Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Gadgets
Chocolate Swiss Army Knife, For When Giving Up Is the Best Tool for the Job
11:45PM Mark Wilson | It won’t clip your toenails. It won’t skin a rabbit. It won’t slice rope, repair a canoe or tweeze out a splinter, and it’s not going to do a damn thing to get that fallen boulder off your chest. But when the chips are down and all hope is lost, a hazelnut chocolate bar isn’t the worst multi-function tool to have at arm’s reach—though tequila might be our first choice. [Swiss Knife Shop via GeekAlerts] More »
Business
The Quiet Man Who May Become Apple King
11:30PM Jesus Diaz | Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky has written a fascinating article on Tim Cook, the quiet Apple’s Chief Operating Office unknown by most of the public, but a key member of the Dream Team that helped Steve Jobs to turn the company around during its dark ages. Why now? I can’t help to think that this is related to Steve Jobs’ potential farewell and Apple’s future transition of power. But while that’s probably my tinfoil hat in action, Lashinsky asks himself the same question I did: Can Cook become Apple’s CEO? Reading the events and third-party comments portrayed in his article, it feels like this may very well be the case. More »
Science
Fuel Cells To Go Bendy, Fit Inside Gadget Corners
11:15PM Kit Eaton | Fuel cell tech is literally just around the corner from being inside many of our gadgets, and with this new design it could allow for some unusually-shaped gizmos. A company called MyFC is showing these bendy, flexible hydrogen-powered cells that can be draped over the interior curved surfaces of a gadget in a way that is tricky with current battery tech. The FuelCellSticker devices are just 3mm thick and weigh only 5.7 grams, and can put out 0.5V at 0.9W, though you’d stack them for more volts. There’s also a more conventional-shaped model, and the company is starting to make them to order. Clever stuff. [Crunchgear] More »
Vehicles
Awkward Piaggio Tricycle Could Be First Mass-Produced Plug-in Hybrid
10:45PM John Herrman | You know that plug-in hybrid revolution everyone keeps talking about? Well, apparently this is what it is going to look like. If Piaggio keeps its word, the first mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle will be an updated version of its MP3 scooter, identical to its older brother in nearly every way except for its powertrain. The company claims that the paired engine and motor will let this backwards trike cover over 225km on a gallon of gas, and launch it to 100kph in an amazing five seconds. More »
Vehicles
Handmade Scythe Car Looks Like a Toy, is KITT-like Computerised
10:30PM Kit Eaton | It may look like one of the wilder fantasy toy cars you used to play with all those years ago, but Scythe is nothing like a toy when you look at its stats. Two steering wheels, twin-supercharged 1,005 horsepower engine, composite body handmade by Galpin Auto Sports, backwards rotating door design and a 3G-connected Shuttle PC inside. This handles realtime traffic and weather monitoring, and is voice activated for some KITT-like chatting car action. There’s even a set of flush-mounted external security cameras. OK, so that does make it sound a lot like a toy, but it’s a toy for fast-driving grown-up kids. [Jalopnik] More »
Weapons
US Air Force Abandoned Nuclear Bomb in Greenland
10:00PM Jesus Diaz | The US government plotted to hide the fact that they were constantly flying nuclear-armed B-52 bombers over Greenland during the 1960s, the BBC has discovered in a recent investigation. The operation, called Chrome Dome, was designed to instantly respond to the Soviet Union if the latter launched a nuclear missile attack against Thule, a US Air Force base strategically placed near the North Pole. The Pentagon believed that this could potentially start a full-scale thermonuclear war, so they kept the birds in the sky at all times as a deterrent against Moscow. It was a “good” plan, until one of them crashed on January 21 1968. More »
Software
VMware Pushing Virtual Machines for Smartphones, Will Support Parallel OSes
9:56PM John Herrman | VMware, which consumers know mostly for their Fusion desktop virtualisation software, is moving into the mobile space, albeit surreptitiously. The company has announced VMware MVP, a thin layer of software that will interface between handsets’ hardware and operating system, allowing for a standardised development platform across any handsets that include it. What does this mean for regular consumers? For now, not much. If the tech finds enough support for hardware vendors, though, the consequences could be major. More »
Peripherals
Grooveneo iPhone Clock Dock Good For Wake-Ups, Myopia
8:39PM Kit Eaton | We’ve seen iPhone/iPod alarm-clock docks before, but something about the simplicity of the Cygnett Grooveneo’s design struck me. Could be that massive LED display like the best of 1980’s radio-alarms, could be the sleek curved edges. It’s got 2.75-inch stereo speakers, iPod dock connector, integrated AM/FM tuner, alarm function and you can even wake to proper 1980’s radio alarm buzzer sound. It’s touch-controlled, and has a remote, and it’s out now for $US90. [TFTS] More »
Phones
Nokia Mobile Millennium Turns Your GPS Phone Into a Traffic Reporter
7:57PM John Herrman | Nokia, in collaboration with UC Berkeley, has opened a six-month pilot program for Mobile Millennium, a crowdsourced traffic reporting system that grabs data from GPS-equipped mobile phones. The Mobile Millennium client will work on any Java-capable GPS phones with a data plan, so the hope is that adoption would be wide enough to provide useful, real-time traffic data to potential travelers. More »
Screens
