very large catamaran, designed that way so it can track
straight and true at very high speeds. Almost certainly the fastest
boat on the water, in August 2004, Bruno Peyron piloted Orange II in
an attempt on the crewed Transatlantic record, missing the mark by
minutes but setting a new 24-hour distance record by covering 706.2
miles at an average speed of 29.42 knots. In March 2005, Peyron and a
13-man crew completely blew away the around-the-world sailing record
set by adventurer Steve Fossett onboard Cheyenne – Orange II’s new
mark of 50 days, 16 hours and 20 minutes eclipsed Fossett’s record
by seven days. The magnificent maxi-catamaran is now at the Newport
Shipyard in Rhode Island, waiting for the appropriate weather window
to begin another record transatlantic attempt. Interestingly, Fossett
holds the transatlantic record too – set aboard PlayStation, Fossett
raised the outright Atlantic crossing record to a point where it can
in some ways be compared to the 100-metre dash in athletics. In order
to beat the record, Peyron will need to bring all the ingredients
together for a perfect race: smooth straight lines on a direct course
for home, a strong and steady wind from the right direction… and a
level of human endeavour befitting the ocean: a colossal effort! When
he starts his endeavour some time in the next week or two, he will
have four days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and six seconds to sail across
the Atlantic.
http://tinyurl.com/h2o65
VERY COOL TECH (TAKE NOTE):
Water, Water Everywhere By Susan Brown ScienceNOW Daily News 25
May 2006 A desert beetle that wrings water from fog has inspired
scientists to create a nanomaterial that literally plucks moisture
from the air. The invention could boost water supplies in the driest
regions, say experts, and a similar setup could be used to precisely
control the flow of tiny amounts of fluids for sensitive diagnostic
tests. Stenocara beetles live in the Namib Desert, one of the driest
places on Earth. Located on the southwest coast of Africa, the region
has scarce, unpredictable rainfall and no streams. On mornings when
thick fog drifts in from the Atlantic Ocean, the insect climbs to the
top of a dune and does a headstand, tilting its back into the breeze.
Water droplets collect on the tops of smooth bumps until they spill
into waxy, water-repellent grooves studded with smaller bumps that
shunt the water down the insect's shell into its mouth (ScienceNOW, 1
November 2001). To copy the beetle's water-collecting design,
materials scientist Michael Rubner, chemical engineer Robert Cohen,
and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge created a rough coating so water repelling--or hydrophobic--
that water sprayed onto it stood up in nearly spherical droplets.
First, they wrinkled polymer films onto glass to create micrometer-
sized hills and valleys. Then, to prevent droplets from getting
trapped in the valleys, the team decorated the surface with glass
nanoparticles coated with water-repellent Teflon-like molecules.
http://tinyurl.com/gcuuu
Yokel
Really smart yellow pages

Yokel makes finding local "things" less time-consuming and more cost-
efficient (especially with the gas prices these days). Similar to
GoogleMaps and YahooLocal but with more relevant results. And the
Yokel search engine helps comparison shop online for things you want
to buy offline at local stores. All you need to do is type in what
you are looking for and the city or zip code you want to buy it in
and Yokel provides the results. It seemed really helpful for items
you wouldn't want to ship or more abstract items like a motorcycle
trailer.
-- Kate
Yokel
http://tinyurl.com/huww7
The Keep It Simple Solar Tile - KISSTile
Roof mounted solar panels are nothing new, but an Australian designer
has added a second feature that he hopes will spur adoption.
Sebastian Braat has prototyped a roofing system of solar panels that
are contain a grid of plastic tubing. Water runs through the tubing,
absorbs heat from the sun, and is piped to the living areas for
household needs. The system provides an energy savings on two levels
and, depending on the size of the dwelling, can easily supply enough
hot water for a family. From Sebastian's Australian Design Award
Announcement: The KISSPower project aims to provide Australian
households with a solar power solution more suited to the domestic
environment than the currently available options. Encouraging
Australian homeowners to embrace solar power is no small task;
although a world leader in solar technology and the third largest
producer of photovoltaic (PV) panels, Australia’s focus seems to
have been restricted to remote and industrial applications. Bringing
this established expertise into the urban environment requires a
fresh view on the industry and a new consideration of PV use. The
secret to this system is the inefficiency of the current crop of
solar panels. Solar panels are only able to harness a small
percentage of the energy available, and this overflow is what gives
the KISSTile system a leg up over traditional solar installations.
Found on Gadgetizer
http://tinyurl.com/j8p9p
JUST DON'T WEAR IT TO A BAR, THIS WILL NOT IMPRESS THE LADIES:
Beer Holster
GEAR | OUTDOOR | 
You might not be an outlaw from Deadwood, but you can still do a
quick draw from the hip with this leather beer holster ($30). It
slides onto any standard belt and holds a 12 oz. can or bottle. The
holster isn't just for laughs either — it'd be super handy for
grilling and other outdoor activities. See you at high noon.
http://tinyurl.com/k8jhm
REDNECK HOT-TUB DONE EUROPEAN STYLE:

Dutchtub
GEAR | OUTDOOR | 
What's the biggest problem with hot tubs? They pretty much have to
stay in one place. The Dutchtub ($5625) is a portable hot tub that
warms its water by way of connected outer pipes that coil around a
fire basket, letting a natural fire do the work of warming the water
all the way up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit. It also features a wine
bottle holder with space for ice to keep your white/bubbly cool while
you stay warm in the water. With available BBQ, chimney, and trailer
accessories, we can't wait to get our hands on one and take it to the
closest beach we can find — which unfortunately for us is hours and
hours away. [Thanks, Luigi]
http://tinyurl.com/fxbee
A Dirty Job
ENTERTAINMENT | BOOKS | 
A Dirty Job ($16), the latest work of phenom Christopher Moore, is a
curiously creative novel that peers into the underworld, but with
just enough humor to make the demons seem like a punch line. Charlie
Asher accidently becomes Death and gets taken on a six year long wild
ride as one of a dozen or so grim reapers in San Francisco. They used
to have coffee together, but then voices started coming out of the
storm drains and they decided it was best for the balance of the
universe to not communicate. Add in a small army of 14" tall squirrel
people made up of different animal parts and human souls (based off
of this artist) and you've got yourself a book worth reading.
http://tinyurl.com/hlt2h
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