of your prize

There comes along, every couple of decades, a moment in humanity whereby we MUST advance and lately, that advancement has been impeded by the governments of the world. The X Prize Foundation breaks those barriers and creates innovation and advancement for the benefit of humanity through its incredible contests worth millions of dollars. Keep your eye on the prize.

of your companion

The Japanese are the forefront in robotic technology owning/manufacturing over half of the world’s 800,000 robots. Now they’ve made one of action figure stature but large… accrutements. And she’ll give you a kiss. As your girlfriend. My how technology has advanced society.

of your cheap

Want to still play with your old electronics, or modify them but are low on scratch? This rather thrifty (read: cheap) fellow can mod just about anything out of anything (ex: HDD-powered speakers as seen above). Going by the name of ”Afroman” he makes some of the stupidest, weirdest and cheap (read: ghetto) mods around. MacGyver would be proud.

of your cell

Cell phones, these days, are less about making calls as they are surfing the web, sending/receiving emails and playing a particular song whenever your buddies give you a call. SparkFun, however, brings the cell phone back to the past with its innovative Port-O-Rotary. For only $300, you can lug this 2 pound piece of awesomeness around to impress your techno-savvy friends. Or, you could just try to make your own.

of your power

Solar power is not new, but getting it has been the same old trick. Perhaps not for long with the director of India operations for Space Island Group Pranav Mehta. A 40-year-old concept is being dusted off that could give enough power, in one year, that would nearly equal all recoverable conventional oil reserves on Earth today. The sun keeps shining.

of your weekend

Much like the sales tax free weekend in August for clothes and shoes (part of a back to school thing), the Energy Star Sales Tax Weekend that Texas enjoys for the Memorial Day Holiday offers no sales tax when you buy Energy Star rated appliances/products. Save taxes, save energy.

of your docking

The Rules of Speed Docking are rather straight forward: a) remove a laptop and its power supply from a carrying case, b) connect the power along with an external monitor and keyboard, and c) power on the laptop in the least amount of time. The goal is complete when the laptop is ready to accept input. Mind your heads under those desks, folks.

of your robotics

Some creepy things can come out of the brilliance of man. The fine engineers at Boston Dynamics have come up with some doozies. A quadrupedal pack robot, a wall crawler and a fast-paced, all-terrain automaton are some examples. The future of robotics is looking bright with these gentlemen at the helm. There is no spoon.

of your hour

8 PM CST - Turn everything, that is nonessential, off.

of your technique

For years, computer graphics have strived to emulate the real world. Highly detailed and showcasing a striking color palette. Today, however, a new photography technique known as HDR (taking multiple shots of the same image at different exposures) has caught on whereby the final image defies realism. The above, extreme-version image was taken (5 exposures) and composited by “mapgoblin.” The technique is epitomized in a New York City skyline photo taken by Paulo Barcellos Jr. Say “Cheese.” Say “Cheese.” Say “Cheese.” Say “Cheese.” Say “Cheese.” …