Archive for August, 2008
Dude Makes Full Size Star Wars Landspeeder In His Garage
Daniel Deutsch made a lifesize working replica of the Star Wars landspeeder. Deutsch’s masterpiece is 1:1 scale and was built with “a custom aluminum chassis, fiberglass body, and an electric drive system that hits lightspeed at 25 mph.” It is driveable, but there’s no word on whether or not this landspeeder is street legal. Even if it’s only able to make trips around the driveway, it’s still way more useful than that DIY Jabba the Hutt we wrote about a few months back. Read more to see photos of the landspeeder under construction and posing with a puppy.
Original post by Hunter Walker
No commentsThe Streets Are Watching In Rio
Supertouch just posted their latest dispatch from the international urban street art scene. French artist JR traveled to Rio de Janeiro’s famous favela street slums and created a massive art installation by placing huge portraits of local residents on the sides of buildings. Based on some of the close-up shots it looks like JR made this happen by pasting up individual pieces of paper with small photo sections on each of the buildings. Read on to see more pictures of this incredible artwork
Original post by Hunter Walker
No commentsWorld’s Deepest Diving Submarine Gets a $50 Million Makeover
Alvin, the submarine operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, has been used since 1964, but it’s finally getting an upgrade. Currently, Alvin can dive down to a maximum depth of 2.8 miles, but new replacement, which is costing $50 million to build, will be able to go over four miles underwater. With the added distance Alvin can explore 99% of the ocean floor compared to the paltry 62% of the deep scientists have previously been able to reach by submarine.
Alvin 2.0 has also been pimped out with more windows, a larger cabin, higher top speeds, and new batteries that will allow the sub to operate for up to eight hours instead of six. Submarine construction is difficult, because diving four miles deep subjects subs to nearly five tons of pressure per square inch. To survive the pressure, the wall of the “personnel sphere” on the new Alvin will be three inches thick, which is an inch thicker than the wall on the old model. I guess when it comes to submarines, size really does matter!
Original post by Hunter Walker
No commentsGear Skins For Label Whores
Music Skins (a.k.a. GelaSkins) collaborated with streetwear label Lemar and Dauley to create a line of covers for laptops, iPods, iPhones, and plain old cellphones. All of the skins are emblazoned with Lemar and Dauley’s rainbow skyline logo. I dig the skyline drawing on the skins, but I don’t see why anyone besides a major label whore would want two other dudes’ names on their electronics.
These Lemar and Dauley skins are made with specialty 3M vinyl that’s less than 2mm thick with residue-free adhesive that allows for worry-free removal when you want a new look for your gear. Music Skins also has downloadable wallpapers so you can match the screen of your device to it’s skin. After the jump, check out more photos the Lemar and Dauley line for Music Skins.
Original post by Hunter Walker
No commentsSarah Palin’s Tech Troubles
Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin may be working the whole naughty librarian vibe, but she’s apparently having a little bit of trouble with the internet. After John McCain revealed that he had chosen the Alaskan governor as his running mate, editors discovered that several new users had spent hours leading up to the announcement making 30 flattering edits to Palin’s Wikipedia entry. While some Wikipedians gave the pro-Palin editors awards for their work, many others made accusations of internet sock-puppetry. Editing on Palin’s page has since been restricted.
Governor Palin’s internet troubles aren’t limited to Wikipedia. Parts of her old gubernatorial campaign web page PalinForGovernor.com redirect to JohnMcCain.com, but most sections of the site are currently down. SarahPalin.com had been directing visitors to her old site, now it displays an error message.
Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has had some problems of his own online, but the McCain campaign getting (allegedly!) busted on Wikipedia and being unable to properly maintain the websites for their Vice Presidential nominee is probably the biggest tech screwup of the election so far. Nice job guys!
Original post by Hunter Walker
No commentsMetallic Silver Incase Spotted In Vegas
Fashion designer Jeff Staple recently had dinner with a couple of the guys from InCase in Las Vegas. During the meal Staple got a sneak peek at one of their new iPhone 3G cases for Spring ‘09. He snapped this picture of the case, which seems like it’s made with brushed aluminum.
As long as it’s scratch-proof, this case would be great and highly secure. A laptop case with a similar design would also be very cool.
According to Staple “metallic Silver is just one of many many flavors coming soon from the InCase camp.” I wonder if they’ll actually be releasing that bukkake iPhone case in the spring too.
Original post by Hunter Walker
No commentsReturn of The Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds, the gadget packed British 1960’s sci-fi puppet TV show, may be coming back on the air. Gerry Anderson, who created the show with his wife Sylvia told reporters that he’s in talks to bring back the series 32 years after it’s last episode.
Anderson says the new version of the show might be made in CGI. Computer animation would be a major change for Thunderbirds since much of the show’s cult appeal comes from it’s Team America-type usage of crude puppetry dubbed “Supermarionation” by the Andersons.
New CGI Thunderbirds might keep the puppet characters while using computer animation for scenes involving the high tech fleet of rescue vehicles seen on the show. Anderson also floated the possibility of making ” the puppets in CGI in a way that they looked exactly as they did in the original show.” This is obviously a bad idea. There’s nothing better than watching amusing puppets late at night when you’re under the influence of less than legal substances.
Original post by Hunter Walker
No comments