Humanoid Beer-And-Pizza-Fetching Robot Is Charmingly Retro

Delivery robots are starting to hit the streets, but few do it with as much joie de vivre as a new device called the Fundroid. The gender-neutral beer-and-pizza-fetching robot debuted at the Software For Artists event in Brooklyn, New York.

Fundroid made its way to a nearby pizza store and bodega to order, pay for and deliver food and beverages to the guests at nonprofit foundation Pioneer Works, which hosted the event.

Honda's Self-Balancing Riding Assist Technology

Honda has unveiled a well-balanced piece of motorcycle technology designed to help riders stay in the saddle at low speeds. The Riding Assist concept bike has an adjustable front fork that assumes a wider angle to increase stability and its own motor attached to the front wheel.

As anyone who's ever tried to maneuver a big bike out of a parking lot at low speed knows, keeping balance at 2 or 3 miles an hour is one of the trickiest aspects of riding.



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The Story Of The First Computer Mouse

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Today, the mouse is an essential input device for all modern computers but it wasn't so long ago that computers had no mouse and no graphical user interface. Data was entered by typing commands on a keyboard.

The mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1964 and consisted of a wooden shell, circuit board and two metal wheels that came into contact with the surface it was being used on.

The History Of Radio

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Radio is the technology of using radio waves to carry information, such as sound, by systematically modulating properties of electromagnetic energy waves transmitted through space, such as their amplitude, frequency, phase, or pulse width.

When radio waves strike an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. The information in the waves can be extracted and transformed back into its original form. The history of radio.

Meet The Most Incredible Robots Of 2016

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The term 'robot' is a very broad designation these days. Depending on context, it can refer to everything from advanced A.I. to children's toys. In a year of rapid developments in robotics, meet the 10 robots that made news for reasons good, bad and weird.

Artificial People

Ordinarily, when someone describes another person as 'artificial,' they're referring to a real person who only seems fake. But occasionally the expression applies to a fake 'person' who seems real, like Apple's Siri. Did you think she was the first artificial person? Think again.

Why Is My Computer So Slow?

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Are you having a bad time trying to get your cranky old computer to process a simple request? Do you feel like your PC's performance is like the old days of dial up internet?

There are many reasons behind the question 'Why is my computer so slow?' Whether it's a Windows or Mac machine, both can be running at below average performance. The good thing is that you can always fix slow computer, no matter how bad it gets.

What Is DNS And Why Does It Make The Internet Break?

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This week, half of America's internet shut down when hackers unleashed a large distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the servers of Dyn, a major DNS host.

It's horrific to know that major websites like Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, Etsy, Wired, and PayPal can all be taken offline in an instant. The exact process hackers used is so far unknown but it's important for every internet user to understand because it has to do with how exactly the internet works.

Amazing Facts And Figures About The Evolution Of Hard Disk Drives

It took 51 years before hard disk drives reached the size of 1 TB (terabyte, i.e. 1,000 GB). This happened in 2007. In 2009, the first hard drive with 2 TB of storage arrived. So while it took 51 years to reach the first terabyte, it took just two years to reach the second.

Take a look back at how hard disk drives have evolved since they first burst onto the scene in 1956. Notice the radical changes over time for three different aspects of HDDs: Size, storage space, and price.

(via Reality Carnival)

The Strange Victorian Computer That Generated Latin Verse

In July 1845, British curiosity-seekers headed to London's Egyptian Hall to try out the novelty of the summer. For the price of one shilling, they could stand in front of a wooden bureau and pull a lever.

At the end of its 'grinding,' what it produced was not a numeric computation or a row of fruit symbols, but something quite different: a polished line of Latin poetry. This strange gadget was called the Eureka.

Six Technologies That Produce Clean, Safe Drinking Water

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One in 10 people worldwide lack regular access to safe drinking water. In an effort to tackle this most basic humanitarian problem, engineers around the globe have developed a wide array of devices that generate clean water.

Solutions range from using condensation methods to pull water from thin air, turning salty seawater into fresh water, or distributing UV light purification chips affordable enough for people to use at home.

9 Major Computer Bugs That Wreaked Havoc

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Advances in computing, the web, and the internet have spawned some nasty bugs over the past several decades. Many companies use bug bounty programs or enlist software-savvy patrons to hunt down bugs before they cause too much trouble - but despite all our efforts, more than a few have gotten the best of us.

The 10 Most Expensive Computers Ever Created

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The price of computers has dramatically changed over the years. When PCs were first made available for purchase by consumers over 30 years ago, they were hefty machines that cost thousands of dollars each. Today, you can buy a new PC or laptop for less than $300.

However, there are still models that cost a ton of money either because they contain insane tech or insanely opulent features. Such PCs match the price of early computers, and some even cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Here are ten of the most expensive computers ever created.

(via Neatorama)

What The World Of The Future Looked Like From The Early 1960s

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Toasted bacon wrapped in tin trays, sonic dishwashers and fridges that appear from under the kitchen floor - this was how life was supposed to be in the future.

These pictures are from a 1962 book called '1975: And the Changes to Come' by Arnold B. Barach. They predict what the world of the future looked like from the early 60s - and many of them turned out to be surprisingly accurate.

How Batteries Work

Did you know the same battery we use today was invented in 1887? From turning on a lamp in your home to running solar panels, batteries play a large role in our everyday lives.

The lowly battery is more than just a simple tool and we depend on them more than you may think. But how do batteries work?

(thanks Caroline)

What's That Bulky Cylinder On Your Charging Cord?

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Have you ever wondered why there was a bulky cylinder attached to the end of your laptop or mobile device charging cord? These cylinders are also common on keyboard cables as well.

16 Accidental Inventions That Changed The World

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Some inventors work their entire lives to develop a radical solution to the world's problems. Other stumble upon a brilliant innovation purely by luck. We should all be grateful that the universe gifted us with these world-changing, accidental inventions.

Introducing SpotMini

SpotMini is a new smaller version of the Spot robot. SpotMini is all-electric and runs for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing. SpotMini is one of the quietest robots we have ever built.

It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro and proprioception sensors in the limbs. SpotMini performs some tasks autonomously, but often uses a human for high-level guidance.



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A Playable Version Of The World's Tiniest Violin

Based on Google's Project Soli - a tiny radar-based chip that can detect tiny flickering movements of your hands and fingers - the World's Tiniest Violin can reproduce the sounds of the actual instrument based on how vigorously the microscopic version is being played.

7 Tech Predictions That Totally Missed The Mark

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How far will technology advance in the next 20 years? That's kind of a difficult question to wrap your head around. Of course, that hasn't prevented people from offering up their own claims for what the future will hold.

In many cases, these predictions have proven to be categorically, unequivocally, wrong. Here are some examples of tech predictions that completely missed the mark.