TOFU mini is a new robot from the MIT Media Labs Personal Robots Group.

Shared by Daniel QR codes are bilingualism for our machines. Click here to read Buy Groceries at a Virtual Supermarket Inside a Subway Station I would never do my grocery shopping inside a subway station. The smells? The rats? The slime? Gross. But what about a virtual supermarket where you scan QR codes of items and have it delivered to you by the end of the day? More »

Snails with benefits? Our salt shaker might disagree. But some enterprising engineers over at Japan’s Chuo University managed to turn this garden-variety pest into fodder for mechatronic inspiration. Based on the gastropod’s preferred method of ‘galloping’ — wherein waves of foot-to-head muscle contractions propel it forward — researchers at the Mechatronics Lab created TORo II, an omnidirectional robot that could make its way to a hospital near you. Why’s that? Well, the bot’s large gripped surface area makes it ideal for narrow, slippery environments — so it won’t budge if knocked into (though you might wind up on the emergency room floor). Although the unique movement technique has been used to create other mecha-mollusks in the past, the team behind this project made sure to create some of their own ceiling and wall-climbing critters — suction definitely included. We admit, we kind of feel guilty about the sodium chloride transgressions of our youth. And now that we know snails can be useful, it’s only a matter of time before the bedbug gets repurposed. Full omnidirectional video awesomeness after the break. Continue reading Japanese TORo II gallops ahead at a mechanical snail’s pace (video) Japanese TORo II gallops ahead at a mechanical snail’s pace (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Ieee Spectrum | source Nakamura Lab | Email this | Comments

In the last decade it seems that with every year we take another significant step closer toward realizing the amazing possibilities of a real world Star Trek holodeck. The latest iteration of the virtual world dynamic comes to us from Japan’s Crescent Inc.

As Google expands its Google+ social network to more people, the final outlines of the program begin to take shape. Here’s one important detail, disclosed on the Google Plus help page: there will be no private Google+ profiles. If you choose to keep your profile private, Google will simply delete it after July 31, 2011. From the Google+ help section: “The purpose of Google Profiles is to enable you to manage your online identity. Today, nearly all Google Profiles are public. We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don’t allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public. Keep in mind that your full name and gender are the only required information that will be displayed on your profile; you’ll be able to edit or remove any other information that you don’t want to share. If you currently have a private profile but you do not wish to make your profile public, you can delete your profile. Or, you can simply do nothing. All private profiles will be deleted after July 31, 2011.” This makes for a crucial difference between Google+ and Facebook; on Facebook, you can have a completely private profile, which won’t even come up in Google’s search results or even Facebook search results (for people who aren’t your friends). On the other hand, to use Google+, you will at least need to make your full name and gender public, meaning people will be able to find you via Google+. More About: Google, Google Plus, Google Plus profiles, social media, social networking, trending For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our […]

by Zoë Pollock But I do like that Vladimir Nabokov dreamed up emoticons in 1969. A NYT interviewer asked him to rank himself among writers, living and of the recent past: I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile – some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket, which I would now like to trace in reply to your question.

Magic bag turns astronaut pee into sports drink One of the experiments heading into space when Atlantis launches at the end of the week is a magical bag that can turn any kind of liquid (any kind of liquid) into a tasty electrolyte-filled sports drink without needing any energy input at all.

There are two ways that we’ve been able to get mammals to live longer: genetic engineering, and calorie restriction. Neither of those things sounds like much fun, but scientists may have just stumbled onto a drug that can also extend your lifespan, by a decade or more.

Click here to read The Magnet So Powerful It Explodes Copper Wires The average American refrigerator generates a magnetic field of one-half Tesla. The world-record breaking magnet developed by the High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Dresden generates nearly 200 times that much, a whopping 91.4 Tesla. More »

We knew that Internet advertising is on a strong upward trajectory. But now analyst firm eMarketer is predicting double-digit growth through 2015. Spending on online ads will hit $50 billion that year — that’s almost double last year’s spending figure. The prediction, published Tuesday, comes a month after eMarketer nearly doubled its estimated increase for online ad revenues for 2011 to 20.2%, thanks to a surge in display advertising. U.S. online ad spending hit $26 billion in 2010. The new report assumes a continued growth in search advertising, but also in banner ads from large sites like Yahoo, Google and Facebook. Video will continue to be the fastest-growing format in online advertising, according to eMarketer. Spending for video ads hit $1.42 billion in 2010, but will reach $7.11 billion in 2015. That’s because video “generates greater audience attention than other digital ad formats,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer’s principal analyst. Another factor in the rise: a shift in local advertising from newspapers and Yellow Pages to online ads. eMarketer’s figures are by no means the only ones. The IAB reported a 23% jump in online advertising revenues in the first quarter of this year. The IDC also estimated that global online ad spending grew 14.3% in Q1. Online spending is far outpacing increases in traditional advertising. Nielsen estimates global ad spending rose 8.8% in the first quarter, and TV advertising was up 11.9%. U.S. advertising was up 5.9% in the first quarter, according to Nielsen, which didn’t include online ad spending in the report. Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, 123render More About: banner ads, display advertising, emarketer, facebook, Google, IAB, idc, online advertising, search advertising, Yahoo For more Business & Marketing coverage: Follow Mashable Business & Marketing on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business & Marketing channel Download […]