Thursday, October 09, 2008

Fanatec RennSport Wheel Stand Hangs On Tight While You Drive Like a Maniac [Racing Wheels]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/414105783/fanatec-rennsport-wheel-stand-hangs-on-tight-while-you-drive-like-a-maniac

Racing wheels have come a long way, featuring excellent accuracy and realistic force feedback. But they're still quite awkward, requiring a properly positioned table or precarious lap placement. The RennSport Wheel Stand by Fanatec solves these positioning problems, holding the wheel, pedals and even stick shift in the perfect, adjustable spot for each player.

Constructed solidly out of aluminum and steel, turn as hard as you want, but the RennSport doesn't look to be going anywhere soon. Meanwhile, users can adjust height and angle of the wheel, which is more than you can say for most real steering wheels.

The catch is, of course, the price. At $130, this wheel holder costs as much as many nice wheels themselves. But then again, the RennSport works with most major models and looks like the best thing for racing simulation since this little number. So you could do much worse. [BusinessWire via Digital Trends]


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Nasa's Messenger Sends First Full Fly-By Image of Mercury [Space]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/414088420/nasas-messenger-sends-first-full-fly+by-image-of-mercury

Yesterday at 4:40AM east time, Nasa's Messenger (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging spacecraft) flew by just 125 miles over the surface of Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System. This is the first time in history that the whole planet is going to be photographed in its entirety by an Earthling probe, with amazing resolution and ultra-crisp detail.

The first time Mercury was photographed up close and personal was in the Mariner 10 mission. Mariner was only able to take pictures of one hemisphere during its flybys, and its camera had a very low resolution: It could only capture details 0.99 miles across. Messenger's wide angle and narrow angle cameras, on the other side, have a resolution of 59 feet across, and is going to be able to take pictures of the fully-lit planet. All while trying not get fried up by the sun thanks to its rotatable solar panels—which balance temperature and power generation—as well as its multilayered insulation. [NASA]


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Worldâs Deepest Fish Filmed For the First Time [Ick]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/414217318/worlds-deepest-fish-filmed-for-the-first-time

This is a group of snailfish—the deepest living fish in existence—filmed alive for the first time in history in the name science and nausea. They live at depths of 4.6 miles (7,500 meters) or more, so scientists had to develop new camera technology capable of supporting a pressure of 8,000 tonnes per square metre—"the equivalent to that of 1600 elephants standing on the roof of a Mini car"—for a period of days.

The submersible platform reached 4.78 miles down the Japan Sea trench, and had to stay there for two days to be able to obtain this crystal clear footage, taking a total of five hours to reach the seabed. The camera equipment was designed specifically for this mission by the engineers at OceanLab—the sub-sea research facility of the University of Aberdeen.

According to project leader Dr Alan Jamieson, the resulting video taking during those two days is "absolutely amazing".

We got some absolutely amazing footage from 7700 metres. More fish than we or anyone in the world would ever have thought possible at these depths. It's incredible. These videos vastly exceed all our expectations from this research. We thought the deepest fishes would be motionless, solitary, fragile individuals eking out an existence in a food-sparse environment. But these fish aren't loners. The images show groups that are sociable and active—possibly even families—feeding on little shrimp, yet living in one of the most extreme environments on Earth.

Whatever. Any fish that have teeth that do this...

...are not my friends. [OceanLab via Daily Mail]

Video and image credit: Natural Environment Research Council and University of Aberdeen.

Beyond the abyss

7 October 2008

The Natural Environment Research Council's HADEEP project

Photographs and video

snailfish (or liparid fish) swarming over their baitBetween 24 September and 6 October scientists working on the HADEEP project took video cameras deeper than ever before.

Below are photographs and video footage from this expedition.

Users must credit: Natural Environment Research Council and University of Aberdeen.

Photographs

  • harumi-1.jpg (3.1MB)  View of Tokyo Harbour as the RV Hakuho-Maru leaves Harumi.
  • toyo-fits-the-bait.jpg (0.7MB)  Toyo attaches the dead mackerel carcass to the lander.
  • fishtrap-1.jpg (3.1MB)  The team working on the Fish trap.
  • landers-on-deck-1.jpg (3.2MB)  Hadal-Lander A and Hadal-Lander B on the deck prior to deployment.
  • deployment-10.jpg (0.7MB) The scene from the deck just prior to deployment.
  • deployment-3.jpg (3.2MB)  The lander is lowered over the stern into the water.
  • laura-1.jpg (3.0MB) Laura Burns on deck.
  • liparid-1.jpg (1.0MB) Top of view of the liparid (Snailfish) Psuedoliparis amblystomopsis recovered from the giant trap at 7700m in the Japan Trench.
  • remains-of-the-bait.jpg (0.7MB) The remains of the mackerel bait after 10 hours on the seafloor at 7700m.

Video

* All of Liparid fish feeding at a depth of 7703m, at four different quality/resolutions for embedding into web pages. These files will not generally play using standard desktop media players such as Quicktime or Windows Media Player.

Further information

NERC Press Office Natural Environment Research Council Polaris House, North Star Avenue Swindon, SN2 1EU Tel: 01793 411727 or 411561 Mob: 07917 086369 or 557215

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Best Buy Thinks Girlier Stores Will Make Womenfolk Buy More Gadgets [Best Buy]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/414173259/best-buy-thinks-girlier-stores-will-make-womenfolk-buy-more-gadgets

Best Buy is remodeling some of its newer stores to make them "girlier," using input from female customers to redesign locations with flourishes like skylights and earth tones, hoping it'll bring in more of the ladies—presumably to buy more easy-to-use, pink gadgets. I'm all for nicer stores that are less like industrial warehouses packed with loads of crap and indifferent employees, but uh, do women actually buy into this sexist crap? Update: More dumb details here, like renaming "home theater" the "family room." [Blogging Stocks via Electronic House, Consumerist Image via bdjsb]


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First Asus S101 Review (Verdict: What We Expected) [Review]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/414188412/first-asus-s101-review-verdict-what-we-expected

We don't know what kind of deal with the devil Mobile Computer made, but while most of us are excitedly posting the first real pictures of the Asus S101 netbook, MC is running their full review. After reading through the four page account of the experience, we can sum it up in these quick points:

• Nicer than most netbooks, not as polished as a Sony product
• Keyboard/monitor identical to that on the Eee PC 1000
• Almost four hours of run time under heavy use
• Near silent operation, possibly no fan inside
• Typical Eee performance
• Lacking premium features, 64GB version still technically a rumor

The only real complaint Mobile Computing voices is the S101's alleged price. Because really, the system is just an Eee 1000 in a moderately nicer package. [Mobile Computing]


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