Comet Full Of Frozen Water Surprises Scientific Community

Identify your present location. Then, as if your eye view were a satellite’s, imagine your present location as seen from outer space. Pan far, far, away from the Earth until you reach the edge of the solar system. Focus on Pluto. Then zoom out a little and note the Kuiper Belt where floats a startling comet called Hartley 2. Say hello to Hartley 2.

Solar Cookup200 Sun Roaster Burns Barbecue Chicken Without Remorse (Video)

You can also call it a glittering bowl of death. Not that it can incinerate innocent people who happen to be passing by your yard, but it does spell ‘well done’ on unsuspecting meat sacrificed for the good of all. The Cookup200 is quite a popular brand in France and has since expanded overseas.

Rise Of The Apes! Monkeys Go On Benign Virtual Rampage

Don’t worry, it was done all in the name of science. Science! What you’re about to read is a minor breakthrough in prosthetic technology and brain implants. Both involved test monkeys and proved very successful.

In a rare alliance of two prestigious universities from France and America, monkeys were able to control virtual limbs by thinking out their actions, thanks to brain plants. This is as good as hard science fiction gets, only this time it’s real.

Google+ traffic drops 60 percent?

Chitika Insights

Graph of G+ traffic (page views) in September

Even after Google+ dropped its invite-only system and opened itself to a curious public, its traffic fell by more than 60 percent after an initial surge of 1,200 percent.

Military drones flying despite worries about computer virus

Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images file

A Predator unmanned drone sits on the tarmac at Kandahar military airport in Afghanistan in 2010.

The computer systems that control the U.S. military's Predator and Reaper drones have been beset by a persistent computer virus, according to reports surfacing Friday.

Mourning Steve Jobs, Samsung & Google delay new Android

Looks like the iPhone 4S may be the last big product announcement for at least a week, as the tech world mourns the passing of Steve Jobs. Samsung and Google, which were due to make a splash at an industry-wide wireless technology event next week, has decided to delay the official release of its new product(s).

Meet Siri, your personal iPhone assistant

Want to to know what the weather is like in Seattle or Austin without checking the Web or even your pre-set weather maps on your phone? How about having your text messages read to you? Siri will do that for you and a whole lot more. Apple unveiled the personal assistant as part of its iPhone 4S announcement Tuesday.

Siri is the company Apple bought last year for an estimated $200 million, and developed the artificial intelligence behind the program. Apple exec Scott Forstall showed off Siri with various questions and impressive answers, such as:

Forstall: "What time is it in Paris?"

Siri: "The time in Paris, France is 8:16 p.m." and shows a live clock.

Forstall: "Wake me up tomorrow at 6 a.m."

Siri: "OK, I set it for 6 a.m."

Then Forstall asked Siri to find him a "great Greek restaurant in Palo Alto."

Siri: "I've found five Greek restaurants, and I’ve sorted them by rating."

In addition, Siri can also set up meetings for you, take dictation and search the Web, including instant Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha searches.

"For decades technologists have teased us with this dream that we can talk to our technology," Forstall said. Now you can ...  although many of us have spent years talking to our technology — without it talking back.

Siri will come with built-in with support for English, French, and German. It will be beta at the start, Forstall said, with more languages and services added "over time."

And over time, Siri will be taken quite seriously if it isn't already.

"Make no mistake: Apple’s ‘mainstreaming’ artificial intelligence in the form of a Virtual Personal Assistant is a groundbreaking event," Siri cofounder Norman Winarsky said in a recent interview with 9to5mac. "Right now a few people dabble in partial AI enabled apps like Google Voice Actions, Vlingo or Nuance Go. Siri was many iterations ahead of these technologies, or at least it was two years ago. This is REAL AI with REAL market use."

10 gadgets to make your pet Internet famous

Nerd Approved

It's common knowledge that the Internet is fueled by two things — pornography and cat videos. Needless to say, if a pet video goes viral it can be extremely lucrative. Maybe it's time you and your pet got a piece of the action. The following gadgets make it easy to get your cat or dog to do something cute and stupid on camera.

Spooky Ice Planet Laboratory

If you think that you have the imagination of Geiger and can come up with something as creepy as aliens and other xenomorphs, then you might want to invest $19.99 in the Spooky Ice Planet Laboratory. This is one unique way of creating creepy crystalized creatures, and it also allows you to study the properties of crystals in this science kit itself. While anyone from as young as 10 is able to use this, I’m quite sure the older ones out there would also be able to have their fair share of fun with it as well.

Who says that you need to wait until Halloween to have your fun with creepy, spooky, and scary stuff? This crystal growing kit will allow those with a penchant for science to check out crystal properties while creating their own version of monsters. There is also a workbench tray that will hold all of the crystal making tools, not to mention molded wells for planting trees and situating sentinel bugs, a skeleton, and the Ice Lord himself.

A full-color Instruction Booklet is thrown into the mix to help you get started right out of the box, and even better news is this – there is no need for a fridge to get this going.

Scosche Outs iPhone Radiation Detector

Before the action starts, the official status of this fancy new gadget is it’s out of stock. Don’t worry, since Scosche are hard at work on new models for their bestselling portable radiation detector. It’s originally called the RDTX-Pro but a new HRDTX is coming next year. The whole scoop after the jump!

E FUN APEN A4 Digital Pen plays nice with Apple

Whenever a hardware or software developer works on something, they would do best to cater to just about the entire spectrum of consumers, and among them include Windows and Apple products. Well, E FUN does the iPhone and iPad right with the APEN A4 Digital Pen, where it makes note taking easier than ever before for owners of both Apple hardware. This will be an app-based accessory, where the APEN enables one to write freely on any paper or notebook, while having your notes get sent over simultaneously to your Apple product via a 30-pin cable.

Would have been great to have a wireless setup here with Bluetooth technology, but perhaps battery life might be a potential banana skin, so being tethered is the way to go right now. Imagine accessing your drawings as well as notes in just a few finger swipes, just remember to make a backup of whatever data that resides on your iPhone or iPad just in case something goes awry.

Really Cool Portable GPS Tracker

Update: Somewhat annoyingly Think Geek have stopped selling this GPS tracker, however there is a huge selection of alternatives over on Amazon.

This must be one of (if not the) coolest spy gadgets I’ve ever reported on. It’s sort of a cross between a USB memory stick and a GPS receiver and what it does is store where ever you take it on the flash memory.

For Holy Smoke, Ashes To Bullets And Dust To Dust

Unlike most places in the world (other than Yemen or Afghanistan), a vibrant gun culture is still alive and kicking in the US. But a new company wants to put a fresh spin on every enthusiastic shooter/outdoor type’s departure from this life. The startup is called Holy Smoke LLC and its founders specialize in turning cremated remains into bullets. Part of their marketing campaign involves shooting people into the afterlife. Not surprising.

iMaschine App By Music Producer Is A Studio In Your Pocket (Video)

Jamie Lidell is a beast. Not literally, but when it comes to music. The producer based in manhattan is currently promoting a new app called iMaschine that’s based on a sequencer developed by Native Instruments.  With several albums in the electronica-funk genre under his belt, Jamie comes highly qualified to bring the iMaschine to its limits, which you’ll see after the jump.

Puss In Boots Is Fruit Ninja, Or The Other Way Around

We’re not entirely sure what Puss of Shrek fame, the imminent solo cinematic debut of which you are no doubt aware, has against fruit, but apparently he will be taking over for the ubiquitous Fruit Ninja in the latest version of the eponymous time-waster. And just in time too, lest his solo vehicle arrive in theaters under-promoted and rely on actual quality and word of mouth to put butts in seats.

Scientists Converge For Sasquatch Hunt In Russia

A whole bunch of them (scientists), in fact. Since the Cold War has been over and done with for the past 21 years, American cryptozoologists (specializing in rare species) and their Russian counterparts are heading to a place 3,000 miles outside Moscow where alleged Yeti/Sasquatch sightings are frequent.

Skynet Alert! US Military Drones Infected By Mysterious Virus

There’s no need to panic, ladies and gentlemen. The warmachines aren’t turning on their masters yet. For starters, most of the CIA and Air Force drones are stationed in the Middle East and Africa, meaning they’re far away. The mysterious virus logging pilot keystrokes is also quite benign, though its origin is unknown. So the humongous mystery that should be clouding everyone’s thoughts right now is: where did it come from?

#1 ssentials for surviving Doomsday 2012

BedBunker

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

In a post-apocalyptic world, you'll want to keep a weapon at arm's length at all times to fend off scavengers and thieves. People laughed when you bought a 1,300-pound BedBunker with two 140-pound, 1/4-inch-thick, 10-gauge steel doors. People got a little scared and called you a paranoid maniac when you filled that BedBunker with enough weapons to outfit an entire army — but who's laughing now? $2,200-$4,200 — BedBunker

#2 essentials for surviving Doomsday 2012

Blast Boxers

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

If you are a guy who can only afford one piece of body armor to protect your body from gunfire and explosions, make it these Blast Boxers. A pair is stuffed with enough Kevlar to protect what's really important — plus it's comfortable and odor resistant thanks to Aramid fabric and a breathable mesh. It may be worth noting that it's probably a good idea to wear these while sleeping on top of your BedBunker, just in case any of the explosive devices you have stuffed in there go off in the middle of the night. Sure, the rest of your body will probably be vaporized, but the groin will remain in mint condition. Pricing Not Available — Blast Boxers via Fashionably Geek

#3 essentials for surviving Doomsday 2012

Wenger 'Giant' Swiss Army knife

Wenger

A good knife and a nice set of tools are what a survivor can really use when faced with the collapse of civilization, which is why you'll want this oversized Wenger Swiss Army knife. It holds the Guinness record for most multifunctional pen-knife, thanks to its 87-tool capacity. Seriously, if MacGyver was the last man standing, he could use this to build a rocketship to Earth-like planets in other solar systems. $999 —ThinkGeek

#4 essentials for surviving Doomsday 2012

BioLite camp stove

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

You are going to need a way to cook your meals without modern appliances. This BioLite stove not only uses wood for fuel, it also has the added benefit of a thermoelectric generator that will turn the heat from the flame into electricity that can be transferred to your portable gadgets via a USB port. That's perfect for small radios, GPS units or the iPod you filled with songs from Glee, just before you realized that it would be the only music you would listen to for the rest of your life. $80 —BioLite via Nerd Approved

#5 essentials for surviving Doomsday 2012

Tactical bacon

Courtesy of Nerd Approved

Now that you have a means of cooking your food quickly, you are going to need to stock up on non-perishable food items like this "tactical" canned bacon. It lasts for 10 years in the can and holds up to 18 servings. Let's face it, if most of us were given a choice to bring just one type of food along into the post-apocalyptic living hell that will be Earth, bacon would probably be it. $15.99 —ThinkGeek via Nerd Approved