By Shane McGlaun

I am a big fan of Spore. The game is way cool and very original. I have spent lots of time playing it on the PC and begin able to grow your own creature from a single cell organism into an intergalactic civilization is too cool.

EA has announced that since the Spore Creature Creator launched in June of 2008 players have created and up loaded about 100 million creations. Out of that massive number, EA says that 31,017,761 of them are creatures. That means that the Spore universe has about 19 times as many creatures as the Earth. At least until we find the cave entrance into the dinosaur realm in the center of the Earth, obviously.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

Having watched Caddy Shack countless times, I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to hire one of the caddies at their local golf course, what with all their hilarious misadventures. But if you’re the type who takes their game seriously while not carrying your own clubs, you’ll be happy to know you can finally hire a wisecrack-free robot to do it. The Shadow Caddy can carry your clubs, balls and even beverages and automatically follows you around the course thanks to a wireless transmitter you wear clipped to your belt. And in order to avoid obstacles like other golfers, sand traps or water hazards, it uses a sophisticated object detection system. Apparently the Shadow Caddy will only be sold to golf courses instead of individuals, but they should start appearing on links around the world sometime this year.

Side Note: I love how that product shot makes it look like the Shadow Caddy is hiding in the tall grasses, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take down a golfer that’s been singled out from the herd.

[ Shadow Caddy ] VIA [ GEARFUSE ]

By Andrew Liszewski

According to the Telegraph, many believe that the image above, which was snapped by one of the panoramic cameras on the Spirit Rover, shows a Martian skull, complete with eye sockets and a nose. And by ‘many’ I of course don’t mean NASA scientists or anyone with a background in biology, either terrestrial or extra-terrestrial, but random people who prefer to announce their discoveries on various internet forums.

If you ask me though, the object in this photo is nothing more than a piece of a Martian bowling bowl (you can clearly see the finger/tentacle holes) and is really nothing to get that excited about. Ok, maybe a little excited…

[ Telegraph.co.uk - 'Alien skull' spotted on Mars ] VIA [ Newlaunches.com ]

By Andrew Liszewski

We’ve already brought you shoes that feature an adjustable dial system, but a company called Nobis appears to be the first to integrate a similar system into a ball cap. The small, but not particularly subtle dial sits just above the temple and is used to adjust an internal strap which makes the hat fit, and appear, to be larger or smaller. And even though an adjustable cap means the company can save money by not having to produce multiple sizes, you can still expect to pay $40+ depending on the style you choose.

[ Nobis ] VIA [ Wired Gadget Lab ]

By Andrew Liszewski

A company called Leviathan Energy has come up with a clever way to improve the efficiency of wind turbines, without making any modifications to the turbines or propellers themselves. Using aerodynamic modeling, Leviathan designed a special plastic and metal skirt structure that wraps around the base of the wind turbine and directs the flow of the air to the critical areas of the blades. The system is guaranteed to increase the power output of a wind turbine by at least 15-30%, and at lower wind speeds (0-6 meters per second) the gains can be as high as 150%.

Now the Wind Energizer system isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Each skirt has to be custom designed and built based on the height of the wind turbine, the length of the blades and the wind conditions where it’s installed, but Leviathan Energy claims the estimated period of return on the investment is just 4-5 years.

[ Leviathan Energy Wind Energizer ] VIA [ CleanTechnica ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Wristbands designed to monitor your exposure to harmful UVA and UVB rays are nothing new, but I particularly like the UVSunSense bands because they’ll also let you know when it’s time to re-apply your sunscreen. You see, when you first apply sunscreen, you actually apply it to the UVSunSense band as well. Once you step outside the band will turn purple in the sunlight letting you know it’s been activated, and when the purple color fades, you’ll know it’s time to re-apply.

There’s also an “APPLY SUNSCREEN TO THIS SIDE” note on the band, and when those words are no longer visible, it’s actually recommended that you get out of the sun completely. Now unfortunately the bands are one time use only, but a 7-pack from Amazon is just $5.87.

[ UVSunSense Wristbands ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]

By Evan Ackerman

Last week on BotJunkie, we started off feeling compelled to donate money to a professional begging robot, went “awwww” over some itty bitty teeny tiny humanoid robot toys, learned some tips and tricks about designing micromice, kicked back to some smooth robot jazz, wished we had a robot lawnmower that sends text messages when it needs help, were irked by the reaction to an accidental robot injury in Sweden, wished we understood Spanish after hearing a bot compose Spanish poetry for money, found some robot jewelry just in time for mother’s day, pondered spending a quarter grand on a replica robot mech toy, felt safer after meeting a modified Rovio that can autonomously put out fires, heard a rumor about some new micro pet robots from Tomy, learned about a new type of cloud sourcing that helps home robots complete complex tasks, didn’t know what to think (besides ‘awesome’) about a new Discovery channel show involving robot cars trying to destroy each other, got a sneak preview of some of the bots that will be at RoboGames 2009 this June, met a telepresence bot designed to care for the elderly, realized that it’s too late now that robots can make sandwiches, tried to wrap our brains around an optical illusion that may help us understand how to make robots see like we do, and finally watched a video that vividly illustrated how powerful a $300 servo is and what it can do to your finger.

This week, we’ve already posted about the 2009 Austrian Hexapod Dance Contest, robot babies that are almost as bad as the real thing, a robot that knows where you’re looking, a horrifying robotic sheep shearer, and a robot that knows how to play fetch.

Don’t forget last week’s Bot With Stuff, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

By Evan Ackerman

USB cables are the plastic tethers that keep our mice chained to our desks, and ourselves chained to our mice. You can free yourself with the convenience of a wireless mouse, but if you’re going to cut the cable, why not cut it totally and remove the mouse from the surface all together? The WeraMouse is a little handheld device with buttons and a trackball on it. With it, you’re able to mouse around and click from any position (up to 25 feet away) using only your fingers. Not a fan of trackballs? I hear ya, and WeraMouse is also working on a version with a touchpad instead. The mice are good for over 24 hours of nonstop operation between charges, and come with a 90 minute USB charging cradle.

I’ve never used anything like this before, but I do appreciate the freedom from the restrictions of a surface that my Logitech MX Air gives me. WeraMouse says that it’s much better for your posture to use a mouse like theirs, but it seems like it’s just another opportunity to slouch.

Additional slouching opportunities via the WeraMouse will cost $99, and the touchpad version isn’t quite out yet.

[ WeraMouse ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Just because you’re trying to live an eco-friendly lifestyle doesn’t mean you should go without such luxuries as blended drinks. That’s why Peddler’s Wagon is selling this Stationary Bike Blender Kit which basically lets you mount a pedal-powered blender to the back of your bike.

Now the key words here are ‘stationary’ and ‘bike’ since the blender is only designed to be used while your bicycle is mounted to a stationary trainer. Technically there’s nothing stopping you from taking a spin around the block while mixing up a smoothie, but there doesn’t appear to be any tie-downs for the included Oster pitcher, so there’s a good chance it wouldn’t stay attached to your bike for that long. You can order the kit from the Peddler’s Wagon site for $249, but at that price you better be enjoying a fancy drink for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[ Stationary Bike Blender Kit ] VIA [ Luxury Housing Trends ]