Fifty-five storeys up, this infinity pool could glide you straight over the edge of Singapore, if not the world. It’s part of the $US6 billion Marina Bay Sands Skypark hotel, which just opened this week.
This digital cloud skyscraper was a finalist in Singapore’s recent contest to design a pavilion for the World Expo 2010. And it’s nothing short of wondrous.
So, is the age of 10 becoming the new benchmark for career success? We already have an 8-year old Microsoft Certified Professional and now we can add a 9-year old iPhone developer to the list.
As a break from all this CES news, let’s talk about robots—specifically, which countries are chock full of them. Unsurprisingly, Japan has the densest robot population, with 295 industrial automatons per every 10,000 workers.
I’m in Singapore right now and had every intention to ride the Flyer, the world’s largest Ferris Wheel. But after it left 173 people were stranded for six hours last night, I’m… hesitant.
A man in Singapore (where else) has been banned from owning a camera phone for a year after being caught secretly filming a woman in an airport bathroom. Actually, “secretly” is probably a strong word when you consider that the perp, 19 year old Samuel Ong, simply slid his camera phone under the cubicle door to catch a few shots.
Not surprisingly, the woman caught Ong in the act and reported him to the police. In addition to the mobile phone ban, he will have to complete 60 hours of community service, undergo psychiatric treatment and observe a curfew as part of his sentence. Seems like he is getting off pretty easy, especially by Singaporean standards.[Reuters]
newVideoPlayer("singaporeflyer.flv", 475, 376,""); This is the view from the biggest flyer in the world, a 150-metre diameter monster located in Singapore, 5 metres bigger than the Star of Nanchang, China, and 30 metres more than the London Eye (which I’m looking at right now, after moving into the city this weekend.) The capsules’ interior look straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and rolling in them must feel as slow as the movie itself: a complete trip—which allows you to admire views 45 kms away—takes 30 minutes. [Singapore Flyer via Singapore VR]
Singapore Airlines is installing iPod docks and 15.4-inch widescreen LCDs in their all-Business Class Airbus A340-500 flights between NY/LA and Singapore, ensuring that we’re going to be flying with them if we ever have to travel to that part of the world. Each business customer can dock their iPhone or iPod and watch their own movies on the included noise-cancelling headphones—which will be interrupting when the captain wants tell you to look off to your left so you can see a drunken Superman mooning your plane. Flights from Newark with this will start May 15 (today), and August for the LA ones. Maybe now business passengers won’t engage in business time while in the air.
Yesterday we had one scary(ish) robot design, and here’s another. Ok— not so scary, really, as all Daisy’s slice’n'dice menace is just a sham. That huge propeller is simply a fiberglass copy of a cargo ship one. And all it does is flex and rotate its robot muscles, slowly. But it’s massive, and it does have a built-in camera which allows it to track passers-by, and spin its blades at them as you can see in the video below.
The auction for seats on the first Airbus A380′s flight starts today: Singapore Airlines will fly it from their home city to Sydney. All profits will be shared between different non-governmental charity organizations, so not only will you have the opportunity to be first to fly the biggest passenger aircraft of all time, you will also help children in the process.
