Telstra Selling 32GB HTC One XL (4G) From June 5 
Aussie Teen's Picture Of Cash On Facebook Leads To Home Robbery 
Motorola Defy Mini Review 
The Downside Of Living In A Digital World 
Australia, NZ And South Africa To Share Square Kilometre Array 
Watch That Tiny $74 1.5GHz Android-Powered Thumb-Puter In Action Stephen Fry was stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes! He tweeted about it and you could follow it LIVE. Isn’t Twitter great? [Stephen Fry/Twitter]
The idea of an elevator that could transport humans into space with ease has long been a fantasy of science fiction writers. However, a new form of carbon ribbon could actually make it possible.
Japanese scientists are so hyped up on the possibilities of building a real life space elevator that in just two months’ time the country is playing host to a conference designed to set a production timetable. Carbon nanotube technology has advanced so rapidly that a material capable of withstanding the amazing forces in the space elevator cable is almost within reach: according to the chairman of the Japan Space Elevator Association it’d only need to be four times stronger than the current strongest nanotube rope.
In what sounds like the result of the lamest Truth or Dare party ever, scientists have calculated how many nanotubes it would take to support the weight of one human. The discovery unto itself isn’t that impressive–a nanotube rope that’s one centimeter in diameter could do the trick. But when you realise that the rope is absurdly lightweight and invisible, the prospect gets a lot more exciting.
For those of you who know what a space elevator is, you also know how difficult (some would say impossible) it will be to create one. Well, don’t tell that to the starry-eyed guys in Redmond this weekend, who are attending the annual Space Elevator Conference 2008. And they have a blog! And in this blog today I found… a working space elevator! Made of Lego blocks! Sadly, it was only a working model, not the real thing, meaning Jesus’ lifelong dream of a Lego space elevator carrying him to a life-sized Lego Galaxy Explorer space ship is postponed, indefinitely.
Earlier today we posted on a New Yorker piece about a man trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. But the real gem of the article was the mountain of “Did you know…” facts laced throughout. Like that Door Close button you’re always pushing? Yeah, it doesn’t work. Here’s the full list:
A quick cigarette break by Business Week employee Nicholas White turned into a nightmare when his elevator stopped dead in its shaft and trapped him there for a crazy 41 hours—all of it caught on a security camera. It seems like all of the technological developments in elevator design, from Archimedes through Otis’ security brake to modern 60-kph cars couldn’t help him: even the alarm system didn’t work properly. Though it happened a while ago, over at the New Yorker they’re running a time-lapsed video of the security footage, and it will send chills down your spine, let me tell you.
The world’s tallest elevator testing tower has just opened in Inazawa City, Japan, and is named Solae. Why would you build a tower just to test elevators? Because the world’s tallest buildings (including Taipei 101, which I rode in last year) have a need to install elevators that take you from floor 1 to floor “high” really fast. Solae will be used by Mitsubishi to test their latest drives, gears and cables in a controlled environment instead of say, a mall in downtown Tokyo. If Mitsubishi can lift me 100 stories in a minute, they can figure out a way to build a better looking Galant. [BBC]
newVideoPlayer("fastelevator_gawker.flv", 475, 376);
We thought that elevator zipping us to the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower was fast, but this one in the Taipei 101 building has been named the world’s fastest by the Guinness Book of World Records. This one moves so quickly, it needs to be aerodynamically designed, roaring from the fifth floor to the 89th floor at a breakneck speed of 37.7mph. So is that treacly music they’re playing supposed to make our descent seem even faster, or magical? Ha. Enough of that. Let’s look at some pics of the elevator’s innards.
If this elevator were any faster, they’d have to strap you into a special couch like those used on the space shuttle. Going down? By the time you get to the ground from the 89th floor, your stomach will still be waiting at the top. [Sci Fi Tech]
newVideoPlayer("cliffavator_gawker.flv", 475, 376);
Afraid of heights? Then you’ll probably want to stay the hell away from the Bailong Elevator, a glass elevator built onto the side of a huge cliff in Zhangjiajie, China that takes you a whopping 330m high. This stomach-dropping ride is the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world, and its future isn’t certain; apparently it’s bad for the cliffs to have a gigantic elevator stuck on the side of them. So if you feel like experiencing the pants-crapping good time that riding in this thing would provide, you’d better do it now while you still have the chance, as it might be dismantled in the near future. Hit the jump for an impressive picture of the elevator from the ground.
