First things first, head on over to the official Google I/O website here and give the “I/O” characters on the page a click. You’ll notice the Is and Os showing up along the bottom with your pattern. Figuring out the correct codes will pull up different Easter eggs, and there are quite a bit to find, it seems, so get busy clicking. One example is the hotdog/hamburger combo I found that you see above.

You’ll know when you find a valid code, because the box around the characters you selected will turn green, and once this happens the default I/O will slide to the left, pulling in the Easter egg image. Getting tired of searching? Here are a few patterns to try out: “OOIIIOOI”, “IOOIOOOO”, and “IOOOOOOI” (hint: the last one is a game of pong).

The fun doesn’t end there, though, with more Easter eggs being scattered around the website. According to the folks over at The Next Web, there are sound effects and hidden pages to be found as well. And cats. Don’t forget the cats. Head on over and have a look yourself, then come back and let us know what you discover in the comments!

[via Android Community]

The Terror Tram isn’t the only attraction besieged by Walkers. Universal Studios will also unveil an immersive maze called “The Walking Dead: Dead Inside.” The maze is based on the series and presumably, there will be Walkers rambling about inside a maze as visitor’s attempts to get out. This sounds so much better than a haunted house.

The back lot scene for Terror Tram is a rural setting with a small town that has been devastated by a horrific plane crash. The maze for the Dead Inside attraction are described as movie quality. There are other mazes include “Welcome to Silent Hill” based on the popular video game franchise and a maze by rock star Alice Cooper called “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell 3D.”

The event will also have a maze based on a Latin American legend called “La Llorona: Cazadora de Ninos.” Halloween Horror Nights starts on Friday, September 21 and goes on during select nights through Halloween. If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, the season premiere is set for Sunday, October 14.

The company that has pioneered the effort is called Sage. The Sage Mobile Payments platform has taken the age-old confectionary door-to-door convention to new heights. This year, for example, the average cookie sale transaction among the Girl Scouts of Central California South was nearly $80. In 2011, that number was closer to $20. And the organization thanks Sage and its ability to sucker more money out of customers who can no longer use the excuse of not having any cash on hands.

“Cookie sales for the troops in our council using Sage Mobile Payments increased by 27 percent and the per-girl-average in those troops increased from 154 boxes to 176 boxes, a 14 percent increase,” said a representative for the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio. So it’s a pretty successful endeavor. Would you buy more girl scout cookies if you local neighbor accepted credit card payments?

[via BSM Info]

And over the course of the three-day spats of competition, a total of 4.7 million viewers tuned in. Both of those numbers are records for the MLG. The busiest day was on Sunday, when 2.2 million unique online viewers decided to watch incredible gamers doing what they do best. And surprisingly, more than 20,000 people went to Anaheim to watch the event live and in person.

Professional gaming is a huge part of the culture in South Korea, as well as other regions including Europe. However, in the US, it has not caught on quite as much. This latest event, though, shows that the event is on the rise. In fact, the number of peak concurrent online viewers almost doubled from the last MLG event in 2011 to this latest Anaheim event.

[via Mashable]

The player in question goes by the name Lycerius, and says he has been logging into his game of Civ 2 since 1992. In his game, the year is now 3991, and there is no end to what has become a 1700-year war. Here’s partially how he describes what the virtual world has become.

He says that the ice caps have melted 20 times over due to the constant nuclear wars, which has led to massive amounts of swamp land. “As a result, big cities are a thing of the distant past. Roughly 90% of the worlds population (at it’s peak 2000 years ago) has died either from nuclear annihilation or famine caused by the global warming that has left absolutely zero arable land to farm.

“Engineers (late game worker units) are always busy continuously building roads so that new armies can reach the front lines. Roads that are destroyed the very next turn when the enemy goes. So there isn’t any time to clear swamps or clean up the nuclear fallout,” he wrote. As for the state of government – “The only governments left are two theocracies and myself, a communist state. I wanted to stay a democracy, but the Senate would always over-rule me when I wanted to declare war.” Is this what we can expect nearly 2000 years from now? Read his entire analysis in the “via” link below.

[via Reddit]

It’s just like how Parrot made the AR Drone such a captivating success, because it allowed users to get a real-time perspective that they simply cannot get on their own. The idea of flying something around and getting to see what it looks from the perspective of the object floating in mid-air is just too cool to resist. Aquabotix hopes people will feel the same way about underwater excursions.

So how good is it at recording video underwater? The contraption has LED light to expose even the darkest spots, and it has a camera that has the capability of capturing 1080p high-definition video. So whether you want it to help find stuff you lose in the pool or you’re just curious to see what it looks like from several feet below sea level, this is the iPad gadget for you.

[via PC World]

The record-setting attempt by a guy named Scott used a Wicked Lasers Spyder III Krypton of 750 mW to 1000 mW variety and set up a long line of 100 air filled red balloons. The laser was mounted on a little tripod, and the laser beam was fired through a burning lens. That burning lens looks a lot like a magnifying glass to me.

The laser pops the first 20 or so balloons quickly and then slows is the laser beam intensity declines further down the line. The balloons were placed in special cups filled with water to hold them in place to prevent one balloon that pops from forcing the other balloons out of place. The final balloon took a while to pop, but laser was able to pop all 100 balloons surprisingly quickly.

Every search result has its own health bar (as do the zerglings) which will slowly degrade as your opponents pick away at it. If you fail to successfully defend against the attack, the zerglings form into a “GG” (good game, a courtesy extended to the winner at the end of a Starcraft match).

Fancy giving it a spin? Head on over to Google to furiously click, build up your APM, and amass as high a score as possible (which you can share on Google+ and brag about). Go on, spend your Friday afternoon doing this. It’s probably more fun than what you were doing anyway! Unless you were really playing Starcraft 2. In any event: gl hf.

[via The Next Web]

When you think of Ron Paul supporters, video game developer may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but just has Ron Paul himself has been able to do, Daniel Williams is showing there’s more to someone than meets the eye. His game, which he describes as a “gift to the liberty-loving community, as well as fans of classic gaming,” features some of Paul’s biggest talking points – e.g., going back to the gold standard, and ending the Federal Reserve. Boss battles within the game are meant to by symbolic of the Fed.

Williams was looking for $5,000 to finish the project and release it to the public, which he earned in days of submitting the proposal on Kickstarter. Of course, there’s little chance this will do anything to raise Ron Paul’s standing. He has not won a single state in the primary battles so far, though he has picked up some delegates in states where even the losing candidates could pick up some ground if they gained enough votes. Surely this is more a labor of love for Williams, who hopes other Paul backers will appreciate his ingenuity.

[via WSJ]

In his hearing, the professor presented a paper called The Proof of Innocence. Here’s his argument: “If a car stops at a stop sign, an observer, e.g., a police officer, located at a certain distance perpendicular to the car trajectory, must have an illusion that the car does not stop, if the following three conditions are satisfied: (1) The observer measures not the linear but angular speed of the car; (2) The car decelerates and subsequently accelerates relatively fast; and (3) There is a short-time obstruction of the observer’s view of the car by an external object, e.g., another car, at the moment when both cars are near the stop sign.”

Basically, that’s a fancy way of saying that it’s the driver’s word against the police officer’s word. Krioukob argued that he did come to a full and complete stop, but his car’s linear velocity was obscured by the cop’s perspective because another vehicle came into his line of vision at the same moment. His defense veven included an entire series of graphs. Whether he actually persuaded the judge or just confused him, he won. Oh, and his paper has since been published in a physics journal.

[via Wired]

What’s neat is that all the scenes were done with what appears to be a minimal amount of post-production effects. The video also includes clips towards the end to show how some of the scenes were created. For instance, the Flight Control scenes involved a birds-eye shot of a large painted topography with the airplanes done using remote controlled toys.

The song itself is also quite catchy and it’s aptly called “Why don’t we do something?” You can download the song via iTunes and if you enjoyed the video, do make sure to find out more about the band, which plans to debut its album in early 2012.

[via Reddit]

The team used gigantic pumpkins sitting on pallets with hay bales. The largest of those pumpkins weigh well over 1000 pounds. I would assume that is the reason for the hay and the pallets, these fat beasts would have needed a forklift for delivery. It took eight hours for the team you see in the video to carve the pumpkins. The first video at the bottom is a time lapse of the eight-hour process.

If you look closely, you can see glimpse of some of the Google folks strutting by in costumes. The finished pumpkins have faces cut to look like the letters in the Google name naturally. The second “G” is my favorite pumpkin. Check a behind the scenes vid too along with the time lapse below.

You’ll find that each of these little guys was created by hand, that they’re absolutely intricately detailed, and that the Roomba vacuums themselves weren’t altered in the least bit. They’re, again, basically just wearing hats. We’re not a group to step back from such simple mods though, as its often the simplest gesture that brings about the most genius results. Here we’ve got a set of four characters you’ll remember from your favorite two Nintendo-based games.

There’s Goomba from Super Mario Bros, there’s two Koopa shalls, green and homing red, both from Super Mario Kart, and then of course there’s the disparate Octorok from the Legend of Zelda. These little creatures floated about the art show for hours on end, all 4,500 square feed of the exhibit spic and span at the end of it all. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Roomba sold these custom costumes so that everyone could have a big time awesome experience?

Also note, if you’re wondering, that the music you are hearing is “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” by the band The Main Drag. Fun stuff!

Thanks for the tip, anon!

The Power Up is a toy made by Tailor Toys and it has a little electric motor on the back, a long stick, and a propeller on the back. The capacitor is actually on the front of the paper plane and the propeller is on the back in a pusher layout. The capacitor gets power from three AA batteries in a little charge box.

A 20-second charge is enough power for 90 seconds of flight. It seems that I would have the same issue of balance with any paper plane I made for this motor. You can buy the Power Up for $17.49 on Amazon and it looks really cool. See the thing in action on the video below.

[via GizMag]

Once you are on the memo from Tim Berners-Lee, there is a big Chrome logo in the upper right-hand side. Click on it, and the page slides over revealing a special Chromebook preview page where you can purchase one of a limited number of Chromebooks. The price is $499, and don’t worry about running over there, they are already sold out. The next clue will probably be posted tomorrow morning.

Will Google’s treasure hunt strategy increase the interest in the Chromebook launch? We are more interested in the price and performance when it is released. The Chrome browser is fast, and the browser of choice for millions, but some might decide to use a tablet instead. There are still no further details on the $20 a month student rent/lease option. That will be another interesting launch. Overall, the game seems like a fun move, we will keep our eyes out for tomorrows clue.

[via Google]

Playsoft Games has already released its own piloting app for Samsung and Nokia phones. This was done with the Parrot’s software development kit. All the piloting apps are free to download, regardless of platform. For now, the games have only been announced for the iOS devices.

Two games are available now, with a third untitled game being developed. AR. Flying Ace is available now in the App Store for free, while the other free title, AR. Race is being launched today. For the true Drone enthusiast, there are also physical obstacles available for purchase that can actually be recognized by the Drone. A set of pylons and a finish line retail for $59.99, and a donut retails for $49.99. The accessories will also be available in July.

The third game being developed is aimed at consumers that might not know anyone that has their own Drone. It is said to be a two player game where both players control the same helicopter. Not many details yet, but Parrot said the opponent might not be what you expect.

[via AR. Drone]

“I developed DON-8r as a device to get people more personally involved with raising funds for charities. I was inspired by the increasingly negative attitude that many people have towards on-the-street charity workers. Rather than approaching them and supporting their charity, people will often go out of their way to avoid them. DON-8r is my response to this, an engaging and approachable robot that raises money for charities through encouraging playful and empathetic support from strangers and passers-by.”

DON-8r is constructed from smooth plastic panels, it glides along the ground for a set length and then stops to ask passers by for donations. The coinage deposited into the slot on his back helps to power the bot, and he won’t roll on without the continued support from passers by. This little robotic panhandler is designed to be branded with any chairty of choice.

Tim Pryde is a student of the University of Dundee in Scotland in his final year. He teamed up with the Dundee Science Centre and produced this cute little bot to raise awareness for the center and to collect DON-8tions. He will be exhibiting his bot at the following shows:

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Degree Show, Dundee 21 – 29 May 2011
New Designers, London 6th – 9th July 2011

And just for fun, here’s an early video he posted of the GUTS! We love robot guts, and robots in general. If you want to read more about the design process, Tim’s chronicled the whole process in his blog.

One time I watched Ace of Cakes or whatever. I didn’t really pay much attention, there was a lot of yelling and then they put this big cake in the back of a car and almost crashed it and stuff. I guess those shows have created an explosion of creative cakery nationwide! Liz jumped on this tidal wave of awesome sweetness and started making all sorts of confectionary delights. I really could go on for way too long about all of the different things she makes. She makes cakes like car engines, cakes with Mario, Domo-kun, or Banjo-monstar as I first knew him. She makes cakes that are tall and cakes that are short. She makes a lot of cakes. You should just go look at her company’s page here.

Now this is the neat part, she recently had some requests to make some cake toppers out of the visage of those rage filled avians. She’ll let you know exactly how she did it on this Instructable. Or if you break down into tears at anything resembling modeling clay because of terrible childhood memories, you can browse on over to her etsy where you will find a terrifying array of wrathful fowl available for sale. Don’t worry, they ship well.

[via Instructables]

I don’t really remember the original score to the original Tron, and I still haven’t seen the 2.0. I am no Tron expert or Tron fanatic telling you to watch this and enjoy because I love everything Tron. Really, I don’t like Tron much at all. Just between you and me, I hate Tron.

I like this in spite of it being Tron. j/k I’m ambivalent.

It’s cold up there in Ann Arbor where Mr Grumbles is a French / Disco House DJ. Keeping dancefloors stocked with sweaty gyrating bodies is his cap and trade. I really hope he has a Mr. Grumbles cap. Just so I could know for sure when I saw him that he was in-fact the man in fact. If you are so inclined to find more of his music after enjoying this he also has a Myspace page with some tracks up there for a listen.

Now here’s the really cool part. This dude is just giving this thing away for donations. This video below is the entire recut and rescore, and it’s just up there on Vimeo waiting for you to enjoy. And hey! Mogi has a donation link posted up on moodgadget. Browse on over and throw him a bone!

End of Line is an original re-score of the movie Tron (1981), created by Ann Arbor native French / Disco House antihero Mogi Grumbles. End of Line is a 100% independent composition that lives wholly outside the original film score by Wendy Carlos and Annemarie Franklin.

The result of a live collaboration between Alex Taam and video editor Christian Silbereis, a re-cut of the film featuring the Mogi Grumbles re-score has been released as a companion piece for your viewing pleasure. End of Line is being released digitally as a name-your-price offering, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the artist.

[via iso50]

Note here, neither I nor Fr. Spadero are using the term to mean computer crime or internet vandalism or whatever else the plebian media are deciding to use the word hacker for today. I stand by the original definition of hacker and hacking. I even like the neologism, hacktivist.

I must link to this as well, just in case one person hasn’t read The Mentor’s famous manifesto. It brings a nostalgic tear to my eye just scanning through it again. There’s a scene in Hackers where two cops read through this manifesto, which is why it’s such a famous piece.

Hacker philosophy is playful but committed, encourages creativity and sharing, and opposes models of control, competition and private property, Spadaro observed approvingly.

The Jesuit priest, a literary critic and technology expert, also cited Tom Pittman, a member of California’s Homebrew Computer Club, as an example of someone seeking a creative fusion of Christianity and technology.

“I as a Christian thought I could feel something of the satisfaction that God must have felt when He created the world,” Pittman wrote of his work. Christian hackers, Spadaro said, viewed their work as “a form of participation in the ‘work’ of God in creation.”- TechWorld

Most importantly, this opens a lot of important theological questions. Is St. Peter’s book at the Pearly Gates now an iPad? Can Angels speak Perl? When Jesus returns, is he going to use Linux? I just hope this means I can to hack my way into Heaven.

[via WSJ]

Markus talked about his success in this reddit thread.

“A lot. It all ends up in an account somewhere, and I try not to look at it. I get a normal salary these days for day to day stuff, but there’s a big pile somewhere.

The game sold about 800,000 copies at 9.95 euro and then so far 1 million more at 14.95 euro. PayPal takes a cut, there are taxes, and such, but it’s still a huge wad of money.”

I’ve never actually played the game myself, but I’ve watched this guy demonstrate his ridiculous amazing awesome brilliant skills in constructing logic machines in the Minecraft world. The first video I saw a few months back. He demonstrated a simple Arithmetic Logic Unit. If I remember correctly, it could add or subtract a 16 bit binary number (and maybe XOR it also). In this video, he is demonstrating a CPU that he constructed. I’m a huge chip-geek so I found this fascinating. It should give you a bit more of a view into what’s going on in any computer. He demonstrates calculating the Fibonacci sequence.

[via GigaOM]

Aaron’s design demonstrates multi-part fabrication principles and the ways to go about fabricating a prototype widget quickly and with as little waste as possible. This model was first built as a three dimensional model and then fabricated using separate materials so that the whole thing could fit together properly. The black ring was fabricated using an additive process. Layers of plastic were deposited down on top of one another to build the model slice by slice. The other common machine shop technique to fabricate parts is to start with a chunk of material, plastic in this case, and use a computer controlled router to cut away at the chunk until the piece is formed.

In any kind of computer controlled process like this the neat little Calculus bit is translating all of the 3D model data into what are known as tool paths. Every single movement of that computer controlled nib is translated from the 3D model into the language of the 3D printer, which talks in equations defining curves along which the machine will deposit material to build the part. Is that confusing enough?

This is a video of an unrelated 3D fabricated part to show the process in action.

[via Berkeley]

The babies are talking about Google +1, a new thing from Google that’s been heralded as the best thing since apps. I don’t know if it’s any good yet, because they haven’t even released the thing into the wild yet. Considering the date, it might be the biggest prank ever to receive a chorus of LOL. I hope it’s true because it would be cool of them to jack Zuckerberg’s Like It.

You should just be finishing up with the babies right about now. Do you see what we’re talking about here? This is Google’s opening shots in the Button Wars of 2011. Check out our coverage you might have missed from earlier today.

[via Kara @ All Things Digital]

I guess considering that these little robot tools can be used to fix hearts and other critical parts of the human body I shouldn’t be surprised that the things can fold tiny little paper airplanes, but I am. I had no idea these tools had so much dexterity.

This isn’t what bored docs get up to just to stay warm in surgical suites; this is how Dr. James Porter shows off how precise his fancy da Vinci robot really is. I am impressed Dr. Porter, but can it make an origami swan?

[via Dvice]

LOL officially enters the ranks of real words alongside such internet-chat-spawned shorthand as OMG (Oh My God), IMHO(In My Humble/Honest Opinion), and BFF(Best Friend Forever). The Oxford guys also decided to update the entries to the older terms FYI (For Your Information) and TMI (Too Much Information). Apparently the folks over at the OED neglected to include ROFL and LMAO, most likely because they aren’t used quite as often verbally or in traditional print.

As such usage indicates, many people would consider these recent coinages, from the last 10 or 20 years, and associate them with a younger generation conversant with all forms of digital communications. As is often the case, OED’s research has revealed some unexpected historical perspectives: our first quotation for OMG is from a personal letter from 1917; the letters LOL had a previous life, starting in 1960, denoting an elderly woman (or ‘little old lady’; see LOL n./1); and the entry for FYI [FYI phr., adj., and n.], for example, shows it originated in the language of memoranda in 1941 – OED

The dictionary also added the popular usage of ♥ to heart as a colloquial synonym for to love. So now, writing “I ♥ you” to your sweetie is not only sickeningly adorable, it’s also grammatically correct! I think you’ll all join us in saying, “WTF?”

[via Ars Technica]

Gorbie from the official Farmville forums has taken before and after pictures of the crop. When it’s ready for harvest a pink baby sprouts out the top complete with eyes, arms and mouth. When the crop dies the watermelon and baby begin looking less vibrant and both turn brown and colors fade. Then you have this brown watermelon baby monster left on your farm.

Players don’t seem to like having a dead baby on their farm and some may find it pretty upsetting. It certainly gives the game a different flavor and for anyone who’s seen the sci-fi classic Soylent Green, you’ll get a chuckle out of this. So if you get a chance to actually see a Watermelon Baby, you’ll get to scream “Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!” to your heart’s content. I just did.

[via Games]

The things are made out of dual layers of silvered glass that has a vacuum between them that is 100,000 times more powerful than a thermos and some are stainless steel too. That science means that your beer will stay nice and frosty for you. That my friend is science we can all be proud of.

The steins come in a variety of sizes from 11.8-ounce, to a tall 22.5-ounce version, or to the pro drunkards gallon size stein. These things are not cheap though. A 665ml offering will cost you $340 and the big daddy 1900ml unit is $400.

Via Thrillist