Rocket Pants

Those who know me know that I have a couple of soapboxes that I'm wont to climb on after a beer or two: one of them being how my generation has been let down by technology. We were promised holidays on the moon. We were promised food pills. Damn it, we were promised rocket pants. All have failed to materialise in our lifetimes so far leaving - well, me I guess - technologically disillusioned.

The men who want to fly. By Larry Smith - Slate Magazine is thus a brilliant read, largely because it contains the salient fact that: To date, only 11 men in history have free-flown a rocketbelt. More men have walked on the moon.

And with that knowledge, my pain diminishes somewhat. Still miffed about those moon holidays though...

Oooohhh - look what's just gone live

BBC - Torchwood - The Official Site

And I'm in South Africa when it starts, damn it.

The Scarefactory

The Scarefactory - Haunted Attraction Props and Accessories - Skelerectors, Monsters, Demons

A nondescript TV sits on top of a small dresser. When activated glazed plexiglass screen drops with a crash and out Ring Girl flies up, out and down out of the front of the TV.

And it's yours for only $2895.

Ever wondered where people go to get their animatronic props for haunted houses? Looks like they go here.

Steampunk laptop

If anybody ever starts making something like this, consider me first in the queue (though whether I could afford the porter you'd also need to carry it round is another matter entirely).


[Via Boing Boing]

Make Love Not Warcraft

Boing Boing: South Park: Make Love Not Warcraft

The one in which everyone becomes WoW zombies...

Cartman: You can just hang around outside all day tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters.

Just screened in the US, therefore downloadable somewhere.

[Via Boing Boing]

Red break-in

Looks like those doyens of the digital camera hype, Red, have suffered a break in at their premises. Here's what the OC Register says about it:

"A prototype for a digital cinema camera that creators say will revolutionize the cinematography industry was stolen late last month from the Lake Forest office where it was being tested, authorities said Tuesday.

Red Digital Camera Co., the brainchild of Oakley sunglass creator Jim Jannard, is in the process of perfecting RED ONE, a high-performance 4K digital camera that promises to deliver the quality of 35mm film with the ease of a camcorder at a bargain price.

'Losses could venture into the millions' if the technology is compromised, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Article - News - Company's cinema camera prototype stolen

Burglary or espionage? CinemaTech, where I got the story from, favours the former, while noting the publicity benefits of the latter. Reminds me of the time a facility I was visiting in London had been turned over the night before. Result, one stolen Mac. Lucikly, an entire case of Zeiss HD lenses were still lying there beside the hole where the G4 used to be. Cue one very relieved facility owner. There was a Quantel iQ there too, but at the time I guess the Mac had a better resale value. Arf!

Need a Wii...

Tech Digest has this running on its site: Ten YouTube videos that'll make you want a Nintendo Wii.

Didn't need ten. The first, five minute long trailer was enough...