AirPenguin
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TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Air Penguin
Air Penguin from GAMEVIL is one of those deceptively simple, casual pick-up-and-play games for US$0.99 on the App Store. What I look for in these types of games are polish and a great control scheme. Luckily, Air Penguin has both. Your goal is to jump and slide your way through levels until your penguin safely arrives at the end of the series of obstacles and challenges in your way. Usually this means having your penguin jump or slide around obstacles, or ride various sea critters around obstacles. You pick up what look like Goldfish crackers for scoring, although the primary goal is to simply complete a level without falling in the water. Apparently your penguin cannot swim very well. The controls are based on tilt only and cannot be changed. The good news is that the controls are responsive without being too twitchy. It is possible to adjust the sensitivity, and before you begin a level, there's a countdown that allows you to level your iPhone (resetting the tilt). You can change the penguin's direction in the air, which is useful because certain levels require you to juke around obstacles while in midair -- tricky but not impossible. Sometimes you're able to flick the iPhone up at the end of a run and go flying through the air (the dream of many penguins). When you're not airborne, you might be sliding across the snow, controlling the velocity and direction with tilt. You may also ride an animal, again controlling speed and direction with tilt. Air Penguin is simplicity itself, and its speedy gameplay, polished graphics and sound and adequate controls make it a pleasant diversion for kids and adults. I have no idea what the extra fish you can buy via in-app purchases are used for, but you get 50 free fish for fun. You won't need much beyond the $0.99 price to have a quick, enjoyable game. Check out Air Penguin for cute, casual fun.
Festo's flying AirPenguin robot induces daydreaming beyond the sea (video)
Penguins. Such graceful creatures. Mommy never told us why these birds don't fly, but here's proof that this won't be a concern for our little 'uns. What you're looking at is the Festo AirPenguin's rare appearance outside its German labs -- the Gotengo-esque airship is at The Gadget Show Live in Birmingham, UK this week. Sure, this baby's a bit old, but being up close and personal with it is way more sensational than watching the mere 40-second-long segment from last time, and at least we now know it's the real deal. Video after the break.%Gallery-89964%
Festo shows off robot penguins and other visions of the future
The folks at Festo have already proven themselves to be more than adept some intoxicating, slightly unnerving feats of robotics, but they look to have really outdone themselves with their latest group of creations, which all fall under the banner of the company's Bionic Learning Network. While they're all certainly impressive, the real star is undoubtedly the AquaPenguin which, in addition to being creepily realistic, is fully autonomous and even able to outperform its real-life counterpart in a few tasks, like swimming backwards. Of course, Festo apparently couldn't help themselves and also built a flying, blimp-like AirPenguin, and they applied some of the same basic technology to a number of other devices, including a robot arm that's precise enough to change a lightbulb, and a freestanding interactive wall that's sure to spruce up any lobby. Hit up the YouTube link below for a video that provides a brief overview of the whole lot, or head on over to Festo's site for the even better German version (plus some additional details on the projects themselves).Read - YouTube, "Festo Bionic Learning Network 2009"Read - Festo[Thanks, Gunter]
