Things I Think Are Kinda Cool

You know you’re a geek if this music video puts a huge smile on your face.  (Guilty)

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by divisionparis.

-via Walyou

Attention all geeks…3.14 in a mirror spells Pie!

-via Geekologie

(Ok, fine…I don’t write my 4′s like that either, but STILL!)

A newfangled high-tech machine called the ‘Berlin Brain-Computer Interface’ uses brain waves to give commands to machines.  In this vid, the player simply has to think about moving his left or right hand, and the corresponding pinball flipper is flicked.  Besides this being freaky/amazing, imagine the possibilities for paralyzed people.  Wow.

-Make via Neatorama

All that blind teenager Jordan Verner wanted to do was complete “Zelda: Orcarina of Time” on Nintendo 64…but he thought this was virtually impossible for someone who wasn’t able to see.  That was until three guys read about him on the internet and created an elaborate 100,000 keystroke script for him…all Jordan needed to do was follow the script exactly and he would finally get his wish.  Check out this unbelievably positive (and geeky!) story:

-via Neatorama

Screwed by the latest economic downturn?  Head down into your basement and dust off your old comic books – you might have one that’s worth a boatload of cash.  These are the top 5 most valuable comics on the planet.

5.  All-American Comics (1940):  $160,000
First appearance of Green Lantern

4.  Superman (1930):  $270,000
First comic devoted solely to Superman

3.  Marvel Comics (1939):  $330,000
First appearance of the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four

2.  Detective Comics (1939):  $375,000
First appearance of Batman

1.  Action Comics (1938):  $440,000
First appearance of Superman

UPDATE 02.22.10: This “Action Comic” was just sold in an auction for $1 Million!
-Link via @Artglobe

If you find this even remotely as cool as I do, you’re definitely a fellow Nintendo-geek. Jazz pianist Scott Bradlee and saxophone player Ben Golder-Novick teamed up to create incredible interpretations of background music from the best 8-bit Nintendo games.  It’s impossible NOT to love this!

-via Buzzfeed
-Scott Bradlee’s Youtube page

(Random sidenote:  Thanks to all my readers who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday. You guys are definitely kinda cool…)

A few weeks ago, I posted a video of a new robot from Honda that jogs upright and stubbornly refuses to be pushed down when a human tries to knock it over. Exciting (and scary) stuff.

Since then, I’ve come across dozens of videos and articles about new developments in robotics – it’s not so much that robots are learning how to solve academic math problems any faster or more efficiently…it’s that they’re learning how to become more like humans – they play sports, master musical instruments, and may even be able to have sex (woah). Here are some wild recent developments that caught my attention:

-Are you desperate to ride an old-fashioned bicycle built for two, but you don’t have anyone to join you? Call up “Joules” and you’ll have a riding partner for life…or at least until “Joules” turns on you and eats your brain.

-via Presurfer

-This robot named “Deep Blue” wants to get you drunk at a pool hall and hustle you for $50. It’s creators say it plays at a better-than-average level…and it’s getting better every day.

-Link via Gizmodo

-Not only is “Haile” good at playing the drums, but it can also improvise by listening to and analyzing live human drummers in real-time.

-Link via Neatorama

-Move over David Beckham…say hello to “Hajime 33″. OK, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.

-via Wired

-Need to jump over a 25 foot tall barbed wired wall? Have no fear, this new military robot is here to help, and it won’t even ask why you need to jump over a 25 foot tall barbed wired wall.

-via Digg

And last but not least, have a quick look at this article that profiles artificial intelligence researcher David Levy. He recently took home the prize for developing the most human-like chatbox (which is essentially a program that imitates human speech and cognition in an eerily accurate way.) David claims it’s only a matter of time before we start doing the nasty with our robot friends. He says “as soon as the media starts writing about ‘My fantastic weekend with a sex doll’, it will be like the iPhone all over again, but the queues will be longer.” I can already see the fanboys preparing their sleeping bags to camp out weeks in advance. (via Guardian)

It’s been a while since I’ve done a gratuitous-cute-animal-post.  First, there was the scandalous sex tape involving two naughty turtles.  Then, who could forget those fun-loving party animals, the Alcoholic Vervet Monkeys.  Now, it’s time to meet…Animals With Lightsabers!  Yup, there a site for that.  These are some of my favorites:

-via Presurfer

Check out this new running robot from Toyota. I’m kinda scared…especially when that woman tries to push it backwards, and it’s basically like, ‘Back off, beeatch’.