New Technology Reviews!.: Weird

The Elliptical Machine Office Desk: putting the 'commute' back in 'telecommuting'

<div><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="239" src="http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7096/hammacherdesk062911.jpg" style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" width="279" /></div> Quite frankly, you've got it just a bit too easy. You rise 98 seconds before you're scheduled to clock in, you mash a power button, and suddenly, you're at work. PJs still caked to your legs, mouth still steaming from a lack of brushing. You're a telecommuter, and you're the envy of the working world. In fact, it'd be just stellar if you'd do us all a solid and add a sliver of complexity to your workday -- you know, like swapping out your OfficeMax special for an elliptical machine. And maybe, just maybe, you can convert your laptop into one that's pedal-powered, forcing you to keep churning for fear of dropping from the virtual office. And no, you can't ask for donations to cover the $8,000 price tag -- your fuel savings from last week alone should just about cover it. Harrumph.

The Elliptical Machine Office Desk: putting the 'commute' back in 'telecommuting'

Quite frankly, you've got it just a bit too easy. You rise 98 seconds before you're scheduled to clock in, you mash a power button,...

Weird Tech: Care Bears on the battlefield

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/bear-200-200.jpg"> When the legal team working for Wikileaks' Julian Assange is whingeing about things being leaked, you know we're through the rabbit hole: reality is stranger, and often funnier, than fiction. You don't see many bears on battlefields, but that may soon change: BEAR, the Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot, is a funny-looking robot with a deadly serious mission. It's designed to rescue wounded soldiers without risking anyone else: as The Economist <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/17745937">explains</A>: "Killing a soldier removes one enemy from the fray. Wounding him removes three: the victim and the two who have to carry him from the field of battle." Rescuing people is just one of the things BEAR's hydraulic arms are designed to do, though: as inventor Daniel Theobald says, "it would be completely impractical if you had robots with a sole duty to rescue soldiers." That's why BEAR doubles as a sex-bot. We made that last bit up. When Kinects connect Oliver Kreylos is awfully good at hacking Kinect sensors, and his latest wheeze takes him into Star Wars territory: by combining two Kinects he can create 3D models of people and stick them into 3D worlds such as games. </PARAM><PARAM value="true" name="allowFullScreen"></PARAM><PARAM value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"></PARAM><EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/BOTItUNg6dc&hl=en&fs=1 width=420 height=315 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"> </EMBED></OBJECT> TWIN KINECT SENSORS: Put people into games. It's like you're in Tron, or something Add a Wiimote and you've got the perfect platform for lightsabre battles - and a really, really awful video clip. It's easy to mock, but this could be a glimpse of the future. Things that make you go ewwwww Call of Duty fans call the latest instalment CODBLOPS - but that could also be the sound they make when they play its successor. Clemson University psychologist <a href="http://www.clemson.edu/media-relations/article.php?article_id=3239">Eric Muth</A> thinks that games could soon induce motion sickness. Combine Kinect and Move-style systems with laggy head-mounted displays and you've got games where grenades aren't the only things you'll be hurling. <img alt="Tablets" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/tablets-420-100.jpg" width="420"></IMG> COLLECT THE PILLS: Will you need to stock up on these when you're playing the next generation of games? "Helmet-mounted devices are going to be found everywhere as video gamers and the public get caught up in virtual reality," Muth says, pointing a finger at 3D TVs too. "We need to know more about the side effects and how to deal with them." Fun with furniture Good news for anyone who looked at Microsoft's Surface and thought "This snooker-sized touch machine is all very impressive, but I wish it was much bigger": the bend desk is positively gargantuan. A kind of Salvador Dali iPad, the desk is a prototype that shows how an enormous curved multi-touch display could literally make your PC part of the furniture. </PARAM><PARAM value="true" name="allowFullScreen"></PARAM><PARAM value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"></PARAM><EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/5VNTPwVvLzE&hl=en&fs=1 width=420 height=315 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"> </EMBED></OBJECT> THE BEND DESK: Shows what an iPad would look like in Salvador Dali's house It's all very impressive, but we wouldn't want to carry it up the stairs. Calling Wall-E There's so much junk spinning around in space that it's getting downright dangerous up there. According to <a href="http://www.space.com/news/space-junk-threat-superfund-sites-101214.html">Space.com</A>, things are so bad that the nonprofit RAND think-tank wants a "superfund" to clean up the mess. It proposes "making space polluters pay". "The entire space community needs to agree that purposely creating orbital debris is not acceptable behaviour," RAND says, sounding rather like a parent discovering jammy handprints on the sofa.

Weird Tech: Care Bears on the battlefield

When the legal team working for Wikileaks' Julian Assange is whingeing about things being leaked, you know we're through the rabbit...

Weird Tech: Care Bears on the battlefield

Weird Tech: Care Bears on the battlefield

When the legal team working for Wikileaks' Julian Assange is whingeing about things being leaked, you know we're through the rabbit...

Weird Tech: Tweeting dogs, grumpy wallets and frickin' laser beams

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/Mother%20Bear%20hinged%20wallet2-200-200.jpg"> This week, NASA announced the discovery of an arsenic-based life form that ingests poison, doesn't resemble any normal life form and could mean that alien life not only exists, but looks terrifying. But enough about Gillian McKeith – we've got Weird Tech to do! Wouldn't it be great if your wallet could tell you that you were broke? In the days of real cash money, that was easy, but it's a bit more complicated with credit and debit cards. MIT's Proverbial Wallets may be the solution: "Tactile feedback reflecting our personal balances and transactions helps us develop a subconscious financial sense that guides responsible decisions," MIT says. Translation? Your wallet buzzes when you're broke. We particularly like the designed dubbed Mother Bear: the hinge won't open if you've spent all your money. A new dimension in fashion Clothes can say a lot about you – looking out of the window, an awful lot of them appear to be saying "I've got too much money!" – and with the arrival of <a href="http://www.sebastianmerchel.de/artees.html">AR Tees</A> you too can look interesting when you appear on a webcam. In the real world, the design looks like a graphic of a TV; on camera, the TV actually works. We're not entirely sure why you'd buy a £24 T-shirt and essentially stare at yourself wearing it for hours on end, but then we don't really "do" fashion. Maybe that's what WAGS do all day. </PARAM><PARAM value="true" name="allowFullScreen"></PARAM><PARAM value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"></PARAM><EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/2qniH9C9qfM&hl=en&fs=1 width=420 height=315 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"> </EMBED></OBJECT> Frickin' laser beams! To America, where Northrop Grumman is <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/12/laser-weapon-lasts-for-6-hours.html">developing really clever ways to deliver fiery death</A>. Its 100-kilowatt solid-state laser can fire at full power for more than six hours, which is more than long enough to turn a tyrant into toast. <img alt="Fire!" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/fiery%20death%20ray-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> LIMP: Is it us, or is it a bit disappointing that fiery death rays don't look particularly scary? [Image credit: Northrop Grumman] It's not ready for battle yet – it's not exactly portable and real weapons need to work 24/7 – but it's getting close: last year the laser could only fire for five minutes. Is that a Sonic Screwdriver in your pocket or… Good news for Doctor Who fans: Bristol University professor Bruce Drinkwater is developing an ultrasonic wave generator that can assemble parts and separate diseased cells from healthy ones. <img alt="Karen gillan" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/Karen%20Gillan-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> MAKING WAVES: Never mind making rubbish screwdrivers: why can't boffins clone Karen Gillan? [Image credit: BBC] Will it open doors, detect land mines, repel enemies and control the TARDIS? "The engineers are now figuring out how to spin the ultrasonic waves… to undo screws." Scientists! You're not going to impress Amy Pond with <a href="http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/08/5612100-real-life-twist-for-sonic-screwdriver">that</A>! The dog that goes tweet We've saved the best till last: Engadget's great review of <a href="">Mattel Puppy Tweets</A>, a collar that enables your mutt to add to the waterfall of nonsense we know as Twitter. "Wouldn't it be fun if your pooch could get in on those antics?" Tim Stevens asks. "No, as it turns out, it isn't all that fun at all." <img alt="Doggy tweets" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/dogtweet-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> DOGGY STYLE: A dog tweets. What next? A cat that moos? A cow that quacks?

Weird Tech: Tweeting dogs, grumpy wallets and frickin' laser beams

This week, NASA announced the discovery of an arsenic-based life form that ingests poison, doesn't resemble any normal life form and co...

Weird Tech: Rampant robots and touchy tables

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/facebookshoes-200-200.jpg"> What's more wanted than the boss of Wikileaks and more fun than burning an effigy of Nick Clegg when you're supposed to be studying? That's right: this week's Weird Tech! This editions features internet shoes, touchy-feely tables, alarming adult products and strange behaviour in Germany. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who don't want Facebook on their feet and, well, crazy people. So it's good news for the latter camp: limited edition <a href="http://www.behance.net/gallery/Adidas-Facebook-Superstars/817509">Adidas Facebook Superstars</A>. We hoped that in honour of Facebook's privacy policy the shoes would change shape every few days, hiding features you'd become used to such as the bit you put your feet in or the bits where the laces go, but sadly Gerry McKay's clever concept isn't that satirical. Microsoft gets touchy The internet's very excited about a new Microsoft patent: a touch-screen that you can actually feel. Instead of today's featureless glass slabs, Microsoft proposes using a layer of plastic that can change shape when ultraviolet light hits it. <img alt="Patent" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/mspatent-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> ERRRR: We're told that the finished version will look a bit more impressive than this Virtual keyboards could feel like real keys, products could be prodded and – you know this gag's coming – you really could poke people on Facebook. <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19776-microsoft-develops-shapeshifting-touchscreen.htm">New Scientist has the details</A>. Toys for the boys The days when vibrators had to be advertised as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vibration-is-life.jpg">devices promoting "vigour, strength and beauty"</A> are long gone, and adult toys are big business – for the girls, anyway. <img alt="Cobralibre" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/cobralibre-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> INTERESTING: No, it's not a toy car. It's a toy of a very different kind. Hot Wheels eat your heart out Next step? Toys for men. <a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/">AFP</A> describes a range of new intimate products designed for the hairier sex, with highlights including the <a href="http://cobralibre.org/">Cobra Libre</A>. If you've ever wanted to have sex with something that looks like a toy car, now you can. Big Trak's on your back While we're on the subject of personal massagers, what could be more relaxing than having something resembling '80s robot tank Big Trak rolling around your body? Nothing, hope <a href="http://www.dreambots.com/">DreamBots</A>, whose WheeMe's "four small wheels and the rotor finger gently press and caress providing a delightful sense of bodily pleasure". By happy coincidence, it looks as if someone took the aforementioned Cobra Libre and glued wheels to it. In any case, the models in the product videos couldn't look much less comfortable if the WheeMes were being nailed to them. The WheeMe is yours for just 49 dollars, and it ships in spring. </PARAM><PARAM value="true" name="allowFullScreen"></PARAM><PARAM value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"></PARAM><EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/tHMjhJQN1Q4&hl=en&fs=1 width=420 height=315 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"> </EMBED></OBJECT> Germany's Google gangs To Germany, where some people take Google Street View far too seriously. Pro-Google vigilantes are throwing eggs at the homes of people whose houses have been blurred on Street View. "Google's cool," read the notes left on the unfortunate householders' mailboxes. <img alt="Happy eggs" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/happyeggs-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> HAPPY EGGS: "Street View? What's Street View? The eggs would find out soon enough" [Image credit: Themonnie on Flickr] As Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch explains, while there are two separate <a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-fans-throw-eggs-at-houses-blurred-in-google-street-view-56763">news reports</A> of such tomfoolery "neither gives the exact number of homes involved nor are pictures of the eggings posted." Are these a few isolated incidents, or is the entire country at it? If you're German or in Germany, do let us know.

Weird Tech: Rampant robots and touchy tables

What's more wanted than the boss of Wikileaks and more fun than burning an effigy of Nick Clegg when you're supposed to be studying?...

Weird Tech: Forget street lights, use glowing trees instead

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/tree-200-200.jpg"> What's got sixteen legs, four eyes and three rows of teeth? We don't know either, but it's right behind you. Only kidding! It's time for this week's Weird Tech, featuring things that don't exist, things you can't buy, things that are too expensive and dangerous to implement and things that might get you groped. Trees are rubbish. They just sit there, doing nothing, occasionally dropping things on your head. Wouldn't it be great if we could get them to do something useful, such as lighting our streets? That's what <a href="http://inhabitat.com/gold-nanoparticles-could-transform-trees-into-street-lights/">an accidental discovery by Taiwanese scientists</A> promises. It turns out that embedding gold nanoparticles in leaves makes them glow. For now, the necessary powder is ridiculously toxic and incredibly pricey, but in the long term "bio-LED could be used to make roadside trees luminescent at night. This will save energy and absorb CO2", Dr Yen-Hsun Su told Chemistry World. Money for nothing You'll recall that the entire global economy collapsed because people were spending money they couldn't afford on property they didn't need. Now, you can be even more irresponsible and spend money you can't afford on property that doesn't even exist. That's right! Virtual real estate is the next big thing! Just ask Yan Panasjuk, who paid $335,000 for a chunk of the entirely imaginary nightclub Neverdie, which only exists in the online game Entropia. </PARAM><PARAM value="true" name="allowFullScreen"></PARAM><PARAM value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"></PARAM><EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/YGjJ4JnVfc0&hl=en&fs=1 width=420 height=315 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"> </EMBED></OBJECT> IMAGINE: It's easy to take the mickey out of Entropia. That's what we like. It's easy <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/oliverchiang/2010/11/17/meet-the-man-who-paid-a-record-335000-for-virtual-property">Speaking to Forbes</A>, the 34-year-old Bostonian explained that it was a smart move because, um, "Avatar has grossed 2.7 billion dollars worldwide." He might be right, though: the club's previous owner was bringing in two hundred grand a year from selling virtual goods and services to idiots. Er, gamers. Wear your pants with pride Finally, if you're thinking of travelling in the US, you've probably heard of the increase in airport security, where you've got a choice between the pornoscanner – a scanner that sees through clothes – and invasive groping. <img alt="Cargoscan" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/cargoscan-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> THAT'S MAGIC: Wear magic pants. Use magic pants to give security a message. O noes! Rubber gloves! Technology comes to the rescue once again, though: <a href="http://cargocollective.com/4thamendment">4th Amendment Wear</A> uses metallic inks to display that particular bit of the US Constitution (it's the part about unreasonable searches) to the pornoscanner operator. And it's not limited to T-shirts: you can get the amendment printed on your underpants. Lights! Apple! Action! What do you buy the Apple fan who has everything? That's right – you buy them a Steve Jobs action figure, or at least you would if those killjoys at Apple hadn't <a href="http://store.micgadget.com/apple-toys-figures/212-steve-jobs-action-figure.html">sent a cease and desist letter to Micgadget</A>. <img alt="Steve jobs figure" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/SJ%20Figure-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> ONE MORE THING:This magical and revolutionary product had an unbelievable price of $79.90 before Apple's lawyers intervened Apparently a model of Jobs with stick-on speech balloons that you can scribble "Boom", "Magical" and "Amazing" on breaches Californian copyright law. That's our plans for Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Steve Ballmers buggered, then. Oi! Three eyes! If a man's got <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101123/ap_on_en_ot/us_the3rd_eye">a camera glued to his head</A>, it's probably art – and it certainly is in Wafaa Bilal's case. The New York University arts professor has had a small video camera implanted into the back of his head "as an allegorical statement about the things we don't see and leave behind". <img alt="Wafaa" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/wafaa-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> ARTY FARTY: This is Wafaa Bilal's website. We don't understand it, so it must be art Previously Bilal has encouraged people to fire paintballs at him 24/7 and created a video game featuring himself as a suicide bomber.

Weird Tech: Forget street lights, use glowing trees instead

What's got sixteen legs, four eyes and three rows of teeth? We don't know either, but it's right behind you. Only kidding! It...

Weird Tech: Will electronic bras tempt tourists to Tokyo?

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/mustang-200-200.jpg" /> 
Firstly, we take the Weird tech bus to Japan, a nation often - and unfairly, we think - associated with pointless, sexist inventions. It's also where you'll find the Tourist Bra, an outfit <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=164073946&videoChannel=2602">designed to make Tokyo more attractive to tourists</a>. 
The wearer's skirt also unfolds to become a map complete with magnetic models of tourist attractions, while pressing down on the bra cups plays the message "Welcome to Tokyo!" in both English and Japanese. 
<img alt="Bra" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/bra-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
ALL THE SIGHTS: Reuters discovers the tourist bra, designed to boost the economy rather than the wearer's assets 
Bacteria solve Sudoku 
Sticking with Japan for a bit longer, we turn to one of the pressing issues of our age: when will single-celled organisms be able to beat us at Scrabble? 
<img alt="Sudoku" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/sudoku-320-100.jpg" width="320" /> 
BACT AT YOU: If bacteria can solve Sudoku puzzles, it's just a matter of time before they're driving cars [Image credit: Jelte / Wikimedia] 
That day draws ever nearer, my friends, because E.Coli can now crack Sudoku puzzles. Students at the University of Tokyo <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19733-problemsolving-bacteria-crack-sudoku.html">programmed bacteria</a> to solve puzzles, although you need 81 types of bacteria to solve a 9x9 grid. 
See how they run 
Three blind mice / three blind mice / <a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/65484/title/A_new_way_for_blind_mice_to_see">see how they run</a> / <a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/65484/title/A_new_way_for_blind_mice_to_see">see how they run</a> / they all ran to College of Cornell University in New York City / Where they were fitted with experimental retinal prosthetics / and they could see a baby's face / and that's great news for the 25 million people worldwide who have lost their sight due to retinal diseases / three blind mice. 
The key that makes you go wheeeeeeeeeeeee 
Ford's latest Mustang Boss 302 has a secret: if you use a second, red, key you can turn the muscle car into a demented track day screamer, altering over 200 engine parameters, boosting torque and delivering an impressive 444 horsepower. 
Such videogame-style power-ups are increasingly common, and we fully expect the next Kia Venga to contain a secret Pipes game that you can unlock to fire live bees at your enemies. 
Introducing the grass mask 
We have to be honest. Some art leaves us cold. What's the point of it? We ask. What is it trying to say? We ponder. Is the café open yet? But other art is so <a href="http://www.mattiacasalegno.net/index.php?/synaesthesiae/the-open/">obviously, fundamentally right</a> that it needs no explanation. 
<img alt="Grass" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/grass-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
GRASSY: This is called The Open. We'd have called it GRASS! IN YOUR FACE! That's why we're not artists 
Art like The Open, by Mattia Casalegno. To some, it might look like a helmet that presses a bit of turf against your face for no good reason, but to those in the know it's a "sensorial wearable device [that is] about the quality of sound to define a territory." We'll take three!

Weird Tech: Will electronic bras tempt tourists to Tokyo?

Firstly, we take the Weird tech bus to Japan, a nation often - and unfairly, we think - associated with pointless, sexist inventions. It...

Weird Tech: Pavement power and snooker in space

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/gasgiants2-200-200.jpg"> Most of us don't spend much time thinking about pavements, but <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-aim-harvest-solar-energy-pavement.html">Professor K. Wayne Lee does</A> - and he reckons they could help light our streets, melt ice, heat buildings and defend the Earth against lizard attack. Well, maybe not that last one. The University of Rhode Island professor is investigating ways in which pavements can become solar power generators, and his most futuristic idea is to replace the tarmac completely: instead, roads could consist of linked electronic blocks consisting of photovoltaic cells, sensors and LED lights that generate electricity, know when they need to be fixed and light up like Michael Jackson's Billie Jean video. We guess that'll be worth a few electrocuted dogs scattered around the lamposts. Found: God's snooker table UK astronomers have found a faraway star system that looks like, "and may have once behaved like, a game of billiards," <a href="http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/11/09/UK-astronomers-see-snooker-star-system/UPI-39111289353791/">UPI.com reports</A>. The system consists of a red dwarf, a white dwarf and two gas giants, and apparently "it's hard to escape the image of this system as being like a giant snooker frame with a red ball, two colored balls, and dwarf white cue ball". Unless you've actually played a game of snooker, that is. Rise of the (toy) robots You're worried about burglars. Do you (a) invest in decent locks and an alarm system, or (b) buy a toy robot, hack it a bit and use it to monitor your house whenever you remember to do it? If you chose (b) you may be Robert Oschler, a Floridian programmer. <img alt="Rovio" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/rovio-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> CRAFTY CAMERA: Rovio's mobile webcam is a top geek toy, and now it can be a guard dog too He's <a href="http://www.wowwee.com/en/products/tech/telepresence/rovio/rovio">tweaked a Rovio</A>, a Wi-Fi-enabled webcam robot, and turned it into a guard dog. As <a href="http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=10127">Help Net Security admits</A>, "this setup may not be reliable enough for guarding, say, a bank". Wave to the webcam and we'll waive the bill Fancy a dirty weekend for free? Just do your stuff in front of a webcam. That's the latest wheeze from Berth Milton Jr, the "Swedish smut king" who owns Private Media Group. Milton wants to roll out 100 sex-themed five-star hotels around the world. <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/xxx_man_feature_XiTYhzOQzM9D3fhQ3%3Cstrong%3EVUM">According to the New York Post</A>, "the idea is to give free rooms to frisky hotel guests in exchange for the right to broadcast their dalliances to paying customers live over the web." <img alt="Private" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/private-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> SMUT SITE: This is pretty much the only bit of the Private website we can show you without getting into trouble Could such a scheme work here? We asked the manager of our local Travelpit, who told us that while free rooms probably wouldn't happen she'd throw in breakfast if we [censored] her [censored] and [censored] [censored] [censored]. We're pretty sure that isn't national policy. Things that make you go wee Good news for Kings of Leon: if your sex is on fire, you'll soon be able to diagnose it with your mobile phone. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/05/new-test-mobile-phones-diagnose-stds">The Guardian reports</A> that in order to cut the UK's rising rate of sexually transmitted infections, The Kids will be able to wee or spit on "a computer chip about the size of a USB chip". They'll then "plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes." The bad news for people whose bits are burning: the kits won't be on sale for another seven to ten years.

Weird Tech: Pavement power and snooker in space

Most of us don't spend much time thinking about pavements, but Professor K. Wayne Lee does - and he reckons they could help light our s...

Weird Tech: Freaky fembots and non-splatted bats

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/bats-200-200.jpg"/>If we were asked to describe the last seven days in one word, we'd say "week" - but if we weren't allowed that word, we'd say "roboty", "batty", "flashy" or "printy".The Uncanny Valley is when a robot or image is almost, but not quite, indistinguishable from a human being. Our brains spot that something isn't quite right and we get a severe case of the creeps - which is exactly what happens when you see Actroid-F in action.</param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cFVlzUAZkHY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="420" height="315"> </embed> </object>FREAKBOT: Actroid-F is a robot. We think the F stands for "freaky", or "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" [that's enough - Ed]This humanoid robot is designed to work in hospitals, presumably by frightening old people to death so that someone else can get their beds. It's just a matter of time before someone tries to mate her with <a href="http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/nasa-robonaut2-astronaut-helper-packed-100813.html">NASA's R2D2-ish Robonaut 2</a>.It's a lot less bovver with a hoverThere's something deeply disturbing about machines that seem to work by magic, and the Quadrocopter definitely falls into that category.</param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DT51M721j-k&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="420" height="315"> </embed> </object>WHIRRRRRR: Flying with lasers? Pull the other one. IT'S MADE BY ALIENS!<a href="http://cms.techradar.com/article/[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT51M721j-k&feature=player_embedded">According to Engadget</a> it "is designed to get energized by converting beams into power via a set of photovoltaic panels on its underside, and in a recent test, lasers were able to keep it afloat for over 12 hours". Laser-powered aircraft? Sounds like magic to us.Walls have ears (and USB plugs)If you've ever thought "Peer to peer file sharing is ace, but it'd be much more convenient if I had to visit New York, locate a USB drive stuck to a wall and plug it into my laptop" then artist Aram Bartholl has a sharing system for you.<a href="http://cms.techradar.com/article/[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/11/02/usb-ports-on-new-york-city%E2%80%99s-streets-plug-in-if-you-dare/">According to Discover magazine</a>, Bartholl is happily sticking USB drives around New York so that "people will share something important to them, possibly pictures, art, or words." LOLCATS and viruses are much more likely, we reckon.Bat for smashesDinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, BAT-AAAAGH! That's the sound of wind turbines in action: it seems that US wind farms have an unfortunate habit of turning bats into blancmange as the vision-impaired rodents fly through the turbine blades. It's a particular problem for the Hoary Bat, which wind farms tend to turn into the Splatty Bat.Good news for bat fans: a slight change to the way wind farms work could stop them shredding the <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101101115619.htm">cheeky little squeakers</a>. A new study found that a slight increase in the turbine speed reduced bat splatting by as much as 93 per cent, with virtually no loss in power generation.Print your own PorscheWouldn't it be great if you could print your own car? That's the thinking behind the Urbee Hybrid, which claims to be the <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1698943/the-urbee-hybrid-the-first-car-to-have-its-body-3-d-printed">world's first 3D printed car</a>.</param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/t-BqiOOygFw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="420" height="315"> </embed> </object>OUCH: Imagine printing your own car. Now imagine the cost of the inkjet cartridgesBefore you get excited about downloading BMW blueprints from Bittorrent, we'd better point out that the Urbee is a bit more complicated than that: while its bodywork was printed using 3D printing technology, the oily bits that make it go weren't. Given the cost of inket cartridges that's probably for the best: our quick back-of-envelope calculations indicate that printing an Urvee will cost you a million jillion pounds.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f5f4b37/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-related'>

Weird Tech: Freaky fembots and non-splatted bats

If we were asked to describe the last seven days in one word, we'd say "week" - but if we weren't allowed that word, we...