bird strike
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TUAW's Daily App: Bird Strike
If you're not one of the many who have discovered Bird Strike yet, then you're in luck. The game just got a solid update, with new levels, new power-ups, and OpenFeint integration. The game is almost like Doodle Jump but I actually enjoyed it a little more. You play a bird that is constantly trying to fly higher and higher with the help of rockets and various tools. The graphics are clean and fun, and it's actually a little more forgiving than some of the Doodle Jump-style games that I've played. The game was free for a little while and is now back up to US$0.99. Even at that price, though, it's an easy buy. Lots and lots of people have already gotten a chance to play the game, because it's hit nearly every spot on the charts already. However, if you've waited to check it out, now's the time to do it.
"Audio telescope" could help mitigate bird strikes
Bird strike has always struck us (har) as a bit of a misnomer. As British comedian Eddie Izzard once pointed out, birds don't exactly fly around looking for planes to go after -- the act of a bird hitting a plane's body or engine should be more adequately described as "engine suck." Either way, it's caused $2 billion worth of damage to US-based aircraft since 1990, according to the FAA. So, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology is currently working on a solution that involves a terrestrial setup of 192 microphones (an "audio telescope," if you will) that aims to pick up on bird sounds and detect what type of bird is approaching oncoming aircraft. The idea is that while a smaller sparrow isn't usually much concern, a larger hawk or Canada goose would be a problem when colliding with planes. One big problem though: currently the audio telescope can only detect birds at distances of a few hundred meters; Vincent Stanford of the NIST says that to really be effective, the telescope would "need to be up to around 2.5 kilometers." So get crackin' fellas, looks like your work is cut out for you.
