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Hacking inner peace
1. Science class The principal calls this a mindful school. Johane Ligondé is effusively warm but with the kind of emotional solidity you'd expect from someone who wakes each morning to manage more than 1,000 kids at the only public middle school in the village of Freeport in Long Island, New York. She is also an aromatherapist and life coach who hangs a sign reading "I AM AN OPTIMIST" in her windowless office. At John W. Dodd Middle School, some of the students' primary struggles are common to many young teenagers: depression, anxiety, self-harm and the looming shadow of sudden violence. So every morning during homeroom, a student or staff member leads the entire building through eight minutes of breathing meditation over the PA system. In detention, students are "invited," Ligondé said, to do mindfulness exercises, "so it's not just a space for punishment, it's a space for reflection." A "social-emotional learning curriculum" has been introduced, teaching them conflict and relationship management.
Navy researchers make bulletproof glass out of clay
The US Naval Research Laboratory announced a major breakthrough in materials science on Thursday. After decades of research and development, the NRL has created a transparent, bulletproof material that can be molded into virtually any shape. This material, known as Spinel, is made from a synthetic powdered clay that is heated and pressed under vacuum (aka sintered) into transparent sheets. "Spinel is actually a mineral, it's magnesium aluminate," Dr. Jas Sanghera, who leads the research, said in a statement. "The advantage is it's so much tougher, stronger, harder than glass. It provides better protection in more hostile environments -- so it can withstand sand and rain erosion."
The '1,000mph' Bloodhound car is so fast it needs to be bulletproof
Designing a car that can break the world land speed record is a tricky balancing act. It has to be incredibly fast and lightweight, while also offering unparalleled protection on the track. Not only in case there's a conventional crash, either; even a tiny pebble could have devastating consequences for a vehicle travelling at up to 1,000mph. To protect the British Bloodhound supersonic car, which Andy Green will be piloting in a record-breaking attempt later this year, the team has developed special panels that are effectively bulletproof. They're constructed from millions of woven glass fibres that intentionally fray and soak up energy when hit by a fast-moving projectile. In the video below, engineers test their durability by firing a small shard from a cannon. Thankfully they're up to the task, giving Green one less worry when he tries to break the current record (763mph) in South Africa.
Graphene stronger than kevlar when blasted with Mach 9 microbullets
Here's another new use for graphene (that will probably never happen): stopping bullets. University of Massachusetts-Amhers researchers have found that everybody's favorite potential wonder-material vastly outperforms steel and even kevlar armor. Testing the ultra-lightweight, 1-atom thick carbon sheets has proved tricky in the past, as they disintegrated on contact with regular bullets. So, the team used laser pulses to fire micron-sized glass bullets into the sheets at around 6,700 mph, about three times the speed of an M16 bullet (see below). Sheets from 30 to 300 layers thick absorbed the impacts much better than the other materials by deforming into a cone shape, then cracking.
Google Glass Bulletproof app gives the wearable a lock screen (video)
In our review of the Explorer edition of Google Glass, we were surprised at the lack of security features -- there's nothing to stop anyone from picking up your pair, accessing your data and having complete control. We're obviously not the only ones to have noticed this, and developer Mike DiGiovanni, who has his own set of high-tech specs, has come up with an app to alleviate those worries. Called Bulletproof, the app registers when Glass parts from face and engages a lock screen, which can then be disabled with a user-defined combination of swipes and taps on the wearable's touchpad. A brief video demo of the app is available below, and those with the hardware will likely know how to get it loaded using the files linked at the source. It's good to see the dev community already putting out useful software, but it does make you wonder why Google didn't think of it first.
VestGuard UK Ballistic iPad Panel test: can this slate stop a bullet or two? (video)
We've seen tablets used as skateboards, tablets used as car dashboards and many, many tablets hacked to do things they weren't intended to do. This, dear readers, might be the greatest hack of all: modifying a tablet to make it bulletproof. When VestGuard UK announced its £49.99 (about $80) Ballistic iPad panel we wasted no time in requesting a unit to sample. The company was kind enough to send us one across the pond and we did what any gadget- and firearm-loving nerds would do: put it squarely in the crosshairs. Can the iPad really stop small arms fire when augmented with a tiny little sheet and what does that iPad look like after being on the receiving end of both 9mm and .357 Magnum rounds? Trust us, you'll want to click through and see for yourself.
VestGuard UK Ballistic cover will protect your iPad from tablet-related gunplay
If you find yourself in the position of regularly having your iPad shot at, VestGuard UK sure has the tablet case for you. The Ballistic cover is made of "cutting edge uni-directional aramid fibers processed to a high tolerance in VestGuard's state of the art facility" that make it possible for the case to stop bullets from a 9mm handgun. In other words, the company's bulletproof claims are "not a metaphor," as stated in the post-script of its press materials. And judging from its current selection of products, which include body armor, de-mining helmets and Kevlar gloves, the company knows a thing or two about heavy duty protection. Not a lot in the way of information on availability at the moment, however, since the covers are not quite ready for sale.
Has James Bond gone green? Bulletproof electric roadster in the works
Warding off assassins while saving the environment just became a cake walk with the Jo-Mojo, an upcoming creation by Lativian armored vehicle company DARTZ. This two seat convertible roadster brandishes an 80 horsepower electric engine capable of pushing zero to 60 mph in 9.5 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph -- yet most of its "mojo" is outside the hood. Custom seating, color-changing chameleon paint finish, bulletproof tires, and others are just a few of the many "drooling" features. The sunroof is given a task with flexible solar panels built-in, good for juicing up the batteries while idle or on the go. Aimed to hit the market at the end of Q2 2012, its estimated price tag starts at 30,000 euros (~ $40,000), within range of most low-end luxury automobiles. Check past the break for a video slideshow of this snazzy piece of metal by Gray Designs, DARTZ's partner in the venture.
ioSafe Rugged Portable external hard drive takes a bullet for your data
Last October I told you about the ioSafe SoloPRO fireproof external hard drive. It's one of the best options for protecting your data from physical harm. However, since the drive weighs 18 pounds, it's not ideal for those who need portability. That's where the ioSafe Rugged Portable comes in. Weighing little more than one pound, it's considerably lighter and smaller. And although it's not fireproof like the SoloPRO, it is almost everything-else-proof. The ioSafe Rugged Portable comes in two connection flavors, USB 3.0 or a USB 2.0/Dual Firewire 800 combo with options for a 500 GB or 1 TB 5400 RPM hard drive. As you can see from the image above, the drive looks pretty slick, made from a single billet-machined aluminum enclosure. However, what sets this drive apart from almost any other is that its bullet proof. You can literally take a shotgun to it without harming the drive and, more importantly, your data. I don't own a gun, so I didn't test out the bullet resistance, but The Wall Street Journal did in this entertaining video. However, I did test out some of its other protections (including water and drop protection) and the drive worked perfectly afterwords. Besides being bullet proof, the ioSafe Rugged Portable is also crush proof up to 5000 lbs; water proof for up to 3 days in 30 feet of water; UV ray, blowing sand, blowing dust, rain, salt fog, icing rain, and freezing rain proof for up to a continuous 24 hours; drop proof up to 10 feet; and chemical proof from diesel fuel, oils, hydraulic fluids and aircraft fuels for up to an hour at 12 feet. The drive also features a built-in Kensington security slot and "any reason" data recovery, even if the data loss was your fault. Thanks to its superior data protection capabilities, it's no wonder the ioSafe Rugged Portable is used by huge companies and the US Navy. But because of the specialty nature of the drive, you will pay a premium to own one. The 1 TB model I tested is US$299.99 with 12 months warranty/data recovery service, while a 500 GB model is $199.99. Currently the ioSafe Rugged Portable isn't sold in Apple retail stores, but you can pick it up at Apple's Online Store, on Amazon, or from ioSafe directly.
Amnesty International releases iOS game to raise money and awareness for human rights
Bulletproof is a new game that's out on the App Store right now. The premise is interesting and a little macabre, as you're tasked with stopping bullets from a firing squad by touching in the right places on screen. I like it, actually. The action starts slow and eventually becomes pretty frantic. The simple, but effective, graphics keep you on your toes (or fingers, as the case may be). But the most interesting thing about this app is the story behind it. It was actually commissioned by Amnesty International from developers Mobigame, and it's being sold to raise awareness of human rights violations from around the world. All proceeds from Bulletproof are going to Amnesty International (minus, presumably, Apple's standard 30 percent cut), and the game itself is a pretty effective way of getting the message across. This isn't the only instance of charity organizations looking to video games to raise money for their cause. OneBigGame has been doing just that on iOS and other platforms. But this is a solid cause and a solid app as well.
Shear-thickening liquid hardens upon impact, makes for lighter and more effective body armor
Scientists at BAE Systems in Bristol, UK have come up with a "shear-thickening" (or dilatant) liquid that can be combined with Kevlar to create a new, more powerful bullet-proof material. Similar to the "body armor" used by some Olympic skiers, shear-thickening material acts as a lubricant at low velocities, but quickly hardens upon impact. The scientists describe it as "bullet-proof custard," which shouldn't make us hungry but is for some reason. According to the company, recent tests in which a large gas gun fired metal projectiles at over 300 meters / second into both thirty-one layers of untreated kevlar and ten layers of kevlar combined with the liquid have determined that the liquid armor could be used to effectively protect soldiers from bullets and shrapnel.
Devon Works Tread 1 is the bulletproof Droid of wristwatches (video)
Forget the fact that this thing is bulletproof or that its internal battery is recharged wirelessly, just look at it. Built around an array of four microstep motors -- each driving one of an interwoven quartet of time belts -- the Devon Works Tread 1 creates a veritable visual symphony of precise motion to accompany the typically mundane task of checking the time. The watch was designed with the help of a Californian aerospace engineering company, which should go some way to justifying its $15,000 asking price. The rest of that justification will have to come from the "oohs" and "aahs" you incite in stupefied onlookers. Go past the break to see the promo video, it achieves rare heights of machismo that are not to be missed.
BlackBerry stops bullet, at last proves itself useful beyond BBM
We kid, we kid. There are many excellent reasons to choose a BlackBerry as your main handset in the year 2010, but we've got a brand new item to add to the list: bullet stoppage. A woman in Ohio was sitting with her gun-handling boyfriend at a restaurant when the gun went off and hit her leg. Lucky for the both of them, the BlackBerry in her pocket intercepted the bullet -- rather sufficiently, though to the considerable demise of the handset. It seems as if it was helped along by a neoprene case of some sort, but it's still pretty impressive for such a point blank attack. Love is a battlefield, folks. [Thanks, Tommy G.]
IBM patents bullet dodging bionic armor
Your science fiction fantasy may be coming a reality, if IBM has anything to say about it. The company was recently granted a patent for bionic body armor, originally filed last March, that's intended to bestow the wearer the power to dodge bullets. The device works by constantly emitting electromagnetic waves that bounce off any fast-moving projectiles, and it uses the data to calculate risky trajectories. If the object in question is determined to be a threat, muscle stimulators activate and cause the wearer's body to contort in such way to avoid being hit. It works under the idea that a sniper typically fires from a distance, given the armor time to detect the oncoming bullet and react accordingly. Check out an image of from IBM's filing after the break. Here's hoping it can detect lasers, too.[Via The Firearm Blog; thanks, Chris!]
Obama sported bulletproof suit for inaugural proceedings?
Apparently, the Photosynth glitching and iPhone-like GPS blip on CNN weren't the only high tech actions in play at President Obama's inauguration yesterday. According to one of our favorite daily reads, Officer.com, the Prez was wearing "bullet-resistant clothing," which experts (and sci-fi fanatics) are taking to mean a bullet-proof suit. The folks over at Slate speculate that he might have been adorned in an outfit manufactured by MIguel Caballero, a Colombian company that specializes in bullet-resistant gear like leather jackets, windbreakers, and yes... ruffled tuxedo shirts. We'd like to imagine that stuffed into the pocket of that handsome outfit he was sporting was a Kevlar handkerchief -- but listen up Obama: Sasha and Malia are not going to be down with that bulletproof backpack.Update: VBS.tv went down to Colombia and actually tested out Caballero's wares -- check out a video after the break.[Via Wired]
Kevlar handkerchief keeps your nose clean, protects against friendly fire
We find it hard to believe that we won't see one of these being used somewhere in the upcoming 007 film, but even if not, you can definitely put one to use in your everyday life -- if you can get ahold of one of the ten being made, that is. Srulirecht's DÆmdur is a Kevlar-based handkerchief which can keep your schnoz squeaky clean and (in theory, at least) keep your chest free from bullets. Granted, even the manufacturer makes clear that it takes no responsibility for "schmucks and wooden-heads who feel compelled to test the endurance or resistance of the textile in any way," but it sure beats those cotton ones you buy ten to a pack.[Via OhGizmo]
Back-to-school shopping? Don't forget the bulletproof backpacks
Sending your kid off to school these days isn't what it used to be -- at least that's what one company called MJ Safety Solutions would have you believe -- because they're selling a bulletproof backpack. That's right, two worried parents in Boston have created "My Child's Pack," a $175 bulletproof book-bag that will stop an assortment of bullets (including hollow-point 9mm) dead in their tracks. The two inventors feel this will provide a simple solution for parents hoping to protect children from school shootings and gun violence. As sensitive creator Joe Curran says, "I don't care what you do -- if you want to fight the good fight or fix the world's hurts, I can't help you, but my kids are going to be safe because of these backpacks." Which might be true, if crazed shooters are only aiming at people's backs. Check out the "special report" video on the bags after the break.[Via Pocket-lint]
MacBook Pro takes bullet like a champ
We're not exactly sure what Apple's impact test procedures are for MacBook Pros, but a bullet in the side makes quite the statement. A mugging victim in Brazil avoided a trip to the ER thanks to his trusty bodyguard, a seemingly bulletproof MBP. According to the image holder (who isn't the victim or MBP owner), the lappy continues to function, although it isn't clear to what extent. Obviously, popping caps to to the top, bottom, or not-so-centered spot on the side might result in a less a heroic outcome, not to mention a busted machine. As far as brawn goes, MBP ain't no Toughbook, but at least it took one for the team.[Via Random Findings]
HP's StorageWorks XP12000 is bulletproof -- they checked
If you've been looking for a server solution that can stand up to the odd gun fight or three (haven't we all?), HP has just the thing for you. See, they grew tired of just tossing around the term "bulletproof" for their half-million dollar StorageWorks XP12000, and decided they'd pop a .308 caliber bullet through it to prove their point. They fired up the server and got it pumping out a few video streams, and then shot it clean through while the server kept on streaming, thanks to a little bit of server redundancy. The bullet made it through the array and shattered a fish tank on the other side, but HP assures us in their must-see video of the incident that no animals or humans were harmed in the making of this film, so it looks like the goldfish made it out ok -- though we're sure he would've dropped a few frames if they put a bullet through him, the slacker.[Via The Inquirer]
