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ICYMI: Relax while a robot takes care of your yard work
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Kobi is a yard work robot that is purportedly able to clean leaves, mow the lawn and shovel snow, though the promo video shows it very briefly moving snow only, so stand by for reviews on that rush purchase. Meanwhile UCSF researchers found that infant brains actually move neurons around up to three months after birth, which is not something we'd known before. The self-driving car experiment out of the University of Oxford wrapped up with a sweet little send-off video. If you're interested in the LED suit from Red Bull, that video is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Enjoy a terrifying 10,000 foot GoPro camera freefall
Got your dramamine and/or hallucinogenics? Either will work for the latest video starring a tough, but not-very-well-attached GoPro camera. Its owner lost it during a skydiving formation gone wrong, and it continued the rest of the 10,000 feet down without him, spinning crazily the whole way. But the camera and video survived and were picked up by a resident of Kristianstad, Sweden, who figured it had been sitting in a meadow "for several years." He posted it on YouTube (below) to find the rightful owner, and the trick worked -- it was claimed by a parachutist from a nearby flying club. Unfortunately, it may also give you some horrific new falling dreams.
Base jumping sim Skydive: Proximity Flight lands on XBLA
If the only thing preventing you from leaping off a tall building is the fear that gravity might turn your insides into outsides, Gaijin Entertainment and Topware Interactive have a solution: Skydive: Proximity Flight. The game, which has just debuted on the Xbox Live Arcade at a price of $7, allows players to virtually strap themselves into a wingsuit and leap into the wild blue yonder. Thanks to Kinect functionality, virtual daredevils can use their bodies to maneuver through the game's "picturesque landscapes and majestic, real life locations," while those who master simply surviving the trip can turn their focus toward aerial stunts. While gracefully falling thousands of feet is the core draw of the game, Skydive: Proximity Flight offers races, descents guided by floating rings and freeform dives. While Skydive: Proximity Flight is currently only available on the Xbox 360, a PlayStation 3 version of the game is said to be in development. Additional information can be found on the game's website. [Image: Gaijin Entertainment]
World of Warplanes logo recreated by skydivers because, well, why not
What do you do when you're an outrageously successful online gaming company with more money than you could spend in a lifetime? Well, first you donate some of it to the Jef Needs to Replace the Siding on His House Kickstarter project. After that, you hire a team of crazy Russian skydivers to form your game's logo in the midst of a mid-winter freefall. World of Tanks and World of Warplanes development firm Wargaming.net did just that, and you can see the results in the video after the cut. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
Recon Instruments offers Flight HUD goggles for wingsuit pilots and skydivers
Recon Instruments has decided to take its wares off the slopes and into the air, provided enough people bite. The Flight HUD is built around the same core as its ski goggles, but has been tweaked to offer information more relevant to skydivers, base jumpers and wingsuit pilots. The tiny LCD just below the field of vision displays speed, altitude and glide ratio in real time. Rather than simply guess how fast they're going, adrenaline junkies will be able to see accurate data in the moment and make the appropriate adjustments. Obviously, this is a rather niche market, so Recon Instruments has set a goal: 250 pre-orders to trigger a production run. The early birds can pick up a Flight HUD for $299, while every order placed after the initial 250 will cost $349. To get a run down of the proposed product from renowned aerial daredevil Jeb Corliss check out he video after the break.
Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space
BASE jumping might just be about to enter the mainstream. What has typically been considered a fringe activity, reserved for thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies, could soon be firmly cemented in the public view. For the uninitiated, BASE jumping is like skydiving, without the plane. Participants throw themselves off bridges, antennae, buildings, cliffs, and well, whatever high object they can find. It's not illegal, "in theory", but as many of the chosen launch spots are public or private property -- or pose a risk to public safety -- gaining access to, or jumping from them, can mean stepping over the legal line. This otherwise obstreperous activity has largely kept to itself, occasionally popping up in magazines, or YouTube videos, but -- all going well -- on Monday that changes. Serial boundary pusher (of wing suit across the English Channel fame) Felix Baumgartner is set to leap, in the most literal sense of the word, from relative obscurity into the history books. How? By jumping to earth from the edge of space, likely breaking the sound barrier as he does so. How does one go from humble Austrian beginnings to a capsule 120,000 feet (about 23 miles) above the Earth's surface? Make a comparatively tiny leap past the break to find out.
Caption Contest: HTC's down-to-earth photo shoot
With the Android handset market as jam-packed as it is, it can be tough to distinguish your device from the maddening crowd. We've seen some bizarre and sublime attempts to do so over the years, but few have reached the terminal velocity of HTC's skydiving fashion photoshoot aimed at promoting its new One line of phones. Has the company hit the bullseye here, or is it and its accompanying light-headed skydivers destined to splatter all over the advertising landscape? It just might take a caption contest to find out for certain. Zach Honig: "If I make this reverse overhead shot do you promise to attach a parachute to my string?" Sean Buckley: "Drop test #3 will commence in 3.. 2.." Christopher Trout: "Who needs a facelift when you have wind effects like these?" Darren Murph: [Yelling, to combat the wind] "WHY DO WE HAVE FOUR PEOPLE TO PROMOTE THE ONE LINE?" Brian Heater: "Another dropped call from AT&T." Myriam: "Looks like we fixed that bug in the accelerometer! It's working just fine right now..." Tim: "Hang on, trying to decide which Instagram filter to apply... so many choices..." Michael: "Well, whaddya know, Face Unlock works while free-falling at 10,000 feet!" Zach Lutz: Despite the fabulous view, Guy couldn't resist his overwhelming urge to check for available software updates. Sharif Sakr: As if throwing Dr Dre and his Beats Audio out of a plane wasn't enough, they had to shoot him in the back with an arrow. Richard Lawler: What do you mean there aren't any FourSquare badges for this? Jose Andrade: "Don't move. I'm almost done with this DrawSomething drawing" Billy Steele: "You just hold the phone and I promise I'll pull the 'chute. Maybe."
Go skydiving, do archery, shoot hoops in Wii Sports Resort
Nintendo has just announced three more activities in their upcoming Wii Sports Resort title. The game will make full use of the Wii MotionPlus controller for skydiving, archery, and basketball -- to skydive, your Mii will be falling through the air, and you'll be able to twist and turn the controller in a 1:1 ratio to twist and turn your skydiver as well. Archery looks a little more fun: hit the Z button on the controller and then hold the Wiimote up while pulling back on the nunchuck like a bowstring. And basketball is basically a game of hoops -- instead of dribbling or passing, you just flip the Wii remote up towards the onscreen hoop to try and grab nothing but net.Wii Sports Resort is due out July 26 of this year, all bundled up with Wii MotionPlus.
Samsung attempts to set world record for fastest texting while skydiving
We're not sure if this is meant to prove that texting on Samsung's line of handsets is remarkably quick or if the ten individuals selected to text quickly whilst skydiving are just amazing multitaskers, but either way, the exercise has been executed. Samsung Mobile rounded up ten skydivers and equipped them with a Propel, Alias, Gravity, Rant or Messager in an attempt to set the "Guinness World Record for fastest test messaging while skydiving." The crew took a total of two jumps and landed safely each time, and now the Guinness team is breaking down the video to see if an award is in order. Check the read link for more images and a vid, but don't bother looking for an application to get on the 2009 team.
PS3 Fanboy review: Go! Sports Skydiving
By standardizing the titles for these PSN releases, it's clear that Sony intends to create a brand for the Go! Sports series. But why? By now, any educated gamer will know that the Go! Sports line means one thing -- and that isn't "quality." Go! Sports Ski was an awful game that featured unplayable controls, sloppy graphics, and an abysmal amount of content. No wonder it only cost $2. Go! Sports Skydiving is priced higher than its predecessor, at $5. But is it worth it?Well, depends on what scale you're using. Compared to Go! Sports Ski, this game is an incredible improvement. Of course, that doesn't say much.%Gallery-15838%
