(BUT MAYBE INTERESTING?)
1) Worried about Zombies on the highway?
Car website Auto Blog revealed Robert Kirkman's latest creation: a custom Hyundai Elantra Coupe modified for zombie slaying. Set to debut around The Walking Dead's 100th issue at San Diego Comic-Con, a real, physical car was turned into the "Zombie Survival Machine" by Design Craft, modeled after a sketch done by Kirkman. It also features a vinyl wrap of The Walking Dead #100 cover.
2) Or maybe you worry about being attacked by supersonic tennis balls?
New radar, developed for the British Royal Navy’s Type 23 Duke-class frigates, is designed to simultaneously detect 900 targets smaller than a bird, against background noise equivalent to 10,000 mobile phone signals at ranges from 200 meters (656 ft) to 200 kilometers (124 mi).
It could detect a tennis ball traveling at Mach 3 (1,980 mph, 3,186 km/h) from a distance of 25 kilometers (15.5 mi).
3) If you like the Swiss Army Knife you might like this "wallet"
- screwdriver (flat or Phillips)
- nested wrench (in SAE or metric)
- two-inch ruler,
- bottle opener
- twist top opener
- wing nut wrench,
- smartphone tablet stand
- can top popper
- box opener
- keychain
- holds credit cards, etc
This item is NOT available (no matter how much you fell you can't live without one) because the creator needed money to fund its production. And this is the interesting part for me. It is being funded by "crowdfunding" using a program called Kickstarter.
There are several similar programs that raise money by "donations" to fund innovative products like CD's, films, games, music, art, design, technology etc. If this piques your interest (as in, you have ideas but no money) use Google to search for "crowdfunding" sites.
Also see "Stompy" at the end of this posting for a $97,817 pledged for a project.
4) Realistic April Fool's jokes:
a) Early on Monday, (as a joke), Google promoted a new service called Google Nose that would enable users to scan a 15 million "SCENT-BYTE" database of smells from around the world.
Their idea was scooped by the "smelling screen", invented by Haruka Matsukura at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan, Smells appear to come from the exact spot on any LCD screen that is displaying the image of a cup of coffee, for example. It was demonstrated at the IEEE Virtual Reality Research Demonstration in Florida, March 16-23rd.
(b) Twitter announced a new plan (called "twttr") to increase user efficiency by eliminating the use of vowels in their 140 character allocation. The vowel-free plan would be free with vowel plans costing $5 per month. The character "y" would be free even when used as a consonant. "Y trd th nw Twttr yt? Mr rm fr twts."
Maybe they are onto something ?????
5) Physicists make breakthrough on 'invisibility cloak'
Physicists at the University of Texas in Austin took a new approach to the tantalizing challenge. Instead of the method widely pursued until now, where scientists used a "meta-material" to hide an object from view by bending visible light around it, the team managed to apply a "mantle cloaking" technique that cancels out waves bouncing off the shielded object.
"We have experimentally verified a new route to render a 3D object standing in free space invisible to radio waves, without requiring a bulk meta-material cover," said the study, published in the New Journal of Physics.
6) Gerber's GDC Hook Knife
A little two-inch device meant to be worn on a keychain. The blade "can be used to quickly cut yourself out of a piece of clothing, seatbelt or other safety strap."$11 and it might, and it might save a life even it is never used if it makes the person feel safer to buckle up.
7) Now this is something I really need - a Mantis walking machine:
(turn on your sound - rofl)
The robot weighs a massive 1,900 kg (4,188 pounds), stands 2.8 meters (9.18 ft) tall, and is powered by a Perkins 2.2 liter turbo diesel engine and hydraulics. It's outfitted with a variety of sensors (including force transducers, angle sensors, and an inclinometer) that help it walk. A Linux PC running HexEngine – software designed to control hexapod locomotion – takes care of the 18 hydraulic actuators in its legs, while a panel PC puts you in the driver's seat.
Or maybe Stompy:
Stompy has been funded through kickstarter:
1,571 backers pledged a total of $97,817.
