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How Can I Sing Better Without Lesson,

2013-05-07T02:36:00.000-07:00

Enunciate your words clearly so that what you sing is understandable. For this, you need practice. First, find a page in a book to read aloud. Watch your mouth move in a mirror. Read as you normally would at first, but as you continue down the page, start reading more slowly. Pay close attention to each syllable as you enunciate it. Pay close attention to the way your mouth moves as you slowly and clearly enunciate your words.

Once you have read aloud to yourself, watch yourself in the mirror as you say tongue twisters, clearly enunciating every syllable:

(1) Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

2) Black socks, they never get dirty, the longer you wear them the stronger they get. Some day, I think I shall launder them, something keeps telling me don't do it yet. Not yet. Not yet.

3) She sells seashells at the seashore.

Harsh consonant sounds while enunciating, such as a hissing "s" or a "t" that sounds like spitting, are common. Make sure you enunciate them anyway.

Practice actual singing in front of a mirror. The best way to start is by singing the vowels A, E, I, O and U. Each vowel needs a different mouth configuration, which will help you learn mouth control and clarity of sound.

Begin with A by opening your mouth and pulling back the sides of your mouth into what might feel like a grimace. Sing "A" for five counts; then close your mouth a little more for "E." For "I," make a fist and make your mouth approximately the size of your fist, a little less of a smile, but wider than A and E. For "O," make a perfect "O" shape with your mouth, and for "U," pucker your lips as you sing.

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Breathe when you sing. Most people have learned to breathe shallowly, but if you want to learn to sing, you must learn to support your sound with deep belly breaths. To learn how to breathe, place your hands on your belly and inhale through your nose. Imagine breathing deeply into your stomach. Feel it rise. This is how you should breathe when singing. Practice inhaling for five cunts and exhaling for five counts.

Develop your ear, or ability to retain and accurately reproduce music or notes that you have heard, by playing a random note on a piano or electronic keyboard, waiting about 3 seconds, then reproducing the note with your voice. Check for accuracy by replaying the note as you're singing it. Try this exercise with random notes that you can easily sing without straining your voice.

Sing a song now that you have enunciation and breathing down. Pop in your favorite CD or tape that you want to sing to, and listen to it a few times to familiarize yourself with the words, tonality and harmony/melody of the song. When you feel comfortable enough, belt it out. Remember, practice makes perfect, so practice the steps, and you'll soon be singing with aplomb

Waste your tome OR CLICK THE LINK FOR INCREDIBLE FREE VDEO LESSONS http://tinyurl.com/cs7gbab

7 Tips From Which I Can Sing Better,i'll Make You Sing Better

2013-05-06T21:37:00.001-07:00

MAY

7 Incredible tips So YOU can Sing Better

Are you more of a William Hung than a Kelly Clarkson? Or are you a decent singer--and wish you were a little better? Whatever your vocal skill,use these tips so you can sing better are sure to get you singing and sounding much better.

Tip 1: Think about breath. Without proper breathing, you aren't using your voice to its full potential. To find out if you're breathing correctly for singing, place your hand on your stomach and inhale. Your hand should move out--your stomach should be expanding, not your ribcage and chest. That's because you need to support your breath with your diaphragm--the muscle underneath the lungs that inflates them. The diaphragm is activated by abdominal muscles, and it's much stronger than the muscles between your ribs--the muscles you're using if your chest, not your stomach, expands with your breath.

You'll need to have strong breath to give your voice adequate support for singing. To do this, you'll need to use your stomach and lower abdominal muscles to support your breath. Ab crunches and sit-ups can help you build up strength in this area that you can use to project your voice.

Tip 2: Focus on posture. Your breath travels from your lungs straight up through your mouth. If its passage is twisted, kinked, or blocked in any way, it won't be able to get out efficiently. How you stand has a big effect on how you sound. You should be standing with your legs about shoulder-width apart. Your chest should be lifted to give your lungs plenty of room to expand. Your shoulders should be back and relaxed.

Tip 3: Relax. If there's tension anywhere from your abdomen to your head, it'll affect your sound. Your facial muscles, tongue and throat muscles, vocal cords, jaw and shoulders should all be as relaxed as possible. There are plenty of jaw and facial exercises as well as warm-up activities that will help you relax the muscles in your shoulders, face, and vocal cords.

Tip 4: Know where to put your tongue and soft palate. The soft palate should be raised--this will give more space for your voice to resonate. The tip of your tongue should be placed at the back of your teeth. This will keep it from blocking your throat if it's positioned too far back.

Tip 5: Watch what you eat. There's nothing better for your voice than water. Period. If you have a performance coming up, avoid dairy and thick drinks for at least three days beforehand. Drink only water the day of the performance.

Tip 6: Don't strain. Pay attention to your body. If something hurts when you sing, you're either at the limit of your range or you're doing something wrong. You should be able to sing at a strong, healthy volume if you're maintaining proper breath control; if something hurts because you're singing too loudly, you're probably not supporting your voice well with your breath--the vocal cords are doing all the work. If you hurt when trying to hit certain high or low notes, however, it may be that you're trying for a note that's outside of your range. It's true that good breath control can expand your range, but the size of your vocal cords determines the pitches you can reach. You may not be able to hit certain notes no matter how well you support your voice. It's important to choose songs you can sing comfortably. Above all, don't try to sing if you have a sore throat--you may make it worse.

Tip 7: Warm up before singing. Don't go straight into a song without a good warm-up first. A good warm-up routine should concentrate on relaxing your body and getting your breath ready, and should start with simple deep breaths. It should progress to light humming from there, and then some scale work once you feel ready. It's important not to strain too hard during the warm-up process--don't reach for notes that aren't comfortable, and don't sing at the top of your volume.

Tip 8: Get a teacher. A good voice teacher can really help you improve your voice. It's sometimes hard to determine how you sound when you're by yourself; even the most dedicated singer can get into bad habits without feedback. A teacher can give you immediate feedback on how you're doing and address specific problems you may have.

It's a shame that so many people think they can't sing--and wouldn't be caught dead singing in public. In truth, singing is something anyone can learn to do. Follow these tips and practice, and you'll have a singing voice you'll be proud to show off.

Waste your tome OR CLICK THE LINK FOR INCREDIBLE FREE VDEO LESSONS http://tinyurl.com/cs7gbab

America's Funniest Home Video

2011-09-24T04:47:00.000-07:00

The Wildest Office in the World

2011-09-24T04:30:00.000-07:00

Called, “Americas largest invention factory,” Davison’s Inventionland is quite possibly the most eccentric office building in the world. With treehouses, giant shoes, boat’s and more in place of cubicles, it all makes sense for a firm that boasts production of 2,000-2,400 new inventions each year. The 61,000 square foot home to this “wonderland specifically designed to spark imagination and foster creative thinking” is in Pittsburg, PA. It has a state of the art production studio, new product development factory, and is packed with talented designers and creatives.

The invention factory, brainchild of George Davison, caught the eye of Entrepreneur magazine in 2008 with the article calling him a “creative genius”. Everything from metalworking to woodworking to molding, laser cutting, prototyping, circuit board construction, and more take place in a state-of-the-art prototyping facility. The facility pumps out its own ideas, but also offers services to help others with ideas to bring those dreams to life. Whether you have an idea or not, a visit can be arranged to see this wild place, but what the heck, if you are going to stop by you might as well submit a couple of crazy ideas to see where it goes…

20 Romantic Things to Say to a Woman

2011-09-21T01:38:00.000-07:00

There aren’t a lot of men out there that know how to say romantic things to a woman. And yet, women love to hear sweet nothings whispered in their ears. They love to listen to a guy telling them creative and romantic things during those intimate moments.

Any man who can learn to speak the seductive language of sensual romance will be able to generate greater amounts of passion and appreciation from his woman. Although many men out there are not creative enough to say romantic things to their woman, fret not, there’s good news.

With a bit of practice, any man can learn how to say romantic things to his woman. The art of speaking romantically is a fine one, and only the guys who take the time to master the language of romance will reap the rewards of their most valiant efforts.

Here is a list of 20 romantic things to say to a woman that will help any guy to get started.

1. “I don’t have a reason for loving you. Because if I had a reason for loving you…I’m afraid that I’d also have a reason for leaving you.”

2. “You know, I think you’re my favorite person in the world.” (with a playful smile while looking into her eyes)

3. “I wish I could be with you forever, but that still wouldn’t be enough time to love you.”

4. “This feels right.” (while embracing her tightly and romantically)

5. “I miss you already.” (say something like this right after you’ve finished spending a romantic evening together)

6. “Kiss me again.” (look deep into her eyes, pull her close, and demand it…in a sexy romantic way)

7. “You’re amazing.” (righter after intimacy, say this to her, but be sincere and kiss her shoulder or forehead)

8. “I wouldn’t trade this night for the world.”

9. “Relax, let me love you completely.” (this is an excellent romantic thing to say to create a sense of comfort and security as you get intimate with your woman)

10. “She’s priceless, irreplaceable, and she’s mine.” (say this to someone else in reference to your woman, but say it when your woman is around to hear it)

11. “This feels like a dream.”

12. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

13. “Wrap your arms around me.”

14. “I’ve been thinking about you, and I think I miss you.” (give her a random call and say this in a playful and romantic way)

15. “Talk to me, I’ve missed you.” (say this while holding her hands and lightly stroking it)

16. “I love the way you taste.”

17. “I’ve dreamed about this moment my whole life.” (pick a special moment with her to say this)

18. “I’m yours.”

19. “My life would be a prison without your love.”

20. “You inspire me.”

The most important thing to take away from this sample list of romantic things to say to a woman is that it should be in the moment and always fun, playful, and romantic. Depending on the moment, you can say romantic things that are sexy or sweet, but always be sincere with what you’re saying.

Also, keep in mind that your woman is different from any other, and you should understand what her deepest romantic desires are. Say romantic things that are unique to her interests and passions. Tell her romantic things that make her feel sexy, desired, and more importantly, special.

By the way, we hope you're enjoying the love tips!

Get yours 7 Scientific Tricks To Have Any Women You Want!
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Cute old couple learning to use a webcam show technology has no age restrictions

2011-09-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

We’ve always known in the social media age that babies can be instant hits on YouTube. Now, thanks to Bruce and Esther Huffman from McMinnville, Oregon, we know that the other end of the age spectrum can be just as adorable.

While playing around with their new computer in their retirement community, the couple were trying to figure out how to do screen captures. They could see the video of themselves but did not realize until the end that they were recording it. Their granddaughter found and posted the video to YouTube with their blessing, ABC picked it up and made millions of people laugh.

The self-proclaimed “Happy Huffmans” have enjoyed the popularity they’re receiving from it, even the, as Esther put it, “more risque” moments in the video.

“You’re like me,” Bruce says at one point in the video. “You do more things by accident than most people do on purpose.”

How right he was. Here’s the original video and the ABC coverage below.

comments are appreciated!

World’s Quickest Electric Car Is a ’72 Datsun, Does 0-60 in 1.8 Seconds!

2011-08-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

Battery pack designed exclusively for the Navy

Out on the dragstrip, the last vehicle you’d expect to be crushing BMWs and Ferraris is a 1972 Datsun. But John Wayland’s White Zombie is anything but ordinary. The electrified Datsun 1200 does 0-60 in a jaw-dropping 1.8 seconds.

The two-door coupe sports a dual-armature 9″ series-wound electric motor that was especially built for Wayland. Its battery pack is 192 lithium-polymer cells totaling to 355 Volts and 22.7 kWh of energy. The vehicle has a 90-mile range and it is even street legal. With over 500-plus horses, it’s no surprise the Zombie takes a quarter-mile in just ten seconds.

“I got the idea many, many years ago as a child while choking on big city air pollution and playing with battery-powered toy cars,” says Wayland who built his very first electrified Datsun–the Blue Meanie–back in 1980.

These are big changes for a 1200. While the stock vehicle has a planet-friendly fuel economy of 35 MPG, it only comes with 69 horses and takes 14.5 seconds to reach 60 MPH. You aren’t going to beat a Ferrari with that!

Drivers who have raced against the White Zombie are quick to decline a second chance, “While those not yet exposed to the Zombie are [extremely] stunned,” says Wayland. They’re probably a little embarrassed too!

Wayland has been fortunate enough to receive major sponsorship, but keep in mind that these batteries are very, very expensive. They are a prototype designed especially for Navy hellicopters and cost around $100,000 or more.”If they were put into production, the Zombie’s battery pack would [probably] cost closer to $25K,” says Wayland.

So, do you want one? If you are waning, watch one Maserati owner lose his pride (and some cash) as his car gets spanked by the White Zombie in the video below.

Why Do Men Get Hit By Lightning Way More Than Women?

2011-08-11T00:03:00.000-07:00

ColumnLightning strikes twice (make that four times) as many men as women.

A study by Popular Science Magazine has determined that out of everyone who is hit by lightning, 82% are men. In my house this has led to lots of merry speculation about the reasons for this lopsided statistic. My daughter thinks it’s because lightning is attracted to men, much the same way that mosquitoes are reportedly drawn to people with type O blood. Interesting though it may be, I can find no scientific evidence to support this idea.

My husband subscribes to the more Hemingway-esque theory that men get hit by lightning because they are more likely than women to be outside doing manly activities like playing golf, being lumberjacks, and participating in soccer riots. To his credit, immediately after voicing this theory, my husband retracted it, on the grounds that it made him sound like a lifetime member of the He-Man-Woman-Hater’s club. Besides being condescending to women, this suggestion ignores the fact that women also spend lots of time outdoors: playing professional soccer in nearly empty stadiums, dragging garbage cans to the curb (because someone has to do it), and walking across town when we grow weary of being groped and harassed on public transportation. It’s just that, unlike men, we are willing to interrupt these activities during life-threatening electrical storms.

Yes, it’s as simple as that: women don’t get hit by lightning because we are smart enough to go indoors during thunderstorms. The people at Popular Science agree with me on this, although they word it more delicately, saying that, “men are less likely to stop outdoor activity when stormy weather hits.” Inevitably, one has to wonder why this is so.

Golf is one of the most likely ways for men to become lightning-bait, which is not surprising, since it is a summer-time activity that strands large groups of people out in the open when they’re holding long metal sticks (also known as “lightning rods”). I live right next to a golf course and during thunderstorms a distinctive blaring horn will sound to tell the golfers to come indoors. Minutes later there is a second round of horns for the die-hard meatheads who ignore the first warning. Recently I asked a member of the club if women golfers were, in fact, more likely to heed the first warning – he laughed and said “Oh women don’t need the siren at all – they come in at the first sign of a storm.”
My theory on this is that women have learned over time to be more alert to the signs of danger. Years of sharing elevators and subway cars with sweaty predators and perverts have taught us to recognize a threat when we see it. Women do not ignore danger, maybe because the repetitive panic that accompanies peeing on sticks to see if we’re pregnant has taught us that foolish acts can have dire consequences. Finally, we simply lack the macho bravado that makes men feel like sissies if they run inside at the first sign of thunder.
I haven’t read any statistics about it, but I’ll bet that fewer women than men are killed during the Running of the Bulls in Pamploma. This is because women, by and large, have the good sense and finely honed survival instincts to spend their leisure time doing something that doesn’t involve racing around medieval European side streets while being chased by large, bloodthirsty mammals with horns. Women, in general, live longer than men, and while much of their superior longevity can be explained by a pragmatic lack of idiocy, something else seems to be at work here too. Despite our quaint and anachronistic reputation as the weaker sex, a recent study just reported that women are much less likely to die from most forms of cancer. Women also have much lower rates of heart disease and we are practically exempt from hemophilia. Some might say that we are the lucky sex. And while I would never dream of claiming we’re the smarter sex, at least we know enough to come in out of the rain.

Susan Goldberg is a slightly lapsed treehugger. Although known to overuse paper products, she has the best of intentions – and a really small SUV. Catch her column, The Goldberg Variations, each week here at EcoSalon.

the biggest child in the world have 60 kilograme weight and 3 years old

2011-08-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

Live in China this child - 3 years - which is approaching the weight of the 60 kilograms in an extended family worried about his health is still stuck in the type of food diet to be followed to lose the weight of a small child.

The child had been born a normal weight of two kilograms and was only half the weight, but began growing, excessively after that, until it became the form that it is now, and hopes his family in finding the right doctor for treatment.

3 Teens Arrested In Mandeville School Shooting Plot

2011-08-08T02:14:00.000-07:00

Lakeshore High teenagers were arrested after investigators said they planned a school shooting.

The shooting, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said, was planned to be executed on Monday, which was the first day of the school year.

All three teens are 15-year-old boys, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said they became aware of the plan on July 17, when school officials notified the sheriff’s office of the existence of a group called “Day Zero.”

Police said members of the group were all students at the Mandeville school and didn't deny involvement with the plan or its intentions.

Investigators learned the students had a detailed plan for procuring weapons and bringing them to school Monday. They intended to kill any law enforcement officials at the school who tried to stop them and then collect their weapons, according to police. One student was named as a target in materials collected by investigators.

“We should all be very thankful for the incredible partnership the Sheriff’s Office shares with Superintendent Trey Folse and the leadership within the school system. Were it not for this alert administrator, we may have faced a very tragic first day of the school year,” Sheriff Jack Strain said.

Searches of the three boys’ homes yielded computers and other evidence; analysis on the computers is ongoing.

All three have been booked into the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center with one count of conspiracy to commit terrorism. Additional charges may be forthcoming, Strain said. A bond hearing for the teenagers will be held Monday afternoon to determine if they are to remain in custody.

As a precaution, the Sheriff’s Office will station extra personnel at the school on Monday. However, deputies believe all individuals involved with the plan have been identified and are in custody.

“If a parent notices any type of suspicious activity involving their kids, we ask them to call us immediately. We take these kinds of threats very seriously and investigate them all fully,” Strain said.

awwsome hairstyle for guys

2011-08-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

All men who want to look trendy are looking for some photos of mens haircuts 2011, because they want to find the one that would be suitable for them. That is not a problem, because there are many different photos and a lot of styles to choose from. Are you one of those who are not sure which would suit you best? Simply ask your girlfriend or friends about it. They will tell you which one of top mens haircuts 2011 they like the most. They might even give you some new ideas that you will like even more.

And what do you think about mens haircuts 2011? Do you like longer or mens short hairstyles 2011? Maybe medium length? You have all possible lengths in galleries, so look for your favorite style. You will see how many different colors are fashionable this year. You won’t believe your eyes. From all shades of brown and blond, to black. And if you prefer your natural color, simply keep it. There is no need to color it if you do not want to.

We asked some women to tell us which mens haircuts 2011 they like the most and they told us that they absolutely love medium length and short ones. Most of them think that really long ones do not so hot. But there are definitely some women who find long hair on men really attractive. So you should think about what mens haircuts 2011 you like best for the summer.

Use Internet Explorer? You're Probably Dumb, Study Says

2011-08-05T23:55:00.000-07:00

People who use Internet Explorer have lower IQs than people who use other browsers like Firefox or Google Chrome, a new study finds.

AptiQuant, a Vancouver, B.C., company founded in 2006, administered 101,326 IQ tests to people who visited their website over a four-week period. Researchers hypothesized that since tech-savvy people are typically smarter, those who adopted new browsers in recent years probably had a higher IQ. They were right.

"A significant number of individuals with a low score on the cognitive test were found to be using Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) versions 6.0 to 9.0," the study found.

Visitors to AptiQuant's website arrived via search engines and ads looking to take a free IQ test. The company told them it was collecting some personal information for a study, but didn't reveal the nature of the study.

"The comparison clearly suggests that more people on the higher side of [the] IQ scale have moved away from Internet Explorer in the last five years," the study says.

AptiQuant founder Leonard Howard explained the motivation for the study in an e-mail to Seattle Weekly. "We were just trying to add some features to our website, and found IE 6.0 and 7.0 to be extremely difficult to work with," he said. "So we thought of doing this study."

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5 Sci-Fi Movie Weapons That Actually Exist

2011-08-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

Guys in the military dig the kick-ass weapons in sci-fi movies and TV shows just as much as you. The difference is, they’re actually developing them.

By Ryan Penagos

Sci-fi movie weapons like lightsabers, Proton Packs, and that wristband-zapper dealio with which Daniel Craig blasts alien spaceships in Cowboys and Aliens aren’t fetishized only by geeks who waste spend thousands of dollars on Comic-Con costumes. We’d love to have them too … even if all we’d use them for is to slice butter or annoy the neighbors.

But while we’re watching them on film or shooting invisible concussion blasts from store-bought Iron Man suits, military eggheads, aided by highly trained soldiers, are inventing futuristic sci-fi movie weapons in real life. Fusing man and machine, setting phasers on stun, the enjoyment of watching a conference room full of corporate douche bags obliterated by ED-209 — what was once movie magic is now starting to become reality.

Exosuits (as seen in Iron Man)
While the anti-tank missiles, retrothrust jets, and anti-personnel guns built into Iron Man’s Mark III suit are nowhere to be found in nonfiction exosuits, current military prototypes are providing the building blocks for future armies of iron men. Defense and aerospace company Raytheon has been working on a 150 lb. exoskeleton that would allow even a pre-serum Steve Rogers to lift objects up to 200 lbs. hundreds of times without breaking a sweat. On, and punching through 3-inch thick boards? No problem! In fact, the XOS 2 Exoskeleton was such an improvement over Raytheon’s initial prototype, Time named it one of the best inventions of 2010.

Lockheed Martin has also entered the robotic-suit race with the Human Universal Load Carrier. The 53-pound HULC (get it?) exosuit is a hydraulic-powered lower extremity that enables the wearer to carry up to 200 pounds on a backpack attached to the exoskeleton. It won’t add arm strength like the XOS 2, but it’s flexible enough to allow the user to do deep squats and crawl on the ground in combat.

Railguns (as seen in The Last Starfighter)
Railguns have been a video-game mainstay for first-person shooters since Quake in 1996, but those handheld death cannons are unrealistic; they shoot large masses of rock that can reach a zillion-mile target. You’ll have to look to The Last Starfighter’s meteor gun or Battlestar Galactica’s super-sized railgun for a peek at what the military is in the process of perfecting. Forgoing chemical propulsion for electromagnetic energy, the Navy’s electromagnetic railguns can fire projectiles more than 200 miles at a velocity seven times the speed of sound. Instead of destroying targets with explosions, the railgun obliterates them with kinetic force. The U.S. Navy made its first major breakthrough in 2008 when they successfully test fired the weapon in the video below; the plan is to have a working prototype by 2018.

Phaser (as seen in Star Trek)
Star Trek‘s phaser, a direct-energy weapon capable of stunning or completely disintegrating uncooperative space aliens, first served as an inspiration for the the Pulsed Energy Projectile. The PEP was designed to shoot a plasma pulse that either stunned or killed targets, but was abandoned after six years when scientists determined, in technical terms, that “The damned thing doesn’t work.” Still, that led to the invention of the Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response gun, or PHaSR, which was built by the Department of Defense to temporarily blind and disorient bad guys. It uses two lasers: one to distract, and one to heat up the skin and repel the assailant. Unfortunately, it sounded a lot cooler than it was; it would only work properly when the skin was completely bare. Since not many villains roam the streets nude, it was a bust.

Okay, but now scientists have figured it out! The “Phased Hyper-Acceleration for Shock, EMP, and Radiation,” or PHASER, will use super-fast lightning projectiles to stun the hell out of someone and fry the electronics on their vehicle or rocket. The technology has yet to be perfected; funding has and continues to be an issue.

Lastly, the Multimode Directed Energy Armament Systems (MDEAS) project, still in the experimental stages, will use a laser pulse that can deliver an electric shock subtle enough to stun or powerful enough to kill the target. A prototype is scheduled for release by 2012.

Cyborg Soldiers (as seen in Star Wars, Robocop, Cyborg)
We may never see cyborgs like Darth Vader and Robocop greasing their hinges at Starbucks like the Tin Man, but there has been progress fusing man with machine. The Augmented Cognition programs run by the U.S. Army and DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) aim to extend a person’s mental abilities and clarity through technology implanted in a soldier’s body. Chips installed in the brain could, in theory, allow a computer to do things like process data and calculate depth, distance, and rate of speed after analyzing information sent from the human eye.

Another DARPA project is the “Brain Interface Program,” which seeks to allow soldiers to use mind control to manipulate machines such as tanks, planes, and computers. The slightly sinister organization is also researching tech that will enable soldiers to block out intense pain and continue to fight with severe injuries and exhaustion. Essentially, they’re out to create Captain America. Not surprisingly, the Department of Defense doesn’t offer many updates on the project.

Combat Robots (as seen in Robocop, Short Circuit)
The T-800 Terminator, Johnny 5, and Optimus Prime were all capable of beating people down on the battlefield. But expect 21st century mechanical death dealers to be more like ED-209 from Robocop.

Modular Advanced Armed Robotic Systems (MAARS) are remote controlled machines that have the ability to shoot beanbags, smoke, and pepper spray to subdue unruly crowds — and that’s if they’re playing nice. Get nasty and they might unload with grenade launchers capable of unleashing 40mm high-explosive grenades or an M240B machine gun loaded with 400 rounds of 7.62mm ammo. And unlike ED-209, the MAARS is equipped with tank treads, which means it will actually be able to handle stairs.

How To Unlock A Car With A Text Message

2011-08-05T01:25:00.000-07:00

Don Bailey says he can unlock thousands of cars across the United States simply by sending a few texts from his Android phone.

And that's not even the scary part.

Bailey, a senior security consultant with iSEC Partners, said in an interview with CNN at the Black Hat security conference here at Caesars Palace that the same hack he has used to demonstrate unlocking and even starting a car via text message also could be used to attack industrial systems, the power grid and the water system.

"I could care less if I could unlock a car door," he said. "It's cool. It's sexy. But the same system is used to control phone, power, traffic systems. I think that's the real threat."

Bailey would not share details about which cars or which auto systems are vulnerable to the hack that he showed off publicly at the event.

The hack affects many kinds of devices that connect to cellular GSM networks, like the one used by AT&T. As cars and plenty of other stuff -- from pill bottles to trees, he said -- start connecting to cell grids and the Internet, Bailey said they become more vulnerable.

Certain electronic components that accept wireless signals are vulnerable to the hack, he said. Those components are in the cars Bailey said he can unlock remotely.

Again, he would not name which cars have them.

Strangely enough, Oprah Winfrey kinda-sorta inspired this research.

Bailey said he was watching an "Oprah" show about a device called the Zoombak, which the TV host said could be used by parents to track the locations of their kids.

"I heard that and thought, 'Oh dear God no. Please Oprah, no, no no!' " he said in a presentation at Black Hat. "This was my thinking: That's dangerous. That can definitely be owned. Let's own that thing."

In hacker-speak, "own" means to take control of a device.

Once he figured out how to take control of the kid-tracker, Bailey moved on to cars, which he said was more difficult but still not impossible.

"I couldn't just straight-up text message it and be like, 'Gimme yo' datas!' " he said, referring to the car parts. "So it was a little more work."

It's not all doom-and-gloom, though.

Bailey said manufacturers could purchase more expensive parts that would keep these types of hacks from being possible. He thinks industry associations should put out recommendations suggesting this approach, even though cost increases would be "highly significant."

"We have to," he said. "We have to find elegant ways to find that sweet spot between cost and security."

Black Hat is an annual gathering of hackers and security professionals in Las Vegas. Researchers hope that by showing off how to hack certain systems, the computer industry will take steps to make infrastructure and consumers safer.

The Man Who Would Stop Time

2011-08-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

Bill Andrews has spent two decades unlocking the molecular mechanisms of aging. His mission: to extend the human life span to 150 years--or die trying

Bill Andrews’s feet are so large, he tells me, that back when he was 20 he was able to break the Southern California barefoot-waterskiing distance record the first time he put skin to water. Then he got ambitious and went for the world speed record. When the towrope broke at 80 mph, he says, “they pulled me out of the water on a stretcher.”

The soles of the size-15 New Balances that today shelter those impressive feet strike a steady clap-clap on the macadam as Andrews and I lope down a path along the Truckee River that takes us away from the clutter of cut-rate casino hotels, strip malls and highway exit ramps that is downtown Reno, Nevada. Andrews, 59, is a lean 6-foot-3 and wears a close-cropped salt-and-pepper Vandyke and, for today’s outing, a silver running jacket, nicely completing a package that suggests a Right Stuff–era astronaut. He is in fact one of the better ultramarathoners in America. I am an out-of-shape former occasional runner, so it gives me pause to listen as Andrews describes his racing exploits. “I can run 100 miles, finish, turn around, and meet friends of mine on the course who are still coming in,” he says. “I’ve been in many races where I’m stepping over bodies of people who have collapsed, and I’m feeling great.”

"I want to cure my aging, my friends' and family's aging, my investors' aging, and I want to make a ton of money," Andrews says.

His return to running after a middle-aged break was, he says, inspired by a revelation he had at a time when he and a small team of scientists at his biotech start-up, Sierra Sciences, had been working 14 to 18 hours a day in the lab for five years, rather obsessively pursuing a particular breakthrough. Finally, his doctor told him he was headed for an early grave. “I thought, god, I don’t want to cure aging and then drop dead,” Andrews says.

That would indeed be ironic. Because Andrews does intend to cure aging. This stated ambition induces in some listeners the suspicion that Andrews might suffer from delusions of grandeur, but he has a scientific pedigree that insists he be taken seriously. Unlike his friend Aubrey de Grey, the University of Cambridge longevity theorist who relentlessly generates media attention with speculations that straddle the border between science and science fiction, Andrews is an actual research scientist, a top-drawer molecular biologist.

In the 1990s, as the director of molecular biology at the Bay Area biotech firm Geron, Andrews helped lead a team of researchers that, in alliance with a lab at the University of Colorado, just barely beat out the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a furious, near-decade-long race to identify the human telomerase gene. That this basic science took on the trappings of a frenzied Great Race is a testament to the biological preciousness of telomerase, an enzyme that maintains the ends of our cells’ chromosomes, called telomeres. Telomeres get shorter each time a cell divides, and when they get too short the cell can no longer make fresh copies of itself. If we live long enough, the tissues and organ systems that depend on continued cell replication begin to falter: The skin sags, the internal organs grow slack, the immune-system response weakens such that the next chest cold could be our last. But what if we could induce our bodies to express more telomerase? We’ll see, because that is what Andrews intends to do.

Andrews had scheduled this afternoon’s run as an 18-miler, but he graciously downscaled those ambitions on my behalf long before we set out from the parking lot of the Grand Sierra Resort Hotel. Four miles in, he’s hardly winded—and I’m out of gas. As we make our way back to his car, he consults his training watch and informs me that our pace was an almost respectable 8:40, excepting the latter stretches when I walked, pushing our average up to 10 minutes a mile.

The embrace of fitness has for Andrews a telomeric logic. Make poor lifestyle choices, and you’re likely to die of heart disease or cancer or something well before your telomeres would otherwise become life-threateningly short. But for the aerobicized Andrews, for anyone who takes reasonable care of himself, a drug that activates telomerase might slow down the baseline rate at which the body falls apart. Andrews likens the underlying causes of aging, free radicals and the rest, to sticks of dynamite, with truncated telomeres being the stick with the shortest fuse. “I believe there’s a really good chance that if we defuse that stick,” he says, “and the person doesn’t smoke and doesn’t get obese, it wouldn’t be surprising if they lived to be 150 years old. That means they’re going to have 50 more years to be around when somebody solves the other aging problems.”

But in his race to cure aging, Andrews may himself be running out of time. The stock-market crash of 2008 nearly wiped out two investors who had until then been his primary funders. Without the money to continue refining the nearly 40 telomerase-activating chemicals he and his team had already discovered, Andrews made the decision last September to cut a deal with John W. Anderson, the founder of Isagenix, an Arizona-based “network marketing” supplement company. This month, Isagenix will launch an anti-aging product containing several natural compounds that Sierra Sciences has verified to have “telomere-supporting” properties. It’s not the powerful drug Andrews originally envisioned, but he says he believes it will promote “health and well-being” and just possibly generate enough cash to underwrite the expensive “medicinal chemistry” required to come up with a more fully developed anti-aging compound—one attractive enough to bring in a billionaire or a Big Pharma partner with pockets deep enough to take a drug candidate through the FDA’s time-consuming and fabulously expensive approval process.

“I want to cure my aging,” Andrews tells me, “my friends’ and family’s aging, my investors’ aging, their friends’ and families’ aging, and make a ton of money. And I want to cure everybody else’s aging too—I put that probably equal to making a ton of money."

Advances in 3-D Computer Imaging: Can You Spot the Humans?

2011-08-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Japan was shocked when the newest singer of girl band AKB48 turned out to be fake.

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She was a computer-generated model from the facial features of the six other AKB48 members.

We found a bunch of 3-D designers who create "fake people" for video games, movies, and fun.

Their animations are so good, you won't be able to separate computer-generated people from actual humans.

None of the designs were derived from photographs either. We're not talking about Photoshop either. We're talking about 3-D models molded from scratch by designers.

Designers have gotten so good at replicating objects, it's hard to distinguish what's real and what's

Best Of: Stupid Facebook Conversations

2011-07-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

20 Things Guys Shouldn’t Ever Do To Girls

2011-07-29T03:59:00.001-07:00

One-Armed Man Arrested for Clapping

2011-07-28T03:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it’s tricky determining whether someone is innocent or guilty, but other times it's just plain obvious. Especially when it involves clapping and missing an arm: it's rather difficult to applaud when you only have one hand to do it with.

That didn’t stop Belarus police from arresting a one-armed man for clapping during a protest. Konstantin Kaplin, an unemployed man from Grodno, was fined $200 for the offense. Kaplin said he was watching the demonstration and trying to film it when he was grabbed by police.

According to Kaplin the judge looked ashamed of herself when she levied the fine. Fining innocent single-limbed people for the most harmless crime imaginable was probably not what she went to law school for.

Seven months ago Belarus police also accused a deaf and mute man for shouting anti-government slogans. Arguably they might just be doing it for the lol of it.

If the man really did clap though, the police should be applauding instead of arresting him.

Harry Potter As A Teen Comedy

2011-07-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

How to park your car like a boss

2011-07-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of the most spectacular parking jobs you'll ever see. Great way to avoid the valet, but now he's going to have to walk all the way across the parking lo

Odd Animal Friendships That Make You Wanna Say “Aww”

2011-07-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

Google+ Has Made Twitter Boring — Here's What Twitter Should Do About It

2011-07-19T05:04:00.000-07:00

For the past few days I’ve been hanging out in Jackson Hole with a bunch of geeks and one thing I’ve noticed over and over is how boring Twitter has gotten when compared to Google+.

Why has Twitter turned boring?

I’ve found several areas:

1. First experience.
2. Pictures and videos.
3. Control over content distribution.
4. No API, no auto pushing of content.
5. Signals are visible from who you excited and pissed off.
6. Auto flowing webpage.

So, let’s take each of these areas on, and talk about what Twitter could do to make users excited again.

FIRST EXPERIENCE

Forget everything you know about social networks. Now, visit my Twitter account. Then visit my Google Plus account.

Which one draws you in more? Which one shows engagement? Which one has a better about page? Which one shows passion, excitement, that something is happening? In all cases, Google+ is blowing away Twitter and it’s not even close.

So, what can Twitter do?

1. Buy Twylah. Look at my landing page there, it’s MUCH better than what’s on Twitter. Then, Twitter should add some stats on each twitterer. Stuff like “how many retweets has she gotten today?” or “how many @ replies does this user answer?” That would make Twitter more engaging and interesting.

2. Completely revamp the list idea in Twitter. If you follow one of my lists, which I’ve spent hundreds of hours on, they DON’T DO S**T ON YOUR ACCOUNT! This is so lame that in, alone, will get me to pour more time into Google+. But, what should they do? First, if you follow a list all those people’s tweets should be added to your home feed. Second, if you follow a list you should be able to send your Tweets to people on just that list. Third, if you follow a list, you should be able to send private messages to those people. Fourth, the people on the list should be able to tell the list itself whether that was OK or not.

3. Get rid of the freaking spam on search and give us amplification abilities and noise controls. Many new users will come because a blogger or someone will say “hey, we’re talking about the new iPad on Twitter.” Have you ever looked at a search for the word iPad? It’s full of crap and spam. There’s no way to say “only show me items written by people with a Klout score of more than 30 (which would get rid of the spam) or there’s no way for me to say “show me only items that say “Apple iPad” and that have a positive sentiment.” If there were, many new users would see the value in Twitter, especially around news and location. Instead, every search I’ve done lately is full of spam. Boring!

PICTURES AND VIDEOS

Google+ has beautiful photos and videos. Twitter? Just page after page of mind-numbing 140 character items. Now, Flipboard demonstrated to all of us that photos and videos CAN be added into the display, and the new Twitter UI does do some of that, but it just isn’t enough. Google+ is blowing Twitter away here.

So, what could Twitter do? Totally rethink the clients it owns, and rethink the stream itself. Let us add photos and videos into each tweet and, even, let us do that outside of the 140 character limit, which would let Twitter continue to blow away Google+ on where it is strong: which is on mobile.

CONTROL OVER CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

Google+ lets me publish a post to JUST A SINGLE PERSON +or+ to a small group of people, or, even, to a circle that has 5,000 members in it. Twitter has no such way to do this.

Why does this make Twitter boring? Well, because, my friends can feel safe sharing, um, “racier” posts with me on Google+ where on Twitter they either need to DM me, which isn’t as good as a group (my other friends can’t say “great photo” for instance) and isn’t nearly as nice.

What can Twitter do? Revamp lists. But Twitter’s management thinks lists suck, so I don’t see Twitter getting this feature anytime soon and that’s really too bad. It’s what will really put Twitter into a box and soon, you’ll see, how this affects search and all sorts of news. This is Twitter’s weakest point, and it will become more and more apparent that Twitter has blown a real opportunity here to make its system more interesting.

NO AUTO-PUSHING OF CONTENT ON GOOGLE+

I look at Twitter and a lot of it has turned into a boring RSS feed. I get items from news organizations, and even people now are using it to automatically Tweet (there are even systems that will send out tweets automatically at specific times). I don’t know who really posted these items, and I don’t get answers back from these people a lot of times because, well, they aren’t even online. Not true over on Google+. At least not yet.

This is one area where I’m not sure how Twitter can help, but Google has chat and “hangout” videoconferencing features, which help me see whether someone is really online and available (even Michael Dell has done a few hangouts and those really get people excited). So, I would add some interactive features into Twitter where the sender MUST be online and there to answer them.

THE POSTS AUTOFLOW

If I open a web browser and put Twitter and Google+ side-by-side, one automatically shows me new stuff, one doesn’t. That makes Twitter look old and crappy. Yes, if you use newer Twitter clients you can get tweets to autoflow, but I’d rather have the web page do this like Google+ does.

Anyway, there are other things, as well. On Google+ the Notification page shows you anytime you get engagement. Twitter has nothing like that. It’s amazing how cool that is.

Are you finding the same thing? So far I’ve been asking the geeks I’m hanging out with here in Jackson Hole and they really are seeing these differences and wonder how Twitter will react to them.

Me too. So, Twitter, what you gonna do to keep from being seen as the most unexciting social network?

UPDATE: Here’s a post about this over on Google Plus so you can see the kind of engagement that I’m getting there.

Anonymous To Build Its Own Social Network Called AnonPlus

2011-07-19T04:45:00.001-07:00

Hacker collective Anonymous is preparing to launch its own social network called AnonPlus. The move comes after Google banned Anonymous’s Google+ account called “Your Anon News” due to a violation of its community standards.

Details about the project are scarce. Currently, AnonPlus.com is merely a splash page, containing a message that explains the group’s motives behind the project. “Welcome to the Revolution,” it says, “a new social network where there is no fear…of censorship…of blackout…nor of holding back”.

Another message on the site explains that the project is for “all people not just anonymous,” adding that the actual site will go up soon but it will not happen overnight.

A link to the developer forum, where a possible user interface and design ideas are discussed, shows that the project is indeed in a very early stage.

A somewhat similar project, Diaspora, aimed to create an open-source social network as an answer to Facebook. After launching in late 2010, however, there has been no significant news about the project

My $1.70 anti-theft IPhone case

2011-07-17T02:10:00.000-07:00