Have you Ever Seen Water Bounce??

Here's something you don't see every day: water bouncing. GE has developed some pretty incredible superhydrophobic surfaces in it's Global Research Nanotechnology lab, and they've captured the results with super-high speed cameras.

We discovered that even when the surfaces had the same contact angle for stationary water droplets, their ability to resist the wetting of impacting droplets could be totally different. In the following three videos, the contact angles of a stationary droplet on all three surfaces are ~150 degree. When an impacting droplet (with the same impact speed) hits on the surfaces, the droplet can either stay on the surface.

Look at the way the water droplet spreads, recoils, breaks into satellite droplets, and completely lifts off... that's what we really want for an impacting-droplet resistant surface! You might wonder what we can do with a cool thing like this? Imagine applications that involve high speed water droplets, such as wind turbine blade, airplane wing, or even just your car in motion. These are just a couple of the exciting possibilities that we are looking at.

[Make]

NASA Astronaut Loses Tool Bag in Space

In case you are wondering what happens if an Astronaut floats away, note the large white backpack on the back of the spacesuit; this is known as the "SAFER" unit and is a jet-powered backpack to allow the astronaut to float back to the station during U.S. spacewalks. To the best of my knowledge, it has never been needed.

[via Liveleak]

Amazing Tree House Restaurant

Living in a luxury treehouse certainly brings out the child in you again.

Now, the New Zealand Yellow Pages are building a restaurant that is 10 meters up on a redwood tree.

A dinner at this tree-restaurant will be a totally fascinating experience.

Presently under construction on a site north of Auckland, the design of the restaurant is taken care of by Pacific Environments Architects.

This treehouse concept gives an expression of childhood dreams and fairy tales. The inspiration for the project comes from nature itself – from the chrysalis/cocoon safeguarding the emerging butterfly/moth.

A 60m tree-top walkway helps you reach the restaurant. The restaurant has ample space for 18 seating people and staff and it comes complete with a bar. Kitchen facilities and toilets are at the ground level.

The acrylic sheeting fixed to the roof under the fins ensures protection from tough weather conditions. The stylish lighting within the walkway and up-lighting within the tree house sets the perfect mood for the visitors.

PETA - Attacks Lindsay Lohan with Flour

Lindsay Lohan was in Paris this weekend when an animal rights activist gave her a special surprise.

The AP says:
"U.S. actress Lindsay Lohan has been pelted with a flour bomb on arrival at a Paris nightclub wearing a fur stole. Animal rights activists showered the 22-year-old actress with flour when she went to the VIP Room Theater in the early hours of Saturday with her friend, disc jockey Samantha Ronson. The owner of the nightclub helped Lohan dust off her blue sequined dress and black stole before she posed on the red carpet."

Ebay: US $40,000.00 Helicopter FLIR Thermal Imaging System Infrared Imager

The FLIR units apparently came from a “major federal government agnecy” who recently performed a fleet wide upgrade, and include the gyroscopic stabilizing systems designed to keep the camera’s motion steady, even while the plane or helicopter they’re mounted to is bouncing around in the air.

If you have $40K US you can get it Now At least it comes with free shipping!

[eBay - Helicopter FLIR Thermal Imaging System Infrared Imager]

GPS receiver built into a SIM card

It actually sounds a bit too good to be true but Sagem is a trustworthy company and the invention was actually announced sometime last year. Today they announced that they have managed to embed a whole GPS receiver into a traditional SIM card which would make it possible to bring GPS functionality into any phone.

Sagem to Embed GPS Receiver into SIM Cards

Microsoft's Ultra Strange Lips TV Commercial

Microsoft releases a new ultra strange TV commercial that depicts a pair of walking lips, singing A-Ha's "Take On Me". The game "Lips" will be released on November 20th.

Microsoft is aware that Nintendo is the company that "puts more smiles on more faces," so it doesn't bother trying to compete on the happy front.

Yamaha's My Room II Lets You Argue, Without Annoying Neighbors

Not all houses are built with sound proof walls, that's why Yamaha's My Room II was created. It features "'increased comforts' like touch screen controls, air conditioner mounts and a quicker construction time (under one hour) to get you out of society."

The My Room II sells for about $6,500. Alternatively, you can "rent" a My Room II for about $100-$200 a day.

Via [Cscout]

SpongeBob SquarePants Eyeball Speaker Dock

I still know all the lyrics to the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song, but I don’t seem to recall the part where they sing about his ability to pop his eyeballs out of the sockets.

this soft spongy speaker dock is fashioned after the top third of SpongeBob’s head, and features a set of eyeball speakers that can be removed allowing them to wobble about based on the type of music you’re playing. The dock features a standard mini stereo jack which means any device that can accept a pair of headphones can be connected, and on top there appears to be an indent for holding your MP3 player while it’s in use.

The SpongeBob Speaker Dock is available from the Nickelodeon Shop for $39.99, and I assume the nightmares your kids will have with this sitting on their dresser are included at no extra charge.

[ SpongeBob SquarePants: Eyeball Speaker Dock ]

Make an iphone game you to can make $250,000 in two months

A former ATM software designer for a large bank, Demeter created "Trism" in his spare time and pitched it to Apple last spring. The company made the game available for download with the July launch of its App Store, an online provider of applications for its iPods and iPhones.
Priced at $5, "Trism" earned Demeter $250,000 in profits the first two months.

"It's done phenomenal business," said Demeter, 29, who lives in the California's San Francisco Bay area. "I'm very honored that so many people would enjoy my game. I get e-mails from 50-year-old ladies who say, "I don't play games, but I love Trism.' That's the coolest thing."

"Apple has made it so easy to put [game publishing] in the palms of developers," he said. "You just make it and then you submit it to Apple. If you have a relevant, fun game or application, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be approved."
Developers earn 70 percent of App Store proceeds from the sale of their games, with Apple taking 30 percent.

via [cnn.com]

Domino Day 2008 - 4,345,027 dominos is The New World Record

A group of Dutch fans "rigged up 4.3 million dominoes and then set them a-falling, artfully rendering Che Guevara, a Sarlacc pit, a Saturn V liftoff and subsequent Apollo re-entry.

via [Youtube.com]

86 Domino PCs

The best thing to come from the Dot Com crash... Domino PCs! 86 PCs lined up like dominos. Filmed on a saturday afternoon in Belmont, California, by an Irish bloke and a Spanish guy.

The final attempt.... Everything goes well but the heavy machines near the end almost put a halt to the whole thing... thankfully there was enough weight behind the toppled machines to slowly topple the heavy ones!

Most of these PCs were then Given to charity or recycled as part of an overall hardware deal.

via [Youtube.com]

New Beer Dispenser Fills Cups From The Bottom

The Scotsman Trufill Beverage Dispenser is apparently set to revolutionize the beverage dispensing industry by filling glasses from the bottom instead of the top.

It can fill 10 pints of beer in just 10 seconds.

[FOODBEV - Scotsman turns the beverage world upside down]

YouTube: The Snuggie

A blanket with sleeves?! My life is changed forever.

Stuff

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10097839-1.html
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/11/14/romain-jeromes-moon-dust-dna-collection/
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/feature-when-apple-meets-apple
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/new-star-trek-movie-trailer-leaked
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ebay-watch-2-9-million-boeing-727-200-private-aircraft
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/11/nasa_scales_up_1966s_moon_image_to_amazing_ultrahigh_resolution-2.html

http://fosfor.com/usb-30-its-speedy
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/tom-tom-gps-gets-put-in-blender
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/11/13/beam-up-your-own-star-trek-light-switch-covers/

http://people.forbes.com/profile/margaret-c-whitman/27260

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/11/star-trek-first.html
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20233788_11,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7721032.stm
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/toshiba-s-new-timesculpture-commercial-uses-next-gen-bullet-time
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/high-tech-visa-card-uses-integrated-display-buttons-to-thwart-thieves

"Cage of Death" Lets You Swim with Crocodiles

A new attraction at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin Australia, lets guests swim with crocodiles "using nothing but 4cm of acrylic plastic to keep them safe."

via [dailymail.co.uk]

The Matrix: Powered by Microsoft Windows XP

Take the red pill. Get the blue screen.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

R2-D2 Aquarium

it seems like Lucasfilm has been going beyond the call of duty when it comes to licensing out the Star Wars brand. This 1 3/4-gallon R2-D2 aquarium is a good example. Just sticking a clear tank inside a plastic R2 replica isn’t that noteworthy, but turning his radar eye into an eyepiece for a built-in periscope that allows you to see the underwater inhabitants up close.

R2-D2’s domed head will even swivel at any voice command, and includes overhead LED tank lights that randomly cycle between red, blue, and green. Not surprisingly the R2-D2 aquarium is available from Hammacher Schlemmer for a reasonable $129.95.

via [ohgizmo.com]

Ultracapacitor Flashlight Recharges In 90 Seconds

the 5.11 Light For Life Tactical Series UC3.400 flashlight, which has an ultracapacitor built right in. A 90 second charge will power this flashlight at 90 lumens for a 90 minutes, which equals a wicked impressive 23.5 hours out of 24 of on-time. You can recharge it 50,000 times (that’s a charge a day until the year 2143) with virtually no battery degradation or memory effects, but the LEDs themselves are only good for about 5 years, or until 2014.

via [ohgizmo.com]