Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Hidden Water Tank Windproofs San Francisco Condo Tower Against Bay Gusts [Water Tech]

450px-Img3645_One_Rincon_Hill_November.JPG Want to prevent your own condo tower from bending back and forth like a stick of rubber? Easy, hide a 50,000 gallon water tank at the top and cover it up. That's exactly what developers did for San Francisco's One Rincon Hill, the tallest residential building west of the Mississippi River. The building uses a 416,000-pound water-filled tank to create tuned liquid damper (a first for the Western U.S.), thus preventing the building from moving around if a strong enough wind comes in from the San Francisco Bay.

Though experts say it's unlikely such a situation would arise, a lack of protection against such a wind could cause feelings of motion sickness and discomfort in residents. The nearly-completed building is the largest structure built in SF in over 30 years. [SF Chronicle via Curbed SF]


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Axiotron's Modbook Now Shipping [Macbook Tablet]

Axiotron%20Modbook%20GI.jpgWe previously brought you news of Axiotron's brilliant Modbook, which is essentially the first real Macbook tablet. Although it's Apple authorized, it is not an official Apple product, obviously. Nevertheless, the guys at Axiotron have gone to work on an item all fanboys are lusting after, and the end result is looking rather tasty.

The main draw of the Modbook is the Wacom digitized pen-sensitive LCD slate-style display, which is combined with either a 2.0 GHz or 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a built-in iSight camera and an integrated 24x DVD Combo drive or 8x DVD SuperDrive. We have not tried it out properly yet, but if you have $2,290 saved away for a Macbook tablet, the Modbook maybe the solution to your weighty wallet woes. [ Axiotron]

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Armani Hotels and Resorts

Giorgio Armani S.p.A. and EMAAR Hotels & Resorts LLC are pleased to announce that their respective Chairmen, Mr. They have today executed the formal contractual agreement between the two companies for the development of a unique international collection of 'Armani Hotels and Resorts'.

Giorgio Armani has been one of the world's most influential designers who is now set to extend his design sensibilities into the arena of hospitality. Armani Hotels & Resorts will be places that offer the same kind of welcome to guests as the designer would privately extend to his friends and family. The website will continuously update the new Armani Hotel & Resort developments which now includes the Armani Hotel Milano and the Armani Hotel Dubai.

Link Via [AME info]

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Live Cooking Table by pmg

From http://cubeme.com/blog/2007/12/13/live-cooking-table-by-pmg/#more-3901

December 13th, 2007 by Hans

It has a surface made of SCHOTT Ceran glass-ceramic panels which can be decorated individually with your choice of metallic prints. The control elements are hidden within the table: This is how the “Live Cooking Table” is able to keep its sleek aesthetic without cables or buttons and dials.

Due to its modular property the “Live-Cooking-Table” can be extended to a length of up to 6 metres and accommodate about 16 dinner guests.

Via [Dexinger] Via [Designtaxi]

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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Creative's InPerson WiFi video phone outed by FCC

Tough luck Creative, good news Type A consumers. The FCC just outed Creative's unannounced, inPerson wireless video conferencing solution. Not only that, but they've loosed the user manual, external photos, and even splayed the device wide to reveal a VGA camera, built-in dual microphones, and TI DaVinci graphics chip. Here's what they've got coming: 802.11b/g WiFi and Ethernet, 76-degree wide-angle lens with "excellent low light performance," H.264 video with SIP support, rechargeable/removable Li-ion battery, remote control, headphone jack for privacy, and TV-out to view callers on a larger display. The battery can be charged in 5-hours for a 2-hour run when using the built-in, 7-inch, 16.7 million color LCD at 50% brightness. That lifespan increases to about 5 hours when sending the display to the TV. It's also fully integrated with SightSpeed accounts. As such, it features automatic SightSpeed account login, speed dials, call history and contact list management as you'd expect. So is this the device / service mashup that will finally bring ubiquitous distribution of the dedicated video phone promised since the '50s? No. Of course, even the first generation brown Zune can garner buyer hysteria when the price is right. So go ahead Creative, tell us, how much and when?

 

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