Disney now has autonomous Stuntronics stunt-robots designed to perform during live shows

Disney has a lot of things that we’re fond of. Cartoon lions. Superheroes. Jedi. Pirates. As well as all manner of other awesome stuff, which are far too numerous to mention here. And now they’ve got robot stuntmen, who might take the place of human performers during live shows at Disney properties. There’s a whole backstory of the now-autonomous robots, right down to their origins as the BRICK (Binary Robotic Inertially Controlled bricK) through to the Stickman and on to the current, weirdly human-seeming stuntman — see the history at the link below. We can totally see these guys getting some use as stuntmen in Marvel movies at some point as well.

Source: TechCrunch

Here’s a prototype ‘smartphone airbag’ that we can totally get behind

If you’ve ever dropped a brand-new phone towards concrete you know the sinking feeling you get as it falls, just before your reflexes kick in and you whack it into the nearest wall. What you need is this smartphone airbag, designed by German engineering student Philip Frenzel. It detects when the phone is falling and pops out a set of spring-loaded bumpers on the corners of the device. The design and shape of the so-called airbag keeps the phone from ever hitting the floor. Should save a few screen repairs. You can catch a demo video at the link below and you should also keep an eye on Kickstarter. A crowdfunding campaign will be starting soon.

Source: DesignBoom

Jim Carrey to be Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie?

We… can see this working. There’s going to be a Sonic the Hedgehog film, which is set to be a combination of live action and CGI, and they’re still casting actors at this point. One of those actors, for the part of Dr. Robotnik (or Dr. Eggman), is possibly going to be comedian Jim Carrey. It’s not confirmed as yet but Carrey as Sonic’s main villain… kind of works for us. Even if we’re a little hesitant about the idea of a Sonic The Hedgehog film in the first place.

Source: Deadline

As expected, Samsung’s going to be revealing the Note 9 on 9 August

Recently we did a roundup of what we knew about the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. During the reports, we mentioned that Samsung was said to be considering 9 August for a reveal and that we were just waiting for the usually-cryptic invitation. The invitation has arrived and the 9 August date has been confirmed. The cryptic bit, though? The close-up view of a gold edge and a button, which is revealed in a teaser video to be part of the view of the Note 9’s stylus. If this is going to be one of the Note’s colour options, we’re a little… surprised. We’re looking forward to the full reveal next month, though.