olympics
Design
1:50AM Danny Allen | An international team of architects and designers has created this stunning centrepiece for London’s 2012 summer Olympics village. Dubbed The Cloud, three 122m towers would be joined by giant plastic spheres that serve as both observation decks and projection screens. More »
Spherical “Cloud” Structure Proposed For London Skyline
1:50AM Danny Allen | An international team of architects and designers has created this stunning centrepiece for London’s 2012 summer Olympics village. Dubbed The Cloud, three 122m towers would be joined by giant plastic spheres that serve as both observation decks and projection screens. More » 
Random Stuff
On The Auction Block: 5000 Leftover Condoms From The Olympics
5:29AM Rosa Golijan | Hot date this weekend? Impress with your sports memorabilia collection by snatching up these 5000 condoms left over from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With inscriptions of faster, higher and stronger, they’re a bargain with a starting bid of $US730. More »
Design
2010 Olympic Medals Made From Melted-Down Circuit Boards
4:20AM Adam Frucci | The gold medals for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics have been revealed, and they’re made from melted down old circuit boards. Because athletes will really appreciate that geeky touch. More »
Design
2014 Winter Olympic Stadium Seems Designed By Insectoid Aliens
12:20AM Jesus Diaz | Don’t get me wrong. I think the 2014 Winter Olympics Stadium in Sochi, Russia, will look absolutely spectacular at night. It’s just that its translucent skin makes me a little bit itchy, because it makes me think of insect nests. More »
Sports
2:30PM Elly Hart | The controversy over high-tech swimsuits reached its tipping point a few months ago when officials finally decided to ban them as of 2010. But the damage has been done and swimming as a sport has been tainted forever. More »
Why High-Tech Swimsuits Are Still A Problem
2:30PM Elly Hart | The controversy over high-tech swimsuits reached its tipping point a few months ago when officials finally decided to ban them as of 2010. But the damage has been done and swimming as a sport has been tainted forever. More »
Gadgets
Beijing Olympics Fireworks Line Will Light Up China This Spring Festival
3:00PM Elaine Chow | If there’s one thing you can’t overstate, it’s how much the Chinese people loooooved the Olympics. So it was kind of expected that Chinese fireworks makers would capitalise on the magic of the Opening Ceremonies by selling similar DIY pyrotechnics. This Chinese New Year, watch for the Bird’s Nest series of fireworks going off all over the country, including smiley faces and footprints, blossoming peony flowers and “silver and red waterfalls.” Gizmodo-readers in Beijing can grab their share of explodey things at over 200 locations across the city come Nov. 15th. [The Beijinger]
Design
Fake Water Cube Building Spotted in Sichuan, China
5:00PM Gizmodo US Edition | We’ve long known about certain companies in China “borrowing inspiration” from more well known gadget makers, but it looks like architects aren’t safe from copycat syndrome either. Check out this spa building in Chongqing, the capital of Sichuan (where the earthquakes happened), which looks a little like it may have been designed by someone with just a little bit of Beijing Olympics mania. Hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? [Shanghaiist] More »
Gadgets
Paralympics: The Games Where Bionic Athletes Reign
8:00AM John Mahoney | Tech and the Olympics are a recipe for controversy. Before double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius (right) was finally approved to compete in the Olympics (he failed to qualify, barely), naysayers claimed his carbon-fibre Cheetah blade prostheses gave him an advantage over non-cyborg competitors. And Speedo’s LZR suit has been decried for rendering meaningless any world records that came before. But that debate is dropped entirely for the Paralympic Games, which are currently going on in Beijing and as we see in today’s Big Picture, is where the sports tech comes out in force. More »
Cameras
100 Remotely-Controlled Cameras All Gunning to Capture the Same Moment
12:15AM Adam Frucci | At the Beijing Olympics, there were thousands of photographers all looking to get iconic shots of the games. For some events, that meant arriving many, many hours early and setting up elaborate remote camera setups. For the men’s 100m dash, there were close to 100 remote cameras set up, all focused on the same thing: the finish line. Photographer Vincent Laforet was there, and he made this amazing video showing the sheer insanity of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment all working to capture one single moment, along with examples of some of the better results. [Vincent Laforet] More »
Toys
