Seriously, is there anything the Wiimote can't do? Just when you thought the world had exhausted all possibilities for Nintendo's oh-so-versatile controller, along comes the crew at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to prove otherwise. Programmed to operate with BigBen -- PSC's 4,000 processor, 21-teraflop Cray XT3 supercomputing system -- the Wiimote was seen controlling a round of Buckyball Bowling, which just might be the nerdiest (that's a compliment, ya know) title for a game to date. Additionally, it was suggested that the WiiMD technology could eventually "offer scientists an easily usable tool to gain insight into simulations," and moreover, provide "an entertaining educational outreach tool to help interest students in biology, chemistry and physics." Man, lecturing is so last year.

[Via EarthTimes]

Not willing to be left behind by all those other dictionary-packin' PMPs out there, Maxian has decided to launch a device of its own to both entertain and educate. The E900DIC boasts a stylish white enclosure, simplistic control scheme, and a "Saydic" dictionary that even touts text-to-speech capabilities. Details regarding the actual formats that this thing supports are scant, but we do know it features a DaVinci chipset and plays nice with H.264. Unsurprisingly, this one looks to be a Korean exclusive, but those parked near Seoul can reportedly snag one for between ₩400,000 ($430) to ₩500,000 ($538).

[Via MobileWhack]

If you thought taking a ride on the GamerBUS was a thrill, this one will really make you long to be a youngster in Arkansas again. Reportedly, the Sheridan school district is launching the Aspirnaut Initiative to bring laptops, iPods, and wireless internet right onto Bus 46, and amazingly, they expect kids to actually glean knowledge rather than hit up a round or two of Counter-Strike. The project hopes to make the unbelievably long (three hours, to be exact) commute that some rural students face a bit less boring and a tad more educational, as students will have access to informational podcasts and web-based learning modules whilst cruising on home. Interestingly, the three-year pilot project will not give students class credit for their extra effort initially, but for brainiacs who stick with the program, they'll purportedly be keeping the goods for themselves once the trial run concludes.

[Via ArsTechnica]

If you're one who likes to roam solo, but still yearns for that oh-so-knowledgeable tour guide when strolling through historic landmarks or animal havens, Bar Z Adventures has just the thing to quench your curiosity while on the trails. The GPS Ranger (and self-explanatory Zoo Ranger) handheld devices are being aimed at historic sites, monuments, national parks, cruise lines, and zoos in hopes of giving tourists of any tongue the chance to soak up information about the area they're in without having to play follow the leader. The Windows CE-powered unit sports a 3.5-inch outdoor viewable LCD, 4GB of storage, and integrated GPS that allows a plethora of content ranging from movie / audio clips to lines of text to be displayed when the user encounters certain geographical coordinates. Multimedia tidbits describing statues, animals, battlefields, and essentially anything associated with a given attraction can be triggered when approaching a given landmark, and the device also packs support for a multitude of languages to cater to those international visitors. While we aren't sure how much these tour enhancing gizmos will inflate your activity costs (or how many jobs they'll replace), we can't wait to see the movie clip that gets queued up for these guys.

[Via jkOnTheRun]