Technology

NASA's next robot rover squishes like a child's toy

In order to land on the Martian surface, NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity went through seven minutes of terror: it plummeted from the sky at 13,000 miles per hour, with only a supersonic parachute and a set of rocket motors to keep it from becoming a crater. However, a team at NASA has a nifty trick up its sleeves for the next time around: a rover made of hollow rods and elastic cable that can squish and bounce. Just like the Skwish, a popular child's toy developed in the early '80s, NASA's Super Ball Bot uses the principles of tensegrity to do its job. The contraption can absorb the impact of a hard landing, pop right back up, then roll across a surface end over end like an extremely awkward ball.

While NASA scientists are still proving...

via The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/27/5246498/nasas-next-robot-rover-squishes-like-a-childs-toy

Wisconsin fights frozen streets with leftover cheese brine

Salt for deicing roads is expensive, so the state of Wisconsin is employing a new trick to fight slicks. This month the state began a new test program that uses brine from cheesemaking, an industry it topped in the US last year. The process of manufacturing cheese results in lots of leftover saltwater, which under the program is now being mixed into a spray that thaws out winter roads and keeps cars moving, reports The New York Times .

via The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/27/5246688/wisconsin-fights-frozen-streets-with-leftover-cheese-brine

LOST AT SEA

The Milwaukee Admirals put a damper on the Grand Rapids Griffins’ holiday spirit when they defeated the Griffins, 4-1, on Thursday at BMO Harris Bradley Center.

via griffinshockey.com - News Releases http://www.griffinshockey.com/news/releases/?article_id=2682

Crazy race tests whether virtual driving skills carry over to real life

Does being good at driving simulator games translate very well to real life racing? Swedish digital games store Viagame decided to find out with an unusual test: strapping a real race car driver into the same vehicle as a decorated video gamer to go head-to-head in both the real and virtual worlds. All this took place at the Circuit de Catalunya, a race track in Barcelona, where the pair climbed into a Renault Mégane RS 265 coupe outfitted with a gaming PC and a 19-inch monitor in the passenger seat. Both drivers started at the same time, hoping to finish the very same circuit from identical cars.

via The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/26/5246416/crazy-race-tests-whether-virtual-driving-skills-carry-over-to-real-life

Play classic video games in style with OpenEmu for Mac

The world has no shortage of video game emulators, but many can be painful to use — most reflect their hacker origins with equally hacky interfaces, and you'd need a vast collection of different emulators to properly relive your childhood. By contrast, OpenEmu is a breath of fresh air. Released this week only for Mac, the new emulator lets you drag and drop games from any of twelve different classic video game systems right into its interface, navigate using their cover art, and even hook up a wide variety of game controllers to play them with a minimum of fuss and bother.

via The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/26/5245864/openemu-mac-elegant-open-source-video-game-emulator

PlayStation Plus gets three of 2013's best games for free in January, including 'Bioshock Infinite'

Sony is kicking off 2014 by giving some of this year's best games to PlayStation Plus subscribers. BioShock Infinite, DmC: Devil May Cry, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons will be added to the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection throughout the month of January. That's on the PS3 side; Don't Starve will be the latest free title available on PlayStation 4, and PS Vita owners will be getting Worms: Battle Island and trivia game Smart As. You'll need an active PlayStation Plus membership to download and play these titles — they'll become unplayable if your subscription lapses without renewal.

Even so, January's games alone are arguably enough to justify the $49.99 annual subscription cost of PlayStation Plus. Thankfully there's more...

via The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/26/5245950/playstation-plus-gets-three-of-2013-best-games-free-bioshock-infinite

To get the girl, game designer crafts his own playable wedding proposal

Like in football, wedding proposals often involve taking a knee. But 3D designer Robert Fink had a completely different kind of game in mind when it came to his own proposal — a video game. To propose to his girlfriend of nearly three years, Fink and two of his friends created a fake platformer and (lovingly) tricked her into playing it, all under the guise that she was helping him play test the project. The whole thing was captured on video, which has a happy ending. The game itself can be played in the browser, and Fink has made it available for others to try out. He's also set up donations to let people pitch in for what he says will be a "dream" wedding for the Portland, OR-based pair.

via The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/26/5245910/to-get-the-girl-game-designer-crafts-his-own-playable-wedding-proposal

Thursday, December 26, 2013