At the 2009 LA Auto Show, Mitsubishi’s President, Osamu Masuko, debuted the PX-MiEV concept in North America, saying the SUV “matches the needs of the North American market” and the company plans to “revamp the vehicle for release in North America by the year 2013.”
That little guy you see up above is a butterfly in a case. Sure, sure, nothing too special about that, right? Well, guess again — that butterfly is on the International Space Station. In space. The experiment is being run by BioServe Space Technologies and the University of Colorado, and students have been following the Painted Lady butterfly’s progress from its more boring time as a chrysalis to its birth on the ISS.
From Discovery News:
For the first time in history, two butterflies have survived the chrysalis stage of development and spread their wings as fully grown Painted Lady butterflies in microgravity…It will be interesting to see how the butterflies respond to the microgravity conditions and how their growth might be affected. Butterflies attempting to fly in microgravity will also be a very interesting thing to see.
Discovery News, via io9
This post originally appeared on the Popular Mechanics website. You can access the original post here. Written by David Kiley.
German automakers Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are selling their newest “clean” diesel vehicles nationally, including in California—home of the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show—a state that, historically, with its air pollution regulations, has been hostile to diesel cars.
But even the auto companies with umlauts on their computer keyboards are making plug-in electrics and hybrids a major part of their U.S. future. The Germans keep plugging away to make their case for diesel to Americans. At the same time, BMW showed a hybrid, and Audi showed its fully electric e-Tron Concept at the LA show.
Aluminum and ice combine to make rocket fuel. Who knew? Not me, for one. Fortunately, it’s not normal aluminum foil we’re talking here, but rather metallic aluminum in non-scale powder form, which isn’t found in your local grocery store.
Gentlemen, the game is “Adult Mario.” Made for Austria’s Roboexotica “cocktailrobotics” hour, Adult Mario refreshes the classic with booze and sensory feedback.
Running around, for instance, has a fan gently blowing in your face, but the real joy comes from breaking blocks, vanquishing enemies and reaching that end-of-the-level flag pole. All three things will have Adult Mario dishing out rum and coke to the player, awarding more the more you do.
The video below explains the system in detail, though with soda instead booze.
We liked the HP Envy 13 laptop when we it was first announced a couple of months ago, but now that we’ve gotten our hands on one, we like it even more. This 13.1-incher is chiseled out of aluminum on top and magnesium on the bottom, as if it were created by a master sculptor. It gives new meaning to the words thin and light, where its 0.8 inch thickness and 3.74-pound weight make it easy to fit into even the most cramped carry-on.
Before you reject this laptop for its $1799 price (see specs here), one look at the stunning 1600 x 900 display, one session of compressing a video file at astonishing speed with its 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600 Processor, or one listen to its special “Beats” circuitry for its headphone jack will demonstrate that you get what you pay for when it comes to premium laptops.
The highlight is the spectacular screen, LED-backlit with the brightest picture, sharpest resolution, most accurate color, and highest contrast of any display we’ve ever seen this side of an OLED panel. It’s simply the best screen we’ve ever encountered on a laptop. That alone would make it worth its premium price.
If you’re looking for a cheap notebook just to surf the web, wait until next month for the newest Intel Atom chip to grace the value-priced netbook lines. But if you’re a traveling photographer or digital video editor who needs excellent color reproduction for proofing photos on location, or quick-rendered color correcting for video, this is your laptop.
Now you can spin up a cold brewski in 90 seconds with this beer chiller. Surround a can with ice inside this cheap $15 thingamajig, and start cranking that handle while your fave drink is enveloped in coolness.
Sure, you can solve this problem by thinking ahead and putting your libations in the fridge in advance, or you can even go high-tech with various expensive devices, but we like this cheapo crank job, reminding us of old-timey ice cream makers. Hey, put a little salt in there and make that beer even colder.
Via Uber Review
You’re looking at the tiniest snowman ever built. Well, it looks like a snowman, but this minuscule model — about a fifth the width of a human hair — is not made out of snow. It’s constructed of two tiny tin beads that are usually used to calibrate an electron microscope, and welded together with platinum.
It’s built by David Cox, a nanotech expert at the Quantum Detection Group of Britain’s National Physical Laboratory. He’s accustomed to working with such astonishingly small objects, and used his nano-particle manipulation tools to demonstrate the astonishing accuracy of his work.
He bathed the snowman in blue light to give us this entertaining, snow-blown image. The remarkable flourish of his smiling snowman is its little happy face, carved into the top orb using a focused ion beam. That’s no small feat.
Daily Mail, via Gizmo Watch
Why carry around that cumbersome music player when you can have it hovering over your head? Here’s one of the weirdest designs of the year, Melody Balloon, a helium-inflated music player that you control with a ring on your finger.
It’s a design concept so far, and it’s so radical, we think it’ll probably stay that way. Even so, it might be fun to fly your little music player around, annoying everyone. We’re wondering why this little player wouldn’t just float away, but maybe if you attach it firmly enough inside your ears, you’ll be next year’s balloon boy.
Via Yanko Design
Now here’s a weird device. This is the 3Dinlife X5 Collection Version DV Player. It appears to be some sort of 3D video camera plated in 24K gold. It comes with a VIP Gold Card. What?
So it records video and shoots photos with two lenses, which it can then play back in 3D. It’s got a 3-megapixel sensor and stores its data on SD/MMC memory cards. There’s no word on price, but despite the cheapness of the gadget itself this thing is covered in gold, so I’m guessing expensive. No thank you.
You know, the digital music revolution has been great and all, but it’s left one thing behind that I really miss: audio equipment covered in analog meters. This MintPass Cube MP3 player brings those old gems into the 21st century.
The wee audio player measures a mere 2″x2″x2″, and it’s got a beautiful VU meter on the side showing how high the volume is. On other sides are similar meters for the battery life and RF. Pretty great stuff.
There is always that person that is impossible to buy for at the holidays — you know, the guy who has everything. So if that special someone has every DVD or Blu-ray, owns a huge TV and has more gadgets than Batman, fear not: there is still hope. It just might mean digging for something special that isn’t available in America.
Even in these digital times of the global mall — where there is a mobile phone shop just a stone’s throw from the Sphinx and a Starbucks on every corner in Tokyo — there is still plenty of stuff you can’t get in the States. Here’s a guide to the best of it, but be warned: you may have to do quite a bit of hunting to find them.
Sven is an 11 year old crossbreed who deserves a loving home where he can enjoy the rest of his life. He’s a lovely boy, friendly, gentle and loyal. He gets on well with other dogs.
Whisky is a collie cross who urgently needs your help. His health is not what it was and he needs a home where he can enjoy the rest of his days. He’s a lovely boy, friendly and gentle and gets on well with other dogs. He needs either a permanent home or a foster home as quickly as possible. Please read about him…
Bagpuss would really like to find a new home where he can curl up in front of the fire and relax. He is an older lad who is calm, friendly and quiet and he promises to be very low maintenance! Isn’t he pretty?
During last week’s International Robot Exhibition Japanese robotics firm Figla showed the world an updated version of its cleaning robot. The new prototype robot is taller, a bit more anthropomorphic, and looks a lot less like its iRobot competitor.
The key feature of the new prototype is its ability to offer the user a tool for remote home viewing when away. The robot uses voice prompts and an elaborate sensor system to do its job, but until an official announcement is made we’ll have to make do with the prototype’s little brother.
Via Pink Tentacle
This rather disconcerting piece of technology is on show this week at Art Basel Miami. For just $75,000, you can have Nathaniel Mellor’s trio of ugly mugs (L-R: Deadwood‘s captain Joe Turner; John Wayne Gacy; Magwitch from Great Expectations) serenade listeners with a charming little ditty that probably goes by the name of “Freedom*.”
Computer-controlled servos control the heads, which are, without doubt the 21st century version of the Dancing Flower, but what I want to know is, which song do you think they should be singing? My money’s on Pussycat Dolls’ Don’t Cha.
*Sample lyrics: Freedom/ Freedom/ Freeeeeeeee-dom.
Via Engadget
The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of valleys west of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, so named because of their extremely low humidity and lack of snow and ice cover. Photosynthetic bacteria have been found living in the relatively moist interior of rocks. Scientists consider the Dry Valleys to be the closest of any terrestrial environment to Mars. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of about 50 to 300 feet, ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched Dec. 18, 1999, on NASA’s Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Our very own Charlie “Can I borrow your hard drive” White called the Chumby One the “world’s best connected alarm clock and a lot more” after spending some time with it. With over 1,000 apps, it does a lot more than wake you up, giving you access to social networks, the weather, games, Youtube and more.
For a buck forty you can get some “Chumby Guts,” which takes all the technology behind the Chumby One and turns it into a DIY kit. A man named Gary — who goes by “The KornoNaut” on Flickr — did just that, and used to kid to turn the Chumby into the book you see above. Now he’s got a hardcover version of the Internet. No books were harmed in making it, either, as he used a hollow one to start with.
KronoNaut’s Flickr, via MAKE
Benni is a friendly 10 year old Shih Tzu looking for a home where he’ll get lots of fuss and attention. He loves people of all ages and enjoys his walks, but his idea of heaven is being taken for a drive in the car!
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