Redesigned Martin Jetpack deliveries expected to start in 2014

Redesigned Martin Jetpack deliveries expected to start in 2014: "The Martin Jetpack being developed by Martin Aircraft Company in New Zealand has undergone a major design overhaul. Reemerging as the P12 prototype, the ducted-fan personal VTOL is fully certified for manned test flights as a Class 1 microlight. The first commercial sales, now expected in mid-2014, will be for first responder applications, such as rescue, fire, and police missions. According to the company, sales to individuals will follow shortly after the initial models are vetted in field use."

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Build a delta kite from an umbrella

Build a delta kite from an umbrella: "First of i have to admit, that when i started working on this project, i was mainly driven by my ego. I would appreciate it, if any of my ideas become valuable for somebody."

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Phone boxes converted into national WiFi network | ZDNet

Phone boxes converted into national WiFi network | ZDNet: "Telecom New Zealand is launching a nationwide WiFi service piggybacking on its legacy network of pay-phone booths.

700 hotspots will be live by 7 October with a target of 2000 by the middle of 2014 – and Telecom New Zealand customers on monthly plans and on NZ$19 and NZ$29 prepaid packs will get 1Gb a day of data free."

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Which Is The Largest Science Fiction Starship?

Which Is The Largest Science Fiction Starship?: "DeviantART member DirkLoechel recently updated his starship size comparison table, which includes ships from many popular science fiction favourites like Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape, Titan A.E., and Battlestar Galactica. If you and your mates are constantly arguing over the sizes of starships, this handy cheatsheet will decisively end the debate. Head over to DeviantART for the full resolution image."

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How far is 3 million miles?

How far is 3 million miles?: "It's a long way, 3 million miles. In the UK, where I'm writing this, Land's End to John o' Groats, the length of the island of Great Britain, is the proverbial long way, but at 874 miles it is less than 1/3,000th of the way."

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Southwest Michigan's Kalamazoo River Serves Up Bass and Pike | OutdoorHub

Southwest Michigan's Kalamazoo River Serves Up Bass and Pike | OutdoorHub: "Four or five casts into our trip, Scott Markham announced that he’d hooked “something big.”

He’d been running a crankbait near a cool-water seep in the Kalamazoo River many miles below Morrow Lake in southwest Michigan when the fish stopped it cold. It didn’t take long to realize that Markham had hooked a big pike."

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Photos of Golden Eagle Attacking Russian Deer a “First” | OutdoorHub

Photos of Golden Eagle Attacking Russian Deer a “First” | OutdoorHub: "Conservationists studying the movements of tigers in Russia’s Far East captured rare—and what are believed to be the first—images of a Golden Eagle attacking a sika deer."

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Test drive: Lamborghini's 700 hp attack fighter, the Aventador LP 700-4

Test drive: Lamborghini's 700 hp attack fighter, the Aventador LP 700-4: "We are in California as part of Lamborghini's 50th Anniversary. The setting is a private house located in two miles off the main highway, up a very narrow, misty road."

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Tips for making the most of Google Chromecast

Tips for making the most of Google Chromecast: "Google's Chromecast currently doesn't have a whole lot of options other than its four officially supported apps: YouTube, Netflix, Google Music and Google Video. Following on from our full review of the Chromecast, here's some user tips on how to get a little more out of the device, from mirroring your desktop to playing your own video files."

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Close encounter with a supermassive black hole

Close encounter with a supermassive black hole: "As you read this, the eyes of the astrophysical world are focused on about one-trillionth of the sky, watching as the calm existence of G2, a three-Earth mass gas cloud near the galactic center, is viciously disrupted by a close encounter with Sagittarius A*, the galaxy's supermassive black hole. Careful observation of this rare event is expected to provide an enormous amount of information on the environment of the central light month (about 6,000 AU) immediately surrounding the black hole."

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Cuddle Mattress lets you get closer to your significant other

Cuddle Mattress lets you get closer to your significant other: "Anyone who has ever been in a serious relationship will know that having a cuddle in bed isn't always the most enjoyable of experiences. It's great for a short period of time, and then the numbness, tingling, or out-and-out pain kicks in. This is due to mattresses offering no freedom of movement for your arm and shoulder, and the solution may be simpler than you thought."

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Review: Minx Air 200 wireless speaker system

Review: Minx Air 200 wireless speaker system: "Last month I got the opportunity to spend some quality time with the Minx Go Bluetooth speaker from Cambridge Audio and came away mighty impressed. Since then I've been playing my tunes through its bigger brother, the top of the range Minx Air 200. This wireless speaker is roughly four times the physical size of the Go, is compatible with Apple's AirPlay technology as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and has a monstrous 200 W amplifier at its heart."

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Human-powered speed record falls at Battle Mountain

Human-powered speed record falls at Battle Mountain: "It's with considerable interest that Gizmag has followed cyclist Graeme Obree's latest quest to break the human-powered speed record on his self-designed and self-built bicycle, Beastie. On Friday at the World Human Speed Championships at Battle Mountain, Nevada, Obree finally made the attempt. Though he fell short of that ultimate record, he did break the world prone record (for cycling head first, face down) with an impressive speed of 56.62 mph (91 km/h). Yet the overall speed record was broken during the event, by a team from the Delft University of Technology and VU University Amsterdam."

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Vindskip ship concept uses the hull as a sail

Vindskip ship concept uses the hull as a sail: "With its Vindskip (or Windship), the Norwegian designers at Lade AS have come up with an intriguing concept for a partly wind-powered "hybrid" merchant ship.

No, Gizmag hasn't quite forgotten maritime history, and Lade AS is not proposing a return to the Age of Sail – not quite, anyway. Instead, the concept envisages using a specially-shaped hull to harness the power of the wind."

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Optical computing gets a lift on butterfly wings

Optical computing gets a lift on butterfly wings: "Researchers from Australia's Swinburne University and Germany's Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg have developed artificial crystals with unique optical properties that could lead to advances in quantum computing and telecommunications. Their inspiration? The glorious green wings of the Callophyrs Rubi butterfly"

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Review: i-H2GO hydrogen-powered remote-control car

Review: i-H2GO hydrogen-powered remote-control car: "At the end of last month, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies began shipments of its latest hydrogen fuel cell-powered remote-control toy car, the i-H2GO. Like its predecessor, the H2GO, it runs on hydrogen obtained from user-supplied water. The main thing that's new about the i-H2GO, however, is the fact that it is now controlled using a free app on the user's existing smartphone. I got my hands on an early production model, mainly just so that I could truthfully say "I've driven a fuel cell car"

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The best muscle cars and what they are worth

The best muscle cars and what they are worth: "Every boy, and a lot of girls growing up, have a dream car, or a special car that you think, one day your going to have one of those. You picture yourself driving down the road, you hear the noise of the engine, you know that you have the power to kick down the accelerator and it will throw you back into the seat, even if your already doing 80. Some boys outgrow the dream, some don't. The ones that don't, restore these amazing cars so the rest of us can still enjoy them."

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Plasmonic nanostructures could prove a boon to solar cell technology

Plasmonic nanostructures could prove a boon to solar cell technology: "Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found a way to harvest energy from sunlight more efficiently, with the help of so-called plasmonic nanostructures. The new findings suggest that plasmonic components can enhance and direct optical scattering, creating a mechanism that is more efficient than the photoexcitation that drives solar cells. The development could therefore provide a real boost to solar cell efficiency and lead to faster optical communication."

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GoSun: Portable solar oven cooks food in as little as 10 minutes

GoSun: Portable solar oven cooks food in as little as 10 minutes: "The recently unveiled GoSun Stove is a portable, tube-shaped solar oven that's billed as being powerful enough to cook a full meal, even on cloudy days. Much like the Solar Kettle, this solar cooker uses parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a glass cylinder and cook the contents inside. But while the Solar Kettle was built for heating up beverages and boiled eggs, the GoSun Stove sports a slightly larger set of mirrors and a stainless steel tray for food, allowing it to act as a portable convection oven for baking, frying, boiling, and more."

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Where'd that building go? Korea to get 'invisible' skyscraper | Crave - CNET

Where'd that building go? Korea to get 'invisible' skyscraper | Crave - CNET: "If you're among those eagerly awaiting a working invisibility cloak, get ready to be jealous. A South Korean skyscraper may get one before we humble (and highly visible) humans do."

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First Ford Mustang sold to public still belongs to original owner

First Ford Mustang sold to public still belongs to original owner: "After Gail Wise graduated from college, she needed a car to get to her first job. So she went to a Ford dealership in Chicago on April 15, 1964, and drove home with a brand-new light-blue Mustang convertible — the first Mustang ever sold to the public. The car wasn’t even officially on the market until two days later when Ford president Lee Iacocca unveiled the Mustang at the World's Fair in New York. "

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Enfojer lets you develop photographic prints straight from your smartphone

Enfojer lets you develop photographic prints straight from your smartphone: "Here's a fun little toy that might be of interest to playful photography enthusiasts and tinkerers. The Enjofer, described as a "portable smartphone photographic enlarger," is a stand that lets you create good quality black and white photographic prints directly from your smartphone, though you'll need your own darkroom set up to do it."

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Aviator and Afterburner bike lights are literally guaranteed to thwart thieves

Aviator and Afterburner bike lights are literally guaranteed to thwart thieves: "Life would certainly be simpler for bicycle commuters if they could just leave their lights on their bikes all the time, but – in most cases – doing so could likely result in the lights being stolen while the bike was parked on the street. MIT grad Slava Menn addressed this problem last year, by helping to create the revolver-like Defender theft-resistant headlight. Now, he's working on a similarly street-proof headlight and tail light, that are sleeker than the Defender but just as hard to steal – or wreck."

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Porsche 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid drive debuts in Frankfurt

Porsche 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid drive debuts in Frankfurt: "Porsche has debuted the long-awaited production model of its 918 Spyder at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA). Billed as the "genetic blueprint for the Porsche sports car of the future," the plug-in hybrid super sports car is designed to strike a balance between performance and efficiency, boasting acceleration of 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 211 mph despite miserly fuel consumption estimated at 3 liters per 100 km (0.8 gallons per 62 miles)."

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The Next Space Shuttle: Hybrid Engines Make Runway-To-Orbit Missions A Reality | Popular Science

The Next Space Shuttle: Hybrid Engines Make Runway-To-Orbit Missions A Reality | Popular Science: "A disembodied jet engine, attached to a hulking air vent, sits in an outdoor test facility at the Culham Science Center in Oxfordshire, England. When the engine screams to life, columns of steam billow from the vent, giving the impression of an industrial smokestack. Engineer Alan Bond sees something more futuristic. “We’re looking at a revolution in transportation,” he says. For Bond, the engine represents the beginning of the world’s first fully reusable spaceship, a new kind of craft that promises to do what no space-faring vehicle ever has: offer reliable, affordable, and regular round-trip access to low Earth orbit."

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McLaren's P1 gets tested under the broiler in southern US states

McLaren's P1 gets tested under the broiler in southern US states: "McLaren’s P1 has already proven itself in Arctic exercises, but more recently it was the job of California, Nevada and Arizona to gang up on the supercar as part of an extreme heat testing scenario. The P1, which McLaren is set to begin delivering in a few weeks, appears to have remained undaunted as temperatures hit record highs of 116ºF (52ºC) during test runs in its new, undisguised finish."

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Scramspace scramjet arrives in Norway for test flight

Scramspace scramjet arrives in Norway for test flight: "A revolutionary jet engine capable of operating at eight times the speed of sound has arrived in Norway. Designed and built in Brisbane, Australia by the University of Queensland (UQ), the Scramspace is a hypersonic scramjet that will be fired by rocket in the Arctic Circle, where it will very briefly fly fast enough to travel from London to Australia in two hours. It’s part of a project to develop hypersonic technology that may one day be used to put payloads into orbit at a much lower cost than is possible today."

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Castrol Rocket prepares for motorcycle land speed record bid

Castrol Rocket prepares for motorcycle land speed record bid: "All of the two-wheeled machines that have held the motorcycle land speed record over the past few decades have one thing in common – they don't look like motorcycles. The latest speedster to step up to the plate is no exception. The Castrol Rocket is a 1,000-hp jet without wings that's been undergoing testing at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in preparation for a shot at the title of world's fastest motorcycle."

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The Yacht-inspired Caravisio camper concept

The Yacht-inspired Caravisio camper concept: "Citing declining caravan numbers in Europe, German manufacturer Knaus Tabbert decided to rethink camper design, creating what it calls "the caravan of the future." The Caravisio design study draws its inspiration from the water as well as the future, pulling some yacht-like elements onto the streets."

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Aeroscraft begins flight testing following FAA certification

Aeroscraft begins flight testing following FAA certification: "After a 70-year absence, it appears that a new rigid frame airship will soon be taking to the skies over California. Aeros Corporation, a company based near San Diego, has received experimental airworthiness certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin flight testing the Aeroscraft airship, and it appears that the company has wasted no time getting started"

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SpaceShipTwo sets new altitude, speed record

SpaceShipTwo sets new altitude, speed record: "Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) broke its own speed and altitude records on Thursday as it successfully completed its second rocket-powered, supersonic flight. At 8:00 AM PDT, SS2 took off slung beneath the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft from Virgin Galactic’s Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. According to the company, the tourism spacecraft went through its full technical mission profile in a single flight for the first time, including the deployment of its “feathering” re-entry mechanism at high altitude."

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The Goods: September 2013's Hottest Gadgets | Popular Science

The Goods: September 2013's Hottest Gadgets | Popular Science: "Even a perfectly crafted paper airplane will fly only so far for so long. With the PowerUp conversion kit—an electric motor and combination propeller-rudder—a paper plane can soar for up to 10 minutes. Users control the craft by tilting a Bluetooth-connected iPhone. $50"

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The Goods: September 2013's Hottest Gadgets | Popular Science

The Goods: September 2013's Hottest Gadgets | Popular Science: "The Satechi bottle top converts any water bottle into a humidifier. Powered via USB, the 2.5-ounce device contains a transducer that vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency to turn water into vapor. $30"

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JetBlue scores FAA approval for Fly-Fi, may launch satellite WiFi next month

JetBlue scores FAA approval for Fly-Fi, may launch satellite WiFi next month: "JetBlue's next-generation WiFi service, powered by ViaSat's super-speedy Ka-band satellite, is officially on track to launch this October. The FAA just issued a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the airline's Airbus A320, enabling a fleet-wide installation that's set to begin immediately. In a statement, Chief Commercial Officer Robin Hayes said that several aircraft will be wired by the end of this year, with many A320s scheduled to come online throughout 2014. The rollout will then continue with JetBlue's smaller Embraer 190, currently used on select regional routes."

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Pocket : Hubble telescope spots 'cosmic caterpillar' that's six TRILLION miles long, formed by harsh winds from some of our hottest stars

Pocket : Hubble telescope spots 'cosmic caterpillar' that's six TRILLION miles long, formed by harsh winds from some of our hottest stars: "The protostar is located 4,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus
It is currently collecting material from an envelope of gas surrounding it
The gas, however, is also being eroded by surrounding stellar radiation"

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Pocket : In pictures: Monterey Car Week

Pocket : In pictures: Monterey Car Week: "Monterey Car Week is a gathering of the most sublime examples of four-wheeled transportation the world has to offer. The 2013 event was no exception, spanning everything from the latest concept vehicles to million dollar museum pieces and collectibles from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo and Bugatti. Here's Gizmag's through-the-lens look at the highlights from this Californian automotive feast."

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Solar-powered UAV could fly in the upper atmosphere for 5 years at a time

Solar-powered UAV could fly in the upper atmosphere for 5 years at a time: "Conventional satellites may be decent at their jobs, but they do have some drawbacks – the spacecraft themselves are quite expensive, getting them into orbit is also a costly process, and they can’t be reclaimed once they’re in use. Titan Aerospace, however, is offering an alternative that should have none of those problems. The company’s Solara unmanned high-altitude aircraft is intended to serve as an “atmospheric satellite,” autonomously flying in the sky’s upper reaches for as long as five years continuously."

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Kyocera develops wafer-thin piezo film speaker for TVs, PCs, tablets

Kyocera develops wafer-thin piezo film speaker for TVs, PCs, tablets: "Japan's Kyocera Corporation has combined a piezoelectric actuator with a special resin film to produce a proprietary, piezo film speaker that is considerably thinner and lighter than conventional electromagnetic speakers, while boasting similar audio levels."

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