20110428

Mini Cooper Connected app adjusts music based on driving style

When cruising with 10km/h, the temperature is high and women and sea are within the vicinity, it switches the music to the latest R&B hits, it turns up the volume and lowers the windows and/or the sunroof. :P

Android version? No sugar for the android kids? :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Zach Honig on 4/28/11

We're always looking for excuses to get behind the wheel, so naturally the new Dynamic Music function in the Mini Connected app made us yearn for a chance to hit the road. Version 2.0 brings this headline feature to the iPhone, which includes exclusively-composed music that adjusts based on things like a compatible Mini Cooper's "longitudinal and lateral acceleration." In other words, the faster and crazier you drive, the more exciting the music becomes. So instead of having mom in the passenger seat begging you to slow down, there's music that encourages you to do the opposite. The press release even references a "hallmark Mini go-kart feeling," so you might want to make sure everyone's buckled up before you plug in. Should anyone fail to do so, a new feature called Mission Control will let you know, also nagging about poor driving conditions. How's that for a mixed signal?

Continue reading Mini Cooper Connected app adjusts music based on driving style, stops when airbags deploy

Mini Cooper Connected app adjusts music based on driving style, stops when airbags deploy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 09:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBMW  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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Guantanamo bay

Recently the wikileaks released Guantanamo bay related stuff here

Where are the Harold and Kumar reports though? :P


Βραβείο του ΠΟΥ στον Γ.Παπανδρέου για την αντικαπνιστική του δράση

WTF? A prize without having first achieved a favorable result? WTF?

 
 

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Η βράβευση του πρωθυπουργού Γιώργου Παπανδρέου από τον Παγκόσμιο Οργανισμό Υγείας, για τη σταθερή αντικαπνιστική του στάση και την υιοθέτηση αυστηρής σχετικής νομοθεσίας, ανακοινώθηκε την Πέμπτη στη Μόσχα, στο πλαίσιο της πρώτης παγκόσμιας διάσκεψης υπουργών Υγείας. Η απονομή του βραβείου πιθανότατα θα συνδυαστεί με τα εγκαίνια του πρώτου ειδικού γραφείου του ΠΟΥ για τις μη μεταδιδόμενες ασθένειες στη νοτιοανατολική Ευρώπη, που θα γίνει στην Αθήνα στις 3 Ιουνίου.

 
 

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Dutch Lower House Opposes Carriers Blocking Services

 
 

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via OSNews by donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) on 4/27/11

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. This weekend, we ran a story about the carrier situation in the The Netherlands. The largest carrier in The Netherlands has announced it's going to charge for services like IM and Skype, while the other two carriers were thinking about following suit. I stated I expected little from our politicians - but boy, turns out I was wrong. Basically the entire lower house - left to right, progressive to conservative - is not happy with the carriers' moves, and are now exploring options to prohibit them from implementing their plans - including the option to embed net neutrality in our telecommunications act. Go go... Politicians?!

 
 

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20110425

SouthPark 15th season premiere: "HUMANCENTiPAD" Press Release

:D

 
 

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From the Comedy Central Press Release:

HUMANCENTiPAD IS APPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY NEW PRODUCT
IN THE 15TH SEASON PREMIERE OF "SOUTH PARK"
BEGINNING ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27 AT 10:00 P.M. ON COMEDY CENTRAL


--------
"South Park: The Complete Fourteenth Season Uncensored" DVD And Blu-Ray
Arrives In Stores On Tuesday, April 26

--------
All-New Season 15 Episodes Available In HD Exclusively On xBox LIVE, iTunes, Sony
Playstation Network, Amazon Video On Demand
New Episodes Also Available On SouthParkStudios.com

--------


NEW YORK, April 25, 2011 - The latest Apple product to hit the market is revealed in the 15th season premiere of "South Park" titled, "HUMANCENTiPAD," premiering on Wednesday, April 27 at 10:00 p.m. on Comedy Central.

Kyle is intimately involved in the development OF a revolutionary new product that is about to be launched by Apple. Meanwhile, Cartman doesn't even have a regular iPad yet. He blames his mother.

 
 

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20110423

T-Hawk UAV enters Fukushima danger zone, returns with video

After the T-Hawk finished with the reconnaissance, a squad of T-800s and T-1000s went into the plant to search for John Conor :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Zach Honig on 4/21/11


We'd love to head on down to Fukushima with a DSLR and some iodide pills, but that's obviously not going to happen. Sending in a flying robot seems to be the next best thing, though, and that's exactly what Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has done. T-Hawk, a US-made MAV (Micro Air Vehicle) commonly used to search for roadside bombs in Iraq, made its Japanese debut last week when it photographed the nuclear plant from above, providing a detailed look at the interior damage a month after iRobot's visit. Small enough to fit in a (rather large) backpack, officially the T-Hawk is named for the tarantula hawk wasp species, but could just as easily have been named for the T. Hawk Street Fighter character, who also swoops in to attack his opponents from above. As expected, things look pretty nasty at ground zero, so head past the break for a video of the damage.

Continue reading T-Hawk UAV enters Fukushima danger zone, returns with video

T-Hawk UAV enters Fukushima danger zone, returns with video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceIEEE Spectrum  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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First US Predator strike in Libya

The robots are deploying their forces, demanding from the Libyan army to succumb to their overmind's will :P

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/23/11

The US military confirms the first strike by an unmanned Predator drone aircraft in Libya.

 
 

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20110422

Solar Magnetic Energy, Better than Photovoltaic Cells?

 
 

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via SlashGear by Kevin Fubar on 4/22/11

Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered a new property of light that allows them to harness the magnetic attributes of light. Electromagnetism being a classically unified force, the relationship between light and magnetism is well known, but the magnetic component was thought to be weak enough that it could be safely ignored. Stephen Rand, a professor at UMich, said of this, "You could stare at the equations of motion all day and you will not see this possibility. We've all been taught that this doesn't happen. It's a very odd interaction. That's why it's been overlooked for more than 100 years." Scientists are so awesome.

"This could lead to a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation," Rand said. "In solar cells, the light goes into a material, gets absorbed and creates heat. Here, we expect to have a very low heat load. Instead of the light being absorbed, energy is stored in the magnetic moment. Intense magnetization can be induced by intense light and then it is ultimately capable of providing a capacitive power source."

Right now solar power cells are expensive and somewhat dirty to produce as they are made from semiconducting wafers. This will allow solar collection apparatus to be constructed from much more common materials. This could be the breakthrough that makes solar power cheap enough for widespread adoption.

"To manufacture modern solar cells, you have to do extensive semiconductor processing," Fisher, a PhD student involved in the research, said. "All we would need are lenses to focus the light and a fiber to guide it. Glass works for both. It's already made in bulk, and it doesn't require as much processing. Transparent ceramics might be even better."

This could be a major breakthrough, focusing the light into a usable beam and creating voltage potential with cheaper materials is going to be the ticket to ending the world's dependence on fossil fuels once and for all. There isn't going to be a magic bullet that'll solve all of these problems, solar power is a major component. Efficient energy storage solutions like flywheel energy storage systems are also going to be an important part in leveling out the grid.

[via Earth Techling]


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20110421

Fiat increases stake in Chrysler

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/21/11

Fiat moves closer to majority control of Chrysler with $1.27bn (£774m) deal to raise its stake in the US car maker to 46%.

 
 

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20110419

Samsung sells HDD division to Seagate for $1.375 billion

seagate FTW

 
 

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via Engadget by Vlad Savov on 4/19/11

We're firmly of the belief that SSDs are our future and Samsung would seem to agree. The Korean electronics giant has just announced that it's selling its hard disk drive-manufacturing arm to Seagate Technology for a neat $1.375 billion in equal measures of cash and stocks. As a result, Samsung Electronics will own approximately 9.6 percent of Seagate and get to nominate one new member to join Seagate's Board of Directors, while the two companies have further agreed to deepen their strategic relationship with related cross-licensing and supply stipulations. Samsung will provision Seagate's solid state drives with NAND flash memory, whereas Seagate will furnish Samsung's PCs and consumer electronics products with hard disk storage. The deal is expected to complete in full by year's end and you can read all about it in Seagate's press release after the break.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Continue reading Samsung sells HDD division to Seagate for $1.375 billion

Samsung sells HDD division to Seagate for $1.375 billion originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 05:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Metal Pen hides a level and a screwdriver, perfect geek gift

:D

 
 

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via SlashGear by Shane McGlaun on 4/19/11

It's hard to believe that here in the US we are very close to being done with another school year. That means that you will need to find gifts for all those graduates you know and if you want something cool that won't break the bank here it is.

This is a metal pen with an integrated level, screwdriver and ruler. The body of the pen is marked in inches. You can see the bubble level window the little window and the screwdriver has both a small flat tip and a Philips bit under the cap on top.

The pen is cheap too with a price of $14.95 each. You know that this pen will get lots of use; I always need a screwdriver at odd times and never have one. There is no word on if the pen has black or blue ink color.

[via neatorama]


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20110418

The Life Of The Noble Cinquecento

Hi!

The 16th of April 2011, Saturday, was the last day of our beloved Fiat Cinquecento. My mother and I were in it (my mom was driving) and we were returning from shopping to our house using the Kifisos highway. We were driving at a normal speed in the rightmost lane when a big truck that was behind us decided to ram our car. After 3 repeated collisions, the car lost traction and overturned.

The heroic Cinquecento didn't let anything happen to me or my mom, but, unluckily, it got damaged (not beyond repairs, but the insurance won't pay, since the repairs will cost more than the car's cost [which is infinitely big, but the insurance company won't accept that]). Here are some photos:
Goodbye Dear Friend, you will be missed :'(

First light wave quantum teleportation achieved, opens door to ultra fast da...

Now we are teleporting quanta.. In a few years we will teleport anything (including warships) :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Richard Lai on 4/18/11

Mark this day, folks, because the brainiacs have finally made a breakthrough in quantum teleportation: a team of scientists from Australia and Japan have successfully transferred a complex set of quantum data in light form. You see, previously researchers had struggled with slow performance or loss of information, but with full transmission integrity achieved -- as in blocks of qubits being destroyed in one place but instantaneously resurrected in another, without affecting their superpositions -- we're now one huge step closer to secure, high-speed quantum communication. Needless to say, this will also be a big boost for the development of powerful quantum computing, and combine that with a more bedroom friendly version of the above teleporter, we'll eventually have ourselves the best LAN party ever.

First light wave quantum teleportation achieved, opens door to ultra fast data transmission originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  sourceUniversity of New South Wales  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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20110417

US government contractor developing 'microwave gun,' Hot Pockets tremble

Note the quote of the manager: disable the half of the army with microwave guns and then finish the rest with lasers :D

of course everything will be controlled by computers or robots.. imagine the scenario where the aliens invade while the machines are revolting against humans. it's a mix of terminator, alien, predator and a little bit of matrix if pushed too far :D

 
 

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via Engadget by Jesse Hicks on 4/16/11

Ah, the beloved "electronic bomb," able to disable all technology in its vicinity: variations on the concept go way back, but useful prototypes remain tantalizingly out of reach. Into the breach steps defense contractor BAE Systems, taking a fresh crack with a High-Powered Microwave (HPM) gun intended to disable small boat engines - if successful, the technology may also target ships, UAVs, and missile payloads. The secret-shrouded weapon sounds similar to Boeing's planned airborne EMP weapon, but lacking the missile delivery systems. BAE seems to be betting big on electromagnetic warfare as a future battlefield tactic, with a manager pitching the sci-fi scene to Aviation Week:
"Unlike lasers, HPM beams don't need a lot of accuracy. With a fan [of HPM energy] you can target 10-30 small boats. If you can knock out 50-75% of the engines in a swarm, you can then concentrate on the remainder with lasers or kinetic [cannons]."
To develop better defenses against such attacks, the contractor received $150,000 from the Air Force to test-fire microwaves at military computers. No word on whether said defenses involve generous use of tin foil.

US government contractor developing 'microwave gun,' Hot Pockets tremble originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Boing Boing  |  sourceDanger Room  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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20110415

Scientists unlock the secrets of bike stability, make riders optional

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/15/scientists-unlock-the-secrets-of-bike-stability-make-riders-opt/

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Magnetic fields shut down speech, permit love songs (video)

 
 

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via Engadget by Jesse Hicks on 4/14/11

You already know the strange powers of Stephin Merritt, but today we're talking about real magnetic fields. Powerful electromagnets, it turns out, can do remarkable things to the brain -- in this case, prevent a volunteer from reciting "Humpty Dumpty." The carefully directed magnets temporarily disrupt the brain's speech centers; the volunteer can still sing the rhyme using different areas of the brain, but simply can't overcome a series of stammers when trying to merely recite it. Of course, it's not all mad scientist applications: the UK team experimenting with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) thinks it can help us understand and treat migraines (as we've seen before with the Migraine Zapper), depression, and ADHD, among other ailments. But improving physical well-being doesn't make for nearly as entertaining media -- see the British inflict some involuntary quiet time in the video above.

Magnetic fields shut down speech, permit love songs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Physorg  |  sourceNew Scientist  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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20110413

FBI Vault website has memo from Roswell crash investigator

The document is hosted on the fbi.gov site. This can't be a hoax, even though it doesn't provide sufficient proof of anything :P

OMG THEY'VE VISITED OUR PLANET.

 
 

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via SlashGear by Shane McGlaun on 4/13/11

This has to be a hoax, so take this with a grain of salt the size of Everest. According to Gizmodo a file has been spied on the FBI Vault website where old documents are put for the public to peruse that is a report on the infamous 1950 crash in Roswell, New Mexico that some believe was a UFO crash. The government has long maintained the crash was a weather balloon.

The document in question is a memo by an FBI agent named Guy Hottel that was working the original case and recounts what a so-called "investigator for the Air Forces" told him about the crash. The Air Force investigators name is blacked out in the memo. The reminder of the memo is an interesting read and conspiracy theorists will be riled up for sure.

The memo goes on to say that the Air Force found a crashed saucer shaped flying machine about 50-feet in diameter and that the investigator believed that the high-powered military radar in the area interfered with the UFO's controlling mechanisms. This is a crazy document to turn up on the FBI website for sure. Check out the document here.

[via Gizmodo]


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SouthPark Season 15 Press Release

 
 

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From the Comedy Central Press Release:

"SOUTH PARK" KICKS OFF 15TH SEASON!
ALL NEW EPISODES BEGINNING ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27
AT 10:00 P.M. ON COMEDY CENTRAL


"South Park: The Complete Fourteenth Season Uncensored" DVD And Blu-Ray
Arrives In Stores On Tuesday, April 26

All-New Season 15 Episodes Available In HD Exclusively On xBox LIVE, iTunes,
Sony Playstation Network, Amazon Video On Demand
New Episodes Also Available On SouthParkStudios.com


NEW YORK, April 12, 2011 The foul-mouthed fourth-graders of "South Park" are back for their 15th season with seven all-new episodes beginning Wednesday, April 27 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on COMEDY CENTRAL.

On Tuesday, April 26, "South Park: The Complete Fourteenth Season" will be released nationwide on DVD and Blu-ray by COMEDY CENTRAL Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. In addition to all 14 episodes, the DVD and Blu-ray include mini-commentaries on all episodes by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, never-before-seen footage and deleted scenes.

The all-new episodes from this season are available in HD exclusively on xBox Live, iTunes, Sony Playstation Network, Amazon Video On Demand and are also available on SouthParkStudios.com.

 
 

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20110412

Japan Raises Nuclear Plant Crisis Severity To 7

Red Alert!

 
 

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via Slashdot: Hardware by Soulskill on 4/12/11

darkonc writes "Early Tuesday in Japan, the government decided to raise the severity level of the accident to the maximum 7 on an international scale, up from the current 5 and matching that of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. The government declared the level 7 emergency because it is now estimated that the crippled plant was emitting over 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactivity for a number of hours at the height of the nuclear incident. Previously, on Monday, the government had expanded the evacuation zone around the plant to include at least 6 cities up to 60 km away from the plant. These cities, outside of the current 20-30 km evacuation area, are now expected to exceed the 20 millisieverts/year limit on residual radiation established by International Commission on Radiological Protection and the International Atomic Energy Agency in the case of an emergency."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


 
 

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20110410

Card design

Hi!

This is the design of my business card (it's a draft version.. not finalized)




20110409

Google ups father of Android to Senior VP in executive shakeup

google a.k.a. the engineering heaven :P

 
 

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via SlashGear by James DeRuvo on 4/8/11

Andy Rubin, the man who shepherded Android into the powerhouse OS it is today has been promoted to Senior Vice President for Google. The move came as Larry Page began to streamline the executive structure to make it leaner, meaner, and thinking more like the start-up it began as. Rubin, made headlines recently by dispelling rumors that Android would be getting locked down as an OS, stating that Google is committed to Android as an open source platform. And Rubin's promotion to one of seven senior vice presidents reporting directly to Page means that Google's commitment to Android is at the heart of their corporate governance right behind search.

The promotions, made by Page this week, moves engineers at the head of the company, which Page hopes will streamline communication and help spark Google, which has been plateaued of late. The promotions came from Engineering, where Rubin had been developing Android and turning it into a serious competitor to Apple's iOS, YouTube – headed by Salar Kamangar, Chrome Browser VP, and Sundar Pichai – in charge of Google's Social Networking initiatives. The other Senior VPs include advertising lead Susan Wojcicki; Jeff Huber, an engineering executive; and Alan Eustace, who led engineering and research, who will head the search division. Of the seven VPs, five are software engineers, signaling that Page is wanting to concentrate of innovation.

But that's not all. In a move that is sure to catch the eye of execs over at Facebook and Twitter, Page has also tied 25% of performance bonuses to the success of Google's social networking projects. The plan is to head off Facebook's efforts to get the upper hand in ad dollars by adding a social "layer" atop Google's products, including Web search, Picasa and YouTube, And while the social aspect is the rage for users who spend a lot of time online, the concern over privacy has also been a challenge to Facebook and other companies. Google's reach echo's the words of former CEO Eric Schmidt who said that people should get over their worries about privacy. Should Google create a social link to all their products, it'll be interesting to see if privacy is protected, or if the assumption is that users will have to "get over it."

[Via Android Community]


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20110408

3D WWII footage to be shown on TV

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/8/11

3D footage of World War II, showing a German anti-aircraft crew in 1943, is to be shown on TV for the first time.

 
 

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Commodore 64 is Back in Business!

http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/R04Xv5hkbKg/

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20110407

Accelerator hints at new particle

The fifth fundamental force (after electromagnetism, gravity, the weak and the strong nuclear forces) :P

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/7/11

Results from the Tevatron particle accelerator in the US show compelling hints of a completely new particle in what could be a radical change to physics.

 
 

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Naked Florida man opens fire on SWAT bot with AK-47, no kidding

Before shooting the robot he should have said "Hasta la vista, baby." :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Christopher Trout on 4/7/11

"Investigators say they've never dealt with a naked man attacking a robot before." So starts perhaps the most insane local news story we've ever heard. According to an ABC affiliate in Florida, a disgruntled man, sporting nothing more than his birthday suit and an AK-47, opened fire on a robot last week, after threatening to shoot himself and anyone who crossed the threshold of his home. The $65,000 SWAT bot was sent in to investigate, and captured every inch of the man on video before being pumped full of bullets. Deputies say the man eventually surrendered fully-clothed and was taken for a mental evaluation. No word yet on when or if the footage will be released in a Robo COPS: Disrobed and Dangerous Special Edition. For now, you can check out video at the source link below.

Naked Florida man opens fire on SWAT bot with AK-47, no kidding originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceWFTV  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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Geek plays epic prank on wife for April Fools

WOW :D

 
 

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via SlashGear by Shane McGlaun on 4/4/11

The best April fools prank I ever got up to was when I was nine and I loaded up a few cigarettes in my dad's pack cigarette loads. He happened to pull out one of the loaded cigarettes while we were driving down the street with me next to him. I had pushed the things so far down into the cigarette that he had to smoke most of it before it blew. Ashes went everywhere and he almost crashed the car. I spent the next week grounded. It was worth it.

A geek pranked his wife on April 1 and it was a good one. He got a hold of her phone while she was not around and changed his name in her contact list to AP Mobile to spoof her favorite news app. He then sent a text to her that said the Pentagon had confirmed the Roswell Crash as being alien.

It then went on to say that Obama would address the nation about UFOs at 1PM. Pete the prankster says that her jaw hit the floor. I bet it did, I wonder how long he let her stew before telling her it was a joke. I also wonder how long he has to sleep on the couch as a result.

[via Boingboing]


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Pensioner 'cuts Armenia internet'

If we were to award a country for the security of its telecommunications' infrastructure, Armenia would take the first prize :)

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/6/11

An elderly woman in Georgia is facing a prison sentence after reportedly causing internet services in neighbouring Armenia to crash.

 
 

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