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Drones will watch Australian beaches for sharks with AI help
Humans aren't particularly good at spotting sharks using aerial data. At best, they'll accurately pinpoint sharks 30 percent of the time -- not very helpful for swimmers worried about stepping into the water. Australia, however, is about to get a more reliable way of spotting these undersea predators. As of September, Little Ripper drones will monitor some Australian beaches for signs of sharks, and pass along their imagery to an AI system that can identify sharks in real-time with 90 percent accuracy. Humans will still run the software (someone has to verify the results), but this highly automated system could be quick and reliable enough to save lives.
UAV Lifeguards to patrol Australian beaches, Hasselhoff given notice
Look, up in the sky. It's a bird, it's a plane -- it's... a lifeguard? Aiming to keep a robotic eye out for distressed swimmers and dangerous marine life, Surf Life Saving Australia will soon deploy flying safety drones across beaches in Queensland, Australia. Starting off on a trial basis, the unmanned bots have a wingspan of one meter (about three feet) and will feature detachable safety buoys and alert sirens. While it could be the next thing in oceanside safety, we'd image that some folks won't be too fond of being watched sans any say in the matter. That said, we'd be remiss not to mention to that SLS head Brett Williamson frankly stated to ABC that "at the end of the day this is about public safety." Big brother conspiracy aside, we're sure some folks could be swayed if these bad boys play Flight of the Valkyries while in formation. [Image credit: Kim Powell]
Google dives deep to bring underwater photos of the Great Barrier Reef this September
Your next trip to the Great Barrier Reef could be from the comfort of your home now that Google's partnered with Catlin SeaView Survey, the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute and the Underwater Earth organization to document this amazing ecosystem. Equipped with a special underwater camera capable of withstanding depths of 328 feet, the survey aims to photograph 50,000 shots in 360-degree panoramic view and incorporate them into Google Earth and Google Maps. Dubbed "Google SeaView," it seeks to open opportunities for increased conservation as well as a free look for wanna-be world travelers who can't afford a plane ticket down under. As an added perk, the collected data may also be used to help future ship captains navigate through the treachery of the intricate coral highways. Check past the break for more info on the survey and plenty of footage teeming with aquatic wildlife.
Sony Alpha A77 caught sunbathing on a beach, courtesy of mysterious YouTuber (video)
Look away now if you're desperate for a beach holiday, because the above video features a Sony camera chilling out in the sand, before some lucky fella picks it up for a quick snap of the calm sea. Now, the clip doesn't actually indicate which model this camera is, but the video uploader -- with a fresh account hosting just this one video -- simply wrote "Sony Alpha A77?" in the title, along with "Taiwan" in the description. Our gut feeling tells us that this leak comes straight out of Sony's Taiwanese PR team, who's keen to show off this mysterious camera's quick autofocus in live view mode (presumably there's a translucent mirror inside to enable this), as well as its sand-friendly body. That said, the folks should really get that Zeiss lens inspected -- as pointed out by Sony Alpha Rumors, we seriously doubt it shares the same level of protection as the body. Poor thing. Focusing on the camera again: we only get to see its back, but this alone is enough to prove that we're looking at a never-before-seen model from Sony -- while it sports a similar swivel screen as the A55's (whereas the A560 and A580 only have tilting screens), it also has a different set of buttons. In fact, said button layout is identical to that on the transparent prototype manhandled by Pocket-lint back in March! Combining these factors together, we say this A77 teaser is pretty legit. Now, how about a date and some prices for this 24 megapixel beast, Sony? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: The original video's been taken down, but fear not, as we've already thrown in our backup copy. You're welcome.
Turtle Beach XP500 and PX3 gaming headsets hands-on
Not ready to take the $250 plunge to snag a pair of Ear Force PX5s, but still want in on Turtle Beach's preset-powered super hearing? The big boy's baby brother, the Ear Force PX3, just might scratch your itch. We heard these stereo gaming cans ditched surround sound and Bluetooth support to save buyers a Benjamin, but how does these super-saver specials hold up? We tried them on. %Gallery-125852%
Turtle Beach Ear Force PX5 review
You like video games, right? If you're the type that takes game-playing more seriously than your average Joe, the PX5 might have caught your eye when we previewed this headset at CES this year. Now they're available for purchase, and we've been playing our hearts out, cans on ears. Is this gaming headset worth shelling out $250 for? Hit the review and find out! %Gallery-113309%
Turtle Beach Earforce PX5 gaming headset preview
On the show floor of CES the madness is virtually endless. But lucky for us, within the sea of rabid gadget lovers and enthusiasts we came across Turtle Beach's booth and got our greasy In-n-Out Burger fingers on the just-announced Earforce PX5. Not only did we get to wear the headphones and feast our eyes on the wireless hub, we experienced Dolby 7.1 surround sound while playing Halo: Reach on the Xbox 360. We've got pics and our initial impressions after the break, so hit it! %Gallery-113309%
Breakfast Topic: Where do you go for spring break?
This Breakfast Topic is brought to you by WoW.com's guest blogger program. Want to participate in a future call for guest posts? Read up on how to contribute, and keep an eye on the site for program announcements. It's ironic, but it happens: as we play the game we escape into to alleviate our boredom, we sometimes become, well, really, really bored. The same old dungeons into which to delve, the same conversations in guild chat, the same long wait after another week of bad loot rolls. Start here, fly there, knock down a dozen of those guys, pick up their stuff, and bring it back to the person whose orders we're blindly following to do all this to begin with. Oh, and do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and then for the next few weeks until him and his friends decide they really like you a whole bunch. It all sounds almost too much like real life, like a real job. Even if our real-world daily commute involved riding a small, colorful dragon between a sweaty, humid jungle and a freezing arctic tundra, and our jobs involved slaying the animated corpses of former friends and allies, and our reward included rifling through their gross, dead pockets for quarters (and, if we're lucky, the occasional attractive pair of shoulder pads), all the novelty would soon wear off and we'd eventually be asking other members of the PUG we just joined, "Are you sure it's Wednesday? It feels like a Thursday. It's really only Wednesday?" So as dedicated as I can be to gearing up and progression, I like to take a vacation now and then. A break, if you will, and with spring break upon us and summer break fast approaching, what better time to talk about where we like to wander off to when we're sick of standing around in Dalaran trolling trade and LFG? Personally, when I need a bit of time away from it all, I head back to where it all began -- and as a human, that means Elwynn Forest. Yes, I'm in Stormwind all the time, but when I'm on break, I'll head down to Goldshire to check in on the creepy kids, catch a glimpse of (and righteously throttle) Hogger, and then head over to Westfall and treat myself to a solo Deadmines run. It's refreshing, and best of all, I get to keep every piece of copper dropped. Ah, bliss. So where do you head off to when you need a change of scenery? Where do you escape to when you need an escape in your escape?
Worley Winery loses stock, BioShock 2 gains promotion
We have to imagine that the marketing team for BioShock 2 is split into two warring factions, each one trying to outdo the other's promotions. "We're going to make an online pseudo-ARG site." "Oh yeah? Well we're going to give away characters as a pre-order bonus." "Oh yeah? Well we're going to set up an eerie simulacrum of our ARG site in the middle of Comic-Con." Hopefully the escalation will stop before we reach: "Oh yeah? Well we're going to kidnap an actual little girl and take her to the bottom of the ocean."The latest salvo from one of these sects is pretty clever (and legal, we think) -- a number of advertisements for plasmids and Rapture locales tucked into bottles from Arcadia's Worley Winery (an in-game spirits retailer) recently washed up on beaches across the world. Kotaku readers grabbed images from the bottle-peppered shores of Brighton Beach, The Hague, Vancouver and Santa Monica. We also received a video from tipster Lazlo showing the early-morning discovery at Vancouver -- it's posted after the break.If your mainland orientation kept you from checking out the promotion, don't despair -- you can already grab one of these ad-filled bottles on eBay for around $100.[Thanks, Lazlo!]
Liquid Image video camera goggles get upgraded specs, Japanese release
Aloha, friends! Are you finding your beach holiday experience is missing that certain bit of techno je ne sais quoi? Maybe it's because your snorkeling exploits are going undocumented, in which case you may look to Liquid Image's newly unveiled UDCM310. An evolutionary improvement on the previous model, the new goggles feature a 5 megapixel CMOS sensor, software-free USB connectivity and the ability to record 720 x 480 video at 30 fps to a microSD card. Sure, it's not exactly overwhelming you with shooting options, but it also keeps your hands free for whatever underwater heroics you want to film. [Via Akihabara News]
Barrens Chat: You're pulling my fin
I have these questions about some of the random things I find in World of Warcraft. One the one hand, I'm intensely curious as to the answer to these questions. On the other hand, I'm really not sure I want to know.One of the most enjoyable aspects of playing the game sometimes is imagining what it is that is really going on behind the scenes. With an imagination like mine, this can sometimes lead to really interesting ideas as to just how things work. %Gallery-22361%
The DS Life: Shoreline
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com."And because they had once written themselves a beach, on which to dream themselves together, they decided that to celebrate they'd have another one of their rare days, and for it, they would go to a beach." - Looper, "Impossible Things"
Ocean City, NJ geeks up the beach
Visitors to the Jersey shore will soon have more to look forward to than just big hair and Bon Jovi -- Ocean City, in south Jersey, is currently accepting bids for a planned beach network that will encompass everything from tracking parking spots to monitoring garbage can levels. The $3M system, which will feature a mix of WiFi and RFID devices, is expected to cut the costs of running the beach dramatically -- trimming almost half of the $282,000 budget for access badge checkers, for example. Other planned features include the ability to link access wristbands together, so that parents can be alerted via SMS if one of their kids ventures beyond the boundaries of the boardwalk, and RFID payment services for food and souvenir shops. Now all they need is some of those Segway beach cops and the future will have finally arrived.
Light Wave Surfboard alerts tugboats of your presence
Now that it's been made possible to surf in bitterly cold waters without freezing up, we're sure more than a few daredevils would like to cut up after hours. Santa Cruz Light Wells' latest contraption takes the worry out of surfing beyond dusk, as the Light Wave Surfboard features headlights, a rail light, and fin lights to keep you lit up whilst carving those murky waves. Additionally, the rail light is controlled by a left or right handed dimmer switch, the headlights are activated by lifting the nose, and the tube lights / headlights can be "programmed to run from 10 to 45 seconds" at a time. The whole kit is powered by "two replaceable batteries" that should keep things bright for at least a night or two, but considering the $2,950 pricetag attached to this thing, we were definitely expecting it to run off hydroelectricity.[Via ShinyShiny]
Architects asleep at the wheel at Miami Beach store
Granted, I've never really been a fan of the architecture in Miami, but this has gone too far. Instead of the sleek minimalist aluminum monolith we have all come to know and love from our Apple Stores, the Lincoln Road store breaks the mold with its bold facade featuring a metal Apple centered in a square of corrugated metal. Yes, corrugated metal, such as one would find in a shanty town. Now, I understand if the community wanted a more low key design, but why didn't Apple go with something tasteful like its SoHo store? Maybe it's just me. Maybe I have some high-and-mighty castle-on-a-hill vision of how all Apple Stores should be. But even so, the design doesn't reflect any of the design sense we have come to expect from Apple, and that is certainly a disappointment. Photo and story via ifoAppleStore
Seabobbing: swimming for the lazy
Hanging out at the beach is always a lot of fun, but swimming in the ocean is, like, really tiring, so when our friends all decide to go in the water, we usually cop-out by making up some lame excuse about a leg cramp. Thanks to a new product on the market called the Seabob, however, we may soon be able to enjoy the surf as much as we enjoy sitting on our towel drinking daiquiris, as the German-engineered device promises to do for swimming what the Segway has done for walking, Seabob is able to propel its rider along the surface of the water at 12-miles-per-hour, and then dive down to nine feet with only light pressure applied to its controls, although overriding the electronic depth-limiter lets experienced divers cruise as low as 130 feet. Power comes from a 3.6-kilowatt electric motor delivering 570-newtons of thrust, and a handy LCD display keeps you informed of water temperature, diving depth, and the 60-minute battery's remaining capacity. As we learned from Segway, leading a sedentary lifestyle doesn't come cheap, so until they initiate a loan program, don't be surprised if you end up shelling out over ten grand for one of these models after taxes, shipping, etc.[Via Stuff]
Portable iPod protection with Yelpie
There are several ways to protect your iPod at work or on-the-go, but what to do when you're at the beach and you need to leave your 'Pod unattended while you take a dip in the water? Unless you actually have some friends who are willing to watch your valuables for you -- which is unlikely, if you're sitting around reading this blog on a Sunday afternoon (we kid, we kid) -- your best bet is probably a new motion sensor-equipped product adorably-named "Yelpie" that sounds a loud alarm if anyone tries to mess with your gear. After stowing the device of your choice inside Yelpie's secure yellow confines, arming the unit with your personal PIN number ensures that thieves trying to make off with the case will be treated to a shrieking, attention-grabbing 90-decibel alarm that's likely to shame him/her into dropping the goods and slinking away empty-handed. Friendless beach-goers will be able to pick up one of these portable safes sometime in the middle of the month for around $70, which in the long run is much cheaper than hiring the local kids who probably steal your stuff themselves as often as they actually guard it.[Via Real Tech News]
