The world’s first ever wave farm went live at the end of September in Agucadoura, off the coast of northern Portugal. Three wave energy converters resembling Soviet submarines generate electricity with hydraulic rams driven by waves. The farm was designed by Pelamis Wave Power, which hopes to increase the farms productivity by adding an additional 25 wave energy converters that could potentially power 15,000 homes.

Waves powering homes? Remarkable, but how does it work?
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Back in July, I briefly mentioned a beer pong raft that ruins the fundamental experience that is the game of beer pong. Well, the creators behind the Port-O-Pong weren’t too pleased about that, so they sent us one. Needless to say, my face lit up when it arrived at my doorstep. The advertisers claim it can be played “anywhere on anything,” so I immediately had to put it to the test. I met up with Vince in Margate, New Jersey and we decided that the ocean would be an ideal locale for our next beer pong match. Let the games begin!
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I never really thought about implementing an idea like this but thankfully, Speedo and iRiver have already done the hard work for us. The Aquabeat Waterproof MP3 player has both an appropriate name and look. It can go up to three meters underwater and has a mind-blowing 1GB of storage. Then again, how much music are you gonna need underwater?

With everything being waterproof, I tried to think of how you could possibly use this thing while swimming in the ocean. Then it hit me that this is the perfect MP3 player for your boat or jet ski unless you have an Otter Box or something similar. Oh, and it floats like a turd in case you lose it. Seems like a sure win for $145.

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We’ve seen robots of every variety. Chances are, if something is badass, there’s a robot-form of it. The Nonlinear Dynamics and Control Lab of the University of Washington have turned a dissociated group of robot fish into a communicative school of robot fish.

Using low power, low frequency sonar, the fish are able to transfer information between one another while underwater. Although only half the information was received successfully, the robot fish were programmed in a way that they’re still able to accomplish their tasks with little information given to them, much like an actual school of fish.  This technology could eventually be used to explore the oceans and study oceanic-life, opening the door to new aquatic applications.

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