Creative Curved River Sinks Flow through Countertops by Elkay.
Elkay
has created a number of creative sinks for virtually any style or
occasions, coming in a variety of shapes, styles and sizes for both
residential and commercial use. The Mystic flowing sink, however, has
to be their best yet.
As shown above, this sink design curves and winds its way through a
chosen surface. It can be set into something that is shaped like it is
or can be set against the more standard rectangular surfaces found in
most kitchens. It can be filled with ice, fruit and/or beverages for
parties.
Other sinks by Elkay come in all kinds of innovative forms with
various purposes. Some are borderline kitch, shaped like things such as
martini glasses which are great for parties but hard to envision in
most homes. Others have creative drying surfaces or other additional
functions.
Not a flying car, but a roadable aircraft, the Terrafugia Transition took flight for the first time March 5, 2009. Visit http://www.avweb.com and search for “Terrafugia” for more.
01.Genpet™ The Only Bioengineered Buddy. Available in 7 different personality types.
02.Color Coding Each personality type of the Genpets has been linked to its respective colour, and that color is then used as a base for each package. (Read more)
03.Heart Monitor Each package has a built in low cost heart monitor that is fully functional, with green LED lights and built in speaker. (Read more)
04.Fresh Strip Every single package includes an easy to use “fresh gauge”. Four simple blue LED lights display the status of the Genpet™. The display will also display if the Genpet™ has been sitting on the store shelf too long, or if the package circuitry has malfunctioned in some way. (Read more)
05.Bio-Genica IV System While the Genpets hang on the store shelves they are in a form of hibernation. Each Genpet™ package has a special nutrient feeding tube attached to it, supplying our specially formulated mix and keeping them healthy and asleep.
06.Genpet™ Restraints Restraining the pets in their packaging ensures no damage to the product, as well as allowing for optimal consumer viewing.
(*Genpet™ life may vary depending on temperature and Genpet ™ freshness)
This isn’t a very practical way of transport but I love the way Theo Jansen has engineered this beast and I look forward to seeing what he does next with his creations.
Meet Animaris Rhinoceros, a new species created by Dutch scientist turned artist Theo Jansen. This amazing-looking being is a wind-powered walking sculpture, one of several that the artist/engineer has brought to life.
Jansen is dedicated to creating wind-powered artificial life, and believes there is a very fine line between art and engineering. Usually he can be found on the beaches of the Netherlands with huge skeletal plastic creatures called strandbeests, but the Rhinoceros is a 2-ton transporter intended for crossing the tundra. Someone has to pull it to set it in motion, then it’s up to the wind to carry it along. There’s also room inside it to sleep.
The strandbeests that Jansen is more famous for have an unsettlingly spider-like quality, but they’re also delicately beautiful. He talks about them as if they are alive, and perhaps in the future they will be.
The artist wants to leave these an assortment of these creatures on the beach to fend for themselves. Since they live on wind, they don’t need any food, and could in theory live forever.
Jerry Woodall an engineer from Purdue University, has designed a new Hydrogen road car. I look forward to seeing the progress of this car and hopefully more car companies will take on his technology.
Jerry Woodall, an engineer from Purdue University,
has developed a method that uses an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen
from water on contact. This process eliminates the need to transport or
store hydrogen gas, 2 things that have been major obstacles to
achieving the much anticipated hydrogen economy.
Hydrogen is generated spontaneously when water is added to pellets of
the alloy, which is a mixture of aluminum and gallium. Aluminum has
been used for a long time in chemical production of hydrogen, but the
addition of gallium makes this alloy far more effective as a catalyst.
As aluminum oxidizes, a skin forms on it’s surface preventing further
contact between the aluminum and the water. The gallium prevents this
skin formation, allowing the reaction to continue until the aluminum
has been used up. The aluminum has a strong attraction to the oxygen in
the water, and when water is added to the pellets the oxygen is
stripped out of the water molecules, leaving free hydrogen gas as a
byproduct.
This technology is being looked at to allow the conversion of cars and
trucks to hydrogen, but the prospects aren’t quite as good as a first
glance might suggest.
Because the alloy is used up during the reaction, new pellets need
to be added periodically and the waste materials need to be recycled.
Internal combustion engines are only about 25% efficient so
existing engines would require more frequent fueling than with hydrogen
fuel cell electric vehicles.
Additional energy and effort is required to replace the pellets and process the alloy after use
However, using the pure hydrogen generated from this process, a fuel
cell system would run at closer to 75% efficiency, reducing the
previously mentioned problems by 2/3. Fuel cells have long been touted
as being the ultimate in power generation for mobile uses, but the
complexity, inefficiencies and cost make them remain impractical for
general transportation uses when compared to the simplicity of battery
electric vehicles for urban use. The technology does become far more
favorable when used with fuel cells instead of internal combustion
however. For general urban transportation, I favor
solar/wind/geothermal powered battery electric vehicles, but there are
several other applications for which on-demand hydrogen fuel cell
systems would be ideally suited:
Rural vehicles that wouldn’t have easy access to a charging station
Emergency response vehicles that require operation at all times
Larger devices such as lawn mowers, tillers, chainsaws, backup generators, cooking devices, etc
Emergency power generation in case of a natural disaster
These applications would benefit from the ease of fueling (just add
water!) and clean operation that on-demand hydrogen would provide.
Because they would not be part of normal urban usage, the hindrances of
the system would be minimized and would remain cost-effective.
Source: the green geek
How cool are these bedroom setups by Tumidei in Italy, they utilize small spaces extremely well and every kid would want to keep their rooms clean and tidy.
Italian furniture manufacturer Tumidei have released some new children’s loft bedrooms as part of their Tiramolla Collection.
HAWTHORNE, CA – September 28, 2008 Elon Musk CEO and CTO of SpaceX, made history today with the successful launch of his privately developed rocket into space.
This is a huge step for Elon Musk and his workers and I am so just glad other companies are succeeding.
SpaceX has made history. Its privately developed rocket has made it into space.
After three failed launches, the company founded by Elon Musk worked all of the bugs out of their Falcon 1 launch vehicles.
The entire spectacle was broadcast live from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Cameras mounted on the spacecraft showed our planet shrinking in the distance and the empty first stage engine falling back to Earth.
As the rocket ascended, cheers rang out during every crucial step of the launch sequence, and at the final stage their headquarters in Hawthorne, California erupted in excitement.
Eight minutes after leaving the ground, Falcon 1 reached a speed of 5200 meters per second and passed above the International Space Station.
SpaceX had scrubbed its fourth launch attempt just a week earlier to swap out a liquid oxygen feed line, signaling the extreme caution of the group after three failed tries.
Falcon 1’s first flight in 2006 lasted less than a minute, the second flight in 2007 fired for 7.5 minutes, and the third flight last month encountered a staging separation anomaly just shy of three minutes.
For more information about the Falcon family of vehicles, and to watch the archived video of the Falcon 1, Flight 4 launch, visit the SpaceX website at www.spacex.com
Falcon 1 Flight 4 soars into space from its launch pad in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Central Pacific.
The Falcon 1 is the first launch vehicle of the 21st Century and became the first privately-developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth.
” I can’t wait to have one of these…just imagine jetting down to the shops.
Oh hurry up future I want one of these along side my flying car.“
Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy – AKA known as “Fusion Man”and “Jet-man” made history today when he flew from England to France. He is the the first person to cross the English Channel using nothing more than a jetpack strapped to his back.
Jumping from a plane at more than 8,800 feet (2,500 meters) in the air above Calais, he fired up his jets and made the 22 mile (35 kilometer) trip between Calais and Dover at speeds of up to 120 mph (193 km/h) in 13 minutes.
Rossy was propelled by 4 kerosene-burning jet turbines attached to a wing on his back which he ignited inside the plane just prior to taking the leap, wearing a helmet and flameproof suit resembling those worn by Formula One drivers, to help him withstand the jet exhaust around his legs mounted merely inches from him on the wing.
After a period of free fall the former fighter pilot opened the wing and soared across the water.
The jet pack has no steering controls, so the only way for Rossy to change direction was like a bird, moving his head and back to control the wing’s movement.
