Nissan of Europe has released a bevy of images showing every nook and cranny of its upcoming Geneva-bound concept, the Terranaut. The 4x4, according to the company, was designed for “scientists, geologists, archaeologists or adventurers” whose office is the great outdoors.
It seats three people in an interior quite obviously modeled after a U.S.S. Enterprise shuttlecraft. The “spherical laboratory” is accessed from a seat that swivels 360 degrees to give any intrepid scientist access to all of the vehicle’s workstations. Those workstations leave room for only one passenger-side door, while the driver’s side has two swing-out doors with no b-pillar.
Dodge joins 'hip to be square' crowd with Hornet concept
Dodge's Hornet concept appears ready to shake down that smug little Scion at recess for milk money.
Powered by a 1.6-liter, supercharged 4-cylinder (generating 170 bhp and 165 lb.-ft. of torque) routed through a six-speed manual, the brash little box also boasts some surprisingly butch visual cues for such a small frame. Up front, aggressive headlamps sit inboard of huge front fenders, which themselves bookend what looks to be a spot perfect for a meaty intercooler. Rear-hinged demi-doors recall Honda's Element, albeit with a uniquely serrated lower edge, and out back a pair of vertically-stacked dual-element taillamps and well-integrated exhaust plumbing lend the diminutive Dodge an aggressive edge that's heretofore been lacking in the sugar cube race. Oh and those 19" wheels set at the corners don't hurt the stance, either.
Inside, spartan trim and flexible seating are the order of the day, and modular bins along with a unique floating armrest and a hail of door-resident accessories (first aid kit, etc.) create a functional interior.
This year's 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue features the $30 million Diamond Bikini. The bikini, designed by Susan Rosen with Steinmetz Diamonds, contains over 150 carats of D Flawless diamonds. Some of the diamonds are the rarest in the world including a 51-carat, pear-shaped diamond, a 30-carat emerald cut, a pair of 15 carat rounds and a pair of eight carat pear shapeds. The stones are sent in platinum for one valuable and very tiny bikini.
Nintendo announced that a web browser based on Opera for the DS is forthcoming, and also revealed an upcoming TV tuner attachment for pulling in over-the-air broadcasts. Nintendo has said that the browser will start shipping in June for around $32. Neither a price nor a release date have been mentioned for the tuner. The TV tuner is only capable of receiving "One-Seg" broadcasts. "One-Seg" is a kind of terrestrial digital broadcast, meaning this TV tuner cannot receive traditional analog TV broadcasts (Japan is set to launch One-Seg broadcasts on April 1st of this year.)
Ambre France, a U.K.-based company that makes witty jewelry, often by turning mundane items into gold and silver pieces. The Plan B Cable Tie Ring Set includes a white or yellow gold cable tie ring, with an optional set diamond, and a pair of 24K gold plated scissors. The included instructions are simple: Plan A is to fall in love, get married and live happily ever after. Plan B is to "cut all ties."
Taser's electrifying new XREP shotgun-fired projectile
Police will soon have a new weapon in their growing "non-lethal" arsenal in the form of a Taser-brand, shotgun-fired projectile that nearly quadruples the range of traditional stun guns while maintaining the same immobilizing-goodness we've come to expect from Taser products. The new XREP, which stands for Extended Range Electro-Muscular Projectile, contains a fully functional Taser circuit payload inside the shell housing for a 12-gauge shotgun, which is apparently among the most common "shoulder fired launchers" in use by law enforcement and military personnel. Unlike handgun-style Tasers, there is no wire tethering the shock to the gun, which allows for a 30-meter range but takes away the shooter's ability to lead the "non-compliant" around on a leash. The response from the 35 lucky folks who field-tested (read: got shot by) the XREP was overwhelmingly positive: 100% said they would not recommend the sensation to friends and family. Protesters worldwide should start seeing these new superbullets whiz by sometime next year.
This new Japanese advertisement shows people using the DS Lite with games like Nintendogs, Brain Training, Mario Kart DS, and Animal Crossing Wild World. It's quick, simple, and to the point as it shows the system in the hands of real gamers.
Xbox 360 TV advertisement, three aliens gather over Xbox Live for racing in Project Gotham Racing 3. One alien: "Wow, this fooblu zon shnibby than a shnibben-pip!" (Translation: Wow, this track is bendier than a bendy bug.)
Euro Gamer talks to Uwe Boll, the German filmmaker, about his films, his critics and his portrayal in the media. One section in the interview Boll talks about a scene in his unreleased film of the game franchise Postal. Uwe Boll himself will make a minor cameo appearance in the film. That's if you consider his death a minor appearance. In the director's own words: "I get killed by my 'Boll haters'."
The interview strongly outlines Boll's anger at the media's reporting of his films. In particular, he's got a bone to pick with Internet-based games journalists. According to Boll "it's fashionable to hit on Uwe Boll, and this is what I don't get. And I don't get why this comes so harshly from the games press." We'll spell it out for you Mr. Boll. You make bad movies out of games. And we don't buy your "my earlier movies are better" argument, nor do we accept your "[be] happy that there's a movie getting made of a game" logic.
The unfortunate truth of the matter is that Boll's films deserve all the negative press they get. Bloodrayne and House of the Dead, Boll's latest movies, come in at 2.2/10 and 2.1/10 on the Internet Movie Database. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that for Boll to change his reputation, he'll need to work harder on his next victims, sorry, movies: FarCry, Postal and Fear Effect.
Edge Online has a post full of great links surrounding the Half-Life 2 Rube Goldberg videos. Heck, if you just want to watch these all day long, there's a thread here with links to dozens of them! The metric they measure these by is the length of the "Goldberg." Longer, of course, means better.
There is an ongoing challenge to produce the longest running Goldberg, although the top ten list is really out of date. Posters to the thread are claiming to have Goldbergs that run as long as 2 minutes!
Apple drops OS X 10.4.5 to combat Intel iMac Front Row problem
After Apple fessed up to video problems in Front Row on Intel iMacs, they've finally released Mac OS X 10.4.5 which "eliminates some potential video redraw issues when using Front Row on Intel-based Macs." There are a few other minor fixes, but it was nice of Apple to bump the OS from 10.4.4 so quickly.
LabelFlash vs. LightScribe: Tom's goes for the burn
Tom's Hardware took a close look at laser-etching label technologies, LightScribe and LaserFlash, along with supported drives and software. The site found a lot more hardware and software for LightScribe, which has been around longer and has broad industry support. LabelFlash from NEC has yet to be formally introduced in the US, and requires NEC hardware as well as hard-to-find, more expensive media (over $2 for a CD-R). Of course, LightScribe blanks aren't a bargain either, at about $1 each for a CD-R.
Red 5 Studios has announced that it's licensed the Offset Engine from Project Offset (aka Offset Software) and will be "demonstrating the Offset Engine at the upcoming Game Developers Conference" in March.
Red 5 Studios was formed by a few Blizzard veterans who helped produce World of Warcraft. The game planned to use the Offset Engine will be the first of hopefully many MMO titles from the upstart developer.
According to the Red 5 press release linked: "Every aspect of the Offset Engine is designed around the goal of reducing development time and cost," something the small studio should find particularly pleasing.
Owen Piette has created his own version of the "game" Falling Sand in C that runs natively in Windows or Linux. It retains the basic features of the original, but runs a bit faster and adds some new elements like steam and molten wax. One very welcome new feature is the ability to save and load previous games, so you can get back to work and come back to your little sand-world later. It works a bit differently than the original, but is just as fun.
A UK college student designed a new laundry solution that actually succeeds in saving the owner significant time/labor. Oliver Blackwell of Devon came up with the WashDryIron, which performs all three functions in one machine without the need for operator intervention, for his final project at the University of Plymouth. Rather than tossing your clothes into the machine a la traditional washers, each item is attached to a hanger in one of several independently-controllable compartments, where they are washed and air-dried right where they hang. This method supposedly eliminates color runs, shrinking, and wrinkles, and also allows different fabric types to be washed at the same time. Blackwell will be showing off a prototype at next month's Ideal Home Show, where he hopes to impress some manufacturers.
Flock, the Firefox-based "social web browser" has been updated to 0.60 with a bunch of new features. Among them: drag-and-drop uploading to Flickr, Flickr search by tags or text, a new blog editor with category support for WordPress and Movable Type, support for private online bookmarks with Shadows.com, Technorati and maps topbars, an improved RSS reader, and more. You can check out the changelog for 0.60 here, or you can download it for Windows, Mac, or Linux here.
-Lytir1
