I realize that normally we devote our articles to products you can actually buy, but the story behind this man’s helicopter is flat-out amazing and inspirational to us all.

Wu Zhongyuan is a 20 year old farmer who, ever since he was a child, dreamed of not needing to climb mountains anymore. It would appear that he found his remedy by creating his own flying machine. Wu used principles that he learned in middle-school physics and other relevant knowledge by surfing the Internet on a mobile phone to create this helicopter.

The blades are made from Elm tree wood, and a motorcycle engine provides the power. The frame is reinforced with steel pipes, and he claims that his single-seat copter can fly up to 2,600 feet! Believe it or not, he assembled this DIY helicopter for just $1,600.

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It’s cool enough to have holograms, but what if you could actually touch them? This was a project that some researchers at the University of Tokyo took on, and have achieved some interesting results.

You can watch a video of what they have done after the jump, but here is a quick summary. First, they used two Wiimotes (yes, Wiimotes) to track a holographic object in realtime and space. So when that hand that you see in the picture tries to dribble that tiny ball, it responds like a real superball would.

Ultrasounds are then given so the hand can actually “feel” the impact. Experiements have shown that the ultrasounds can disrupt things from a distance, and if focused properly, they can create a sense of touch. At the end of the video is that hand underneath some raindrops, and it can apparently “feel” them.

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You see that picture of the devil picking his nose? Believe it or not, it was not constructed by human hands.

I’m not saying that it was made with the hands of Angels and Demons, because hopefully they would make something better than that. No, it was made on Shapeways 3D fabrication service which allows “stainless steel printing”.

Of course, 3D printers are really nothing new. This is the first time one has been created that uses stainless steel instead of plastic. It manages to print metal objects layer upon layer, provided the proper shape is given with an 3D modeling program like CAD or CAM.

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Acer to launch world's first Atom based Android Netbook

Since the launch of the Google G1 smart phone running Android, there has always been talk that Android could be a great mobile platform for small notebooks. And with the popularity of Netbooks being sky high – the most popular selling computers so far this year – there has been talk that sooner or later, there will be an Android driven netbook on the market. And it looks like Acer is goin’ for it in a huge way.

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Jay Leno uses 3D gadgets to replace obsolete parts in his car collection.

Jay Leno is more than just a former host of the tonight show, or even a stand up comic. Jay is a car nut, and his has quite an impressive collection of automobiles from sports cars to trucks, to even tank like vehicles which are hybrids. But Jay also has some very old original automobiles with engines that have no replacement parts. And when one recently went down for good, it looked as if one of his cars would never run again. Then he got the idea to use a computer and 3D printer to make his own replacement parts. And it worked.

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When Polymer Vision first announced their flexible e-paper Readius, it definitely caught the attention of those attending Mobile World Congress of 2008. Unfortunately, it failed to appear in the market before its projected November 2008 release date.

Sadly, Polymer Vision went bankrupt on July 7th, and they have recently laid off over 50 jobs at their Southampton location. I’m not certain that we have the economy to blame for all of this, as e-readers such as the Kindle and their recent versions have been dominating the e-reader market.

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We’ve seen a lot of changes in traditional film since the rise of digital film, including the discontinuation of Polaroid instant film. Now, here comes another one: Kodak has announced that they are ending production on Kodachrome film.

If you’ve never heard of Kodachrome, you should know that it is a film that uses a fine grain and warm colors. There are several pictures taken with Kodachrome that are considered landmarks today. Some of you might remember a green-eyed Afghan refugee girl with a hypnotic gaze on the cover of a 1985 National Geographic. That was a Kodachrome pic, as was a very famous photo taken of the Kennedy assassination.

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MLB at bat will stream live ball games to your iPhone or iPod. Batter up.

Major League Baseball has given the green light for an iPhone application which will allow live streaming of baseball games. Called MLB at bat, the application takes full advantage of the new streaming capability of the iPhone 3.0 software, will cost around $10 and will work on both the iPhone or iPod Touch.

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