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Bullet's captioned snippets make podcasts a lot more shareable
While becoming more and more popular, podcasts are far less share-friendly than videos because of their long-form and audio-only nature. An Adelaide-based company aims to change that with a new iOS app called Bullet. It lets you create 30 second video snippets, complete with captions, suitable for sharing on social media. That way, you can post enticing bits of a podcast that are watchable without sound to share with your friends -- a win for consumers and producers alike.
Smart bullets will help warships fend off drone swarms
Navies already have a lot to worry about between rival warships and aircraft, but it's only going to get worse when drone swarms of all kinds threaten to overwhelm their defenses. The US Navy might not have that problem, though: DARPA just tapped Raytheon for the second phase of a smart bullet development project that will help fight off swarming attacks. The MAD-FIRES project (Multi Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System) should lead to ammo that's as fast and small as what you'd find in a medium-caliber gun (20- to 40-caliber), but with the guidance of a missile. if a horde of robotic flyers appeared, a vessel could theoretically take all of them out even if they're approaching from different directions.
US Army patents bullet that self-destructs to protect civilians
The .50 caliber bullet is one of the biggest projectiles you can fit in a rifle or machine gun. Its size and range makes it super-effective at neutralizing foes over long distances, but because it also takes a lot to stop, it can still harm or kill innocent bystanders. Maybe that's why the US Army has patented a new "limited range projectile" that self-destructs as it reaches its target.
New VR game lets you be the bullet
Remember Superhot? It let you dodge bullets by controlling time à la The Matrix, but a new VR game takes that premise even farther by making you the bullet. Drift is a game for Samsung's Gear VR, developed by a pair of programmers during the course of Oculus' Mobile VR Jam. The idea is pretty simple: after a bullet is fired from a gun, your viewpoint changes to its trajectory. Time is considerably slowed down and you can alter the bullet's path by looking left or right. You move around the bizarre orange environment past the crash test dummy-like characters until you spot your target: the green guy.
Watch these smart bullets home in on targets like tiny missiles
Soldiers have long dreamed of smart bullets that always hit their targets, and it looks like they're now much closer to getting their wish. DARPA has posted the first footage of EXACTO (Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance), a .50-caliber bullet that uses optical guidance and sensors to home in on its prey. As you see in the fuzzy-looking video below, the projectile compensates for movement, weather and wind with all the agility of a missile -- even if you try to miss, it easily swerves back on track. The project is still young, but it could prove a tremendous help to long-distance snipers for whom even the tiniest slip-up could ruin a shot.
This R/C racer can shame sports cars with a 188mph top speed
The R/C Bullet might be tiny, but it's so fast it can leave some supercars in the dust. The 1:10 scale model with four-wheel drive was recently timed at 188mph, beating its own 171.96mph world record (as shown after the break). The spaceship-like speeder is the brainchild of Nic Case, already a savant in making radio-controlled cars and breaking records. He built a Schumacher Mi3 R/C before the Bullet, which also held the Guinness World Record in 2008. In fact, he's refining the Bullet even further, hoping to top 200mph. Unfortunately for R/C enthusiasts out there, it doesn't look like he has any plans to mass produce his creation -- you're probably better off saving up for a still-speedy-but-much-slower Traxxas.
Could your iPad case stop a bullet?
Our friends over at the newly remade Engadget get to have all the fun. In order to test a VestGuard UK iPad panel that purports to be bulletproof, they actually pulled out some bullets and guns. They snapped the case on a first-gen iPad, grabbed both a 9mm and a .357 Magnum, and got to shooting. Both firearms were fired at the case in a relatively straightforward way, with the iPad leaned up against some bales of hay, protective case facing the incoming bullet. So did it work? You can see both bullets fired in the picture above, and the case did work: Neither bullet, even at such close ranges, made it through the case. So the good news is that yes indeed, this case could save your life. The bad news, as you can also see above, is that your iPad is toast no matter what it's wearing. Apple's Gorilla Glass touchscreen might be awesome, but it will easily break during any "ballistic events," as VestGuard UK calls a bullet hit. The iPad case can be purchased for £49.99, or around $80, from the company. But as Engadget concludes, if you really want a significant amount of protection from any incoming projectiles, you'd probably be better off just wearing an actual vest.
VestGuard UK Ballistic cover will protect your iPad from tablet-related gunplay
If you find yourself in the position of regularly having your iPad shot at, VestGuard UK sure has the tablet case for you. The Ballistic cover is made of "cutting edge uni-directional aramid fibers processed to a high tolerance in VestGuard's state of the art facility" that make it possible for the case to stop bullets from a 9mm handgun. In other words, the company's bulletproof claims are "not a metaphor," as stated in the post-script of its press materials. And judging from its current selection of products, which include body armor, de-mining helmets and Kevlar gloves, the company knows a thing or two about heavy duty protection. Not a lot in the way of information on availability at the moment, however, since the covers are not quite ready for sale.
iPhone stops a bullet, saves the life of a Rotterdam contractor
Image: Shutterstock According to De Telegraaf, a 49 year-old Rotterdam contractor was shot at and an iPhone in his pocket may have helped stop the bullet from hitting his heart. According to my limited Dutch language skills and Google's translation, "The bullet went straight through my phone back and then only in my chest. My cell phone worked as a brake job and probably was adjusted so that no serious damage was done." In the picture shown attached to the story, it appears the bullet had to travel through the glass of his van as well, which certainly also helped slow the velocity of the bullet before it hit the iPhone. Back in 2007 we wrote up a story about a soldier in Iraq who had a bullet hit his iPod, saving his life. Oh, his body armor helped as well. Remember, it's important to slow the velocity of a bullet down when protecting the body, so anything between you and a high velocity slug of lead is a good thing. And although body armor is pricey, it's still cheaper per square inch than covering yourself in iPhones. Thanks to Ronald Detiger for sending this in!
Rumor: Gameloft's 'Bullet' is the Red Dead Redemption your phone's been waiting for
Gameloft is at it again, it seems. The copysmiths of the iOS world have come up with a western shooter much in the veign of Rockstar's incredibly successful Read Dead Redemption, titled Bullet. For those of you keeping score at home -- actually, how are you keeping score? Gameloft has "adapted" so many games! Regardless, its efforts have proven successful and we expect nothing less from Bullet. Apparently, Gameloft was uploading some trailers for the game, presumably for Bullet's announcement, but had forgotten to turn on the "private video" function. A Touch Arcade reader caught the goof and the rest is, as they say, history. From the two thumbnails above, we can surmise that Bullet is a third-person shooter set in the old west. But until Gameloft officially announces the game, that's all we've got to go on. Well, that and the entirety of Red Dead Redemption.
HTC Evo's battery deflects a bullet, earns 'Life Saver' badge (video)
We knew the HTC EVO 4G was a pretty super phone, but we didn't know it was an actual superhero. A nightclub valet in Atlanta was recently the victim of two disgruntled patrons' wrath, falling in the middle of a five-shot bullet volley, but luckily for him, he had his EVO in his chest pocket. While the phone's glass shattered on impact, its battery did not and absorbed much of the impact of the one bullet intent on ridding him from this mortal coil. The fortunate chap is still with us, uninjured but stupefied by the event, and he promises he'll never buy another brand's phone again. See the video report after the break.
Visualized: high speed photography at mega low shutter speed produces stunning images
The high speed photographs of Lex Augusteijn are taken at a shutter speed of 1/10th of a second. The above image makes a bullet appear shockingly beautiful. Augusteijn controlled the flash, camera, and the gun with his laptop. Hit the source for more photos.
BlackBerry stops bullet, at last proves itself useful beyond BBM
We kid, we kid. There are many excellent reasons to choose a BlackBerry as your main handset in the year 2010, but we've got a brand new item to add to the list: bullet stoppage. A woman in Ohio was sitting with her gun-handling boyfriend at a restaurant when the gun went off and hit her leg. Lucky for the both of them, the BlackBerry in her pocket intercepted the bullet -- rather sufficiently, though to the considerable demise of the handset. It seems as if it was helped along by a neoprene case of some sort, but it's still pretty impressive for such a point blank attack. Love is a battlefield, folks. [Thanks, Tommy G.]
Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema. Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we tapped into the near dystopian future of fear in Brazil. Keeping on that 1980's near-future vibe (but with a slightly more sentient twist), this week we check out Michael Crichton's Runaway, starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley. Filled with circuitry and hardwired chips, the movie reinforces wholesome family values by featuring warranty voids as the gateway hack to murder. Leaping Insect Robot Measuring in around the size of a human head, these six-legged, spider-like, autonomous robots are mechanical in movement but shockingly precise in killing prey. The autonomous insects have the ability to propel themselves up to seven feet in the air, allowing for attacks on unsuspecting victims. Dual-functioning, the legs are able to crawl and grasp a multitude of surfaces, albeit awkwardly and rather slowly. After programming targets into a mainframe, the robots are able to identify and kill victims by injecting them with acid via a probe before short circuiting and eventually exploding into a ball of flames. Sadly, the robots lack any sort of remote control, making human errors in target-programming unable to be edited.
IBM patents bullet dodging bionic armor
Your science fiction fantasy may be coming a reality, if IBM has anything to say about it. The company was recently granted a patent for bionic body armor, originally filed last March, that's intended to bestow the wearer the power to dodge bullets. The device works by constantly emitting electromagnetic waves that bounce off any fast-moving projectiles, and it uses the data to calculate risky trajectories. If the object in question is determined to be a threat, muscle stimulators activate and cause the wearer's body to contort in such way to avoid being hit. It works under the idea that a sniper typically fires from a distance, given the armor time to detect the oncoming bullet and react accordingly. Check out an image of from IBM's filing after the break. Here's hoping it can detect lasers, too.[Via The Firearm Blog; thanks, Chris!]
Video: Vissumo touchscreen takes 9mm bullets like a champ
It's not often that even rugged gadgets can withstand the force of a flying bullet, but whatever Vissumo has baked into its unique touchscreen technology, well, can. In Vissumo's Test Video #99, a firearm wielding employee unloads a few 9mm rounds into the panel (exciting, we know), and then he proceeds to prove that the touch functionality it started with is still there. We're not sure what it says about your choice of living location if you can think of just how helpful this would be in your everyday life, but regardless of all that, you simply have to see the vid after the break. Go on, give it a look.
RAZR stops a bullet, its owner reports "feeling lucky, punk."
New Orleans resident Ronald Richard was mowing the lawn when he felt a hard object hit him in the chest -- precisely where he'd been keeping his pink Swarovski-encrusted (just kidding) RAZR. It was only after Richard took off his sweater that he discovered the .45-caliber slug and realized that the phone had literally taken a bullet for him. According to paramedics, the angle of the bullet and the modest stopping power of the cellphone were all that stood between the man and serious injury or even death. Instead, this lucky gent got away with little more than a fairly significant bruise and an excuse to pick up that Aura he's been coveting.[Via Switched]
Found Footage: Clearing the way for the iPhone 3G
Watch this video at your own risk ... it truly is painful to watch as this iPhone gets a bullet right through the home button. I can't help but think if there was a much more humane way of getting rid of an old iPhone. Online auction sites or maybe an online classified ads site might be nice. Hmm ... yeah, if only those existed. On an iPhone? Click this link to watch the YouTube video.Thanks, Det!
PTR Notes: New reputation ammo
MMO Champion has reported that new "Specialty Ammunition Vendors" have been discovered on the PTR in patch 2.3. These vendors, Archer Delvinar and Marksman Bova, can be found in once empty structures in the Scryer and Aldor areas, respectively, in Shattrath City. Not only do they sell the best types of normal vendor ammunition outside of Halaa, but they also stock ammunition that has reputation requirements. Instead of running over to the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh every time you need to stock up on Warden's Arrows, you can now buy the same ammo in Shattrath. The same vendors also carry ammunition that is currently only available from vendors in Honor Hold/Thrallmar and the Caverns of Time. Currently the cost of all the ammunition sold by these vendors appears to be tied to Aldor/Scryer reputation level, but still requires the specified faction requirement to actually purchase and use.Of course, the best news is that these vendors also carry a new type of ammunition. The Mysterious Arrows and Mysterious Shells require revered reputation with the Violet Eye and provide 46.5 additional damage per second. A stack of 200 costs 1 gold without any price reductions from reputation. Clearly these new items are meant to fill the gap between Adamantite and Timeless ammunition and help hunters that are tackling Magtheridon, Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep increase their damage output. With the new Adamantite Stingers also being added 2.3, hunters will have more options than ever before when choosing a type of ammunition.
BulletGBA shoots us in the face
With the World's Greatest Shmup Player Tournament coming up, now is the perfect time to try out Takayama Fumihiko's recently updated BulletGBA. The homebrew shoot 'em up simulator has over 300 bullet patterns picked out from genre favorites that you can test your dodging skills against. BulletGBA's 5.0 release adds some new "stages," a remodeled shooting mode, and music tracks from the chiptune champions, Nullsleep. We've got a video of us attempting to last longer than a few seconds with one of the bullet hell patterns, so jump past the post break for a good laugh.
