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bkdude

PPX

PPX: The Final Countdown

By PopSci Staff Posted on 5.8.2009 70 Comments
The PopSci Predictions Exchange will come to an end on May 31. It’s been an amazing two years, with 33,339 registered users betting on the future of our scientific and technological world. We extend our appreciation to all of the dedicated traders who have made this game what it is. It’s been a great run!

6.2.2009 at 09:57pm - Comment by bkdude

I think i'll discontinue my Popular Science Magazine subscription now. I probobly won't ever be back on this website again...
Gadgets

The Future of Legs

By Posted on 4.28.2009 8 Comments
Like any good New Yorker, I love to walk, but as a group of Popular Science editors strolled back to the office today from a hands-on demo of Honda's latest prototype, we felt sadly ... pedestrian. We had gone to see a team of Japanese engineers from the company proudly showing off their new mobility technology -- a pair of wearable robotic "Walking Assist Devices." Strapping the powered gadgets to our legs felt silly, but after taking them off, the sensation of being cast back among unaugmented humans, forced to walk completely under our own primitive power, was a distinct comedown.

4.19.2009 at 05:25pm - Comment by bkdude

I would rather learn to walk on my hands than succumb to laziness coupling a leg handicap and use this freakish thing. If I was much older and that wasn't possible, a non-electric wheelchair would suffice.
Gadgets

Microsoft: “Sayonara Vista…Hello 7!”

By Tom Conlon Posted on 2.9.2009 27 Comments
Is Microsoft finally admitting that Windows Vista is a lost cause? Well, that’s certainly not the official company line, but it does kind of seem that way to me. The embattled OS’s successor, Windows 7, wraps up a public beta in a few days and speculation is that Microsoft is planning to crown its heir to the Windows kingdom as early as the Fall. By then, Vista will have been on store shelves for less than three years. That’s not a very long time compared to XP, which was top dog for five years before being replaced by Vista—if it was ever really replaced at all.

2.11.2009 at 01:10am - Comment by bkdude

After SP1, I consider vista better than xp. Thats just my thought. To the author of this article: Why should microsoft hurry win7? so it turns into an even bigger failure than you portray vista as. There are numerous bugs they need to fix, and by rushing it, people are sure to get frustrated. njdevil: As you might already know, most consumer PCs come pre-loaded with some version of windows. This is why I personally build my own machines and aquire the OS elsewhere...
Gadgets

A Tech Guide for the Newly Jobless

By Tom Conlon Posted on 1.30.2009 1 Comments
Been laid off? Sacked? Canned? Made redundant? Welcome to the new economy! Now that you’ve parted ways with regular pay, it’s time to make a few lifestyle tweaks to help keep your head bobbing above the poverty line. First of all, don’t worry a thing about your monthly health insurance payment—that nut will disappear all by itself when your coverage runs out. I’m talking about your tech habits and what you need to know while riding out this exile from the working world. As a gadget buff who has clocked some serious time “in between jobs” myself, I offer up this checklist of the bad tech to avoid and the good tech to embrace as you ease into your new situation.

1.31.2009 at 02:22am - Comment by bkdude

I don't particularly agree with these things as this is more geared towards the average person. Ebay can be good in many situations. The majority of purchases are not jesus toast or red sea m&m. You can buy very cheap computer parts from ebay that you might find unavailable elsewhere (ex: Decently priced DDR 333MHZ RAM. 2gb for $25.) Recently, I built a decent computer with parts from yard sales, a broken laptop, and ebay, and the grand total is...? $50 for an AMD 2600+ w/ Radeon x1600 Pro, working without any problems. Moral? Don't buy manufactured computers as they are overpriced significantly. Blogs? Good? HA. "oh hey guys, this is my new blog, i just got fired today". As capable of being e-famous as a kid with a shoe on his head. On another note, I do agree with the majority of the other suggestions. I don't think you can re-fill toner though :-/ Oh well... time to bust out the ol' inkjet...
The Environment

Making the Most of **it

By Posted on 1.19.2009 19 Comments
In José Saramago’s novel Blindness, when an epidemic of sightlessness sweeps the city, among the foulest signs of civic breakdown is its inability to handle its own excrement. Human waste piles where it lands, left to the elements and not modern plumbing. To newly minted industrial designer Virginia Gardiner, we might as well be blind to our own waste. Her plumbing-free toilet project, the Gardiner CH4, makes us personally responsible for our intimate product—and makes it useful.

1.19.2009 at 06:27pm - Comment by bkdude

Well you guys don't seem to realize that this would be implemented in places with a lack of proper plumbing. They wouldn't be lugging their poo around on a train or on a sidewalk (or an airport for that manner...) because if a country doesn't have proper plumbing, why would they have those amenities? This would provide the poor with a place to dump their load, and to provide a use for it, which would all be too great a hassle for us first-worlders.
Entertainment & Gaming

A Wonderland of Wacky Gaming Gadgets

By Posted on 1.15.2009 2 Comments

1.15.2009 at 06:53pm - Comment by bkdude

I'm glad I don't "actively" play console games anymore... that market is just going down the toilet... Meh. Someone will buy it, but I'd rather save my pennies.
Entertainment & Gaming

The Golden Globe Goes to … Adobe Flash?

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 4.2.2009 5 Comments
Adobe Flash has helped create many of the animations and games commonly found on websites. But Israeli director Ari Folman used the multimedia software to make Waltz With Bashir, an animated film which explores traumatic memories of his experience as a teenage soldier in the 1982 Lebanon War.

1.13.2009 at 07:36pm - Comment by bkdude

As a dormant Flash artist, (I was never really that great, but its fun for simple things) I find this really great. The style implemented by using sort-of jerky tweens gives it an interesting style when combined with detailed backgrounds and detailed FBF scenes. I might actually watch this.
Gadgets

First CES Products Emerge

By Sean Captain Posted on 1.7.2009 2 Comments

1.10.2009 at 07:11pm - Comment by bkdude

Hahahahahha! 60 dollars a month for a quick OS? I'd rather just dual-boot DSL and Vista and use DSL when i need to do whatever thats so important that i need it done 40 seconds quicker. Then again, some people just might be dumb enough to fall for that.
Science

Tracking Students With Microchips

By Posted on 1.22.2008 7 Comments
As if the ugly uniforms weren't enough, now a private school is considering using RFID chips to track its students, too. At a school in South Yorkshire, UK, officials are testing a new system that tracks whether students are in a given classroom or not, and can also cut off access to certain areas of the school. The radio-frequency identification tags tell the students' teachers whether or not they're in the building, and call up other critical data, such as photos and behavioral records, in the event that the teacher forgets who he or she is dealing with. Ten kids have been wearing the chips for eight months. And you have to wonder if any of them have been asked to read 1984 yet.—Gregory Mone Via Times Online

12.17.2008 at 07:28pm - Comment by bkdude

That wouldn't work in a med school Jay, they would just cut em' out :p I think it can show many benefits but its all a question of privacy... I wouldn't want to wear one of these but I would understand putting them on troublemakers. Maybe make troubled/failing students wear them?
Entertainment & Gaming

Return of the (Televised) Nerds

By Christina Hurtado Posted on 4.2.2009 2 Comments
I love nerds. I loved nerds even when it wasn’t cool, so it’s nice to see them coming into their own on network TV. I remember a time when I was hard pressed to find one real nerd on prime time, never mind a quartet of physics-spouting, Klingon Boggle-playing super brains. Let’s face it: Charlie Epps has nothing on the characters of CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, a show full of loveable (albeit incredibly awkward) nerds. The show glorifies those of us who remember old school Ataris, the Flash, and know exactly how we roll in the Shire.

12.4.2008 at 07:42pm - Comment by bkdude

I've been watching this since the airing of the first pilot episode. Its a good show. Unlike other shows, it continues to stay to its roots.