Tag Archives: battery

Gary Numan plays hit song “Cars” on cars

Music, Technology, Video, , , ,

Apparently one Platinum DieHard battery can power a cube of lights, a double-stacked keyboard, 24 cars without batteries, and um, Gary Numan.  Watch the ’79 one-hit wonder perform “Cars” on keyboards hooked up to car horns.  He’s aged, hasn’t he?

Over three days in the desert, a team of six engineers worked on 24 cars and removed the batteries from each. Instead, they connected them all together to a central computer and a keyboard. The horns inside the cars were removed and instead an MP3 player was used to tune it. The entire set-up was hooked to one DieHard battery. .. As Numan hit each key on his keyboard, the software turned on the lights and sound for the corresponding car.

[Via Wired]

The ULTra Personal Pod cars will drive us into the future, today

Architecture, Images, Style, Technology, Video, , , , , , , , ,

 The ULTra (Urban Light Transit) Personal Pod “is an electric, battery-powered, 100-mpg-equivalent, elevate PRT (personal rapid transit) system.”  They are fully automated, so there is non need for a driver.  They drive around at up to 25 mph and can hold between 4-5 passengers at a time.  They run on a “special road network” that can be build near airports, office buildings, and universities.  The Pod itself has a very modern look and feel; it reminds me of the transportation pods used in “Minority Report.”  This may be the closest we ever get to an actual “flying car” (or a transportation medium that happens above on-ground traffic).  With the price of gas still fluctuating and the dependency on foreign fuel still an issue in the US, this new transportation system may be the key to a brighter future.  OK, that sounded like a creepy infomercial, but still!  The best news is that the first implementation of the system is scheduled to start later this year at the London Heathrow Airport.  Check out the video above to learn more about the Pod, and see the gallery below for some shots of what the futuristic and stylish system will look like if implementated in the real world.

[Via Engadget; ULTra PRT]