Follow the virtual line

A company with the unwieldy name of Making Virtual Solid has developed a new way for drivers to follow GPS directions, a virtual line projected onto a car's windshield. The technology, called Virtual Cable, uses existing heads-up-display components and standard GPS navigation systems, but would have to be factory-installed.

From videos on the company's site, the system looks very usable, and a big improvement over current route guidance systems. The beauty of Virtual Cable is that it shows route guidance over real streets, as opposed to navigation screens, which show arrows on a map that the driver then has to mentally translate to the view out the windshield.

Making Virtual Solid hasn't announced any deals with automakers or OEMs at this date, so it will be at least a few years before we see Virtual Cable projected onto the screen of any production cars.

Via Crave CNET

New generation of Lithium-ion batteries

Japanese manufacturer Toshiba has launched what it calls the Super Charge ion Battery (SCiB), a Lithium-ion battery that it claims has a life cycle of over 10 years and recharges to 90 percent of full capacity in just 5 minutes.

In a press release, the company also touts it as having "excellent safety" because of the new technology and that the "possibility of rupture or combustion is very low". That would be a very important factor considering the first uses for these cells will be in vehicles. The SCiB will start shipping in March 2008 and will go into electric bikes, motorcycles, forklifts and maybe even hybrid cars.

We personally can't wait for the technology to trickle down to notebooks and mobile phones. Imagine, forgetting to charge your device before leaving home will only cost you a 5-minute delay. Not bad.

Confederate Renovatio Concept Motorcycle

If Nicholas Cage's chopper in Ghostrider was one flaming hot ride, check out Confederate's Renovatio, Latin for "Rebirth". Though it's a bit of a misnomer, considering it looks like something spawned and forged (rather than gently birthed) from the bowels of Mount Doom. With its inards displayed on the outside and a structure that appears independent of a conventional body frame, this puts even Orange County Chopper's cool custom motorcycles in the shade. And as Uncrate observed, it's got all the evil power you need. Onboard this black demon is a 150hp standard or 190hp supercharged, powered by a water-cooled V-twin engine derived from the Corvette's LS7 V8. Now all that's needed is a helmet to match.

Here comes every stalker's dream

And every celebrity/victim's nightmare. This little camera ring by designer David Münscher with its single-button interface may be a concept model for now. But given the way things are speeding along, with camera-phones packing 5-megapixel sensors, these spycam-like shooters aren't Mission Impossible. Anytime Canon wants to pick up on Munscher's blatantly branded idea, it should be a Snap to make happen. So smile, 'cause you never know when you'll be on candid camera.

Via Yanko Design

Laser equipped Humvee pops and fizzles IEDs

Boeing has rolled out the marketing for its laser-equipped Humvee by zapping five IED-like targets on a test range at Alabama's Redstone Arsenal (PDF) in what it called "the company's ability to rapidly respond to warfighters' needs." Dubbed the "Laser Avenger," the unit consists of a 1-kilowatt solid-state laser mounted on an air-defense Humvee. It works by "shooting an invisible beam just a few centimeters in diameter and 20 times hotter than an electric stovetop" into the offending munition until it combusts internally. It then just "pops" or "fizzles" in a low-level detonation. "Boeing's investment strategy is to move some of its new directed energy weapon systems into field demonstrations, and Laser Avenger is the first one we're rolling out," Boeing's Gary Fitzmire said in a press release.

This application is hardly new. Ten years ago an ordnance disposal unit at Nellis Air Force Base was using an APC-mounted 2KW YAG laser to nix hundreds of unexploded cluster bombs on its bombing range.

In 2003, the U.S. Army deployed a ZEUS-HLONS (HMMWV Laser Ordnance Neutralization System) to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where it popped more than 200 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in six months. It even set a record by "negating" more than 50 UXOs in less than two hours.

While this and other laser units allow EOD teams to stand off at a safe distance and dispose of an IED, they still need to find it. And when it comes to that, the Avenger is just another target on the road.

The company hedged its bets by cutting up some UAVs during the demonstration in a nod to the anti-aircraft market. But as you see by the video, it's not breaking any ground there either.


Via CNET Crave | Photo credit: Popular Mechanics

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