Mike Hanlon

The world’s most economical police pursuit car

By Mike Hanlon

07:06 June 6, 2009 PDT

We’ve seen a few exotic police cars in our time, but this is the first high performance diesel machine created for the constabulary and most likely the most luxurious, comfortable and economical into the bargain. Jaguar UK has launched a high performance Police pursuit vehicle based on its XF Diesel S model. Read More

Patek Phillipe watch from Tiffany expected to fetch up to US$500,000

By Mike Hanlon

06:32 June 1, 2009 PDT

Bonhams' next auction of fine watches on June 10 will feature some celebrated timepieces, including a Patek Phillipe watch from Tiffany & Co, and another Patek Phillipe once owned by Isabel Perón, the former President of Argentina and the first non-royal female to lead a western country. While the Peron watch is expected to fetch between UKP 3,000 and UKP 4,000, the Tiffany Patek Phillip, an 18ct gold perpetual calendar chronograph with moon phases, is regarded as something quite special. Patek Philippe wristwatches retailed and signed by Tiffany & Co. are highly prized by collectors and may fetch as much as 100X that amount. Wanna get a close look at a watch worth as much as a house? Read More

New GPU-based SuperServer delivers 12X more computing power

By Mike Hanlon

03:35 June 1, 2009 PDT

NVIDIA and Supermicro today announced the immediate availability of a new class of server that combines massively parallel NVIDIA Tesla GPUs with multi-core CPUs in a single 1U rack-mount server. This unique configuration delivers 12 times the performance of a traditional quad-core CPU-based 1U server. Supermicro will be demonstrating the NVIDIA Tesla-based SuperServer 6016T-GF-TM2 at Computex 2009 in Taiwan this week. Read More

Electric Dreams – first ride impressions of the TTX01 electric superbike

By Mike Hanlon

03:16 June 1, 2009 PDT

In less than a fortnight (June 12), the world will witness the FIRST clean emissions Grand Prix. Known as the TTX GP, the race represents history in the making - the modern day equivalent of the landmark Paris-Rouen Horseless Carriage Competition (Concours des Voitures sans Chevaux) of 1894. The winning bike and its rider, will claim an eternal place in the history books. In the build up to the race, TTX GP founder Azhar Hussein built a demonstrator electric superbike based around a Suzuki GSX 750 and dubbed it the TTX01. It's the first prototype of what he hopes will become a production motorcycle within a year or three. Long-time motorcycle writer Stuart Barker journeyed to the Isle of Man to become one of the first people in the world to sample the battery-powered TTX01 and his impressions are our first glimpse into the future of motorcycling. Stuart discovered that riding a silent motorcycle is an eerie experience, but not completely devoid of fun. Welcome to the future! Read More

Mercedes-Benz shows a (very clever) folding bicycle

By Mike Hanlon

04:53 May 31, 2009 PDT

Mercedes-Benz pushbikes are always special but the latest collection, released this week, includes a very clever Foldingbike with two different folded positions. Fully folded, it’s a very small package, while the “shuttle” position allows the bike to be pushed and steered - ideal for easy carriage using public transport. Read More

NEC develops white LED-based LCD module covering 100% of the Adobe RGB Color Range

By Mike Hanlon

04:52 May 31, 2009 PDT

NEC Electronics America is set to show an important new white LED-based LCD module this week at the Society for Information Display (SID) Display Week 2009 in San Antonio, Texas. The amorphous-silicon color thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) module achieves an ultra-wide color gamut for 100 percent of the Adobe RGB color range by incorporating a newly developed LED light-source unit into the backlight system and a newly developed color filter. Read More

Music Maker RockStar lets the inner rock god cut loose with freestyle play

By Mike Hanlon

19:53 May 30, 2009 PDT

Playing music is therapeutic in myriad ways. It can soothe the mind, lower blood pressure, increase your IQ – but most of all, it's fun. The recent advent of the Personal Media Player may have taken music to the masses, but it's a fair bet that musical console games will be seen in decades to come as the true democratizing force behind creating your own music. Now, the massive success of play-along games, such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, is about to progress to the next level with the European release of MAGIX Music Maker RockStar for PlayStation 2, which turns your guitar controller into an instrument to be played with complete freedom. Read More

British Mac Motorcycles unveils range of Buell-engined bikes

By Mike Hanlon

01:47 May 29, 2009 PDT

The once dominant British Motorcycle Industry does not have a lot of champion brands left these days with only Triumph competitive on a global scale. Now a new marque will fly the Union Jack with the news that a British motorcycle company named 'Mac Motorcycles' is set to produce a range of four lightweight, air-cooled singles using the 500cc Buell ‘Blast’ motor in a tubular backbone frame. Expected pricing is in the UKP 8,000 -10,000 (USD$12,750 to USD$16,000) bracket. Read More

Toyota F1 team puts hardware up for sale

By Mike Hanlon

18:32 May 28, 2009 PDT

Despite a propensity to eat its own, Formula One is still the globe’s most watched sporting series, and its merchandising machine is evident on the streets of every country in the world. The t-shirt, cap and key-ring knock-off makers will have a hard time replicating the latest offerings from the Toyota Panasonic F1 team though. The company has begun selling the used high-tech parts from its racing cars. A complete rear wing, engine cover and underbody section, virtually half a car, can be had for just UKP4,400 – we suspect some very realistic game console accessories will emanate soon due to this very clever move. “While stocks last” promises to be an apt sales pitch as F1 nutters rush to snap up the bargains. Read More

Tata unveils world standard truck range

By Mike Hanlon

14:45 May 28, 2009 PDT

India's Tata Motors is best known for its US$2500 Nano budget car. More recently, its purchase of the iconic British marques Jaguar and Range Rover, and successful relationships with Daewoo and Fiat underlined the tectonic shifts underway in the global transport industry. Further evidence of the growing Indian powerhouse was presented yesterday when Tata pulled the wraps off a range of trucks comprising multi-axle trucks, tractor-trailers, tippers, mixers, and special application vehicles from 10-to-75 tonne GCW, and 150-to-560 bhp. The power, carrying capacity and operating economy of the range will raise the global bar for performance at a lower life-cycle cost. Read More

Lacoste and Zaha Hadid launch exclusive limited edition footwear collection

By Mike Hanlon

17:30 May 27, 2009 PDT

It's always fascinating to see a set of fresh eyes tackle an ancient art. Though humans have used leather shoes of some form for at least 20,000 years, the last half century has seen such advances in materials technology that footwear design has entered a renaissance period with radical new thought in abundance. Now prolific designer and architect Zaha Hadid has turned her hand to footwear design, creating a footwear collection for Lacoste. The designs are original, stunning, limited edition (only 850 pairs), exclusive and expensive. Most remarkable of all, given the shapes and textures, they're made from non-synthetic kid leather. Read More

LG HD 3D monitor with twice the brightness of existing 3D LCD panels

By Mike Hanlon

00:20 May 27, 2009 PDT

LG Display today announced it has developed a full HD 23-inch 3D LCD panel with twice the brightness of conventional 3D LCD panels. 3D LCDs apply time-sequential technologies so that the right and left eyes see different images, tricking the brain into seeing them as three-dimensional. In conventional 3D LCDs, the technologies are installed outside the panel or into the viewing glasses. Though the detail of the technologies has not been revealed, LG is reporting that the new 3D LCD embeds most of the 3D technologies directly into the panel, enabling 3D viewing with low-priced polarized glasses rather than expensive special viewing glasses. Read More

New BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo

By Mike Hanlon

19:26 May 24, 2009 PDT

BMW has announced the 5 Series Gran Turismo, a car which combines a coupé-like silhouette with the luxurious interior of a BMW 7 Series, while at the same time giving the functionality of a BMW 5 Series Touring or X5. Available as either a four-seat Executive specification car or in a five-seat SE configuration, the Gran Turismo's truly innovative feature is a two-piece tailgate offering two ways of opening the rear of the vehicle depending on the objects needed to be stowed. Read More

Invasive Alien Species threatening global biodiversity

By Mike Hanlon

15:34 May 24, 2009 PDT

While the implications of climate change for biodiversity have been widely recognised, the insidious effect of invasive alien species (IAS) on global biodiversity stays under the radar. Last Friday was the United Nations’ International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) and the International Convention on Biological Diversity sees IAS as “one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, and to the ecological and economic well-being of society and the planet”. “Increasing globalisation has led to greater movement of new species around the world, and native species killed or stressed by global change will all too often be replaced by these weeds and feral animals,” says CSIRO Biodiversity Research Director, Dr Mark Lonsdale. CSIRO Podcast Read More

Swiss Super Coupe – the 858 bhp Sportec SPR1 4WD Super Coupe

By Mike Hanlon

06:04 May 22, 2009 PDT

Start with a Porsche, throw away all the bits and reengineer or replace everything, then slot in an 858 bhp twin turbo engine – that's the Swiss-made Sportec SPR1. It's one of the few production cars in the world capable of more than 380 km/h. Using exotic materials of all kinds, weight has been pared down to just 1345 kg, enabling the beastie to hit 100kmh in three seconds and 200 kmh in 8.7 seconds. The electrically adjustable chassis adapts itself to any requirements at the push of a button and those massive, ultra-light forged rims enable gigantic brakes capable of stopping from 100 km/h in just 36 metres More than half of Sportec’s limited SPR1 production run has already been sold and the UKP600,000 car will be seen outside Switzerland for the first time at the hyper exclusive Salon Privé at London's Hurlingham Club in July so prospective British customers can appreciate it in the flesh. Read More

Bamboo bicycle range released

By Mike Hanlon

06:01 May 18, 2009 PDT

As the industries of the world search for sustainable construction materials, it's not surprising that many keep coming back to bamboo, one of man's oldest building materials. Bamboo can be at the same time, light, strong, durable, and very hard and has the additional benefit of being the fastest-growing plant on Earth. In recent times we've seen bamboo used in computers, surfboards, scooters, and Mitsubishi's “green plastic” is derived from bamboo. Bamboo's strength and flexibility also makes it ideal for use in bicycle frames, leading to a raft of projects using the ecologically sound material. Today, a new range of bamboo bicycles is being released in Denmark by Brazilian industrial designer, Flavio Deslandes. Read More

Inherited outlook – can our feelings effect our children?

By Mike Hanlon

02:56 May 18, 2009 PDT

Now here's a frightening thought! Brain chemicals such as endorphins, and drugs, such as marijuana and heroin are known to have significant effects on sperm and eggs, altering the patterns of genes that are active in them. In an article published in the latest issue of the journal Bioscience Hypotheses, Dr Alberto Halabe Bucay of Research Center Halabe and Darwich, Mexico, suggested that the hormones and chemicals resulting from happiness, depression and other mental states can affect our eggs and sperm, resulting in lasting changes in our children at the time of their conception. Bucay suggests that a wide range of chemicals that our brain generates when we are in different moods could affect ‘germ cells’ (eggs and sperm), the cells that ultimately produce the next generation. Such natural chemicals could affect the way that specific genes are expressed in the germ cells, and hence how a child develops. Read More

Sparkling Mineral Water for Dogs at $8 a bottle

By Mike Hanlon

18:01 May 17, 2009 PDT

Australian premium pet products company, Pets Palace, is launching a range of natural mineral water for dogs. Even more remarkably, the top-of-the-line sparkling natural mineral water named Bellaqua comes in handmade crystal bottles, encrusted with jewels no less, and costs AUD $42.50 (USD $32) for a box of four, plus delivery. For cheapskates who don't really love their faux children, there are four cheaper, non-sparkling varieties of Pet Pop, coloured, flavoured still mineral water which sell for AUD22.95 (USD $16.90) for a box of four. Read More

JVC 4K2K 60p camera and SHV D-ILA projector offer a glimpse of the future of ultra high resolution imaging

By Mike Hanlon

16:52 May 17, 2009 PDT

Demand for hi-res applications such as monitoring, remote health and digital cinema is ensuring we are forever moving towards higher definition moving imagery and JVC zoomed the future a lot closer this week in announcing the world’s first 4K2K 60p video camera and the world’s first full-coverage, high-resolution Super Hi-Vision (SHV) D-ILA projector. Both offer remarkable resolution and their size belies the remarkable technology inside, with the 4K2K camera weighing just 3 kilograms yet capable of 60 progressive frame live signal output and 8.29 megapixel (3,840 x 2,160) images - approximately four times the resolution of full HD (1,920 x 1,080). The SHV D-ILA projector can render video in a resolution of 33 megapixels (7,680 x 4,320 pixels) with 10,000 lumens of brightness and a staggering 5,500:1 contrast ratio. The camera will go on sale this year and advance orders are now being taken. Read More

The Mini turns 50

By Mike Hanlon

02:41 May 15, 2009 PDT

The Mini, perhaps the most iconic automobile in history, is about to turn 50 years of age. Runner-up in the Car of the Century competition, the Mini was catalysed by the fuel rationing resultant from the 1956 Suez Crisis. Its price and frugality at the pump made the BMC Mini a symbol of freedom for baby boomers and its status as an emblem of the swinging sixties was reinforced in 1966 when The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, gave each of the Fab Four a Mini Cooper S as a gift. George Harrison had his Mini painted with psychedelic images, yantras and Sanskrit mantras and it subsequently starred in The Beatles’ film Magical Mystery Tour. BMW, which now owns both Mini and Rolls Royce, has come up with a fresh interpretation of the extravagant original Mini to coincide with the brand’s 50th birthday. Read More

Healthmap.org – charting global public health threats

By Mike Hanlon

01:03 May 15, 2009 PDT

Tapping the Internet – including personal Web searches, news reports, blogs, chat rooms and social networking sites – is fast becoming a way to get a complete, up-to-the-minute view of public health threats, say researchers from the Informatics Program at Children’s Hospital Boston (CHIP) in a Perspectives article published Online First by The New England Journal of Medicine on May 7, 2009. In an accompanying sidebar, they describe the use of HealthMap.org – a freely available Web site that aggregates, categorizes, filters and displays real-time information on emerging infectious diseases – in tracking the current H1N1 swine flu outbreak.


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Toshiba Launches Dynabook SS RX2/WAJ with 512GB SSD

By Mike Hanlon

23:49 May 14, 2009 PDT

Toshiba has announced a new top-of-the-range Dynabook SS RX2/WAJ," the world's first PC with an integrated 512GB SSD (Solid State Drive). The new model is available in two versions from today at Toshiba's on-line shop for the Japanese market. The Toshiba-developed 512GB SSD employs a 2-bit-per-cell multi-level NAND flash memory to realize, the world's largest capacity SSD, with four times the density of SSD integrated into currently available products. A new controller that realizes high-speed parallel processing with the multi-level NAND flash memory boosts data access speeds by approximately 230% for read (max. 230MB per sec) and 450% for write (maximum 180MB per sec), compared with the SSD integrated into current PCs. It also boosts data access speed by approximately 300% for read and 250% for write, compared to a hard disk drive. SSDs are free of mechanical structures such as a rotating disc, and ideal for integration into mobile notebook PCs, making them more resistant to vibration and shock. Read More

Surgery may not be necessary for Achilles tendon rupture

By Mike Hanlon

23:37 May 14, 2009 PDT

The Achilles tendon, which attaches the calf muscle to the heel, is the body's strongest tendon. The tendon may rupture on sudden tensing of the muscle, something that affects middle-aged men in particular, typically when playing badminton or tennis. The two ends of a ruptured Achilles tendon are often stitched together before the leg is put in plaster, in order to reduce the risk of the tendon rupturing again. However, a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, now suggests that surgery may be unnecessary. Patients who do not undergo surgery have just as good a chance of recovery. Read More

At last – a functional and elegant Hospital Gown

By Mike Hanlon

21:57 May 14, 2009 PDT

History has fortunately overlooked the designer of the humble and seemingly universal hospital gown. Just as well, really, because he/she was no doubt well meaning and probably not due the universal curses that they have been subject to. Regardless, after more than a century, it's one of those semi-dysfunctional inventions that has endured because the chronically underfunded health systems of the world have always had more urgent technologies on their agenda than replacing the hated and embarassing garb. If you're like most people, you've probably spent waaaay too much time with your nether regions protruding from one of those dreadful hospital gowns. Now the University of Cincinnati is employing its design research capabilities to design better gown options which will soon be on display and may even reach market. Read More

Nissan GT-R sets another Nurburgring Lap Record

By Mike Hanlon

13:45 May 14, 2009 PDT

Though being criticised by some senior motoring journalists as lacking "character", Nissan's GT-R continues to take all before it in the real world, and there is no greater testimony to this than yet another lap record at the infamous "Green Hell" - the renowned Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. We reported a few weeks back that the GT-R had created a new lap record of 7 minutes 27.56 seconds on April 15 and was continuing to attack the record. It seems Nissan is as adept at manipulating the media as it is at building cars because today it announced that it set a new record of 7 minutes 26.70 seconds - the record was set on April 23, a week after it broke the last one and a full three weeks ago! Read More