Police say it is an epidemic across the country and only getting worse: Tens of thousands of smartphones stolen every year. And yes, it gets violent: Many victims are beaten, bruised and hospitalized. Authorities say there’s an easy fix, a way to stop these criminals in their tracks right now. But, they say, the wireless companies are blocking it — to protect their profits.
An auto journalist on a drive through San Francisco yesterday morning happened to come across the above Porsche 911 right after it plowed into a patch of fresh, wet cement. Yes, this is why people think Porsche 911 drivers are asshats.
Sitting next to a screaming child on an airplane can make someone want to jump out the window. One man aboard a Vietnam Airlines plane Tuesday attempted to take that adage literally. Luckily for all on board, the plane had already landed, but that didn’t stop 29-year-old Le Van Thuan from opening the plane’s window exit and releasing the emergency slide.
Kingda Ka, the tallest roller coaster on Earth, drops its passengers a life-flashing 418 feet. Ferrari World’s Formula Rossa, the fastest, literally takes riders’ breath away at speeds of up to 150 mph. Though thrilling, these are phenomena of degree, not kind. BRC Imagination Arts, a Southern California design firm, has proposed something entirely new: a ride that creates the sensation of zero gravity for up to eight seconds at a time.
BRC drew its concept from the “Vomit Comet,” the plane NASA uses to train astronauts. The KC-135A aircraft flies a looping parabolic path, creating about 25 seconds of microgravity each time it zips up and over the parabola’s camelback hump. BRC’s proposed theme-park ride would travel a somewhat simpler trajectory—up and then back down a soaring steel edifice, similar to the existing “Superman: Escape from Krypton” coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. But unlike Superman and other open-car coasters, the vomit-comet ride would be fully enclosed. Rather than the thrill of hurtling forward to one’s perceived doom, riders would enjoy the illusion of floating within a stable chamber.
Ever wonder what you’d sound like speaking German? Or maybe Mandarin? Microsoft Research has a new technology they’re cooking up which will take the sound of your voice and synthesize it as part a spoken language translator.
According to MIT’s Technology Review, the system in it’s current form requires an hour of training (which, presumably, means an hour of you talking to a computer), and can translate between 26 different languages.
