NASA's Mars Opportunity rover falls on hard times

NASA's Mars Opportunity rover has already long outlasted its original 90 day mission, but it looks like the go-getter bot is now really starting to show its age, as NewScientist reports that problems with two key instruments have left the rover "crippled and blinded." As NewScientist points out, however, these latest issues are far from the first to plague Opporunity (and its counterpart, Spirit), and it's still suffering from a malfunctioning wheel and an "arthritic" robotic arm, both problems of which first cropped up in 2005. While NASA has currently suspended all work involving the rover's rock grinding tool and its infrared spectrometer, it's apparently hoping to get the spectrometer back up and running by shaking off some of the dust causing the problems, and at least one NASA official expects both rovers to keep "going for years more."

Halo 3 Scarab Toy is the Best Stroller Ever

If playing with Halo replica guns is quite beneath you, then check out this battle-damaged Halo 3 scarab. It measures 24 x 24 x 20 inches (large enough to put a small baby on), is covered in Covenant-purple paint, and is the biggest miniature that WizKids has ever made. In the game, it's "highly resistant to human and Covenant weapons", so don't go trying to use that replica gun on it. One lucky Comic-Con attendee got to walk away with this $250 replica. We could recommend using this as an actual stroller, but if some stroller company made one just like this, it'd make baby-having that much more enticing.

Source: WizKids