] Researchers at Japan's Nagasaki University School of
] Medicine have launched a project to develop a device to
] read babies' emotions from their facial expressions, body
] temperatures and other physical cues.

Team works on baby emotion translator. 07/04/2005. ABC News Online

The satellite feature is pretty neat.

Google Maps

] Bored using your advanced green laser for traditional
] spreadsheet pointing techniques? Why not kick up your
] skills a notch and start using green lasers to track
] aircraft? With beams visible in daylight that extend for
] miles green lasers are ideally suited to track objects in
] the sky. Stop worrying about things like mandatory jail
] time and social isolation and play the intriguing game of
] SkyTag™ today.
]
]
] Simply connect your SkyTag™ via the included USB 2.0
] cable into your computer and install the software. Your
] SkyTag™ comes equipped with a GPS unit in the base so
] it will immediately identify it's own location. The
] SkyTag™ software will then, via the use of several
] available online tracking services, begin to search for
] aircraft approaching your coordinates that are at the
] appropriate altitude for your green laser. When you find
] the aircraft you would like to SkyTag™, simply select
] it. Then quickly look outside to make sure no black
] helicopters are approaching. If they are, quickly hide
] your SkyTag™ and proceed to watch TV or something. If
] all is clear, then proceed...

ThinkGeek :: SkyTag™ - Green Laser Aircraft Tracker

] Goombah browses your iTunes collection and theirs to
] compare what you like and make recommendations. If you
] and your peers share a love for one song, chances are
] you%u2019ll appreciate others your Goombah Neighbors
] listen to -- that%u2019s the general idea.

Welcome to Goombah - Music Discovery

] Illegal gizmos that interfere with signals and cut off
] reception are selling like hotcakes on the streets of
] New York.
]
] "I bought one online, and I love it," said one jammer
] owner fed up with the din of dumb conversations and
] rock-and-roll ringtones.
]
] "I use it on the bus all the time. I always zap the
] idiots who discuss what they want from the Chinese
] restaurant so that everyone can hear them. Why is that
] necessary?"

Eye spy with my little eye a store on 3rd that's going to be the site of a very public bust by a federal agency tasked with allocating and protecting the radio spectrum.

"One time I followed this guy around for 20 minutes," he said. "I kept zapping him and zapping him, until finally he threw the phone on the floor. I couldn't stop laughing. It was so cool."

New York Post: New Yorkers find new way to be forcibly inconsiderate

] An anti-rape device invented by a retired anaesthetist in
] the Free State has appalled men and women - for different
] reasons.
]
] Jaap Haumann, 72, who farms near the small town of
] Clocolan, has designed a "killer tampon" which can lop
] off the end of a would-be rapist's penis.
]
] Dr Haumann said he designed the device after speaking to
] several rape victims.
]
] "It was clear to me that rape has a devastating impact on
] the lives of women, physically and especially mentally."

IOL: A Step Beyond

] [Health India]: London, Feb17 : Now, you can play it safe
] along with music! A scientist has come up with musical
] condoms that apart from being a contraceptive gives you
] the opportunity play you own tone that gets louder as the
] sex gets more vigorous.

Strike the right note with a musical condom!

] The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with
] machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq.
]
] Eighteen of the 1m-high robots, equipped with cameras and
] operated by remote control, are going to Iraq this
] spring, the Associated Press reports.

] Mr Quinn says there are plans to replace the computer
] screen, joysticks and keypad in the remote-control unit
] with a Gameboy-style controller and virtual-reality
] goggles.

BBC NEWS | US plans to deploy 'robot troops' in Iraq

] Imagine a gun with no recoil, no sound, no heat, no
] gunpowder, no visible firing signature (muzzle flash),
] and no stoppages or jams of any kind. Now imagine that
] this gun could fire .308 caliber and .50 caliber metal
] projectiles accurately at up to 8,000 fps
] (feet-per-second), featured an infinitely
] variable/programmable cyclic rate-of-fire (as high as
] 120,000 rounds-per-minute), and were capable of laying
] down a 360-degree field of fire. What if you could mount
] this weapon on any military Humvee (HMMWV), any
] helicopter/gunship, any armored personnel carrier (APC),
] and any other vehicle for which the technology were
] applicable?

The video is just so robo-cop-esque

Defense Review - World Exclusive Video! DREAD Weapon System: Devastating, Jam-Proof, and Silent.

Many years ago (1995, I think), we were brainstorming new game ideas at my office. Under the "no idea is a bad idea" principle, I came up with a suggestion of a massively multiplayer morphing artwork, where each person in the game would be in charge of the color of one pixel, and teams would compete to see who could draw certain images (a bicycle, a house, a face, etc.) the most rapidly. I sort of envisioned it like a cyberspace version of those big sports stadium events where a part of the audience would all hold up cards in sequence, to make a design.

Well, my idea was greeted with near universal derision: "Ha! That sounds totally boring, no one would ever play that," (so much for the spirit of positive-reinforcement brainstorming, heh).

Anyway, my arch-critic from back then recently sent to me this link, of a "pixelfest collaborative artwork". It's not quite the real-time dynamic team-based thing I had in mind, but it's close enough to make me smile. :)

Feel free to add your own pixel!

- Elonka

Update: To see an animation of the 7000-odd pixels that have been placed so far, check here: http://haub.net/pixelfest/ . I found it especially interesting to see how certain people tried to "grief" the image early on with four-letter words, but then the community responded by erasing words as soon as they started recognizing them. Some interesting dynamics there. :)

Experiments - Pixelfest collaborative artwork