Recent Comments:
Tase me, baby: Taser responds to the UN, says tasers aren't torture {Engadget}
Nov 29th 2007 10:19AM Here are the common alternitives that police have when dealing with someone that can't se subdued by hands alone:
Baton
OC spray
TASER
gun
If I were on the receiving end of said force, I would be saying "Taze me, bro!" Is it pleasant? Nope, I've done it. But after a 5 second burst, the pain is gone...this is not so with the other options. This is actually the real issue with a TASER, a police officer has to be trained to secure the aggressor while the initial burst is being applied. If they don't, the persons recovers, and continues to resist. This is what happens in the videos you see where someone receives multiple bursts, there is no reason that they couldn't have been cuffed during the inital burst, in most cases. If you don't touch the subject between the probes, you won't get shocked, so cuffing is relatively easy (most of the time...some people go as stiff as a board). Regardless, people have died after being on the receiving end of all the above options. All of the above options can be misused as a torture device. None of the above options are perfect. It would be a shame to eliminate the one device that has the potential to eliminate the others. As the one technological device on the list you can assume that if will follow Moore's Law and continue to improve, becoming more versitile, more efficient, and of course safer. I'm no Ray Kurzweil, but I think one day soon we will be looking back at the archaic time when cops had to hit people with sticks and spray chemicals in their face as the real barbarism, and the TASERs will be the humanitarians weapon of choice.
rCard digital business card now available {Engadget}
Oct 17th 2007 10:00AM I thought the ultimate college craze was the combination of binge drinking and date rape. Boy am I getting old.
"Largest ever" study finds tasers safe {Engadget}
Oct 9th 2007 11:50AM Of course there are corrupt cops just as there are corrupt people in every line of work...it is difficult to screen for morality. However, speaking as a person who has, voluntarily, been hit with a 5 sec. burst from a police issue X26 Taser, I will say that you can consider yourself lucky when the officer choses this method to subdue you in the event of resistance as opposed to OC spray, ASP baton, or by throwing small pieces of metal your direction your way at a high rate of speed. Once the officer turns off the power, the effect disappears much more quickly than you might realize, which can not be said for those other methods. And guess what, people have died after being sprayed with OC, people have died after being struck with a baton, and with the gun option, it goes without saying. The Taser is the best option all around, I am convinced of that. Like every other tool, it can be abused, but you don't blame the tool.
MIT shows off load-bearing exoskeleton {Engadget}
Sep 20th 2007 1:34PM Uh, James Cameron did it in 1986 with the power-loader aboard the U.S.S. Sulaco, and more efficiently, I might add. Geez M.I.T., what's next...tennis shoes that you can pump up?
Microsoft adds Slingbox-like capability to its Media Center PCs {Engadget}
Sep 17th 2007 2:57PM Here is the version if Apple released it:
Apple, never content with just providing trouble free benevolent goodness to one segment of the market, has decided to dip it's dainty ruby red toes into the world of anywhere-TV (which was originally conceived by Steve Jobs but was allowed to be dominated to-date by Slingbox) with a new piece of software, which boasts an innovative new user interface and brushed (insert random shiny metal here) skin.
