Oh! Gizmo

By Luke Anderson

I love animals, and enjoy having them around my house. When I was growing up, we had two dogs and always a few stray cats. It is rare that I actually find myself scared of a dog, as I know that generally they have no desire to hurt you. However, there are some dogs that are mean, and very well may attack you. If you’re a person that is forced to come in contact with such animals, you may want to look into this Animal Nuisance Repeller.

This device will emit a high-frequency sound which will make dogs whimper, and generally turn tail and run. This isn’t something I would keep around the house to use as an obedience tool, but rather would see it in the hands of an animal control officer for emergencies. One of these will only set you back around $30.

[ TaylorGifts ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Andrew Liszewski

At first glance you might think that the horse in the above photos is pulling a ridiculously over-designed carriage, but in reality it’s actually a training vehicle designed by Roush Technologies for Turkish-based Kurt Systems who trains race horses and camels. The vehicle provides trainers and veterinarians with a close-up view of the animal while it’s moving and allows them to continually monitor its vital signs at precisely controlled speeds from a walking pace all the way up to 60kph.

The striking and unusual looking machine incorporates a number of innovative and unique vehicle systems, as well as a diesel engine, automatic transmission and a spacious luxury cabin for a crew of three. Weighing in at around 4 tonnes, the vehicle effectively provides a moving enclosure similar to a starting stall, in which the animal can walk, trot or full gallop freely in a controlled environment, whilst being monitored and trained to optimise race performance.

The spacious cabin, which is mounted rearward of the horse, includes a centrally mounted driver’s seat, plus additional seats for a trainer and a veterinary specialist. Onboard systems include 12-volt and 240-volt electrical supplies, to power systems such as computerised heart, blood, oxygen and fitness monitoring. The unit also carries a range of precision hydraulically controlled accessories, such as a silicone saddle to simulate jockey weights.

The training vehicle also features electronically controlled reins which ensure that the horse is being steered in the same direction as the vehicle at all times. Since it was custom built for Kurt Systems I can only assume that the Roush Horse Trainer comes with a pretty high price tag, but given how competitive and lucrative horse racing can be, I have to wonder if they’ve signed Roush to an exclusive deal when it comes to the actual design.

[ Autoblog - ROUSH develops vehicle to increase horse power ]

By Evan Ackerman

The world’s first webmail service using real live snails as delivery agents is up and running (er, maybe not running…) at Bournemouth University in the UK. Here’s how it works:

Our snails are equipped with a miniaturised electronic circuit and antenna that enables them to be assigned messages from hardware located within their enclosure. The moment you click ‘send’ your message will travel at the speed of light to our snail server where it will await collection by a snail agent.

Once associated with the tiny electronic chip on the snails shell your message will be carried around until the snail chances by the drop off point. Hardware located at this point collects the message from the snail and forwards it to its final destination.

This is absolutely for real; send your own message by clicking here. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though… Muriel, one of the snails, hasn’t bothered to deliver any messages at all. Cecil has delivered 4 messages so far with an average delivery time of 3.26 days, and Austin is blazing along, having delivered 10 messages in about 1.96 days each. When if your message gets delivered, it’ll include a complete log of your snail agent’s progress and details about the particular snail involved. I’ve just sent one off, myself. Let’s see, is it delivered yet? Nope. …Now? Um, nope. Hmm. Well, I’ll keep you updated.

[ Real Snail Mail ] VIA [ New Scientist ]

By Evan Ackerman

Kinda like last Friday, there’s no really gadgetry going on here, but these guys are just SO CUTE and alien-y I had to post about them. They’re nudibranchs, a type of sea slug, and they’re some of the most flagrantly colorful animals on the planet. The colors are partially to help them blend in on coral reefs, and partially to communicate that they’re poisonous. National geographic has a mind bending gallery by David Doubilet that you can check out here, and I’ve posted some of my favorite pics after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

By Evan Ackerman

Your weird USB combination of the day comes in the form of a this little dog-shaped 4 port USB 2.0 hub. It’s not just any dog, though… It’s a cycloptic dog, with a giant glowing LED in the middle of its head. If this freaks you out a little bit, don’t fret, just pull the head off of the body and you’ve got an auto-tuning AM/FM radio with an integrated speaker that runs off of 2 AAA batteries. How cool is that? Yeah, you’re right, not especially. At only $20, though, it’s hard to get past the “why the heck not” factor.

[ USB Smart Dog Hub ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Evan Ackerman

I’ll be posting tons of pics from this past weekend’s Maker Faire over the next few days, but here’s a little taste. This is Compubeaver. He’s a beaver (or I guess he used to be a beaver), who now has a computer inside him. His torso contains a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, a 160gb HD, a gig of ram, a chest-loading DVD burner, and, um, some tastefully placed USB ports. If you’d like a Compubeaver of your very own, Instructables will show you how to make one in 29 easy steps.

Keeping Compubeaver company was Text-o-possum, which combines a bluetooth laser keyboard with, well, a possum, allowing “the convenience of regular keyboard typing in a possum form. Text-o-possum puts the awesome in possum - the future is here!”

Both of these animals were modded by Your Psycho Girlfriend. And if you find yourself asking a question like “why would anybody DO this,” you’ll need to try and get more in the spirit of Maker Faire, which I might sum up as: “Why not do it, it’s cool!”

[ Compubeaver ]
[ Text-O-Possum ]

By Evan Ackerman

You might be surprised how often visitors to the Oakland Zoo (where I volunteer) ask whether or not the alligators are… you know… real. Or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised, if you’ve ever seen a real live alligator, since most of the time real live alligators look just like this fake alligator decoy. Except, this is better than a real alligator, since it’s solar powered and has light up eyes. You can anchor it to the bottom of your fish pond, swimming pool, or bathtub to keep predators (or those damn kids) from chasing your koi. And zoos? They can save big money on food and care and pretty much nobody will notice, as long as visitors can be convinced that the solar power cells are just an adaptation. You know, ’cause of the high price of gas and all.

$90.

[ Alligator Decoy ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Evan Ackerman

As you might expect, that headline doesn’t tell anything close to the whole story, but it’s essentially true and dripping with irony. And I like the picture. In a test off the coast of South Australia, a Shark Shield device (which is supposed to repel sharks with a conductive field that causes them to experience uncomfortable muscle spasms if they get too close) was chomped on by a 12 foot long Great White shark. The device was attached to a float at the time, instead of a surfer. The company says that the test failure was due to a problem with the electrode generating the field, and not with the way the thing works, but I’m not sure that would make me feel much better.

The company says on their website that “the testing conducted to date proves conclusively (100% of the time) that sharks detest the effect the field has on them, and will keep a safe distance between themselves and the Shark Shield”, but a spokesman has modified that to “nobody wearing a Shark Shield has ever been attacked by a shark.” My guess is that you’re probably better off with one of these things on than not, but keep in mind that your odds of being bitten by a shark are astronomically low. If you’re still worried, a personal Shark Shield for surfers or divers will cost you about $645.

[ Shark Shield ] VIA [ The Australian ]

By Evan Ackerman

For the last several years, GDC has hosted the Game Design Challenge, where three talented game designers create games based on some sort of weird concept. This year, the challenge was to create a concept for a game playable by humans and at least one other species. The competitors included Brenda Brathwaite (the Wizardry series), Steve Meretzky (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Zoo Tycoon), and returning champion and the most famous puzzle game designer you may never have heard of, Alexey Pajitnov (inventor of Tetris). Read about the concepts, including paintball dolphins and killer mutant bacteria, and learn who won, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »