The giant bubbles would be structural, decorative and be used to project weather info, spectator numbers and race results. They’d be constructed from of a type of plastic called ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), the same stuff used to build the Beijing Aquatic Centre.

The Cloud has been shortlisted in the competition set up by London’s Mayor, and has been called “a sculptural spectacle, and a celebration of technology” by the senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The designers intend to build The Cloud using micro-donations from millions of people. One of the architects, who’s from MIT told the BBC: “We can build our Cloud with £5m or £50m. The flexibility of the structural system will allow us to tune the size of the Cloud to the level of funding that is reached.”

I hope they get all the cash they need, because that design is straight out of my sci-fi dreams. [The Cloud via BBC] Thanks Tom!

ATMs run by a company called Bank Machine offer a language option allowing customers to enter their “Huckleberry Finn” instead of their PIN, and rather worryingly informs them that the machine is reading their “bladder of lard” at a prompt about examining their card.

The origins of Cockney rhyming slang are obscure. It is thought to have been used by market traders who needed a way of communicating without tipping off their customers.

It works by replacing a word with a short rhyming phrase. For example: “Money” becomes “bread and honey,” which in turn is shortened to “bread.” Similarly, “head” becomes “loaf of bread,” and then just simply “loaf.”

Jesus—the last thing I need is confusion and stress when dealing with my bank. But the thought of some cockney thugs trying to haul one of these away in a Guy Richie film is amusing to me. [Yahoo and Times Online]

The four-passenger personal rapid transport (PRT) vehicles shuttle people from Terminal 5 to one of the airport’s parking lots. It’s as easy as hopping in, entering your destination on the touchscreen and sitting back while the vehicle navigates specially constructed mini-roads at 40 kilometres an hour to your lot of choice.

If successful, the 18-car system will be expanded with nearly 10x the funding, allowing air travellers to reach local hotels without traditional taxis. And while it all sounds fine and dandy, we hear these automated Johnny Cab drivers can sorta be dicks.

[Mirror via Fast Company via BBG]

The Mail has assembled the above infographic to explain how the ISA system works, but it’s fairly simple: Cars are outfitted with computers loaded with speed limit data for public roads, and monitored via satellite. In “Advisory” mode, the dash readout indicates if you need to slow down, and smiles at you if you do. In the hilariously named “Voluntary” mode, the computer will actually seize control of your throttle, letting off the gas until you ease back down to the speed limit.

You can’t blame people for having a mid-scale privacy freakout over this one, but a few crucial factors keep it from being downright Orwellian: First, it’s being deployed in London cabs, government cars and buses, so it’s not being expressly imposed on private citizens; second, the system is local—as in, it reads its own GPS data to calculate speed and decides on a course of action without remote input—and has an override switch, which, based on my experiences with London cabbies, I suspect will get plenty of use. (And serve as a brilliant rant subject conversation piece).

But still, satellite speed control? That’s worse than speed cameras. And the mere existence of this technology—not to mention the government’s involvement in its development—certainly feels like a step in the wrong direction, even if this particular use is relatively benign. [Daily Mail]

Starting today and running through the 25th, A temporary bar dubbed “Alcoholic Architecture” is popping up in London offering a cloud of breathable gin and tonic to it’s patrons.

The brainchild of culinary adventurers Sam Bompas and Harry Parr, Alcoholic Architecture creates a intoxicating vapour using the same ultrasonic humidifier system found in Antony Gormley’s installation at the Hayward in 2007 called Blind Light. Patrons pay around $US7 for hourly slots between 7 and 9pm where they can don protective suits and get drunk off the air. It’s a novelty for sure, but $US7 isn’t a bad price for an hours worth of gin and tonic no matter how you look at it. [Jellymongers and Metro and View London]

Artist Stuart Semple released these smiley-shaped, pink-tinted clouds to celebrate London industry. Comprised of helium, soap and vegetable dye, a total of 2057 clouds were launched at a rate of one every seven seconds.

Sadly, the clouds lasted only 30 minutes apiece before they disintegrated away. Then again, there are only so many smiles I can take in a day before I just need to punch somebody. [Stuart Semple via designboom]

This tunnel is actually one of eight built by the British government during World War 2 as a network of bomb shelters to protect citizens from the German blitz. They could hold 8,000 people and were designed to function for five weeks without any assistance from the outside world. This “protection” even included “a bar and two canteens, not in use, and a billiard room, not to mention functioning water and electricity supplies,” reports the New York Times.

However, after their completion, the tunnels were held aside to serve as secret bases of operations for soldiers. They were never used as shelters. Instead, they served as a temporary base for D-Day troops; one even became the European HQ for U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later, in 1944, the tunnels became bastions of counterintelligence, as members of the secret service used them to coordinate resistance movements in Nazi-controlled countries. The tunnels, once filled with Normandy invaders, were decked out with spy gear, telephones and teleprinters.

Today, though, the tunnels are empty, and waiting for some rich playboy real estate tycoon to swoop in and buy them up. Won’t you take up that standard, and invite us poor gadget-loving folk to a few parties below the busy London streets? Please? [New york Times]

The city intends to install dozens of the fancy waste receptacles in London’s financial district next year. And boy, do they sound expensive!

The technology reduces the shockwave of an explosion — which usually creates devastation by destroying nearby objects such as windows — and because most of the bin is made of steel, it can contain the heat and shrapnel generated. He said that the technology “reduces the peak pressure of an explosion and extinguishes the fireball”.

The green bins will double as an information service called Renew, with large screens on each side of the device relaying the latest news.

Traders walking past on their lunch break will be able to check the latest share prices, but on their way home the screens will display travel information and other news. The authorities will also be able to use the screens to relay urgent security information.

Is it just me or does it seem like every single decision the British government makes hinges on the threat of terrorism? You guys are starting to seem a bit obsessed over there. [Times Online]

I still think it’s a little gross, all jiggly like that, but I won’t complain one day when I’m wheeled in on a gurney and a 3D rendering saves my life. [Reuters; HeartWorks]

Inamo’s tables are also capable of running games and providing location-based services, like ordering a cab. Planned out by Blacksheep, Inamo also features state-of-the-art design that pays special attention to factors such as colours, spacing, and visual coherency. Sure, the tables may not render 3D models like some concepts we’ve seen in the past, but these ones actually exist in a public space. Here’s the description straight from Blacksheep:

The ‘cocoon’ projectors are set at the same height throughout within the suspended high gloss black ceiling and come in three sizes to light 2-cover, 4-cover or 6-cover tables. When customers sit down there are white spots for plates and an individual ‘e-cloth’ for each table. Customers use a touch panel to order food and drink or change their table top to one of the seven other patterns available. ‘Serving staff are available at any time to help customers to navigate their menus or answer any other queries, but the menus have been exceptionally clearly designed and should be both intuitive and fool-proof for users!’ Project Designer Benjamin Webb commented.

Check out more photos over on Contemporist. [Inamo and Blacksheep via Contemporist]