If you’re really, really into driving video games, you know that using a regular controller or a keyboard is for chumps. It’s a driving game, so clearly you need a steering wheel. But while most people are satisfied with just a wheel, some people need more. A lot more.

Enter the VirtualGT Racing Simulator. This behemoth is designed for realism, coming loaded with a 37-inch plasma TV and a whole seat/wheel/cockpit contraption. It also has tons of high-fidelity speakers to make you feel like you’re in a real car. Of course, for the $20,000 price you could be in a real car, but I guess some people have different priorities than others.

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The woman in this photo is freaking out because she’s wearing the 3rd Space FPS vest by TN games. The technology was supposedly developed for doctors to work via the Internet, but it didn’t fly. In a nutshell, it’s a vest that lets you feel the force of getting shot. The vest has an air source that can fire eight pneumatic cells that are embedded in the vest. Those cells simulate the direction and force of a bullet fired at you in a first-person shooter game.

Am I missing something here? Because I don’t think this one will fly either — who would want to feel what it’s like to get shot? Back to the drawing board, boys. No word on price or availability yet, anyway.

No, this isn’t the new Batmobile from The Dark Knight; it’s a super-slick concept car from Mazda dubbed the Furai. It’s got a “Cougar C65 chassis and a three-rotor rotary engine capable of 450 hp,” which means it’s fast. Really fast.

Of course, since it’s a concept, you’ll probably never get to drive one. And even if they did release it to the general public, it’d cost much more than you could afford. Cars like this aren’t for driving to the supermarket in anyways: they’re for racing and for ogling on the Internet. We’re happy to provide you with the ability to at least do the latter.

GM showcased a “green” Hummer run by algae at last year’s Los Angeles Auto show: it was really just a concept by someone with neat Photoshop skills.

This year at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, GM introduced a physical version of an “environmentally friendly” Hummer concept car, the HX. The HX has some elements of a sports car: It’s convertible and has only two doors. It’s lighter than previous Hummer models, with a V-6 engine that can run on E85 ethanol. Because news about the environment can get so dreary, the HX comes without a radio. Instead, it has a USB dock for MP3 players. Though the HX is just a concept design, it does signal GMs intention of equipping future Hummers with E85 FlexFuel engines.

Meanwhile, this year’s 2008 H3 uses old fashioned gasoline and gets 14 mpg on a good day.

Here’s a sure sign that the International Space Station is a solution looking for a problem: The space platform might be launching a Space Shuttle-shaped paper airplane that will glide back to earth at 5300 miles per hour. The Japan Origami Airplane Association was tapped by researchers at the University of Tokyo to fold up a 3.1-inch plane made of specially treated paper that’s tough enough to fly in space and return to earth.

Before the fastest paper airplane in history is released on its historic journey, first it must survive an ultra high-speed wind tunnel test that will take place tomorrow, to see if the tiny craft can withstand the hellish heat and buffeting forces of re-entry. But damn, NASA. There’s not even any way to track the thing, as far as we can tell, so what’s the point? Other than it being just a cool thing to do, of course. But after this experiment is done, could we go to Mars already, or get cracking on that moon base we’ve been hearing about for the past four decades?

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With a pair of Anti-Gravity Boots worn over your shoes, you’ll feel taller, have more of a spring in your step, and will probably have a higher chance of getting horribly injured just by simply walking around. The Boots utilize a heavy-duty rubber T-spring that you can swap out if anything happens to it, and it transfers a bit of downward energy back into your step, sending you bounding along. The Boots claim to be easy on the joints and offer a nice workout akin to power walking (or bouncing?) for people looking for a nutty way to lose weight.

The Anti-Gravity Boots by GeoSpace sell for around $180 and are suitable for anyone 190 pounds and lighter.

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Dyson vacuums may seem like the best of the best for the bagless vacuums, but Philips is ready to jump into the ring with a canister vacuum that is more powerful and cheaper than anything Dyson has to offer. Philips’ Marathon FC9208/01 is a canister vacuum that includes a 2000W motor capable of 350W of suction power, which is significantly more than the comparable Dyson DC21 that only has 220W of suction power. Its 15-pound weight is also significantly lighter than the DC21’s 23 pounds. It may be strictly an opinion, but I would have to admit the Philips is quite a bit prettier than the Dyson, if you care about the aesthetics of a vacuum cleaner.

At 76 dB, the Philips is one of the quieter bagless vacuums and the HEPA 12 filter is capable of capturing 99.5% of the dust. You can buy the Marathon for approximately $350, which is $150 less than the Dyson DC21 and others.

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The big brains at DARPA are at it again, this time teaming up with Oklahoma State University to develop unmanned aerial vehicles that will be small enough to fit into a soldier’s pocket. The heart of the project is the experimental propulsion system that has no moving parts and utilizes plasma thrusters. The need for such a tiny UAV comes after the realization that most of the unmanned reconnaissance vehicles used at the moment are poor indoors and in urban areas. OSU’s UAV would allow all soldiers to carry UAVs and see what they’re getting into before hand.

And what else is OSU cooking up for DARPA? “One of our projects is to keep an aircraft in the air for five years without landing,” an aerospace student told the Daily O’Collegian. “The other is to put an aircraft in a ballistic missile, which would serve as a launching system, the aircraft would fly out of the missile and provide us with immediate surveillance anywhere in the world within 45 minutes.”

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f your desk is located inside a pirate ship, these “Goth Style Speakers,” shaped like skulls with knives through them, are sure to look just perfect with all of your other decorations. If you live in a normal-looking house or apartment, well, these will look ridiculous.

I mean come on, I can understand being super into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but to such a degree that you’d want a set of tacky skull-shaped speakers? That doesn’t make a lick of sense. These things even light up from the inside when they’re being used, making them even more embarrassing-looking. Trust me, you don’t want these.

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HBO is testing a new Broadband On Demand service on Time Warner Cable in Wisconsin right now, allowing current HBO subscribers to download any of its movies or shows whenever they want. It includes pretty slick features like season passes that start downloading new episodes of selected show 5 minutes after they air.

There are catches, of course. You can’t watch the videos on portable devices, nor can you burn them for viewing on your TV. The videos automatically expire after a few weeks, and you need to be connected to Time Warner Broadband to both watch and download the episodes. But hey, if you’re already paying for HBO, it’s a pretty sweet free bonus. If you live in Wisconsin, that is.

LawnBott has been upgraded. When we covered the previous incarnation of the lawnmower robot, we weren’t sure the concept would fly — but we were wrong and congratulations are in order. KA Home Robotics announced a new model, the LawnBott LB3200, which adds Bluetooth tech to its mowing arsenal, letting you program and control it from any Bluetooth-enabled cellphone or laptop.

For the initial setup, you use the included perimeter wire to set the boundary around the lawn edge, flowerbeds and bushes. Utilizing two lithium-ion batteries for power, the LB3500 leaves the docking station at its preprogrammed time to start the mow. It will work on slopes up to 30 degrees and cut an area as big as 38,000 square feet and then it return to its dock automatically. For safety there’s a free-floating 360-degree bumper, a blade-stop sensor, and an onboard alarm system if an unauthorized user picks up the Lawnbott. Lawnbott 2.0 is available now for $3,250.

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The Day-for-Night solar dress is made up of 448 white circuit boards that can be swapped out for all kinds of goodies — kinda like Batman’s utility belt, but a hell of a lot sexier.

The tiles can be solar cells, photocells, RGB LEDs or even jumper connectors, and the whole thing is tied together by a microcontroller that provides power, keeps an eye on the tiles and can transmit data via radio frequencies. A USB board on the dress allows it to be plugged into a PC for programming. Tiles can also be added to or removed from the assembly to adjust skirt length.

So are women’s purses filling up with enough gadgetry to warrant turning them into walking power chargers, or is this dress just a trap for nerds? I can only confirm the latter.

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f the Australian Tourist Board wants to dispel the Crocodile Dundee bigger is better, Texas with a funny accent image many of us have of their country, they’d better slap an export ban on Lenard Audio speakers pronto. I also hope the buildings north of Sydney are earthquake proof, because Lenard’s new Opal speakers are available with not just one, but a pair of massive 27 inch woofers in an enclosure that’s almost eight feet tall. These custom built to order behemoths are built one pair at a time to order, so if your sweetie isn’t willing to go with the quad 27 inch assault, you could always tell her that you’ll stick with the more modest 18 inch woofer option, just for her of course

Lenard Audio doesn’t appear to have US distribution, but I’m sure they’ll be willing to ship you a set of Opals the next time the Queen Mary II is steaming your way.

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Have you ever been in a snobby restaurant where when it comes to dessert time, the offerings include some highly unlikely frozen concoction like camembert sorbet? If so, chances are the dessert chef got a Pacojet for Christmas. This device is to blenders what a flame thrower is to kitchen matches, taking slicing and dicing into a whole new realm.

Take any type of food, whether it’s Mars bars, a whole lobster, a pile of anchovies, or yes, even a whole sea bass (take that Bass-O-Matic), freeze it solid, and then the Pacojet will whip it into a smooth and creamy frozen delight through a process they call Pacotizing. With more savory items, you can also create your own mousses and spreads (pickled onion topping anyone)?

The Pacojet is available now for $3450

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We’ve seen shipping containers that have been converted into small living or business spaces before, but now architects are getting serious about this novel solution to the US container glut. The problem is that as a country we buy so much cheap stuff from China, that the shipping containers are piling up near the ports of entry to the tune of over 5 million a year. I guess it must be cheaper to make new ones than to ship the old ones back empty.

Welding them together to form a house has a lot of advantages. They’re pretty much rot free (although I’d watch for rust), they should be pretty earthquake resistant, and they won’t light up like a bonfire the next time junior gets carried away playing with the stove lighter.

Several green friendly architecture firms now specialize in homes built from recycled containers.

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LED lights are far more efficient than standard light bulbs, using a half of the energy and burning five times longer than their rudimentary cousins. It’s a wonder, then, that we don’t see them used more. Ann Arbor, Michigan is the first city in America to replace all its streetlights with fancy, fancy LED lights, saving money and energy in the process.

By replacing every streetlight in their fair city with 1,000 LEDs, the Ann Arbor town fathers are putting their burg on the forefront of energy responsibility. It’s only a matter of time before other cities follow suit and we’re constantly lit by the efficient glow of LEDs. Bring it on, I say.

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We’ve heard of a white-hot spotlight, but this flashlight is ridiculous. Manufacturer Wicked Lasers calls this monster The Torch, and the 4100-lumen light packs enough punch to literally set the world on fire, starting up a pile of loose paper in a matter of seconds. Jeez, that’s hot stuff. To give you an idea, a 2000-lumen projector is considered exceptionally bright.

This 9-inch light has a big disadvantage, though. Its battery can only keep up that blinding illumination for 15 minutes. Let’s take a look at a video, proving that this thing is hotter than a two-dollar pistol (and costs a lot more, too):

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Great ergonomic strides have been made in the past few years in the field of pointing devices, but this Moldable Mouse design concept by Lite-On takes user-friendliness to its limit. The mouse is made of lightweight modeling clay with a flexible polyurethane and nylon fabric cover that lets you mold it into whatever shape is most comfortable for you.

If your hand gets tired of mousing in one position during a long day at work or play, just morph this pointer into an entirely different shape. You can even place the radio-frequency controlled stick-on mouse buttons and touch-sensitive scroll pad in different positions, too. This design concept was clever enough to win a 2007 Red Dot Design Award in the category of Productivity and Work.

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Sure, there are way, way, way too many Simpsons licensed products out there, from t-shirts and lunchboxes to grills and toiletries, but this one seems like a cut above the rest. It’s a webcam shaped like Mr. Burns! How could you go wrong with such a product?

In addition to looking like Mr. Burns sitting at his desk (accompanied by Bobo, his stuffed bear), it’s got a handy clip for hooking on to the top of your monitor. It can take 30fps video at a resolution of 640 x 480 and is, you know, a pretty standard webcam. But it looks like Mr. Burns! Stop trying to resist already!

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A large US spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials have said. The satellite, which is now out of control, could contain hazardous materials, and it’s unknown where on our planet it might come down.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council said, “Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation…Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause.”

He would not however, comment on whether it’s possible for the satellite to be shot down by a missile.
“The Andromeda Strain ” image courtesy of Universal Pictures

Scenes like this…could soon become commonplace

Such an uncontrolled re-entry could risk exposure of US secrets, director of the defense research group Global Security John Pike, told Associated Press. Spy satellites are typically disposed of through a controlled re-entry into the ocean so that no one else can access the spacecraft.

Pike also said it’s not likely the threat from the satellite could be eliminated by shooting it down with a missile, because that would create debris that would then re-enter the atmosphere and burn up or hit the ground.

It’s estimated that the spacecraft weighs about 20,000lb – roughly the size of a small bus – and might contain beryllium: a light metal with a high melting point that’s used in the defense and aerospace industries.

This isn’t the first uncontrolled re-entry for a NASA spacecraft: Skylab, the 78-ton abandoned space station, fell from orbit in 1979. Its debris dropped harmlessly into the Indian Ocean and across a remote section of Western Australia.

In 2002, officials believe debris from a 7,000lb science satellite smacked into the Earth’s atmosphere and rained down over the Persian Gulf, a few thousand miles from where they first predicted it would plummet. ®

The US Navy will astound the world tomorrow by test-firing a radical new weapon system at an unprecedented power level. The new piece of war-tech on trial is that old sci-fi favourite, an electromagnetic railgun.

According to the Office of Naval Research, which is in charge of the project, the electric cannon will deliver over ten megajoules of energy in one shot. The ONR say this is “a power level never before achieved” by a railgun, and already represents significantly more poke than a normal five-inch naval gun can put behind its shells.
Obliteration by velocity

Another triumph from the Office of Dodgy Mottos.

The designers hope in future to get the technology up to 64 megajoule muzzle-energy levels, able to shoot hypervelocity projectiles at a blistering Mach 7 and strike targets two hundred miles away – still going at Mach 5 – with pinpoint precision.

The US navy is interested in the kit for a number of reasons. For one, its next generation warships are expected to use electric drive systems, meaning that they will be have 80 megawatts or more on hand. If this power can be used to put violence onto the enemy as well as driving the ship, that’s good news for logistics and supply. The only ammo you need is solid shot with guidance fins; there’s no need for tons of high-explosive warheads and low-explosive chemical propellants for regular shells and missiles. These are replaced by nice simple fuel for the ship’s engines.

The lack of exploding warheads could offer a chance to deliver more surgical strikes, too. They could take out a single vehicle from far out at sea, perhaps, rather than pulverising a whole area like present-day cruise missiles. This kind of thing is very trendy nowadays in military circles, though the problem of getting the right vehicle remains a tricky one.

Furthermore, even the ritziest missiles struggle to get above Mach 3-4, especially over any distance; thus the railgun slugs would be quicker to arrive when bombarding shore targets. They might also be good for shooting down fast-moving flying things.

Indeed, if the cannon could aim quickly enough and the hyper-bullets could steer well enough in flight, lighter-calibre weapons might tip the balance of naval warfare back in favour of surface craft. Ever since the Battle of Midway, sailors have reluctantly been forced to accept that aircraft win sea battles, not ships. But railguns might demote aircraft carriers from their current big-dog naval status and bring in electric dreadnoughts as the capital ships of tomorrow, able to sweep the skies of pesky aircraft or missiles as soon as they dared show themselves above the horizon.

It’s easy to see why navies like the idea of electric hypercannons, then. But there are a lot of problems to be overcome. For one, the gun barrel tends to come apart after just a few shots. For another, packing a steady hundred-megawatt supply down into ultra-brief 64 megajoule pulses isn’t simple.

The railgun plan is, unsurprisingly, seen as a “high-risk” effort by the ONR. A long shot, in other words (*cough*). ®