McKinley Noble

More than anything, the ambition of the military's top scientists has to be admired. From advanced remote-controlled robots to sonic cannons to laser beams, weaponized combat is starting to look less like Call of Duty and more like the Halo franchise. Now, the U.S. Navy is taking a bold step into the explosive future with electricity, or more specifically, massive electromagnetic railguns.

Wired UK and Gizmag bring news that BAE Systems' multi-year EM railgun project is finally in more advanced testing stages, with a brand-new prototype that can fire a payload more than eight times faster than the speed of sound. For context, Wired UK tells it to us in impressive-yet-frightening numerical detail.

New life might be waiting just around the corner, as a brand-new "super-Earth" was recently discovered by a team of astronomers from UC Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

As PhysOrg.com reports, the planet is roughly 4.5 times larger than our own Earth and orbits host star GJ 667C, an M-class dwarf star in a triple-star system. Even more interesting is the fact that despite the abundance of suns, the planet is at a perfect distance from its host star, perhaps at just the right distance that people could live there. With that many suns in the planet's skyline each day, it's surprising that it can support life in the form of water -- but then again, even Tattooine manages moisture, and it's mostly a desert world.

Last year, the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the German Aerospace Center created the "Rollin' Justin" robot, a technical marvel that could catch a ball through a mix of precision, user input, and motion sensors. It proved to be a success, but there's only so much research you can do with a single-function robot. Enter "Agile Justin," the counterpart machine that can pitch a ball with a great deal of finesse.

Huffington Post relayed video footage of the two robots in action, as each unit showed off their respective skills in a short game of catch. It's a neat thing to watch in terms of mechanical detail, especially when you consider that each robot has to mimic the hand-to-eye coordination required for a seemingly simple thing. Researcher Berthold Baumi breaks it down in more technical detail in his write-up of the team's "Justin" programs.

Eventually, the time will come when mankind can fully replace archaic foot-powered bicycles with the electric variety. Boxx Corporations clearly wants the same thing, as their stylish take on charged two-wheel travel is getting ready to roll into production, along with making the necessary rounds on the trade show and exhibition circuits. For a cool $3995 and some change, you can buy one of the first models and even slap a coat of "hot rod" red paint on your new eco-friendly ride.

In fact, it might be more accurate to call the Boxx a miniature electric motorcycle instead of an electric bicycle. According to the specs, it tops out at a pretty speedy 35 miles per hour, which is just fast enough to get you a ticket in most city areas. Considering that the entire thing's only a meter tall, that's pretty good speed in relation to the Boxx's diminutive size. Speaking of which, it's apparently a lot sturdier than it looks despite being so small -- the Boxx's aluminum build can support even the bulkiest drivers, up to 300 pounds of weight. Then again, weighing 300 pounds might be a good excuse to get out the old "foot pedal" bicycle anyway.

Despite all the advances in mobile technology, even the best cell phones can't sustain a charge all night. (Especially not when you're calling, texting, and web surfing all at once.) In particular, bars and pubs are notorious for customers that abuse wall sockets and bartenders' stations for a quick charge.

But one day, the Juicebox might change things for the better. According to Mashable, this new brand of charging station has been in the prototype testing stages for a few weeks in the New York bar scene. They're easy to use, sleek-looking, and can charge just about any model cell phone that exists, displaying some impressively accessible technology.

At a time, one of the PlayStation Vita's biggest selling points was a "Remote Play" feature that would essentially allow people to play any PlayStation 3 title on the shiny new handheld. As it turns out, the feature is maddeningly restricted to a paltry selection of games (Peggle? Bejeweled 2? Really?), which is carefully managed by a series of mandatory firmware updates. However, a hacked version of the PS3's 3.55 firmware highlights a very interesting loophole.

Joystiq reports that the hack actually reclassifies the PS Vita as a "mobile phone" rather than a gaming system, enabling Remote Play to recognize quite a few higher-profile games. If such a thing can be done with the 3.55 version of the PS3's firmware, there's no reason to think that the hacker and homebrew collective won't be able to catch up to later versions. (Currently, the latest version of the PlayStation 3's system software update is 4.00.)

Sure, we could argue all day about where the Star Wars franchise went off the rails, but there's really no point. Now that 3D has become Hollywood's new excuse for repurposing old films, we're all going to have to suffer together as Lucasfilm re-re-releases The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. But if you want to see a vastly better movie right from the comfort of your home or office, there's always Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut.

In case you missed things the first time around, the Star Wars Uncut project has been in the works since 2009, when web developer Casey Pugh recreated a website where people could upload fan-made 15-second clips from Star Wars IV: A New Hope.

Exactly what amount of money would you be willing to pay for a one-of-a-kind, custom-made Nintendo Entertainment System... PC? No, it's not just a PC tower with an NES shell slapped on the outer plating -- it's a rewired system that actually uses the gaming system's inputs as computer ports. Hardware wizard James Regan recently posted an extensive rundown of the project on the Retro Collect forums, describing how Regan built the entire kit.

Having your iPhone handy while on the road often requires a complicated set of docking accessories or a variety of cables, adding more hardware to your dashboard than you might want to deal with. Colorado company Devium wants to make things a little simpler with its sleek-looking car stereo system, the Dash. It's custom-made to fit the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, while the complementing app seems geared towards eliminating extra transmitter wires or the need for an external radio.

In fact, the only dial on the Dash controls the volume. You can access everything else via the touchscreen on your iPhone, and the stereo system both amplifies the audio and charges the iDevice.

NOTE: Naturally, greenpois0n is getting smashed on traffic right now, but here's a fully working Absinthe A5 mirror link.

Apple's restrictive settings for your A5 iDevices are officially a thing of the past. Hacker team "greenpois0n" has just released a working Mac version of Absinthe A5, an easy tool that will successfully jailbreak your iPhone 4S or iPad 2. Of course, it can be used for a number of other iOS gadgets, which means that you'll be able to use some features not normally available on those phones and tablets.

Although CES didn't exactly signal the advent of Windows 8, the touchscreen-centric OS is definitely on quite a few developers' minds. Of course, until the complementing tablets finally come out of hiding, everyone else is left twiddling their thumbs. But if you happen to have special access to the preview version of the system software, you can simply create your own Windows 8 tablet -- from spare parts, no less.

As shown over at Instructables, one tech-savvy modder turned an old-looking Toshiba laptop into a working Windows 8 tablet with little more than a screwdriver, tape, some glue, and a couple small planks of wood to give everything some breathing room.

Describing musician "MrQuintron" is a little tricky. Not only does he engage in old covers of obscure music and the occasional puppet music video, but he's apparently a savvy gadget wizard. Laughing Squid highlights that much being evident by the "Singing House", a year-long project that creates unique sounds out of weather patterns.

Described as an exercise in musical innovation, Quintron states that the noises created by the network of drone synthesizers strewn around this suburban dwelling does more than just produce lucid tunes. Holistic healing and mental relaxation come as a beneficial side effect to the Singing House, producing an atmosphere that's similar to that of white noise generators. In this house, everything from the sunrise to rain showers to a subtle breeze is picked up by the drone technology, where the input is then reprocessed into random music.