Not to be confused with the absolutely worthless (sorry, the truth hurts) Big Red Button of Doom, the Emergency Party Button has a very specific purpose. Designed to take a vanilla home from mundane to spectacular in just seconds, this connected trigger basically flips a boring crib into a bumpin' club whenever you see fit. Just to give you an idea of what goes down when you mash the button, you'll see hallway lights turn off, blinds close, a fog machine come alive, speakers crank up and loads of laser lights turn active. All told, the project cost the builder just north of $600, which seems like a real bargain given what you get. Jump on past the break to have a look on video.

[Via Hack N Mod]

The MPAA has never been too high on college kids -- remember the dishonor roll? -- but it looks like Hollywood set is bummed about not being invited to that last kegger, because the MPAA is now admitting that it drastically overstated the effect of college downloading in previous studies. Back in 2005, the MPAA claimed that a whopping 44 percent of revenue losses came directly at the hands of carefree coeds nationwide, and used that number to pressure colleges into enforcing harsher downloading policies and even propose legislation currently before Congress that would tie federal education funds to copyright enforcement requirements. We're not sure why the industry is now backing off that 44 percent number, but it's now saying that "human error" resulted in a miscalculation, and the revenue loss from college piracy is more like 15 percent -- a number which is further disputed by campus IT groups, who say it should be more like three percent. Of course, while it's good to see the MPAA take an upfront stance on this, simply admitting you're sleazy doesn't actually wipe the slime off, so let's see how the industry approaches future studies, shall we?

Finally, your greatest and weirdest dream can be realized. Besides being able to check your Facebook account, email your girlfriend, call your Mom on the holidays, or play a Java version of Golden Axe, you can take a college class via your mobile phone. The questionably named Cyber University in Japan has begun offering a mobile class on the "mysteries of the pyramids," but instead of a typical PC's display of text, images, sound, and video, the mobile version offers a streaming Power Point presentation on the topic. The university -- 71-percent of which is owned by Softbank, a mobile service provider -- has 1,850 students, and offers almost 100 courses, though only one is available for phones. Sakuji Yoshimura, head of Cyber University, says that the technology will allow those with jobs or who have disabilities greater access to education. "Our duty as educators is to respond to the needs of people who want to learn," he said -- then went on to add, "Even if the course is interrupted by an SMS."

Update: Did we say Golden Axe? Because we meant Wonder Boy. Whoops.

And you thought going away to college was the first step to freedom. Au contraire, students (and faculty, no less) entering Pennsylvania's Slippery Rock University will actually be faced with an RFID tag made for their handset, which will "allow them to pay for everything from laundry and copier services to movies and groceries in the surrounding town of Slippery Rock." The 13.56MHz tags were developed by Heartland Payment Systems and utilize NFC to make spending their parents' cash all the more simple. Of course, high rollers should be aware that their guardians can log in at any time and view their purchasing habits, so we'd be careful before pulling out the long face and car trouble story. The cards will reportedly cost around $1 apiece, but will be "available for free" to all of the SU students.

[Via Textually]

While the Virginia Tech Hokies tend to rely more on dazzling special teams teams play than sheer defensive prowess, the players take a lickin' regardless. In a presumed extension of Beamer Ball, the sparkly helmets donned by the football squad will sport internal accelerometers and wireless transmitters that beam (ahem) information about the seriousness of each blow to a Sybase database in order to tell if and when a certain player has had enough. The primary objective is to prevent any long-term injuries and detect concussions before individuals can even realize they're hurt, and an interesting byproduct of the system has shown what types of thwacks are typically sustained at different positions. The HITS (head impact telemetry system) technology could reportedly be used in places like the battlefield as well, or moreover, rigorous rounds of Wii Boxing -- but we're sure WVU's Punchstat system is already on top of that.

[Photo courtesy of VT]

Oh yes they did. The MPAA now has their own list of the most drug piracy-ridden schools in higher education: the MPAA's "dishonor role." In addition to receiving a top-25 ranking, each institution above is labeled with the number of students identified as making unauthorized use of copyrighted materials. Some schools like Ohio University, Purdue, and eight others have the dubious distinction of being on both the MPAA's and RIAA's lists with Purdue achieving the highest combined ranking -- #5 MPAA, #2 RIAA. Feel that, son? That's school pride welling within. Enjoy it while you can as we wait to see if the MPAA will take legal action.

Some folks just don't know when to quit, and apparently, Ruckus Network falls clearly into that category of beings. Looking past the brutal failure at American University and the growing data proving that stipulation-laced music simply doesn't fit in at college campuses across the nation, Ruckus is giving this idea one more go, and this time, it's 100-percent kinda-sorta gratis. While it's not too unusual to hear of indie / unsigned bands being distributed for free, this new deal supposedly offers up "major label bands" without charge to students holding an email address that ends in ".edu." The service will be completely ad-supported, and doesn't require any official "vow of support" from a university itself, and for alumni / faculty registering with their educational email, a $8.95 per month charge will purportedly be levied. The catch, however, is that the "free music" can only be played back on the person's PC, and transferring it to a DAP -- which must support DRM-WMA, by the way -- will run students $4.99 per month. Aside from this music rental fee, the service completely shuns Mac, iPod, and Zune owners, leaving us to wonder just how effective the service could be if the terms were even remotely attractive from the start. Regardless, the rigid service is available now for the few folks interested, but from the looks of things, we doubt it'll reverse the fortunes of Ruckus Network.

Even though they may have somewhat of a geeky reputation, MIT students party just as hard as the white hatters at your local state school, and probably graduate in larger percentages to boot. It should be no surprise, then, that a couple of dorm-dwelling party animals at the university decided to use their copious electronics skillz to convert their room into the ultimate cramped disco -- and because this is MIT we're talking about, everything goes live at the push of a single button. Using an X-10 control system, Zack Anderson and his roommate RJ Ryan hooked up strobe lights, black lights, a fog machine, laser light show, scrolling LED sign, disco ball, and an LCD projector to their computers so that all the effects would sync with whatever music was playing, and even retrofitted their window blind with a motor so it can drop down and act as a projection screen for some trippy visualization action. Calling their setup MIDAS (Multifunction In-Dorm Automation System), the pair also included a security alarm and camera for remotely monitoring their now-famous room, and situated small VFDs throughout the interior to deliver system status updates or other types of infoswag. Hey guys, if you don't land some hotshot jobs after college with your MIT degrees, we always have room for clever DIYers right here at Engadget.

[Via MAKE: Blog]

We had assumed that with all the robots being developed for deployment to Mars, the human astronauts would mostly be lounging around inside the comfort of their robot-built habitats and ordering drinks from their robot bartenders, but yesterday's unveiling of a prototype spacesuit for navigating the Martian terrain proves that manned missions might not be as cushy as we anticipated. The 50-pound suit (which they somehow got The Office's Steve Carell to model) was designed by students from five North Dakota colleges in a collaborative project funded by a $100,000 NASA grant, and includes at least three innovative technologies for which patents have been filed. Among the slew of sensors and communications gear designed for the harsh, low-gravity environment are oxygen and carbon dioxide detectors, GPS system, full suite of health monitors, shoulder mounted CCD cam, Bluetooth server to coordinate all the data, and a high-power transmitter for beaming info back to the mothership -- though curiously, there's no mention of an onboard weapons system that would be crucial for encounters with the occasional hostile Martian. Also, as the AP helpfully notes, even with all the research and design that went into this project, the forty-odd students seemed to neglect a key feature of any good full-body suit, which is an "escape hatch" for when the astronauts need to "jettison their waste."

[Via futurismic and abc]

In yet another sign that Luddism is alive and well in academia (remember Lakehead University's silly WiFi ban?), the Associated Press has picked up on a disturbing "trend" of professors banning laptops in their classrooms. Unlike the WiFi brouhaha, which revolved around fears that the wireless signals might be dangerous, keeping laptops out of the lecture hall is seen as a way of forcing students to pay attention. The AP article cites several law school professors who have enacted the ban, including one whose inspiration came while serving as an expert witness in a trial, when he realized the court stenographer wasn't absorbing any of the content that he/she was transcribing. If you ask us, not only does this policy fail to address the root of a problem -- hey Prof, try making your classes more interesting if you want people to pay attention -- but considering what students are paying for a higher education these days, they should be allowed to lug a mainframe and three monitors to class if that's how they like to get their learnin' done.