Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Trailer 1

The journey end 15 July 2011 in 3D

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 American science fiction film. The film is to be directed by Rupert Wyatt. This will be a new film in the Planet of the Apes series.

James Franco is set to play a scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer's by testing on apes. When test subject Caesar suddenly begins to mutate rapidly, the scientist takes him home to remove him from the cruel lab doctors.

Starring :
James Franco (Harry Osborn / New Goblin = Spiderman, Aron Ralston = 127 Hours) 
Freida Pinto (Latika = Slumdog Millionaire)
John Lithgow (Dick Solomon = 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Andy Serkis (Gollum = LOTR, The Hobbit)
Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy = Harry Potter)
Brian Cox (William Stryker = X Men 2)
David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney = SG1, SG Atlantis)


Filming:
Filming began in July 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Filming also headed to San Francisco, California (main setting), and around O'ahu, Hawaii.

Special effects:
Unlike previous films in the series, the apes in the film will be created digitally using CGI technology, by Weta Digital.

Release:
The film is set to be released on August 5th 2011. 


Order of films:
1. Planet of the Apes 1968
2. Beneath the Planet of the Apes 1970
3. Escape from the Planet of the Apes 1971
4. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes 1972
5. Battle for the Planet of the Apes 1973

Remake:
1. Planet of the Apes 2001

Prequel:
1.Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2011


Trailer




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Inventions by Kids

by Cindy Perman

Monday, April 11, 2011

Most kids are creative -- they color and make up games -- but some kids use their creativity to invent new products.

"Kids are natural innovators," said Jon Dudas, who used to work for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office but is now the president of FIRST, an organization designed to help foster innovations by kids in science and technology.

Dean Kamen, the founder of FIRST and the inventor of the Segway personal transporter, got his first patent when he was 17 for an insulin pump. "His mom had to sign the papers!" Dudas said.

One of the youngest inventors, Dudas recalls, was just two. "Her parents had sort of sectioned off a place where she couldn't open the cabinet doors. She used suction cups and an extension," Dudas explained. "Her parents thought it was a neat idea -- to use for people in wheelchairs with limited movement," he said. She had a patent by age 4!

Kids have been inventing things for hundreds of years and now, thanks to organizations like the Liberty Science Center, FIRST and By Kids, for Kids they're feeling more inspired and more confident to invent. And, turning their products into sales is becoming more of a reality.

Here are 5 cool and inspiring inventions by kids.

Smart Wheel
The Inventioneers are a group of six teens from Londonderry, N.H., and, while some of them can't even drive yet, they've invented a device to help curb distracted driving.

It's called the Smart Wheel and it stands for "Safe Motorist Alert for Restricting Texting, Tweeting, Typing, Touch screens, and Touch ups," said Tristan "T.J." Evarts, a 15-year-old member of the Inventioneers. It's basically a cover for your steering wheel with sensors and LED lights that determines when you don't have both hands on the wheel.

The kids, winners in First Robotics' "First Lego League" competition for several years running, have a provisional patent on the device, one of four patents the teens hold on various inventions.

Sometimes inventions by kids are amazing technological innovations and sometimes they're just plain practical ideas that make you wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?"

The Popsicle , that staple of summer, was created in 1905 by 11-year-old Frank Epperson -- by accident! Epperson had left a mixture of powdered soda, water and a stick in a cup on his porch overnight -- and it was a cold night. He woke up the next morning and it was a frozen treat on a stick.

He initially called it the "Epsicle," which was quite popular with the other kids at school and later his own kids. They kept asking for "Pop's 'sicle" and that, Jimmy, is how the popsicle was born. He got a patent on it in 1923 and then sold the rights to a bigger company. Today, the brand is owned by Unilever and they sell more than two billion Popsicles every year.

Here's another fun fact: The double popsicle was invented during the Depression so two children could share it and it would only cost one nickel.

Makin' Bacon
One Saturday morning in 1991, eight-year old Abbey Fleck was making bacon with her dad. They'd run out of paper towels, so he put it on the classified section of the newspaper. Mom wasn't too pleased, prompting dad to growl, "I could just stand here and let it drip dry."

Ding! Young Abbey thought if they could make a rack to hang the bacon, with a dish underneath, they'd never need paper towels. And so, the Makin' Bacon Dish for cooking bacon in the microwave was born. Not only does it save on paper towels, it's healthier because the grease drips out.

Today, the Makin' Bacon dish costs less than $10 and is sold in Walmart stores -- next to the microwaves. Abbey is now 27 and lives in Los Angeles where she works with special children. She's married to a man who sells the Deflecktor, fuel-saving wheel covers for trucks, that her dad invented.

Wristies

Don't you just hate when you're outside and, even though you're wearing mittens, the snow gets down the sleeve of your coat? 

Most of us just complain about it but one winter's day, 10-year-old KK Gregory was outside building a snow fort and decided to do something about it. She created the first pair of Wristies, a fingerless glove that goes halfway up your arm, keeping your wrists warm and dry. You can wear them with or without mittens. 

Wristies were a hit with her Girl Scout troop, so she decided to get a patent and start her own company. Today, they're sold in select stores, on Amazon.com and on Wristies.com.

Ear Muffs
Speaking of things that warm you up, ear muffs were also invented by a kid.

The year was 1873 and 15-year-old Chester Greenwood was testing out a pair of ice skates. He was getting frustrated because his ears were so cold. He tried wrapping his head in scarf but it was too bulky and too itchy. So, he took wire and bent it into two round loops, then asked his grandmother to sew fur on them. He connected them with a steel headband and got a patent on his invention -- Greenwood's Champion Ear Protectors.

He sold a ton of them to U.S. soldiers during World War I. To this day, Greenwood's hometown, Farmington, Maine, is known as the Ear Muff Capital of the World. They even have a parade every December to celebrate his birthday -- and his invention.

By the time he died in 1936, Greenwood had more than 100 patents, including a tea kettle, an advertising match box and a steel-tooth rake. "There truly was a lot more to Chester than just being the inventor of ear protectors," wrote Nancy Porter, a volunteer with the Farmington Historical Society.

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Video: Recreating Ken Block's Gymkhana... in a Gulf-livery semi truck

Video: Recreating Ken Block's Gymkhana... in a Gulf-livery semi truck

by Aaron Richardson (RSS feed) on Apr 1st 2011 at 12:30PM

Mike Ryan has won a dozen Pikes Peak Hill Climbs in his Gulf-liveried Freightliner Cascadia, so it's no joke when we say this man has some serious talent. To raise his and the truck's profile a little bit, Ryan has decided to show off what he does when he's not storming mountains to stay sharp.

Aping Ken Block's Gymkhana series, Ryan haunts abandoned airstrips, looking for cones, old hangars and dirt roads on which to slide his truck around. In fact, Ryan has gone so far as to shoot this video at El Toro, the same Marine air base where Block filmed the first installment of his epic videos.

Ryan's Freightliner packs 1,950 horsepower and more than 3,400 pound-feet of torque, so roasting the truck's handmade custom Michelin tires isn't a problem, even in a 10,000-pound Big Daddy Freightliner. 

Check out all the action in HD splendor after the jump. Top tip, Jason!











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Japanese repair quake-ravaged road in just six days

by Chris Shunk (RSS feed) on Mar 24th 2011 at 12:30PM

6 Days Before



Due to the extensive damage in Japan caused by the massive earthquake and resultant tsunami on March 11, many have questioned if the island nation can recover in a year, much less a few months. If the swiftness with which the Japanese can repair roads is any indication, we wouldn't bet against the country cleaning up this catastrophe in short order.

As a result of the quake, a 150-meter section of the Great Kanto Highway in Naka was absolutely obliterated, with massive chasms running right through the middle of the road.Work crews at the NEXCO road repair company sprang into action on March 17, working at a fevered pitch to help get their country on the road to recovery, literally. Amazingly, after only six days of labor, the road is silky smooth and ready for travel. Look at the the before and after photos above to see just how amazing this feat is.

Given the fact that road crews in the U.S. can spend three or more months repairing a single lane of concrete, only to leave the orange barrels on the road for another two weeks, we're blown away by this feat of engineering. Simply amazing.

After


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Biometric wallet is 'virtually indestructible,' opens with your touch

By Jeffrey Van Camp, DigitalTrends.com

This biometric wallet has a Bluetooth proximity alarm, carbon fiber shell, and fingerprint sensor for maximum security. It will set the rich and paranoid back about $825. 


Afraid someone might take something out of your wallet? If you have $825 to spend, fear no more. Dunhill is selling what it calls a “Biometric Wallet” that it claims is virtually indestructible and can only be opened with your fingerprint. Scared of someone taking the entire wallet? It can be linked to a mobile phone via Bluetooth and set to sound an alarm if your phone and wallet are separated by more than five meters (15 feet).



This wallet is built to be durable. It has a carbon fiber shell, leather interior, and stainless steel money clip. If only its design matched its top-notch construction. Almost any standard wallet looks slicker than this clamshell.


Would you invest more than $800 into a wallet? If so, what features would you require? 


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Tomahawk (missile)

The BGM-109 Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. Introduced by General Dynamics in the 1970s, it was designed as a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a submerged submarine. It has been improved several times and, by way of corporate divestitures and acquisitions, is now made by Raytheon. Some Tomahawks were also manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security).

Description
The Tomahawk missile family consists of a number of subsonic, jet engine-powered missiles for attacking a variety of surface targets. Although a number of launch platforms have been deployed or envisaged, only naval (both surface ship and submarine) launched variants are currently in service. Tomahawk has a modular design, allowing a wide variety of warhead, guidance and range capabilities.


Type = Long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile
Place of origin = United States

Service history
In service = 1983-present

Production history
Manufacturer = General Dynamics (initially) and Raytheon/McDonnell Douglas
Unit cost = Approximately $569,000 (FY99 $) , Approximately $755,851.27 in 2011 dollars.

Specifications
Weight = 2,900 lb (1,300 kg)
Length = Without booster: 18 ft 3 in (5.56 m)
With booster = 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Diameter = 20.4 in (0.52 m)
Warhead Conventional = 1,000 lb (450 kg) Bullpup, or submunitions dispenser with BLU-97/B Combined Effects Bomb, or a 200kt (840 Tj) W80 nuclear device (inactivated in accordance with SALT)

Detonation mechanism = FMU-148 since TLAM Block III, others for special applications
Engine = Williams International F107-WR-402 turbofan
= using TH-dimer fuel and a solid-fuel booster

Wingspan = 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m)
Operational range = 1,350 nautical miles (2,500 km)
Speed = Subsonic - about 550 mph (880 km/h)

Guidance system= GPS, TERCOM, DSMAC

Launch platform = Vertical Launch System (VLS) and horizontal submarine torpedo tubes (known as TTL (torpedo tube launch))

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Pensyarah Kena Buli Dengan Bayang-Bayang

Pensyarah Kena Buli Dengan Bayang-Bayang

NASA Scientist Explains Science Behind 'Supermoon' Phenomenon

SPACE.com Staff,
Space.com – Mon Mar 14, 2:30 pm ET

This story was updated at 2:25 p.m. ET.

The tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan Friday (March 11) set the Internet abuzz with the idea that the moon, which will be at its fullest of the year on March 19, played a role in the devastating natural disaster. 

The seed for the idea was planted by an astrologer, who contended that this large full moon – a so-called "supermoon"– would touch off natural disasters like the Japan earthquake since the moon would make its closest approach to Earth in 18 years. Scientists, however, dismissed the notion entirely and now a top NASA scientist is weighing in. [Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in Pictures]

In a statement released Friday, noted NASA scientist Jim Garvin explains the mechanics behind the moon's phases and the causes of the supermoon. Garvin is the chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"'Supermoon' is a situation when the moon is slightly closer to Earth in its orbit than on average, and this effect is most noticeable when it occurs at the same time as a full moon," Garvin wrote in the NASA statement. "So, the moon may seem bigger although the difference in its distance from Earth is only a few percent at such times." [Photos: Our Changing Moon]

The full moon of March will occur next Saturday on March 19, when the moon will be about 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers) away from Earth. The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 238.000 miles (382.900 km).

"It is called a supermoon because this is a very noticeable alignment that at first glance would seem to have an effect," Garvin explained. "The 'super' in supermoon is really just the appearance of being closer, but unless we were measuring the Earth-Moon distance by laser rangefinders (as we do to track the LRO [Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter] spacecraft in low lunar orbit and to watch the Earth-Moon distance over years), there is really no difference."

It was astrologer Richard Nolle who linked the full moon of March 19 to natural disasters. He claimed that this "supermoon" would trigger massive earthquakes, volcanoes and powerful storms when it arrived.  But scientists assure that this is not the case. ['Supermoon' Did Not Cause Japan Earthquake and Tsunami]

Garvin, for example, said the moon's effects on Earth have been the subject of extensive studies.

"The effects on Earth from a supermoon are minor, and according to the most detailed studies by terrestrial seismologists and volcanologists, the combination of the moon being at its closest to Earth in its orbit, and being in its 'full moon' configuration (relative to the Earth and sun), should not affect the internal energy balance of the Earth since there are lunar tides every day," Garvin wrote.

But while the moon helps drive Earth's tides, it is not capable of triggering devastating earthquakes.

"The Earth has stored a tremendous amount of internal energy within its thin outer shell or crust, and the small differences in the tidal forces exerted by the moon (and sun) are not enough to fundamentally overcome the much larger forces within the planet due to convection (and other aspects of the internal energy balance that drives plate tectonics)," Garvin explained.

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Gnomeo & Juliet

Gnômeo & Juliet is a 2011 animated family film loosely based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. The film is directed by Kelly Asbury, and the two main characters are voiced by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt. The film was released on February 11, 2011...(Malaya dengarnye akan kuar pada 24 Mac ni..)

Plot (Spoiler Alert!)


Mrs. Montague and Mr. Capulet (Julie Walters and Richard Wilson) (two elderly people who despise each other) exit their houses, and the garden objects come alive in the Blue and Red sections. Later, both blue and red gnomes attend a lawnmower race. Representing the blues is Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and representing the reds is Tybalt (Jason Statham). During the race, it looks like Gnomeo is winning; however, Tybalt cheats and wins the race, destroying Gnomeo's lawnmower. Gnomeo and his best friend Benny (Matt Lucas) insult Tybalt for cheating, but Tybalt ignores them.

Later that night, Gnomeo and Benny, wanting revenge, infiltrate the red garden in disguise, intending to spray the reds' lawnmower. With Tybalt sleeping and Tybalt's best friend, Fawn (Ozzy Osbourne), playing cards with small red gnomes (who are beating him), it looks like there are no flaws, until Benny foolishly sprays Tybalt's well and accidentally triggers a security light in the process, alerting the red gnomes to attack. Fortunately, both escape however Gnomeo ends in a different garden. He then bumps into the daughter of Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine), who is called Juliet (Emily Blunt).

Both attempt to get the Orchid to make each other's garden look more beautiful, falling in love in the process. While each other tries to take the Orchid from them, they discover they are from opposing clans. When they both go back to the gardens, Juliet tells her friend Nanette (Ashley Jensen) much to her surprise. Gnomeo and Juliet then have secret meetings in a secret garden, where they meet pink plastic flamingo Featherstone (Jim Cummings).

He supports and encourages their love, and the two begin to meet regularly. Though when the two of them are getting ready for a date, Juliet's father introduces her to Paris (Stephen Merchant), a red gnome that Nanette has fallen for, though Juliet manages to get away. Later, when the two return back to their gardens, Gnomeo finds his mother (Maggie Smith), who is distraught after the reds infiltrated the garden and destroyed the plant Gnomeo's deceased father planted. The blues want Gnomeo to take revenge on the reds, but he realizes he can't refuse unless he tells his secret. He tunnels underneath to reach the red garden, but as he is about to spray the prized flowers of the reds, Juliet sees him.

He backs out suddenly, telling Benny that the nozzle on the spraying bottle was jammed. When he and Juliet meet up again, they briefly argue until Featherstone stops them, telling them that other peoples' hate destroyed his love, as 2 people in the house where the garden was had argued and divorced, where Featherstone and his wife had been separated. After he has explained, Gnomeo and Juliet apologize, though when they are about to kiss, Benny sees them, distracts them, then runs into the alleyway, where Tybalt is waiting-with his lawnmower. Tybalt drives at Benny and knocks his hat clean off. Tybalt fights Gnomeo on his lawnmower, but is destroyed when crashing into a wall. Fawn begins to aim objects at Gnomeo, but Juliet, to the surprise of her father and clan, defends Gnomeo, saying that she loves him.

A woman suddenly jogs along so all gnomes have to become still. Gnomeo ends up on a road and everyone believes he was run over by a car. Juliet's father then glues her to her fountain because he does not want to lose her like her mother. Shroom is left alone and goes on the road, where he realizes that what was run over was a blue teapot and that Gnomeo is still alive and avoided being run over by climbing onto a truck. Gnomeo eventually ends up in a park, and climbs onto a statue of William Shakespeare (Sir Patrick Stewart) and tells him his story. Shakespeare then tells Gnomeo that his story is very similar to Romeo and Juliet and that it is likely Gnomeo's will have a sad ending as well.

Shroom and Featherstone come to find him. Benny, meanwhile, buys a large lawnmower online to get revenge on the Red Gnomes, despite Shroom trying to convince him that Gnomeo was still alive, but it goes out of control, destroying most of the two gardens. Gnomeo makes it back to Juliet to try to un-glue her, but he is unable to. She tells him to go but he refuses, and the two share a kiss just as the lawnmower crashes into the fountain and everyone believes that both Gnomeo and Juliet are dead. Lord Redbrick and Lady Blueberry, both realizing that their feud was responsible for this, decide to call a truce. Suddenly, both Gnomeo and Juliet climb out of the rubble and are both fine. The movie ends happily with the two of them getting married.




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Space shuttle Discovery makes graceful landing for 39th and final time

By Scott Powers, Orlando Sentinel

1:45 p.m. EST, March 9, 2011



CAPE CANAVERAL — Commander Steve Lindsey brought space shuttle Discovery in for a graceful landing at Kennedy Space Center just before noon today, ending a 13-day mission as well as the orbiter's 27-year career. It was also the first step in the end of the U.S. space shuttle program.

"The end of a historic journey. To a ship that has led the way, time and time again, we bid farewell to Discovery," said NASA commentator Charles Hobaugh as the orbiter rolled down the runway.

Discovery's return leaves just two more shuttle launches — Endeavour in April, and Atlantis in June — before the program is retired. With it will go an estimated 7,000 jobs at KSC.

And for the first time in 50 years, NASA is uncertain what is next for the U.S. space flight program. Congress wants the agency to build a new heavy-lift rocket, but the agency says it can't do it with the funding Congress has provided in the time by the Dec. 31, 2016 deadline it's been given.

After Atlantis' last flight, astronauts will be taken to the space station aboard Russian Soyuz rockets, while cargo will ride aboard a new generation of commercial rockets.

As soon as Discovery rolled to a halt, NASA's oldest and most-traveled orbiter — it began service in 1984 —- was back in the hands of Stephanie Stilson and her team. They will spend weeks inspecting the spaceship, then several months decomissioning it to make what one historian called "the champion of the fleet" into a museum piece.

Most likely, Discovery will wind up in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air & Space Museum in Washington. NASA has offered Discovery to that museum, and the Smithsonian wants it but has yet to figure out how to pay the $28.8 million cost of decommissioning and delivery. A final decision will be announced in mid-April.

Stilson, who is NASA flow director for Discovery, was prepared for an emotional moment for her and her team. Today's landing ended a storied career of 39 missions that ferried into space satellites, space probes, experiments and secret Defense Department items, not to mention astronauts and sections and supplies for the International Space Station.

Discovery has also carried two U.S. senators into space, launched the Hubble Space Telescope and returned the shuttle program to flight after both the Challenger and Columbia disasters of 1986 and 2003.

"I did actually shed some tears on launch day. I was wondering if that would happen, because I don't do that very often. I think it'll be the same for landing," Stilson said earlier.

Though she's worked on all the shuttles, Discovery is where Stilson's heart has been since she first began working on it in 2000.

"Though I'll be very happy to see the conclusion of the mission, and to show that we were successful in what we set out to accomplish," she said, "it's also going to be the last time we see Discovery land on the runway. So that's a little bittersweet to me."

By all accounts, Discovery's latest mission has been a complete success. Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and four other crew members took the craft into orbit Feb. 24. They delivered and installed a permanent multipurpose module called Leonardo — a new, 2,472-cubic-foot room full of equipment and supplies — as well as a carrier full of supplies.

The equipment included a humanoid-like robot called Robonaut 2, which could one day perform maintenance and science at the space station.

Mission specialists Steve Bowen and Al Drew conducted two spacewalks to install, change and fix equipment outside the station. Mission specialists Nicole Stott and Mike Barratt round out the crew.

So far, aside from occasional tears, NASA's shuttle mission teams have been too busy to express much emotion about the end of the program.

"We all just have to remain positive," Stilson said. "We're going through change. Change isn't always a bad thing.

"Right now we all hear, and I'm sure across the nation [people say] 'We wish we could continue to fly the shuttle.' But that's not in the cards right now. I would tell anybody who enjoys the space shuttle program as much as I do: there will always be exploration. We'll just continue to look forward to that."




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Fast Five 2011 Trailer

Fast Five is the upcoming 2011 film directed by Justin Lin. It is the fifth film in The Fast and the Furious film series and the fourth installment in terms of chronology preceding The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). The film is also the first in the series to be released in IMAX and is set to be released on April 29, 2011.^[1]


Cast

• Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, Mia's love interest; an ex-LAPD police officer and an ex-FBI agent; Dominic's ally, a talented street racer and auto mechanic.
• Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, Mia's older brother; Brian's ally, an elite street racer, auto mechanic and ex-convict.
• Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto, Dominic's younger sister and Brian's love interest; also a street racer.
• Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs, an elite FBI agent assigned to track down Dominic, Brian and their team.
• Matt Schulze as Vince, Dominic's childhood friend, fellow street racer and member of his crew.
• Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, Brian's childhood friend, fellow street racer, recruited to Dom's crew.
• Sung Kang as Han Lue, street racer, member of Dominic's crew.
• Ludacris as Tej Parker, an old friend of Brian and Roman's; ex-street racer, ex-race host, and auto mechanic; recruited to Dominic's crew.
• Tego Calderon as Tego Leo, street racer and member of Dominic's crew.
• Don Omar as Rico Santos, street racer member of Dominic's crew.
• Gal Gadot as Gisele Harabo, street racer, former driver for drug-lord Arturo Braga, recruited to Dominic's crew.
• Joaquim de Almeida as Hernan Reyes, a corrupt Brazilian businessman who wants Dominic, Brian and their team dead.
• Brian Tester as Hernan's henchman.
• TJ Hassan
• Michael Irby as Zizi
• Alimi Ballard as Fusco
• Elsa Pataky as Elena Neves, an elite FBI agent.
• F. Valentino Morales as Malo, Dominic's friend.
• Geoff Meed as Macroy
• Yorgo Constantine as Chato
• Luis Da Silva Jr. as Diego
• Fernando Chien as Wilkes
• Troy Brenna as Zizi's henchman
• Joseph Melendez as Col. Joao Alameida

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Apollo 18 Trailer (2011)

Officially, Apollo 17, launched December 17th, 1972 was the last manned mission to the moon. But a year later, in December of 1973, two American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to the moon funded by the US Department of Defense. What you are about to see is the actual footage which the astronauts captured on that mission. While NASA denies its authenticity, others say it’s the real reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.



Release Date:April 22nd, 2011
Director:Gonzalo López-Gallego
Studio:The Weinstein Company
Genre:Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller


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Laser Tag Graffiti

Laser Tag is using lasers and projectors to tag buildings with light! This is a joint project between Graffiti Research Lab and Make Magazine's Bre Pettis. Tag with lights. It's reversible and non-destructive.

What's the fastest car in the world?

The SSC UItimate Aero TT

The current record for fastest car in the world is held by the Ultimate Aero TT from Shelby SuperCars. The record was set on Oct. 9, 2007, not on a testing track, which is where most high-speed records are established, but on a closed-off section of Highway 221 in Washington state. The speed was monitored using the DEWE-VGPS-200C speed sensor from Dewetron, a company that specializes in, among other things, data acquisition systems for spacecraft, which should give you an idea of how fast the Ultimate Aero TT was traveling.

So, how fast is it? In accordance with Guinness rules for automotive speed records, the Ultimate Aero TT was driven down the track twice -- in opposite directions -- with the top speed on each run being averaged to produce the record speed. (This helps minimize the effect of fluke road and weather conditions.) On the first pass it was clocked at 257.44 miles per hour (414.3 kilometers per hour), on the second at 254.91 miles per hour (410.2 kilometers per hour), for an average speed of 256.18 miles per hour (412.3 kilometers per hour). This beat the previous record of 250.7 miles per hour (403.5 kilometers per hour), set in February 2005 by the Koenigsegg CCR, as well as the unofficial record of 253.81 miles per hour (408.5 kilometers per hour), set in April 2005 by the Bugatti Veyron.

This is the first time since the Ford GT40 set the record in 1967 that the title of fastest car in the world has been held by an American-made car. And it wasn't set on the perfect road surface of a testing track the way that most European speed records have been set. Jerod Shelby, the owner of Shelby SuperCars, believes that the Ultimate Aero TT can beat its own record when and if it gets tested on a closed European track. NASA wind tunnel tests have shown that the Ultimate Aero can remain aerodynamically stable up to 273 miles per hour (439.4 kilometers per hour), though its redline speed -- the velocity at which the engine starts to self destruct -- is around 260 miles per hour (418.4 kilometers per hour). So clearly there's room for this vehicle to improve on its own record.

Now you know. The SSC Ultimate Aero TT is the fastest car in the world. Or is it? Some people believe that this record is a bit of a cheat. 

The record held by the Ultimate Aero TT is for fastest production car in the world. That means that this is a car you can buy and keep in your own garage -- assuming, of course, you can cough up the more-than-$600,000 base price. Some people argue, however, that the Ultimate Aero TT isn't truly a production car at all, but rather constructed for the sole purpose of setting records and drawing attention to SSC's other vehicles. Jerod Shelby openly admits that the Ultimate Aero was designed for the purpose of putting Shelby SuperCars on the high-end automobile buyer's radar, but also says that he fully intends to sell the 50 Ultimate Aero TTs that his company plans to produce. The car has also been certified as street legal by the United States Department of Transportation.

But what if the Ultimate Aero TT wasn't the fastest car in the world? What car would reign supreme? The previous official world record was held by the Koenigsegg CCR, which set the record on Feb. 28, 2005, on the Nardo Prototipo track in Italy. (Before that, the record had been held for 12 years by the McLaren F1.) Oddly, the Nardo track is circular, a configuration that usually isn't conducive to setting speed records since the physics of automobile motion requires acceleration just so that the car can take the curves.

The Koenigsegg CCR's record was actually broken less than two months later, on April 19, 2005, by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. However, the Veyron's top speed wasn't verified by the Guinness Book of World Records and is therefore considered unofficial, which left the CCR in top place until the Ultimate Aero TT clocked its even faster record speed in 2007.

But all of these record-setting cars are sluggards compared to the Thrust SSC jet-propelled car. SSC stands for "supersonic car" and, yes, it can go faster than the speed of sound. It set a record for land vehicles when it was timed at 763 miles per hour (1,228 kilometers per hour) across Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1997. The Thrust SSC isn't a production car and it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to own one unless they do a lot of travel across flat, open spaces. But it does demonstrate that production cars have a long way to go before they achieve the maximum speed that it's possible for a vehicle to go on land.

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