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Showing posts with the label Australia

Life-size Angry Birds comes with giant slingshot, more realistic explosive death (video)

Angry Birds was designed to be played on a device that fits in your pocket, so playing the game projected on a wall doesn't exactly feel natural. Throw a life-size slingshot into the mix, though, and things really get zany. The slingshot was on hand at the University of Queensland (Australia) last night, and had apparently been "months in the making." Details are scant, so we're not sure exactly how the slingshot communicates with the game, but however it works, it appears able to do its thing fairly well -- with only a brief delay after release. This slingshot appearance may be a one-time deal, so if you want to try flicking the bird on the big screen, Angry Birds for Chrome (and a mouse) may be your best option for now. Nowhere Else University of Queensland

Robot Ruby solves Rubik's Cube in 10.69 seconds, still can't beat humans (video)

There are a few robots smart enough to solve a Rubik's Cube in seconds flat, but a group of students at Swinburne University of Technology think theirs may be the fastest on Earth. Their bot, named Ruby, recently mastered the puzzle in just 10.69 seconds, including the time spent analyzing the cube. To achieve this feat, the device scanned the toy with a webcam before its software processed the images to crank out a solution. According to the university, Ruby's 10-second mark smashes the current world robot record of 18.2 seconds, unofficially making it the fastest cube-solving machine on the planet. But Ruby still has a long way to go before it catches Feliks Zemdegs -- a 16-year-old Australian who solved a Rubik's Cube in 6.24 seconds and continues to carry the torch for all of humanity. Twist and turn your way past the break for the full PR and a video of Ruby in action, as well as a clip of Zemdegs showing us how the pros do it.

Dell XPS 15z available in Australia and Asia, fits Sandy Bridge in under an inch of thickness

The XPS 15z, true to Michael Dell's word, is now with us. Provided "now" is May the 24th in whatever part of the world you happen to live in. Laptop shoppers in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan -- a group of nations already enjoying the glories of Tuesday -- can now buy the 0.97 inches-thick 15z for prices starting at just under A$1,400. That buys you a Core i5-2410M from Intel (2.3GHz default speed, 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost), a generous 6GB of DDR3 RAM, backlit keyboard, GeForce GT 525M graphics with 2GB of dedicated memory, a 750GB hard drive, and a 64WHr battery. The screen spans 15.6 inches diagonally and offers 1920 x 1080 resolution. Stepping up to A$1,700 gets you a Core i7-2620M (2.7GHz default, 3.4GHz TB) and 8GB of RAM. Juicy specs, we must admit. Now when's midnight coming?   Dell (Australia) ,  (Malaysia) ,  (Hong Kong) ,  (Taiwan) ,  (Japan)

Australia trialing new emergency finder system with centimeter accuracy

This year has seen the evil doings of many powerful natural disasters around the world, and while the capable organisations are doing their best to provide relief, many lives could've been saved if the stranded victims were able to provide their precise positions for quicker rescue. Having seen the number of recent floods and cyclones in Queensland, Australia, Ergon Energy started trialing a new emergency tracking system earlier this year, which utilises pole-mounted mobile GPS stations to pinpoint cellphones equipped with special but cheap location-based chips -- Samsung and Nokia are said to be participants in this project. Over the next 12 to 18 months, said energy firm will be deploying 1,000 of these stations to cover 95 percent of the state, in order to let emergency services track down calling victims within centimeters -- that's a huge leap from conventional GPS devices' 10 to 20 meters, though an updated land database with matching accuracy is still required befor