This Wonderful Guy Will Paint Whatever Picture You Ask For in MS Paint

If you want a picture of a dinosaur drawing people in an art class. Jim'll paint it for you in MS Paint. If you want a picture of Moby throwing ninja stars at a 'melancholic' badger wearing specific clothing in a specific situation. Jim'll paint it for you in MS Paint. Jim will basically paint you anything in MS Paint and they will always be incredible.

Jim, the wonderful artist behind this art project, fields ridiculous art requests from strangers and makes those descriptions come true in MS Paint. He doesn't use tablets, he doesn't touch anything up—it's just him and the funniest art medium of the 90's creating imaginative pieces that'll tickle your brain. Check out his work here.
The request: Please paint me the original Power Rangers MegaZord struggling to find space on a commuter train whilst watching ‘the Thick of it' on his iPad.

---

The request: Please paint me a picture of Brian Blessed riding a Henry hoover alongside D'n'B DJ Goldie on a Dyson. They are racing on the Mario kart level rainbow road and are both drunk on white ace cider.

---

I told you they were incredible. Jim obviously can't paint every single picture request but he does promise to consider them all. Get specific! Get weird! Get funny! Jim'll paint it for ya. [Jim'll Paint It via Laughing Squid

The Most and Least Repairable Tablets on the Market

The world is awash with tablets, but if you're a nerd who likes to tinker, it's important that you buy one that isn't too tricky to take apart, repair and upgrade. Fortunately, iFixit has released a list which ranks tablets according to their repairability.

Whenever iFixit tears apart a new piece of hardware, it notes how easy it is to strip and rebuild. This table summarizes that neatly. iFixit explains its scoring criteria:

A device with a perfect score will be relatively inexpensive to repair because it is easy to disassemble and has a service manual available. Points are docked based on the difficulty of opening the device, the types of fasteners found inside, and the complexity involved in replacing major components. Points are awarded for upgradability, use of non-proprietary tools for servicing, and component modularity.

The results? Those that want to get their hands dirty would be best served by giving the Surface Pro and the iPad mini a wide berth. Instead, they should hunt out a Dell XPS 10 or a humble Kindle Fire, which is also fairly hack-friendly to boot. Check out the full list by clicking on the image below or over at iFixit. [iFixit]

Pentagon’s Scariest Robot Can Now Hurl Cinder Blocks Your Way

Boston Dynamic's Big Dog was already one of the most advanced—and terrifying!—robots on the planet. Well, it just got scarier, because now it can accurately throw cinder blocks at you while on the march.

The robot, built by Army Research Laboratory Boston Dynamics, is designed to tramp across uneven terrain, and it does a good job of it. But now it's got an extra arm, which it can use to pick things up.

But it's not that straightforward: the robot coordinates the arm's movement with its legs and torso to really put its back into throwing objects, like the cinder block in this video. You don't want to get in the way. [Boston Dynamics]

Vint Cerf Dreams of an Internet That Connects Humans to Animals—and Aliens

If it weren't for the fact that Vint Cerf was the grandaddy of the internet, people might be pointing and laughing at him. In a TED discussion panel last night, about how technology is being used to communicate with animals, Cerf spoke freely about an internet that connects humans with animals and aliens.

But given his background, he's probably not far off the mark. From a TED blog post about the discussion panel, it appears Cerf uttered the following:

"Forty years ago we wrote the script of the internet. Thirty years ago we turned it on. We thought we were building a system to connect computers together. But we quickly learned that it's a system for connecting people.

"What's important about what these people are doing: They're beginning to learn how to communicate with species that are not us, but share a sensory environment. [They're figuring out] what it means to communicate with something that's not a person. I can't wait to see these experiments unfold.

"These interactions with other animals will teach us, ultimately, how we might interact with an alien from another world. I can hardly wait."

Of course, one man's lunacy is another's ambition—but knowing Cerf's track record, it seems likely that he's onto something. In which case, we can hardly wait either. [TED]

Image by Joi under Creative Commons license

The Pope Deserved a Better Leaving Gift Than This Comic Sans Photo Album

Officials at the Vatican were faced with a tough question when the Pope announced his retirement: what do you get God's Rottweiler as a leaving present?

Fortunately that question didn't trouble them for long, because the answer was so very, veryclear to them: his very own virtual photograph album! And, ladies and gentlemen, here it is, in all its glory.

Sadly, all the pictures in the world of the ex-Pope leading mass, kissing babies and wearing hats can't hide the fact that it seems like someone actually made it in the early 90s. This thing is a mess of textured backgrounds, comic sans, awful page turns, and a page jump feature that looks like it was coded by a child. Poor Pope; he deserved better than this. [Vatican via Verge via Ernie Smith]

If You’re Blaming Computer Problems on a Virus, You’re Probably Wrong

Next time a computer in your office is broken, chances are someone will blame it on a virus. But let's face it, most computer problems don't stem from viruses; they stem from dumb people.

Of course, it's easier to blame something than it is to understand a problem. That's natural; we all look for scapegoats to make ourselves feel better. It'd just be nice if people learned how to solve their problems rather than blaming them on something else they don't understand. 

This Kid Blew $2,500 on In-Game Purchases in Just 10 Minute

Shameless in-game purchases aimed at kids have been in the new recently. But this five-year-old kid spent more than most: he blew $2,500 on in-game junk in just 10 minutes. That's impressive.

The boy in question is Danny Kitchen. The game is Zombie v Ninja, which is "free" for download on iTunes. When he was playing on his folks' iPad one day, he asked for the iTunes password so he could download game. Danny's parents typed it in, saying they were reassured by the fact that the game was listed as being free, and left him to get on with playing the thing.

Danny then went in-app purchase crazy, buying stacks of the $100 in-game keys and weapon packs, and racking up an enormous credit card bill for his mom. "I was worried and I felt sad," said Danny, when he found out, adding: "I'm banned from the iPad now." Too right.

Apple has agreed to refund the money. While it's nice of Apple to do that, it would be nicer still if it stopped publishers putting abysmal, money-grabbing bundles of $100 crap in games aimed at children. [BBC]