It’s a bird, it’s a plane, nope, it’s Liquid Robotic’s four Wave Gliders on a mission to snag the Guinness World Record for longest distance traveled on Earth by an automaton. Setting out today from the San Francisco Bay, the autonomous sea-faring crafts will travel far and wide to gather data about the world’s oceans. Powered by the water’s movement, the vessels are fuel-free, using “flapping” wings to move forward without human command. Tricked out with various solar-powered sensors, the robots can capture location, weather, temperature, wave height, barometric pressure and more throughout their travels. The 198.4 pound machines cost between 0,000 and 0,000 each depending on how many sensors are built-in — a small price for scientists or commandeering pirates hoping to learn more about the 95 percent of ocean that has yet to be explored. Let’s just hope they don’t run into one of these guys.

Wave Glider robots set out to explore the seven seas, break the Guinness record originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the biggest obstacles that prevents electric cars and other vehicles from becoming mainstream is the insufficient battery life. In most cases, potential buyers of those green vehicles are scared off by the fact that there still aren’t enough charging stations out there or that the travel distance (on a single charge) is just too short.

But many companies are working on the battery problem, and one of them apparently is Sanyo. Today the company issued a press release in which it claims one of its lithium-ion battery “systems” helped an electric vehicle to drive exactly 555.6km (345 miles) from Tokyo to Osaka – on a single charge. The car in question is a special version of the Daihatsu Mira (whose non-electric original is widely considered to be “green”, too).

Sanyo says they used a total of 8,320 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, which the company usually sells to laptop makers and such, to power the vehicle. The Mira actually drove those 555.6km back in November last year, but it took Guinness World Records a while to officially recognize the journey as the longest ever for an e-car.

Ever since Swype (an alternative keyboard for touchscreens which has users drag paths through the letters of a word rather than tap them out individually) debuted at TechCrunch 50, I’ve been asked the same question a near-regular basis: is it really any faster than just typing words the old fashion way?

Well, it’s apparently fast enough for a Guinness World Record.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

#BeatCancer, a charitable campaign that launched at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo, started making its way around the social Web last week. The goal was to set a new Guinness World Record for the most social mentions in a 24-hour period while raising cash for cancer organizations. Users were asked …

Originally posted at Webware

What’s the longest you’ve ever played GTA IV? A couple of hours, maybe? That’s a shame, since the official Guinness World Record currently stands at 28 hours. “Currently” is the operative word, since a 26-year-old man is currently attempting to break said record.

The beauty of it is that you can follow the man’s exploits live on Ustream. It’s pretty much just a guy playing GTA IV, so not exactly must-see-TV.

One of the people in the video has an Arsenal shirt on, so that’s neat.

All of us here wish the man nothing but the best of luck in his future endeavors.

And I sincerely hate to use the same pic as Destructoid did, but it’s just too perfect not to use.

We always try our best to keep a positive mental attitude on The 404, so it makes sense that we’ve chosen The Hold Steady’s latest album, “Stay Positive,” as today’s Audio Draft Pick. We also run through the accidental video game archive, shame the Guinness World Records, and warn our listeners about open manholes, literally.

Today’s “Best Web site you’ve never seen” award goes to Derek Yu’s Accidental Video Game Porn Archive that showcases sexual innuendos found in your favorite video games. It’s an easy way to waste a few hours at work. They’re all hilarious, but this Menage a Kong has got to be one of my favorites, with this Star Fox violation in a close second. I also like that Derek and I share the same last name–this Web site is totally something a Yu would do. Nice job, cuz!

We don’t wag our fingers as much, but we have to scold the Guinness World Records for this record-breaking fail. One of the entries on its Web site awards the “Most Individuals Killed in a Terrorist Act” to the terrorists behind the attack on the World Trade Center towers and even invites viewers to “break this record.”

Instead of immediately taking down the award, Guinness World Records compounded the fail by threatening legal action on the ICanHaz network for posting a screengrab that features the Guinness World Record logo without proper authorization. If that isn’t a case of corporate cowardly B.S., I don’t know what is. Daps to Fail Blog for their hilarious response complete with a Rick Roll at the end!

The Hold Steady's "Stay Positive".

(Credit: Last.FM/The Hold Steady)

Jeff’s pick for today’s “Audio Draft,” sponsored by Beck’s Beer in conjunction with Last.FM, is Brooklyn local band The Hold Steady. In our own words, these guys sound like the aural lovechild of Bruce Springsteen, Social Distortion, Joe Strummer, and Billy Joel. The music combines various instruments (banjos, organ, piano, theremin) to produce a jamming rock theme, and then adds gruff vocals with epic storytelling lyrics to complete the circle.

The band’s latest album, “Stay Positive,” keeps the party going with a steady balance of hilarious stories from the road (“Sequestered in Memphis”) and heartbreaking admissions of love lost, but not forgotten (“Lord, I’m Discouraged”). Check out the entire discography and let us know what you think in the comments!

(Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET News and Reviews.)

EPISODE 381

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Originally posted at The 404