Did you know that there is something called 'cryosphere' on this little blue gem called Earth? I didn't. And I didn't know that seeing it animated from thousands of satellite high definition photographs could look so cool.
The cryosphere are the parts of the Earth's surface which are covered with water in solid form. It could be snow and ice in glaciers, permafrost, ice sheets, icebergs, and—I hope—glasses full of bourbon. Apparently, scientists are now discovering that the cryosphere plays a fundamental role in regulating Earth's temperature. But then again, we are still so clueless about how this whole Earth weather business works, that [NASA]
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
YikeBike: Foldable, Carbon Fiber Bike Is Sleek, Useful 21st Century High Wheeler [Bikes]
This weird thing is a 1.2kW electric motor powered, carbon fiber foldable bike called the YikeBike. It's real, unfolds in 15 seconds, and aims to solve the eternal problem of urban mobility, and probably become Woz's favorite new toy.
Folded, the YikeBike only takes 6 x 23.6 x 23.6 inches (150 x 600 x 600 millimeters) and weighs 22 pounds (10 kilograms), so it can be easily carried around. And while its pneumatic wheels may follow an old high wheeler configuration, according to the manufacturer, this thing is designed to be easy to maneuver, and it's equipped with electronic brakes with built-in anti-skid system.
Would this thing succeed where the Segway failed? Sadly, at $4900, I have a very bad feeling about it. [via YikeBike]
HTC Touch2 breaks cover, runs Windows Mobile 6.5
Today, HTC officially announced the Touch2 with Windows Mobile 6.5 that includes My Phone and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. HTC was skimp on specs, but we do know that the Touch2 will have TouchFLO and a slew of Google products pre-installed. And the new IE Mobile supports Flash. If you’re into that sort of thing, which we suspect you are. The Touch2 launches on October 6 with availability spreading to the rest of Europe and Asia in Q4.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Official, Runs Windows Mobile 6.5 [Xperia X2]
Hard to believe Sony Ericsson's Xperia X2 wasn't official until this moment—honestly, we care more about the awesome the Android-powered X3 at this point—but Sony just made it real, it running Windows Mobile 6.5.
The hard specs: 3.2-inch WVGA touchscreen, 8.1MP camera, HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, TV-out. And oh yes, the panels custom interface on top of Windows Mobile is back, though refined, as we saw earlier. It'll be out later this year for 699 euros, so um, not cheap if it ever comes to the US. [Computerbild]
Creative Zen X-Fi 2 Trades Buttons for a Touchscreen, High Price for Low [PMPs]
It's a new model name, sure, and the distinctive button panel has been booted in favor of a touchscreen, but the most important part of the X-Fi update has nothing to do with hardware, and everything to do with dollars.
Aside from the slightly larger, ever-more-fingerable TFT screen, the X-Fi 2 supposedly adds improvements to sound quality, which are down to murky machinations inside Creative's X-Fi audio processing system, as well as TV-out, which is particularly useful considering the player's generous video codec support. The rest of the specs are more or less unchanged: There's an FM radio, built-in mic, a microSD expansion slot, and syncable calendar, task list, contacts and RSS reader apps. It actually looks like the player has lost a feature since v1 too, since the prior model's Wi-Fi access is nowhere to be found. Not that it ever did much, but still.
Anyway, price! It's pretty low, considering what you get: It's 230 for the 32GB model, $180 for the 16GB and $130 for the 8GB. The highest price point seems like a dig at the iPod Touch, and it could be a clever one: The two players offer completely different things, and if you want to do more than play music and videos, the iPod is the clear choice. On the other hand, if that's all you want to do, a 32GB touchscreen PMP makes a case, if not a particularly strong one. It's available for preorder now, and should ship within a few weeks. [Creative]
Nokia N97 Mini Gets Official: €450 ($640) in October [Cell Phones]
An extensive preview filled us in on the N97 not-so Mini, but it now has a price: €450 ($640) pre-taxes and subsidies. It should be available off contract in 'many markets', and includes Lonely Planet guidebooks and Facebook 'Lifecasting'.
Premiering on the N97 Mini, the Lifecasting with Ovi feature lets you publish your GPS location and status direct to your Facebook account, all from the home screen.
As a reminder: the N97 has a 3.2-inch touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, and is only 'around a centimeter' smaller than the N97. [Nokia]
Japan to Spend $21,000,000,000 on a Power Plant in F%#king Space [Space]
Jolly shit, Japan is getting prepped to drop $21 billion on a solar power station in space, one that will beam enough energy back to Earth to power 294,000 homes. With no cables.
The whole deal is being put together by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and industrial design company IGI Corp. The plan involves a gigantic solar panel floating around in space, soaking up a gigawatt of energy and beaming it to Earth without the use of cables. And they hope to have it ready to rock within four years.
Pretty amazing stuff. Here's hoping it works well and doesn't end up giving the entire country of Japan cancer. Thanks for testing that whole thing out for us, guys! [Bloomberg via Inhabitat]
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