Tag Archive for 'Earth'

…It’s TGI Friday: Bounce Shot?

Bounce Shot

Bounce Shot from Nigoro is a mix of Breakout and Space Invaders, wrapped in a cute and colorful package that begs you to play.

To get started, just move your cursor around the screen with your mouse, and your ship will follow. You can shoot at the Bouncians as they move across and then slowly down the screen, and the goal is to kill them all before they either kill you, or reach the Earth.

To make things interesting, you start with just two shots (so aim carefully), but as you shoot down the bomb filled Blue Bouncians, you can gain up to six additional shots for rapid-fire kills.

The trick to the game though is that shots can bounce off of walls, and your shots are not immune, so they can also bounce back and kill you too, meaning you can’t just go in with guns a blazin’ and hope that they die before you do.

In addition, some of the Bouncians are armored, so you’ll need to utilize the bounce back feature to curve the bullets around and then into your target. Don’t worry though, if Angelina can do it, then so can you.

A boss arrives every ten levels, and the goal is to score as many points as possible, so challenge a friend and see who can bounce better, because sometimes, it’s not just about who has the bigger gun.

Are you ready?

[Nigoro - Bounce Shot]

[Via: Indie Games]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: WhiteKnightTwo?

WhiteKnightTwo

Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic continued their quest to turn space into a tourist destination on Monday with the roll out of the new WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft that will ferry SpaceShipTwo and “thousands of private astronauts, science packages and payload on the first stage of the Virgin Galactic sub-orbital space experience”.

WK2 is the world’s largest all carbon composite aircraft, and at 140 ft., the wing spar is also the longest single carbon composite aviation component ever manufactured.

Powered by four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines, WK2 will support up to four daily space flights, and reach a maximum altitude of over 50,000 ft (limited only by the atmosphere).

It might only be for the rich and famous right now, but soon, Virgin Galactic hopes that you’ll hop aboard SpaceShipTwo, and WhiteKnightTwo will whisk you away into the blackness of space for a quick lap around the Earth.

[Virgin Galactic]

[Via: Josh Spear]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Lotus Eco Elise?

Lotus Eco Elise

How do you take an already feather-light supercar and reduce the weight by more than 70 pounds?

Easy; just make it more environmentally friendly.

Lotus decided to make an Eco version of their venerable Elise, and in the process, managed to reduce the already svelte curb weight.

Changes include a collection of sustainable materials for the body and trim, including hemp, eco wool, sisal, and a new, high-tech, water-based paint that can be applied by hand and can still achieve the fantastic finish you’d expect from a car of this quality. The new pieces and parts manage to reduce the Elise’s environmental footprint throughout its lifetime, as well as limit the amount of energy used during its production.

Lotus Eco Elise Interior

In addition to the new materials, Lotus has also added a flexible solar panel to the roof that helps power the electric system (less strain on the engine means better efficiency) and added a green shift light (hopefully in addition to the regular, ‘you’re about to blow up your engine’ red shift light) that helps drivers achieve the maximum fuel efficiency while driving the car.

Thankfully the engine and chassis are still the same, and Elise has actually managed to improve the performance by reducing the weight, so you’re still getting one of the best handing cars on the market out of the deal, but if you’d like to save a little Earth while tearing up a little track, the Eco Elise might be just the car you need.

[Lotus - Elise]

[Via: Autoblog]

…Michel Fournier is one crazy jumper?

Michel Fournier - The Great Leap

If all goes according to plan, Michel Fournier will complete a two decade and $20 million long journey today to balloon into the upper reaches of the atmosphere and then skydive back down in what he’s calling Le Grad Saut, or, The Great Leap.

His leap begins on the ground, where he will load into a 10 foot tall pressurized gondola that will hang from the bottom of a 650-foot balloon. This balloon will take him to a height of 130,000 feet (25 miles) over the course of two-hours, at which point he will open the door and step into the blackness of space.

To survive the fall, which will last for a full 15 minutes, he’s going to be wearing a special space suit and a parachute that is designed to automatically deploy when he’s 5,000 feet above the ground.

Along the way, he will reach, and then cross the speed of sound. (And then top out at a speed of around 1,000 MPH) If that sounds crazy, it is. Scientists are still unsure of what will happen when a person crosses the sound barrier unaided.

With those speeds, Fournier will also be breaking four new records: fastest free fall, longest free fall, highest altitude for a human balloon flight and highest parachute jump.

So what are the potential risks?

If his suit fails, the pressure would cause his blood could boil, and he would loose consciousness in less than five seconds. (Which sounds like a blessing if your blood is boiling during those five seconds!)

His first try was yesterday, and was canceled due to weather related complications, so let’s hope that today provides Michel with smoother sailing, and that he finds his way back to Earth in one piece!

[Via: The New York Times]

…MacBooks are available as other elements?

MacBook Elements

Now that the MacBook Air is out, what about the rest of the elements?

To see what Apple might have in store, DVICE has created a line of alternative MacBooks, including a MacBook Earth, a MacBook Fire, and a MacBook Water.

It’s like Captain Planet Computing!

[DVICE - MacBook Elements]

…You can fly around Google Earth?

Google Earth Flight Simulator

Take that, Microsoft!

In the latest version of Google Earth, Google added an easter egg in the form of a fully functioning flight simulator.

To access the simulator for the first time, hit CTRL+ALT+A in Windows, or Command+Option+A on a Mac, and a window should pop up offering you a choice between an F16 and an SR22, as well as a choice between starting positions.

There’s even joystick support if you’ve still got one of those lying around.

The maps below you are in full, 3D, Googley goodness, and the controls are surprisingly accurate, so get ready for some high flying fun, courtesy of the Google guys.

[Via: Mashable]

…It’s Things Thursday: Everything Is Miscellaneous?

Everything Is Miscellaneous

Though human beings are “information omnivores”, constantly collecting, labeling, and organizing data, the shift from physical to digital is “mixing, burning, and ripping lives apart”. David Weinberger’s book, Everything Is Miscellaneous, examines this shift in the way we look at the world, and shows why categories are a thing of the past.

    In Everything Is Miscellaneous, David Weinberger charts the new principles of digital order that are remaking business, education, politics, science, and culture. In his rollicking tour of the rise of the miscellaneous, he examines why the Dewey decimal system is stretched to the breaking point, how Rand McNally decides what information not to include in a physical map (and why Google Earth is winning that battle), how Staples stores emulate online shopping to increase sales, why your children’s teachers will stop having them memorize facts, and how the shift to digital music stands as the model for the future in virtually every industry. Finally, he shows how by “going miscellaneous,” anyone can reap rewards from the deluge of information in modern work and life.
    From A to Z, Everything Is Miscellaneous will completely reshape the way you think–and what you know–about the world.

This one is definitely on my “To Read” list, and has gotten quite a bit of buzz around the blogosphere (and even the realworldosphere) as a new way of looking at the world. Are you ready?

Question: What section are you supposed to find this book on the shelves?

[Everything Is Miscellaneous]

…It’s Movie Monday: Three Legged Legs?

Three Legged Legs

Today’s Movie Monday features the work of Three Legged Legs. What is Three Legged Legs, you ask? Well, it’s “a hillbilly with stinky hobbit feet, an angry brown guy freaking out all the time, and a guy who likes wearing collared shirts under regular cotton t-shirts”.

The first film is a shorty but a goodie. Humans!, a 60 second global awareness PSA “sensationalizing the excessive, all-consuming nature of the human being”, shows the Earth’s “utter demise in a fun and sickening kind of way”.

The next “animated fable”, Samurai, was a collaboration between TLL and GE for their Imagination Theater campaign. “It’s a tale of a pint-sized samurai faced with a seemingly impossible challenge as proposed by a behemoth Emperor and his wicked minions. Can you spot all the ninjas?”.

Their next short, Los Angeles Lets Be Friends, “depicts friendly monsters overrunning Los Angeles to spread joy and beauty throughout an otherwise drab and monochromatic society. Despite the creatures’ best efforts, the public isn’t swayed”.

Finally, Ricochet, a short “featured primarily as a visual effects showcase”, that “puts the viewer in the middle of an all out battle between two disparate armies set in an apocalyptic near-future environment”. Be warned though, this one gets violent.

You Tube Awards

Bonus: If that didn’t satisfy your movie appetite for the day, be sure to check out YouTube’s 2006 Video Awards Winners. You’ve probably seen most of them already, but maybe you missed one or two, so it’s always good to go back.

[Three Legged Legs]

[YouTube - Video Awards]

…Google’s Earth is all new?

Google Earth

Fans of Google Earth rejoice, Google Earth 4 is upon us. New additions include “rich 3D content”, the ability to create and share geographic information such as travel photos, hiking trails, and overlays of your own imagery, a new UI, and the ability to annotate, modify and share directly on the maps. Download now.

[Google Earth]

…Google Hearts The Mac?

Google Mac Downloads

Google is finally beginning to show some support for Mac users. They’ve created an Official Google Mac Blog to update users on all the new Google news relating to the Mac. Though there’s currently only one post, it’s a helpful link to Google’s new page for Mac Software Downloads, a useful site for downloading all of the Mac software supported by Google on one page. Some of the programs include Google SketchUp, Google Earth, and Picasa Web Albums Uploader. Plus, they’ve got a Google Mac Sites Search for gathering up all your Mac news in a very Google(y) way.

[Official Google Mac Blog]

[Google Software Downloads for the Mac]

[Via: Lifehacker]




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