Shanghaiist
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A totally new energy source in slow moving rivers
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: University of Michigan researchers spent years creating a water-harnessing river turbine to create electricity, called the VIVACE. It's the first time electricity appears to be effectively generated in slower rivers rather than oceans, but that's because the developers used physics to get turning turbines to agitate the water enough to create more energy for their neighboring cylinders. It's an as-yet prototype but a promising new development in the realm of water-powered electricity. If you're interested in the giant balloon video from China, that's here, and the JibJab app can be downloaded from an app store. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Watch 540 dancing robots celebrate Chinese New Year
Ten robot cheerleaders isn't enough when it comes to celebrating Chinese New Year. To kick off the year of the monkey, Chinese broadcaster CCTV's TV special included 540 dancing robots, with a fleet of drones to top it all off with a layer of glitter. The robots thrust, do handstands, and dance in that ever-so-robotic way (in unison), but it's the sheer scale that makes it must-see. Watch the spectacle below.
"Rampant piracy" makes PSP the perfect gift in China
The Chinese video game market is a difficult one for manufacturers to deal with, simply because piracy is totally out of control in that region. Many publishers and console manufacturers avoid the market altogether. However, the Chinese market loves to play video games, and a blog called Shanghaiist is recommending the PSP for holiday gift givers this year:"Our buying decision this holiday season has every bit to do with the PSP being a nifty gadget as it does some of the extra "resources" available to us as residents of Shanghai, or China for that matter ... rampant piracy of games. The PSP is no different. Machines for sale here are from either Europe or Japan, but with firmware downgraded/modified so that they can handle "backup" (read "pirated") games."While I'm all for sales of the PSP increasing, I'm appalled at this recommendation. Telling people to buy a system because you can easily pirate games on it is really uncool. Of course, it seems like many people on the Internet also seem to think the PSP is all about homebrew and piracy as well. What have you experienced on the web?
