newVideoPlayer(“777_vs_A1.flv”, 475, 376,”");A Boeing 777 jet and an A1 Grand Prix racer clashed at the Auckland International Airport in New Zealand to see which was the faster machine. The Boeing got a headstart down the runway for the first race, and defeated the A1 handily. When the starting points were equal, however, the A1 emerged as the victor, reaching a top speed of 285 km/h (versus 270 km/h for the Boeing). And is it just me, or does watching this news piece give you a strange urge to watch Flight of the Conchords? [TV New Zealand via Jalopnik]
Original post by Darren
We had heard that unlimited online viewing had been granted to select Netflix subscribers last month, and suspected it’d get a full rollout soon. Well, soon is tomorrow—as the AP notes, a day before MacWorld, where Apple is expected to unveil its video rental-killer rendition of iTunes.
The only people who aren’t getting cut in to the infinite viewing parade are the cheapos who only rent a pair of DVDs a month for $5. Whether or not turning the stream access into a smorgasbord is enough to fend off the looming iTunes threat is doubtful—Mac-compatibility would be a nice little shot to the balls, though—but it’s not like Netflix is totally without a battle plan for the infinite format war. [SF Gate/AP]
Original post by Darren
The latest edition of Nature magazine details a new method scientists have derived for converting heat energy into electricity, using silicon to instigate the conversion. Researchers have more investigations to carry out, but if preliminary findings are indicative of what is to come, appliances that charge using your own body heat may be on the horizon.
Using “rough” silicon wires, produced by a process known as “electroless etching,” where silicon nano-wires are synthesized in an aqueous solution, over a thin, semiconductor crystallized base, the scientists have been able to exploit the process of galvanic displacement of silicon. This displacement technique, which uses silver ions, causes the thermoelectric efficiency to be increased on the rough surfaces of the nano-wires.
The breakthrough comes from the boffins at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, who believe they have found a way to [...]
Original post by Darren
This slim GSM music phone features a morphing keypad that only shows the relevant keys in music, camera, and phone modes. New haptic surface technology simulates the feel of individual physical keys. Music features include 2 GB of memory plus a memory card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo Bluetooth, touch scroll wheel, and key lock switch. Other features include Linux-based software, QVGA display and 2 megapixel camera.
Original post by Kiven
Those fellows over at Destructoid have uncovered the Rock Band Stage Kit, bringing you even closer to your rock star dreams. The yet-to-be-launched peripheral kit was spotted on GameStop’s website, retailing for $99.99, all we know is it will include an interactive light and smoke show. Sure, you may think such a kit is totally unnecessary, but you would be wrong, like you were about that “chick” not being a transvestite.
What could be greater than being that bit closer to your rock’n’roll dream? You did stop to notice you are chucking out pseudo riffs on a big, fake plastic guitar, right? Call me an ass, but I’ll be in line—it’s an interactive light and smoke show, man. Oh, the joy. The screen-cap details the kit shall be dropping on 23rd June, which cannot come to soon for me. Eat my synthetic smoke…wait, let me turn the smoke alarms off and [...]
Original post by Darren