Teenager plays Space Invaders with his brain

A crack team of braniacs, researchers and students at Washington University in St. Louis, America, have designed a brain-computer interface that allowed a 14-year old epileptic gamer to play Space Invaders using only the power of his brain waves. Way to go, the future is finally here!

The Wash. Uni boffins programmed an Atari
2600 to interface with headgear
that monitored ‘electrocorticographic
activity’ from the brain’s surface to detect signals based on thought
processes. By calibrating his thoughts with video
game triggers, the teenager was able to learn the ropes ‘almost
instantaneously’. For more info and to see a video of this amazing feat, click here: LINK
[Via Medgadget]

Top five retro cars

1. The Shelby Cobra. Sex on wheels. Capable of 165 mph (that was quick back in the sixties) the Cobra was designed to compete with the heavy-weights of the time… and it did. It was also the most handsome thing on the road. If anyone would like to buy me one… I’ll stop now shall I?

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Hero of the day: Brian Glover

Name Brian Glover.

Job Deceased actor, wrestler and teacher.

Special powers To provide the world with gritty realism and tea.

He said ‘You play to your strengths in this game. My strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman.’

They said ‘He wants milkin’ him… the big fat git’

Finest hour His role as Mr Sugden in Kes. Never before or since has an actor managed to so accurately portray someone from a PE department. His wry put-downs and comic overbearing of the kids is so close to home that you can be forgiven for thinking that you’re watching a documentary as opposed to a feature film.

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Top five useless inventions

Inventors. Who’d be one? After watching the Dragon’s Den, you can see what  torrid time they get. It must be hit and miss too. I bet Trevor Bayliss cam e up with some howlers before making a wind-up radio. Well, let’s look at some bizarre devices that some people think we need.

1. In 1909, some daft idiot came up with this flying cape idea for a fire escape. All it would serve to do is make you look cool has you plummeted to your inevitable firey cloaked death. To add misery to this, I’m almost certain that someone had already invented ladders by this point.

For more rubbish inventions read over.

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Algol portable TV

Go to buy a TV, and you’re pretty much faced with a mass of androgynous blinking plasma screens. All function and nil design. Thankfully, there is another option. The stunning Algol portable TV, designed by Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper in the early ’60s. It’s managed to retain the original’s striking design but comes equipped with the latest technology. Features include a black matrix tube for outstanding picture quality, broadband loudspeaker, 100 storable programmes, AST automatic search, video input and the obligatory headphones output. It’ll cost you £470, and sit pretty in your home.

Visit the Conran shop to buy the Algol Portable TV

[via RetroToGo]

Hero of the day: Withnail

Name Withnail.

Job Failing vinegar-tongued thespian.

Special powers The ability to get very drunk, shoot his mouth off, act like a coward then deliver a superlative one liner (‘Don’t threaten me with a dead fish!’).

He said ‘Balls! We want the finest wines availible to humanity. We want them here, and we want them now.’

Richard E. Grant said ‘People that have seen Withnail said that I
am very like Vivian MacKerrell, the guy Withnail is based on, was. But
he died of throat cancer, drinking a bottle of scotch down a tube into
his stomach at the age of forty-seven a few years ago…’

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Top five stylish 60s stars

The sixties had loads of cool blokes, and being honest, half of us still dress like them. Whether you think you’re Mod-esque in your suit, or pulling on a box fresh tracksuit, the boys in the sixties had beaten you to the punch.

1. Steve McQueen. A man with effortless cool. Sharp trousers coupled with super cool knitwear. Capped off with hard man sunglasses, you know that you wanna be him. McQueen is a great example of a stylish man that doesn’t turn into a dandy.

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Lego brick ice-cube tray

Ok. So you’re having some people ’round your house. Maybe the footy is on? Maybe that girl has come and you want to impress her. Well, instead of being a fool and trying to eat bits of Lego, why not produce some ice cubes that are shaped like Lego bricks? It’ll show your humour and good taste for sure!

Officially endorsed by Lego, the ice tray will set you back a paltry £3.99, and are sure to make your pals slightly jealous. Available to buy here.

[via RetroToGo]

Hero of the day: Boba Fett

Name Boba Fett

Job Bad-ass bounty hunter in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Special powers Other than being completely nails, Boba is the only person to give Darth Vader some lip and get away with it. He’s also a clone of his rock hard dad, Jango, who is the basis for the entire clone army.

He said ‘You are foolish to waste your kindness on this dumb creature – no lower life form is worth going hungry for, friend.’

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Samsung launch 10-megapixel camphone

Samsung has upped the camphone ante with its SCH-B600 model, which it has just launched in Korea. The B600 packs a 10-megapixel camera, the first mobile to boast such a high-spec shooter.

The SCH-B600 features 3x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom and an LED autofocus feature
for clearer, sharper images, even in crappy light. There’s also white
balance, manual focus, continuous picture-taking and movie recording,
along with Bluetooth for sending your pictures wirelessly, a
high-colour TFT LCD screen and TV out to view images and movies
externally. But is it a camera-phone or a phone-cam?

For more info on the B600, check out sister site Tech Digest.

Hero of the day: Keith Moon

Name Keith John Moon (August 23, 1946 – September 7, 1978)

Job Madcap drummer and hell raiser with The Who.

Special powers Being the greatest ever drummer to have walked the planet whilst being under the influence of enough booze that would kill a bull seal.

He said "I still think I’m the best ‘Keith Moon styled’ drummer around." Or better still, his last words "If you don’t like, you can just fuck off" (strangley apt I think)

They said "The Who died with Keith Moon…" (The surviving members of the band)

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Why is mobile TV trying to rewind our viewing habits?

Excessive hype is part and parcel of the mobile industry, so it’s no surprise to see mobile TV being presented as a televised revolution on your phone. And yes, even on a two-inch screen, watching TV is surprisingly rewarding – at least until Apple gets its arse into gear to launch downloadable shows for iPods here in the UK.

Yet there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why are mobile TV services so restrictive? Think about the way TV in the home is going. I can set Sky+ to record a bunch of shows, and watch them whenever I want. I can access on-demand programmes from NTL. It’s taking time, but the iron of the TV Schedulers is gradually creaking to an end.

So why, on my mobile phone, am I being thrown back into the dark ages, where if you tune in at, say, 3pm, you’ll jolly well watch whatever a channel is showing at that point in time?

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The flirtiest blogger ever

Sometimes you have to take a long, hard look at yourself, and question what kind of hollow-eyed internet junkie you’ve turned into. Such as when you find yourself reading a weather blog PURELY because you think the blogger’s avatar is giving you the eye. It’s not right. I’m hoping if I keep the page open long enough, she’ll give me her number…

A flat that swings in the wind

Let’s face it, the view out of most flats isn’t that good. Grey skies, dirty streets, dog-eared St George flags… But imagine if you could change your view on a whim. That’s the idea behind The Wind-Shaped Pavilion, a concept building designed by Michael Jantzen. It’s designed as a large fabric structure with six segments, which rotate separately according to the wind. However, he says it could also be adapted for housing.

"If the structure’s scale and the materials were to change, it could become an apartment complex, and or some other commercial building," he says. "In this case, the occupants could take control and rotate the segments to adjust to changing desires or needs, such as weather conditions, best views, etc."

Obviously, this looks better in the middle of a big green field than it would plonked in the centre of Neasden. But still, I look forward to someone attempting it on the next series of Grand Designs.

Soopa Sprinter online game

Forget that Excel spreadsheet you’re working on. It’s Friday, so why not go to the pub pound your keyboard into submission with this cool web game? It’s called Soopa Sprinter, and puts you in the scuffed trainers of a hoodie, who has to dash along the street leaping bins, clambering over walls, and hugging David Cameron. Well, not that last one. It’s got a distinctive visual style, with priceless animation when you crash into a bin or run slap bang into a wall.