To give you an idea of what the degree offers, here are some of the class titles: How to Make Small Talk: Small Talk Leads to Big Talk, Networking with Grace and Charm, Dress with Success:Maintaining a Professional Wardrobe after the Interview, Say What?!?! Tops for Effective Communication and Accepting that Most People Don’t Understand Quantum Physics Jokes. Just kidding guys.

A student earns a charm credit for each class he attends and will be conferred with a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree in Charm depending on the number of charm credits they earn. In other words, all you have to do is show up for a 15-minute class and you can get a degree, a condition that no doubt millions of kids wish would apply to normal degrees as well.

MIT students who think that they are already charming are wrong won’t automatically qualify for the degrees – they still have to attend the classes. MIT students, practice smiling and giving firm handshakes and head to your school’s website to learn more about the Charm School.

[via HLN via Geekologie]

I doubt that this will become a common practice, but Martin Reisch managed to get into the US using his iPad. He had a scan of his passport on his iPad, and he had forgotten his real one at home, which was two hours away. He was delivering some gifts for the kids of a friend. After a few minutes of deliberation, the border officer gave him permission to enter the US. He was also allowed to leave the US with the same iPad passport.

I guess if the barcode is scannable, then it could be possible that this might become more a more frequent occurrence, but without the security measures built into a physical passport, it would be pretty easy to doctor a digital image of one. It makes you wonder what might happen if passports someday become entirely digital. Just swipe your phone or tablet, and go through.

[via Ubergizmo]

The GRASP Lab programmed Willow Garage’s PR2 robot to pick up POOP (Potentially Offensive Objects for Pickup) using a routine they call POOP SCOOP (Perception Of Offensive Products and Sensorized Control Of Object Pickup). You clever guys you. By definition, POOP can be anything, but of course the cruel humans chose actual poop as POOP. The PR2 uses its color camera to detect the POOP and haptic feedback to detect if it successfully scooped it. To add insult to poop and salt to crap, they even programmed their robot to say, “time for me to scoop some poop” before it carries out its duty.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

How long before the robot decides that we are POOP? At least the folks at GRASP Lab will be the first to get scooped.

[via IEEE Spectrum]

Apparently, if you use PS3s, you can save up to 10× the cost of commercial supercomputer technology. Condor was created for the Air Force for its image processing tasks. It’s considered one of the top forty fastest computers in the world, despite its video game brains. The Condor is supposed to help process all of the Air Force’s recent aerial photos. Snapping up the photos via satellites isn’t a problem. It’s finding something useful in them.

Users will be able to use Condor to move cameras around, kind of like if you’re playing Starcraft. Apparently, users can rewind or predict forward based upon the information gathered. I don’t know exactly what they mean about predicting the future, but it probably has to do with some image interpolation based upon the available info.

[Hot Hardware via CrunchGear]

I’m not sure if the example above is one of the software’s correct findings. In any case, Prof. Jain and his team still have a lot of tweaking to do. Currently they claim that out of a database of 10,000 mug shots, their software was able to make the correct match 45% of the time. They say that this is a significant improvement over current commercial facial recognition systems. I wish the whole MSU team luck, and I hope they manage to finish their software. If I had their software I’d probably spend my time searching for people that look like cartoon characters.

[via MSU via Geek]

This new watch features the largest LCD display in Nooka’s Zub collection. Even if this watch is from New York, that doesn’t mean it can’t have a Japanese name. The name is taken from the Japanese word sayu, which means left and right. The overall watch body is asymmetrical, which is always a nice break from the norm.

The Zub Zayu comes with a sleeper mode to conserve battery and will cost $175 (USD) at Nooka’s online shop. It’s available in gray, black, yellow, pink, and blue. Personally, my favorite LCD watches are the old Seiko Spoon watches.

[via Geek Alerts]

These pictures are actual copies of the public advisory made by the San Obispo police. They sent these images to Gawker in response to the blog’s article about this ridiculousness. A cursory glance at the advisory makes it obvious that it only makes things worse, as it singles out people who cosplayed as Pedobear and even a car owner who has a Pedobear sticker. As much as it pains me to say it, if you drop by or live in said County you better not be caught with any Pedobear-related image, because chances are you’ll be branded a pedophile. It’s the first documented case of memism folks. Them police be memists.

While they’re at it, police should also be on the lookout for Hamburglar, because that mascot is clearly promoting thievery.

[via Gawker]

Or you know, the military could just use it to tear down power lines. I wonder if using the RAPS will cause a blackout in the vicinity. More from the video below:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Did you hear what the narrator said? Apparently there are power lines in jungles and deserts as well. Good for the chimps and cacti.

[via OhGizmo!]

I don’t know what’s more amazing, this little stop-motion reenactment or the fact that the USA is actually doing pretty well in the World Cup this year. If you don’t know it by now, the USA actually tied England in this match. And I guess that tying in soccer is impressive. I guess it’s better than losing.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The only thing missing from the clip is a bunch of tiny LEGO vuvuzelas. Somebody better get on that.

[via Presurfer]

This machine must be surrounded by hopeful gamers every single day.

Loot Ninja‘s Justin McCollough snapped these pics, and he says it costs about $2.50 or $3.50 (USD) for a crack at the machine. And before a flame war erupts in the comments, Justin says that there are also claw machines with Xbox 360 and Wii prizes. Freakin’ awesome.

Submissions will be classified into 4 groups according to the year level of the contestants: K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. Four national finalists will be chosen, one from each of the four groups. The national prize winner gets a ton of prizes, including the privilege of having his or her winning doodle displayed on Google’s homepage for one whole day, reaching out to billions of people. Not even the Louvre can top that kind of exposure!

For more details, check out the contest homepage. Kids (who live in the United States and are in school), grab your pen and paper and start doodling!

[via Inventor Spot]

Stargate Studios posted a reel of their “Virtual Backlot” from 2009, showing how they fabricated scenes used in various TV Shows, from Ugly Betty to Grey’s Anatomy to Monk to Heroes.

Here’s the clip:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I’m not really familiar with all of the footage shown, so I’m not sure if they’re all from TV shows. Nevertheless, it does make one wonder how much of what we’re watching is real. Who knows, maybe a couple of decades from now actors can just record a 3D version of themselves and just rent that out, that way they can star in a hundred movies at once.

[via Shiny Shiny]

Even minors can be part of Microsoft’s program, as long as their parent or guardian consents. As is standard procedure, Microsoft didn’t say what games will be tested, but the Playtest webpage does say that there will be a variety of games on a variety of platforms. The FAQ also says that Playtesters have to arrive early so they can secure a parking space. Awesome.

No word on the “free software” though. Let’s hope it’s not MS Word. Or Vista.

[via Site of the Gaming Dead]

Long story short, Hough only received minor injuries and Harris is now a local hero. There are however a couple of kryptonites in this story: for some reason the Associated Press says that there were no witnesses to Harris’ feats. Ummm… what about the kid he saved? And the driver? And the people nearby? Also, lifting a car isn’t the same as rolling it off of something – or in this case, someone – which, as some of the Boing Boing commenters have pointed out, seems to be what actually happened based on Harris’ accounts. But regardless of what really happened, it’s Harris’ quick response to the emergency that makes him a hero in my book. It’s also funny how Harris tried to repeat his feat later that day but failed to lift any more cars. Maybe your powers only work if someone is in need sir. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the adrenaline.

[via Boing Boing]

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. I’d like to add that boredom is its father. And for people whose needs are mostly being taken care of, daddy reigns supreme: “The idea was inspired last year by boredom and a strong desire to drive something off of a cliff. So Bob’s son Rick and his buddy Jake figured out a way to turn big cars into remote-controlled toys.”

Rick and Jake rigged the vehicles so they could remote control the steering and the throttle. Brakes? What brakes?

The insane…ly fun event lasted for 8 hours. Moravitz didn’t charge spectators for their show, but he says they got enough donations to cover the insurance that he bought for the event. Redneck geeks sure are crazy.

[via KARE 11 via nfttu via Make:]

That said, the TwitterPeek does have a lot going for it: it has a scroll wheel and a back button, a large, colored screen, a raised and illuminated QWERTY keypad, a battery that lasts 4-5 days and can be charged in 2 hours, plus nationwide coverage (US only) that doesn’t depend on WiFi. But no browser. Those of you who are familiar with the Peek Pronto know that although it doesn’t have a browser either, it reads PDF, docs and pictures.

So Twitter addicts, is the TwitterPeek just the thing that you’ve been waiting for? Or will you stick to your Twitter apps on your phones and computers? If you said yes to the first question, head on to Amazon and get the TwitterPeek for either $100 (USD), which comes with 6 months of free service (you’ll pay $8/month after 6 months), or $200, which comes with lifetime wireless service. It comes in two colors, grey and aqua (or Twitter blue).

Update: PC Mag has reviewed the TwitterPeek and gave it 1.5 stars for its poor controls and very limited functionality. Apparently it makes even the simple act of reading tweets a chore. Wow. (via Gizmodo)

[via Engadget]

ClearView makes a list of rules based on a program’s “normal” behavior. When something causes the program to deviate from those rules, ClearView “comes up with several potential patches designed to force the software to follow the violated rules… If additional rules are violated, or if a patch causes the system to crash, ClearView rejects it and tries another.” And it does all of that without any human intervention. As a test, ClearView was tasked to babysit Firefox while the browser was attacked via ten different methods. On average, ClearView came up with a patch within 5 minutes of exposure to an attack. How’s that for customer service. If you’re tired of having programs die on you, read the full article at Technology Review. It may just make your day.

[via Slashdot]

You see, it’s relatively easy (for nerds) to build a robot that can find its way to a target outdoors, thanks to the magic of GPS. But what if you want to search inside a building? GPS won’t help you there, believe me. I researched it extensively. If you don’t have a map of the building or whatever structure you’re infiltrating, you’re screwed. But more importantly, GPS receivers need a strong signal to work, something which you’ll have difficulty obtaining inside a building.

So the aforementioned MIT students came up with a laser scanner that sweeps the helicopter’s immediate area, and that along with some algorithm magic (yeah this is where I lose track of definitions) builds a corresponding rough three-dimensional map of the autonomous vehicle’s immediate environment, as shown in the image above. Now I need you to watch the video below and then answer one tiny question for me: when the narrator uses the word “we” and “us”, does he mean that they can control the robot remotely which means they can see the map that the laser sweep generates, or is the robot fully autonomous?

Maybe the chopper is the narrator, and it’s talking using lasers. I don’t know. I’m confused.

[via MIT Tech TV]

The images above are of the first ever mouse that was made to float by the variable gravity simulator. The mouse apparently panicked, so the next mouse to float was sedated, and it “seemed content with floating.” Uhuh. Anyway I don’t know if the pics were shot from above or from below; either way the view’s kind of a letdown because you can’t really see that the little fella is floating. But what’s important is…Variable Gravity Simulator! Man what an awesome combination of words. The point of the device – and the mice – is to study the long term effects of gravity on humans. But I hope that we can build larger and stronger VGSes so us common people can try what these lucky mice are enjoying.

[LiveScience via Neatorama]

Stanford University News runs down the hardware of the open source camera: “…the motherboard, per se, is a Texas Instruments ‘system on a chip’ running Linux with image and general processors and a small LCD screen. The imaging chip is taken from a Nokia N95 cell phone, and the lenses are off-the-shelf Canon lenses, but they are combined with actuators to give the camera its fine-tuned software control. The body is custom made at Stanford.”

Computer science graduate student Andrew Adams – pictured above with Levoy – wants digital camera users to be able to download applications for their cameras, in the same way that we download programs that extend or improve our PCs. Levoy’s team hopes to have the Frankencamera’s operating system released publicly by next year for some crowd-sourcing action.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via PhysOrg]