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ICYMI: Smart following suitcase, NASA wormbots and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-972012{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-972012, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-972012{width:100%;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-972012").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: NASA was just awarded a patent for a crawly, amorphous robot that can climb through rubble or dusty planets, theoretically more easily than rovers with wheels and gears to gunk up.
Gas leak forces LG factory to halt OLED TV production
A tragic gas leak at one of LG's domestic OLED TV panel plants this week might have some big ramifications for the TV market. South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor has ordered LG to shut down the factory while it investigates the accident, which killed two workers and injured four. A spokeswoman wasn't willing to predict the closure's effect on sales for Reuters, but it comes days after LG unveiled its Best of CES-winning Art Slim OLED sets and might affect a timely launch (at least for Koreans) if the investigation takes a while. The victims and the plant's safety undoubtedly take higher priority -- just don't be surprised if there are ripple effects.
Samsung apologizes for plant acid leak incident
Samsung has formally (and publicly) apologized over the hydrofluoric acid leak that occurred in January. Alongside this, Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun said that the company will revoke its application to get its plants certified as green for another five years. He added that the company is now overhauling its existing system to prevent any similar accidents from recurring. Samsung's 'green' plants were previously able to sidestep governmental checks on the facilities' environmental impact. Meanwhile, police are still investigating seven people on charges of negligence over the incident.
Korean police contradict Samsung over fatal gas leak, say acid got into the environment
Samsung has already been given a small fine for not reporting a fatal gas leak promptly enough, but now it could be in more serious trouble. At the time of the accident, which led to the death of a maintenance contractor, the manufacturer released a statement indicating that the leak of hydrofluoric acid had been "contained." But CCTV footage seen by investigators now suggests that some of the lethal gas reached beyond the confines of the chip plant. A local environmental group claims to have detected high levels of the gas within a couple of kilometers of the building -- an area with tens of thousands of residents. Police still appear to be investigating, but if all this turns out to be true then another $1,000 ticket probably isn't going to fix it.
Insert Coin: Sensordrone lets your smartphone monitor temperature, air quality, inebriation
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. Sensordrome is an attempt to pair a sensor-heavy dongle with your smartphone. The result is something slightly Star Trek, with the device connecting across Bluetooth to share a wealth of data on what's going on around you. Pledging over $149 to the Kickstarter project will net investors a spot on the first production run, while over $99 will land you a beta version for slightly zealous devs and testers. The sensor array includes some standard offerings like temperature and humidity but it also throws in a light sensor, non-contact IR thermometer and barometer. It can also analyze breath alcohol levels, and detect Carbon Monoxide and even gas leaks. Throw in an expansion connector to open up even more options, including medical equipment like blood pressure monitors, and you can see why it's piqued our interest. Sensors aside, the gadget will hook-up with Android (other platforms will be considered in the future) and will be able to connect to the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Sensordrone can offer up its data in three different ways; call-respond mode will give you immediate read-outs, while streaming mode will send continuous data to your phone. Data logging mode will store the same data in its built-in memory which can be downloaded later as a .csv file -- and should mean graphs abound. Sensordrone's application software will also be open-source, allowing plenty more apps to utilize that sensor medley in the future. We'd still love a built-in radiation detector though. That aside, you can take a tour of Sensordrone's talents after the break. How can you say no to that face? Previous project update: Motion-controlled sword-em-up Clang has just under a month left to go and has notched up just shy of $160,000 for the project -- all from under 3,100 backers. However, plenty of support is still needed to reach its heady $500,000 target.
