By Evan Ackerman The sun is completely, like, hot, you know? And if you get enough bits of sunlight together in the same spot, you can do some pretty spectacular things with the resulting 2,400 degrees (Fahrenheit, I assume) of heat. Like melting a tidy tiny hole through a solid steel plate in mere seconds. If […]
By Evan Ackerman
The sun is completely, like, hot, you know? And if you get enough bits of sunlight together in the same spot, you can do some pretty spectacular things with the resulting 2,400 degrees (Fahrenheit, I assume) of heat. Like melting a tidy little hole through a solid steel plate in mere seconds. If they’d just hook up a Stirling Engine to this thing, our energy problems would be solved. And if not, well… It’d make a pretty badass death ray.
By Evan Ackerman The options at the moment for getting into orbit (or even sub-orbit) as a private citizen are somewhat limited. You can spend a week on the ISS (for $25 million), buy a seat on Virgin Galactic (for $200,000 pretty soon), or get there on a technicality in a MiG 31 (for about $27,500). […]
By Evan Ackerman
The options at the moment for getting into orbit (or even sub-orbit) as a private citizen are somewhat limited. You can spend a week on the ISS (for $25 million), purchase a seat on Virgin Galactic (for $200,000 pretty soon), or get there on a technicality in a MiG 31 (for about $27,500). Copenhagen Suborbitals is looking to break into this questionable market with their Hybrid Exo Atmospheric Transporter, which is a single person space capsule that sits on top of a ballistic missile.
This concept is about as awesomely old-school as it gets. Don’t believe me? They did it in Star Trek: First Contact. There’s no room for a seat; the passenger is stuffed into the nose of the missile in a standing position. This is done partly to save space and weight (the diameter of the launch car can be reduced), and partly to mitigate g-forces (they pulled the same trick in the Apollo lunar modules): oriented vertically, the human spine and legs make great shock absorbers. You do get a plexiglass window above you to look out of, and I envision the takeoff experience would be pretty spectacular. You also get a pressure suit, some modified SCUBA gear to keep you breathing, and an emergency parachute. And vomit bags. The restraint system won’t let you move at all, though, except for maybe slight sideways turns of the head. Obviously, this is not for the claustrophobic.
The booster underneath is going to be a custom made hybrid rocket, firing for 60 seconds with about 3 gravities of thrust, which is significantly less than many roller coasters, albeit for a longer period of time. Most healthy people should be fine, though. The booster has no guidance system at all; it’s got a guide rail on the launch tower and after that, nothing but static fins to keep it on course. After a one minute burn, the booster is jettisoned. The capsule continues upward to over 100 km of altitude, and then descends, using two sets of parachutes to make it safely back to the earth.
The cost for all this is unspecified, since the rocket is still in the development stage. It seems to be moving along nicely, though… After the jump, watch a test video of Copenhagen Suborbitals’ rocket engine.
By Jonathan Kimak It can be a pain trying to wear a beanie hat(or a toque if you’re a fellow Canadian) and headphones at the same time. Even earbuds can either fall out or get crunched too tightly into your ear. The iLogic Sound Hat solves the problem by putting the headphones into the hat. The […]
By Jonathan Kimak
It can be a pain trying to wear a beanie hat(or a toque if you’re a fellow Canadian) and headphones at the same time. Even earbuds can either fall out or get crunched too tightly into your ear. The iLogic Sound Hat solves the problem by putting the headphones into the hat. The Sound Hat’s headphones come with a standard 3.5mm jack that will work with the majority of mp3 players, cell phones and other devices.
In addition, since the headphones are covered in the fabric it will have better sound suppression so that the person beside you is less likely to hear what you’re listening to. So don’t worry, your reputation will stay solid even if you are listening to the latest Celine Dion song.
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net I’m sure that you’ve all seen the Premium Drum Rocker from Ion, which is a $300 kit for Rock Band. While that is a hefty price to play for an instrument to be used in a video game, you can upgrade it and convert it to a real […]
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net
I’m sure that you’ve all seen the Premium Drum Rocker from Ion, which is a $300 kit for Rock Band. While that’s a hefty price to play for an instrument to be used in a video game, you can upgrade it and convert it to a real electronic kit. Unfortunately, the same does not hold true for Logitech’s new Premiere wireless guitar.
I’ve to state that I’m torn on this one. While there is a part of me that’s drawn to the realism of the guitar, the metal frets, rosewood fingerboard and wood neck, it really is hard to justify. I suppose if you’ve already shelled out the cash for an Ion Drum Rocker, then your plastic Stratocaster just won’t measure up next to it. If you have $250 burning a hole in your pocket, then look for this to hit stores in December, but only for the PS2/PS3.
By Andrew Liszewski There’s not much info on this at the moment, but on his Prolost blog, Stu Maschwitz (CTO of The Orphanage, ex-ILMer) has posted this pretty sweet photo of Redrock’s new support system designed for the latest generation of video-capable DSLRs. Or basically the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II. The kit […]
By Andrew Liszewski
There’s not much info on this at the moment, but on his Prolost blog, Stu Maschwitz (CTO of The Orphanage, ex-ILMer) has posted this pretty sweet pic of Redrock’s new support system designed for the latest generation of video-capable DSLRs. Or basically the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II. The kit is supposed to be officially announced today at the Pic Plus Expo being held in New York until Saturday, but I unfortunately can’t find an official press release as of yet. But what I do know is that there is a lot of excitement over these new DSLRs in the ‘amateur’ filmmaking communities, even with all of their shortcomings and limitations. But hopefully when Canon and Nikon see all of the support their latest toys are getting, they’ll be encouraged to mend some of these problems. (Like adding 24P support on the 5D.)
And if you’ve any interest at all in amateur filmmaking, particularly when it comes to this new crop of DSLRs, I highly advocate spending a couple of hours reading through the posts and comments on Stu’s blog from the past couple of months. They’ll give you a good idea of why people are so excited about these new cameras, and where things might eventually (and should) be going.
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net I’ll admit to having some interesting pieces of gaming (or general geeky) art on my walls, but what I’m missing is something that pays tribute to the console that started it all (for me). Sure, I could track down an old poster featuring an NES title, or maybe […]
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net
I’ll admit to having some interesting pieces of gaming (or general geeky) art on my walls, but what I’m missing is something that pays tribute to the console that started it all (for me). Sure, I could track down an old poster featuring an NES title, or maybe a very special piece with a classic Mario theme, but I don’t think that would do it justice. No, what I need is an original NES cart inside of a shadowbox.
This wonderfully Photoshopped image of what you’ll probably get upon purchase really doesn’t look that great. Honestly, it doesn’t even look like a shadowbox. While I wouldn’t suggest dropping $80 on one of these, I think that you could probably make a pretty decent piece of art for 10-15 bucks with a trip to a hobby shop.
By Luke Anderson The battle of the HD formats ended quite some time ago with Blu-ray coming out on top, but how well is it doing? Well we recently learned that Netflix was going to begin charging a $1 per month premium to all Blu-ray subscribers due to high costs and a lower demand than expected. […]
By Luke Anderson
The battle of the HD formats ended quite some time ago with Blu-ray coming out on top, but how well is it doing? Well we recently learned that Netflix was going to start charging a $1 per month premium to all Blu-ray subscribers due to high costs and a lower demand than expected. Well the on the internet rental giant has released figures on just how many users are taking advantage of their Blu-ray offerings.
It seems that over 500,000 customers are getting HD movies delivered to their mailboxes on a regular basis, which accounts for around 5.7 percent of their 8.7 million subscribers. I suppose that isn’t too bad of a figure, though it shows us that DVDs aren’t going anywhere for quite some time.
By Andrew Liszewski I’ve always thought that if I just recorded all the conversations I have on a daily basis, I’d easily be able to blackmail my way to an early retirement. But running wires and taping microphones to my chest has always seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth. But I really […]
By Andrew Liszewski
I’ve always thought that if I just recorded all the conversations I have on a daily basis, I’d easily be able to blackmail my way to an early retirement. But running wires and taping microphones to my chest has always seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth. But I really like this 1GB digital voice recorder that’s capable of recording over 69 hours of “high quality” audio via its sensitive built-in microphone. While it’s probably nowhere near as thin as an actual credit card (based on the USB connector) it’s roughly the same size making it simple to stash in a shirt pocket or hide in a stack of papers.
On the front of the device there’s a set of easy to use record and playback buttons and it even comes with an integrated USB cable for transferring the 32Kps WAV files to a Computer or recharging the lithium polymer battery. On a full charge you can anticipate to get about 7 hours of continuous record time and there’s also a 60 second auto-off feature to help extend the battery life even further. Now if only it didn’t come with a $130 price tag from SpyCatcher On the web .
By Andrew Liszewski Yep, the Woodchuck speakers are your basic set of flat-packed cardboard speakers that would make IKEA proud. But for those who are worried what their friends will think when they discover that sweet stereo setup is actually made of cardboard, the Woodchuck speakers feature a wood grain print which should easily fool anyone […]
By Andrew Liszewski
Yep, the Woodchuck speakers are your basic set of flat-packed cardboard speakers that would make IKEA proud. But for those who are worried what their friends will think when they discover that sweet stereo setup is actually made of cardboard, the Woodchuck speakers feature a wood grain print which should easily fool anyone into thinking they’re the real deal. That is unless of course they try to look at them, pick them up, splash water on them, set them on fire or happen to read OhGizmo! They’re available from Delight.com in a dark or light wood grain finish for just $13.50.
By Andrew Liszewski I’m not opposed to the idea of a brilliant innovation in science or technology coming from a small company instead of a large corporation or research facility. But when someone claims to have created a car that can go 100mph with an unlimited range thanks to their company’s “secret sauce” and “software glue”, […]
By Andrew Liszewski
I’m not opposed to the idea of a brilliant innovation in science or technology coming from a small company instead of a big corporation or research facility. But when someone claims to have created a vehicle that can go 100mph with an unlimited range thanks to their company’s “secret sauce” and “software glue”, I can’t help but be skeptical. And based on this PDF flyer, that’s exactly what Silicon Valley based Magnetic Air Cars Inc. seems to be claiming. Here’s how their “relatively simple” process works:
A battery starts a magnetic motor… which in turn drives a small but powerful on-board air compressor. The air flow is then tubocharged and multiplied to where the resulting horse-pressure™ smoothly powers the car to incredible speeds… without ever getting hot and without ever having to be stopped for external recharging or refueling. And automobiles are just the beginning.
And while electric automobiles like General Motor’s Volt rely on a hefty sized bank of batteries, the Magnetic Air Car will apparently use a specially designed battery that’s about as large as a regular vehicle battery, but with 3 times the charging capacity, a considerably longer shelf life, and a price tag of less than $70. All I can state is good luck with that.
This concept is about as awesomely old-school as it gets. Don’t believe me? They did it in Star Trek: First Contact. There’s no room for a seat; the passenger is stuffed into the nose of the missile in a standing position. This is done partly to save space and weight (the diameter of the launch car can be reduced), and partly to mitigate g-forces (they pulled the same trick in the Apollo lunar modules): oriented vertically, the human spine and legs make great shock absorbers. You do get a plexiglass window above you to look out of, and I envision the takeoff experience would be pretty spectacular. You also get a pressure suit, some modified SCUBA gear to keep you breathing, and an emergency parachute. And vomit bags. The restraint system won’t let you move at all, though, except for maybe slight sideways turns of the head. Obviously, this is not for the claustrophobic.
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