These don't have to be limited to just RoboBees. The algorithm could be used for more than just pollination. Think about it. Build anything of the appropriate size to autonomously go out and collect $RESOURCE, return with a load, refuel itself and go back out. Some cursory self-defense, like hazard evasion, would be nice. Throw in some networked communication to help with discovery of sources and you have a very efficient way to accumulate stuff.

Should no help be forthcoming in this thread, your question would make a fine "Ask Slashdot" submission. :)

I bought a few call contracts on Apple for cheap not long ago. The spot price is rapidly approaching my strike price. Everybody just keep saying "Apple" and "$1 Billion" for the next week or so...

Holy crap that never happens.

Netflix had an opportunity to transform their business and their clientele but chose instead to overreact. They should have slowly phased out DVD-by-mail by paring down the available DVD catalog in favor of streaming offerings without charging their customers higher fees. I personally would not have been offended by having to stream a show or a movie because it was no longer offered as a DVD. I might have been disappointed that Blu-Ray was no longer an option for certain things but doubt I would have quit as a subscriber over that. They took exactly the wrong action: cut down my options and ask me to pay double. Instant ragequit.

GP was obviously being sarcastic.
No way! Really?

Thought that was sarcasmny

There seems to be some confusion in the thread. This isn't some new/offbeat method to generate power. It's an old/offbeat method to store power. Many power plants use methods for storing power when demand is low. Most pump water uphill and use the potential energy to meet a rising demand. Some efficiency is lost but it allows them to keep generating power (read cash) until the power can be sold. On a side note: Utilities count the stored power as actual assets on their balance sheets.

That's just what we need. A full on 3D printer roundup and jamboree. Judge them all for build quality, cost, reliability, cost of material, scope of products, speed....you name it. Best 3d Pinter gets to be the King of Ars Tecnicha for a day. We can even give out 3D printed printers to everyone who attends.

By and large they speak Farsi in Iran. Saying they don't speak Arabic is like saying we don't speak Spanish in America.

when the self destruct sequence starts. I mean there's a self destruct measure built in, right?....you know to scuttle the thing?...in case it gets captured....oh nvm...jeez

..and their revenues were up 65% for the quarter.
There was no need to raise their prices the way they did.
I got plenty of other options. Fuck em.

Morgan Freeman
David Attenborough
Mike Rowe
Patrick Stewart
...would all probably be universally accepted.

Unacceptable:
Bobcat Goldthwait
Almost anyone from Pulp Fiction ( Christopher Walken, Steve Buschemi, John Travolta....Sammuel Jackson's voice might not be bad.)
Chairman Kaga
Marlon Brando
...you add some more...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matsushita-Panasonic-Model-JA-751-8-Floppy-Drive-/370528490698?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item56453814ca
I imagine that movie cameras as welll will be available though ebay or similar for a long ling time to come.