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The Air Force will give you $150,000 to blast its weeds with a laser
With the holiday season just around the corner, the Air Force has been busy compiling its yuletide wish list, and it's got some pretty strange requests. Included on its latest call for small business innovations is a curious proposal for a project called "Floral Disruptor – Directed Energy Weed Abatement and Prevention Tool." According to Air Force documents, this project calls for "a device that uses directed energy technology to prevent and abate unwanted plants (weeds) in areas that require control or defoliation." Translation: a ray gun to blast weeds. Turns out, the Air Force spends a handsome chunk of cash each year on weed control -- so much so, in fact, that it's willing to pay $150,000 in grant money to anyone whose device can "deter, disrupt, deny, or degrade the desired objective." Private companies have already begun testing devices that annihilate weeds with lasers, microwave radiation and even sound, which is why the Air Force feels confident that the approach can bear fruit. But before you start entertaining fantasies of mass botanical killings, keep in mind that the government will only accept solutions that don't "target personnel or wildlife." As a Force rep explained to Wired, the idea is to develop an eagle-eyed contraption that lessens its dependence upon costly chemicals and pesticides. Besides, have you seen the Army's front lawn? It's immaculate.
Proposing with portals: how really romantic gamers pop the question
Unless you proposed from orbit, chances are your marriage request was not nearly as elaborate as Gary Hudston's. And, perhaps outside of 2008's homebrew Bejeweled proposal, no where near as geeky either. Hudston hired a skilled developer to create series of custom levels for Portal 2 that his potential betrothed would have to play through. When it heard about his apparently not so secret project, Valve even helped him secure Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS, to record original audio. You can check out the hilarious and heartwarming video after the break or just play through the levels yourself by downloading them at the source link. Sadly, unless you happen to be the future Mrs. Hudston, you'll be no closer to marrying yourself off after solving its puzzles.
Transportation Department to propose mandatory black boxes in passenger vehicles?
A few years back, the Department of Transportation recommended that auto makers give car owners a heads up when they slip event data recorders -- also known as "black boxes" -- into new models. Now, it looks like the department is considering taking its policy a step (or several) further: a memo reveals that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to propose later this year that all new passenger vehicles have EDRs. So far, heavy-duty vehicles appear to be excluded, and either way, it's unclear how many years auto makers might have to work black boxes into their future models. Interestingly, when we asked a DoT staffer for clarification, he reminded us that the agency hasn't issued a press release and said he wasn't sure where Wired and other outlets were getting their information. Indeed, the Transportation Department hasn't proposed such a law yet, though it's pretty safe to say it's at least pondering it. Hit the source link to pore over the 197-page doc for yourselves (tip: we suggesting paying particular attention to page 54). [Warning: PDF source link]
Gearbox helps man propose via Claptrap
You can add one more feature to the list of Borderlands' Claptrap's various robotic abilities. Along with "dancin' ... dancin'!", getting angry about overlooked awards and taking over the world, you can now list "proposing marriage." That's what the wacky automatron did for one Gearbox Software fan named Ben, who reportedly found love with girlfriend Tora by playing co-op through the loot-littered FPS. Ben contracted Gearbox to let them know how much he loved their game and the girl, and it responded by making a video for him featuring Claptrap (eventually) popping the question, which you can watch right after the break. And yes, though Ben's video of the magic moment is quite loud, she did say yes. Congrats to the happy couple, and if you're wondering where the cars live to go for a honeymoon drive, we hear Scooter can help getchu one.
A Mobius Proposal: Guy creates video game to propose marriage
Gaming-themed wedding proposals are amongst the most varied and endearing, this much we can all agree. Matt Gilgenbach's A Mobius Proposal, a three-month project and fully-functional co-op puzzle game, may just be the best one yet. Check it out for yourself past the jump!
Took longer than expected: A marriage proposal in Minecraft
Wow, you really can build anything in Minecraft: To-scale models of the U.S.S. Enterprise, gigantic explorable globes, or relationships that last a lifetime. Check out the video after the jump to see one BioWare audio designer's super saccharine, equally nerdy request for betrothment.
FCC unanimously approves LTE standard for nationwide public safety network
The FCC's been looking to establish a nationwide public safety network since the early days of the infamous 700MHz spectrum auction, and while it never quite accomplished that task, the commission has made a small but important step -- it's unanimously decided that Long Term Evolution (LTE) will be the one ring that binds all future chunks of public safety radio band. Of course, this wasn't a terribly hard decision for the FCC to make, as major commercial cellular carriers and a number of regional public safety agencies have already invested in LTE equipment for the 700MHz band... and the decision doesn't yet specify a voice standard. All that's been decided upon is how those countless packets of data will float over the air. How will disparate groups of first responders communicate with one another in the event of a national emergency? That's what the organization is asking you right now -- feel free to contact the FCC anytime within the next 45 days with your proposal.
A new use for Find My iPhone: Popping the question, Apple style
If you're a regular TUAW reader, you know we do a live show on Sunday evenings called the Talkcast. If you are a regular listener to the Talkcast, you know that I almost always give a shout out to our regular listeners, and I have been known to get up on a soapbox about how important our community is to us and that your tips and contributions are a very big part of our site. This is a wonderful example of how our regulars helped out one of our own. In case you missed it: on the episode recorded the Sunday before Christmas, we had Andrew (aka Macfan64) on with a very important question for us. He was going to propose to his girlfriend on Christmas, and he wanted to see if there was a way he could use his iPad to do it. After discussing a few ideas, it was suggested that a good way to start off would be to hand her the iPad (she was always taking off with it anyway to play -- what else? -- Angry Birds), and after loading a web page built specially for the occasion, she'd be off on a treasure hunt through the house. She was sent around to find things throughout the house by messages sent to the iPad using the Find My iPhone app (controlled by a family member). Eventually, she was led to the living room where the last item she found was a DVD to play. On the DVD was a slideshow of photos of the two of them together, and when the slideshow was over, Andrew offered the ring and popped the question. Luckily I didn't have to wait too long to find out how this turned out; I got a note on Christmas Day that she had accepted! It was wonderful to hear that Andrew was successful, not to mention that some of our Talkcast regulars were directly involved in making it happen. You can see highlights from the evening in Andrew's video on YouTube. If you keep an eye out for the end credits, you'll see that TUAW got a shout out for helping Andrew come up with the idea, in a nice Star Wars style crawl, no less. On behalf of all the folks here at TUAW, I am pleased to offer Andrew and Amy congratulations on their engagement and the best of wishes on their upcoming wedding.
Guy hacks marriage proposal into Earthbound
Video game-themed proposals certainly aren't new, but when a reaction is as genuine as Liz's -- who was just proposed to via an in-game message hacked into Earthbound by Matt -- it must be shared. Best of luck, you two!
Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon propose 500MBps memory card with more than 2TB capacity
While the CompactFlash Association scoots along at a maximum transfer rate of 167MB per second under its just released CF6.0 specification, Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon are already looking to the future. The trio have just officially proposed a new memory card format that switches from PATA to the PCI Express serial interface to achieve data transfer rates of up to 500 megabytes per second with a potential to extend maximum storage capacities beyond 2 terabytes. The proposed set of specifications hints at the high performance requirements we'll soon face as DSLRs and camcorders are updated to capture continuous burst shooting of massive RAW images and ever higher definition video. Naturally, the spec also enables photogs to transfer their troves of data more quickly to computers for post processing and combines high-speed transfer with a scaling system to extend battery life. The CompactFlash Association has already announced a new workgroup to study the proposal. Canon's Shigeto Kanda, CFA chairman of the board, had this to say about the proposal: Future professional photography and video applications will require memory cards with faster read/write speeds. The development of a new high-performance card standard with a serial interface will meet the needs of the professional imaging industry for years to come and open the door for exciting new applications. Sounds like tacit approval to us. And really, anything that brings Sony and Sandisk together on a future storage format should be seen as a positive step. Unless, of course, you're the SD Card Association or anyone who recently purchased a CFast card.
Found Footage: The geekiest marriage proposal ever
Update 11/30/10: It's a fake. Mashable reports Frank popped the question according to script, if Kasey didn't catch the ring they'd have tried again another day. It was an attempt to create a reproducible formula for making viral videos. On October 24th, after a two year relationship, Frank decided to propose to his girlfriend Kasey in romantic Central Park, found in the heart of New York City. Lots of people have done this, but never as geeky. Frank got a bunch of techie friends together to pull off this one-take event. Employing musicians, playing Kasey's favorite song, a famous bridge, a rowboat, a bunch of iPhones running custom apps and a MacBook Pro to mix it all together, Frank popped the question. The result was a big "Yes!" and a video that looks like it came out of the credits of Trainspotting. It's a fun three-minute watch which raises a question: what would have happened if Kasey didn't catch the ring? Update: They would have tried again the next day. [via Macgasm]
Found Footage: Using an iPhone and a movie theatre to propose marriage
Wow! These days, it seems, if you're going to propose, popping the question needs to be done in a super creative, ultra romantic fashion. Gone are the days of proposing to your love after a few drinks at the local pub or after a few too many at a New Years Eve party (Both proposals I know of, both ladies said yes)! Apparently, If you're going to do it right in this day and age, you need to do it akin to the stratosphere that B.B Bling did it in. This guy took his girlfriend to the cinema where they watched their first movie together (OK, nothing too special there), but after a few commercials, what appeared to be an iPhone commercial came on the screen. However, it turned out to be a full blown music video proposal, written and performed by the groom to be. Using apps from his iPhone, the song declared Bling's undying love for his stunned girlfriend, culminating in an on screen proposal. Thankfully, she said yes, and the rest of the cinema goers burst into applause. To to top it all off, the track is now available for purchase on the iTunes store to finance the wedding. From all of us here at TUAW, we say well done to you, sir! And congratulations to the happy couple. Now, why didn't I think of that? For all the juicy details, click here.
Google and Verizon publish joint policy proposal for 'an open internet'
UPDATE: We've done a full breakdown of the proposal right here -- go check it out! Back in October of last year, Google and Verizon came together in order to provide an intense amount of corporate support for the FCC's then-fledgling net neutrality push. Today, said push has turned into quite the monster, with a recent court ruling asserting that the FCC doesn't actually have the authority to impose net neutrality. Since then, a cadre of telecommunications firms have banded together in one form or another to attempt a compromise (and slyly get what each of them really want), and today the Big G and Big Red have taken the stage together in order to publicize a well-thought out policy proposal for "an open internet." Both firms seem to agree that web users "should choose what content, applications, or devices they use," and they both want "enforceable prohibition against discriminatory practices" -- and yeah, that definitely includes prioritization and blocking of internet traffic, including paid prioritization. In an odd twist, what seems to be happening here is that both Google and Verizon are actually in favor of more government oversight on the internet, but they want that oversight to be beneficial to consumers. In other words, more regulations from the feds to enforce fewer regulations imposed on you from your ISP. Get all that? Where things really get interesting is when they touch on the wireless angle; essentially, they're admitting that the very proposals they are putting forth for wireline shouldn't apply to wireless just yet (aside from the whole "transparency" thing). It seems that the prevailing logic is that there's simply not enough spectrum for this idyllic "play fair" scenario to truly work, so fewer restrictions would be necessary for the wireless internet space to blossom as the wireless side already has. Moreover, we get the impression that these guys feel the wireless space as a whole is simply too competitive right now to withstand any red tape. The proposal also mentions that, if passed into law, the FCC would have the ability to fine "bad actors" (read: misbehaving ISPs) up to $2 million for breaking any of these "open internet" stipulations, and naturally, both outfits are highly in favor of the National Broadband Plan taking hold, moving forward and getting broadband to places that are currently using a strange mixture of used canisters and rope to check their inbox.
Zynga employee proposes with Dinner Love and the Quest for Soup
Zynga employee and newly engaged dude Anders Howard sent us an email recently, explaining that he had just proposed to his girlfriend "via a video game I built with friends in my spare time." The video that he sent along of the whole thing going down -- not to mention the game itself, appropriately named Dinner Love and the Quest for Soup, which he's put up for all to play online -- immediately convinced us that we absolutely had to share his story with you. After the break, we've embedded Mr. Howard's neo-Shakespearian successful attempt at betrothal. If you don't go all "awwwwww" about it, well, you can always take a look at Ilomilo again, we suppose. If that doesn't do it either, you should probably get that gaping hole in your chest filled with a heart. [Thanks and congrats to Anders Howard!]
Guy uses iPad to pop the question
We've seen other geeky marriage proposals in the past, but it's always nice to be the first before the schtick gets old. TechCrunch reader Zach used his iPad to ask his girlfriend to marry him. Zach sat his girlfriend down on a bench, where he had asked her out two and a half years earlier, and whipped out his iPad. He told her to put the earbuds on, and then he played a slideshow with music and photos of the two of them together. There was laughter, there were tears; then there was the last slide. Does anyone have a guess as to what it said? That's right! "Will you marry me?" From the photo, you can see what the answer was. For those of you keeping track, we've seen: A proposal outside an Apple Store An iPod proposal An Apple Store wedding and even a girl marrying her MacBook Pro So, there are still entire Apple product lines that have yet to be used for this purpose! Get proposing!
Raichu cosplayer uses Marriage Proposal
When Chris Herbert decided to pop the question to his girlfriend of three years, Belle Starenchak, he picked the most romantic place he could think of: Anime Weekend Atlanta, with both dressed as Pokemon. It ... kind of makes sense for them. Belle, or "PikaBelleChu," is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer Edition for her massive Pikachu memorabilia collection, and Herbert met her by staging a Pokemon auction. So while we might be tempted to laugh, it would seem that the pursuit of 'em all is a major component of this couple's lives. And now that they've done this -- a proposal in Pikachu and Raichu outfits, all floppy fake mouse ears on their hats and yellow glove slipped off to try on the ring that came out of the Pokeball -- we believe that the world's quota for Pokemon-themed proposals has just been filled. By the way, it was super effective. See the moment after the break.
Mario World marriage proposal is clever (but kinda creepy)
Marriage proposals via video games aren't exactly new, but they're still clever -- and usually cute. Last Thursday, Brad Smith proposed to his girlfriend of five years using a hacked version of Super Mario World, placing coins in world 1-1 to spell out, "Will you marry me?" Cute, right? But we have to question Brad's filming of the occasion, because, if we didn't know better, we'd think the couple was being watched by a serial killer hiding behind their couch. You can see what we mean after the break.Seriously -- tell us that, when the camera pulls back to catch Brad on his knee, ring in hand, you don't want to yell out, "Look out! There's someone else in the room!" Or maybe it's just the close proximity to Halloween that's got us all on edge. Still ... Brad, if you're reading this, please drop us a line to let us know you're alright?
Proposing with an iPhone app
Need to propose to someone? There's an app for that. Brian X. Chen at Wired reports that coder Bryan Haggerty proposed to his girlfriend Jeannie Choe this week with an iPhone app of his own making -- he sent her on a video scavenger hunt that marked points on a map drawing out the "<3" symbol (which has a lot of sentimental meaning to the couple -- he also gave her a necklace with the same thing on it), and then led her to a hilltop park, where he popped the question. Unfortunately, Wired doesn't tell us if she said yes, but it's Valentine's Day, so we'll assume she did. The app must have been distributed ad-hoc, too, because we don't see it on the App Store at all (not too surprising, considering that as cool as it is, it's got some limited functionality). But congrats to Haggerty and Choe -- if they run into any issues at the ceremony, there's probably an app for that too.
How to make an iPhone game
The folks at Gogogic asked Twitter if they wanted to see how the company's iPhone games were made, and since the answer was in the affirmative, we all get the benefit of looking into just how one iPhone developer put their game together. It starts with a wiki; the company keeps a collaborative site of all the ideas they have for upcoming games, and if the decision is made to go ahead with an idea, that wiki page branches out into the planning documents behind the eventual app. Concepts are drafted in sketches, conversations, and outlines, and eventually they feel like they have the idea "fully developed," at which point the game goes into a proposal pool, and then is eventually picked for production.That begins with an animatic, as you can see above -- before they ever write the first code line, they map out what will happen in certain game situations. It looks like they used Flash to put that together pretty easily, but you can see how well it shows off game design elements and how things should work during gameplay. After that, there's nothing to it but to do it -- the game is coded, art and sound elements are put together, and of course the usual run of playtesting and so on takes place (the company is going to show off how to test and publish games in a future post).The game above turned out to be called Symbol6 (Hexago was a working title), and is in the App Store right now. Thanks to Gogogic for sharing a look behind their process -- there are tons of developers working on apps at the moment, and it's neat to see how someone else does it.
The gold standard: A WoW economics course proposal
If you're like me, you're ... well, you're probably incredibly handsome and charming. But you're also probably interested in WoW's economy, given that it's the biggest and most involved metagame in WoW and a fascinating microcosm of a free-market economy.I personally think that the how and why of WoW's economy is worth a deep look, and it appears there are a lot of people who agree with me--even some academics. It might even be worth just as much as any other book-learnin'.At least, that's the basis of David Friedman's World of Warcraft economics course proposal. Friedman is an academic economist from San Jose, CA who's assembled this article as a think-tank for what a WoW economics course would entail if you had to fill it with a semester's worth of content. There's a lot of neat stuff in here, talking about relative prices of ore based on character level and rarity of ore and supply/demand, but he also asks for your input as to possible course material, which I'm sure you could gladly provide in the comments section of his page.Good idea with sound academic basis, or another in the long list of high falootin' academia's attempts to justify playing WoW on the government's dime? WE REPORT. YOU DECIDE.
