The headline takes certain exaggerated liberties, sure, I admit that, but nevertheless today marks the second time in two months that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been delayed due to structural failures during the testing process.
I'll let Boeing tell you about the latest snafu, with snarky blogger filter uncharacteristically removed:
"In two areas on the fuselage, the structure doesn't have the long-term strength that we want," said Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter.
What that means is wrinkles. Microscopic wrinkles. Dangerous, drop-out-of-the-frickin'-sky wrinkles in the fuselage that negatively affect the plane in ways I don't want to think about given I'm already antsy about air travel. Boeing has therefore ordered Italian supplier Alenia Aeronautica to halt production of these faulty fuselage sections immediately so that carbon fiber patches can be applied to make things right.
Carbon fiber patches or not, customers were expecting the first Boeing 787 orders to be filled by first quarter 2010. That's not going to happen. As we've detailed here in the past, the phrase "perpetual delay" has become synonymous with the 787 project, which has cost Boeing billions of dollars. Seventy-two planes have been canceled thus far (although, to be fair, 800 orders are still on the books). [Silicon Valley via Slashdot]
Is it an alien desert crop circle made from cars and campers? Some kind of ancient civilization uncovered by freak dust storm? Truth be told it's neither, actually:
Giz reader Dean sent in a slew of aerial photos from the event four years ago after reading our post on the retro rocket being erected in Nevada this year.
These pics are cool because, as many of you know we dig airplanes here at Gizmodo, and Burning Man just so happens to have had its own fully functional airport since 1999.
That's a good thing, because it gives us some nice bird's eye shots of this immense event.
We've already told you that legitimate flexible OLED displays really are coming now, but thanks to some Japanese researchers they could be more reliable—and flexible!—than we first imagined.
In layman's terms, the innovation arrives thanks to a liquid semiconducting layer that potentially bends and flexes more reliably than the "vacuum thermal evaporation" technique employed by Samsung.
In the researchers' case, the liquid, officially known as ethylhexyl carbazole (EHCz), will constantly deliver a fresh supply of semiconductors to the emitting layer. To you and me that means better, more flexible screens that might not degrade as quickly as once thought, if and when they arrive in the (near?) future. Just don't try and drink one. [PhysOrg via OLED Info - Thanks, Ron]
From the "at least 10 years out" category of microchip fabrication comes word that IBM is working to reduce future costs and microchip sizes by using DNA. That's correct, the building blocks of life could one day contribute to your virtual reality headshot in Halo 28: Master Chief Comes Back From the Dead for the 12th Time.
IBM's early stage research combines the DNA double helix and, unsurprisingly, nanotechnology to build frameworks for theoretically smaller and less expensive microchips.
"This is the first demonstration of using biological molecules to help with processing in the semiconductor industry," said IBM research manager Spike Narayan. "Basically, this is telling us that biological structures like DNA actually offer some very reproducible, repetitive kinds of patterns that we can actually leverage in semiconductor processes," he said.
But like I said, ten years out of more before the same genetic building blocks found in all of us are also powering the supercomputers of the future. [Reuters]
Tea leaf-reading analysts are speculating this afternoon that Comcast is currently hoarding cash as part of an effort to revisit its 2003 spending spree days. You remember 2003, right? That was the year Comcast made a brash $54 billion bid for Disney.
Now it appears they're at it again, although what the target(s) will be this time around is anybody's guess. A few of the names floated so far are Viacom Inc and Time Warner Inc.
It's most likely not Disney, said former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. "They may want to recapture their dreams of going after Disney, but not with Disney specifically," he said. "I am sure [Comcast] Brian Roberts and Steve Burke (COO) have Time Warner high on their computer screens."
The analysts, in a word, were weary of such a move. [Reuters via Slashdot]
An unidentified retailer has leaked a series of photos that reveal a number of unreleased Nokia phones, including the N97 Mini, N5800 with chrome edging (possibly the 5900), E72, E55, and two unknown sliders that may be an N86.
Like we said in the lead we don't know where the retailer is based, how they got the phones, or how they were able to arrange them neatly on a desk and snap their picture without anyone finding out.
The Nokia Blog isn't saying, although they did hint the retailer explained these phones were all due to be sold in their store "soon." [The Nokia Blog - Thanks, Mark]
Yar! Where be my pliers and braided cable cutters? Avast! There they be, bobbin' in the surf, next to me floatin' massage chair!
And scene.
Anyway, these brightly-colored tools float and accomplish several boat-related tasks—just right for Summermodo adventures you might have planned!
Knock them overboard and they're easily seen and retrieved. Pretty straightforward. The handles help the tools float because they're made of comforting foam. Bonus: The rust-resistant metal is tungsten-carbide, perfect for fighting off the corrosive effects of that salty sea air. Yar. [Amazon via Boing Boing]
This ingenious tea pot and serving pitcher not only features classic Space Invaders, it's completely functional as well. When the water is hot, the blue invaders appear, letting you know it's ready for service.
For the design, the kettle won the World Kitchen Tea Off 2009, which I sadly had no idea existed until the moments before I typed "World Kitchen Tea Off 2009" for the first time. [Vesselideation via Gamer Grrlz via Technabob]
Power to the People: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, not content with their local service provider, recently took matters into their own hands and literally dug a ditch to install their own modest 100Mbps fiber optic Internet connection.
Indeed, when the relatively isolated RNLI, a tidal estuary station in Northern England, wanted a better connection, they took shovel to earth and installed it. That simple.
The fiber and other tech necessary for the deployment were eagerly supplied by FiberStream, which enjoyed the PR while the RNLI finally got the Internet speeds they thought they deserved. [ISP Review via Slashdot]
Another Sunday, another best of the best list from our buddies in arms at Lifehacker. What's August 16, 2009 have in store for you?
Why, it's just a handy list of the five best online apartment search tools the web has to offer. Perfect for apartment hunting season (i.e. September-ish, back to school time, etc).
As with all Lifehacker lists, this one was generated by readers like you. [Lifehacker]
Burning Man, that wacky event taking place in the Nevada desert each year, will soon be visited by a high-flying structure that has little to do with narcotics and everything to do with the 1940's naive view of space travel.
Called the Raygun Rocket, the art piece is an interactive, 40-foot tall four-story rocket right out of the Marvin Martian/Bugs Bunny/Buck Rogers era. The whole thing, including LED "launch pad," is powered by solar panels.
A "future that never was" say the designers, and who are we to argue. It's just too bad they couldn't figure out a way to make it launch. I'm sure at Burning Man there would have been more than a few people willing to give that ride a try.
A shot of the rocket in fabrication. The designers say it's easily transportable via flat bed truck and low-earth orbit. OK, just the truck. [Raygun Gothic Rocket via CNET]
The robot in this case is called Palette. It's a Japanese creation that changes poses when it "senses" window shoppers taking in the view. Some Japanese boutiques have already started renting the bots for about $3,000 apiece ($50,000 to own).
"It makes the product the mannequin wears look more attractive, increasing consumers' appetite to buy," says Tatsuya Matsui, chief robot designer and the boss of Flower Robotics.
For now, the robot's movement is based on a proximity sensor. In the future, facial recognition software will allow Palette to change poses based on the viewer's sex and even the logos on their shopping bags.
Version 3.0 will presumably tackle shoppers who dare enter a store with a competitor's bags in hand. I fear for the mall rats of the future, I really do. [Inventor Spot]
The Klipsch Image S4i is one of the only non-Apple iPhone headsets on the market that supports both the iPod Shuffle's VoiceOver function and the iPhone 3GS's Voice Control.
The Price: $100
The Verdict: At just $20 more than Apple's In-Ear headset, the Klipsch Image S4i is a no-brainer, assuming Voice Control and VoiceOver are priorities to you. If they don't matter, or if you've got an older iPhone or non-Apple handset, the choice is less clear.
Klipsch's headset is one of the only ones on the market with Apple's VoiceOver-compatible chip—a feature we raised a stink about when it first came out, but which turned out to be alright. As far as 3G Shuffle headphones go, this is about as nice as you're going to get. The sound will suit most tastes, but not all: it's extremely clear, and bass is smooth and deep, but never overpowering. Overall the sound reminds me of the V-Moda Vibe Duos—always a reliable standby for better-than-stock iPhone headsets—except slightly more resolved, and less muddy. What this headset doesn't have, though, is the kind of razor-sharp presence that you'd find in headphones like the Shure SE115, or headsets like the (markedly more expensive) Etymotics hf2, or the powerful percussiveness of some of Altec Lansing's UE rebrands. (More on those here.) Isolation and cable movement noise are better than I expected from tips made from rubbery material like this, as is fit: both are excellent, though fans of foam or foam-rubber tips will have to go aftermarket.
Mic quality is fine, too. The Image S4i's mic sits below your shin, nestled inside the inline controls. It's a natural location, and the headset's buttons, which include volume controls, were easy to find and press, though the whole unit is a little slippery for sweaty exercise fingers. The mic, or its location, probably, gave my voice a boomier sound than I got from the Vibes or the Etymotics, though I remained completely intelligible, and background noises, like the mic bouncing off my shirt, or even a rickety old air conditioner, were very hard to notice on the other end of the line. As a bonus, these headsets work in the headphone jack on Unibody MacBooks, for VoIP use.
With Shuffle and 3GS compatibility comes one pretty massive hitch: That's Klipsch's official compatibility chart, and they're not kidding. If your device isn't on this list, don't expect much: older iPhones get basic play/pause functionality out of the inline remote, while the 1G Touch doesn't recognize it at all. Phones from other manufacturers, including HTC and Samsung, didn't recognize remote or mic input. The Image S4i isn't just 3GS and Shuffle compatible, it's exclusive. And one last minor quibble: I haven't been carrying these things around for very long, and the Klipsch logo—as you can see in the top image—is already flaking off of the otherwise well-styled and built earbuds. Far from a dealbreaker, but disconcerting, considering how new these things are. [Klipsch]
Excellent sound quality for the price, in both mic and earphones
Work with VoiceOver and Voice Control
Styling and build quality are nice, but the finish is delicate
Compatibility list is severely cropped by Apple's special inline remote chip
Holy shit. The initial accident is bad enough, but the creators of this texting PSA, not content with the usual scare tactics, add in some flying glass and a neck crunch to hammer things home. Then the second car appears.
The video was done with local actors by the Gwent police department, to be shown in area schools as part of a 30-minute deterrent movie about "texting while driving." It's effective, violent and bloody. That's probably the point.
Anything like this being shown in the U.S.? [BBC News - Thanks, Matthew]
Western Digital's decent WD TV was a moderately priced 1080p-pumping media player at $130. WD, apparently content to not mess with success, is preparing a slight feature update in the upcoming TV-2.
Topping the list of new features are network playback over Ethernet, DTS audio encoding and a component plug (for better picture quality on SD displays).
No price or availability info arrived with the leaked pic and specs sheet, but from the looks of the case this thing is all but ready for retail shelves. [AVS Forum via Electric Echoes via Engadget]
Motola, like so many who must share their lives with former war zones and forgotten minefields, lost a limb in 1999. Thankfully, she walked again today courtesy modern medicine and an artificial limb. The thing is, she's an elephant.
And, as an elephant, she weighs three tons. That kind of weight—excuse me for saying so, ma'am—requires one strong prosthesis. It took a few years of work to get right.
In the interim, Motola was forced to use a temporary prosthesis. This was completely unbecoming of her status as a respected 48-year-old pachyderm.
But she was patient, and today she took her first steps. They were a success. To celebrate the occasion, Motola sucked up some dirt and blew it skyward like dusty fireworks. She has some work to do, but the limb held her massive frame, and she'll hopefully be walking with some semblance of normalcy for the rest of her days.
We can rebuild her. They did rebuild her. Motola: The Million Dollar Elephant. [SFGate]
I really dunno about these. Even without Tamara Hope speaking directly into the camera, those looks are still creepy and ineffective. Seems the ad team still isn't getting the message.
And I agree with the guys at Pre Thinking: She really, really, seems like she wants to say something at the beginning, before the ad cuts to a close-up of the synched contacts functionality. It's the same story with the second video, which showcases calendar linking.
Sorry Modernista, even with a shorter run time and less soul-sucking dialogue, these commercials still fail to market this phone effectively. [YouTube, YouTube via Pre Thinking - Thanks, Philip]
If Nokia had ever followed through on that rumored swiveling "E71-type handset" we heard about last April, it would probably have looked a lot like Nokla's E81 phone here. In fact, Nokla's betting a few people don't know the difference.
Strangely, this is the second E81 phone that the knockoff artists at Nokla have put out. The first was a candybar phone that Nokla released to take advantage of the current lack of a legitimate Nokia "E81" phone in that company's ever-expanding product lineup.
The features are actually rather modest, but end up being completely overshadowed by the included mirror that graces the phone's swiveling backside.
The hollowed out book, long a staple of Shawshank Redemption prison escapes and whatnot, now hosts the Kindle, thanks to a company that apparently just can't let that old "book" style of reading go the way of the dinosaur.
"Love your Kindle but miss the feel of holding a real book?" asks Busted Typewriter, the manufacturer behind this rather obvious Kindle holder (which itself is a copy of "Buying In:The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are" by author Rob Walker).
The company also sells iPhone and calculator holders (yes, also hollowed out books), which had me wondering whether gadget shame was what was really at work here, or that Busted Typewriter simply hates books.
Either way, these holders will protect your gear with the spilt blood ink of literary works like "Spa Food" for about $25. [Product Page via Book Patrol via BBG]
MacRumors has received what appears to be the final retail packaging for Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The packaging looks to be the Portuguese version, and if real would imply that the OS has officially entered into mass production.
As one might expect, the packaging features a snow leopard, staring out at the user with the same white hot intensity of, say, Steve Jobs in his Apple lair as he examines the latest prototype build of an Apple Tablet that may or may not exist.
There's also the slogan, reading: "The world's most advanced operating system. Perfectly optimized."
You know what else would be perfect? If, in the inevitable "I'm a Mac" ad that comes out to market this OS, Hodgman wrestles a real snow leopard. That scene, sadly, is not represented on the Portuguese Mac OS X Snow Leopard packaging. There's still hope for the U.S. release. [MacRumors]
The much-awaited TomTom for iPhone GPS navigation app has popped up in the New Zealand App Store with a reported asking price ranging from about $81 to $125. The app price does not include the TomTom iPhone car kit.
According to MacRumors, the four-flavored app covers the U.S. & Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and, naturally, New Zealand. Pricing:
- U.S. & Canada: NZ $124.99 (US $84.41) - Western Europe: NZ $179.99 (US $121.55) - Australia: NZ $104.99 (US $79.90) - New Zealand: NZ $119.99 (US $81.03)
Earlier this month, UK retailer Handtec let slip that the equally anticipated TomTom for iPhone car kit would sell for about $195. The price included the app itself, a GPS-boosting receiver, windshield mount, car charger and speakers. That news, and the perhaps premature New Zealand launch this weekend, would seem to indicate a global release is imminent. [MacRumors]
The first of the long-rumored Redbox video games kiosks has gone live in Reno. Rentals are $2 per night for an at-the-moment limited selection of 13 Xbox 360 titles.
Eventually, the selection will grow to encompass Wii, PlayStation 3 and PS2 games, which will compete directly with the likes of Blockbuster ($9 for five-night rental) and the recently launched GameFly kiosks, which were first spotted on the Texas Tech campus in February. [Redbox blog via Zatz Not Funny - Thanks, Dave]
We've already told you that legitimate 
Excellent sound quality for the price, in both mic and earphones
Styling and build quality are nice, but the finish is delicate
Compatibility list is severely cropped by Apple's special inline remote chip
The first of the long-rumored Redbox 
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