drexel university
Latest
Kick off this year's Philly Tech Week with a gigantic game of Tetris
There's a few reasons why Tetris is one of gaming's most enduring classics: it's easy to pick up, hard to master and can be played on just about any platform -- including the sides of a building. Drexel University students are rigging the city of brotherly love's Cira Centre with LEDs to play Tetris on a massive scale for the kick-off of this year's Philly Tech Week. The school did something similar in 2013 with a giant version of Pong (video below), but the difference is that this time two sides of the 29-story Cira Centre will be used instead of just one. This will cover more than 100,000 square feet of the building's façade and, according to the university, it should be visible from just about anywhere in Philadelphia. Should the installation go off without a hitch, Drexel will set another Guinness World Record for largest architectural video game display. If you want to show off your block-dropping skills on a massive scale come April 4th, there's a sign-up at the source. [Image credit: michaelwm25/Flickr]
Drexel University intros MacBook Pro vending machine
Drexel University in Philadelphia has created a solution for students who need to use a computer on campus but don't have immediate access to one of their own: A free MacBook vending machine. Ok, so it's not exactly a vending machine, and the computers are only loaned to the students for free 5-hour intervals, but it's still a rather interesting system. The kiosk scans each student's ID before allowing them to take one of the dozen 15-inch MacBook Pro notebooks from its stock. The computers can be used for a total of five hours at no charge, with each additional hour costing $5. The MacBooks are equipped with security sensors to ensure they don't go missing. If the program proves beneficial for students, the university is considering adding iPad kiosks as well. Where were these when I was in college? [Via: Gizmodo]
Four HUBOs 'Come Together' for a Drexel Engineering MET-lab demo
Robot Beatles cover band? Check. Students at Drexel University's Music and Entertainment Technology Lab (MET-lab) have developed software that allows HUBO robots to create tunes following a musical score. The Roboband plays the song without human control during the performance -- a demo that combines humanoid tech and creative expression research. Four HUBOs jam the arrangement of the Beatles' "Come Together" by MET-lab student Matthew Prockup on Ringo's mini-kit and three "Hubophones." Drexel and seven other universities in the States are part of a humanoid research collaboration with KAIST, the designer of the HUBO robot.
Report: Hackers can pull credit card info from old Xbox 360 hard drives
Update: Microsoft has responded to the claim that Xbox 360 hard drives store credit card data of past users. You can read the statement here. A new report suggests uncouth citizens can retrieve credit card data and other personal information from an old Xbox 360 hard drive -- even if it was re-formatted and the console restored back to factory settings.The report comes from an ongoing study at Drexel University. Researcher Ashley Podhradsky told Kotaku that Microsoft does a good job protecting its own proprietary information on the console, but doesn't take any steps to protect user data. As part of the study, the group purchased one used Xbox 360 console, installed some hacking tools and started to root around. Soon enough they were able to retrieve some files and folders, eventually extracting the original owner's credit card information.We've contacted Microsoft to try and find out if this is the case on all hard drives and even USB drives that have had profiles transferred onto them, and if there are any possible steps users may take to protect their data (other than chucking their devices into a volcano). With several gaming platforms and company websites falling prey to hackers over the last year, and the continual rise of digital distribution, safe online infrastructures are more important than ever to gamers today.
Drexel University turns to 3D scanners, printers to build robotic dinosaurs
3D printers, 3D scanners and robotics are usually more than enough on their own to get us interested in something, but a team of researchers at Drexel University have played one other big trump card with their latest project -- they've thrown dinosaurs into the mix. As you can probably surmise, that project involves using a 3D scanner to create models of dinosaur bones, which are then reproduced (at a somewhat smaller scale) using a 3D printer. The researchers then hope to use those to build working robotic models that they'll use to study how dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals may have moved and lived in their environments. That work will start with a dinosaur limb that they expect to have completed by the end of the year, after which they say it will take a year or two to build a complete robotic dinosaur replica.
