Cool T-Mobile UK Commercial

Crazy. Now that's how you make a commercial. Apparently this was filmed at 11am on January 15th at Liverpool Street Station. Probably a pretty big budget and a logistical nightmare to get this one recorded.

Solar Furnace Melts Steel

Looking for the best way to feed the world's hunger for energy, James May visited a solar furnace to see how powerful they really are. Usually, solar furnaces are used to boil water into steam to generate electricity or make hydrogen fuel. But May thought that the best way to make people understand their insane power is to do something equally as insane: Melt steel almost instantly.

A solar furnace is a mirror structure used to concentrate sun rays into a small area called the focal point. As you can expect, the concentrated rays produce extremely high temperatures: At the focal point, solar furnaces can achieve temperatures of 5,430 ºF (3,000 ºC). The idea is not new—coming from ancient Greece—but their potential is starting to become more relevant now as we try to cut dependency on fossil fuels.

2009 DTV Transition

This "PSA" on the upcoming switch to digital broadcasting that requires anyone who watches TV via an antenna to get a converter box is one of the funniest gadget-related videos I've seen in a long, long time. In it, Mae LaBorde, a 99-year-old grandmother, tries to figure out how to acquire and then set up a digital converter box. Man, do I love this video. What are you still reading these stupid words for? Just watch the video.

Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display

Here's the video of the Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display, one of those technologies that will probably change entertainment forever: A high-fidelity 3D force field on the air that allows you to actually touch virtual objects with your bare hands. Initially, this technology could find its way into virtual keyboards, but in the future—as the size and resolution increases—there are endless possibilities.

Large Hadron Collider Explination

This is pretty weird (and cool) stuff. This video explains the operation of the LHC, it's power, and the forces at work required to "peer into what created and governs our universe."
The first live test of the LHC was today (Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008) and apparently it's working properly. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here to read this article.

Speculations leading up to this event have been of "the end of the world" as the machine is said to be capable of creating "mini black holes" powerful enough to engulf the earth itself, or even our own solar system given the amount of matter available to grow the black hole.

Further testing and, ultimately, the actual full-speed, full-power shots will take place in the near future.

Hope to be here for the next post!
Fingers crossed...

Office Building Light Show

Some Poles calling themselves Project Piwo have been creating huge animations using the windows of Soviet era bloks and the larger office buildings around Poland. In this video, they recreate the James Bond opening by flashing lights throughout the building.

Real Hologram Device

Does art imitate life or life imitate art? I think this holographic display developed at USC demoing a TIE Fighter puts an end to that age-old debate. Using a high-speed DLP projection, a mirror reflects 5,000 images per second, which combine to make a pretty 3D object. But the most remarkable point about the system is that it updates in realtime at 200Hz, taking into account the user's position and adjusting the image placement as needed. In other words, the image could rotate for a still viewer, or stay absolutely still for a moving viewer. But that's easier to understand after watching the video: