::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Sci-tech

Let Kids Play God
This biosphere from Discovery can supposedly teach kids important things about nature and the environment and all that, but isn't it more important that this biosphere allows children to play god with an assortment of insects living inside the biosphere. Making it rain, controlling the temperature and humidity, poking and prodding with tweezers are all things your overseeing child can do. Forty dollars is a small price to pay to give your kid a god-complex, just like mommy and daddy.

Robo-Camel Jockeys of Qatar
In the far-off land of Qatar camel racing is all of the rage, but unlike similar horse racing in the states, the camel owners will do anything they can to lighten the load, including using children as young as 5 as jockeys. More than a decade later somebody decided that using children as jockeys just isn't right and designed a robot to replace the kids. Enter the Robo-Jockey. This robot has been in the works for a few years, but it has been somewhat finalised. Previous Robo-Jockeys fell off the camel and also melted. This robot will sit atop the camel and whip at different speeds and pressures all while weighing less than seven pounds and less than one foot tall. It even includes a speaker so verbal commands can be given to the camels.

Wolverine ESP's 160GB PMP Holds Most Media in the World
We've taken a glance at Wolverine ESP Multimedia players before, but none have had the ability to store 160GB of data on an internal hard drive, the largest amount of storage space available on a portable player. With its 7-in-1 flash memory card reader, it's a great dumping ground for your digital photos when you're in the field, backing up those cards so you can wipe them clean for another round of shooting. Meanwhile, that 160GB of storage space on its internal hard drive gives you a fast cornfield onto which you can load lots of video.

The Double-sided Keyboard
The same guys that brought us the UMPC pouch/keyboard are now bringing us a double-sided keyboard that includes your standard QWERTY keys on one side and a full deck of media controls on the other. The cloth has sensors built in so that when you're typing on one side, it doesn't activate the buttons on the other. The item works quite flawlessly and the concept is cool, but I think having to flip back and forth after awhile would get, well, tedious. No plans for sale just yet as the keyboard is still in prototype.

Seeing is believing
It's hard to believe, but you're looking at computer-generated image of Korean actress Song Hye Kyo, created by Indonesian CG artist Max Edwin Wahyudi. To create this stunning shot, he used a combination of digital sculpting and design application Pixelogic Zbrush and animation modeling software Autodesk 3DS Max. Now that's one remarkable piece of artwork - showing that the holy grail has been reached: computer-generated imagery of the human face that's indistinguishable from reality.

Dell Prepping a Mobile Phone?
First it was a handheld gaming console. Now, rumour has it that Dell is working on a mobile cell phone, an "iPhone" of their own so to speak. The folks at Mobile Mentalism think that's the case ever since Dell poached Motorola's head of handsets, Ron Garriques. Garriques will be heading a newly formed unit at Dell. What that unit will do, is still in question. Personally, I think it's wishful thinking and until I see some "leaked" (i.e. blurry) shots of a Dell mobile, I'm going to have to say it's all a coincidence.

R2D2 Trash Can Gladly Accepts Your Garbage
R2D2 sold out. Not only was his name and likeness used in a projector and a Pepsi dispenser, but now he's selling himself as a garbage can. For shame. The lid opens by stomping on his middle foot thing, where the secrets of the cosmos await. The can stands at 24 inches tall and is only available in Japan, meaning you'll have to pay all sort of import duties if you really want it.

Compiled by IMRAN H. KHAN

Source: Gizmodo Online.