All posts by Scott Meisner

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

 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]

Music Video: The Guild – (Do You Wanna Date) My Avatar

Starring: Vincent Caso, Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen

Directed by: Jed Whedon
Music by: Jed Whedon
Lyrics by: Felicia Day
Rap: Jeff Lewis and Sandeep Parikh
Backup Vocals: Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon

Purchase on:
AMAZON MP3: http://bit.ly/amazonavatar
ITUNES VIDEO: http://bit.ly/itunesvideo
Or download/watch for free on:
YOUTUBE LINK: http://bit.ly/datemyavatar
ZUNE VIDEO DOWNLOAD: http://bit.ly/i2ZtP
XBOX US MARKETPLACE: http://bit.ly/12NKEm

Music video of the year right here.  After a couple short hours it became the #1 music video sold in the  iTunes Store!  Watch it, love it.  Support The Guild by watching Season 3 starting August 25.  Never heard of The Guild?  Go to www.watchtheguild.com to learn more about the brilliant, well-written, and hilarious web series and catch-up with Seasons 1 & 2.  Great job, Felicia and Jed.  I cannot get this song out of my head.  (FYI, the MP3 version of the song will be made available on iTunes tomorrow.)

“23 Movie Plots That Could Have Been Solved in Minutes”

The folks over at Cracked.com asked their viewers to Photoshop images that would portray classic movies that could have been resolved much more quickly if they had incorporated BLANK.*  The “blank” is what the users created.  All of these are quite comedic, so enjoy their work that is in the gallery below.

[Via Cracked]

What’s fun & original? Shoot a webcam vid at an Apple Store!

 

YouTube user nicholifavs is a typical kid who makes webcam videos of himself lip-synching his favorite songs.  What makes him worthy of notice is the way he makes the videos.  He shoots and uploads all of his videos from the NYC 5th Ave. Apple Store!  He doesn’t care about the onlookers behind him, and it seems like the Apple Store employees don’t have a problem with it.  Check out his rendition of Boom Boom Pow above, and see his YouTube page for more.  Very original, man.  Keep it coming.

[Via Gizmodo]

Art from street lights and bugs

Flight Patterns by Charlie McCarthy.  This work of art was made by shooting “long exposures of bugs under a street light.”  Basically, McCarthy set up a camera on a tripod and let it record with a long shutter speed.  This is often used when capturing images at night time.  His simple idea of capturing bugs flying by a street light is mesmerizing.

[Via Gizmodo; Charlie McCarthy]

Study: Moviegoers have synchronized blinks, miss up to 15 min. of footage

A recent study has gathered interesting findings of people’s blinking habits and when they blink during a movie.  Researchers at the University of Tokyo have found that “the flow of visual information to the brain is halted by up to 450 milliseconds with every blink, and we lose up to 6 seconds of information every minute.”  New Scientist relays this information in layman’s terms: “This means moviegoers who sit through a 150-minute film have their eyes shut for up to 15 minutes.”  It was also found that people tend to blink in unison during the same parts of a movie.  A researcher noted that “”This is the first study to demonstrate that blinks are excellently coordinated during video playback.”  After several tests, the researchers went on to conclude that these synchronized blinks occur during “non-critical” moments, so at the end of an action scene or as Gizmodo humorously noted, “whenever Megan Fox is off screen.”

[Via Gizmodo; New Scientist]

Moscow’s electricity control room

Designed by Russian architects Arch-group and ABTB. 

Designed for Moscow United electricity network company, the control room houses a podium with six workstations that face a wall of screens displaying information about the city’s electricity network.  The wall consists of 36 Barco video cubes showing info on the condition of the electricity network.

See additional images of this architectural marvel in the gallery below.

[Via Gizmodo; Deezen; Arch Group]