Tiny Robot Handles Tough Terrain

From the folks at iRobot comes a little device that deploys from your pocket and is capable of handling itself over rough terrain. I envision a mounted/embedded camera for surveillance, though the video makes no mention of it's intended uses.

Analysts Agree Apple May Cut Price Of iPhone

Speculation is that Apple is getting ready to cut the price of the iPhone and create a two tiered offering of Basic and Pro models. The feeling amongst analysts is that Apple will offer an 8GB model for $99 which would prop up sales in a slumping economy. "We expect a price cut to the current generation iPhone to drive 50 per cent to 100 per cent incremental unit demand," said Morgan Stanley analyst Karen Huberty. RBC analyst Mike Abramsky expects three prices -- $99, $199, and $299 for the 32GB iPhone Pro.

Source: Globe and Mail

Microsoft To Spend Big In Fight Against Google

Microsoft is preparing to launch "Bring", a new search engine, and is prepared to spend big to make the name stick. Reports are that Microsoft is prepared to launch a $100 million ad campaign to get the name out there, that's twice the amount considered to be large for a new consumer product. "I don't think they can win this game with a better mousetrap," said Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor & Associates, brand consultants. "They have to compete with Google on a brand front — there's no other way to skin this but go head-on against the Google brand."

Source: CBC

Modern Warfare 2 - Gameplay Trailer

Infinity Ward has released a game play trailer for it's newest title, Modern Warfare 2, and if it lives up to the promise of the trailer it will be a big one! Snowmobiles, aircraft, hand to hand, it's got it all. The game is due to be released on November 10th on PC and Xbox 360 and is available for pre-order on the Modern Warfare 2 website. Check it out...

Video Game - E3 2009 - Video Game Trailers

New Yorker Cover Art Painted On iPhone

The June 1 cover of the New Yorker Magazine was created entirely on an iPhone by artist Jorge Colombo using the $4.99 Brushes application he purchased through the apps store. The amazing process was captured in the following video:



“I got a phone in the beginning of February, and I immediately got the program so I could entertain myself,” says Colombo. “Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner’s hat, I could not draw in the dark.”

Source: New Yorker

A Faster More Stable Chrome

Google has taken the wraps off of a new version of their Chrome browser, fixing some 300 bugs and making the rendering of javascript intensive pages up to 30% faster. A few new features have been added such as the ability to remove thumbnails of your most visited sites and auto-fill for forms. Guess it's time to give Chrome another try...

Eagle Cam Watchers Witness Death Of Eaglet

Nature can be a wonder to observe and a wildlife foundation in British Columbia has attempted to educate and promote the conservation of wild habitats through the installation of a webcam focused on an eagle's nest high atop of a tree. Visitors to the site that hosts the webcam have watched as a female eagle produced 2 eggs which hatched into eaglets. Unfortunately on Monday thousands of viewers watched helplessly as one of the eaglets got caught in it's mothers feathers resulting in it's fatal fall to the ground.

Karen Bills of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation told the CBC that "Something black, we could see, got entwined around the eaglet's left wing [and] upper back," and that "At one point, she even flew up … and then flew back down into the nest with the baby still attached. Meanwhile, everybody is watching and crying and all upset, and then she tried shaking it loose again. … Finally, she got up and flew off and that is when we saw the little body drop."

Source: CBC
Hancock Wildlife Foundation

47-million-year-old Primate Fossil Displayed

Scientists put on display a 47-million-year-old fossilized primate on Tuesday calling it one of the oldest and most complete skeletons of an early primate found to date. Called Darwinius masillae, the primate estimated to be about 9 or 10 months of age, died at the margin of a volcanic lake in a rain forest about 20 kilometres south of modern-day Frankfurt, Germany, near the town of Messel. "We do not interpret Darwinius as anthropoid, but the adapoid primates it represents deserve more careful comparison with higher primates than they have received in the past," the scientists who are studying the fossil wrote in the scientific journal PLoS One. "She tells so many stories. We have just started the research on this fabulous specimen,"said researcher Jorn Hurum of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum.

Source: CBC

"... Dating Service For Parking Spots"

Two entrepreneurs from Montreal have extended a university project into a business matching drivers up with parking spots and reserving these spots via the internet. "It's a new tool and people have largely been happy with the service, and they like the [website] idea in general." said Philippe Guevremont, who founded maplace.ca with his partner Dominic Chartrand. The website allows users to sign up and enter the particulars of where and when they need a parking spot. The software then finds a spot, reserves it and takes payment by credit card. I wonder what happens when you get to your spot and it's been taken?

Source: Globe and Mail

Hubble Repairs

NASA is pleased thus far with testing performed on the upgraded Hubble Telescope after 4 days of difficult space walks performed by shuttle astronauts. Check out this video from the Telegraph