For everything from family to computers…
Nearly every car has an ashtray, but for non-smokers, it just turns into a small hole that collects dust, trash, and other nonsense. Instructables user hells-oui shows us how to turn it into a smartphone dock. More »
from Lifehacker
Holy Mother of the Minichrist! Check out the new Lego B-wing fighter. It’s simply the best Ultimate Collector Series set since the still unmatched 24-pound, 5,159-block Millennium Falcon, from 2007. The Danish mothership sent us high resolution images and video. Check them out. More »
from Gizmodo
What if you could control a robot — wait, don’t answer yet — with your mind? Pretty great, right? That’s what the Virtual Embodiment and Robotic Re-embodiment (VERE) group is working on, and it’s made some pretty good, you know, strides. New Scientist details a test utilizing fMRI brain activity-sensing technology to control a robot in France from a laboratory in Israel. The volunteer was able to perform tasks like walking around a room, following a person with the small ‘bot and locating a teapot, using visuals from a camera embedded in the robot’s head. There’s a “small” delay in the technology, but researcher Ori Cohen insists that it’s possible to anticipate and compensate for it.
The technology, which one scientist compared to Avatar, naturally, has some truly beneficial potential applications, and the scientists have plans to test it out with paralyzed subjects, giving them the opportunity to control a surrogate with their mind. The fMRI technology, meanwhile, may be swapped out for an electrode-based electroencephalogram system, and the scientists plan to try things out with a Japanese robot that is roughly the height of a human for future testing. Check out a video of the project in its current state after the break.
from Engadget
iOS/Android/WebOS: We’ve long been big fans of iFixit’s useful repair guides and teardown manuals, and now you can easily access the site’s content on the go. The free mobile apps allow offline browsing of the thousands of how-to repair guides. More »
from Lifehacker
In honor of Independence Day in the United States, here’s John A. Conkling, adjunct professor and fireworks expert to show us the chemistry behind fireworks. Watch this video and learn the science so that you can impress all your friends and family tonight with your incredible knowledge. [via Adafruit]
from MAKE
Four years ago, double amputee Oscar Pistorius — aka the Blade Runner — was battling bureaucracy (and his own ability) for the chance to compete in the Beijing Olympics. He might not have made the cut for China, but this time around he’s secured his ticket to London. The South African athlete was already penned in for the 4 x 400 meters relay, and will now also compete in the singles 400 meters — said to be his favorite distance. The South African Olympic committee made a last-minute decision to include Pisterous in the team, making him the first amputee track athlete to compete in the full Olympic games. An amazing achievement in its own right, but a race victory on top of the bureaucratic one would surely be the ultimate finish.
from Engadget
