Tuesday, July 6, 2010

First-ever human-powered Canada-to-Hawaii crossing postponed for a year

First-ever human-powered Canada-to-Hawaii
crossing postponed for a year

Red Bull Stratos team gets closer to supersonic freefall attempt

Red Bull Stratos team gets closer to supersonic freefall attempt:

"Later this year, Felix Baumgartner will put on a pressurized space suit and helmet,
climb into a capsule suspended beneath a balloon, ride 120,000 feet into the earth’s
upper atmosphere, then jump out and – before deploying his parachute – try to break
the speed of sound while in freefall. That’s the plan, at least, for the insanely-dangerous
Red Bull Stratos event. If successful, it will constitute the world’s highest manned
balloon flight, highest parachute jump, and fastest and longest freefall."

'Never-before-seen material' can store vast amounts of energy

'Never-before-seen material' can store vast amounts of energy:

"Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on
a giant planet, researchers from Washington State University (WSU) have
created a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast
amounts of energy."

AMG shows High Voltage Gullwing SLS E-Cell

AMG shows High Voltage Gullwing SLS E-Cell:

"The Audi e-tron has been at the top of our list of awesome electric cars
for some time. Now there's a new contender – the SLS AMG E-CELL.
Mercedes-AMG hinted at the possibility of an electric drive SLS gullwing
last year and has now rolled-out a prototype which looks set for small
series production."

Finally: motorcycle headlights that look around the corners

Finally: motorcycle headlights that look around the corners:
"You can't accuse BMW motorcycles of lacking gadgets - with the latest and greatest
Beemers packing quickshifters, traction control, integrated ABS and all sorts of other
goodies, they're right at the pointy end of the pack. But as great as those features are,
this one's so forehead-slappingly obvious and excellent that frankly it's a disgrace that
nobody else has beaten the Bavarians to it."