Astronomy enthusiasts and even casual observers took the opportunity to view the total lunar eclipse today, which is one of the two lunar eclipses in 2011. Sadly, not everyone was able to watch it, as it was only viewable from South America, West Africa, Western Europea, East Asia and Australia. But if you’re interested in what exactly happens when the Earth‘s shadow passes over the moon, you can check out Google‘s latest Doodle.

The Doodle actually gave a live feed of the lunar eclipse as it happened. But since that event is over, you can simulate the eclipse by dragging the slider from left to right. You can then see the moon going from a very bright full moon, to a red orb, and back to its bright glory again.

This writer actually stayed up way past bedtime to wait for the lunar eclipse. The 100-minute event wasn’t really as exciting as a solar eclipse, but it’s one of those must-see things if you’re into astronomy. Google usually changes its Doodle in time for significant world events. You can check out a record of all past Doodles at google.com/logos.

Android has soared in popularity in the US with a thriving app marketplace and developer community, and due to various marketing campaigns by carriers. R2-D2 was reportedly among Android’s celebrity endorsers in the past, particularly for the Motorola Droid. NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest carrier, meanwhile, has chosen to take a bolder approach, with Darth Vader.

In NTT DoCoMo’s “Walk with you” TV ads, the erstwhile Jedi is seen living amongst Android phone users (particularly the Samsung Galaxy S). It certainly looks creepy, especially if you imagine Darth Vader sitting alongside you while you get a shampoo, or walking with you across the street. Perhaps NTT DoCoMo is working on integrating a light saber in their Android powered handsets. If you can get all that Jedi and Sith lord power in the form factor of a handset, then that’s certainly an iPhone killer.

May the Force be with you.

Image credit: scificool.com

This is one of those times when you can say Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is the winner. Burn an iPhone, T-Mobile G2 and HTC Surround in an EZ grill, and the Windows-powered HTC outlasts the others.

The Android-powered G2 just died out. The iPhone 4 started complaining about the heat and just succumbed to suffocation. Meanwhile, the WP7-powered HTC lasted a bit longer before being burned to a crisp and shutting off. I’d bet on the EZ grill as the winner, though!

Of course, the OS doesn’t matter as much as hardware when it comes to stress tests like this. But I like how the iPhone gave off a temperature warning. I wonder if anyone’s pocket would be as hot as the EZ grill; maybe your iPhone would tell you if your pants are already burning, too.

I’d like mine medium-well, please.

According to reports, when the Police came, Strellis was sitting quietly on the floor of an aisle, probably knowing what’s going to happen to him. After “managing” to smash 29 LCDs worth some $22,000 and creating an unimaginable chaos, the Georgia man is now charged with a whopping 29 counts of criminal damage to property. What’s funny though, when put in cuffs, Strellis invoked the Fifth Amendment right that usually “protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure”. He’s now being held in the Gwinnett County Jail.

The whole incident has been taped on video by the store’s security cameras and although the quality is poor, you can see how easy it is for the guy to create rampage.

In a word, the Apple iPad doesn’t do magic (like we all expected it to do) and people are now starting to make fun of it. Among those to be nasty with the stylish tablet, the chaps from CollegeHumor really have a point in their new “iPad Commedy Gold Mine” video — they say that from feminine hygiene to giant iPhone, it’s really hard not to make fun of it; “its most revolutionary feature is its big fat stupidness.”

So how about you guys, what do you think about the Apple iPad? Would it make any difference if it was called different or if it allowed multi task?

If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch you have, quite probably, dabbled at some point with one or more of the many musical iPhone/iPod Touch applications – personally I managed to recreate Kraftwerk’s entire back catalogue in one evening doing just that, but I don’t like to blow my own (virtual) trumpet, so the speak – but now UK girl group the Mentalists have taken things one step further by performing a cover of MGMT’s track ‘Kids’ live using just downloaded iPhone/iPod Touch applications with a little (reasonably harmonic) vocal accompaniment.

Before you delve into the video of the Mentalists in action, and just in case you’re thinking of forming your own group playing solely touchscreen based instruments, you might like to know that the specific applications used are Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth and DigiDrummer Lite – all of which are currently available via Apple’s App Store.

It’s been a while since I built anything using Lego and, at the time of writing, I lack the child that would give me an excuse to purchase (especially) Lego Mindstorm sets en masse on their behalf (solely for their enjoyment, you understand) – but I certainly never got close to building something quite as cool as Anders Søborg’s DIY Lego Mindstorm NXT Colour Scanner.

Søborg’s Lego Mindstorm NXT Colour Scanner employs a HiTechnic color sensor capable of producing either 8-bit or 24-bit true colour – though Søborg’s Lego scanner also has a light sensor capable of capturing grey scale images – up to A4 size, the resulting scans being saved in BMP format directly to the NXT’s flash memory and you can see it in action in the video below.

Those of you interested in building your own Lego Mindstorm NXT Colour Scanner will be pleased to know that Søborg has been kind enough to provide comprehensive and extremely well realised video slideshow instructions concerning building your very own version via his site as linked.

Anders’ Mindstorms Page [via]

Boston Dynamics have released new, remarkable video footage of their robotic quadruped ‘pack mule’ in action showing just how far developed this DARPA funded robot’s sense of balance has developed – even to the extent that it can maintain its balance whilst climbing obstacles and when loosing its grip on black ice (as well as being kicked).

Powered by a less than stealthy gas engine, Boston Dynamics’ BigDog is being developed to serve as a test bed for a robotic ‘pack mule’ that will, some day, work to carry supplies to troops in the field whilst intelligently overcoming, or skirting around, any obstacles in its path and, in the video featured below, one should note that the BigDog not only has to carry its own weight but also a 340lb load.

For those that lack the patience to watch the entire clip, notable highlights include the BigDog maintaining its balance on ice at 1m 25secs, the BigDog making its way over breeze blocks at 2m 20secs and the robot jumping across a marked area at the end of the clip (during which it looks and moves so much like a living creature it’s actually quite disarming).

Boston Dynamics [via]

Few of you will not know that the double decked Airbus A380 is the world’s largest passenger plane to see commercial production and even fewer of you are ever likely to see the A380’s flight deck in all its glory (especially in the worlds present security conscious climate) which is why we found this 360 degree panoramic image of the A380 cockpit created by Gilles Vidal for Airbus SAS especially interesting and undoubtedly worth a brief mention here on TFTS.

For those interested in the finer details, the A380 cockpit features glass-cockpit and fly-by-wire technology (courtesy of side sticks) and comprises of no less than eight 15 x 20 cm LCD display units comprising of two primary displays, two navigational displays, one engine parameter display, one system display and two MFDs (multi-functional displays) – though each is fully interchangeable – as well as QWERTY keyboards and trackballs interfacing with a point and click display navigation system and optional HUD (Heads Up Display) units.

You can take a 360 degree virtual tour of the A380’s flight deck via Gillesvidal.com.

On a somewhat lighter note from our usual posts, we could not help but offer a brief heads up concerning this cool advertisement for Aliph’s Jawbone Bluetooth Headset which uses a bikini clad (and rather foxy) woman to promote the Jawbone’s Noise Shield Technology.

Apart from inspiring cool advertisements, Aliph’s Jawbone Bluetooth Headset features a voice activity sensor which works to isolate your voice from unwanted background clutter, offers up to six hours of talk time with 200 hours standby and weighs a mere 16 grams.

The Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset retails for around $80.

[Notcot via UberReview]

We have to hand it to Prince Charles as, whilst he seems to court more than his fair share of bad press in the UK, he is rather more forward thinking than we’ve come to expect from the immediate royal family and now, apart from being the first royal to freely admit to conversing with flowers (I recall having a rather heated conversation with a Geranium myself some while back, but that’s another story) he’s become the first royal to attend a conference virtually as a 3D hologram.

As you can see from the video below, his resulting virtual attendance – which lasted a total of six minutes – is pretty impressive and, of course, in choosing to attend the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi in holographic form he’s saved tons in aviation fuel (a purported 20 tons, to be exact).

However, as his virtual speech was not relayed in real time, but was based on a recording, Charlie was unable to except questions from the floor during the event from any passing perennials but his virtual speech has certainly served underpin not only the feasibility of virtual, holographic remote speech delivery but also to potentially set an example for others to follow.

Perhaps Al Gore might like to take a leaf out of Charles’s book instead of clocking up his air miles?

[Via AP & Gizmodo]

Ordinarily we wouldn’t offer up a post that simply diverts you straight away from us to another site but, in light of the fact that Gizmodo have always been extremely gracious to credit us for a wealth of our finds subsequently featured by them, we take great pleasure in making an exception in this case as the video of their antics at this year’s CES with the TV-B-Gone gadgets supplied by MAKE had us in stitches.

Whilst we could have offered the source code here so you could view the video on this very page, as a site who suffers the not inconsiderable bandwidth hike associated with many sites hotlinking imagery from us we simply couldn’t entertain undertaking such measures so, rather, we’ll simply offer a link here to the Gizmodo post in which the video is featured – and we would urge you to take a look.

By way of explanation, for those of you who have not come across the TV-B-Gone device, it basically allows you to switch off any TV with an IR port with the single press of a button and, as you can imagine, the Gizmodo team certainly caused a great deal of consternation as TV screens throughout CES simply shut down without apparent cause.

Props to the Gizmodo team. We would have loved to be at CES this year but, alas, a trip to Las Vegas was out of the question due to several prior appointments. Perhaps we’ll make CES next time so as to bring you live on-the-spot coverage of the event (it’s certainly our intention).

You can view the video clip of Gizmodo wreaking havoc via this link.

This Halloween we saw a raft of ingenious costumes make it onto the net but, as far as we are concerned, those iPhone and YouTube costumes paled into insignificance when compared with the awesome BioShock inspired Big Daddy costume lovingly crafted by Nathan Sharratt featured in this video interview from Collage Humour.

Nathan estimates that the BioShock Big Daddy costume cost around $500 in total to make and took him anywhere between fifty to sixty hours to put together from a host of scrap items and recycled parts.

It’s hard to believe that his BioShock Big Daddy came second in the Halloween costume competition (beaten, would you believe, by a Bender costume – there’s no justice in the world).

Still, Nathan can console himself in knowing that, should he place his Big Daddy on the likes of Ebay he’s certain to make a considerable profit.

Update: We’ve just located a Flickr Photoset showing how the Big Daddy was constructed which may also be of interest.

[Source | CollegeHumour]

If you are familiar with the story of Pinocchio then, like me, you’ll be surprised that Zeno, a robot boy presently being developed by David Hanson, presently does not appear to come with an inbuilt lie detector and extending nose but, lie detecting nose aside, what Zeno does offer is yet another tantalizing glimpse into the future of robotics and the mind boggles as to quite where its all going to lead.

Zeno the robot boy stands at 17 inches in height, weighs 6 pounds and is the result of a five year project at Hanson Robotics studying the development of interactive learning companions which are capable of conveying human emotions via a complex series of facial expressions made possible by the use of a special artificial skin material referred to as ‘frubber’. (Out of interest the previously featured Keepon Robot, though by no means as advanced, is also studying bot interaction with children, but though the use of dance, and the video is well worth a view if you’ve not already come across it).

Apparently inspired by the book ‘Supertoys Last All Summer Long’ by Brian Aldiss, which consequently hit the big screen in Spielberg’s adaptation ‘Artificial Intelligence: AI’, the research group headed at Hanson Robotics hope to have (no doubt seriously scaled down) Zeno Boy Robots commercially available within the next three years for around $200-$300.

You can see Zeno the Robot Boy in action in the video below though, at the time of writing, Zeno appears to be overly dependent on external computing power in order to function.

[Source | Physorg & AP/Tony Gutierrez (title image)]

We would urge to you view this video as it’s not often that we come across a new web technology that not only absolutely amazes us but that, we feel, could potentially have far reaching implications as far as web browsing is concerned, but this new dynamic, content aware image resizing technology developed by Dr. Ariel Shamir and Dr. Shai Avidan very much looks to be the future as far as displaying web based imagery across multiple screen resolutions is concerned.

The technology, allows for the continuous resizing of images whilst adapting the image content and layout (known as re-targeting) by utilising vertical and horizontal seams which, in essence, remove less important details from the image via a dynamic algorithm allowing the image to be made bigger or smaller, or even resized in a wholly non-uniform manner according the either the space available or user inputs.

The below video offers a brief though highly informative and extremely impressive demonstration as to how the technology works in practice as well as offering a host of examples of this breathtaking new content aware dynamic image resizing technology in action (which includes on the fly removal of people according to image sizing which really needs to be seen to be believed).

If you’ve had a particularly stressful day or are feeling a little fed up this video featuring the Keepon Dancing Robot is sure to bring a smile to even the sternest of faces.

The Keepon Robot, which is designed by Hideki Kozima, is a curiously styled critter who’s just about as cute as can be (and I think I’ve only ever used the word ‘cute’ twice in over 750 posts here at TFTS) and has been developed in order to assist in research examining dance orientated nonverbal play between robots and children and, as well as featuring two cameras as eyes and a microphone in its nose to allow it to interact with children, it can also react in time to music in a gloriously infectious fashion.

You can see the Keepon Robot in action in the video below and, trust us, be prepared to find yourself smiling. (Incidentally, we would recommend watching the video through to the end as the finale is well worth waiting for as a host of other robots get in on the action.)

And if you enjoyed that, you might also want to take a look at this video of a Robonova-1 getting down and dirty.

[Source | Beatbots via Digital World Tokyo]

A while back we posted about designer Issey Miyake’s (then) new website on account of the fact that we found the flash intro absolutely mesmerising. We also loved the soundtrack.

Since then we’ve visited thousands of sites in our relentless trek for material for the site but nothing in that time has jumped out at us in quite the same way as Issey Miyake’s site.

Or at least it hadn’t until around half an hour ago when we found the Uniqlock website – and we’ve been marvelling over its design since ever since.

Curiously, I know little about what the site is apart from the fact that it appears to be some sort of website network but the design is that striking that I felt compelled to offer a brief heads up on TFTS.

If you want to see what’s impressed us you can do so by visiting the Uniqlock Website. Our suggestion is to let the initial page sit on the screen a little and then browse a little (we love the map accessible via the menu).

We would be interested to hear what you think about the site (which, we should add, we have no links or affiliation with whatsoever).

As a side note, and whilst we are on the subject, this Picture within a Picture flash powered site may also be of interest if you have not already come across it (another site that held our attention for some considerable time).

Following on from the OVO Minimalist Watch we featured earlier on TFTS I was reading Electro Plankton today who noted that Issey Miyake’s new website had launched and I was tempted to take a look. And we’re glad I did.

It’s not very often we post about a site in particular here on TFTS, and its even less often that we don’t skip lengthy flash (often extremely laborious) introductions to websites, but the Flash intro to the new Issey Miyake website simply blew us away with its brilliant concept, fluid animation and great sound track. It simply oozes style.

You can see the flash intro below, and it’s well worth a look.

Welcome to model making of the future courtesy of the Synthetic Reality Project at Carnegie Mellon.

Claytronics consists of a programmable matter made up of billions of microscopic robots each with computational abilities and sensors that allow for interaction, resulting in a mouldable and programmable tactile medium that can be formed and altered dynamically in your hands.

In the video below, you can see the astonishing Claytronics concept in action and, don’t let the above sentence put you off – it really is astonishing stuff.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16vBZbna2rk]

Further information concerning Claytronics can be gained from the Synthetic Reality Website.

[Source | Fresh Creation]

We have not posted a curious video for a while here at TFTS so, by way of reassurance that we have not suddenly begun to take ourselves too seriously (God forbid), we have somewhat of a gem for you.

As many advertisers have come to realize, the best way to get your products seen – or, at least, to create a buzz – is to produce something that will cause a stir by invariably coming from somewhere just left of centre (something Sony excel at). And, in that respect alone, whoever came up with the idea behind this Samsung sponsored video is either seriously twisted or something of a creative genius, or both – and we would tend towards the latter.

If you have ever wanted to see what would happen if insects were to get miniature pies and such like thrown at them from a mini catapult then this curious Samsung sponsored video entitled ‘Millimetres Matter’ is for you.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqRRQioUeiI]

[Source | Geekologie]

How do you clean all the crumbs and pieces of food that come out of a deep fat fryer? Which ever way you do it, I strongly suspect that, unlike this restaurant in Japan, you don’t install a fish tank underneath, pop in a few goldfish and simply let them consume whatever falls into the tank.

You have to feel sorry for the fish as, whilst the fact that oil floats on water saves them from cooking themselves (the oil ejected into the tank can reach temperatures of 163 degrees Celsius) their cholesterol levels must be off the scale. Apparently, however, the fish seem perfectly happy with the arrangement and can live for between 5-10 years.

You can watch the video of this bizarre piece of cooking apparatus below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH96MhITOlk]

[Source | Trends in Japan]

Some weeks ago we featured an animation called ‘Wii – Hold on Tight’ that caused quite a stir, not only on TFTS but across the net in general (if you missed this first installment, you can see it here).

Brent Young, one of the chaps behind the animation has been in touch with Thoughts from the Sidelines to tip us off concerning the next instalment, Hold on Tight 2 – Revenge of the Nunchuck, which we have great pleasure in offering here in case you have missed it.

Not only that, but Brent has been kind enough to offer a little background information concerning the Wii Hold on Tight animation series that may be of interest which is featured below, with the second instalment of the Nintendo Wii inspired animation shorts.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZbxfwnLfA]

An Insight into the Hold on Tight Animation Shorts courtesy of Brent Young.

We did the first one as an experiment really. We had some downtime at the office, and I thought I would explore the viral video world of youtube. We are big fans of the Wii and at the time the Wiimote was doing some serious damage. So I quickly sketched out a concept that would highlight our passion for animation and passed that on to our top animator. The first one took us about 3 weeks, we wanted to make sure the animation was filled with character. So we uploaded the first one Superbowl weekend and Gizmodo thought is was cool enough to post on their front page and it rocketed to the top of the youtube charts.

The new one is a sequel to the first. We really wanted to see if what we did with was a fluke or if we had the chops to do it again. So this time because the setup work was done I cut the production time to 8 days. To tell you how fast the production was I did the storyboard concept on a whiteboard in about 10 minutes. We jumped into it knowing that we wanted to focus on character. We had duct tape and a band aid on the Wiimote because of the damage he had received in the first one, but we removed this because new viewers might not get it.

We posted it at the end of day Friday 6:30. (which is a mistake we should have waited until midnight because your Most Viewed of the Day Honor expires at the time you posted so when we were in the top ten most viewed 6:30 rolled around and we were kicked off). So we are on the forth day 120,000 views pretty good, I guess the experiment worked and it was repeatable.

We would like to thank Brent not only for tipping us off concerning the second animation in the Wii Hold on Tight series and for taking the time to offer some insight into the work that went behind it. Unfortunately this may well be the end of the Hold on Tight series unless, of course, Nintendo would like to offer a little backing. Or perhaps Sony might like to contact these chaps….

The greatest form of camouflage is a cloak of invisibility and these videos show that quite apart from being science fiction, such technology is already science fact.

We’ve seen a fair few posts concerning new technologies that, in essence, offer camouflaging by seemingly rendering an item as invisible – such an ‘invisible’ coat and even and ‘invisible’ car – but we’ve held back from posting concerning these items as they have been extensively covered on numerous other sites.

This video, albeit rather short, tipped the scales as it really serves to show this emerging technology in action to great effect and, if you have not seen it before, it’s well worth a viewing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVi7mZ6XX3w]

And for those of you who are yet to see the invisible coat in action, we thought we would post it here for you as well.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIL9yBkggk]

It’s been a while since we posted a video on TFTS but to be entirely honest with you it’s been equally as long since I’ve watched a video that struck me as worth posting. But there can be little doubt that this video, showing IO2’s M3 holographic display in action is something that we’d be negligent not to post.

The M3 Heliodisplay produces a 20 inch holographic display based on a 4:3 aspect ratio which is visible in normal lighting conditions, rather than having to be in a darkened room to see the effects, which the images playing directly from a computer of DVD player via a standard video cable.

The M3 is available in two models, the standard M3 unit and an enhanced M3i model that offers interactive capabilities allowing virtual control of the holographic imagery via a mouse – with the models being priced as $18,100 and $19,400 respectively.

Its fascinating stuff and the video featured below offers a tantalising glimpse of what the future of holographic displays hold. Quite how long it will be until we can a food replicator such as seen in Star Trek remains a separate issue entirely.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5f11939fYE]

Further in depth information concerning the technology behind this holographic unit can be obtained via the IO2 Technology website.

There are, as with all things in life, pros and cons concerning each of these methods of gaining a kill. Firstly, using an explosive charge adds weight to the projectile but if pin-point accuracy cannot be assured then all you have to ensure is that the target is within the weapon’s blast radius, and the bigger this radius the less the accuracy required. A good example of this would be the experimentations with air burst nuclear anti-aircraft missiles in the late 50’s and 60’s (which just needed to be in the general area to wipe out an entire squadron of aircraft). It was crude, but it worked.

Conversely, in using pure kinetic energy alone, Lockheed’s CKEM (Compact Kinetic Energy Missile) needs to be extremely accurate in order to achieve a kill and, not only that, it needs to travel as such a speed that its kinetic energy alone has enough destructive power to decommission whatever it hits. And it is this level of accuracy that is, in itself, quite astonishing as the CKEM can hit something up to five miles away with pin point accuracy whilst flying at speeds of over Mach 6.5.

Let’s put that into stark perspective. Mach 1 is defined as being the speed at which sound travels through the air which is roughly 330 m/s or 760 mph at sea level. So, at Mach 6.5 the missile is travelling at a rate of 2145 m/s or 4940 mph / 7949 kph.

And, on that premise, as you can imagine, the following video of Lockheed’s astounding CKEM Missile (also known as the LOSAT – Line of Sight Anti Tank missile), which measures a mere 60 inches in length and weighs in at less than 100 pounds, being tested is as impressive as it is brief.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCmSs6hXWoU]

Further details can be obtained from Lockheed’s Official Site or you can download a PDF media card concerning the CKEM directly from Lockheed via this link.

[Via]

What may not come as a surprise is that there is no evidence of either a keyboard or a mouse, with everything being controlled by a series of gestures on what appears to be a colossal touchscreen (projected on a wall?) displaying highly visual components. What is also interesting is that not only do keyboards and mice seem to have become a thing of the past in this trip into the future of computing, but that chairs also seem to have been removed from the equations, with the user having to stand to operate the elements flying around him.

Other items notable for their absence are a desk covered with empty cups, a bin overflowing with beer tins, an ashtray piled to the ceiling and a wife persistently complaining in the background that the housework isn’t going to do itself. A mixed blessing then.

You can view this insightful video after the jump.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysEVYwa-vHM]

If you enjoyed this, you may find this video concerning the Bumptop user interface of interest (which includes an extremely amusing parody of Bumptop in action that even the developers couldn’t help linking to).

The magic number they are looking for is an astounding 253mph/407km/h, which, out of interest, is faster than an F1 racing car and is the equivalent of covering the entire length of a full football pitch every second – so fast that the Veyron’s tyres will only last for fifty minutes.

Does the Veyron deliver? What the video below to find out.

As a result advertisers are persistently coming up with new ways to present ads that will break through our rapidly evolving ‘content filters’ so as to gain our attention with view to prompting a sale.

The following videos taken from Japanese subway trains show a new breed of subway advertising that uses multiple imagery to produce a seemingly animated visual message as the train passes by – and it’s certainly impressive stuff.

You can view the videos below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10CAghDOiJs]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACFUdXBSu9A]

But, like many theories, something often gets lost in the transition from theory into actual practice and our experiments with voice recognition certainly haven’t been a particularly productive affair.

This video, which goes on a bit but is frankly hilarious for the first few minutes, shows Windows Vista voice recognition software in operation as the user tries out a little Perl programming language with inevitably frustrating consequences. And if you’ve ever dabbled with voice recognition software, you’ll no doubt be reminded as to why you stopped by watching this video – though I must say that the user in the film can’t be faulted for his patience and, in fact, he even manages to complete the sentence in the end.

Such videos and experiences certainly serve to reassure us that our humble keyboards won’t be disappearing from our desks anytime soon.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLqUf4cdwc]

Boeing’s target for this particular test was that the wing should be able to withstand up to 150% greater force than ever realistically would ever be exerted on it and, to put this into start perspective, this entails an astounding wing deflection of over 24 feet.

Needless to say, when the wing decides enough is enough it certainly goes with a bang.

You can watch the video of the B777 wing stress test, as well as read some interesting facts concerning the triple seven below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uo0C01Fwb8]

Facts Concerning the B777 (from Boeing’s B777 page):

• The first 777 entered service on June 7, 1995. Since then 777s have flown more than than two million flights.
• There are 3 million parts in a 777 provided by more than 900 suppliers from 17 countries around the world.
• In 2004, the 777 reached 500 deliveries — faster than any other twin-aisle commercial airplane in history.
• On Feb. 15, 1996, the 777 was named winner of the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association. The award honored the Boeing 777 as the top aeronautical achievement of 1995.
• The 777 is capable of cruising at altitudes up to 43,100 feet.
• Boeing engineers designed and electronically pre-assembled the 777 using computers. New laboratory facilities enabled the various airplane systems to be tested together as a single integrated entity in simulated flight conditions, before the first jetliner took to the air.

• The 777′s landing gear is the largest ever incorporated into a commercial jetliner. With six wheels on each main landing gear, and two wheels on the nose gear, it has an unmistakable footprint.
• The Industrial Designer’s Society of America presented its Industrial Design Excellence award in 1992 for the 777 passenger cabin, and in 1993 for the 777′s flight-deck design.
• On Nov. 9-10, 2005, a Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner set a new world record for distance traveled non-stop by a commercial jetliner. The 777-200LR set a record distance of 11,664 nautical miles (21,601 km) on a route traveling eastbound from Hong Kong to London (Heathrow). The flight lasted 22 hours and 42 minutes. The achievements was recognized by the U.S. National Aeronautics Association, The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and the Guinness Book of Records.
• The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale recognized the Boeing 777 in April 1997 for achieving a speed and distance record for airplanes in its size and class. The 777 set the “Great Circle Distance Without Landing” record, traveling 10,823 nautical miles (20,044 km), and it set the record for “Speed Around the World, Eastbound,” traveling at an average speed of 553 mph (889 km per hour).

If you found this posting interesting, you may also like this brilliant flash animation from none other than Rolls Royce which shows how a jet engine works.

[Video source via Swissmiss]

Created by Michael Wesch who is Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, this video attempts to explain exactly what Web 2.0 is and the very foundations behind it – and it does it extremely well and in a very accessible (and well realised) manner.

If you haven’t seen this yet, and you would like to know what all the fuss concerning Web 2.0 is, then I would highly recommend a viewing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE]

Surrounded by a selection of vinyl records, these Juke Bots don’t just play the music but actually start pulling a few DJ tricks, such as scratching.

You can view the video of the Juke Bots ‘doing their thang’ below (just be warned that they don’t take nicely to people leaning over them asking for requests).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbD_I97byWI]

[Source | Hacked Gadgets]

That said, it’s been a while since we’ve posted any aircraft related posts and, in a bid to make up for this, we have selected some of the best videos of low level flying fighters we have come across and present them here for your viewing pleasure.

You can view the videos after the jump. Turn up the sound, sit back and enjoy.

Lets whet your appetite with this first clip (consider it a starter) which shows a number of aircraft buzzing a military airbase – and the are low, very low (especially the last one).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS1w8sZeoCI]

Norwegian F16′s at Low Level

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2fSmVkOZCI]

Dassault Mirage 2000, Mirage F1 and SEPCAT Jaguars at Low Level

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeYnhMC_nM0]

Okay, a 757 isn’t a fighter – but this one is being flown like one

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMaR66OZyrw]

You will have seen this – but it just had to be here
(bad language at end of clip)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ly7yOzqlw]

And, if anything, this short and cleverly realised animation from Super78 – who made this video off their own backs and without agency involvement – has convinced me all to more that the point is rapidly approaching where I should notch up my ‘We need a Wii’ campaign and go in for the kill.

The sense of fun this animation conveys is extremely entertaining as it takes the stories of Wii controllers flying out of people’s hands that one step further – to the point at which the controllers themselves take on a life all of there own and battle it out on screen.

You can see the animation below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qfMK23avLY]

[Source | Notcot]

We’ve all made shapes on the wall created with our hands and, it must be said that I consider myself to be somewhat of a master of the art of hand shadowing – my best examples being a bird which just looks like a hand, a duck which again looks just like a hand and a complete, detailed animated image of the internal workings of a modern jet engine which really, all said and done, looks remarkably like just a hand).

In stark contrast at my pathetic attempts to create shadows on the wall – usually employed to cheer up the wife who, living with me, frankly needs all the cheering up she can get (Prozac isn’t cheap you know) – this advert shows just what can be achieved when hand shadowing is placed in the hands of professionals (that’s this week’s puny pun taken care of then).

I’m not quite sure just how many performers are involved towards the end when things become truly spectacular but, in fairness, wishing to distil the mechanics behind the advert merely detracts from its charm.

You can watch the video in question below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zIODJsnqXE]

[Source | Swissmiss / Spluch]

Following on from our video post showing off the iPhone’s advanced and much hyped features, assessable here, this video expands, in a gloriously tongue-in-cheek fashion, on the iPhone’s feature rich functionality in a rather amusing fashion.

Is there anything the iPhone can’t do?

You can view the video below.

Incidentally, if you can’t wait to own an iPhone you may want to consider making one now with the iPhone template featured in this post.

Created entirely using standard Lego and Lego Mindstorms kits by Robotik-Gruppe des Veit-Höser-Gymnasiums Bogen, this is an entire car production line that builds Lego cars completely automatically and, as if that wasn’t impressive enough, the user can even select the required colour scheme.

I’ve watched it three times now, and I still find myself staring at the screen in complete disbelief. Astonishing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3AcPEPbH0]

UPDATE: If you liked this, you may also be interested in the newly released Lego Millennium Falcon – a model of epic proportions consisting of over 5,000 peices. You can link to this post here.

[Source | Neatorama]

In the video below you can see Lala the 14 year old shopping king penguin in action wearing its own backpack as it visits the fishmongers for a tasty treat before picking up the rest of the family’s dinner and waddling back home.

According to the video, Lala was rescued from a fisherman’s line and has remained as the family pet ever since which is a stroke of luck as now the family can obviously sit at home and just send Lala out crossing roads, risking life and waddle, in order to get supplies. Of course had Lala been a whale the chances of us seeing a video of it out shopping would be rather slight as it probably would have been eaten in the name of scientific research – which is a shame really, as a video of a whale popping off to the shops for supplies would be quite something else.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Nc1kvAF3A]

You can read more concerning the technical specifications of this awesome machine via Dolmar’s Website which is linked here, or you can watch an impressive video of their Chainsaw Powered Harley in action below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umZpn610AkE]

A little (probably too honest) background.

The first time I saw this was in a pub this weekend whilst I was supposed to be Christmas shopping but felt curiously drawn to a pint or two of liquid refreshment having flexed the plastic all morning and it had a rather odd effect on me as, for some strange and wholly inexplicable reason, I was shocked to feel a tear roll down my cheek (no sniggering at the back please).

Why, I know not, but having seen it again later that evening it had the same effect again (only a little more pronounced) and I have no idea why. Either ways, this is a truly remarkable advert which needs to be seen and so I have hunted around and I am thrilled to have found that it is available on the net, and consequently I have been able to provide it below for your viewing pleasure.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLGk9Q49y7k]

Incidentally, if there are any budding psychologists out there who could offer some insight as to why this ad should have reduced a rather unemotional chappy such as myself to tears then it goes without saying that you’re more welcome to leave a comment. Alternatively, even if its effect on you has not been quite as drastic, I would be extremely interested to know what you think of the ad so please feel free to offer a comment below.