Friday, September 26, 2008
Vehicles
24 Hour Air Traffic Around the World Blows Minds, Eyeballs
11:30PM Jesus Diaz | Here’s a video displaying all commercial air traffic in the world during a 24-hour period. Seriously, I’m moving to New York City tomorrow and seeing the flight density in this computer simulation scares me a bit. Thankfully, it’s a big planet with plenty of space to fly. But then, pilot friends tell me that sometimes they get close enough to wave at each other, so maybe it’s not as big as to accommodate the 7.4 billion passengers that will travel by air in 2020. [Zhaw via Dark Roasted Blend] More »
Design
Giant Light Like Shaped Like Spacecraft, Doesn’t Go Pew Pew
11:15PM Kit Eaton | This is a giant exterior light assembly that looks as angular as a stealth fighter, and bit like a Star Trek shuttlepod. By designer Jeroen Molenaar, it’s got some artistic merit and sure, it lights up outside places really nicely… but who cares? It’s a giant light fitting that looks like a spaceship, and that’s all you need to know. [Jeroenmolenaar via BBG] More »
Games
Pink Ribbon DS Lite Is an Insult to Cancer Funding
10:59PM Mark Wilson | To those who’d like to support a real world cause while defending the princess from Bowser’s latest kidnapping, this limited edition Pink Ribbon DS Lite raises money for the cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure. For every unit sold, Nintendo passes $US5 to the organisation. $US5!!! Whoa. That’s big money! More »
Networks
Google ‘Instant Bid’ Wireless Patent Could Threaten Cellular, Wi-Fi Providers
10:30PM John Herrman | If Android sputters out and fades away, Google might have another plan to shake up the phone industry. In a patent filed and 2007 and published this week, Google details plans for an “Instant Bid” system for dealing with wireless connections. The concept is pretty straightforward: devices broadcast their request for service, and available networks automatically return a list of price offers for that service. The system makes perfect sense for locations with competing Wi-Fi hotspots, but the application specifically talks about telecommunication devices. That’s where things get interesting. More »
Weapons
XM25 Carbine Kills Bad Guys Behind Walls, Beyond Hills, Below Trenches
10:00PM Jesus Diaz | This is the new XM25 Individual Air Burst Weapon. It looks straight out of the Marines’ gun locker in Aliens, and in fact, it can take out an Alien if they actually existed because, according to the US Army, it is capable of killing anyone behind walls, beyond hills or even below a trench. The XM25 is not just a concept: three prototypes will enter the final testing phase on the field next month, which means it could be deployed very soon. According to Christian at Defense Tech, even Army officials seem to be amazed at the firepower and precision of this weapon: More »
Peripherals
Griffin’s Simplifi iPhone Dock/Card Reader Isn’t a Crappy USB All-In-One Device
9:34PM Kit Eaton | For those of you who were skeptical of the Griffin AirCurve wire-free iPhone amplifier/dock thingy comes this USB dock that is a genuine neato solution. Dubbed “Simplifi,” for once it’s a product name that tallies with the product’s purpose: it’s a combined iPod/iPhone dock that has a CF card slot, a Memory Stick/SD/xD card slot and two powered USB ports. See how useful and clutter-reducing that’d be perched on your desk? It’s out now for $US69. [Griffin via Wired] More »
Science
2008 Science Visualisation Challenge: Amazing Images Show Science Like You Should
9:00PM Kit Eaton | The 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualisation Challenge has just concluded with some pretty astonishing imagery in the winning slots. This picture, dubbed “Glass Forest,” is a scanning electron micrograph of diatoms (weird unicellular algae) clinging to a marine worm, and won the photography category: to my eyes it looks half like a palm tree and half like a Star Trek effect. The illustration category winner is even more amazing. More »
Computers
MacBook Pro Automatically Self-Destructs in Time for Next Version
8:45PM John Herrman | Reader Mike Chung sent us these pictures of his MacBook Pro battery, which has almost failed for the second time? Why do I say almost? I mean, it’s clear that the battery has ballooned into some sort of slimy, Alien-like monstrosity. Well, apparently this battery is still alive and working. More »
Phones
Nokia Tube Launch Is Pretty Much Happening on October 2nd
7:40PM John Herrman | Reuters is claiming that the long, long-awaited Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Touchscreen “Tube” will be launched in London on October 2nd, according to their sources. This confirms the rumour that we floated Wednesday, when the first actual picture of the device surfaced. (It’s mostly screen. Surprise!). As with most of the glut of new touchscreen phones out there now, the key to Tube’s success as well as the most exciting part of the launch will probably be the device’s software, which is rumoured to be a touchscreen revision of the venerable Symbian S60 OS [Reuters] More »
Phones
