(Credit:
OhGizmo)
Oliver North found out the hard way that erasing e-mail doesn't mean it's gone forever. And in more than two decades since, countless others have shown that they still hadn't learned that lesson.
But there is one foolproof way of confounding even the best IT sleuths: the "Hard Disk Crusher."
This no-nonsense machine from EDR Solutions does exactly what its name says, destroying a hard disk in as little as 10 seconds. "It basically 'drills' through the hard drive's spindles which physically creates ripples in the platters making it impossible to recover any data," OhGizmo says.
The Crusher can even work with an emergency hand pump in case your building is surrounded by enemy forces who have cut off the power. The only problem--and it's a big one--is its $11,500 price tag. For that kind of money, a few medium-range explosives would seem more cost-effective.
(Credit:
Carnegie Mellon University)
Carnegie Mellon University will upgrade its 6.5-ton robot mobile, the "Crusher," by adding advanced suspension and hybrid-electric innards as part of a $14.4 million Army grant meant to push the envelope for unmanned ground vehicles.
The project, a result of more than two decades of robotics research by the university's National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), will demonstrate how advanced vehicle and navigation technology can solve transportation challenges like those encountered by supply convoys in Iraq, according to the university (PDF).
Onboard sensors and a program called PerceptOR allow the vehicle to perceive and autonomously navigate in complex, off-road environments by fusing geometric and color sensors, GPS, odometry, and other data. It can also integrate a UAV, or "Flying Eye," that floats ahead of ground vehicles "to detect holes and other hazards."
"We're delighted that NREC will play a key role in showing how advanced autonomous vehicles work in Future Combat Systems settings," NREC Director John Bares said in the press release. He predicts the Crusher will be used in convoy roles at first, then tactical ones. "In 5 to 10 years, we should see robots working alongside our troops to protect them and help with tasks in the field."
This UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) builds on its DARPA-funded predecessor, the Spinner (PDF). Both capitalize on the absence of human crews, which means larger payloads of up to 8,000 pounds. It's powered by electric motors embedded in each of the vehicle's wheels that get their juice from a hybrid-turbo diesel generator charged by lithium-ion battery. Top speed is said to be 26 miles per hour.
The aluminum and titanium hull rides on state-of-the-art suspension and is protected by a steel skid plate, all of which allows it to move smoothly over large ditches, man-made barriers, piles of boulders, stumps, and other vehicles.
Robosaurus crushes a car.
(Credit: Universal Studios)The annual Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., is usually a place where car collectors and enthusiasts gather to admire scores of vintage Jaguars, Mercedes, Cadillacs and other fine specimens of automobiles made in years past.
Those types of cars will still be there when the event rolls around again in January, but there will be one rather disturbing lot that's bound to steal the show: a 40-foot-high, 31-ton mechanical dinosaur that throws 20-foot flames from its nostrils.
The Robosaurus, created 17 years ago by Monster Robots in Southern California, will be sold with no minimum price during the auction, which takes place January 12 to 20. The machine, which is controlled by a pilot who sits in a cockpit inside the dinosaur's head, comes complete with stainless steel teeth that can rip into and twist metal with 20,000 pounds of crushing force.
Not to be a party pooper, but does the idea of auctioning this thing off to the public trouble anyone? Little old ladies are getting their value-size bottles of perfume confiscated at the airport, while any schmuck with a bunch of money can buy a deadly machine that could take out an entire city block. How does that make sense?
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
I dig goofy T-shirts and this one stole my heart this morning. It comes from Web 2.0 invite service Crusher (review), and emulates the style of a captcha, which are those often times impossible-to-read pictures of warped and stretched words you need to translate to prove your humanity on most Web sites. Unlike real captchas though, solving this one won't help translate old books, or separate your Web identity from that of cold and calculating robots.
Related: Web Shirts: 20 rad T-shirt sites
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