For whatever reason, designer Haishang Deng thinks that his centipede-inspired Chameleon Truck is the perfect next-generation truck. With its segmented body that can fit multiple sizes and its front-loading system—with a cockpit that lifts to open a big hungry mouth—he says that it will save time, ground personnel and money. Whatever. All I know is that if I see this on the rearview mirror, I will engage the TurboBoost. [Yanko Design]
A 57-year-old man was sentenced to a year’s probation for threatening to blow up Brisbane, Australia with his TV remote. Geoffrey Fryatt’s drunken stunt prompted Australia to declare a state of emergency in the city, send in paramilitary police to pelt Fryatt with rubber bullets and arrest him. Fryatt expressed concerns that probation would interfere with his trip overseas to do humanitarian aid work. Hmmm, a bit ironic? [Reuters]
Three of the 5 undersea cables cut by Gozilla, Jaws, Captain Nemo’s Ghost, Namor the Submariner, and the Coppertone Baby are scheduled to be repaired this weekend. That is all. [Reuters]
Neatorama has a great feature on the evolution of tech company logos, from the really stylised and arty logos of the early 1900s (for companies that have been around that long), to the colourful and shiny Web 2.0 logos of today. A pretty crazy example is Japan’s Canon, which was originally named Kwanon, after the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Mercy. A much less interesting evolution belongs to Google, whose logo looks as elementary school short bus now as it did when the company first launched. Head on over to see how Microsoft, Apple, LG and more evolved to what it is today. [Neatorama]
The PSP is nice enough to hold, especially compared to the boxy DS Lite, but wouldn’t it be better if it were even nicer? Like, Dualshock/Sixaxis nice? Now you can get this Flexible Hand Grip Advance Pad and make that dream come true. Sure, the bulk added doesn’t really justify the slight comfort improvement from the grips, but if you’ve got huge man hands that cramp up with a little portable, this is totally worth it. [visavis via Famitsu via Kotaku]
Ahh, DRM. The bane of online existence. Your days could well be numbered, at least in the eBook sense, with online eBook retailer eReader announcing that they will be releasing more than 17,000 books for sale without DRM restrictions.
The site made the decision after it realised that non-DRM’d books from unknown authors were actually selling better than DRM’d books from famous authors. Makes sense to us, now all we need is for someone to explain all that to the people in the music industry.
And no, that’s not the National Australia Bank’s tradeshow (which would make sense that Apple wasn’t attending, I guess). Instead, it’s the National Association of Broadcasters tradeshow, being held in Vegas in April. Traditionally, Apple has a huge stand and uses it as an opportunity to launch something big on the software side – think Final Cut Studio and Soundtrack Pro.
Apparently their decision to withdraw is part of an overall strategic plan to attend less tradeshows this year. Anuj Nayar, senior manager of PR at Apple said: “Apple is participating in fewer trade shows this year. Often there are better ways to reach our customers. The increasing popularity of our retail stores and Apple.com Web site allows us to directly reach more than 100 million customers around the world in innovative new ways.”
Considering the fact that Apple is building one of their flagship retail stores in Sydney at the moment, plus the fact that they just launched photo book printing for Australians through iPhoto, I guess that means they’re really working hard to bring full iTunes functionality, with TV shows and movie rentals, to Aussie shores in the next few months? Am I dreaming? Yeah, I know… But at least the iPhone’s coming this year. Isn’t it, Apple? Isn’t it?
[Macenstein – Thanks Mike!]
Often when we encounter these super deluxe home theater rigs, we can’t figure out where all that money goes. Not so for the Kipnis Studio Standard, the austere name Jeremy Kipnis gave to his US$6 million trial home theater, one he’s happy to reproduce for any other way-too-well-off citizen who asks. I mean, yeah, it’s totally ridiculous, but with 8.8 channels of surround sound, 16 subwoofers and video resolution four times as tight as 1080p, at least you see where your some rich dude’s money is going.
This is NOT what your girlfriend wants for Valentine’s DayIf you were slightly confused and thought that she’d love it, you deserve the inevitable slap
Modu Mobile Phone Changes Functions With JacketsNot the best headline the US has ever written, but self-explanatory when you see the pics
Guitar Rising for Real Guitar HeroesEarn points while learning to become Eddie Van Halen? Sign me up!
Google Phone Prototype to be shown at World Mobile Congress Next WeekIt looks like the Androids are about to be unleashed… sorry.
RIAA wants your Anti-Virus software to screen your downloads for pirated contentWouldn’t it just be easier if they destroyed everybody’s computer?
Solar energy is great in theory, but the problem is that panels need to face the sun, which is frequently behind clouds or shining down at some less-than-optimal angle. The solution? Put solar panels in space, of course! Duh!
