Gizmo Logs

Mach 8 Hydrogen Hypersonic Airliner?

It looks like that Boeing jet we showed you yesterday isn’t going to be the only airplane using hydrogen if the European Union has its way. The European Space Agency just got $14.5 million in a second round of funding from the EU to study the idea of developing A2, a hydrogen-fueled hypersonic aircraft that might travel at an incredible speed of Mach 5.5. They’re studying what it would take to build an aircraft so fast that you could fly from Brussels to Sydney in 4.6 hours. Gosh, more than 10,000 miles. There’s even talk of an engine that could propel the craft to Mach 8. This rocket plane makes the Mach 2 of the Concorde seem glacially slow.
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Category: Aircraft, Design Concept, Rumor | Be first to Comment »

Psion Teklogix’s iKon, the rugged PDA phone

Last we heard from Psion Teklogix, it was busy cranking out a handheld workhorse for those rough days in the field, but now the outfit is celebrating its 40th year in the biz by offering up the iKon. This PDA / smartphone features a 3.7-inch VGA display, an integrated camera, built-in GPS, GSM / GPRS / UMTS connectivity options, Bluetooth, WiFi, a barcode scanner and your choice of Windows Mobile 6 Classic / Professional or CE.net 5. Furthermore, this tough guy can withstand falls from five feet to polished concrete, and it’ll also hold its own when faced with sandstorms and downpours. Sadly, Psion Teklogix isn’t fessing up to what the iKon will cost, but you can certainly contact the firm directly when it goes on sale this December should you be interested.

Category: Cellphones, GPS, Handheld | Be first to Comment »

Apple envisions tactility on multi-touch

Tactile feedback isn’t exactly new to the mobile device arena, but Apple is apparently looking to add a bit of tactility to on-screen keyboards of the future. In a recent patent filing, the gurus in Cupertino have described four arrangements for accomplishing the aforementioned goal, some of which include adding dots / bars to keys and throwing an articulating frame underneath the panel to enable users to feel varying levels of resistance when mashing down. Per usual, we’re left to imagine where such technology could eventually end up (tough job, we know), but considering that this is the third touchpad-related filing seen from Apple in the past 20 days, who knows what is (or isn’t) brewing.

[Source: UnwiredView]

Category: Apple, Patent, Touch Technology | Be first to Comment »

NEC SX-9 (world’s fastest Vector supercomputer)

NEC looks to have earned itself some new bragging rights in the supercomputer club with its new SX-9 model, which it claims is the “world’s fastest vector supercomputer” on the market today. Helping it earn that distinction is a peak processing performance of 839 teraflops, and a peak vector performance of more than 100 gigaflops per single core (apparently a first for any supercomputer). That, NEC hopes, should make the SX-9 ideal for a wide range of uses, including weather forecasting, aerospace, the environment and fluid dynamics. No word on what it’ll cost, but those looking to check out all that teraflopping for themselves should head to the Supercomputing 2007 expo in Reno, Nevada next month, where the SX-9 will make its public debut.

[Source: Physorg]

Category: Desktops | Be first to Comment »

HP clarifies iPaq situation: 210 delayed, 110 shipping now

Looks like HP finally noticed that people were a little confused about the shipping status of its newest iPaqs, so the company dispatched Worldwide Public Relations Manager Mike Hockey to clear things up: according to Mike, the iPaq 110 should be in stores soon, but “a supply issue discovered in the development of the recently announced HP iPAQ 200 products will cause the availability to be later than we had hoped in some regions of the world.” So much for that optimistic ship date HP had listed, which appears to be a glitch with the web ordering system that always promises an “estimated ship date” of two days in the future.  Stupid promises.

Category: Handheld | Be first to Comment »

Suzuki Biplane makes us pity Harley

The Tokyo Auto Show is bringing us some wicked concepts, including this Suzuki Biplane motorcycle. Inspired by the classic biplane first introduced by the Wright Brothers, we’re a bit confused exactly where the twin stacked wings fit within this redesign, but who knows, maybe Suzuki has made motorcycles fly. Not to mention, there’s about a 50/50 chance that you could instantly turn into a super hero when sitting on this bike…which counts for something. Click here for more pics.
[Source: jalopnik]

Category: Automobile, Design Concept | Be first to Comment »

Hydrogen Engine: the future of aviation

Boeing has successfully completed tests for the engine that will power HALE, the extreme endurance plane that will be able to fly for seven days non-stop in the stratosphere. The wunderengine—developed by the Ford Motor Company—went for three days under the simulated conditions of a 65,000-feet flight, which is definitely better than a Taurus and apparently exceeded their expectations on fuel economy.

But, don’t expect this technology to hit a Dreamliner anytime soon

[Source: Boeing]

Category: Aircraft | Be first to Comment »

Samsung F700 coming to Verizon?

According to Crunchgear, a variant of the much hyped Samsung F700 will be making its way into the open arms of Verizon users sometime in the near future. Outside of that, no other details exist and an official announcement has yet to be made —so try and keep your excitement in check.

[Source: CrunchGear]

Category: Cellphones | Be first to Comment »

Satski GPS, for Skiers

The Satski GPS system could easily become a hit amongst true skiing enthusiasts. Using the Satski, you can create an interactive piste map that can be used to guide, track , and record your movements on the slopes. You can even upload your routes to Google Earth and share them with others. The Satski can also help you find the best slopes for your skill level and help you improve by recording your average and max speeds, distance traveled, and altitude information.

Like other GPS units, the Satski features extras like an MP3 player, games, and information on local points of interest. Naturally, that means it can also be distracting like traditional GPS units. You wouldn’t want a huge tree laying down a hard pick because you decided to play Tetris while blazing down a mountain, so save the “extras” for the lodge. The Satski is currently available in the UK for £1,500 ($3,000) and for approx £28 ($57) as a ski resort rental. No word on whether or not this technology will be available elsewhere anytime soon.

[Source: Satski]

Category: GPS | Be first to Comment »

India comes back to OLPC

After referring to the OLPC laptop as “pedagogically suspect” a year ago and rejected it, and claiming that they could build a laptop for $10 this past May, India has come back down to Earth and decided to take part in the project by delivering 22 of the laptops to lucky children in a one-room school in Maharashtra. Its a small start for a country with over a billion inhabitants, but officials have noted that distribution could broaden as early as June.

[Source: Yahoo]

Category: Laptops, Legal | Be first to Comment »