Gizmodo Australia » awesome

We’re Looking For A Night Editor

Nick Broughall — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:08:29 +0000

If you like getting up really early, know heaps of stuff about gadgets and games and happen to be studying some kind of journalism or media degree, we’ve got the perfect job to get you into the industry.

Essentially, we’re looking for a Gizmodian to work as a night editor across Giz, Kotaku and Lifehacker, editing all that US content for the Australian audience. You’ll need to get up before the birds, starting at 4am Tuesday to Saturday. You’ll need to be awesome, and you’ll need to love your technology and games, because ultimately that’s what you’ll be covering.

Hit up the Seek ad at the bottom of the post for more info.

[Seek]

Star Wars/Macguyver Mashup Just Makes Sense

Adam Frucci — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:40:00 +0000

Call me crazy, but if Star Wars was a Macgyver-style drama on network TV in the 1980’s, I think it would have been an even bigger entertainment phenomenon. I mean, this is awesome. [Thanks, Audrius]

Guy in Chain Mail Faraday Suit Takes Star Wars Tesla Coil Music To the Next Level

John Mahoney — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:50:00 +0000

If you didn’t think Star Wars Tesla Coil music even had multiple levels of greatness, I give you this: a guy conducting the Imperial March with Palpatine zaps from his fingers.

Can anyone explain to me how you program a Tesla Coil to do this? [YouTube]

The Beatles: Rock Band To Be A Global Launch

Nick Broughall — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:03:18 +0000

Something that wasn’t made terribly clear by the US post on the upcoming Beatles: Rock Band game is that it’s going to be released globally on September 9 this year. That means Australia as well. If you don’t believe me, check out the press release:

APPLE CORPS LTD., MTV AND HARMONIX ANNOUNCE “THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND,” WORLDWIDE RELEASE SET FOR 9/9/09

New York, NY – March 5, 2008 – Apple Corps, Ltd., Harmonix and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today announced the 9/9/09 worldwide release of The Beatles: Rock Band. The music-based video game, an unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of The Beatles, will be available simultaneously worldwide in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other territories for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ home videogame console from Nintendo.

The Beatles: Rock Band will allow fans to pick up the guitar, bass, mic or drums and experience The Beatles extraordinary catalogue of music through gameplay that takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band’s legendary career. In addition, The Beatles: Rock Band will offer a limited number of new hardware offerings modeled after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr throughout their career.

The Beatles: Rock Band will be offered as standalone software and hardware as well as a limited edition bundle. The game will be compatible with all Rock Band instrument controllers and other current music-based video game peripherals.

Available on 9/9/09:

The Beatles: Rock Band Software – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $US59.99 MSRP
The Beatles: Rock Band Standalone Guitars – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $US99.99 MSRP
The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle: Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $US249.99 MSRP

Please note: Pricing outside of the US to be announced at a later date.

The Beatles: Rock Band marks the first time that Apple Corps, along with EMI Music, Harrisongs Ltd, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, has agreed to present The Beatles music in an interactive video game format. Published by MTV Games and developed by Harmonix, the world’s premier music video game company and creators of the best-selling Rock Band ®, the game was creatively conceived with input and full blessing from Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. Electronic Arts will serve as distribution partner for the game. In addition, Giles Martin, co-producer of The Beatles innovative LOVE album project, is providing his expertise and serving as Music Producer for this groundbreaking Beatles project.

Exclusive content created by Apple Corps, MTV Games and Harmonix will be made available to fans over the next few months who participate in a pre-order campaign through major retailers. More details on The Beatles: Rock Band game and pre-order will be revealed in the coming months.

Please visit http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com.

Considering how long we had to wait for Rock Band 1, and that Rock Band 2 still hasn’t been released in Australia, this is a bit of a surprise. But an absolutely awesome surprise. The only thing that could top this would be the entire back-catalog of Beatles recordings on iTunes to celebrate… But somehow I think we probably shouldn’t push our luck…

[The Beatles: Rock Band]

Iron Man Children’s Costume Modded to Be Deadly-Cute

Mark Wilson — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:15:00 +0000

One very loving father spent two months tricking out a standard child’s Iron Man costume with real tech for his 5-year-old son—not just a CO2 air compressor to fire missiles or repulsor waves, but a complete BeagleBoard computer running a makeshift JARVUS along with an Arduino board to handle all of the advanced suit functions. Sure, it’s just a toy now, but give the father/son team a few years to see what the suit can really do. Here’s a full rundown on the tech inside:

• Repulsor Air – Blows air with CO2 air pump on hip and hose back to his hand.
• Repulsor Missile – Using CO2 air pump can also launch a paper missile.
• Repulsor Sensor/Light – A magnetic switch sensor lights his repulsor hand light and fades out and in his glowing eyes. Arduino handles this effect.
• Repulsor Sound Effect(s) – Originally not working. Worked around problem by using right-mouse, middle-mouse button and configured Elightenment17 to playback sound effects using Mplayer script. Mouse buttons activated by Arduino Digital output triggered by sensors.
• Arc Reactor – A LED night light from Costco embedded in his chest.
• BeagleBoard: Powerful Computer – With BeagleBoard already running in JARVUS box on my son’s back need to add other features. Possibilities: Web cam, mobile router with hotspot and a head-mounted display, VoIP, streaming video of Iron Man view.
• Arduino: Super Input/Output Board – Handles repulsor effects but can add other sensors to enable even cooler special effects!!

And in the off chance that the LED arc reactor ever fails, we hear the suit is powered by backup generators that run on pure adorableness. [Nice job Enrique!]

World’s Tallest Bridge Goes Up in China with the Help of Some Rockets

Adam Frucci — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:00:00 +0000

In China, they’re currently working on the Siduhe Grand Bridge, what will be the tallest bridge in the world when completed. How tall is it? Well, let’s just say that you could put the Empire State Building in the valley below it and it wouldn’t touch the bridge, with a whopping 360 feet of overhead. So how do you get cables across a chasm that large to build a bridge with? Rockets, of course.

They erected huge towers on either side of the valley to anchor the bridge, first off. Next, they attached 975 metre cables to rockets, accurately firing them across the valley to the other side. While other large bridges took care of this process using helicopters or kites, that was just too practical for these guys.

But hey, it worked perfectly, so who am I to judge? The bridge is still under construction, but at this point the really hard part is done. You know, the part with the rockets. Who wants to be the first to drive across it? Anyone?

[DeputyDog via Dvice]

It’s Official: The Canon 5D Mk II Will Turn Us All Into Professional Cinematographers

John Herrman — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:52:01 +0000

Yeah, sure, it was cool to see a professional photographer spin HD video gold from the Canon 5D Mark II. But that guy is famous, had a mountain of equipment, a crew, and a freaking helicopter. Not so for the humble photographer and videographer at Akihabara News, who took the 5D, a few days and a laptop to shoot and splice together this stunningly beautiful five minute video.

The results are spectacular, and really drive home the point that with this $US2700 camera, anyone with an eye for shooting and a laptop can create a cinematographic masterpiece. There is a discernible and annoying shake in some shots, but nothing that couldn’t be remedied with a little jury rigging.

Make sure to enable the HD and smoothing options in the embed, and check out the second half of the video for more evidence that the 5D’s low-light capabilities are completely unreal. Another lesson learned from this video: even the most amazing shots can be ruined by unsettling facial hair. Deal with it, Monsieur Akihabara. [Akihabara News]

Want To Be A Game Designer? AFTRS Offering Courses In 2009

Nick Broughall — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:30:06 +0000

If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a games designer like ex-Kotaku AU editor Logan, then you’re probably all over the fact that the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School are launching two grad courses in game design. Applications are due November 7, so you should probably get a move on if you want to apply for entry.

If you want some more info on the courses, our old friend Seamus has interviewed a couple of the lecturers involved with the new courses over on Kotaku. I swear, if I didn’t already feel like I had the best gig in the world, I’d be sorely tested not to apply for this. Well, that and the fact that I’m shithouse at design. Seriously – you guys have seen some of my Photoshop efforts, and they’re not pretty.

Anyway, head over to Kotaku to find out a lot more about the courses, and get your applications in by November 7 if this sounds like your thing.

[Kotaku, Kotaku and Kotaku]

How the Weird Mars Science Laboratory Floating Sky Crane Works

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:10:00 +0000

When I read that the UFO-looking Mars Science Laboratory’s aeroshell would use a floating crane–called Sky Crane by NASA–to softly land the rover on Mars, I couldn’t believe it. Now, watching this hyperrealistic NASA simulation showing how the mechanism actually floats, lowers the rover, and then flies away, I still can’t believe it. This is the kind of stuff that makes the kid in me wake up and pay attention with my eyes and mouth wide open.

The rockets of the aeroshell–a protective armour that will protect the MSL and guide it through its descent–will fire to steer the capsule towards the desired angle. When this is achieved, a long parachute will open to slow down the Mars Science Laboratory as it enters zooms down the Martian atmosphere. As soon as the capsule slows down, the heat shield will eject leaving the rover exposed inside the aeroshell, attached to the floating crane mechanism.

That’s when the whole landing process gets weird: The floating crane’s rockets will fire up to further slow the descent. The top part of the aeroshell will then detach completely, leaving the sky crane alone holding the MSL rover, slowly descending towards the planet’s surface. A few hundred metres above the terrain, the floating sky crane will start lowering the rover down using “a trio of bridles and one umbilical cord” until it touches down. At that time, the sky crane will detach from the rover and fly away, probably to fall over the home of some poor old Martian grandma.

I don’t know about you, but the whole operation mesmerises me to no end.

Beautifully Detailed Wooden Wall-e Sculpture Fills Pinocchio With Jealous Rage

John Mahoney — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Sadly, this amazing Wall-e sculpture is a limited edition of one, and it’s already spoken for–by Wall-e’s own Gepetto, Pixar creative chief John Lasseter, no less. It was created especially for him by English sculptors and CNC/rapid-prototyping masters Morpheus, which probably explains the hyper-detailed interlocking pieces and general laser-like precision, which is even more apparent in this close-up shot.

How much, Lasseter? How much!? [Toys R Evil]