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Slink-O-Matic machine slinks your Slinky for you (video)
Start swishing a Slinky back and forth, shifting its weight from hand to hand, and it can be awfully hard to stop. But, sometimes you have work to do. That's when Slink-O-Matic comes in, the automatic Slinky slinker that will shift the metallic coils from one side to another all day long, if you like. It's the creation of Jim Sellers, is beautiful in its simplicity, and we're told also doubles as a hemisphere detector: the Slinky will "slink" from right to left in the north and left to right in the south. There, now you've learned your "something new" for the day.
A look at leveling in World of Tanks
World of Tanks is in a class by itself -- if you want to play a vehicle-based MMO focused around motorized armor units, there simply isn't another option available. And while there were more than a few jokes at the time of its announcement, successful games with a strong vehicle focus exist already. But the core of a game like this is going to be the vehicles themselves, both their diversity and their interesting traits to set each one apart from its peers. The developers have released the access trees for all three main nations in the game -- Germany, the USA, and the USSR -- giving hopeful players an idea of what they can use to thunder about the countryside. Spanning the period between World War II and the Korean War, the list is fairly exhaustive, showcasing the diversity of tanks on the battlefield. The German progression path even includes the Maus, an experimental tank of absurd size that should please fans of bizarre WWII machinery. And if rolling around in a two-story tank doesn't get you excited, well, you're probably not the target audience. All three progress charts can be found on the official site for World of Tanks.
Caterpillar looking to build robotic machinery
Robotic machines certainly aren't reserved for just party hopping -- as we've seen automated firefighters and unassisted surgeons doing their thang already -- and Caterpillar isn't about to fall behind the times, as its looking to "smart iron" to maintain that edge in the oh-so-fierce heavy machinery biz. By investing a hefty amount of its non-finance revenue back into R&D, CAT is hoping that within a few years its earthmovers will be operating sans the operator. While also working on fuel cell-powered machines on the side, the company is looking into GPS integration in order to examine terrain, geography, and location from afar, as well as utilizing autonomous instructions to handle lifting, moving, and the myriad of dirty chores those yellow behemoths must handle. While machines that roll solo are certainly ideal, remote controlled versions are also being evaluated, so expertly trained drivers can direct their vessel(s) from the comfort of a dust free, air conditioned office. CAT's CEO is definitely amped about the robotic possibilities, and reportedly hopes to see results wheeling around your neighborhood "10 or 15 years down the road."
