Page 13 - Technology Facts

There’s a Lucid-Dreaming Mask that helps you become lucid while dreaming!

So, the REM Dreamer is a European sleeping mask covering the eyes. It creates light cues like camera flashes, sunlight, car headlights, and other types of stimulants. It is the dreamer’s job to recognize the flashing lights as a dream sign and become consciously lucid by a pre-determined reality check. The sound and light cues are sequenced into the dream so that the dreamer becomes lucid.

Sleep experiments show that during REM sleep, dreamers move their eyes in the same direction as they do in their dreams. In fact, it was Dr Stephen LaBerge who famously did this to scientifically prove lucid dreaming in the 1980s. When lucid, he gave pre-determined eye signals to researchers in the outside world. The point of the experiment and the mask is to help the dreamer remember their dreams better and shorten the time needed to learn lucid dreaming. It’s sold for 147 Euros.

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Playstation 2 games were still coming out in December 2012!

Playstation 2 was first released in 2000; 13 years ago. The Sony manufactured video game console has sold over 150 million units. Then they came out with the Playstation 3 in 2006. Games continued to be developed and released for the Playstation 2 in December 2012. It wasn’t until January 4, 1013 that it was reported that all PS2 productions have ended worldwide. There were three models of the PS2 that didn’t make it out of Japan.

They continued to work on the product and added features with time, like the ability to play DVDs and encrypted playback software. Several other things were added and removed including the the iLink port that was removed and an infrared feature that was added. It’s pretty crazy that the PS2 lasted 12 years and was still turning out new games and making profit from it all. It’s the end of an era.

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Clocks used to be made out of candles!

A candle clock is a thin candle with consistently spaced markings, that when burned, indicate the passage of periods of time. They aren’t used today, but candle clocks provided an effective way to tell time indoors, at night, or on a cloudy day. They were pretty ingenious. Candle clocks could be easily transformed into a timer by sticking a heavy nail into the candle at the mark indicating the desired time. When the wax surrounding the nail melts, the nail clatters onto a plate below. It could also be a type of alarm clock.

You Jiangu's device candle clock consisted of six candles made from 72 pennyweights of wax, each being 12 inches high, of uniform thickness, and divided into 12 sections each of one inch. Each candle burned away completely in four hours, making each marking 20 minutes. The candles were placed for protection inside cases made of a wooden frame with transparent horn panels in the sides.

Similar methods of measuring time were used in medieval churches and earlier, famously by King Alfred the Great of England, first by counting the number of candles of a specific size burnt, and later by use of a graduated candle.

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The White House responded to a petition asking that the US build a Death Star. Spoiler alert: they said no.

One of the things that the Obama White House created when they took over in 2008 is "We The People," a website where people can create petitions and once enough signatures are gathered, the Obama team will look at it and respond. While that doesn't always happen, because some petitions are ridiculous or impossible, they decided to have some fun recently.

There was a petition in the site asking the US to build a Death Star. Yes the Star Wars Death Star. The petition got over the required amount of signatures, but most people thought it would go ignored. However, last Friday, the White House issued a response saying the US couldn't build a Death Star. Why? Well, here's the reasons they gave:

• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

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The fear of having no cell phone has a name!

You know the feeling. You suddenly pat your pants and can't feel your phone. You start to panic as you frantically look for it and you realize you left it at home. From that moment on, you're anxious about all the texts and calls you're missing out because you don't have it with you.

Researchers in the UK came up with a name for this fear: Nomophobia. It's an abbreviation for "no-mobile-phone phobia." The study, commissioned by YouGov found that 53% of mobile phone users in Britain tend to be anxious when they lose their phones, run out of battery, credit or have no coverage."

The study also compared the stress levels caused by nomophobia to those of wedding day jitters or going to the dentist. They also found that more than 50% of nomophobes NEVER switch off their phone. Are you a nomophobe? Let us know in the comments.

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