Hong Kong student's Apple tribute is Internet hit

A Hong Kong design student said Friday he was overwhelmed and "flattered" after his sombre logo in tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs caused a worldwide Internet sensation.

The design, featuring Jobs's silhouette incorporated into the bite of a white Apple logo on a black background, has gone viral on the Internet since news of his death.

"I feel so unreal," Jonathan Mak, a second year graphic design student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told AFP, after he was inundated with hundreds of emails and messages on his Twitter account.

The 19-year-old said he had received queries from newspapers in the United States and Germany about buying the copyright to use his logo and had been offered jobs after it spread like wildfire on the Internet.

See Germany's nuclear plant turned family playground

In Germany, nothing says fun for all ages like an abandoned nuclear power plant cooling tower! That's the sentiment behindWunderland Kalkar amusement park--formerly known as the Schneller Bruter cooperative energy project--where you're more likely to encounter cotton candy and motion sickness than Geiger counters and radiation poisoning.

Before you let those fashionably hip Cold War-meets-Steampunk visions in your head take hold, I should note that the nuclear facility was, for political reasons, never completed, so there's actually no danger of coming in contact with any radiation while taking a ride on the mechanical swings that have been installed in the cooling tower.

Little-known sci-fi fact: James Cameron played the Alien Queen

James Cameron is a hard-working director, writer, producer, editor, underwater director of photography, artist and actor. But did you know that he was also the voice of the Alien Queen in Aliens?
When Cameron, a famed control freak in an occupation peopled with control freaks, wasn't involved in every aspect of production, he was involved in every aspect of post-production.

Preview: Max Payne 3

It's been very nearly a decade since we last saw Max Payne, and while time has not been kind to the antihero himself, his third, long awaited outing looks to be a thoroughly modern return to form. Max has, in the tradition of a true noir protagonist, been on hard times ever since we first met him. He's reintroduced here eight years after Max Payne 2, and it's apparent that things have gone from bad to worse. The incredibly detailed squalor of his Hoboken apartment bears every hallmark of a bachelor who has long since ceased to give a damn. Alcoholism and painkiller addiction are apparently the least of his worries, what with a pissed off mob boss waiting outside his door with a whole angry mess of heavily armed mooks.

Engineers harness power from human respiration

The airflow of a typical human breath travels at less than 2 meters per second. Instead of lamenting its weakness, engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to try to make a material that could react to this airflow in such a way as to convert it to electrical energy.

Grad student Jian Shi and assistant professor Xudong Wang have engineered a material that could capture energy from respiration.

(Credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison)

So they turned to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a material in which an electrical charge can build up in response to applied mechanical stress. (There's even a name for this: the piezoelectric effect.) The trick, then, was to get this material thin enough to be sufficiently stressed by human breath.

"We calculated that if we could make this material thin enough, small vibrations could produce a microwatt of electrical energy that could be useful for sensors or other devices implanted in the face," says Xudong Wang, a materials science and engineering assistant professor who reports on these findings in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Solar suction cup is handy phone charger

Plenty of gadget-charging solar panels come with suction cups so you can mount them on windows. A compact solar charger from design collaborative Quirky does the combination one better. It puts the solar panel inside a suction cup, making it easy to stick on small windows: think cars and jetliners.

Read 17 touching Steve Jobs tributes from Lucas, Lindelof and more

Immediately after news broke last night that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died at the age of 56, tributes to the innovator began pouring in from around the world, many of them sent on the very devices he helped create.
But no tributes are more telling of his influence than the tributes of Jobs' fellow innovators and tech wizards, many of them his rivals, who celebrated his life and his creations.

Henry Cavill's Clark Kent rocks a beard in 12 new Man of Steel pics

Filming for Zack Snyder's highly anticipated Superman movie Man of Steel has recently moved to Vancouver and some new pictures of Henry Cavill show the usually smooth-shaven star as a bearded Clark Kent.
These cool new set pics are following hot on the trail of our first—and awesome—look at Russell Crowe fully dressed in his Kryptonian garb as Supe's daddy Jor-El.

Microsoft planning 'buy once, play on any device' gaming portal

Xbox 360 games on my console, smartphone, tablet or TV? Yes, please! Microsoft is said to be planning a "universal gaming portal" that'll let you start and finish your Xbox 360 games (full ones) on any device of your choice by next year.
The era of connectivity is truly upon us. What was once a dream is now achievable, mostly due to how powerful smartphones and tablets have become.

How to Unlock Rage's Full High-Res Potential

Along with the various graphical glitches in the PC version of id Software's Rage, many gamers are noticing the Mega-Textured, id Tech 5 engine powered environments aren't as stunningly detailed as they were made out to be. Turns out it takes some tweaking to unlock Rage's high-resolution textures, and our friends at GeForce provide a step-by-step breakdown on how it can be done.

DICE: Gamers are Ready for Mirror's Edge 2

The developer of the critically-acclaimed run and jump FPS Mirror's Edge has hinted that a sequel may be created one day. Speaking to Spong, DICE producer Patrick Liu said there was "definitely" a market for a new Mirror's Edge title, and that "people are ready" to re-enter the world of Faith and her building-hopping antics.

The original Mirror's Edge was a brilliant but flawed game, particularly in its combat mechanics. Liu conceded as much in the interview, and promised that DICE would improve the experience in any sequel:

"We know what strengths we had, and what weaknesses we had in that game. If we were to release a new game, we'd know what to improve and how to reach a broader audience. So I definitely think there's a market there."

12 gorgeous views of Earth from the International Space Station

The astronauts on the International Space Station have the best seats in the house, and here's 12 photos to prove it.
The fate of the ISS has been tumultuous at best since a Russian Soyuz resupply vehicle crashed, though another attempt will be made in November, whereby Expedition 29 will bring home the three astronauts currently aboard, and deliver a fresh trio to the station. If that doesn't work out? NASA may have to abandon the ISS temporarily or altogether.
Let's not think about that just yet, though. Let's just look at these amazing, calming pictures of our humble spaceship Earth.

BF3 Hands-On: Artificial Intelligence Analysis

After playing the first four levels of Battlefield 3's single-player campaign it looks like I should temper my expectations and dismount the hype train. There's no denying how fantastic the Frostbite 2.0-powered visuals appear, but that's only one facet of this shooter: I'm interested in how the game's Artificial Intelligence performs under the heat of battle. Will the enemies have the IQ to flank my position, or will they charge headlong into my bullets? What happens if I play devil's advocate and ignore the objectives, how will my squad mates perform? These were the important A.I. behavioral questions I wanted to answer during a recent look at Battlefield 3's campaign. 

U.S. Army explores fuel efficiency with new vehicle

The drive for more fuel-efficient cars reaches beyond the garages of the U.S. populace and into military motor pools. Under a development contract with the U.S. Army, Ricardo, an international engineering firm, has finished building its first take on a new light tactical vehicle. One of the primary goals of the FED Alpha, which stands for Fuel Efficient Ground Vehicle Demonstrator, is to be more fuel efficient than current Army vehicles.

Windows Phone chief dumps on iPhone, Android

Hurtling a couple of digs against Apple and Android, Windows Phone chief Andy Lees is naturally playing up the ripeness of Microsoft's Mango with a variety of phones expected for the holiday season.

Speaking with The Seattle Times yesterday, Lees, president of Microsoft's Windows Phone division, said he believes Apple missed an opportunity with theiPhone 4S. Comparing the new iPhone with Mango-enabled Windows Phone devices, Lees expressed surprise that Apple didn't give consumers more choice in terms of the hardware.

Lees seemed less than fond of Android as well, saying it's "heading down this chaotic phase." Calling some of the Android phones great and some not so great, he sees Google's mobile OS as "several cooks in the kitchen trying to bake different things with the same thing."

Game changer: Nissan develops 10-minute quick car recharger

One of the biggest downsides of electric vehicles is the recharge time; rather than fill up at a gas station for a couple of minutes, you need to leave the car plugged in overnight. But Nissan has developed a new method that requires only 10 minutes to juice a car up.

Begun, These Army Phone Wars Have

After 20 years, the Army has finally figured out how it wants to network soldiers together in a warzone: through something like a smartphone. It’s called Nett Warrior, and it’s got the Army very excited. There’s only one problem: defense companies already want to render it obsolete.

Defense giant ITT picked just the right time to roll out its new secure smartphone. It debuted what it’s calling the GhostRider, pictured above, at the Army’s annual Washington D.C. gala, known as the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) convention. The GhostRider isn’t really a phone — it’s just hosted on a commercial Android smartphone, in this case a Motorola Atrix — it’s a small encryption device, called a crypto, installed on a phone near the battery. Put it together with the smartphone of your choice and it’s a secure phone — exactly what the Army wants to one day issue its soldiers, and is still figuring out how to do.

Raytheon Shows the Army a Universal Translator App

It’s been a white whale for the Army during a decade at war: building a translator that can let English-only troops communicate with Arabic, Dari and Pashto speakers in war zones. Now a huge defense contractor think it’s speared the elusive quarry — in app form.

iPhone Floating Orchestra turns you into an antigravity conductor

Repurposing the iPhone for yet another use is becoming commonplace, but the ingenious variety of applications continue to astound as in the case of the Floating Orchestra.

Torture rife in Afghan detention facilities: U.N.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's intelligence agency and police force have been "systematically" torturing detainees including children at a number of jails, in breach of local and international laws, a United Nations report said Monday.

Scores of people told the U.N. that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the Afghan National Police had physically or mentally abused them, using beatings, electrocution and toenail removal, according to the report.

But the head of the U.N. in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, said that torture was neither institutional nor government policy, and praised the ministry and intelligence agency for allowing access to their prisons for research.

67 Halloween costume ideas for tech geeks

Decide what you're going to be for Halloween yet? I mean, no pressure or anything, but it's definitely time to start locking that down — especially if you want to roll up to a party in an outfit that cements you as the nerdiest of the nerdy. That means iPhone costumes with functional screens, going as Bobba Fett with a "working" jet pack, or dressing up your helpless kids, babies and pets all in a manner that's horrifying but secretly cool. And allthat means serious planning, because you won't be able to make any of these in just a night.

Robert Downey Jr.: Iron Man 2 'dissatisfying and disappointing'

Though he's had an acclaimed career that includes a number of challenging roles, Robert Downey Jr. knows being cast as Tony Stark changed his life forever. But even he's willing to admit that while Iron Man was a great superhero film, Iron Man 2 was, well ... not.

TDK Soundcube

Price: £299
Rating: 

In decades to come the 2010s will be known as the era when Apple reigned supreme. Almost every new electronic accessory seems to be designed solely to be compatible with the iPod, Phone, Pad or Mac.

While so many speaker manufacturers design their products only to work with Steve Jobs’ creations, the first thing that strikes you about the TDK Soundcube is its versatility.

Yes, predictably the punchy TDK Soundcube will plug straight into your latest shiny Apple product and play all of your tunes.

Functional art: carpets made from Google Maps

Viewing one of David Hanaeur's carpets you might get a feeling of déjà vu. If the designs seem eerily familiar, it's because they are a connection of bird's eye views from Google Maps. The collection is appropriately dubbed "Worldwide Carpets."
Using snowy pastoral scenes and the endless patterns of Los Angeles and Las Vegas suburbs, Hanauer takes the concept of modern art quite literally. His intent was to take the ancient tradition of Persian carpets, and replicate their complexity with tools from the modern age. Hypnotically powerful repeating images from Google Maps photos do call to mind old school designs, but upon closer inspection reveal their link to the famous web brand.

Here's a 56-pound Lego model of a Battlestar Galactica ship

This is impressive: it's a gigantic model of an obscure ship seen only briefly in the first episode of Battlestar Galactica with a frame made entirely of Lego bricks.

Play with your pet from across the globe with iPet Companion

If you worry about leaving your dog or cat at home all day by themselves with nobody to play with, here's a way that you can interact virtually with Rover or Kitteh from anywhere.
iPet Companion includes two robotic toys that can swing a ball or move some other toy, a webcam so you can see Kitteh's reaction, and a wireless control box that links to your home network. To start a furry play date, you simply log on to your account at the iPet Companion website, and enter a password.

Radiation detector for iPhone prepares you for a nuclear meltdown

Last week we saw a radiation detector for the iPhone called iGeigie, but now big time iPhone accessory maker Scosche has unveiled their own iPhone friendly Geiger counter.
The nuclear disaster in Fukushima reminded us that even when you you live in a place with strict safety standards, a simple chain of events can lead to a massive nuclear accident. Since then, the interest in low cost nuclear detectors has been huge, and now companies are starting to roll out products that meet the demand.

CEATEC: 3M window film generates electricity, blocks light

Known for Scotch tape and Post-It notes, 3M showed a thin flexible film that can turn windows into solar panels. VIDEO

The world's first biodegradable car has a frame you throw away

In a stunning mix of functionality and art, designers out of the Philippines have created a car made out of bamboo, rattan, nylon and steel. Created in just 10 days, Kenneth Cobonpue and Albrecht Birkner created this unique concept car — dubbed "The Phoenix" — to deal with the energy crisis and future waste.

Finally, a garage door opener that works with your smartphone

Almost every garage door has an electric opener these days, but the technology has hardly changed in the last 40 years. Now somebody has finally brought this simple device into the 21st century, with an app that lets you control the door from your phone.
Several people have posted ways to hack your garage door opener into your home network so it will work with a phone, but the Craftsman AssureLink is the first truly integrated ready-to-go package. The app can be used as a simple remote, but it also allows you to check and control the door from anywhere. This is useful if your kid forgets his key and calls you needing access to the house, or if your neighbor wants to borrow your ladder, yet again.

LED umbrella hides you from the prying eyes of Big Brother

Earlier this year the world was introduced to Britain's "hoodies" who looted their cities wearing the head coverings to avoid the country's ubiquitous CCD surveillance cameras. But if they had just contacted a certain professor, they might have simply used a lovelymodded parasol to conceal their mischief.

The Navy’s New Robo-Copter Heads to Afghanistan

Next month, the Afghanistan war gets a boost. Specifically, a boost from a robotic helicopter that ferries gear to U.S. troops.

Check out the video above. That’s the K-MAX helicopter, a collaboration between defense giant Lockheed Martin and Connecticut aerospace company Kaman, lifting off from an Arizona test site in August, after its human pilot walked out of the cockpit. The copter ascends, toting nets bearing what look like hundreds of pounds’ worth of palletized cargo, flies the gear off to another part of the Yuma Proving Ground, drops it safely, and lands.

Gadgets the Pentagon Made — From the Microwave to the New iPhone

The cool voice assistant that runs on the iPhone 4S? Years ago, someone thought what Apple calls Siriwould be a valuable tool for the military. Come to think of it, most of the technology we use — whether to cook our food, figure out directions, or gawk at adorable pictures of animals — was in some way designed to help, however tangentially, America go to war.

Armchair sociologists like to ponder the distance between military and civilian life. In the tech world, at least, they're not so far apart. Innovations that began with the U.S.' well-funded defense establishment almost always filter down into commercial, mundane usage. Sometimes in unexpected ways. Here are some of our favorite examples. Siri, can you think of some more?

Salute to Steve: Army Shows Off Soldier Smartphone Beta

It wasn’t one of those epic Steve Jobs product roll-outs. Not even close. But in an obscure warren of the Pentagon, the Army took a major step toward embracing the smartphone revolution that Jobs did so much to promote. Only the mobile device it unveiled is best described smartphone-esque — and it might cause bureaucratic and financial problems if the Army actually does decide soldiers need to carry realsmartphones.

The phone-like thing you see above is what the Army is calling its End User Device. It’s the next design for the Army’s Nett Warrior system — an expensive program that’s tried, and failed, for 20 years to connect soldiers to one another through a suite of wearable computers, radios and keyboards. Now, it’s a device that weighs under a pound and connects to a radio. And it will very, very likely run on Google’s Android operating system.

The iPhone 4S’ Talking Assistant Is a Military Veteran

Siri, before you became the premiere feature of the new iPhone 4S, where did you come from?

Spencer, I started out as a gleam in the eye of Darpa, the Pentagon’s far-out research agency, as your Wired colleague Steven Levy tweeted. Darpa thought my artificial-intelligence algorithms for data collection and organization could help the military plan better. Would you like me to find you some references for that?

1st look at Russell Crowe suited up as Jor-El in Man of Steel

Photos from the Superman reboot Man of Steel have surfaced online featuring his biodad Jor-El aka Russell Crowe—and unlike his predecessor Marlon Brando, Crowe's Jor-El is staying far, far away from the shiny shirts.
Director Zack Snyder and his massive crew are currently filming Man of Steel in Vancouver where Crowe was spotted prepping for a scene. In the photos, he's wearing a full-length cloak complete with a cape and exaggerated shoulders. The famous "S" is on his chest but its not that flashy. It's simply embroidered into a chest piece, which is much more subtle than Brando's white turtleneck.

Bad idea: Sony's games will require 'online pass' to play online

Online gaming on consoles just took an ugly turn for the worse. According to Destructoid, all Sony-developed games will require an "online pass" — a code that comes with only new copies of a game in order play online. Can you hear the mobs?
Sony didn't come straight out and say why it's suddenly decided to start requiring online passes to play its first-party titles online, but it should be obvious isn't it?

Behold the iPhone as hi-def medical imaging device

A team of physicists and engineers out of the University of California at Davis are taking the iPhone 4 to new heights--and they're not talking about No. 5.

Horn Bike goes old-school on your iPhone sound

Bicycling around town wearing earbuds isn't a great idea and is even illegal in some places. But a set of decent bicycle-mounted speakers will set you back $60-$120, and if you crank them up you risk some dirty looks. Now there's a third alternative. A Taiwanese company figures that if you're going to spring for a handlebar mount for your iPhone, you should get a little sound amplification in the bargain.

Unreal Engine 3 comes to Flash, bringing 3D

Unreal Engine 3, the graphics engine that powers some of the biggest video games out there, is now able to work on Flash. And that means we'll be seeing much fancier games coming to the web, and Facebook in particular.
Games that previously could only be played on consoles or download to computers, such as Unreal Tournament 3, will now be able to be played right in your browser, provided your computer is up to the task. And with games on Facebook almost universally run in Flash, this should give web game developers a whole new set of tools to play around with.
What do you think? Would you rather play a 3D game on a console or right in your browser?
Via Kotaku

Hacked tricycle prints Chinese calligraphy in water

The mysteries of the China and Japan continue to fascinate those of us raised on English and corn flakes, but one Canadian recently took his own technological innovation eastward to create something uniquely Asian and quite useful.

Terrifying robot hides in walls, punches through them

Sure, this robot is an "art project," but it's still pretty damned creepy. It's called Zwischenräume, and it hides in walls only to punch through to check out what's on the other side.

Steve Jobs - R.I.P.

A true Geek to the end.


Apple has confirmed that its co-founder, former CEO and guiding hand, Steve Jobs, died October 5, 2011. He was 56. His family has released a statement saying he died "peacefully."
From Steve Jobs's family:

"Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve's illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.
We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."

Electric plane flies 200 miles in 2 hours; wins $1.35 million

In the quest to design more efficient aircraft, the CAFE Foundation organizes an annual contest called the Green Flight Challenge. This year the goal was to make an electric plane that could fly 200 miles in less than two hours, using the equivalent of less than one gallon of fuel per passenger. The winners from Team Pipistrel managed to complete the course using just over half that amount.

10 years on and life grim for Afghans

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Asif Khan sits on a dirty, once-white blanket in an abandoned cinema and fights back tears of desperation.

He can't find a job for his eldest son, who "even knows computers," without paying a bribe. He can't afford uniforms, books or pencils for his nine daughters to go to school. And so they all live with him in the old cinema, where mangled rebars dangle like tentacles from the ceiling and a cold wind whips through windows with no glass.

It's a long way from the optimism Khan felt when he returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan after the U.S. defeated the Taliban in 2001. Now, he says, "I have no hope."

‘Invisibility Cloak’ Uses Mirages to Make Objects Vanish

Researchers from the University of Dallas in Texas have hijacked one of nature’s most intriguing phenomena — the mirage — to make an invisibility cloak. It can hide objects from view, works best underwater and even has a near-instant on/off switch.

To understand how it works, you need to first grasp the basics of the mirage effect. This unusual experience, sometimes seen in the desert or on hot roads during the summer, can trick your brain into seeing objects that aren’t really there.

Iraq Militants Brag: We’ve Got Robotic Weapons, Too

U.S. forces used a combination of spy drones and bomb-handling robots to help beat back Iraq’s insurgents. Now, those militants have a warning for those American troops still remaining in Iraq: We’ve got robots, too.

In a slick new online video just released by the Ansar al-Islam extremist group, kafiya-clad engineers brag about their skill in designing and making weapons of their own. They show off homemade silencers, fire custom-built rockets, and solder their own circuit boards.

Long road from farm to fork worsens food outbreaks

Outbreaks of listeria and other serious illnesses linked to tainted food are becoming more common, partly because much of what we eat takes a long and winding road from farm to fork.

A cantaloupe grown on a Colorado field may make four or five stops before it reaches the dinner table. There's the packing house where it is cleaned and packaged, then the distributor who contracts with retailers to sell the melons in large quantities. A processor may cut or bag the fruit. The retail distribution center is where the melons are sent out to various stores. Finally it's stacked on display at the grocery store.

Imported fruits and vegetables, which make up almost two-thirds of the produce consumed in the United States, have an even longer journey.

"Increasingly with agribusiness you have limited producers of any given food, so a breakdown in a facility or plant or in a large field crop operation exposes thousands because of the way the food is distributed," says Dr. Brian Currie, an infectious disease specialist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

Yemeni jet mistakenly bombs army post, kills 30

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A government warplane mistakenly bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding many more, military and medical officialssaid Sunday.

The officials said the bombing, which took place on Saturday evening in the southern Abyan province, targeted an abandoned school used as shelter by soldiers of the army's 119th Brigade. The school is located just east of Abyan's provincial capital Zinjibar, where militants linked to al-Qaida have been in control since May.

Heavy fighting has been raging in the area for days as part of the army's monthslong campaign to seize back Zinjibar from the militants.

Filipinos still trapped on roofs; typhoons kill 55

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Rescuers scrambled Sunday to deliver food and water to hundreds of villagers stuck on rooftops for days because of flooding in the northern Philippines, where back-to-back typhoons have left at least 55 people dead.

Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore in northeastern Isabela provinceSaturday, then barreled across the main island of Luzon's mountainous north and agricultural plains, which were still sodden from fierce rain and winds unleashed by a howler just days earlier. Nalgae left at least three people dead Saturday. Typhoon Nesatkilled 52 others and left 30 missing in the same region before blowing out Friday.

Nalgae was whirling over the South China Sea and heading towardsouthern China late Sunday afternoon, 230 miles (370 kilometers) from the Philippines' northeast coast, with sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 93 mph (150 kph), according to the Philippine government weather agency.

Jailed China Nobel winner's wife still silenced

BEIJING (AP) — In a quiet, leafy neighborhood of Beijing, a woman has been living in enforced isolation in her book-lined, fifth-floor apartment. Her apparent misdeed: being married to a Nobel Peace Prize winner the Chinese government calls a criminal.

In the year since jailed democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo was awarded the prize, his wife Liu Xia has also become a prisoner. She has largely been held incommunicado, effectively under house arrest, watched by police, without phone or Internet access and prohibited from seeing all but a few family members.

"Liu Xia has been completely cut off from communication with the outside world, and leads a lonely and oppressed life," said Beijing activist Zeng Jinyan, the wife of another well-known dissident who has endured bouts of surveillance and harassment. "It has already been a year, I dare not imagine how much longer she must bear this pain."

700 arrested after protest on NY's Brooklyn Bridge

More than 700 protesters demonstrating against corporate greed, global warming and social inequality, among other grievances, were arrested Saturday after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours in a tense confrontation with police.

The group Occupy Wall Street has been camped out in a plaza in Manhattan's Financial District for nearly two weeks staging various marches, and had orchestrated an impromptu trek to Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. They walked in thick rows on the sidewalk up to the bridge, where some demonstrators spilled onto the roadwayafter being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway, police said.

The majority of those arrested were given citations for disorderly conduct and were released, police said.

Some protesters sat on the roadway, chanting "Let us go," while others chanted and yelled at police from the pedestrian walkaway above. Police used orange netting to stop the group from going farther down the bridge, which is under construction.

Hitachi-LG venture to plead guilty to price-fixing

A joint venture of Hitachi Ltd and LG Electronics Inchas agreed to plead guilty and pay a $21.1 million fine for bid-rigging and price-fixing in the sale of optical disk drives, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc was accused of conspiracy and wire fraud in a 15-count criminal information filed in federal court in California, the first charges to emerge from a long-running U.S. probe.

Nearly two years ago, major companies including Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba disclosed that they had received subpoenas from the Justice Department related to the probe of sales of disk drives, such as CD, DVD and Blu-ray players.

"The bid-rigging and price-fixing conspiracies involving optical disk drives undermined competition and innovation in the high tech industry," said Sharis Pozen, acting head of the Justice Department's antitrust division.

Profound change for Facebook set to 'lock in' users

Facebook on Friday begins rolling out its biggest ever shake-up, in a move observers say will not only profoundly alter how its 800 million users interact with the site, but will keep them coming back for decades to come.

The new "Timeline," revealed last week by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will also likely shock some users, notorious for backlashes in recent years over even small adjustments to the site, let alone a complete re-think of how their lives are presented to the world.

The changes amount to the "heart of your Facebook experience, completely rethought from the ground up," Zuckerberg told an annual developers conference.

Nissan developing car that reads your thoughts

Road rage much? You might want to think twice about that if you're driving a mind-controlled car under development by Nissan.

The automaker teamed up with Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) to create a vehicle that can anticipate maneuvers like turning left or right "after scanning the thought patterns of its driver."

Dad attacks teen after dying in Call of Duty

What was that I heard about the British being mild-mannered? A dad in England apparently didn't get the national memo.

According to a report in the Plymouth Herald, Mark Bradford admitted to attacking a teenager after the sharp-shooter took Bradford's character out during a round of Call of Duty online.

Bradford's breakdown came after the boy teased him about the triumph.

The attack broke up what otherwise might have been an unremarkable moment where both were playing on PlayStations from different residences and communicating over microphones.

Watch ‘AlphaDog’ Robot Walk, Get Up, Fetch

Robotics manufacturer Boston Dynamics has long been developing a quadrupedic, autonomous — and headless — robot for hauling around military gear called the BigDog. But judging by this video, the BigDog is now practically lying submissive and moaning to itself in its crate. Because now the AlphaDog is in town.

New airbag bursts out of your seat to save your life

GM's new front center airbag explodes out of the side of your seat like a chestburster out of Alien. But it's a friendly chestburster that's designed to keep you from cracking your noggin open like a hard boiled egg the next time someone t-bones your ride.

Foldable boat lets you take a row in any pool of water, anytime

People love foldable stuff. Why? Because it takes up less space and is makes carrying gear easier. But, a foldable row boat? Damn right, two product designers created a pair of foldable row boats. Now, I can finally conquer any river I want, wherever I'm at.

SpaceX reveals designs for reusable rockets

The man who almost single-handedly made the environmentally-conscious electric vehicle sexy with the Tesla, is now hoping to do the same for space flight, but with a twist, reusable launch vehicles.

This guy is so excited for the iPhone 5, he built his own

We're on the last stretch before Apple officially announces the iPhone 4S/5 or whatever it'll be called. One Apple fan, Ben Miller couldn't wait any longer so he rounded up all the renders and case leaks that have trickled out and built his very prototype out of glass and aluminum. Sexy doesn't even begin to describe it.

Prototype 'flying carpet' hovers using electrified plastic threads

It's less Disney and more drop-dead cool. While not actually made of carpet, but rather a thin, 4-inch sheet of plastic that hovers just above the ground, it still calls to mind fantastic possibilities.

The flying carpet, brainchild of Princeton Grad Student Noah Jafferis, is wired with a complex system of electrical sensors and conducting threads that create "ripples" of air moving front to back of the sheet that propels it into the air. It's these undulating ripples that create the movement as the air is thrust out the back — allowing it to move at a speed of a centimeter per second.