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Google AI tool helps conservationists (and the public) track wildlife
Google is quickly putting its wildlife-spotting AI to good use. The internet giant has launched a Wildlife Insights tool that helps conservationists track wildlife by not only parsing their photos, but sharing them in a searchable public website. The AI automatically tosses out photos that are highly unlikely to include animals and tries to label the animals it does spot, dramatically speeding up a laborious task. That, in turn, helps researchers track animal populations as they're affected by climate change and direct human intrusion.
'Uber Pet' will let drivers know your furry friend is coming too
Uber is testing a new ride option called Uber Pet, through which you can give drivers a heads up that you're bringing your pet along. Starting November 16th, riders in Austin, Denver, Nashville, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tampa Bay will see the option in the Uber app.
Lab-grown meat is not meat, Missouri state rules
What's the definition of "meat"? Once upon a time that would have been an easy enough question to answer, but the advent of meat-substitute products such as the Impossible Burger and the arrival of cultured meat -- aka lab-grown meat -- has given regulators in Missouri pause for thought. On Tuesday, it became the first state in the US to enact a law stating that the word "meat" cannot be used to sell anything that "is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry."
Google Photos can pick your pet out of a furry lineup
Google Photos has long been adept at recognizing animals in a generic sense. But let's be honest: the real reason you're digging through photos is to find shots of your specific pets when they were little balls of fur. Accordingly, Google has made those pet searches much easier. Photos is now smart enough to recognize individual and dogs, placing their shots alongside people. You can name pets, too, so you can look for Chairman Meow or Rover instead of typing in generic "cat" and "dog" queries.
Researchers draft the first comprehensive tree of life
It's very poetic to talk about a tree of life, where every species can trace its roots, but actually illustrating this tree is no mean feat when Earth has been home to at least 2.3 million known species. However, scientists have finally given it a shot. They've published the first draft of a comprehensive tree of life that shows every major evolutionary branch, ranging from the very first organisms to complex beings like humans. This isn't a complete tree, of course (it's doubtful that we'll ever know all the species that ever existed), but it beats the patchwork from before.
Cleopatra the tortoise gets a 3D-printed shell
Please don't jump on Cleopatra if you meet her. She isn't a real life red-shelled Koopa Troopa -- she's just wearing a 3D-printed prosthesis. See, Cleo the tortoise suffers from pyramiding, which means her shell has thick, pyramid-like growths due to poor nutrition. It also has holes and broken parts that could be injured and infected, especially since tortoises socialize and mate by climbing on top of each other. That's why Roger Henry, a student from Colorado Technical University, designed a 3D-printed shell for Cleo.
Isles of Eventide invites you to live as an animal
Playing as a Human or Elf has been done to death, so why not switch over to the animal kingdom? That's the premise of the fledgling Isles of Eventide (no relation to Rubies of Eventide), which is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter. Isles of Eventide will invite players to inhabit the role of a canine, feline, or equine living on one of many islands in a magical archipelago. Survival against the elements, predators, and hunger will be one of the major themes of the game, although there will be less stressful features such as crafting and companions as well. Between adventures, players will get to travel to their own personal island, which can be customized with decorations and utilities. The team is seeking $50,000 CAD to get development going, although it certainly welcomes more. One of the stretch goals, at the $100,000 CAD tier, promises to add offspring that can be raised from birth.
Notre Dame students highlight method for 3D printing skeletons of living animals
Can you really claim to love your pet if you haven't printed out its skeletal structure for your mantle? Sure everyone expresses themselves in different ways, but the "3D Printing of Preclinical X-ray Computed Tomographic Data Sets" outlined by a team of Notre Dame students and a rep from MakerBot certainly beats getting your pet's face printed on a sweater. The researchers have outlined a method for CT scanning live mice, rats and rabbits and printing out their skeletal structures in plastic. There are some cool research applications for such functionality, but more importantly, who could ask for a creepier gift for the pet owner in your life?
BeetleCam's back with armor on board, and it brought a friend packing a Canon EOS 1Ds MK III
Having braved the wilds of Tanzania and emerged with some brilliant photos, but a camera destroyed by a lion, the remote control BeetleCam is back at it. This time around, the buggy's got a Canon 550D, is sporting an armored shroud and it brought a buddy with some serious imaging chops to help it get up close and personal with a pride of lions in Kenya's Masai Mara. The new BeetleCam, dubbed the Mark II, has six wheels, two flashes, a Canon EOS 1Ds MK III for stunning stills and GoPro camera capable of streaming HD video. How did round two in Africa turn out? Pretty darn well, but as they say, the proof is in the pudding, so check out the amazing shots taken by the twin BeetleCams at the source below.
Leaderboard: Mechanized vs. monster mounts
Unless you're stuck in the invisible wall, no jumping, running-with-your-hands-flopping-about hell of Guild Wars, chances are you've gotten the opportunity to pick up a mount or two in an MMO. It's one of the ways that MMOs are so superior to the real world: There are no driver tests, no insurance policies, no (usually) gas. You just plop down some money and the vendor looks the other way while you go off-roading in a major metropolitan area. But it wouldn't be a Leaderboard if we didn't force you to choose between your '67 Mustang and your pet Tauntaun, and so it shall be. In the world of mounts, there are two categories: the mechanized and the monsters. Vehicle mounts may be more rare due to fantasy's dominance over the genre, but they're still there and quite popular for the set that doesn't appreciate staring at horse doody all the live-long day. Then again, the fantastic creatures that have served as animal mounts are unceasing in variety as they are in style. So what shall it be? Will you plug Old Yeller and go with your motorcycle, or will you mothball your favorite dune buggy in favor of Seabiscuit? Vote after the jump!
Inhabitat's Week in Green: magnetic highways, MoMA tech exhibit and lasers in the sky
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Renewable energy supercharged our transit system this week as Inhabitat showcased Vycon's plans to tap speeding subway trains for immense amounts of kinetic energy, and we took a look at an innovative magnetic highway system that harvests energy from passing cars. Biofuels also got a boost from several unlikely sources as researchers discovered that bacteria in panda poop is incredibly efficient at breaking down plant matter, and scientists developed a way to recycle newspaper into biofuel. We also showcased a real-time energy monitoring device for kids, we learned that some radioactive areas around Fukushima are more dangerous than Chernobyl, and we took a look inside a subterranean atomic shelter that has been transformed into a cavernous underground office. How do machines communicate with people? If you're pondering that idea, you'll be interested in this exclusive video interview with Museum of Modern Art curator Paola Antonelli on MoMA's new 'Talk to Me' technology exhibit which recently opened in New York City. We were also amazed by several artistic innovations this week as Wacom unveiled a pen that instantly digitizes anything you can draw and Sarah Garzoni created a beautiful series of printed paper butterflies. In other news, we shined the spotlight on several brilliant advances in lighting technology as scientists successfully created rain by shooting laser beams into the sky and a designer unveiled a solar OLED tile system that can transform skyscrapers into zero-energy displays. We also brought you several bright ideas in wearable tech as Halston unveiled a glow-in-the-dark sequin gown, a ghostly troop of illuminated radiation suits wandered through the German countryside, and a Cornell student developed a type of clothing that traps toxic gases. Meanwhile the Hudson River lit up with a luminous field of 200 LEDs and Laser Power Systems unveiled plans for a nuclear powered car. Speaking of green transportation, we also spotted a high-tech E-Max motorcycle that converts pressure into power, and we watched Toyota's all-electric P001 racer become the first EV to break the Nurburgring's 8-minute speed record.
Dyson unleashes DC41 Animal vacuum cleaner for pigpen apartments
We normally wouldn't leave our housework in the hands of an animal, but Dyson's new DC41 Animal vacuum cleaner may force us to reconsider. The company's latest Ball-based sweeper uses Dyson's proprietary (and complicated-sounding) Radial Root Cyclone technology to maximize its 235 air watts of suction power -- most of which is concentrated at the cleaner's head. It also ships with a mini turbine head, which you can use to clean up the hair that real animals leave on your car seat. In true Dysonian fashion, however, this Ball-bearing beast won't come for cheap. You can scoop one up at the source link below, for a cool $600.
Garmin's Astro 320 GPS handheld offers nine-mile coverage, keeps your hunting dogs in line
Before you and your pooches head out to hunt innocent ducks this year, you might wanna check out Garmin's new Astro 320 dog tracker -- a handheld GPS device designed to help hunters keep even closer tabs on their four-legged sentries. The latest addition to the Astro family can simultaneously track up to ten hunting dogs per receiver, with a revamped antenna and three-axis electronic compass covering up to nine miles of flat terrain. Boasting a 20-hour battery life, the 1.7GB handheld can also tell hunters whether their canines are running or pointing, while its mapping capabilities provide their precise coordinates relative to powerlines, buildings, and individual trees. All this information is displayed on a 2.6-inch display, where users will be able to access 100k or 24k topographic and satellite maps. A keypad lock function, meanwhile, will make sure you don't accidentally press any buttons while you're in the thick of a hound-led hunt. The handheld will be available in July for $500, with the full system (including a DC 40 tracking collar) priced at $650. You can flip through the gallery below for images of some antenna-toting doggies, or head past the break for a more testosterone-laced pic and the full PR. %Gallery-125121%
StripeSpotter turns wild zebras into trackable barcodes
We've heard plenty of stories over the past few years about tagging animals with RFID chips, but we've never been particularly keen on the idea. Well, now a team of researchers has come up with a much less invasive way of tracking individual animals -- specifically zebras -- by essentially using their stripes as barcodes. StripeSpotter, as it's known, takes an isolated portion of a photograph of a zebra and slices it into a series of horizontal bands. Each pixel in the selection is then fully converted into black or white, and the bands are in turn encoded into StripeStrings, which eventually make up a StripeCode that resembles a barcode. All this information is stored in a database that allows researchers to directly identify particular animals without ever having to get too close. StripeCode may be a zebra-centric application for now, but its developers see it making a mark across the food chain with the inclusion of other distinctly patterned beasts, like tigers and giraffes. Animal tracking hobbyists can get their own free copy of the application by clicking on the source link below.
Robot camel jockeys found packing illegal stun guns, Dubai police say 'Don't tase them bro!'
It's been awhile since we've talked about the remote controlled robot jockeys used in Arabian camel racing, but a recent scandal that has rocked the camel-racing world compels us to revisit the topic. The Dubai police discovered that some shady characters have been selling robot jockeys equipped with stun guns to "encourage" camels to run faster. We're pretty sure that the animals don't need any more incentive to run -- they already have a robot whipping them -- and it's good to see that the powers-that-be agree with us, as the two men selling the machines were arrested. Now that our dromedary friends need no longer fear being tased in the name of sport, we only have to worry about over-zealous peace officers using them on all of us. [Image Credit: ZDNet]
Satellite-borne lasers tracking woodland happenings, who knows what else
It may shock your senses, but this actually isn't the first time we've heard of lasers being used to track birds and their habitats. But this go 'round, an Idaho University team is using a satellite-borne laser in an effort to "predict in which part of a State Forest the birds might be living." In particular, the crew is developing methods that'll help them track the North American pileated woodpecker, namely because these creatures are pegged as being great indicators of overall bird diversity. Currently, the laser is only capable of analyzing vital characteristics of a woodland, but scientists are using this information to take a stab as to where the aforementioned birds would be. Essentially, this laser spotting approach enables gurus to spot highly dense sections of forest -- plots where the pileated woodpecker loves to hang -- from above, dramatically cutting down the hide-and-seek that would previously take place on foot in much larger areas. Now, if only they could get lasers onto the birds, we'd have an all new brand of rave to consider.
Typewriter parts used to construct model deer, give small children nightmares
It's a deer. Made out of typewriter parts. And for whatever reason, it's downright terrifying. Jeremy Mayer's creation (yeah, that Jeremy Mayer) was recently shown at the Device Gallery in San Diego, measuring an intimidating 20- x 36- x 38-inches. It's apparently dubbed the Deer III, which means that at least two others could be roaming an unlit street near you. Something tells us your insurance company will never believe the story should you be unlucky enough to collide with one.
Artificial bee eye gives diminutive robotic air drones wider range of vision
We'd bother telling you up front that it also gives them a new sense of purpose, but you're already versed in how the impending Robot Apocalypse is going to go down. Wolfgang Stürzl and his best buds over at Bielefeld University in Germany have just published a report detailing how an artificial bee eye could improve the vision of miniature robots -- ones that fly, in particular. By using a catadioptric imaging system, which captures an image using both mirrors and lenses, they were able to utilize a single camera to capture a full 280-degrees of vision, and a lowly internal computer is able to stitch the two panes together in order to create a usable image that humans can interpret. The idea here is to provide more sight with less space, bringing us one step closer to actually having our very own 'fly-on-the-wall' moment. Comforting, no?
HP data center fueled by hopes, dreams and... cow dung
We've seen data centers use excess heat for greener purposes, but how's about injecting a little green into the other side of that equation? HP Labs is on that very wavelength, going so far as to publish details on how these centers could be partially powered by none other than cow manure. Yeah, cowpies. The essential thought process went a little something like this: "Data centers need a lot of energy. Dairy farms create a lot of methane. Let's make it happen." Purportedly, 10,000 dairy cows could "fulfill the power requirements of a 1-megawatt data center -- the equivalent of a medium-sized data center -- with power left over to support other needs on the farm," and heat generated by the data center could "be used to increase the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of animal waste." The stomach-twisting details can be found beyond the break, but we can't be held responsible for any images you conjure up. Remember -- once your third eye sees it, you can't un-see it. [Thanks, Bob]
BeetleCam wildlife photography secures stellar snaps in the wilds of Tanzania
We won't even front -- we've got a thing for visiting National Parks, and in a way, we're dangerously envious of these fellows who crafted this here BeetleCam. In short, the device is a wildlife photography robot: a four-wheeled, remote control buggy that holds a DSLR, a couple of flashes and enough torque and battery life to power through African wilds for hours on end. After months of testing, building, rebuilding and rebuilding again, the BeetleCam was packaged up and carried over to Tanzania's Ruaha and Katavi National Parks. During the fortnight-long excursion, the buggy managed to survive being mauled by a lion (sadly the same can't be said for the Canon EOS 400D) and get staggeringly close to elephants, African Buffaloes and other untamed fauna. Frankly, this is one of the more amazing homegrown gadgets we've seen in quite some time, and we couldn't encourage you more to hit up that source link for the full spill.