Christian's Corner

Tired of mowing the lawn? Why not let your robot do it.
Check this out.

http://www.lawnbott.ws/index_files/overview.htm

The Canadian rock power trio RUSH appeared on The Colbert Report last Wednesday, performing an extended version of their hit “Tom Sawyer” that reached into the beginning Thursday’s show. Before they took the stage, Alex, Geddy, and Neil accepted our challenge to perform “Tom Sawyer” as part of the video game Rock Band. Check it out!

Thanks to one of our camera guys... I was shocked to learn I'm a write-in for the next presidential election.

Ok, It's just another one of those "fill in the blanks" internet videos... but it's pretty funny.

Feel free make a custom video about a friend and send it along.

Enjoy,
Frankie

Thanks to our friends in the Hacker Community iPHONE's can apparently now run flash-light...

No, this isn't official or Adobe-backed in the slightest way, but rather a port of the software hacked into the iPhone OS using the two apps b.Tween and eyeGT. He only browses one site in the video, so it's hard to have too strong an opinion, but it doesn't look bad at all.

We've all seen robots on the assembly line. Now they're hanging out in the basement, waiting to kick your butt at air hockey.
It's pretty interesting to see how the folks at Nuvation Labs were able to make this work. ...and keep in mind, the robot is learning all the time, figuring out the best way to go on the offensive.

I prefer to watch it after triggering the Daft Punk video below.... "Robots Rock."

Tired of big browser apps, slowing your internet explorer to a crawl? You may want to download the newest offering from Mozilla, Firefox 3. They just released the free download this afternoon. Firefox 3 is loaded with new safety features, protecting you from fake corporate websites, malware, and hijackers. As for speed... Specifically, it takes 60 milliseconds to change Gmail from showing one message to another with Firefox 3, compared with 413 milliseconds for IE 7 and 227 for Firefox 2. It also has better memory handling and what's known as the Awesome Bar.

To test memory use, Firefox programmers loaded 500 pages from top sites on the Web then closed and opened them thousands of times. Through that process, Mozilla stamped out many memory "leaks" under which Firefox 2 wouldn't relinquish memory once it was no longer needed. Front and center is the Awesome Bar, officially called the Smart Location Bar, which lets users type real words rather than URL addresses to call up Web sites.

Give it a try...
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

"Saturday Night Fever" made it cool to wear white leisure suits.
Maybe "Perrigo Dancing Scientists" will do the same for white lab coats.
Allegan-based drug maker Perrigo commissioned this funny musical video.
It's already got more than 7,500 hits on youtube.
It was shot at a Perrigo lab and features a mix of actors and
real scientists.
Perrigo wants to convince job hunters that it's a hip, fun place
to work.
The company is counting on the video to attract scientific talent from the hubs of the pharmaceutical industry on the East and West coasts.

The pet industry has become a multi-billion dollar one, and pet ownership has never been higher, so it is only natural that pets have spread to the web too. We’ve collected 5 other social sites you may find informative and fun.

http://www.birdcinema.com -A site for bird enthusiasts to upload and share videos, browse others.

http://www.cuteoverload.com -As the name implies, nothing but cuteness resides here… endless piles of cute.

http://www.funepets.com -Share photos and videos of your pets for others to enjoy.

http://www.datemypet.com -Online dating site for people who want to be upfront about “date me, date my pet”.

http://www.aquariphiles.com -An online meeting place for owners of all types of fish.

High Speed Trains like the Bullet Train in Japan, the Frech TGV or Germany's ICE don't produce any fumes when running, but they eat a ton of electricity. Because this power doesn't always come from the best renewable sources, some scientists at Tohoku University in Japan are trying to reduce the energy these machines need to run.

They have come up with an interesting idea: using ground effect to raise the train a few inches from the ground and hece reduce all losses of power from ground friction. The train becomes then a ground version of the USSR's ekranoplan which used the same principle over water.

So far, the prototype weighs 400 kg (about 900 pounds) but reaches 150 km/h (90 mph). The ground effect is produced when a vehicle, at certain speeds, creates a difference of pressure between the air that flows underneath and over the vehicle.
The scientists claim that energy use with this floating style is dramatically lower than maglev trains, where a lot of power is needed to maintain the magnetic fields that sustains the train.

What's even more interesting is that this prototype uses power from windmills and photovoltaic panels installed along the same track where it hovers to make it a sustainable transport method.

Ever need a little time-off from your time-off? That's how I feel after my long weekend (Thurs-Mon off.) It was scheduled to allow me to finish moving from Ada to downtown Grand Rapids.
Instead, I found myself at work Thursday morning, reporting on the helicopter crash at the hospital. What a story!
We did eventually get the truck loaded, and moved into our new digs at "The Boardwalk" the next day, just in time to meet some friends at the Van Andel for the Tom Petty show (which was fantastic.)
Saturday was mostly spent unpacking boxes and making sense of the spaghetti behind my entertainment system, PC, XBOX 360, ect ect.
Sunday a friend of mine, who works with Skater Power Boats in Douglas gave us an impromptu tour of the factory. What a sight, dozens of million dollar plus super-cats at every stage of construction. Hard to believe that some of the fastest and most expensive toys in the world are built right here in West Michigan.

He tells me, even with gas prices, there's a 2-year waiting list and they're at full production.

The weekend wrapped-up with the Van Halen concert, where I took more abuse for looking a little like Diamond David Lee Roth. That used to be a good thing in the early 80's... now, not so much. Anyway, I need a break from my break.