What Would You Do With A Lego Robot That Takes iPad Photos? [Video]

The folks at Montreal-based Pheromone Lab designed a Lego robot whose main function was to automate photo-taking on the iPad 2. Yes, you probably could use a software tool like UI Automation for the task, but that's no fun.

The robot was built using a Lego Mindstorms kit and a capacitive stylus to press the iPad's photo button repeatedly. It was created to help test a stop-motion app by automatically taking 15,000 photos.

Instead of plain pictures to test an app, imagine what you could do with this robot if you had an ounce or two of creativity. Me? I'm not that creative so I'd probably start with a stop-motion video of me making the stop-motion Lego robot. Anyone else with a bigger or better idea? [Geek]

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Of Course AT&T's New International Messaging Plans Would Be Ass Expensive [Blip]

AT&T just announced their new international SMS plans and they're ridonkulous: 200 messages for $30 and 500 messages for $50. Hah! 50 bucks! Just for sending texts! Who in the half brain hell would sign up for that?

Okay, it's a better deal than what AT&T previously offered, which was $0.50 per text (50 texts for $10) but still, for $30-$50 I can probably land myself a local pre-paid plan that could link me up with data. And when I have data, I can avoid the rip off known as text messages entirely with Google Voice or e-mails or the bazillion other options that are much cheaper and nearly as good.

Don't be fooled people, it might be really easy to sign up for this "Global Messaging" plan but so is flushing money down the toilet, and you wouldn't do that, right? One silver lining: the 200/500 messages only count the texts you send OUT not the text you receive abroad. [AT&T via Engadget]

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When Someone Robs You at a Gas Station, Use the Nozzle to Spray Your Would Be Attacker [Crime]

Faced with a knife-wielding goon while working at a gas station in Massachusetts, an attendent pulled a Zoolander and doused the robber with gasoline, successfully fighting him off.

According to CBS Boston, the gas-soaked goofball ran away and fled off into a minivan.

Surveillance video captured the suspect walking up to the pump and then taking off running.

What it doesn't show is the attendant, who was working at the pump, grabbed the nozzle, aimed it toward the suspect, and fired.

The surveillance video really doesn't show much, but the level of awesomeness still remains. And remember kids, power comes from the barrel of a gasoline nozzle. [CBS Boston]

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Why Would a Company Spend $200 Million to Build a 20-Mile Ghost Town for 35,000 Invisible People? [Cities]

New Mexico, where people go to cook Crystal Meth and disappear into the maw that isn't quite Mexico, is going to get another claim to fame: a brand new, $200 million 20-square mile city with no residents. A modern day ghost town.

It could fit 35,000 people if people were allowed to live there but that's not the point for this ghost town. Instead, the purpose is to let anyone test anything on a city wide scale without the interference of nosy citizens. Think of it as one gigantic lab, only it'll have highways, houses, old buildings, new buildings instead of coats and beakers.

The ghost town, which they refer to as The Center, is the brain child of Pegasus Global Holdings, a Washington DC-based company. There won't be any people living at The Center but other companies can see how their solar panels play out on a larger scale, how new traffic systems work in real life simulations, how Wi-Fi will translate between old and new buildings and so much more. It's an actual blank slate city to manipulate however they'd like. A playground for research.

The Center is supposed to be the first of its kind 'round the US and will be finalized in the next few months. I wonder how quick it'll transform to a squatter town though. [Washington Post, Image Credit: upthebanner/Shutterstock]

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Would You Read The News While Brushing Your Teeth? [Science]

The New York Times Company's Research and Development Lab studies novel ways to deliver news to people. Their latest creation is a bathroom mirror that uses Microsoft Kinect to detect motion and deliver a stream of news while you comb your hair or put on your makeup.

Besides news, the technology will let you send emails, shop online or add calendar entries via your mirror. And it uses the Kinect to interact with the user via motion and voice commands. It's an interesting concept, but, really, is the bathroom the best place to use this technology?

The average person spends a total of one hour per day in the bathroom and most of that time is spent on the commode or in the shower, not in front of the mirror. The amount of time you spend brushing your teeth is just a tiny part of your day.

The bathroom is also a huge breeding ground for microorganisms, especially if you flush with the seat up. Every flush release a plume of virus and bacteria into the air that disperse and land on your sink, walls and your newly installed interactive mirror. Kinda gross, no? [Nieman Journalism Lab]

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Nuking a Hurricane Would Be a Really Bad Idea [Irene]

Did we learn nothing from Independence Day? Nuking things for nuking's sake just doesn't work like we think it might. Take a hurricane, for example. It'd be relatively immune to whatever ordinance Bill Pullman—sorry, humanity—might throw at it.

First of all there'd be the obvious nuclear fallout. Because hurricanes are coziest in the tradewinds, NOAA says all that residual awfulness would spread quickly and efficiently to areas well outside the hurricane's predicted cone of travel. Firing a nuke into Irene would have likely made that minor hurricane into a beast more formidable than Isabel or Katrina, which at a Category 5 was the worst of the worst.

But what of the physics? Say we were immune to fallout and could lob nukes into storms to our heart's content. Would they do anything to a storm?

Again, NOAA is less than optimistic about our chances. As a species we're just too damn weak:

A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x1013 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 1013 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.

But Jack! Something, something shock waves! I read about those once and how they can be deceptively deadly!

Well, yes, you're right my little pyro, but when it comes to hurricanes those shockwaves still wouldn't be powerful enough to downgrade a hurricane from Cat5 to Cat 2:

[A shock wave] doesn't raise the barometric pressure after the shock has passed because barometric pressure in the atmosphere reflects the weight of the air above the ground. For normal atmospheric pressure, there are about ten metric tons (1000 kilograms per ton) of air bearing down on each square meter of surface. In the strongest hurricanes there are nine. To change a Category 5 hurricane into a Category 2 hurricane you would have to add about a half ton of air for each square meter inside the eye, or a total of a bit more than half a billion (500,000,000) tons for a 20 km radius eye.

And don't think we could preempt a hurricane by targeting its tropical storm/depression beginnings. Even if such a storm used 10% of the energy of a hurricane, that's still an incredible amount of energy. Besides, there are far too many storms and depressions that develop each year for such a strategy to be practical anyway. [NOAA via Matt Yglesias]

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Study: People Would Sooner Make Love to Their Laptops Than to Their Lovers [Science]

It's Saturday night, and you're feeling randy. You turn to your significant other, and without a word you start nuzzling close. And without a word she pushes you off, too wrapped up in the Tudors on Netflix. You're not alone.

According to the Ikea-funded study—which really does wonders for its credibility—people have become much too attached to their laptops, to the point that they've started taking them to bed when they should be cuddling. It just plain gets in the way of good old-fashioned intimacy, which is all these researchers want. Although I wonder why Ikea signed onto this when they sell something like this beauty.

To be fair, the glow from a laptops screen has been found to disrupt sleep patterns. Which is old news. But there are probably plenty of ways of bringing the laptop into the bedroom play. Uncomfortable ways, perhaps, but if we're all doing it then we can move with the times. Such couples would then earn the right to call their laptops sexy. [Daily Mail]

Image Credit: Patrick Hermans/Shutterstock

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Why Would You Whip Your Penis Out During a Hurricane on National TV? (NSFW) [Video]

People watching the Weather Channel just got a treat. During Eric Fisher's dispatch from Virginia beach, a few bros sailed across the screen. One of whom flashed his dick for all to see. Really?? [Village Voice, Mediaite]

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Would You Really Cut Off Your Own Arm for a Robotic One? [Video]

Filmmaker Rob Spence, otherwise known as the Eyeborg, has been toying with robotics for some time. Now, with the help of some engineers, he has a robotic eye that can record near everything he sees. He thinks voluntary prosthesis is the future.

Now, we've made some remarkable strides in replacing the lost body parts of people. But I don't know if I'd volunteer to have my legs cut off just so I could jump higher. Call me old-fashioned. [Sky News via I Heart Chaos]

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