Chicken hypnotism is pretty mind boggling. We were enthralled when young Ciaran hypnotized a chicken with his infectious little boy charm (and more importantly, the gentle back-and-forth sway of his arms). There are a wealth of videos on YouTube depicting the process—a bonafide practice tried and true among both farmers and scientists. So, what is the why and how-to behind the art of fowl hypnosis?
With Microsoft's release of the Kinect SDK, things seem to have slowed down a bit in the world of Kinect development. Have developers exhausted the uses of Kinect already? No way! Four researchers at Cornell University have created an AI-based system on the Kinect that can recognize what you're doing, and maybe even who is doing it.
So, you just bought Photoshop. It's time to familiarize yourself with the rudimentary tools. Let's start at the very beginning!
Video games are the most prevalent type of interactive media, but certainly not the only one. The interactive music video for the song "3 Dreams of Black" by supergroup ROME and digital artist Chris Milk utilizes the latest web design technology, video game influenced art and interactivity, and large crowd-sourced elements to form a compelling work of art. ROME is composed of producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse, Italian film composer Daniele Luppi, Norah Jones, and Jack White. Their recent e...
It's been a long time coming, but Microsoft has finally released a software development kit (SDK) for the Kinect on Windows 7 PCs. The word "hacking" is no longer needed, thanks to the free beta download available at Microsoft Research that allows anyone with a Windows computer and some coding knowledge to take advantage of the Kinect's motion-sensing capabilities.
One of the biggest advantages iOS has over Android as a mobile platform is how readily and fully it has embraced mobile gaming. There are over 200,000 games available in the Apple store, compared to approximately 100,000 in the Android Marketplace. As an Android-using gamer, this has always bothered me.
Earlier this month, game developer David Braben and his Rasberry Pi nonprofit foundation revealed a $25 USB PC. The computer can connect to an HDMI monitor on one end, and a USB peripheral on the other (such as a keyboard or a USB hub). You can use the USB hub to connect multiple items, such as a keyboard, mouse, printer, USB ethernet/wireless, creating a fully functional computer.
Could the world really be coming to an end tomorrow? Presuming you believe the biblical prediction from 89-year-old Harold Camping, May 21st, 2011 is undeniably Judgment Day. If you have confidence in that prophecy, you're probably not even reading this because you're too busy either A) preparing for the Rapture or B) sitting in your backyard bunker hoping to outwit annihilationism.
When you look up the word free in the dictionary, you'll find a lot of definitions, but in the days of digital dependency and a falling economy, free only means one thing—expensive stuff for nothing. And if you own a Windows computer, one of the best sites to get free software from is Giveaway of the Day.
With the globally rampant use of such social networking platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, the issue of privacy has become a prevalent concern for many. And for good reason—there's the violation of Facebook employing user names in ads, the Etsy slip-up, and of course, the everyman act of recklessly sharing too much information via common social media outlets: a night of drinking results in morning after embarrassment, or worst case scenario, sloppy Facebook posts and tweets resul...
When the iPad 2 was released earlier this month, as to be expected there was a whole lotta buzz. And for good reason—while the the newest version shares the same price tag as the old, it boasts some significant new features. In case you missed it, here's a quick overview:
Penny pincher? A true believer in "waste not want not"? Then listen up—here's a quick tip that will save you some spare change.
Traders are in a frenzy of instant messaging all day long. The best ones, at least. A recent study says the best traders are the ones that IM the most and the least successful traders were the ones that IM the least. So, it seems like if you can find a way to jump on the bandwagon, you can beat the odds, too. But, what's their secret? Are they passing around insider information?
Enjoy rolling around at night in the sleek luster of silk? Also afraid of a mobster finding out you're rolling around with his cousin's wife? Solution: bullet-proof silk sheets. All you need is the strongest biomaterial ever found--Darwin's bark spider silk. So, grab a loom and start weaving.
Some of you have already seen the superbness of tonight's "super moon", but for those of you in the western half of the United States, there's still time to ready your cameras and enjoy March 19th's super full moon. It's the biggest full moon in almost 20 years, the last one appearing in March of 1993.
Your roommate swears by 'hair of the dog' or chugging raw eggs and tomato juice, but do these hangover cures actually work? What do the scientists say?
After getting slammed with a crazy-big earthquake/tsunami, the Japanese nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi might be on the brink of meltdown. Not as bad as Chernobyl, but maybe as bad as Three Mile Island. Nobody wishes such a disaster on anyone...anywhere in the world. In the US, there are about 100 nuclear facilities, about 8 of which are located near hot beds of seismic activity.
As a California resident, I'm all too familiar with the delicious western fast food chain In-N-Out. The food is great: the fries, the shakes, the fresh ingredients, the secret sauce. And of course, the secret menu. There are only 4 items posted on the in-store menu, but for customers in the know, there are more "secret" items available:
Always wanted a fluorescent dog but didn’t want to commit? Well, here’s your solution. Researchers at Seoul National University developed fluorescent puppies that only glow when you want them to. Just inject the special pups with doxycycline and they’ll glow like a black light poster for a few weeks. Then, they return to dull, furry normal.
If you tried visiting the Apple Store online this morning, you were probably prompted with the same notice as the one below, which lasted a good portion of the a.m. What could Apple have been doing to shut down their online store for so long?
The Clock Bloggers love Angry Birds so much, they decided to transform into... Angry Birds. With a little advice from our jolly bloggers, you too can jump into the video game fantasy vortex.
Since its inception in 2007, the Pwn2Own computer hacking contest has been challenging the vulnerability of mobile phones and web-related software. In 2010, the fruit of two full days of hacking came down to the exploitation of the following web browsers: Safari 4 on Mac OS X, Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7, and Firefox 3.6 on Windows 7. The winners walked away with the successfully hacked computer, plus a cash prize, but they left one Godly browser intact: Google Chrome. Even the savviest ...
PETA wouldn't consider James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau's ingenious flypaper clock very eco-friendly, but I might beg to differ. The clock doesn't require any electricity or batteries. Instead it captures flies and converts the bodies of the dead insects into energy. Eight dead flies makes for roughly twelve days of power. Not bad.
When I used to play Magic every day during 7th grade, one of my regular opponents was a kid named Eddie. He played an all-Blue, deck, the first I'd ever seen. At that point I was even more creature-obsessed than I am now and my deck were unwieldy hulks practically begging to be shamed by an all-Blue deck. I couldn't hurt him. Every time I tried to do something he had a response, a way to negate what I was doing. He would barely ever hurt me. He would win games just by making me play for so lo...
By Ethical Traveler As the world becomes ever more interconnected, being an ethical traveler becomes both easier and more urgent. Travelers today have access to far more information than we did even 10 years ago. We can observe–almost in real time–the impact that smart or selfish choices, by governments and individuals, have on rainforests and reefs, cultures and communities.
DYVOUR n pl. -S one who is bankrupt Nigel Richards played this word in his very first game in the 2010 National SCRABBLE Championship (NSC) held in Texas, which ended today. Richards won that first game against Lucas Freeman with a 462 to 392 score, but "DYVOUR" was no forewarning for Richards — not at all.
Japan's Shoichi Uchiyama is a hardcore advocate of insect cuisine. His selling point? A heavenly nutty flavor, the delicious texture of shellfish, AND high in nutritional value.
Feeling comfortable or at home means living in an atmosphere where you are accepted. Some people moving abroad worry about getting adjusted to the new social environment or the western culture. You may have left your home to make big business, excel in your career, get married, meet a relative/friend, discover new places, or for any good reason.
Scientists have recently released a mathematical breakdown of the perfect handshake. The University of Manchester researchers discovered that nearly one-in-five people hate the handshake, listing complaints such as sweaty palms, limp wrists, gripping too hard and no eye contact.
DO NOT eat a berry if you cannot identify it. I decided not to include the obvious blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, but this guide will assist you in identifying which wild berries are, in fact, poisonous.
Yes, they are May numbers, NPD is late by a month due to "IT" problems. They might have well blamed it only oil spill crisis.
How do we really come to the decisions that we make? Is it just flip a coin and hope for the best or is there some underlying procedure that we go through, consciously or unconsciously, that guides our course of action?
ZERO WASTE. Yes, You read that right. This kitchen of the future aims to have zero waste. Ekokook the kitchen concept out of design company Faltazi gives us hope for a greener future. How is this possible you ask when in most homes 85 or 90 percent of a family's trash is generated in the vicinity of the kitchen? Ekokooks kitchen system is divided up into disposing and storing your waste in three mechanized sectioned systems Solid Waste, Liquid Waste and Organic Waste. Solid Waste- The solid w...
Microsoft Ribbon hero is an application that turns the office into game. It is designed to boost skill and knowledge in Microsoft Office’s latest version. It is released with office 2007 as a social game for increases productivity in office applications. It is compatible with Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft Word 2007, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 as well as those three programs in Microsoft Office 2010, available as a beta download.
Some say Nigel Richards is to SCRABBLE what Garry Kasparov is to chess, but that doesn't make him perfect.
JUAREZ. PH33R. SUX0R. If you know what these mean, then you probably spend way too much time on the internet. If you're as bewildered as I was, these words actually mean something in leetspeak.
Word of mouth is that Zynga is preparing to harvest the world. Is this a horror movie? No, but FarmVille has already invaded millions of homes, and now it wishes to conquer our pockets. They're gearing up for a mobile platform, one that will reach millions more via the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android.
Popsci has posted 2009's most amazing scientific images, and there's quite a few great ones in there. A few of our favorites below, click through for all 62.
Have you been wondering if George Washington is related to you, what about Christopher Columbus, maybe even John Wilkes Booth? Well, with a little help from Ancestral Quest, you might just find out.
The motivation for the Add Shadow command, according to sources at Macromedia, was in response to a popular enhancement request to add "perspective shadow-like" capability to Fireworks. In this Fireworks 8 video tutorial you will learn how to use distort to add perspective shadows to your objects. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Add perspective shadows in Fireworks 8.