As if society wasn’t lazy enough Hasbro has announced that they will be releasing new varieties of classic board games with an electronic tower that is going to run the game.

The tower will manage aspects of the game such as dice rolls, rent, cash flow, etc. The tower “bathes the board in infrared light, and a camera can see reflectors placed on each game piece.”  The days of dealing out paper money and a banker are gone apparently. Paper money is being replaced by a plastic money card that is automatically reloaded by the tower when you pass go, collect rent from another player, etc.

Monopoly Live will be available this fall for around $50. You can still pick up the classic for around $15 if you are terrified about Sauron’s tower being able to watch your every move don’t want to drop the cash for the electronic version. But just think of all you will be missing. As one of the games designers, Leif Askeland said “The tower never makes a mistake”.

Those of us who use the internet now-a-days have grown accustomed to the fact that when we go to google.com we may not see the standard ‘Google’ logo above the search field. Google from time to time–whether for advertising purposes or to pay recognize recent events, anniversaries, holidays, etc–has changed up their logo with a Jack-o-lantern, snowman, etc. When the Google logo is non-standard like this they call them “doodles”.

These Google doodles have all been pretty static–until now. Today those of you who pulled up Google to type in a quick search probably said “Oh, a new Google logo I wonder what this one is for.” It wasn’t until I went to mouse over the logo to see exactly what the occasion was when I was surprised to see the logo begin to move like the classic Pac Man that we all know and love.

Initially I sat and watched assuming it was some kind of flash image. It wasn’t until Pac Man got eaten by one of the ghosts that I realized that I might actually be in control. For the next life I realized that it was in fact a playable game! Using the arrow keys on the keyboard I was actually able to play the game just like any other Pac Man game.

The interactive doodle is in fact a full 255 level game with the 256 level kill screen(I got close – level 3)–just like the original. Today’s doodle the first interactive doodle for Google. Marcin Wichary, a senior user experience designer for Google, worked with a member of the “Google Doodler Team”(this is what I want to be when I grow up) to create this unique doodle. [Google]

What this really means we are unsure but there are very few possibilities.

[UPDATE]: Well after over an hour of being down it looks like things are back up and running. Looks like we are all going to be ok this time.

It had to happen eventually, someone has managed to create the only thing that could possibly be creepier than a robot that latches onto your hands and forces you to play the piano. This children’s ride in a mall in the Philippines lets your kids sit in a carriage and ride other kids.

The kids sit in the seat and have reins to control the mindless robot child around the pen–which seems to be a little too confusing for the boy in the video.

I am skeptical, but this may be the future of transportation. One thing I do know, when the day comes that robots begin to think for themselves and attempt to peacefully coexist with humans, one of their friends will show them this video on youtube, which will eventually lead to the destruction of the human race.

This lazy, terrible, creative father used his programing skills to create a program that would rock his child to sleep. Don’t know what to do with those old CD drives? Hook them up to your linux machine and get creative.

Bluetooth headphones have never been big about looking cool. Not that we are ones to sacrifice cool technology for fashion, but some bluetooth headphones just are not wearable. The Jabra Halo headphone set has made a step in the right direction. These still aren’t going to be something I wear to the gym but they are slightly  ”cooler” than others we have seen.

Just how cool you ask?

You asked.

We have all been there. Your friends, co-workers and acquaintances find out that you know about computers and you instantly know everything about anything with a power cord. Not that most of us mind. Personally I enjoy helping over the phone when I can–even if that is only so that I can call in a favor later!

The guys over at xkcd hit the nail right on the head with this one. I was hesitant to post this image for job security purposes for every tech support agent out there but from my experience with professional tech support this chart probably won’t mean much to you anyways.

For the rest of you, never call me again–just kidding(but not really).

Have you ever sat and thought to yourself: “I wish there was a robot that could take control of my body and teach me to play the piano”? Yep, me neither, but one company has developed a device that will make this dream come true for some out there. Concert Hands is a robotic device that is attached to your piano or electric keyboard. There is a rod that goes the length of the piano that sits in between you and the keys. You sit down in front of the piano and the Concert Hands latch onto you like a leech you lock your wrists into the slides that move your hands to the spot on the piano where they need to be and then slide your fingers into the finger sleeves that make your fingers press the correct keys.

If you aren’t sold on this great idea press play on the video above and let the mind controlling hypnotist Concert Hands advertiser convince you. I–personally–am creeped out.

The idea is that repetition will force your body to memorize how to play a song–muscle memory–just like anything you have done so much that you can do it without looking, like changing chords on a guitar or typing on a keyboard.

I am not saying this won’t work; in theory it sounds like it very possibly could. All I want to know is who thought of this? And one way or another you aren’t really learning to play the piano. A robot is training another robot your brain to play one song at a time through grinding repetition.

For more information I would tell you to go visit the Concert Hands website but at the time of this post it is down due to them exceeding their monthly bandwidth limits…

Of all the good ideas and technological advancements there have been, this one isn’t. Well, ok I guess it as the idea is good. The robot is designed to enter buildings that are too dangerous for firemen. It–via remote control–can scout for any injured/unconscious individuals and chomp them to bits pick them up and spit them back out at a safe location. Lets just hope there is something good to watch in case someone wakes up while in the bowels of the rescue robot.

Mr. Nakamura Akira is a member of the Japan Rubber Band Gun Shooting Association–I wish I was kidding–and creator of the rubber band machine gun. The gun is capable of firing off 200 rounds rubber bands without a reload–which is good since loading the 200 rubber bands is very time consuming.

Now that you have seen what the gun can do take a look at what Nakamura can do:

And yes–unfortunately–I believe that is a holster he has under his left arm.

Interested in making one yourself? Nakamura has the book for sell on amazon for a little over $16 USD–that is if you can read Japanese.