College

Hug Me Coat wraps its sad, warm arms around you

We've seen some unusual fashion statements around here before. There's a Wampa-skin dress and a jacket that collects rain, for example, but neither is quite as unusual or strangely unsettling as the Hug Me Coat.

The Hug Me Coat comes from Si Leong Chan, a London College of Fashion student. It's a bright green puffer coat with a row of hands with intertwined fingers running down the front. It gives the illusion of many martian arms grasping the model's torso.… Read more

Evernote, Moleskine debut techy Smart Notebook

Keyboards schmeyboards. Whatever happened to writing with stationary? Before we totally descend into a touchy-feely world of screens and buttons, at least the new can co-exist with the old through the Evernote Smart Notebook, made in collaboration with Italian paper company Moleskine.

Why would a couple of companies call a bunch of blank pages smart? … Read more

'Canopy' gives subway trains an outside view

Ever had the experience of being in a subway and feeling completely disconnected from the world outside? A group of British design students has dreamed up Canopy, a concept display system that would attach to the ceiling of an underground train to give passengers a picture of life above.

Canopy uses dynamic flexible "e-paper" display panels affixed to the interior of the train. As a train moves along its line, commuters get a view of passing landmarks, a sight that could definitely brighten a stodgy ride. (Then again, it could be a bit dispiriting to watch the world stroll happily down a breezy tree-lined street while you're stuck sweating in a crowded, stalled train.) … Read more

Cross your fingers: Bot lets superstition guide stock trades

Would you invest in a fund that bases its trades on the patterns of the moon? In a move unlikely to be espoused in any Business 101 class, lots of people already have.

They're sinking their dollars into the Superstitious Fund, a one-year experiment that invites the public to invest in the stock market via an uncanny trading algorithm. The automated bot trades live against the FTSE 100 index on the London Stock Exchange predicated purely on numerology and astrology. … Read more

A bicycle built for two: One person, one skeleton

We at CNET of course believe in the importance of science education -- and if going on a 1,000-mile bike ride with a life-size skeleton as a passenger helps more students get one, why, all the better.

Kadhim Shubber, a physics undergraduate at the high-ranking science-based Imperial College London, is currently riding the length of the British Isles to raise money for his school's Rector's Scholarship Fund. It's a long and sometimes tedious journey, but Shubber has constant company in the form of King Arthur, an artificial skeleton riding on the back of his Claud Butler racing tandem. … Read more

The 404 1,077: Where we scrape the Surface (podcast)

The mystery of the magic Microsoft device is finally solved, but what's with all the unanswered questions? In trying to add fuel to the Surface hype machine, Microsoft leaves too much to the industry's collective imagination as we all keep speculating about the tablets' battery life, release dates, prices, and UI experience.

The competition among tablets is still presently in favor of the iPad, so we're hoping that Microsoft has more compelling announcements in the future that integrate some of the company's other inventions.

Jeff and I always fight about which popular musician deserves credit for this generation's aural decay, but the Imperial College in London may have a solution to our problem: let computers compose the music!

A team of researchers believe that digital music can move beyond human creation and evolve autonomously without a real composer. They've developed a learning computer algorithm that continuously creates and combines loops in a random sequence.… Read more

The 404 1,061: Where we're in too deep (podcast)

Stupid Andy helps us round out the week before the three-day holiday, and our favorite way to pay tribute to the soldiers is by getting choked up at YouTube videos of soldiers reuniting with their dogs. The ones with their families are pretty good, too.… Read more

Oxford making scientific search for Yeti, Nessie

There are those who believe that Yetis exist, most especially Georgians.

All too often when these claims are investigated, though, they turn up a gorilla costume and a couple of rogues.

However, someone is finally bringing scientific credibility to the search not only for Yetis, but also the Loch Ness Monster and, for all I know, unicorns.

Oxford University's Wolfson College has decided to invite every human being in the world to send in samples of animals that appear to be something of a mystery. … Read more

Thiel's college dropout plan scrutinized by '60 Minutes'

Peter Thiel's plan to pay college students to develop their promising concepts instead of attending school is attracting students as well as critics.

Best known as a co-founder of PayPal, the Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur has also made early-stage investments in companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Yelp. Now he's investing in college students, awarding fellowships of $100,000 each to youth under 20 years old, essentially encouraging them to drop out of college to become entrepreneurs.

In an interview for tonight's "60 Minutes," Thiel tells Morley Safer that his program is a viable … Read more

Obama makes made-in-America pitch at N.Y. chip site

President Obama today made a campaign stop at a major chip research and manufacturing in hub in New York to reemphasize his made-in-America theme.

Obama visited the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany, State University of New York. CNSE is an education and research facility centered on nanotechnology.

The visit was intended to highlight "insourcing" and the connection between education, innovation, and manufacturing in supporting investment and bringing jobs back to the U.S.

The region is home to chipmakers IBM and Globalfoundries, the latter is in the final stages of constructing … Read more