The Geek Church

Welcome to a hoverboard that actually works, almost out of Back to the Future II.

This is the Rolling Superman Simulator.

Check out this Protect 486, putting a shield about your scooter.

This is Apple TV, the second version.

Check out this wacky, wacky Hannspree soccer ball TV.

Roku’s Netflix channel is due out tomorrow.

Check out Altek Leo’s camera phone is better than most camera phones.

Nikon Coolpix S230 gets a firmware update to 1.1.

Yeah, that myTouch 3G Slide could receive Android 2.2 before the Nexus One. I’m surprised.

Behold, Samsung Behold II users, you will only get Android 1.6.

Well, iPad has a bunch of clones, and this one is the iPed.

If you’ve heard that Steve Ballmer was coming to WWDC 2010, then you’ve been misinformed.

Sony is planning on getting its e-Reader to the rest of the world.

Check out this Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 for the iPhone.

Here’s the One Laptop Per Child XO-3 Tablet.

Speaking of apps, check out this Friends Around Me App for the iPhone and iPad.

I’m sure you know of the Prince of Persia movie, well, it was once a video game and now an app for the iPhone and iPad.

This is the Sony Tune Tray, first unveiled at CES 2010, and will now receive two more models.

In today’s culture, we continue to see the development of devices designed to be modern conveniences for our everyday life. Some examples include GPS technology for easy road navigation, Bluetooth headsets for hands-free phone calls and voice-controlled car stereos for convenient access to your music playlist. But now a robotic duo has been developed by Norris Labs to serve you cold drinks in the home.

Steve Norris from Norris Labs created two robots called Baxter the ButlerBot and RoboFridge and he named the pair, the Beverage Delivery System. Basically, this dynamic duo was designed to bring you a cold, canned beverage while you sit comfortably on your chair or couch. Furthermore, these robots work together to get the job done since they are a pair. Baxter operates as a delivery boy to bring you the drink while RoboFridge functions like a non-coin op vending machine to dispense the drinks for Baxter to deliver. In order to use the Beverage Delivery System, you make a drink request via remote control and the route to and from RoboFridge is given to Baxter through a wireless link. Routes for Baxter then come in the form of instructions for navigation such as ‘go to beacon,’ ‘follow line,’ and ‘turn right 90 degrees.

Currently, this Beverage Delivery System known as Baxter the ButlerBot and RoboFridge is only effective when they’re used on the same floor of a building. Nevertheless, Steve Norris intends for Baxter to have the capability for multiple routes in different locations eventually. He went on to say that Baxter can handle carrying a canned drink just as well as an actual person would. He plans to improve the robotic duo’s bartendering skills for his home office as well. Thus, the day of robot servants in the home may finally be upon us. This new modern convenience may be embraced by the consumer if it becomes a mainstream product but it could come with some repercussions. Films of science fiction have taught us that machines tend to turn against the humans who use them. Nonetheless, an actual problem in reality might be obesity and poor health due to a lifetime of modern conveniences.

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In the medical field, technology is instrumental in improving the quality of life for the elderly, injured and disabled. Over the years, we’ve seen innovations such as artificial lungs, hearing aids, prosthetic limbs and motorized wheelchairs developed to help those with crippled bodies due to injury, disease, birth defects or advanced age. But now a man has been given a completely artificial heart to live outside of a hospital for the first time in history.

This man is an Arizona resident named Charles Okeke, who previously spent two years in dependence on a 400-pound machine for daily survival, keeping him confined to life in a hospital. However, his life has drastically changed with the recent development of a new artificial heart called the Freedom Driver. This device utilizes miniaturized technology and a backpack power source to allow patients with a heart deficiency to live more independently. Thus making long-term hospital stays hooked up to a heavy machine for survival a thing of the past. The Freedom Driver was created by a company in Tucson called SynCardia and they’re also the makers of the Total Artificial Heart, the 400-pound machine once used by Charles Okeke. In comparison to the older machine, Okeke’s new artificial heart is only 13 pounds.

Obviously, the Freedom Driver is an important innovation in medical technology. In the past, people in need of a new heart were forced to live in a hospital, connected to a heavy machine while they waited for a compatible heart donor. However, the new artificial heart created by SynCardia could prove to be an alternative solution if the search for a heart donor fails. Furthermore, Charles Okeke could live out the rest of his days with the help of the Freedom Driver. Nonetheless, this medical breakthrough is a costly one, with rates such as $125,000 to $18,000 to keep the device operational up to a year.

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Once again, more important things and decisions are done in this chapter.

If you missed a chapter or two or three, then you should head to the ever-updating index here.

Anyway, the chapter is after the jump.

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