Category: Transport
CES 2010: Twitter coming to Ford cars
If texting and driving is bad, surely Twitter in-car is the alcohol of motoring digital no-nos? That's not the case according to Ford's Chief Exceutive Alan Mulally, who confirmed Twitter will be integrated into their in-car Sync system, and that…
How to make your mobile phone number ex-directory…
This is public service announcement from Tech Digest. One and all, please be aware that the 118800 mobile phone directory goes live next week with around 15 million of the UK’s current 60 million mobile phone numbers listed. So, for the non-mathematicians amongst you, that’s around 1 in 4 of us that’ll be in there depending on how many advertising lists we’ve already got ourselves on.
Now, I’ve never one to be that bothered about my personal data being out there in small bite-sized chunks but you might want to consider making yourself ex-directory from the 118800 list. All you have to do is go over to their site and follow the the instructions.
You give them your number, they text you a code and you type it back in. On the down side, it does mean that you actually give them your phone number and there’s a 75% chance they never had it in the first place. Your call. I suggest reading some more about the service itself before you make your mind up. It’s actually not as Daily Mail, life-endingly bad as it sounds.
While we’re on the public service tip, I also suggest that all Londoners who were effected by the Tube strikes a few weeks back also go here to claim two days’ worth of travelcard expense back onto your Oysters. Again, the downside is that they’ll end up registering your Oyster card in the process such that Tfl and their buddies will be able to know your comings and goings about town. On the plus side, it’ll probably cost them a tenner. Worth it?
I shan’t tell you which way I decided to step in both situations. All I’m saying is that you’ve got a very short window in which to make your own minds up. Choose wisely.
VIDEO: Fan-power jetpack
Meet Martin Jetpack, Dutch inventor determined to produced back-strapped solo powered flight. Presumably a big fan of Thunderball. In this video we see Martin’s latest creation. This is the Ducted Fanpack and, according to the man, it can get up to speeds of 60mph and has a range of 8,000 feet before you need the in-built emergency parachute.
It’s not exactly portable and looks more like a drum kit than anything else but, well, take a look…
It doesn’t look like it goes that high which could be an issue if you don’t live in Holland or East Anglia but, should you be sufficiently stunned and not in stitches, then see if you can tap up the bank for the $100,000 you’ll need.
(via Oh Gizmo!)
VIDEO: Steampunk Segway ditches motor
At the Gadget Show Live last weekend, I got as close to a Segway as I’ve ever been, which made me ridiculously excited. I want one. But if I can’t get one, then this is probably the next best thing – it’s a Steampunk Segway, powered by pedalling.
The best thing, though, is that the creator has taken the time to document the entire creation process on Instructables. Make your own, but don’t come crying to us if it falls apart on the hard shoulder of the M4.
Instructables (via Engadget)
Wheels? Too convenient! Try tiny motorised legs instead
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably wanted a Segway ever since enjoying the performances of Will Arnett as Gob in Arrested Development. What you probably hadn’t considered for a second was replacing the tried and tested wheel element with a load of tiny motorised legs. If you had, then I’m sorry: you’ve been beaten to the punch. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the Cajun Crawler:
Pioneer's DEH-P4100SD – a car stereo with an SD card slot to aid choice and/or piracy
Pioneer’s just revealed its latest in-car entertainment solution for the businessman trapped in a snow drift with no mobile signal or radio reception – the DEH-P4100SD.
The big selling point of the P4100 is its SD Card slot, allowing you to do away with the middle man (DJ, CD writer, iPod, cable) and load up your MP3 collection to a cheapo SD Card and whack it straight into your car via the slot hidden behind the removable faceplate.
Pioneer’s “rotary commander” dial-slash-joystick lets you navigate through tunes while still managing to pay some attention to the road, while there’s also full support for iPod playlists if you’re the sort of person who likes to spend your spare time painstakingly sorting all your music into very tightly-organised playlists…
Mileage Tracker: GPS tech comes to the rescue to help with your expenses
Perhaps now isn’t the best time to remind you that (if you have to do the dreaded Tax Return) you’ve a little over a day left to complete it.
However, if nitty-gritty stuff like car mileage tracking has been a real pain to calculate then the Mileage Tracker could be the answer.
Using GPS (naturally), it can track what distances you’ve travelled in your car and export it to a CSV file (boring) or Google Earth (cool)…
Soviet K-7 bomber blots out the sun
Second and final in our series of posts today about very big things is this Soviet K-7 bomber, which dates from 1930s, before jet propulsion. As you can see by the tiny little people in the bottom right, this thing is vast – 28 metres long and 53m wing-to-wing. It weighed 38 tonnes when loaded.
It carried 120 passengers within wings which were 2.3m thick. Melded from chrome-molybdenum steel, the design originally called for six engines, but when built, a seventh had to be added. It first flew in August 1933, but crashed that November, killing 15 people. Two more were ordered, but the project was cancelled before they could be delivered.
(via Gizmowatch)
Related posts: No phones on planes please, we’re British, survey finds | XCOR Lynx – Tech Digest’s Space Plane of the Week
VIDEO: Worldwide air traffic over 24 hours
Click play on the video. Now watch as the world’s aeroplanes cross continents and oceans. It’s strangely relaxing in the same way that watching a trail of ants in a garden on a warm summer’s afternoon is relaxing. One thing that’s worth looking out for – compare Europe at the start of the video to Europe at 0:45 – the flight volume changes dramatically between day and night.
Seen a similarly fantastic depiction of data? Post it in the comments below. I love stuff like this, so if you’ve got a favourite visualization of information then I want to see it too.
Nitmesh (via @damiano)
Related posts: First photo of Hudson air crash surfaces on Twitter | No phones on planes please, we’re British, survey finds
Voice-controlled toy helicopters coming later this year
Evil geniuses, take note. Your army of drone planes that currently need to be controlled by an army of assistants will, in March, become obsolete when Tokyo-based Taiyo corp releases a voice-controlled toy helicopter. It’s going to understand English and Japanese, and understands “”start engine,” “up,” “hold,” “down” and “stop”. No “forward”?
It’s battery-powered, 18cm long, and can fly 10m away from the operator. You need to wear a headset to control it, too. Still, it’s likely you’ll be able to mod it to carry tiny miniguns, and hack it to fire on voice command, too. If everything goes wrong, you can control it by conventional remote, too. It’ll cost $60 (£42 or so).
(via CrunchGear)
Related posts: Libelula: Rocket powered helicopter back pack – er, wow! | The DIY helicopter powered by a Honda Civic engine
