The Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV)

via Gizmodo by Danny Allen on 9/23/09

Sometimes it feels like I'm already living in the future. The U.S Army's Space and Missile Defense command plans to have an unmanned spy-ship capable of loitering at 20,000-feet (for up to three weeks) ready to deploy by mid-2011.

Dubbed the Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV), the craft will be based on Lockheed Martin's P-791 experimental hybrid airship, which you can see in the video below. The smaller P-791 was 125-foot long, but flew six tests in 2006. It's known as a hybrid because only 80% of its lift comes from buoyancy; the other 20% comes from three downward thrusters on each side.

As for the LEMV: a 40-foot long, 15-foot wide area behind the only sometimes-manned cockpit will carry intelligence systems, like radar and wide-area motion sensors, that will beam information back to commanders on the ground.

Totally makes me think of Aeon Flux or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Crazy.

UMID M2 has Windows 7 and 1GB RAM

via Gizmodo

UMID is showing off its upgrade to the M1 ultra mobile PC. The M2 runs Windows 7 (instead of XP), faster 1.2Ghz or 1.6GHz Atom processors, and no longer needs USB port dongles.

And while the M1 costs $600 with a 1.33GHz processor and 512MB memory, the upcoming M2 is expected to be $400 when it arrives around November. It will use the same keyboard and 4.8-inch (1024x600) screen, but design changes improve the screen angle, add an optical mouse and mouse buttons, and do away with the need for a USB port dongle.

A non-working prototype is felt up in the video below, but we should see the M2 running Windows 7 at IDF later this week.

Obscura CueLight Pool Table

via Gizmodo

If you like being distracted by projections and badass animations while you play pool, the Obscura CueLight is for you. It uses sensors and an overhead projector to create images that follow the balls as they bang around the table.

The system itself will set you back $80,000, no pool table included. At the Esquire Ultimate Bachelor Pad, where it's currently set up, it's projecting on a $125,000 pool table. Bottom line: you can't afford it.

In addition to this setup, where the balls reveal an image hidden underneath, you can also set it up to have flames track behind the balls, or water that ripples as the balls pass over it. It's a pretty awesome trick, one that works surprisingly smoothly.

They're working on new software that will make it more useful than flashy, too. Imagine playing pool and having the lines where you should shoot projected down on the table, with a computer doing all the math necessary to show you just where to aim and how hard to hit. Pretty sweet.

How Would Dubai Look In the Future?

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz

Ah Dubai, you and your glittery airports and your insane skyscrapers and your Death Star Island. If you don't fall into the desert first, this is how you may look in the future.

For some reason, some production company thought it would be nice to promote themselves using an annoying fake trailer depicting a futuristic version of Dubai. I don't care. I just like the coruscantbladerunnery of it all. I wish they included the one kilometer-high Nakheel Tower, though.

Japan's Most Insane Custom Cars

via Gizmodo by Adam Frucci

In Japan, they take custom cars seriously. Just look at some of these! A Buddhist priest spent $110,000 creating a car with gullwings, scissor doors and a splithood. Oh, and then there's the $280,000 Batman van.

The vehicles appearing in this video are:

- A rather ordinary-looking BMW E66 whose trunk is decked with Buddhist sutras written in 30,000 Swarovski crystals (the owner, a Buddhist priest, also owns the next vehicle).

- A Toyota Celsior UCF20 with gullwings, scissor doors and a split hood, which took 12 years to build and cost 10 million yen ($110,000). The interior includes 24 monitors, including several mounted in the headrests behind the passengers’ heads (you can watch them with the eyes in the back of your head, according to the priest).

- Batman van, a rolling tribute to the superhero that cost 25 million yen ($280,000), took 13 years to complete, and earned the owner a divorce.

- Rocket launcher van, a 1981 Daihatsu Hijet outfitted with a cheap launcher for an 8-meter (26-ft) water rocket (the owner is an eggplant farmer).

- Replica of the “Pointer,” the famous battle vehicle used by the Earth Defense Force in the Ultra Seven TV series that aired on Japanese TV in the late 1960s.

- Fan-flapping Hitachi ASTACO machine, which the Tokyo Fire Department Hyper Rescue Team uses to clear debris from disaster sites.

Nokia Erdos

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz

Believe it or not, Nokia keeps doing their expensive 8800 series. And believe it or not, they still run the dreadful Symbian S60. This is the next model, the Nokia Erdos, carved out of a single piece of stainless steel.

The 3G Erdos has a 2.4-inch OLED 320 x 240 display that remains invisible under mirrored glass until you turn it on. It also has Wi-Fi, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, 8GB of internal memory, and a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss lens, dual LED flash, and video recording capability.

BMW's Augmented Reality Glasses

via Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

If BMW's research labs have a say, future service staff will learn the intricacies of working on German cars through a pretty handy looking augmented reality interface.

Look beyond the cheesiness of the music, smug actor and his Oakley Thumps for a moment and actually examine the incredible practicality at work—highlighting/identifying parts of an engine and offering step by step instructions for completing complicated procedures.

NASA - Cryosphere Video 2009

This Is How the CIA Kills Terrorists Using Predators

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz

This redhead is an angel. An angel of death, working for the CIA. And in this chilling video you will see how she flies a Predator, and delivers its lethal payload along with another agent in the next computer rig.

Both are "pilot" and "sensor" in the same mission. What you see in the video is a simulation, but that's how it works: Two agents in Langley, Virginia, on a basement, pulling levers and clicking buttons on a multi-display rig connected in real time with Predators flying anywhere around the world.

The Creation of Time and Space

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz

Maybe I like this because it looks like a Leopard desktop—I hope Leopard came with the animations—but if you have to watch a science video today, let astrophysicist Janne Levin explain you what the Big Bang was.

Still there? Well, then maybe you want another science video. One mindblowing one.

POV Video of Two Trains Colliding Head-On

via Gizmodo by Adam Frucci

Yikes. Here's a video taken from the front of a freight train as it barrels head-on into another freight train. No one was killed, thankfully, but you can see a dude bailing from the oncoming train right before it hits.

This wreck happened at 5:54 AM on Wednesday, June 24th, 2006 between two Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains. As I said, no one was killed, but the crew on the train with the camera was seriously hurt. Good lord.

The Most Amazing Photo of the Universe, Now In 3D

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 8/11/09

Showing 10,000 galaxies, the overwhelming Hubble Ultra Deep Field is the most amazing, most humbling image in history, demonstrating how tiny and precious we are. This video explains how it was taken, and shows it in three dimensions.

Top Gear's James May rides in a U2 Spy Plane

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 8/6/09

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.

The Lockheed U2 is an amazing plane, developed to spy enemy countries by the CIA and the United States Air Force. Flying at 70,000 feet, the U2 can fly day or night, rain or sun, photographing ground facilities on very short notice, something that satellites can't do. It was created in the 50s, flying for the first time in 1955, and despite some being shot down over the Soviet Union, Cuba, and China, the fleet is still in use today. In fact, the successful design outlasted the SR-71 and the secret A-12 CIA spy plane, and will keep flying till 2014 or even later.

How Not to Demolish a Building

via Gizmodo by Adam Frucci on 8/3/09

Most building demolitions are precisely planned and controlled. When they aren't, a factory in Cankiri, Turkey, does a barrel roll through the streets. Oops!

Toyota Humanoid Robot Gives Asimo a Run For Its Money

via Gizmodo by Jack Loftus on 8/2/09

Shown here is Toyota's running robot. At 7 km/h it's not going to win any wind sprints in the Olympics, but nevertheless this thing is airborne for 100ms between strides as it skirts across the floor (i.e. genuine running).

For comparison's sake, Honda's ASIMO robot can only manage a meager 6 km/h. We assume Toyota was able to squeeze the extra kilometer per hour out of their robot with a strict training regimen and what can only be described as a mild dose of physical abuse—their robot can re-balance itself when pushed lightly, as you can see in the video.

This Is Exactly What Touchscreen Surfaces Were Invented For

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 7/24/09

Generally I skim through videos of more than one minute. This video demo of Ruse running on a Microsoft Surface is 4:23, and I watched every second of it in complete amazement. And then, I watched it again.

Command & Conquer 4, primul trailer

via Realitatea .NET - IT & Ştiinţă by Realitatea.NET on 7/24/09

Electronic Arts a dat publicităţii vineri primul trailer din jocul Command & Conquer 4. Programat să se lanseze în 2010, Command & Conquer 4 va introduce o serie de inovaţii în clasicul C&C şi va incheia saga Tiberiumului.

EA va prezenta un nou sistem de gameplay bazat pe clase, baze mobile şi posibilitatea păstrării profilului în toate modurile de joc.

"Command & Conquer este o franciză puternică care are o istorie de 15 ani. Suntem încântaţi să putem duce saga Tiberium-ului la final. Jocul va oferi fanilor toate răspunsurile pe care le aşteaptă", a declarat Mike Gloseki, producător la EA Los Angeles.

Acţiunea din Command & Conquer 4 are loc în anul 2026 după evenimentele din Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Cu doar şase ani înainte ca misteriosul Tiberium să facă Pământul de nelocuit, cele două facţiuni inamice, Global Defence Initiative şi Brotherhood of Nod, au acum acelaşi ţel: să oprească expasiunea Tiberium-ului şi să salveze omenirea. Jucătorii vor putea, în sfârşit, să afle planul din spatele acţiunilor lui Kane, liderul NOD.

În plus faţă de cele două campanii. cu GDI şi NOD, pe care jucătorii le vor putea completa singuri sau cooperativ, Command & Conquer 4 va avea şi un nou mod multiplayer, 5v5, care va promova lucrul în echipă şi care va aduce un plus de strategie ce nu a mai fost întâlnit până acum într-un joc C&C.

Command & Conquer 4 este produs de EA Los Angeles şi va ajunge pe piaţă, în 2010, doar pentru PC.

Soliloquy Super-Yacht

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 7/23/09

According to Alastair Callender, his 190-foot Soliloquy would be able to fully propel itself using a combination of solar power, wind, and hybrid marine power technology. And it looks like a metamorphic alien mothership to boot.

It looks cool, but I have a hard time imagining this titan moving at a decent speed using these technologies. On the other side, if Cousteau's Alcyone ship—with its wind towers—can work, maybe this design could work too.

I would pass even if I had the money to buy it, though. Why would I get a cold, super-expensive super-yacht for a gazillion dollars when I can use the same money for a fast 100%-wind-powered three-mast schooner, with fully automated sail deployment,and have a crew of Scandinavian sailorettes with unbuttoned white shirts, short navy blue skirts, and no panties for the rest of my life? See? Rich people don't know how to spend their money.

OK. Perhaps that was way too much. Screw the automatic sail deployement. Let the sailorettes do their job.

Idiots Want to Draw Ads On the Moon

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 7/20/09

A company wants to "license a technology" to draw advertisements on the Moon's surface, which according to them could be watched from Earth. If nobody shuts them down, I'll be there at the launch. With my land-to-air rocket launcher ready.

I thought this was a joke, but apparently this deranged people are serious enough about it to put out a press release and a 3D animation.

Robots to Advertise on the Moon

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, July 20 /PRNewswire/ — It's one giant leap for robot-kind. New Shadow Shaping technology creates images on the Moon that can be seen from Earth. Robots are used to create several small ridges in the lunar dust over large areas that capture shadows and shape them to form logos, domains names, memorials or even portraits. Talk about the Man in the Moon! You can even carve your initials in a heart to impress your sweetheart.

The advertising potential is mind-boggling. Never in history have companies been able to penetrate every market on Earth, reach every person on the planet, and touch them at an emotional level only possible with the beauty of the Moon on a starlit night. Twelve billion eyeballs looking at your logo in the sky for several days every month. And since there is no atmosphere on the Moon, the images last for thousands of years.

"Finally dependency on government to travel beyond Earth is over," says inventor David Kent Jones. "This new commercial incentive will turbo charge space technology development. Shadows are just the beginning; eventually robots will be planting crops on other planets."

Beginning July 20, 2009, the fortieth anniversary of man's first step on the Moon, exclusive licensing for this patent pending technology is publicly available. Moon Publicity is accepting bids from accredited investors and companies for 44 lunar regions until October 20, 2009. You could license moon-imaging technology potentially worth a fortune in advertising value for about the cost of an SUV. Minimum bids start as low as $46,000. For more information visit MoonPublicity.com.

Of course, anybody can do this. The whole things sounds like a scheme to get easy money, yes. I have a hard time thinking someone may take them seriously, but it's a matter of time before some idiots actually manage to pull it off.

Japanese Salaryman 5 minute Wake Up and Go

via JapanSugoi by Japan Sugoi on 6/8/09

Japanese salarymen have it tough. They may be expected to be at work at 8.30am and with many facing a crowded 1.5-2 hour commute by train, this means getting up early even if they had a late night of drinking with the boss the previous night.

Single Japanese salarymen who aren’t married or have nice Japanese girlfriends that make them breakfast, need to do everything themselves and some have perfected the art ofthe 5 minute wake up and go. Japanese comedian Tomonori Jinnai shows us on Japanese TV just how to get up, eat breakfast, get dressed and get ready for work in just five minutes.