MEGA TCUNAMI

TOW-IN SURFING

I’ve seen surfing before, but never on waves so big you need a jet ski to pull you up to speed for. These guys are insane, and the guy in this video got caught in a real live Tsunami.Tow-in Surfing

SLIPPERY POLE

A guy named steve finds his pole slips out of the box. Good to see another variation of the pole snapping video.

IS THIS SOCCER REFEREE GAY?

This guy seems to be enjoying his soccer refereeing.

BACK FLIP FROM A BASKETBALL RING

Not only can he do a very stylish backflip from a basketball ring, he is able to climb up there without too much trouble too.

FUNNY EXTREME SPORTS PICTURES

THE WORLD'S CRAZIEST SPORTS

This crossover sport began over a “drunken lunch” at the St. Moritz Tobogganing Club in the early 1980s, according to Jim Edwards, chairman of Tiger Tops Lodge in Nepal. Edwards had the elephants, so once he fashioned some extra-long mallets, the World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) was born. Mahouts drive the animals and players swing the mallets in this surprisingly fast-paced game played in week-long stretches. Pros and local teams compete in three countries; the sport’s main purpose is to raise money for elephant conservation.

VLADIMIR PUTIN IS A STUD

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin -- the country's former president and current strongman -- has decided to make his profile a bit more manly, and he's done so by rescuing journalists, fishing shirtless and, now, filming an instructional judo DVD. No, we really aren't making any of this up. If we did, we'd be shot. So just watch the highlights from the DVD yourself and imagine George Bush in his upcoming role as the Karate Kid IV.

THE DAILY TUBE REVIEW

Action videos are hard to miss when they're good. Skiing videos are almost always good, particularly when they involve dramatic falls. Combine both of those factors and you end up with the following video, which showcases three men attempting to break world records in the ski jump. The record in question is "farthest fall", so there's plenty of head holding go on as they shoot straight down toward the snow, all of which makes it even more worth watching. (by Cameron Smith) Running Time: 1:47

UNUSUAL AND CREATIVE CHRISTMAS TREES

By now you probably have your Christmas tree installed and decorated. But if not, you might try something unusual. Take a look at these strange, unusual and funny Christmas trees.

RCC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-STUDENT PROJECTS

In technology, providing degrees, diplomas and post-graduate diplomas in electronics engineering, computer networks engineering technology, computer information systems and computer and networks technology.

MAGNETIC DEPRESSION TREATMENT

For the 30 percent of clinically depressed people who don't respond to medication, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new, noninvasive treatment option. With NeuroStar TMS, a wand held over the head delivers highly focused magnetic pulses to a part of the brain that's been linked to depression. A typical course of treatment would involve 40-minute sessions at a psychiatrist's office five times a week for four to six weeks. In two clinical trials, roughly half of patients said that their symptoms were reduced by at least 50 percent.

POLAROID POGO

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early 2008, a Polaroid spinoff called Zink unveiled a miniature, instant photo printer that went on the market in July as the Polaroid PoGo. The printer has hundreds of precisely controllable heating elements, and it uses special two-by-three-inch paper that contains three layers of nanocrystals. When the crystals are heated, they transform into an amorphous glass. Each layer of glass reflects a different color, and the blend of colors is controlled by the duration and temperature of the heating. The printer can connect to a digital camera with a USB cable or to a camera phone over a Bluetooth wireless connection.

TECH TO PUT UNDER THE TREE:SONY XEL-1

We've picked out a few products that appeared in Technology Review's "To Market" section in 2008 and could make good last-minute presents.
The April 2001 issue of TR devoted an entire feature to a new display technology called organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), which left even "grizzled veterans of the flat-panel industry . . . goggle-eyed." By the end of 2006, we were reporting on the increasing use of OLEDs in handheld devices, but as late as April 2007, we were still saying that OLEDs were "limited to use in small displays, such as those in mobile phones."That changed with Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV. The screen is still relatively small--only 11 inches diagonally. But for some film aficionados, its vivid color, wide viewing angle, low power consumption, and high contrast (unlike LCD screens, OLED screens are capable of true black, rather than the dark gray of a blocked backlight) have been enough to justify its $2,500 price tag.

ELECTRIC MINI

BMW stole a march on some more ballyhooed electric-car programs by releasing an electric version of its Mini at the end of 2008. Where most of its competitors are engineering electric cars from scratch, the German automaker was able to adapt an existing electric drive system from California's AC Propulsion to fit the Mini's chassis. Five hundred of the cars are available for lease for a year, during which BMW will collect data about their use in preparation for a larger rollout.

BUILD YOUR OWN SUPER-CAMERA

Digital cameras and video cameras quickly become obsolete, but a new modular camera system will let photographers upgrade just about any part of their cameras rather than buying new ones.Aimed at professional photographers and filmmakers, the system uses interchangeable sensors, displays, hard drives, and other components that can be assembled in a variety of configurations. The complete cameras can produce both super-high-resolution still images and movies of a quality high enough for major studios.

COFFEINE DETECTOR

Somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of supposedly decaffeinated coffee and tea is actually fairly high in caffeine, but a new test kit can help people tell the difference. A strip of paper soaks up fluid from a sample, and antibodies in the strip produce colored lines if the sample contains caffeine. The antibodies were designed by the test's manufacturer, Silver Lake Research, which also has antibody tests for contaminants in food sources and water.

A SPASE-AGE ROBOT

Astronauts are getting a helping hand in servicing the International Space Station (ISS): a 12-by-8-foot two-armed robot that can perform tasks like replacing batteries or damaged parts on the station's exterior. Such risky tasks are currently performed by the astronauts, who are tethered to a robotic arm.

The new robot, named Dextre, was built by the Canadian Space Agency, and is the third and final piece of its Mobile Servicing System for the ISS. According to Pierre Jean, the acting program manager for the Canadian Space Station Program, Dextre is the most sophisticated robot ever to fly in space.
Each of Dextre's two arms extends almost 11 feet and has seven joints so that it can twist and bend more than a human arm. The robot's "hands" are equipped with grippers to grab objects and built-in socket wrenches for bolting down parts. A rack attached to its waist will carry additional robotic tools. Dextre can replace everything from failed devices as small as a phone book to objects weighing as much as 1,000 pounds, in part because it has a sense of touch--it can "feel" the amount of force necessary.

Dextre will connect to either the Canadarm2, a 60-foot robotic arm with seven motorized joints, or a mobile base that runs along rails connected to the station. The Canadarm2 and the mobile base are the two other parts of the Canadian system delivered to the station in 2001 and 2002. Dextre will be operated by the astronauts on the ISS or the mission control center in Houston.

Dextre flew to space onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour this morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the course of the 16-day shuttle mission--the longest flight ever to the station--the astronauts will conduct five space walks, which will include the assembly of the $210 million robot. Dextre will start work on the station in 2009 and have a 15-year working life.

The robot will serve as an important element in continuing to build and maintain the space station, and it can alleviate the risks associated with astronauts going into space to do mundane tasks, but it will not serve as their replacement. Astronauts' expertise and dexterity is still required for complicated tasks during space missions, including the assembly of the Japanese scientific laboratory, Kibo. (Endeavour is also carrying the first part of the lab to the ISS.) Dextre is, however, a significant step in the future of robotics in space.

NASA SATELLITE IMAGES BURMA CYCLONE

NASA has captured the effects of the powerful cyclone that struck the Myanmar coast on Saturday, May 3, using an imaging instrument onboard its Terra satellite. The instrument, called the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), measures the reflective solar radiation and emitted thermal radiation from the earth's surface and atmosphere. Atmospheric scientists are currently using the instrument to study the behavior of clouds and aerosols in our atmosphere so that they can, for example, pinpoint the locations of active fires and track the paths of pollutants.

The instrument scans broad swaths of the earth--about 2,300 kilometers at a time--and is able to image the entire earth in one day. Because it is observing the earth all the time, MODIS is able to capture events that only happen occasionally, like Cyclone Nargis.
NASA Satellite Images Burma Cyclone
A novel imaging instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captures the devastation that Cyclone Nargis caused to the Myanmar coast.


MODIS captured images of the Myanmar coast before and after Cyclone Nargis struck. The image on the left is the coastline on April 15, and the image on the right was taken May 5, after the cyclone hit the Irrawaddy delta and plowed across the country and through the main city of Rangoon. At landfall, winds were approximately 130 miles per hour, with gusts of 150 to 160 miles per hour, accompanied by a 12-foot wave. In the images, the water is blue or nearly black, vegetation is bright green, bare ground is tan, and clouds are white or light blue.

U.S. diplomats in Burma are estimating that the death toll may reach nearly 100,000, but official reports from the Burmese junta are announcing 22,980 deaths, 42,119 missing, and 1,383 injured.

MITSUBISHI RELEASES SPECS OF THE "FRAKKING" LASER TV

We finally have the details of the TV to be powered with ‘freakin lasers,’ and Dr. Evil is nowhere to be found. Or is he controlling Mitsu through a ghost subsidiary of the Evil Corporation? (Picture an impossibly arched eyebrow).

According to the latest statement straight from Mitsubishi’s Japan headquarters, the new LaserVue TV will be available in monster sizes only, 65″ and 73,” and is supposed to come out in the first part of the third quarter later this year. That translates to the first couple of weeks of September, if you’re fixing your planner at home, or even if you’re alone.


Laser TVs have been anticipated for quite a long time, even as far back as the 1960s. But the cost and the semiconductor processing needed to power quality, consumer grade light engines was too prohibitive (check out the field of optoelectronics for more information). Only until recently, when companies like Novalux started showing their new semiconductor laser tech, did we think we’d see any significant improvements or an actual product.

The Mitsubishi LaserVue will include several interesting breakthroughs that could build it a nice niche (until the expected high prices fall, down the road).

FIT PHONE

Designed for the elderly, the Fit Phone “comes with a central movable scroll with which one can move up and down the menu, reduce or increase the size of the number pad and dial the speed dial images by tapping on the specific image.” Click here for first picture in gallery.