Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More

The Cool Robot is a real icebreaker. And you might be picturing some suave cyborg who walks around picking up chicks and mouthing innuendos, but in actuality, this thing is built for cold polar weather. The Cool Robot’s job is to carry testing instruments across long spans of seas and oceans to make observations and measurements of snow levels relating ...

Sandia’s Z machine is not what you think it is. The title says the machine creates ice quickly. You’re probably thinking, “Wow, fast sub-zero temperatures!”, and you would be wrong. The Z machine actually heats up to temperatures hotter than the sun. “The three phases of water as we know them � cold ice, room temperature liquid, and hot vapor ...

Nothing is technically wrong with the stock PS3 controllers, but then again nothing is technically wrong with a roller ball mouse either. If you can have something better, why bother using a cheap alternative with worse specs? The new Logitech Cordless Precision PS3 Controller offers deluxe features for a relatively cheap price. Using 2.4GHz RF technology, the controller can control ...

The Japanese are ingenious, they’re bringing the simple technology from banks directly to your room. I’m sure you’ve seen under-table emergency buttons in banks, some are pressed with the fingers, and some with the foot. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to turn off all your embarrassing and personal pursuit on screen as soon as somebody pops up behind ...

Korean start-up company Xtive has developed an inaudible sound sequence which is said to ward off online game addiction. The details raise our creepiness flags though. The sounds are based on subliminal effects. The sounds repeatedly sequence to tell the player to stop playing, repeating about 10,000 to 20,000 times a second. Xtive says that the sounds go unnoticed by ...

Linksys announced its release of the new KiSS 1600 Networked Media Player at CeBIT in Germany. The DVD / media network player will be able to connect to your TV via an HDMI cable. The KiSS 1600 promises an “enhanced media experience” by allowing the transfer of high definition video, audio, and pictures, directly to a user’s TV. The KiSS ...

Here’s a cool little mod we found while surfing the waves of tubes. Ross from Random Good Stuff won these cool Motorized Rollerblades on eBay for only AU$100. Here are the specs of these hacked wheels (the curious and maybe subliminal numbering of the list hereafter is not our creation, but the source’s): 1) Engine: Two-Stroke, 25.65cc,HUASHENG engine (The best ...

Planetariums bring back memories of elementary school field trips when we would reach the astrology lesson of the class. All 100 or so of us kids would pack into the old yellow school buses and be whisked off to an intergalactic trip to the stars. The SkyScout Personal Planetarium allows for us to take that trip again, right in the ...

[ev type=”flashvideo”” width=”320″ height=”240″ data=”http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2007/1/how_to_boost_wireless_signal.flv” clicktext=”Click here to watch!”][/ev] Here is an awesome hack which allows you to boost your WiFi signal using your cell phone. Basically, the premise is to trick your computer into reading off of radio frequencies as well as Internet frequencies, by wrapping an ethernet cable around your cell phone. Very cool and effective. — Andrew ...

UCLA engineering scientists are developing a microscopic robotic hand, which they hope one day will be used for surgeries that entail removing small bits of crap. The silicon robotic fingers will be controlled by air pressure rather then electricity, which we assume is to assure it lasts longer than a complex electrical device would. The only drawback for now is ...