Where’s my away team at? Starfleet Command has discovered a planet full of vicious balloons, and Jay “Scotty” Rob has modified the classic phaser pistol from The Original Series to be able to pop ‘em left and right.

Check it all out in the video above. It looks fairly harmless as he pans the beam across the room, though the balloons probably don’t think so. Well, harmless unless you go and do something silly, like aim it at your eye. (Here’s a spoiler for you: don’t do it.)

You can also check out Jayrob’s DIY guide on how to go about building your own, here.

LaserPointerForums, via TrekMovie.com

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DARPA wants more American geeks. Not just to create more remote-controlled cyborg beetles, but to secure the future of our country.

Right now, DARPA says, America’s “ability to compete in the increasingly internationalized stage will be hindered without college graduates with the ability to understand and innovate cutting edge technologies in the decades to come… Finding the right people with increasingly specialized talent is becoming more difficult and will continue to add risk to a wide range of DoD [Department of Defense] systems that include software development.”

To help give developing geeks a little push, DARPA is advocating extracurricular programs “targeted to middle and high school students” that will “maintain a positive, long-term presence in a student’s education.” What kind of extracurricular programs? It’s unclear just yet, though the government agency wants to start up career days, lab tours, mentoring and more that would help show nerdy youngin’s that all those swirlies are worth it, if they stay the course.

Via Wired

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Discard scratched baby bottles and sippy cups. Do not put hot liquids into plastic containers for infants. Most importantly, breast-feed infants if at all possible. [More]

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True story: My friend and her 11-year-old daughter were browsing stoop sales (like garage sales, but on building stoops) in Brooklyn when they happened upon some old vinyl albums. When my friend’s little girl asked what they were she said they were what people used to listen to music on, like CDs or downloads. Perplexed, her daughter looked at the records, then back at her mother, and curiously asked, “How big was the thing you had to carry around?”

About as big as this Briefcase USB Turntable, apparently. If you’ve always wanted to carry around your vinyl music like an iPod, your ship has finally come in. Weighing just 15 pounds, the briefcase unfolds to reveal a belt-driven turntable with built-in speakers. You can use the stereo output to connect to a different system, and the USB port helps with converting those old Johnny Cash albums to digital (software is provided). We spy an AC adapter jack, too, and no battery life is listed, so we suspect the turntable is more transportable than portable. You’ll have to ask yourself if it’s still worth $70 if you can’t start rocking to 33′s on your commute.

ThinkGeek, via Random Good Stuff

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Today at the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyota, in conjunction with its Gazoo Racing development team, launched the GRMN Sports Hybrid concept car (that last link is to a Japanese page that is translated with Google translate… some of the translation is a really good laugh).

Reportedly, the car is based on the outgoing MR2 platform and packs a serious punch by combining a 3.3 liter V6 to drive the rear wheels and an electric motor to power the front wheels using the company’s THSII hybrid system. The 4WD sports car develops 392 horsepower and apparently can go from 0-60 in under 4.5 seconds. Not only that, Autocar UK is reporting that the car has the ability to drive in electric vehicle mode in the city.

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Researchers have for the first time found a connection between exposure to certain chemicals and insulin resistance , according to a study published in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives .

A group of European scientists examined whether exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) contributed to insulin resistance, which has been increasing around the world. More than 25 percent of U.S. adults suffer from metabolic conditions stemming from insulin resistance that include fatigue, obesity and difficulty regulating blood levels of fat and sugar.

[More]

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Dear EarthTalk: I ride my bike to work along busy urban streets. Should I be worried about inhaling pollutants from vehicle emissions and other sources? –J. Kaufman, San Francisco

[More]

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Radio-controlled electronic ultra-micro helicopters have certainly come a long way. If you don’t mind spending $120 on a toy, you can take a step up from those nearly uncontrollable styrofoam Picoo-Z helicopters, finding yourself in the realm of four-channel maneuverability.

That’s what you get with the E-Flite Blade mCX RTF, a $120 kit that includes everything you need to get flying right away. Come with us as we take a pair of them for a reckless spin around the living room.

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Popping up in today’s “interesting but flaky” file is the Smart Second Skin Dress, a garment that has its own circulatory system. Equipped with sensors to detect the wearer’s emotions, the dress would emit chemicals — excuse me, “aromatic messages” — as a kind of mood enhancer or inhibitor. Ways that might manifest: If you’re feeling a cold coming on, it could release eucalyptus scent. Hot for that delivery guy? The dress would pump out pheromones. The website even throws out unlikely scenarios of the dress (or similar clothing) as a substitute for asthma inhalers, and scents replacing fingerprints.

We’re not going to scrutinize this one too closely (but you guys feel free) since the project, a few years old now, is clearly more the act of someone dreaming out loud than a practical product. That someone? Jenny Tillotson, a British artist and designer whose research involves merging fashion and smell. May I humbly suggest something involving pizza and ascots?

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More and more people are finding they need to use public transportation in the U.S. Of course, unless you live in a big city, chances are your public transportation options are limited… and probably very crappy. Public transportation has always faced an uphill battle in this country though, because hey, its a huge freakin’ country, and Americans really, really love having their own cars.

Still, if public transportation were better, more people would be apt to use it. The Obama Administration, through U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, has proposed a major revision to the guidelines followed when considering public transportation projects. But this is ground that needs to be tread carefully, especially considering recent eminent domain rulings.

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There were surprisingly few unveils at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and even fewer thrills. The AWD turbocharged Buick GS concept and electric Fiat 500 not withstanding though, perhaps the best looking car to come out of Detroit is the 2012 Ford Focus.

Based on the Blue Oval’s “One Ford” global platform sharing idea, the 2012 Focus will share over 80% of its components with European models. Even better, an electric model of the Focus should hit showrooms sometime in 2011.

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Show up for work wearing this sleepsuit, and you won’t exactly be oozing ambition. Of course, you could tuck these connected rings of EVA foam away in your briefcase and break them out at an opportune moment, grabbing a 20-minute catnap at various times throughout the day. Heck, naps like that make you more productive and creative, scientists say.

That soft foam makes you feel like you’re nestled into a strategically padded container, similar to the way hard drives are shipped. It’s been tested for the four favorite sleeping positions: face up, face down, fetal position, and that favored of hours, passed out at your desk, face planted on a stack of papers.

Somehow, designer Forrest Jessee’s concept for this “transportable and adjustable cocoon” allows constant airflow, ensuring that you won’t suffocate in your strange-looking sleeping enclosure. Designed to let you pop in and get snoozing in less than a minute, we only wish someone would’ve been handing these out as schwag at CES 2010.

Via Treehugger

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It’s tough to motivate yourself to get a good amount of exercise. It is equally tough to stop playing video games, as they are so very fun. What if you could solve both problems at once?

Well, Project Excite Bike doesn’t stop you from playing video games, but it does make playing video games more productive. It does this by hooking a stationary bike up to an Xbox 360, with pedaling controlling one button. This works great for racing games where you need to basically hold the gas down the entire time you play. It’s a custom job, but if you’re really motivated I’m sure you could configure this for yourself.

Project Excite Bike via MAKE

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Art | Craft | Food | Games | Green | Home |
Kids | Life | Music | Offbeat | Outdoors | Pets | Photo | Ride | Science
| Tech Cool winter projects! We’ve got some
great contests lined up – details available soon. Here are some hints
to get your …
By: fungus amungus

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Want some nice headphones? I mean some really nice headphones? Well, the Ultimate Ears 18 Pro headphones are pretty insane, as one would expect for $1,350.

What do you get for your hard earned cash? Well, each earbud features a whopping six drivers: two each for bass, mids and treble. You also get a four-way crossover and a three-channel design to keep all those signals separate until they mix in a beautiful way inside your ears. But yeah, $1,350. Maybe a little too pricey for most people.

Logitech via Engadget

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Whoa, LG, why didn’t you show us this flexible e-ink display at CES? For whatever reason, the Korean company decided to break the news now of this 19-inch-wide display, about the size of a regular newspaper page. At a thin 0.3mm, it’s slightly thicker than a piece of paper (about 0.06mm), and its 4.5-ounce weight will feel a lot heftier than a newspaper.

LG accomplishes this trick by mounting the e-ink screen on metal foil instead of the usual glass or plastic we’ve seen in other e-ink displays. It’s similar to the thicker Skiff display we saw at CES, which has a slightly flexible display mounted in a non-flexible reader. LG’s big 19-inch prototype is obviously designed to capture our attention, but LG plans to actually mass produce smaller 11.5-inch flexible-ink displays by the end of June.

Too bad this breakthrough didn’t happen a year earlier, because even though the current crop of computer tablets aren’t flexible yet, they’ll probably elbow e-paper technology aside. That is, until the e-ink is bright and colorful — but we’ll have to wait a few more years for that Minority Report future to arrive.

Via Digitimes

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We’ve seen iPhone docks stuck on to just about every type of gadget, but this is the first time we’ve seen one slapped on an external hard drive. And you know what? It kind of makes sense.

I mean, if you’re gonna have an external hard drive on your desk, you might as well make it doubly useful. And the Buffalo Dualie does just that, giving you a 500GB HDD and a couple of extra USB ports. Look for it at the Apple Store for $250.

Walyou via Gizmodo

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Sonny is sweet natured Staffy boy who has a lot of love to give. He has had a run of bad luck recently and has found himself back in rescue through no fault of his own. All he wants is a place to call home with a loving family. He gets along with other dogs and children and would make a wonderful companion.

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A British man has designed a helmet that could save the lives of bikers and the military. The ThermaHelm is a carbon-fiber lid with two lightweight chemical packs — one water, the other ammonium nitrate — built into the lining of the helmet. In the event of impact, the contents of the two packs mix together, triggering a cooling reaction.

Jullian Preston-Powers thought of the idea after he and a friend hurt themselves during a basketball game. “I had smashed my elbow on (my friend’s) head,” he says. “Someone handed us both ice packs for our injuries, and it was so cold I couldn’t hold it for very long. So I placed it in my friend’s motorcycle helmet and he accidentally put it on while the pack was inside. He was surprised by how good it felt and that’s when I had that eureka moment.”

The $490 invention will be launched in the UK in May this year, and they are already developing a more sophisticated version which, at $815, will include a video camera, GPS and Bluetooth. You can see a short video explaining how it works after the jump.

Via Daily Mail

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Korea’s ITM Technology has come up with yet another means of increasing the human unemployment rolls with the creation of the Robo Cafe. The tiny robot would essentially take orders and deliver the finished food and drinks to its human patrons with no attitude and no need for a tip.

In addition to the elimination of the human touch, the robot would also allow customers to order verbally or via touchscreen. Thankfully (for waiters around the world), this is still only in the development stages.

Via GizmoWatch

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Galaxies throughout the universe are ablaze with star birth. But for a nearby, small spiral galaxy, the star-making party is almost over. Astronomers were surprised to find that star-formation activities in the outer regions of NGC 2976 have been virtually asleep because they shut down millions of years ago. The celebration is confined to a few die-hard partygoers huddled in the galaxy’s inner region. The explanation, astronomers say, is that a raucous interaction with M81, a neighboring group of hefty galaxies, ignited star birth in NGC 2976. Now the star-making fun is beginning to end. Images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope show that star formation in the galaxy began fizzling out in its outskirts about 500 million years ago as some of the gas was stripped away and the rest collapsed toward the center. With no gas left to fuel the party, more and more regions of the galaxy are taking a much-needed nap. The star-making region is now confined to about 5,000 light-years around the core. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Dalcanton and B. Williams (University of Washington, Seattle)

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