The Pizza Vending Machine

Sometimes life just makes sense. With all the crime and poverty in the world, its good to see that something is right out there. And that thing is called "Lets Pizza"! Robot inventor and engineer Bob Bibleman (thats actually his name), has created a vending machine that makes you a Pizza from scratch in under 3 minutes.

The Machine has a glass window in the front that lets you watch your pizza being made in front of your eyes from scratch. It adds the dough, the cheese, and sauce right in front of you and then heats it up, and shoots it out the bottom. Each pizza will run under $5.00. Its do out on the streets this Summer. And I'll be waiting in line.

The Real Cyborg

Below is a screenshot of Claudia Mitchell. She lost her left arm in a motorcycle accident in 2004. Years later, she became the first human being to have a functional prosthetic limb, that she controls with her mind. She was a 3 Million dollar project from Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. And their goal was to give her a robotic arm that could do everything a normal one could.



"How does it work? Mitchell's arm is "myoelectric," which means it picks up electrical signals coming straight from her brain, down her nerves. Electrodes help the signals jump from her body, to the prosthesis, which uses a computer to figure out which motion Mitchell is thinking about." -io9



"Surgeons made this process easier by routing many of the nerves from Mitchell's arm to her chest. While there are some weird results of this process - for example, when she showers, Mitchell can feel the water hitting a phantom "arm" when it hits her chest. There are several spots all over her chest muscles that, when touched, trigger feelings like "that's my elbow" or "that's my hand." When she identifies those, researchers attach electrodes to those spots and program the computer in her arm to recognize signals from them as "elbow" or "hand" signals. This gives her fairly granular control over the arm."-continued from io9

There are several companies (like darpa) that are coming up with different sorts of robotic mind controlled prosthetics. Some have even gone as far as developing robotic hands that can FEEL!

The unused Posts of April!

Our Blogring (group of bloggers) is dying! In an attempt to save it, I will take drastic measures. The first being this post of random topics. And the Second inviting some one else to join our endangered blogging exploits.

As for now below you will find my unused posts of April. All the posts I wanted to post, but just never got around to it. So I will sum them all up in one Bulk post.

BLOB FISH


Yes, this is a real fish. His (or her) name is "Psychrolutes marcidus". Also known as, the Blob Fish.

"Blobfish are found at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient. To remain buoyant, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. The relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats by in front it." -source

Boy gets dying wish to be a Super Hero!


A young boy named Martin has been diagnosed with Cancer, and the "Make-A-Wish" foundation decided it would make Martin's wish of becoming a super hero come true. The local police and many people from the city all participated in making Martin's dream a reality. You can read the full Seattle-Times article at the link below, and read all about the adventures "Electron Boy" had on his big day.

Link to article

Amazing screen shots of animals still in the Womb


Above is the work of Peter Chin. Using a combination of 3D ultrasound, computer graphics, and tiny cameras, he was able to get these shots. There are more provided at the link below.

Link to article

Conan O Brien responds to fans Prom invitation personally
In 2003 an Ohio High school student named Nikki Simmons wanted to invite her favorite person of all time to the Prom, Conan O' Brien. She wrote him a letter, and mailed it to NBC. Conan received it and personally wrote her back. Nikki has posted the letter on the web, and you can read it yourself below.



Random Pics from the net:

So....this happened....


Screenshot from the Volcano in Iceland (yes there is lightning in it, thats what happens)


This didnt happen, but still funny


THIS DID HAPPEN!....made my day


There are A LOT more stories I would like to post. But I will save them for this month (MAY). Expect more strange animals, impressive technology, and TONS of odd but intriguing artwork.

Egg House

"Xfactoragencies" needed a new MOBILE Office. The solution? An Egg House, and its impressive. Why? Despite being small, its Roomy. And you can Sleep and Shower in it.



The Egg includes 2 entries, and it has plenty of storage space on the inside.
(I think some one is on the toilet in the back)



Comes ready with a shower, bathroom, kitchen, and even a place to sleep




(Now you too can be a common house hold item)

Drink your Cell Phone battery

"Ill call em....wait my Phones dead!"
SAY NO MORE!....(unless your miles away from a Soda)

The Concept is simple, a small pocket Cell Phone that runs on SODA!



This little Flash Drive shaped Phone is an Eco-Friendly idea from Nokia. It uses enzymes to generate electricity from carbohydrates found in soda. Which then charge the battery.




(Coke goes in here)

Believe it or not, reports state that the phone's battery lasts 4 times as long as a normal Lithium Ion Battery (commonly found in Phones and other portable electronic devices) On top of all that, its Biodegradable.


(Wonder if you can drink it out)


(pour it out when your done...charging....shaking...eh)


(Comes in 4 Flavors....I mean colors!)

P.S. I opened a second blog called "Pizza Archives" its a photoblog. Im not sure if Im going to actually keep up with it. But let me know if its even worth the extra work.
Link:
http://pizza-archives.blogspot.com/

Tetris and your Brain

An orginization called the "Mind Research Network" took 26 adolesent girls. Every day they would play Tetris for 30 mins. The girls would be given structual and funcitonal MRI scans before and after each gaming session. After a while the girls started to show improvement in their brain activity.

(Red shows growth in cortex, while blue shows improvement of efficiency)


The reserchers began to notice that the cortex of the left frontol lobe was getting thicker in each test subject. This part of the brain is believed to be responsible for our visual, tactile, auditory, and internal physiological information.

They also noticed more efficiency in the right frontal lobe. This is where critical thinking, language, reasoning, and processing take place.

“We were excited to see cortical thickness differences between the girls that practiced Tetris and those that did not,” said Dr. Richard Haier (thanks to sciencedaily.com for the quote)

This doesnt really come as a surprise to many. Many studies have proven that people who play first person shooters are better drivers, and have far better hand eye coordination, timing, and processing when doing multiple activities.

(screenshot of a ten player Tetris round)


Dr. Emily Holmes led a study about the "Tetric Effect". She found that patients with anterograde amnesia (the loss of ability to create memories) would have dreams of falling shapes after playing Tetris that day. Even though they are unable to remember that they played the game at all. They also found that games like Tetris can prevent traumatic experiences. Certain subjects were given the game Tetris to play after a traumatic experience, they found that concentrating on the shapes prevented them from mentally recreating the traumatic images in their head. They found it decreased the accuracy, intensity and frequency of the traumatic memories.

"We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards.", summarizes Dr. Emily Holmes (thanks too Peer-reviewed science for the quote)

Japan vs. the US in - Robotics

Years ago, there was a race between Russia and the US to see who could get to the moon first. Thus putting Nasa on the map, making the US one of the dominant leaders in technology. Today its a little different. Japan is the leader, and the new race is "who can make the best Smart Phone". That topic is in no way impressive or interesting to me. Instead I decided to share how the United States and Japan, progress in Technology with Robotics (notice my header, and user icon). The videos below may make you laugh and give you nightmares.

Japan:
Honda, Toyata, and Sony, are the big names in Robotics in Japan. Sony has actually released a robotic dog named "AIBO" years back. It went on sale for few grand. As a result you had a K9 companion you didnt have to feed or pick up poop after. Sony has been successful in robotics because of its knowledge of weight, balance, and pressure engineering. "Qrio" (a bipedal humanoid robot) was Sony's attempt at showing off Robot movement and intelligence. In the video below you will see not only a demonstration of the movement of "Qrio" but also the amazing A.I. that syncs it to other robots, and.....the beat of the music playing in the background.

Sony robotics technology + Music = Dancing Midget Robots




America:
The Us does not take the same approach to technology as japan. While Japan focuses on the fun and economic aspect of robotics, the US concentrates on Power (in weapons). Most robotics are tested at NASA and the US Military. Below is a video by Boston Dynamics. They are the creators of "BIGDOG". As stupid as the name is, the robot is the opposite. Because of this video....I had nightmares about robots chasing me (kinda like Metal Gear). Why? Well you will have to view it for yourself. "BIGDOG" is a robotic....dog that can travel through almost ANY terrain. The video is VERY impressive and towered the end, you'll even see the thing jump! Boston Dynamics is currently developing "BIGDOG" for the US Military.

US military + Dogs = nightmares



There are tons of videos demonstrating how far technology has gotten with robotics. The race to creating to most realistic moving robot is almost over. But the race to create a perfect learning and growing A.I. is just starting (Ill post about that another time). Heres hoping that we dont end up like John Conner in the movie Terminator. Long live Skynet!...I mean Humans.