After seeing "Jurassic Park" nine times in the theater, I not only exhausted my mother's patience for the movie, but also perfected one heck of a Velociraptor impersonation.

Much to the delight of my inner child (and perhaps yours), the visual-effects studio responsible for the realistic raptor costume in "Jurassic Park" released a rare video and story that reveals the creation process behind the costume. … Read more

How do you contain a leaky nuclear reactor when you can't find the leak? Send in the robots.

Japan continues to struggle with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was smashed in the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. It's radioactive and very dangerous. Decommissioning it will take decades.

Several robots and other tech are being thrown at the mess north of Tokyo, and Chiba Institute of Technology's Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo) is developing another. Sakura is a small recon bot on treads that's designed to get into the bowels of the plant.… Read more

Just got a third-gen iPad? Apple might be willing to exchange it.

In an unexpected move, Apple refreshed its 10-inch iPad today, leaving many third-generation iPad owners groaning at a suddenly subpar device.

Apple customers like Roger Cheng have (until now) slept soundly knowing that any Apple product purchased is the "latest and greatest" for at least one year. Today, Apple killed that notion.

Considering the fourth-generation iPad offers relatively incremental upgrades, not all iPad owners will be peeved. However, if you know you'll lose sleep over the iPad you purchased less than one month ago, you'… Read more

Among a slew of other product introductions today, Apple revealed the highly rumored iPad Mini.

In case you missed it, the pricing for the newly introduced iPad Mini starts at $329, and the device contains the same processor as the iPad 2 while sporting the cameras found in the iPad 3. It's like the two previous iterations of iPads had a baby.

The Mini's 7.9-inch screen offers a 1,024x768 resolution that displays 163 pixels per inch (ppi), far below the ultra-sharp Retina screen seen in the iPad 3 and the newly announced fourth-generation iPad. … Read more

Not content with a robot arm and a handyman on the International Space Station, ever-aggressive Canada is aiming for a bigger slice of the space pie with some new rover prototypes.

The Canadian Space Agency recently showed off the fleet of vehicles designed to inspire machines that will explore the moon and Mars.

They include mini-rovers that can act as scouts, as well as larger vehicles that could do double-duty as astronaut transporters. NASA is hoping to work with some of the vehicles, but the earliest that they would be aboard a mission to Mars or the moon would be 2020. … Read more

The day has finally come. Apple is delivering an iPad Mini with a starting price tag of $329.

The new device, a 7.9-inch version of the 10-inch iPad tablet, goes on sale Friday and ships on November 2, Apple announced from the California Theatre in San Jose, Calif. The $329 iPad Mini will have 16GB of storage and will be Wi-Fi only.

The industry has been speculating about the once-fabled tablet since 2009, even before Apple released the full-sized iPad. Despite the late Steve Jobs' insistence that consumers … Read more

The wait is finally over.

Apple today announced the long-awaited (and much-rumored) iPad Mini. The device, which is a smaller, slightly redesigned version of its larger slate, comes with a 7.9-inch screen and (of course) runs Apple's iOS 6 software.

The iPad Mini with 16GB of storage retails for $329. As with Apple's other tablets, the company is adding $100 for each 16GB in additional storage. The LTE options add an additional $130, pushing the highest iPad Mini price to $659.

The iPad Mini is 7.… Read more

Apple has unveiled a new, fourth-generation iPad.

The device, which comes with the familiar 9.7-inch Apple Retina display, ships with the A6X processor, doubling the current CPU and graphics power of the A5X available in the third-generation slate. In addition, Apple says that the tablet will have 10 hours of battery life, feature the Lightning connector, and boast FaceTime HD. There's even expanded LTE support.

The fourth-generation tablet, which replaces the slate the company announced earlier this year, starts at $499 with 16GB of storage. As before, $… Read more

Apple's tiny Mac Mini computer has become a bit more capable.

At an event today in San Jose, Calif., Apple said the revamped Mac Mini will have three USB 3 ports, dual or quad-intel Core i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge, with Intel HD Graphics 4000, and up to 16GB of RAM. It starts at $599 for a 2.5GHz computer with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive.

There's also a server edition for $999 that has a pair of 1TB hard drives. It ships today. … Read more