utah

High-speed cam catches cool 3D shots of snowflakes

Now that winter has passed, those of us who live in cold climes can once again appreciate the beauty of snowflakes without feeling the urge to curse them for making us dig out the shovel. And if ever snowflakes looked lovely, it's in these images shot by a high-speed camera system developed specifically to photograph them in 3D as they fell.

"Until our device, there was no good instrument for automatically photographing the shapes and sizes of snowflakes in free fall," says Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah and one of the developers of the cam known as MASC, or Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera. "We are photographing these snowflakes completely untouched by any device, as they exist naturally in the air."

MASC -- under development for three years -- takes 9- to 37-micron-resolution stereographic photographs of snowflakes from three angles while simultaneously measuring the speed of their fall, a highly influential factor in the location and lifetime of a storm. … Read more

Skin-stretching game controller pitched for next Xbox

An experimental game controller that pulls and stretches the skin of your thumbs has been pitched to Microsoft and other console makers, according to the BBC.

We've spent years prodding and poking at game controllers, but now it looks like they're finally fighting back. The painful-sounding peripheral has been crafted by engineers from the University of Utah, and features two red "tactors" that sit under your thumbs, and feel like the prickly cursor controllers you find in the middle of some laptops.

Those contact buds will jerk and move around underneath your thumbs, stretching your skin to mimic onscreen action.

Read more of "Skin-stretching game controller pitched for next Xbox" at Crave UK. … Read more

Here's why Obama is visiting Intel

On Wednesday, President Obama is due to visit an Intel plant in Arizona. Here's why.

Obama aims to highlight manufacturing in America--one of the State of the Union's themes--and it's hard to find a better example of that than the world's leading chipmaker. Intel is now one of America's foremost manufacturers, boasting some of the most sophisticated manufacturing facilities in the world, many of them sprinkled throughout the U.S.

Its development fabs (fabrication plants) in Oregon are the most cutting-edge of its leading-edge factories and have already received one presidential visit, in February … Read more

The 404 944: Where Skyrim? We hardly know him! (podcast)

We predicted that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 release would cause some trouble, but there's three stories in particular we report today that put a dent in Jeff's argument that video games don't cause violence in real life.

If you're looking for a way to distract your kids while you play said games, though, Toys 'R Us is offering an Android tablet made just for kids that can browse the Web, read e-books aloud, among other time-wasters. It can even play 1080p HD video using a dual-core processor and a build-in Wi-Fi antenna.

Other stories leaked from today's podcast episode include Ashton Kutcher finally taking a step back from Twitter, the strange celebrity photos from the SKYRIM launch party, and the start of super-inflated hard drive prices as a result of the floods in Thailand.… Read more

Buy a 2012 Mustang Boss 302, get a professional driving lesson for free

Customers who purchase a 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 will be able to push the limits of the performance vehicle at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

Ford on Thursday announced "Boss Track Attack" days, a program to provide comprehensive hands-on track experience for Boss 302 owners.

The program will be offered by Team Mustang and Ford Racing instructors at the Ford Racing High Performance Driving School at the high desert track.

The street-legal 2012 Boss 302 was announced last summer as a performance vehicle, but drivers may not get a chance to really test the limits … Read more

The guns of D-Day remain powerful

OMAHA BEACH, France--When you study the liberation of France in school, you get a basic primer in D-Day history. You hear about the famous beaches: Omaha and Utah. But you don't learn much more.

As part of Road Trip 2011, I had a chance to come to Normandy this week and visit some of the most important sites of the Allied invasion of 1944 that freed the French people and helped lead eventually to the defeat of the German army.

What I didn't know prior to coming here was just how many important sites there were--and how many … Read more

Utah uses Twitter to announce execution

This might incite an emotion or two. So I'll keep it simple. Or at least try.

The state of Utah believes it is an appropriate punishment for a convicted murderer to be executed. And Mark Shurtleff, Utah's attorney general, believes it is appropriate to announce the murderer's execution on Twitter.

At Twitter.com/MarkShurtleff, he offered his more than 7,000 followers tweets as to the progress of the state's most recent execution.

Thursday he tweeted: "A solemn day. Barring a stay by Sup Ct, & with my final nod, Utah will use most extreme … Read more

Google Maps walking-suit attorney: It was dark

It was a cold, dark night. Well, actually, it was a cold, dark morning.

This, it seems, will form a part of the claim that Lauren Rosenberg is offering against a the driver of a car that hit her while she walked along a highway and Google, whose walking directions she was following.

Should you not yet have cast your minds toward offering a verdict in this lovely case, Rosenberg is claiming that Google's walking directions should have been rather better than to send her along a highway that had no path--and that she is thus entitled to at … Read more

Subaru shines on the ice track

Subaru put automotive journalists behind the wheel of the company's latest WRX, WRX STI, and Impreza models at the Subaru Ice Driving Event in Park City, Utah.

The high-altitude event was to highlight Subaru's all-wheel drive on a half-mile track. Subaru's latest models offer rally-style handling in the most extreme road conditions, including the combination of ice, snow, and gravel.

Army shows more than one way to look under a car

Manning security checkpoints is hazardous duty, but vehicles still must be checked. So the U.S. Army is helping develop products that will allow soldiers to do their job, preferably from a distance.

Researchers and scientists at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (aka TARDEC) have focused on semi-autonomous robotic systems capable of remotely inspecting a vehicle's undercarriage for explosives or roam the line looking for suspicious activity.

TARDEC will showcase a couple of its favorite autonomous robotic systems this week at the Michigan Security Network Market Leadership Conference. Both units were developed for … Read more