X-51A's Hypersonic Engine Firing Test Looks Like Pits of Hell or Doom 3 Scenario June 7, 2007
READ MORE Science
Boeing has just completed their firing tests for the stunning X-51A WaveRider Scramjet, and if you want to know what hell looks like, this is it. Or at least, this is how the devil's version of George Foreman's BBQ must look like. This is the first time the scramjet engine has been tested in a full flight propulsion configuration, simulating working conditions at Mach 5 air speed. Jump as fast for more details, higher resolution image and a pic of the whole aircraft.
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Car with Wooden Wheels is Confusing June 7, 2007
READ MORE Motoring
Holy crap, this car takes being eco-friendly to the next level. It's got wheels that are merely slices of a tree trunk, sure to provide a horribly bumpy ride and what I can only imagine would be pure pain to the shocks and struts.
Is this car actually drivable? Who knows. Why would anyone do this to a perfectly good car in the first place? The world is a mysterious, confusing place. –Adam Frucci
Hemmings Auto Blog [via Spulch]
Close-up Video of a Watch's Movement June 7, 2007
READ MORE Science
Got three minutes to kill? Check out this video of an extreme closeup of how a watch works. It's very odd, and unless you were a watchmaker, something you've never seen before. Careful not to watch this video too many times, or else you'll start getting delusions of grandeur and start chopping off the tops of people's heads just to look at it. – Jason Chen
Internal Workings [Boing Boing]
Western Digital Does Sexy 250GB Portable HDD June 7, 2007
READ MORE Laptops , PC , Peripherals , Portable Media , Storage
Over the years, whenever I’ve traveled, I ended up bringing friends different stuff crammed first on tapes [remember those?] , then CDs, then DVDs and most lately, my laptop hard disk drive and USB stick. Life has gotten so much easier.
I'm now in the market for a small, portable HDD so that I can stop filling up my laptop’s tiny HDD. Western Digital may have the answer with it's sexy new USB 2.0 Passport drive, clad in glossy piano black and offering a whopping 250GB of storage. And all in a package that measures 1.5 x 12. 9 x 7.9cm and weighs just over 100g.
Out soon, it will cost a pocket-friendly £130.-Martin Lynch
storage laptops hard drive portable
Toshiba Plans HD DVD Drives For Every Laptop June 7, 2007
READ MORE Blu-ray , HD DVD , Laptops
Right now you need to own a very high-end, and expensive, notebook to enjoy HD DVD on the go.
However, in a surprise move, Toshiba is planning to make HD DVD drives standard in all of its notebooks by next year. This news arrives right on top of a spate of recent HD DVD price cuts and movie offers. The deliverer of the good news was Toshiba senior vice president, Hisatsugu Nonaka, who said:
“The demand is there; people want to watch their favorite movies in high-definition on the road.”
We sure wouldn’t mind. Some commentators have compared the move to Sony sticking a Blu-ray drive inside the PS3, but this is a bit simplistic. Either way, it will give HD DVD a badly needed lift since the PS3 has certainly created an instant Blu-ray base of millions. It will only work though if Toshiba can keep the HD DVD drive premium low since one of the reasons the PS3 is not selling like hotcakes is because of that hefty price tag.
However, if Toshiba can suck up a little loss it’s new secret weapon could redress the balance in the high-def war. For instance, Sony shipped over 5.5 million PS3s at the end of March while IDC said that Toshiba managed to flog 9.2 million notebooks in 2006. Things are getting interesting.-Martin Lynch
HD DVD blu-ray movies toshiba laptop
TomTom Says GO GO GO June 7, 2007
READ MORE Cars , Gadgets , Mobile Devices , Peripherals
Now that it’s added bikers to the fold, sat-nav specialist, TomTom has announced its latest GO range of devices, the GO 720 and GO 520.
There’s a bigger 4.3in screen all wrapped up in a smaller and lighter chassis, measuring 118 x 83 x 24mm and weighing 220g. They are powered by 400MHz chips and have 64MB of memory, an integrated FM transmitter, Bluetooth and an RDS-TMC traffic information receiver.
There’s the ‘improved’ voice recognition which means the device might actually take you to the correct city and street name when you voice your commands. Or not.
The key changes seem to be on the software front with MapShare leading the way. This lets you create, share and receive maps from millions of other TomTom users. The idea is that maps will always be up to date.
Another newbie feature is Help Me, which will display the nearest hospitals, garages, police stations and other important locations in case of emergency. There’s even first aid instructions.
The GO 720 and GO 520 will cost around £340 and £270 when they arrive in Q3. -Martin Lynch
[Tomtom]
sat-nav cars GPS travel tomtom
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