Delft University is back, ready to take a fifth consecutive title with Nuna 5.


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Ever the happy prankster, Paul Krassner "met" with Larry King for an interview. This video was made to promote Paul's new book: Who's to Say What's Obscene: Politics, Culture & Comedy in America Today. A mock interview between Paul Krassner and Larry King by Andy Thomas. (Thanks, Doug Rushkoff!)...

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Direct link to video. There is no part of this trailer that is not made of awesome. A robot geisha transforms into a tank. Two robot geishas (I guess) spew poison milk (don't ask) out of their titties at an opponent. A girl gets stabbed to death in the butt with a giant sword. Robot girls make giant swords pop out of their butts, presumably with which to stab other people in their butts. "Bust Machine Gun." And a dude is blinded with tempura shrimp. All this and more in the trailer for Noboru Iguchi's new film RoboGeisha - you may recall his similarly-themed films Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. According to the website, the film will be "in theatre fall 2009." (thanks, bobby ciraldo, via geektyrant)...

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Sitting pretty as the number three cell maker in the world would make many of the bigger names happy -- not to mention the usurped Sony Ericsson and Motorola a bit green -- but not LG, as it's now gunning for spot number two. In an interview with Yonhap, LG's president of its mobile business, Ahn Seung-kwon, stated that the company hoped to bump Samsung to the wayside by 2012 with the help of a serious new set and a premium brand. While the gaudiness of really expensive handsets disturbs us at times, we'll admit that mention that LG's looking at a foray into the über high end of the spectrum -- with the likes of Nokia's Vertu -- piques our curiosity a good deal. And what about that serious new set we mentioned? Apparently in Q4 of this year, LG will launch a new Black Label-branded device to compete directly with iPhone, which when coupled with dreams of more success from yet another Prada device (and if we're super fortunate, some more Transformers-branded stuff) is part of the master scheme to start down the path. Will they crack it? Well, if we were betting types, we'd lean towards not likely as long as the Samsung juggernaut's standing in the way -- but we're all for watching them try.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

LG eyes number two phone maker spot for 2012, premium brand in the works originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Car designer Harsha Vardhan has a different vision of tomorrow. While his vehicle calls for an electric engine, just like we see in cars now like the Prius or Volt, that engine drives magnetic fields, not wheels.

(The magnetic fields, of course, do eventually drive the wheels forward when the energy is transferred from over superconducting fluid that touches the rims.)

The result is, theoretically, a very smooth and quiet ride with a low environmental impact. We just like the design for its neat, rear-entry cockpit and all of the potential we see in jousting of the future. [ecofriend]




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If fembots were viciously cultured Japanese escorts instead of just ditsy blondes, Austin Powers would not have lived to make The Love Guru. (Tagged NSFW for crude violence and PG13 T&A)

This preview for Robo Geisha captures a world in which geisha are robotic assassins, super villains shoot rockets from wheelchairs, giant robots make buildings bleed and assassins sometimes sustain inconvenient anal injuries by way of panty katana. The film is expected to hit (Japan's?) theaters this fall.

If anyone has any more information on this must-see, Oscar-sure film, please share it in the comments. [Robo-Geisha via CrunchGear]




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The newspaper people will tell you that if they are obliterated by the evil internets one of the big loses will be investigative journalism. If it hadn’t been for those gritty investigative journalists the newspaper hires there’d be no Watergate, no Whitewater Gate, no ‘Gates of any kind.

Of course, that’s just plain silly. Newspapers didn’t invent investigative journalism any more than they invented news or reporting news.

In fact, in this digital age where anyone willing to do the work can spill the beans to a massive audience, there is more reason than ever for independent investigators to step up to the plate. The folks at QuarryGirl, a blog dedicated to animal rights, have done just that.

Having been given a great deal of anecdotal proof that some food at Vegan restaurants around LA contained animal by-products, they decided to see if they could prove it. One might assume, as a bunch of bloggers with, potentially, no J-school experience whatsoever, they might make a hash of things. Instead, they made a plan:

Here's an outline of the plan:

  • Locate a facility that has no traces of egg, casein or shellfish in which to perform the advanced tests
  • Purchase anti-contamination equipment including industrial sterilization supplies, lab coats, uncontaminated bags, swabs, razor blades, gloves and floor coverings
  • Obtain highly restricted industrial food testing "kits" only available to the food manufacturing industry
  • Develop a regimented process to test each food item with the highest standards of inter-test cleanliness, ensuring that absolutely no food particles from one food item contaminate another
  • Select a diverse set of menu items from 100% vegan-only restaurants throughout LA (with one exception, see later)
  • Order the food for carry-out, and seal it in an airtight bag in its original packaging either inside, or very close to the point of purchase
  • Transport the food items to the testing facility intact and sealed, and perform the tests within 48 hours of purchase, keeping them refrigerated until immediately before the test
  • Develop a strict bracketing control, with a thorough analysis of the testing facility and equipment before testing: A negative control to ensure no pre-existing contamination, and a positive control test on a known-positive food product (containing all three target non-vegan items) to ensure that the tests do indicate positive results
  • Conduct the test in absolute secrecy to ensure that no restaurant would know they were providing samples, and pose as regular customers ordering take-out food in a normal way, with no disclosure that the items would be used for a test.

So, we divided up the work between us, and dedicated a Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday as well as over $1,000 of our collective money to pulling off the most extensive scientific test that we know of to find out, once and for all, if samples of restaurant food are vegan or not.

Not sure about you, but that sounds like a pretty sound plan. Find out what happened here.

This is just one example of how the inevitable death of newspapers will simply not be the information apocalypse they’d like you to think it will be.

Dave Title is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Dave Title and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.



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A couple people have sent in this story, where the Canadian TV station Business News Network is apparently issuing takedowns on certain videos that are clips from BNN shows. The copyright claims may be valid, but what's odd is that they seem to be targeted very specifically: only at those who posted clips of people pushing back against draconian copyright expansion legislation in Canada. Now, obviously, BNN has the legal right to protect its own copyrights, but there's something pretty sketchy when it selectively only takes down clips that show people fighting against copyright expansion. It certainly goes beyond the purpose of copyright, and shows how copyright is often used not as an incentive, but as a means of stifling speech.

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Ed Bott of ZDNet finds this M&M buried inside the horrible trail mix that is the Windows 7 Home Premium End User License Agreement: there's going to be a Family Pack.

That's it. There's going to be a family pack for three users. Nobody knows what the pricing will be, but Apple's family pack pricing is $199 for five users. Only three (Mom, Dad and Junior) can use Windows 7, so theoretically it should be lower than $199. But when you look at the pricing for a standalone one-user copy of Home Premium, it's $120 for an upgrade and $200 for a full version. So somewhere between $120 and $199 for an upgrade Family Pack, and somewhere between $200 and infinity for a retail Family Pack. [ZDNet]




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You know what they say: Nothing takes the callouses off like fastening plastic bags filled with urine around your feet.

The Foot Pee! Pack, essentially two ziplock bags intended for your feet, supports an age-old philosophy that one's pee can have benefits to their skin. Now I'm no expert, but I've been accidentally urinating on stuff for years now, and I can't say that my crotch, toes, knees, backyard bushes or bathroom walls look any younger because of it. [Toyko Times via Tokyo Mango]

Also note the products tagline: "Easy & Surprise"




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(Ed. Note: We recently gave the Boing Boing Video website a makeover that includes a new, guest-curated microblog: the "BBVBOX." Here, folks whose taste in web video we admire tweet the latest clips they find. I'll be posting periodic roundups here on the motherBoing.) Sean Bonner: Cats. Drifting. You must watch it. Link Andrea James : Social Life, With Friends (Kenneth Koch poem set to type) Link Susannah Breslin : Realtime 3D Airtraffic. It's so beautiful. Link Richard Metzger: Web Therapy returns! 2nd series of Lisa Kudrow's utterly brilliant webcam comedy Link Sean Bonner: Andrew Lee crapped twice today, and wrote a song about it: Link Jesse Thorn: Ed McMahon hilariously drunk on the Tonight Show: Link Susannah Breslin: Krumping for Christ: Link Andrea James: Alka-Seltzer added to spherical water drop in microgravity Link R. Stevens: Via @NOTCOT: The lo-fi eye candy of a less wealthy George Lucas: Link Richard Metzger: Little girl with Mermaid syndrome, rare congenital abnormality (only 3 people in world have it) Link Sean Bonner: This dude is looking for the girl of his dreams. Like, literally his dreams. Link Andrea James: Denny Blaze aka viral sensation Average Homeboy blazes his YouTube haterz: Joe Schmo No Video Link More @BBVBOX: boingboingvideo.com...

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Lovers of pyrotechnics everywhere have always struggled with the quandary: what to do on a rainy day? Well, firebugs, get a load of this: Sega Toys Japan has heard your prayers and answered 'em in the form of the Uchiage Hanabi. This is essentially a projector that displays "fireworks" on the walls and ceilings, with realistic movement and sound. And if that weren't enough, you can create your own fireworks and program your own shows. Now you can have Bastille Day, every day, in the privacy of your apartment! Out August 1, with a list price of $168. Video after the break.

[Via Japan Trend Shop]

Continue reading Sega Toys makes indoor fireworks infinitely safer, to Elvis Costello's dismay

Filed under: Displays

Sega Toys makes indoor fireworks infinitely safer, to Elvis Costello's dismay originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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