I really enjoyed CoD: Black Ops. I'm hoping this one will be good. Just have to wait until they start popping up on craigslist since I refuse to pay $60 for a video game.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzaxlddWbk&feature=player_embedded)

Way cool. Using Foldit, gamers were challenged to find the structure of a protein related to the AIDS virus. They did it in a matter of weeks when the scientific community had been working on it for over 10 years.

When scientists struggle with a problem for over a decade, few of them think, “I know! I’ll ask computer gamers to help.” That, however, is exactly what Firas Khatib from the University of Washington did. The result: he and his legion of gaming co-authors have cracked a longstanding problem in AIDS research that scientists have puzzled over for years. It took them three weeks.

Khatib’s recruits played Foldit, a programme that reframes fiendish scientific challenges as a competitive multiplayer computer game. It taps into the collective problem-solving skills of tens of thousands of people, most of whom have little or no background in science. Here’s what I wrote about Foldit last year.

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Do want. This looks crazy good!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coiTJbr9m04&feature=player_embedded)

This is pretty stinkin' cool. Although this demonstration is for video games, the first thing I thought of when I saw this was that I won't be able to make fun of CSI zoom-and-enhance techniques any more.

Two researchers -- Johannes Kopf from Microsoft, and Dani Lischinski from The Hebrew University -- have successfully created an algorithm that depixelizes and upscales low-resolution 8-bit "pixel art" into lush vector graphics. The algorithm identifies pixel-level details to accurately shade the new image -- but more importantly, the algorithm can create smooth, curved contour lines from only-connected-on-the-diagonal single pixels. Look at the Super Mario World dolphin below, and compare it to the original source sprite below that: the results speak for themselves.

James Galea at The 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala performing a card trick that really shouldn't be possible.  You also might have to rewind a few times to see how he does the IQ test bit at the beginning.  Good stuff

I have watched bits and pieces of the biathlon events over the last week. I really liked the eye shield on one of the competitors that had a picture of an eye drawn on it. The .22's they use are pretty sweet too.  But could it be more exciting?  More... action packed?  You bet!

From what I have read, this is a test that is given to 2nd graders in other countries.  Can you switch the frogs from left to right in under 2 minutes?  The button in the lower left resets the game when, inevitably, you need to start over

If you can't figure it out, roll your cursor over this text for the answer.