Gizmodo Australia » u2

Bono Wishes A Happy Birthday To Bill Gates

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Bill Gates — one of my favourite Gizmodo readers, technology capo di tutti capi and philanthropist — was in Vancouver last week, watching a U2 in concert and celebrating. And of course, Bono greeted him. Belated Happy Birthday, Señor Gates. [Techflash]

This Is How It Feels To Be A U2 Spy Plane Pilot

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:12:56 +0000

I love Top Gear, but when James May gets the opportunity to fly to the edge of space on board a U2 spy plane, my love turns to plain absolute, complete, overwhelming hate. Bloody good video indeed.

Inside U2’s Behemoth 74-Ton LED Concert Screen

Jack Loftus — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Love them or hate them, there’s no denying U2 has a knack for bending light to its will. Their latest creation is no different. At 74 tons, it’s an epic, morphing LED centerpiece for an already technology-heavy concert tour.

Based on a Hoberman Sphere, the criss-crossed network of aluminium, 25km of cables, and 888 LED screens is comprised of more than 1 million different pieces and 500,00 pixels. When fully expanded, the seven-story shape swallows up the band with more than 3,800 square feet of space. It is assembled in a mere eight hours, and will be on tour with the band for 18 months.

The real kudos goes to the design team however, which consists of Willie Williams, Mark Fisher, Frederic Opsomer, and Chuck Hoberman (concept); and the folks at Innovative Design, Barco and Hoberman Associates.

Those large pylons in the larger pic are part of “the Claw,” which holds the structure up during the performance. Larger still, and only partially seen in the image, is Bono’s ego, whose size is as-of-yet immeasurable. [Live Design via Lucept]

BlackBerry’s U2 Commercial…Brought To You By Apple

Sean Fallon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Is it just me, or does the new Blackberry commercial featuring U2 look a hell of a lot like an Apple ad? Or, more specifically, the Coldplay Apple ad?

This little nugget of Apple envy was pointed out by TechCrunch, and I will have to agree that the similarities are pretty obvious. What’s more striking is U2’s willingness to play the corporate field. Bono is a founder of Elevation Partners, a company with a major stake in Palm. U2 has also been heavily involved with Apple in the past and their new concert tour is sponsored by RIM. Three major rivals…I hope they all wore protection. [TechCrunch]

Bono Gets Laser Jacket, Public Probably Gets Eye Damage

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Bono got all pew-pew at the first concert of U2’s new tour, wearing a black leather jacket with 240 red lasers built along his silhouette. Not LEDs, lasers. See how it worked on this video of him doing the monkey:

Bono, schmobono. I still prefer LED Pac Man running over Addy’s tits. And LED Pac Man over her breasts won’t damage anyone’s eyes, unlike lasers. In fact, my theory is that her LED’ed breasts may even cure the blind. UnLED’ed too. [Waldemyer via Dezeen]

Bono Loves Own Voice So Much He Blasts New U2 Album Loud Enough for Fan to Record, Leak It

Matt Buchanan — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Now, I know Bono is the kind of guy that loves the sound of his own voice a whole lot, but his predilection for his own crooning apparently led to four tracks from U2’s upcoming album getting leaked online. Bono was playing them so loud from his villa in southern France that a fan passing by recognised his voice and recorded the songs.

Naturally, the fan sped home and put them on YouTube, meaning by now you can find them at all of the usual online venues. The leaked songs include the album’s title track, apparently called “No Line On The Horizon” (puke) and the first single, “Sexy Boots.” Of course, the bootlegs probably sound like they were recorded inside Bono’s arse, but let this be a lesson to Bono about forcing your music upon the world. Someone will steal it and give it away, even if it’s not very good. [The Sun via Torrent Freak]