Recently in gadgets Category

A Frankenstein-wannabe has worked with a team of engineering students and a taxidermist to raise a bird from the dead.

The American Scientist used robotics to operate the wings of a deceased swamp sparrow in order to study the aggressive behaviour of the male. The study concluded that wing-flapping was a sign of male aggression

According to the BBC, the team used Picaxe computer chips and a linear motor which fitted inside the cavity of the sparrow.

The resurrection was completed on a budget of just under £1,000, but the bird's head eventually fell off after two months of attacks from the living and breathing creatures in society.

Zombie 101 - decapitation or destroying the brain is the simplest way to kill a zombie.

Ever found yourself in that unbearable situation where you just can't put your phone down to stop texting your friend, but you've just bought yourself a hot cup o' Joe. What do you do? Put your phone in your pocket so you can drink you Mocha? Precariously hold the plastic cup between your teeth while you finish your text? Or put your coffee down and let it go cold? 

At CES in Las Vegas this year, there was a varied amount of weird and wonderful technology being showcased, but the iPotty has to be up there with one of the strangest.

CTA Digital, which manufacturers accessories for iPads and Kindles, had a potty training contraption fits your iPad onto a child's toilet.

So, effectively it is a giant iPad stand on which you child sits while trying to do its business. Apparently children like to be occupied while potty training, so this means that a parent can distract a child with a smartphone device without having to hold it with their own hands.

Additionally, the part of the plastic potty that holds the iPad has a touch-screen protector, just in case your child misses.

Downtime has found itself with more time on its hands than usual this week, mainly as we wait for much of our work to be returned with Hugh Grant's approval, but fortunately we stumbled across an ideal outlet for time-wasting.

www.Gizoogle.net

Running the address of any webpage through it instantly returns the page translated into the slang of instant messenger and that of Snoop Dogg's (or Lion or Mountain Lion or whatever it is he has upgraded to, these days) MTV show "Doggy Fizzle Televizzle".

Some of our favourite bits included the new take it gave to the Leveson stories, which Downtime feels was far more succinctly summed up with the following excerpts:

Dizzy Cameron, Nick Da Clogg n' Ed Millipede kicked it wit fo' talks on Thursdizzle evenin yo, but there is profound differences which is ghon be hard as f**k ta overcome.

Mista Muthaf**kin Cameron holla'd he broadly welcomed Lord Justice Leveson's principlez ta chizzle tha current system. But he holla'd: "Our thugged-out asses should be wary of any legislation dat has tha potential ta infringe free rap n' tha free press."

Turning the Gizoogle filter on our own body of work proved just as entertaining, although one member of the team was less than impressed with being given a new, though far more street, byline.

Downtime apologies to its mother and all other offended parties for the bad language used in this post.

Yes, you read the headline right, more than half of people regularly use their mobile devices in bed, with 5% shockingly using their mobile while in the middle of having sex with their partner.*

Narly half check their social networks and emails on their mobile devices instead of listening to their partner, while 40% use their phones while sat on the toilet - please remember to wash your hands!

So apparently 45% of people admit that technology prevents them from ever truly switching off and relaxing in their spare time. Well we don't know about relaxing, but if there's a drop in birth rates next year, we can all blame the iPhone 5.

*Study conducted by UK technology manufacturer, Storage Options

The BBC recently reported that a US-based project could see the average person designing and printing a robot within 24 hours. Surely this would be more fun than building flat park furniture from everyone's favourite Swedish store?

We've all done it, trying to force something into a slot the wrong way or, if you're extra committed, a completely different shaped slot. 

Japanese conglomerate Hitachi has someone it would like you to meet. EMIEW 2.

Google is planning to launch glasses that have a display in the lenses powered by smartphone technology, the New York Times reports.

The glasses will be used to confuse annoying businessy types that already knock into everyone by looking at their phone constantly with the intention of blinding them with not only ignorance but also technology.

The glasses will run on Android and will stream augmented reality apps such as Google Goggles (which identifies objects and gives information on them) and Google Maps (a mapping tool).

The information is received through a 3G and GPS connection allowing the brain to not only contract cancer quicker but also removing any need to store knowledge.

You will be able to control the device using eye movements.

Actions:

• Zoom in and out by rolling your eyes
• Clicking on something is done by winking
  
• Rebooting is done by staring blankly into space
• Closing an applications is done through blinking
  
• Squinting restricts the viewing pane
  
• To switch off the glasses you need to keep your eyes closed for between 7-8 hours

The glasses will also feature a front-facing camera so you can record anything you're looking at. This will be extremely useful to geeks that wear glasses when they are faced with losing their virginity as they will be able to relive those glorious seconds many times over making the £50 they paid well worth it.

Future upgrades will allow the user to project their thoughts using the camera and the ability to attach dental equipment in order to help align the user's teeth. This attachment will be controlled by the user's tongue which, I'm sure you'll agree, is a pretty exciting proposition.