RSS Feeds
|
US Edition
Babblebaby
|
Defamer
|
Gizmodo
|
Kotaku
|
Lifehacker
DARPA is pumping money into developing a submersible aircraft: a vehicle that can fly in the air and dive straight into the water, becoming a submarine. Badass!
A guy named Vin Marshall along with a team of nine talented but misguided individuals have constructed a 2000 pound pedal-powered Panzer tank replica complete with a pneumatic cannon that fires water, wieners or whatever onto unsuspecting crowds. Then they painted it pink—making it the most effeminate war machine ever constructed.
Parents! Are you looking for a way to make sure your teenagers are safe while they drive? Also, are annoyed while they drive? Well Ford has your back. Its new MyKey system is sure to make driving an infuriatingly annoying ordeal.
It is no secret that there has been a major shift towards UAVs for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. With big contracts on the line, researchers are scrambling to come up with the next big breakthrough in unmanned military technology. One group of researchers believes that the "next big thing" could be a dinosaur (or "flying reptile" if you want to be all accurate about it) that existed 115 million years ago. These scientists are attempting to create a UAV that mimics the physical and biological characteristics of the prehistoric pterodactyl. The "Pterodrone" will be capable of flying, walking and sailing just like the flesh and blood original.
"BALLS 17 is a venue for projects that should NOT be flown publicly due to safety and legal restrictions. This may include, but is not limited to, LARGE rockets, complex staging or clustering, metal rockets, self designed and/or fabricated rocket motors and new technologies being developed or proven."
If the future dashboard and GPS-assisted engine weren't incentive enough to consider picking up a Chevrolet Volt in 2010, Congress has gifted future owners with an added bonus: a $US7,500 tax break passed as part of last week's bailout package. The credit applies to any vehicle with a battery rated at 6kWh or higher, placing it far enough in the future for the auto industry to swallow, I guess; the Prius's 1.3kWh battery doesn't qualify. [Daily Tech via Crunchgear]
Russian billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich is building a $US400 million mega-yacht. Yawn, you say? You have two? OK, well, this yacht has its own submarine. And armour plating with bulletproof glass. And little boats that fit inside the bigger boat. And a frickin' missile defence system that will alert he and his crew of 70 former SAS soldiers that there be pirates in those waters. It should be noted that Abramovich's other yachts—the 377ft Pelorus, 282ft Ecstasea and 160ft Sussurro—all pale in comparison to the 550ft Eclipse, and do not include missile detection systems. You can never be too safe, right?
Unbeknownst to most of the world, the late super rich adventurer Steve Fossett had started work on an amazing flying submersible that would one day theoretically touch the stars. More importantly, however, was that the design would have allowed adventurers and scientists alike (and most importantly Fossett himself, of course) to venture into the deadly depths of the Mariana Trench, some 36,000 feet below the ocean's surface. Sadly, the design was put on hold immediately after Fossett went missing about one year ago, but that hasn't stopped San Anselmo inventor Graham Hawkes from detailing the project that Fossett tapped him to create two years before his death.
Are you an ultra-rich tech enthusiast with a hankering to own a piece of aero-automobile history? Moller International is now offering its M200X, the first flying car of its kind, up for sale on that veritable auction house of luxury, eBay. The M200X is a 2-passenger Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicle that has completed over 200 manned and unmanned flight demonstrations since 1989. Currently, bids are up to $US18,888... but the reserve hasn't been met yet so you still have a chance to swoop in and snatch it up. [eBay via gizmag]
Posted by Nick Broughall at 1:30 PM on October 3, 2008
For Gran Turismo V Prologue, the guys from Citroën and Polyphonic Digital (creators of the GT series) got together to create a concept car, the GTbyCITROËN, which was powered by fuel cells that would appear in the game. Then they went and took that concept and made a working prototype which they've just shown off at the Paris Motor show.
Apparently, the car's performance in real life is exactly the same as in the game. Except for the whole playing a game versus driving a car thing, that is.
There's no word on whether or not Citroën are planning on releasing the GTbyCITROËN to the general public, but I guess if enough GT players ask for it, then there may be a pretty good chance. Maybe...
This is the Electro DeLorean, a fully electric retrofit of the 1981 iconic Back to the Future car. It's also a completely wasted opportunity: If there's a DeLorean version that needed a lightning hook system, this is the one. Still, you can add it yourself, because it is for sale on eBay for $US100,000 right now, including the obligatory flux capacitator prop. According to the seller, this is the "fastest and longest range electric DeLorean" you can buy, capable of doing 88MPH:
In a competition to secure big UAV contracts with the Marines and Navy, Raytheon just gave an impressive demonstration of their KillerBee's flight capabilities. Parking in the middle of the desert and setting up the system in just 45 minutes, the Raytheon crew flew the UAV for four hours during which time it was able to maintain communication with both Army and Navy computer systems. Raytheon still has to outfit their device with a new custom jet engine to qualify for contract consideration, but their KillerBee takes a heck of a photograph all the same:
Most of the time, riding a motorcycle makes you look awesome. The exception to this rule? Riding around on the CAT 1 Über-bike, a motorcycle designed by Lee J. Rowland that has you riding around on the back of a gigantic fiberglass jaguar. I'm sure it's an amazing bike, what with its 1200cc Buell 97 S3 Thunderbolt engine and custom air intakes and exhaust system, but come on: you'd look like a total jackass on this thing. And for $US567,000 (!!), I'd better look like James f'ing Dean when I hit the road. [Lee J. Rowland via Book of Joe]
OK, OK... so Dean Kamen actually dreamed up the Segway in the first place and other amazing things, so he's pretty clever. But then so is the guy who's put together this Arduway out of an Arduino controller board and some Lego Mindstorms motors. It senses its position with a gyro, and balances pretty much like the real thing, only smaller. Maybe good for giving your pet mouse some 21st Century transport? If you're impressed and want to try it out then there's a DIY guide and the software available. Clever stuff. [Project page via Hackaday]
Here's the new Volvo in-house wind tunnel simulator, a 28 million dollar facility that is the first in its class to have a road simulator. In theory, it will allow the Swedish manufacturer to precisely test the effect of road changes and airflows all around the car to make cars more fuel efficient. Strangely enough, Tim Walker, the aerodynamics expert at Volvo Cars, doesn't mention other possible uses, like drying the hair and bodies of a multitude of lusty valkyries and/or vikings just out of the shower:
It sure looks like a roller coaster, but this maglev (magnetic levitation) car is more likely in development for personal transportation. By Tyco and Gakken, the maglev system suspends the car 2-3 centimeters above the track, propelling the rider forward without friction. Since the fastest record for a full-blown maglev train is 580 kph, my guess is that an open cockpit like this one could make for one hell of a bug-faced ride. Maybe that face squeegee startup isn't such a crazy investment after all. [nikkei BP via NewLaunches]
Posted by Nick Broughall at 1:00 PM on October 1, 2008
Sydney Harbour has had its fair share of accidents recently, and some of them have involved ferries. That's why the NSW State Government is spending up big to arm its ferries with state of the art night-vision gear.
The ferries are currently trialling the night vision technology in order to avoid smaller craft in the Harbour. So far, it's already cost $100K, and if it's deemed successful and rolled out across the Sydney ferries fleet of 31 ferries, will cost over a million bucks.
I'm not sure what kind of gear is being used as part of this trial, but making ferry pilots wear Sam Fisher-type goggles isn't going to help anybody (unless the ferry captain is a double agent, like Steven Seagal in Undersiege).
As much as I love my tech, and especially night vision tech, I can't see how this is a good way to spend taxpayers money. How about we stick some of that million dollars into education?
[SBS news via Fashionfunky]
This week saw the commencement of the first annual Handcar Regatta race, in which over a dozen teams took to the rails in a ridiculous variety of human-powered steampunk machinery. The event wasn't so much a race as it was a showcase of overwrought vehicle design, taking inspiration from everything from hamster wheels to animals to, courtesy of the one team that took the "regatta" part literally, Viking longships.
As you can see in the video above, Nissan's Biomimetric Car Robot Drive, or BR23C, was designed to avoid collisions by steering clear of oncoming objects, even if, as in this case, the object is a slender, particularly leggy Japanese woman. The science involved in this brand of collision avoidance was derived from bees, which steer away from anything that intersects an oval-like safety zone in front of them. Bees use 300º field of vision; the BR23C uses laser range finders. Though Nissan hopes to implement this in cars sometime soon, the slow-moving tech still has a ways to go. [CNet; Motor Trend]
The term "third wheel" used to identify something extraneous, but in the case of Brudelli's three-wheelin' Leanster motorbike-three-wheeler off-road hybrid, it means 50% more fun. If the Leanster looks familiar, you may be thinking of Piaggio's scooter-platform MP3 leaning machine. The Piaggio is nice on paved roads; the Brudelli is built for getting dirty all over.
This is the first picture of the spectacular re-entry of Jules Verne, the Automated Transport Vehicle that fell from orbit today at 9:31AM Eastern time. Taken from a DC-8, it shows the moment in which it starts to break at 9:43AM, just before falling into the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, the show was amazing because this thing was gigantic. Check its scale compared to the Apollo and a Progress capsule. Update: More pictures coming in now.
Only five Solstice-class cruise ships will be produced, and the first one (aptly named Solstice) has just left port for the sea. Weighing approximately 134,000 tons, the Solstice is over 300 metres long and can hold 4,350 people (or about 3,000 paying customers). It's also among the first boats of its kind to have a grass area on the roof. For those who like to cruise around the world at 45kph with no means of escaping crying children or death-by-buffet, the Solstice will host its first passengers next month. Here are more giant shots of the aquatic beast:
After three failed attempts, one scattering of Scotty's ashes over the Pacific Ocean, and a few mid-air explosions, the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket has finally reached orbit. The achievement marks a major milestone for Elon Musk, whose visions of a privately-funded rocket program appeared just out of reach until today's success.
In the year 2025, a scant 17 years from now, all cars will be electric. But according to Mitsubishi's entry into the LA Auto Show's latest design challenge, some will even tear up the Salt Flats, looking like bionic insects with the cruelest of intentions. Each wheel of the proposed MMR25 Rally Racer gets eight little wheels for omnidirectional movement, and there's no such thing as windshields in the future, replaced—naturally—by Star Trek tech. Here's the run down, plus the sickest rendering of a non-existent product I have ever seen:
Here's a video displaying all commercial air traffic in the world during a 24-hour period. Seriously, I'm moving to New York City tomorrow and seeing the flight density in this computer simulation scares me a bit. Thankfully, it's a big planet with plenty of space to fly. But then, pilot friends tell me that sometimes they get close enough to wave at each other, so maybe it's not as big as to accommodate the 7.4 billion passengers that will travel by air in 2020. [Zhaw via Dark Roasted Blend]
First Picture of Jules Verne Spacecraft Re-Entry Destruction
24 Hour Air Traffic Around the World Blows Minds, Eyeballs
Jetpack Inventor Answers the Hard Questions (and One Fun One)
Here's a video displaying all commercial air traffic in the world during a 24-hour period. Seriously, I'm moving to New York City tomorrow and seeing the flight density in this computer simulation scares me a bit. Thankfully, it's a big planet with plenty of space to fly. But then, pilot friends tell me that sometimes they get close enough to wave at each other, so maybe it's not as big as to accommodate the 7.4 billion passengers that will travel by air in 2020. [