What’s to be done with our bodies after we cash out is a grim thought, sure, but one brother, Sam, came up with a loving tribute: he put the ashes inside of a vintage SPARCstation computer. He also included one of Alan’s last thoughts on the front: “Beam me up, Scotty. I’m done here.”

It’s the kind of geeky homage any of us could be happy with:

I kept the floppy drive cover but for space reasons removed the floppy drive, hard drive, and most of the power supply. I left behind the motherboard and power switch and plugs to keep all openings covered. The case worked quite well at his memorial party.

The computer also doubled as an offering box of sorts:

His friends and family were able to leave their final good-byes on post-it notes. Anyone who wanted to keep their words private could just slip their note into the case through the floppy slot. All notes will be sealed in plastic and placed within the case.

So, unless the miracles of science manage to turn us all into immortal cyborgs, what kind of computer would you want to serve as your coffin?

Via CNET

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As if we all need another reason to wear a tinfoil hat. “The Wi-FI! It can see you, man.” Well, thanks to a pair of researchers at the University of Utah, it can. The trick is in using and excess of signals shooting around a room, and then finding the spots of interruption using receivers placed all over.

From the Technology Review:

“Joey Wilson and Neal Patwari have developed a technique called variance-based radio tomographic imaging that processes the signals to reveal signs of movement… The basic idea is straightforward. The signal strength at any point in a network is the sum of all the paths the radio waves can take to get to the receiver. Any change in the volume of space through which the signals pass, for example caused by the movement of a person, makes the signal strength vary. So by “interrogating” this volume of space with many signals, picked up by multiple receivers, it is possible to build up a picture of the movement within it.”

Okay, so maybe it’s not the most subtle way to do it, but researchers Joey Wilson and Neal Patwari are pegging it as an inexpensive way to pull it off as all the tech is off the shelf. The duo believes that it would be perfect for emergency responders, military forces, or police, as it could be a cheap, quick and temporary way to peek through walls.

Technology Review, via The Raw Feed

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CDC Latest Weekly 2009 H1N1 Flu Media Briefing

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Bostonian architecture firm Höweler + Yoon took a look at some of the stalled construction projects around town and decided to not only gussy them up, but make them useful as well. The solution? Eco-Pods, or algae garden capsules attached to the skeletal, halted construction projects.

Designed in cooperation with LA’s Squared Design Lab, the capsule would be rotated and repositioned by robotic arms to maximize efficiency, and the end product would be biofuel. It’s all a bit sci-fi, but — hey — it’d be sweet if it ever came to see the light of day.

Check out a closer shot of the arms at work after the jump.

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We’re stoked about electric cars, but unless their range can exceed the 100 miles or so of today’s electro-cars, they’re going to be a nonstarter with mainstream consumers. IBM aims to change all that with its Battery 500 Project, just kicked off at the company’s Alamaden Laboratory in San Jose, California.

They’re pooling the resources of 40 of the world’s best engineers and scientists, with a goal of creating lithium-air batteries with a 500-mile range, 200 miles farther than a typical gasoline-fueled car. Not only do they intend to make car batteries more efficient, they also aim to make them smaller and much lighter.

If IBM can create a 500-mile car battery cheap enough for the rest of us to afford, we might all be driving electric cars a few years from now. Armed with an impressive brain trust, key patents, and hopefully some serious economic-stimulus bucks, the Battery 500 Project could change the world.

Smarter Technology, via Engadget

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As part of a National Science Foundation grant program to examine cutting edge ways to make nature work for us, a team of scientists at Iowa State University have been awarded $2 million to unravel how some plants and algae can make hydrocarbons and discover if the genes that govern that process might be isolated.

“These plants are capturing solar energy and creating something that’s chemically identical to petroleum,” said Jackie Shanks, Iowa State’s Manley R. Hoppe Professor of Chemical Engineering, in a statement.

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Coming up next week is CEATEC Japan, a big-ass trade show in Tokyo that always has tons of cutting-edge tech on display. This year we’re extra excited about it, though, because we’re going to be live on the scene, raking up tons of hands-on coverage. We’ll also be trolling around Tokyo and Osaka, looking for any cool toys we can get our clumsy gaijin hands on. Watch this space for news from the Land of the Rising Sun starting Tuesday (really early), with even-more-current updates on our Twitter feed.

Full disclosure: Our coverage in Japan is coming to you courtesy of Panasonic, who is flying us out there to check out the show and their HQ. Just so we’re clear: We appreciate Panasonic’s generosity, but it won’t stop us from covering everything we can at CEATEC, and we’ll certainly be our usual skeptical selves toward all that we see, including Panasonic stuff. Just think of it as if we’re “embedded.”

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Saturday, October 10, 12:30-3:00pm

reMake lounge – Crocker Galleria

50 Post St., San Francisco

$20 materials and refreshments included.

Register at http://remakelounge.com

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The days of self-driving cars just got closer with Nissan’s EPORO, robot cars that know how to move together without colliding. Nissan’s built robot cars before, but says this is the first time such vehicles have been able to travel together as a group, zipping around like a school of fish and avoiding obstacles, as well as each other.

These research bots are blazing the trail towards Nissan’s ambitions of creating collision avoidance technology to be used in vehicles. We’re thinking this is a huge step toward building cars that drive themselves. In the meantime, a group of six of these EPORO bots will be traveling around in close formation next week at CEATEC Japan, 2009.

Nissan, via CrunchGear

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You can take pretty much any car, add gullwings, and it is instantly cool. Or not. But I’d have to catagorize this upcoming Subaru hybrid concept car as pretty cool, something I don’t often do with Subarus. I mean just look at those doors!

Whether or not Subaru ever makes this odd two-motor hybrid or it remains as another sidelined concept, who knows. But they’ve got some good ideas, and gullwing doors. Yeah, I’m really a fan of the doors.

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You’re looking at the 253.2-foot Delta 4-Heavy lifting off from launch complex 37B at Cape Canaveral, and yes, that’s actually a photograph. Good thing the camera was remotely triggered by photographer Ben Cooper, who used sound activation to snap this shot while he was safely ensconced 3 miles away.

We feel sorry for that camera, though, whose lens was destroyed. The good news is, the camera itself somehow survived this hellish inferno as the world’s tallest unmanned rocket roared away from its launchpad. This is such a spectacular photo, we thought at first it was an illustration. Nice work, Mr. Cooper.

Airliners, via Gizmodo

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Two gorgeous Persian sisters, Asha and Susie, are looking for a loving home with a garden and lots of human company.

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An Illinois doctor won the Public Health section of the IgNobel awards at Harvard University last night, for her invention of a bra that converts into two gas masks. Organized by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the gongs are handed out to people whose achievements “make people laugh and then make people think.”

Other winners included the Zimbabwe Reserve bank for issuing bank notes ranging from one Zimbabwean cent to 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars (Mathematics) and, my favorite, the Peace Prize. That was trousered by a bunch of guys from Bern, Switzerland, who experimented to discover which was worse: being smashed over the head by an empty beer bottle; or being smashed over the head by a full one. My money’s on the full one — what a waste.

Improbable Research Via Telegraph

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Clifton is a fantastic boy who is just a joy to have around. Intelligent, friendly and fit, he would make a wonderful family dog. And at only 7 years old, he is a real youngster here as well!

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Anne Forschner, a student of design at the Pforzheim University in Germany, proves that concept cars can be futuristic, sexy, and ecologically responsible. The Lovos (Lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity) concept car, developed in conjunction with BMW, offers an aggressive design highlighted by a series of “scales” wrapping the entire car.

The function of the solar photovoltaic panels, each one interchangeable, would be to operate as solar cells when flipped around thus collecting energy for the vehicle’s electric motor. The panels would also act as a new kind of air brake, aerodynamically slowing the car down with an organic-style flip of its feathers. Some concepts are just wild fantasies, but the Lovos really needs to become a reality.

Via AutoBlogGreen

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Left, and Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov turn to pose for a photograph at Mission Control Center Moscow in Korolev, Russia shortly after the successful docking of the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS) marking the start of Expedition 21 with Flight Engineer Jeffrey N. Williams, Expedition 21 Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev, and Spaceflight Participant Guy Laliberté, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. Lalibreté will return to Earth with the Expedition 20 crew on Oct. 11, 2009. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

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E.P.A. Will Draft New Law

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EPA Rule Will Require Permits and Use of Best Technologies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases from Large Facilities

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50-MW Biomass Plant Planned in Scotland

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Air Pollutants From Abroad A Growing Concern, Says New Report

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In Europe, A Cow Over Hormone-Treated U.S. Beef

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