Quadcopter Robotic Formations

400 Free University Courses

400 Free Online Courses from Top Universities | Open Culture

Get free online courses from the world’s leading universities. This collection includes over 250 free courses in the liberal arts and sciences. Download these audio & video courses straight to your computer or mp3 player.

The best of the Web2011

Top 10 Consumer Web Products of 2011

Our annual Best Of series continues with the top 10 Web products that revolutionized old services and created new ones this year. Yesterday, Richard MacManus rounded up the top 10 social Web products, featuring services that focus on social networking and community building. This round-up is about the Web products that changed the things we do online.

The categories vary here from browsers to cloud drives to mobile apps and more. But all of these services redefined a core use case for the Web, and some of them invented activities we didn't know we needed. Here are our top 10 Consumer Web Products of 2011:

Mobile payments up 516% on Black Friday

From Forbes:
1. Consumers crave mobility. Comparing Black Friday 2011 to Black Friday 2010, PayPal saw a whopping six-fold (516 percent!) increase in global mobile payment volume and a four-fold (371 percent) increase in the number of customers shopping through mobile.
The time for equivocation has passed. Mobile is now strategically important. (See this earlier post for steps to help you start winning the mobile wars.)

2. Customers want “couch commerce.” According to comScore, more than 50 million American visited online retail sites on Black Friday –up 35 percent compared to a year ago. Each of the top five retail sites achieved double-digit gains in visitors. (Amazon led the charge, followed by Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple.)
This “couch commerce” drove $816 million in online sales on Black Friday, making it the heaviest online spending day to date in 2011 and representing a 26 percent increase compared to Black Friday 2010.

Purify - Remove Youtube Ads

Awesome teacher tool: Remove ads from a Youtube Video with Purify.

Visit viewpure.com. It's easy, free and there's no signup.

NASA's 'Curiousity' rover

Robots as Prison Guards

South Korean Prisons Will Be Run By Robots Next Year

We all know that robots make everything better. Somehow, though, I'm not sure the inmates of a South Korean prison will agree when robot guards start appearing next year.

These new robotic guards, that measure 150cm in height, are to be introduced to a prison in the city of Pohang, South Korea, from March next year. The prison plans to introduce them properly if the month-long trial is a success.

The scientists behind the robot have spent $850,000 on the new robots, with the intention of allowing human guards to spend more time rehabilitating offenders as opposed to working on more menial tasks, like night patrols. A host of sensors on the robots let them keep an eye on the behavior of criminals, and even the conditions in cells.

Microsoft: $20k for Kinect Hacks

Have a Good Kinect Hack Idea? Microsoft Has $20,000 For You

Some large technology companies frown upon developers hacking and reworking their products. On the far opposite side of the spectrum, lies an unexpected organization called Microsoft. After some initial hesitation, the tech giant is now actively encouraging developers to tinker with its Kinect hands-free user interface accessory for the XBox 360.

Until now, those hacks have been encouraged for non-commercial purposes only. But the company took things to the next level this week when it announced the Kinect Accelerator, a program for startups who want to build creative uses for the Kinect into their businesses.

Mobile Black Friday purchasing up 516%

Black Friday Mobile Payments Up 516%

New data from PayPal shows a 516% increase in mobile payments on Black Friday 2011. The busiest mobile payments shopping time was on Black Friday between 1pm and 2pm PT. Data shows that Black Friday mobile payment volume was up 148% as compared to an average Friday. This year there was a 371% increase in the number of customers shopping on their mobile devices. Mobile purchases occurred the most in New York, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago, respectively.