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Yeah, you read that title correctly: we now have firefighting humanoid robots.

This summer, the United States Navy will send a team of firefighting robots to extinguish a retired Navy ship that they plan on setting ablaze. Sounding like something straight out of Terminator or I, Robot, the Navy’s newest members are built with the capability to do an array of humanlike actions, including the ability to hold and use firehoses.

In a very badass description released on the Naval Research Laboratory’s website back in 2012, the robots were described as such:

“The robot is designed with enhanced multi-modal sensor technology for advanced navigation and a sensor suite that includes a camera, gas sensor, and stereo IR camera to enable it to see through smoke. Its upper body will be capable of manipulating fire suppressors and throwing propelled extinguishing agent technology (PEAT) grenades. It is battery powered that holds enough energy for 30 minutes of firefighting. Like a sure-footed sailor, the robot will also be capable of walking in all directions, balancing in sea conditions, and traversing obstacles.”

Via U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)

Now before you immediately scream “Skynet!”, note that the robots are not completely autonomous. For the most part, the bots are only able to recognize and distinguish fire from other objects in their field of view. During the test, which will commence on the U.S.S. Shadwell in August, all of the robots’ actions will be controlled via voice and gestural commands from nearby sailors.

However, with goals of eliminating the need for sailors to fight fires, which is extremely dangerous, the bots have been built with autonomy in mind. Depending on the results of the field test, future models could very well be endowed with more advanced abilities and tasks. For now, largest challenge will be overcoming the bots’ misinterpretation of commands, because the longer it takes for a robot to act, the longer a fire will burn without being put out.

However, if the field test goes really well, in a few years we could even see bots on the battlefield.

And no, the robots will not be fighting; as of now, the Department of Defense does not approve of autonomous robots with weapons (you can now exhale). Instead, they will aid soldiers medically or by scouting out environments that prove too hazardous to send humans to do the job.

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At one point or another, we’ve all envisioned what it would be like to fly like Superman. Cruising between buildings, barreling through clouds; there is no doubt that Superman’s gift of flight is simply awesome. Sadly, we are human, and do not possess any skills of the supernatural. Though technology might allow for us to fly like Superman in the future, that day doesn’t exist just yet.

Until then, however, we do have this awesome video to tie us over.

Created with not much more than a GoPro and a quadcopter (and some expert editing skills), this video takes you on a point-of-view tour of a day in the life of Superman, and it consists of everything you might expect: burning buildings, maidens in distress, even astounded citizens wielding Facebook-ready camera phones!

Check out the video and live a little (vicariously, of course).

Interested in how the video was made? The creators have also released this gem that explains everything.

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Rovio, the masterminds behind the insanely popular smartphone classic, Angry Birds, have given us a glimpse into their newest installment in the works: Angry Birds Epic.

Now, before you jump to the conclusion that this latest development will simply be another expansion upon the old yet unfailing formula of chucking poultry at porcine enemies, understand that Angry Birds Epic will be quite the opposite.

Rovio, making a radical shift in the paradigm for the franchise, has chosen to give Angry Birds the RPG treatment. Though set for a soft launch on the iTunes Store for iOS devices in Canada and Australia in the coming week, most details on Angry Birds Epic are still vague; however, we do know that the game will depart from its usual destructive, physics-based gameplay for all the things that make a classic RPG.

With a turn-based combat system, you will be able to pit your “flock” of avian heroes against a range of those familiar little green enemies. Level up and outfit your birds with various armor, weapons, and miscellaneous items, all of which can be crafted from in-game resources that you have collected or with real-world currency via the game’s thorough crafting system.

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In addition, the game is said to feature a leveling system and a “story-driven campaign with a challenging endgame,” according to Kotaku.

One more thing: it will be free! In a brief description of the game, Rovio explains Epic as “a bird-tastic FREE RPG adventure filled with “weapons” (whatever they could get ahold of), magic, bad guys and silly hats! Lead your feathery team into battle now – it’s going to be EPIC!”

After the soft launch you can expect to see Angry Birds Epic on the App Store and every one of your friends iPhones following the worldwide release later in 2014.

If the hilarity of this release doesn’t speak for itself, you can check out Rovio’s teaser below to get a better idea.

Featured image via Rovio
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Are you a hopeful vigilante? An enthusiast of exotic and extremely limited cars? Want to give the superhero career path a shot, but set your foundation on material goods and looking cool, rather than morals or character? Then this street-legal Batmobile replica could have your name on it, so long as you can afford the price tag of $1 million.

Recently listed on James Edition, an online marketplace for aficionados of the insanely expensive, this edition of Batman’s Tumbler from the Dark Knight trilogy is, mechanically, a solid attempt at Bruce Wayne’s vehicle.

james-edition
via JamesEdition.com

According to the listing, the Tumbler has a “custom-built frame, chassis, and drive line,” and is equipped with a 5.7 liter, 8-cylinder Chevrolet LS1 engine under the hood that is capable of cranking out an estimated 310 horsepower. The rear end has four 44-inch “super swamper tires with custom rims” so you can go mudding as well as cruising through your own life’s rendition of Gotham (if you’re into the whole mudding thing).

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via BonjourLife.com

Sadly, the transmission only comes in automatic, possibly so the driver has an extra hand to fiddle with all of the buttons that set off the Tumbler’s most badass features. No, I’m not talking missiles and machine guns – this Batmobile has been stripped of those excesses. Instead, the custom interior is decked out with a much cooler global GPS, a DVD/CD player, and built-in iPod integration.

Since there aren’t many windows in the Tumbler, there are “five driver-assist cameras” that can do all the work of looking for pedestrians and telephone poles, so you don’t have to.

This “insane vehicle” has been built to be street legal, but the listing warns to “please understand that this is not a daily driver.” Looks like you’ll have to keep your escapades to the weekends. Check out the full gallery below.

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via BonjourLife.com
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via BonjourLife.com
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via BonjourLife.com
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via BonjourLife.com
Featured image via BonjourLife.com
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HBO just loves to tease us. They have released a number of trailers for the upcoming season so far, and every one is a momentary feast for the eyes; a slice of a filet mignon that tastes incredible, but does not fulfill our hunger. The latest trailer, “Secrets”, is no different, and it seems that its only purpose is to cause us to fall even harder in love with Daenerys (a concept I didn’t think was possible), who is shown with new clips of her dragons and her conquest across the east.

Check it out below, but be warned: once that minute and thirty-two seconds of bliss comes to an end, your longing for Season 4 will be that much greater.

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Meet LIVR, a new social media app that is specifically designed with people who love to get drunk in mind.

Before saying, “Oh boy, another social media universe to be apart of so it can eat my free hours away,” let me explain just how much you will love this app by the end of the year.

First off, LIVR doesn’t so much eat your free hours away as it does make them more fun, by involving alcohol. The app’s premise is that people love to share their wild drunken nights on Facebook both as they are occurring, and they love to be able to look back on them later to reminisce with their friends. What people don’t love is that often times their mother and their boss are able to see these nights as well by default, unless the poster is a functioning-drunk who is able to figure out Facebook’s and other services’ enigmatic privacy settings in their stupor.

LIVR seeks to offer users a safe domain where they can “live life honestly and have a great time doing it.” You see, the network is only accessible when you are drunk, because you have to blow a .08 or higher into a breathalyzer attachment for your smartphone to be able to use the app.

Once deemed “drunk”, LIVR offers a variety of services that serve to make your night one of those wild nights where you somehow ended up going to a club with a middle-aged Australian rugby team.

There are four main services from the main menu that can help you get there.

First, there is the truth or dare function. Essentially, this gives you access to a crowdsourced bank of the best truth and dare questions that you and your friends never thought of.

Know you want to get drunk, but don’t know where you want to get drunk? LIVR’s Hotspot feature will show you a map with a range of realtime drinking data of each location, such as who is drinking, how many people are drinking, and how drunk they are, which is all gathered via the simple act of others accessing the app with the breathalyzer.

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Want to meet that Australian rugby team? Drunk Dial allows you to randomly call another LIVR user near your location so you can have a passionate drunken conversation, become best friends, and meet up with them later.

The short of it is that LIVR has the potential to turn any ordinary night into a night that you will either remember for years or not remember at all. Best of all, if you happen to be ashamed of any sharing you might have done in the moment, there is the Blackout button, which will erase all of your activity from the previous night should you happen to wake up in a less-than-familiar place cradling your brain, who is likely very angry at you.

Check out LIVR’s video below, and keep an eye out for it on the App Store in the coming months.

LIVR App from LIVR on Vimeo.

Featured image via Vimeo.com
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Very rarely do I genuinely love a commercial. Even more rarely do I love both a commercial and the product being advertised. Oscar Meyer has managed to make right now one of those even-more-rare-than-very-rare moments with the advent of their new bacon alarm clock.

Yes. Their new bacon alarm clock.

Developed by the Oscar Meyer Institute for the Advancement of Bacon (OMIFAB) – yes, they even have an acronym – the alarm clock, titled Wake Up & Smell The Bacon, is a “multi-sensory alarm experience” that will revolutionize your lifelong opinions about the morning.

The alarm experience consists of a small odor-emitting device that releases the smell of bacon at certain times via the free Oscar Meyer Wake Up & Smell The Bacon iPhone app, which is available now on the App Store. All you have to do is plug the device into the headphone jack of your iPhone and set the time you want to wake up to the sizzle and smell of Oscar Meyer bacon.

Unfortunately to my own and several billion other’s dismay, the device is not being sold in stores and is only available in limited quantities. However, we can still live vicarious Oscar Meyer mornings with the commercial below and the uni-sensory iPhone App.

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Candy Crush, every New Yorker’s favorite mobile game to play during their commute, made a brief cameo in the most recent episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “Tactical Village”.

Well, not really Candy Crush. – though, the game Gina is playing on her phone is basically the same thing. “Kwazy Cupcakes”, which is pretty much Candy Crush (but with colored cupcakes instead of candy), is shown when Holt reprimands Gina for playing the game rather than working.

It is the same sad song that us Candy Crush addicts have all experienced before. Just as you are about to finish that level (oh, you know that level), your boss sneaks up from beyond your peripheries of vision and sends you bashfully back to work, with candies in your pocket, just waiting to be crushed.

Gina’s shamelessness should serve as inspiration for all: check out the video below, and take notes from that incredible look of “IDGAF” that she flashes Holt during the short moment that she looks up from her phone.

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Many people missed out on the hair-pulling, headache-inducing “fun” that Flappy Bird, the game that everybody loved to hate, graced us with before its withdrawal from the App Store. As we are all very aware of, Flappy Bird clones, spin-offs, and God-knows-what have inundated the App Store since then. However, for one Flappy Bird fanatic – Fawn Qiu – these falsities weren’t enough to quench her thirst for that overwhelming sense of frustration that she felt upon playing Flappy Bird for the first time. And the second time. And just about every time thereafter.

So, Ms. Qiu took it upon herself to develop a Flappy Bird substitute that she thought might be up to the task of annoying the shit out of everybody that played it, and created a real-life version of Flappy Bird: Flappy-Bird-In-A-Box.

Her creation was a submission at Tribeca Hacks, an “international series of intensive workshops that brings together content creators and technology specialists to increase understanding and broaden participation in the field of interactive storytelling.” If that euphemistic description doesn’t clarify much, you can see from the video that she basically made it to drive her colleagues insane.

However, it goes without saying that the Game Over chime is a nice touch.

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Sex is great. Condoms, on the other hand, aren’t so great (I’m talking pleasure-wise). Since the invention of the contraceptive, the condom has more or less been the same, sensory-numbing device that makes sex much worse than it can be. However, times-are-a-changing, and with that comes the latest (or first serious) venture in the world of the high-tech, twenty-first century condom you can use to electrify your sex life. Say hello to the “Electric Eel”.

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Image via motherboard.vice.com

I know, it looks terrifying – but this electrode-riddled condom actually has real science behind it, and isn’t some contemporary torture device. Here’s why:

About a year ago, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its quest to aid in the development of the condom of the future; essentially, a condom that doesn’t restrict any pleasure during sex. The hope is that a condom will be developed that people actually enjoy using, so that protected sex will occur more frequently.

The Electric Eel is the result. Developed by Firaz Peer and Andrew Quitmeyer, two PhD students from Georgia Tech, the idea is that slight electrical impulses sent from electrodes woven into the condom will intensify sexual stimulation. Various prototypes of the Electric Eel have been tested so far, with positive results. The picture above shows the first model, with the electrodes simply woven into a regular condom; however, a second prototype takes the form of less-disposable sleeve. It is explained that the sleeve, which is made out of a cloth-like material, can be hooked up to a controller that has the ability to change the electrical output in real-time to account for stimuli, such as how quickly the couple is breathing. Here is a picture of it wrapped around a cucumber:

Image via Independent.co.uk
Image via Independent.co.uk

At the moment, Peer and Quitmeyer are funding the open-source, digital condom through the popular crowd-sourcing platform Indiegogo, though funds at the moment remain minimal.

The Electric Eel’s looks may deter more than a few users; however, it is still another step toward the fabled “enjoyable condom” that undeniably occupies our dreams each night and hopefully will, someday, electrify your sex life. Check out the developers’ promotional video below for more images and information.

Check out more strange ways technology is used in sex here.

Featured image via Geek.com