It’s a gloomy March day outside, but this week’s image roundup is a particularly cheerful one. Look at that colorful, wet little guy up top! Also this week: Japanese tourists try to drive to an island without the benefit of a bridge or tunnel and get stuck in the mud, a man buys an iPad and is applauded for his initiative, and the phrase “hot defensive bee ball” is accompanied by an image that will haunt us at least until next week. Enjoy the weekend!
Click to see this week’s most amazing images.
Dewdrop Insect
Ondrej Pakan’s gorgeous macro shots of insects bedecked with dewdrops are just about the prettiest shots of what are basically just wet bugs we’ve ever seen. See more here.
Robot, Meet Human
Robonaut 2 has been around for a few years now, but we never get tired of its exploits. And this picture shows the R2 reaching out to touch a human. NASA notes that it and GM are working on new robotic gloves to assist astronauts and other workers.
You Got One!
The first iPad to be sold in Apple’s flagship New York City store on 5th Avenue is hoisted triumphantly as onlookers applaud the moxie and willpower it takes to…purchase a gadget. We just got ours, by the way–shipped to our office, because why wouldn’t we do that–so you can expect our review early next week.
Homeless Hotspot
At this year’s SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, a marketing agency called BBH stirred up some controversy with the Homeless Hotspots program, which outfits homeless people with a 4G wireless hotspot and sends them around to those who might need internet at the show. It’s been called exploitative and dehumanizing, though Melvin, pictured here, doesn’t see it quite that way.
Shrekbot?
At the Innorobo robot event in Lyon, France, the Reeti showed off its…emotions. It’s a robot with the ability to perceive and react to human emotion. Read more at the BBC.
NYTimes, Simpler
The Ochs extension for Google’s Chrome browser is one of our favorites: it gives a subtle makeover to the New York Times’ website, cutting down a lot of the busyness (sidebars, ads, partnership content) and bringing the story front and center. It received an update this week, the biggest change being an explosion in photography: all photos are now huge, finally doing justice to the fantastic photographers the paper has on staff. Read more here.
Spider Guitar
This intricate arachnophilic guitar body looks…cool, I guess, if you’re into stuff like that. But what’s more impressive to us is that the whole body was made with a 3-D printer. Read more here.
DAMN YOU GPS!
On March 15th, three Japanese tourists in Australia tried to follow their GPS’s directions to Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Queensland. Unfortunately, the GPS led them directly into the ocean, where they drove 500 meters in low tide until getting stuck. Two hours later, they were submerged under six feet of water. Nobody was hurt, everybody laughed, the rental company charged about $1,500 in damages.
The High Line Finale
The third and final phase of New York’s High Line park was revealed this week, and it looks great: foliage, amazing views, a climbing structure for kids. It’s set to open sometime in 2014.
Ball of Bees
Japanese honeybees have an insane defensive ploy: they swarm around the predator (like, say, a hornet) so aggressively that the heat from their bodies actually cooks the predator. Read more here.
