A scanner that plays music?
Posted by Igor From the “People with too much free timeâ€? files…. Macenstein reader Jeff sent us this amazing video of an HP ScanJet 4c’s SCL that has been hacked to play Beethoven’s Fur Elise. This is accomplished using an undocumented feature in the scanner’s programming called “PLAY TUNEâ€?, which causes the various notes to be generated simply by varying the speed at which the scanner’s motor turns. If you happen to own... Read More
Hong Kong Fooey – Man jailed for sharing movies on BitTorrent
Posted by Lab Rat A Hong Kong man is the first person in the world to be jailed for sharing movie files over the internet. The BBC reports 38 year-old Chan Nai-ming, who went by the poorly-chosen screenname “Big Crook�, was found guilty of sharing his copies of the movies Daredevil, Red Planet, and Miss Congeniality over the BitTorrent network. While Nai-ming is certainly guilty of horrible taste in movies, should he be found guilty of a crime? The movie industry thinks... Read More
Colecovision re-entering game market?
Posted by Helper Monkey Ahh Colecovision. The 80’s gaming console nobody owned. I remember in my town there was always one kid in each grade that had this thing, and that kid’s popularity was rivaled only by BONK’s. Well, by now all the kids who jealously coveted those systems are probably married with kids of their own. So you might think it is a little late for Colecovision to mount a comeback. But you’d be wrong. As wrong as the programmers who thought... Read More
Toyota develops new breed of air-purifying shrub
Posted by Lab Rat In an obvious sign that car makers have given up trying to save the environment by actually cutting greenhouse emissions from their vehicles (and risk losing horsepower), Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it had developed a new type of shrub that is capable of removing harmful pollutants from the air. It has dubbed this plant “The Kirsch Pink.” Toyota hopes to sell 10,000 of the plants in the first year. Apparently these shrubs are similar to another... Read More
Playing violent video games posses same health risk as smoking cigarettes
Playing violent video games posses same health risk as smoking cigarettes As many of us know, Governor Schwarzeneggar this week passed Assembly Bill (AB) 1179 that will outlaw the sale of rated “M” (for “mature”) video games to minors in California (where most violent video games are made). The bill itself is really not a big deal. It slaps retailers with a $1000 fine for each violation. However, if one reads the official press release from the California... Read More
What will humans look like in a million years?
Posted by Lab Rat MSNBC has a feature on human evolution, with an interesting virtual tour through time. You can click on many steps in man’s evolution, from the early Australopiths all the way through the Frankenstein-like “Numan”, and the coneheaded “Astran”. Something tells me both forehead wax and hats will be 2 of the bigger industries in the year 1,002,005. Read More
Remote-Controlled Humans (with video)
Posted by Lab Rat Researchers at the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Communication Science Laboratories have invented a “galvanic vestibular stimulation” (GVS) device that is seemingly able to remotely control human beings. How does it work? Well, apparently by applying a weak electrical current into the mastoid behind each ear, researchers are able to throw off a subject’s sense of balance enough that he/she will lean in that direction. If you provide enough... Read More
ASSCI Movie Clips: Incredibles, Matrix, Spider-Man and more
Posted by Lab Rat This is pretty cool. Roman M has clips of a bunch of different films rendered out entirely in ASCII characters. I’ve seen stuff like this before, but never moving, and certainly never this accurate. Now, if they could just come up with some ASCII sound… Note: I couldn’t get this to work in Firefox, but Safari played it nicely Read More
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