The Loneliest Humanoid in America – ” Walking, self-contained, adult-size robots are commonplace in robotics labs in Japan and South Korea, but there’s only one made here. Why are we falling behind? “

Hollywood-Style Bank Robbery Caught on CCTV – “Using a helicopter, explosives, and mechanical saws, these robbers took a page right out of an action movie when they robbed this Swedish cash depot…”

How to Predict an Earthquake with a Doughnut – “According to the Mogi Doughnut concept, created by the Japanese seismologist it’s named after, smaller quakes over decades can increase pressure on faults in the doughnut hole center, which may lead to the Big One. Can the recent uptick in shaking in Southern California be part of a delicious pastry prediction? “

Bloatware Creeps Into Android Phones – “Android-based smartphones are falling victim to something that has plagued PC users for years: bloatware. Android phones are being pre-loaded with trial software and apps that can’t be deleted off the device by the user. These apps touting mobile TV, football games, location-based search and games are the new face of bloatware, also known as crapware or craplets in the PC world…”

Do cheaper doctors provide inferior care? – “Many health insurance companies have responded to health care reform by pushing cheaper plans with a smaller selection of doctors, reports the New York Times. Do these cheaper doctors provide inferior care?”

37 states join probe into Google Wi-Fi data collection – “A multistate investigation is raising more questions about how Google Inc. may have improperly gathered people’s private information through their unsecured wireless networks while collecting data for its Street View feature…”

Blinding laser beam newest police tool – “One of the newest and most unusual less-than-lethal weapons to hit the market is the “Dazer Laser.” It’s a powerful laser gun that can temporarily blind and disorient a suspect with a large modulating pool of green light…”

http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/rick-warren-blinded-by-firestick-plant-9-other-potential-toxic-blinders/19564817 – “On Thursday, Rick Warren, the best-selling author and pastor at Saddleback Church, posted a disturbing message on his Twitter feed. Warren, who founded the evangelical Southern California mega-church 30 years ago, has more than 118,000 Twitter followers who may have been a tad distressed when, in 21 words, the pastor described being blinded on Monday after some sort of accident involving toxic poison, and he reported being taken to a hospital.”

Stunning T-90 ‘Flying Tanks’ performance

How Coca-Cola Created Its “Happiness Machine” – “Most big brands don’t share the secrets behind how they create hugely successful web videos. For the first time ever, Coke executives and leaders at Definition 6, the agency responsible for the award-winning “Happiness Machine” video, reveal the secret ingredients that made it such a success…”

Regulators consider lobstering ban for Mass. to NC – “Lobstermen are speaking out against a proposed ban on lobstering from Massachusetts to North Carolina, saying a bleak assessment of the stock’s health is way off…”

Pulse of the nation – “As a proof-of-concept we’ve been studying the mood of all of the public tweets. While there are many services that will allow you to study the mood of your own tweets (and also an neat little DIY project to show you the global average of twitter), much less effort has gone into studying how the mood breaks down according to geography. Below, I show a brand new video displaying the pulsating 24-hour twitter mood cycle of the United States (I’ll explain just what you’re looking at, in the following)…”

Shoppers on a ‘Diet’ Tame the Urge to Buy – “IMAGINE that horrible though all-too-familiar feeling: You are standing before a fully stuffed closet and yet have nothing to wear. Now, imagine something worse: Your closet contains only six items, and you are restricted to wearing only those six items for an entire month. Now, if you can bear it, imagine something unspeakable: No one notices….”

This Is What a 1,000-MPH Car Looks Like – “This is the Bloodhound SSC. When finished, it will be powered by a jet engine bolted to a rocket. Together they will produce 47,500 pounds of thrust. And the retired Royal Air Force pilot who plans to strap himself into it hopes to hit 1,000 mph…”

Quantum mechanics survives triple-slit photon test – “One of the best-known examples of the counterintuitive behavior seen in the quantum world is the double-slit experiment. Take a piece of material that blocks light and cut two small slits in it; hit the slits with a flood of photons, and they’ll interfere with each other as they exit the far side, creating a pattern of peaks and valleys corresponding to where the wavelengths of the photons interfered constructively and destructively. Do the same thing, but send the photons at the slits one at a time, and you still see the same pattern. In effect, the photon flows through both slits as a probability wave, and these probabilities interfere with each other…”

HULC exoskeleton system ready for soldier tests – “A robotic exoskeleton that makes it easier for soldiers to run and carry heavy weights is to go through final testing in the US…”

Hollywood Pushes Movie Streaming Standard, UltraViolet – “Hollywood Pushes Movie Streaming Standard UltraVioletThe Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a group of 58 Hollywood studios and technology companies, is pinning its hopes for the future of entertainment on UltraViolet, an online digital locker that would allow you to buy a movie once, and stream it over the Internet for free on any other compatible devices…”

Fits.me shape-shifter models the huge pectoral muscles men want, smaller ones they have (video) – “While online shopping has taken over most facets of modern retail, buying clothes via the interwebs is something more of a hard sell. The Fits.me shape-shifting mannequin is here to make that a little easier — for men, anyway…”

Huntsville-based Macro Industries creating ‘Transformer’ for military – “”The objective of the Transformer (TX) program is to demonstrate a four (4) person flyable/roadable vehicle that provides the warfighter terrain-independent mobility. This presents unprecedented capability to avoid traditional and asymmetrical threats while avoiding road obstructions…”

‘Toaster on legs’ breaks record – “A ROBOT billed as a ‘toaster on legs’ has smashed a world record – by walking 14.3 miles in 11 hours….”

Micro plane perches to feed on power lines – “Miniature surveillance aircraft would never need to return to base if they could cling to overhead power lines to recharge their batteries. Now engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are close to perfecting the trick – taking inspiration from birds…”

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