The contest was initially employees-only, but SparkFun realized it would be much more fun to have their customers join so that was what they did. Sixteen robots in all shapes and sizes – some ground, some aerial – participated in the race. How many of them finished? Two.

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Blurr they ain’t, and judging from the results we still have a long way to go before we see transforming vehicles. Watch the video and you’ll see that the teams already had their hands full just trying to stop their creations from killing themselves. The teams mostly failed on that account, but they still had a lot of fun anyway.

WIRED’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson’s team DIY Drones (pictured above) bagged first place. Their UAV clocked in at 36 seconds, while second-placed Deathpod 3000 (below) took nearly three times as long at 1 minute and 32 seconds. Which is kind of unfair really, because it’s a ground vehicle going up against a Decepticon plane.

Awesome. I wish we had more robot contests, like ASIMO versus a Roomba or something. These demonstrations are really comforting; at least we know we’re not going to be enslaved by robots anytime soon.

[via BotJunkie]

This 2GB USB memory stick is based (loosely) on on the body of a Formula One race car. Of course a real F1 car isn’t all shiny and silver like this one (but wouldn’t it be cool if they were?) Just pop the rear end off the car to reveal a USB connector.

At this point, you’ll have to admire this little car from afar. It’s currently only available in Japan. If you care to brush up on your Katakana, head on over to Green House to find out more.

[via Akihabara News]

I especially dig the shot with the car jumping between the train cars. If that’s in the game, I can’t imagine what sort of mayhem we crash-loving fools will be able to dream up this time.

Keep in mind that EA is notorious for showing “target renders,” but the Criterion team is known for really eeking every last drop out of a console, so I wouldn’t be surprised if these were pretty close to what the game actually looks like. I’d assume that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will be pretty close, but in a recent interview, Alex Ward mentioned that they’re building Burnout 5 on the PS3, then porting it to the 360, so who knows.

The game is still listed as having a release date of March 26th on both platforms according to EB Games, so here’s hoping we’ll get our hands on this one real soon!

[UPDATE: You can now view a full copy of the original PSM article in PDF format here.]

Designed by famous German model maker Faller, this case is filled with a tiny little slot car track, complete with 1/87th scale racers and two remotes for controlling your cars. The track is approximately 2 meters long, and comes appointed with details such as trees, grass and billboards. Completely portable, the track runs for up to 5 hours on a single 9V battery.

If you want one of these sweet gadgets, you’ll have to move quick. The case is being sold in a limited edition of only 1000 pieces, and sells for