Tesla Model X

Wired reports: [edited]

The world's first luxury electric SUV is gorgeous. It’s futuristic. And once again, Tesla Motors is redefining the electric vehicle.

It is a $130,000 (£86,000) electric vehicle that will go 250 miles on a charge, carry seven people and haul more stuff than anyone but a hoarder might want. And although the X shares much of its DNA with the Model S P90D sedan, in many ways it eclipses that phenomenal car. It’s not just the design, which is futuristic without being weird. It’s not just the performance, which is very, very fast. And it’s not even the dramatic 'falcon' doors that lift like the wings of a bird.

It’s how all of those features come together in a vehicle that somehow makes an SUV not just cool, but desirable.

The big drawback of doors that open like wings is they require a lot of room to open, so you’re always worried about hitting something. Tesla got around this by double-hinging the doors, and fitting each with an ultrasonic sensor and putting a third on the roof. They scan the area around the vehicle to determine how much space there is, then adjust the 'span' and open accordingly.

The X is cavernous. This thing will swallow as much cargo as any normal person would carry. Tesla offers an accessory hitch that holds four bikes or six pairs of skis, and can be attached to the back of the car in just a few seconds.

The estimated delivery for new reservations is the latter half of 2016.
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Biomason Bricks

Inhabit reports: [edited]

It takes an enormous amount of energy and resources to produce simple building materials such as concrete, bricks, and asphalt – however Ginger Krieg Dosier has developed a way to grow building blocks from sand and bacteria.

Dosier starts with sand as a substrate. A liquid cement is prepared that includes bacteria to provide an environment for crystals to form, a nitrogen source, food for the bacteria, a calcium source, and water. The solution is placed over a bed of sand in a mould and repeatedly added over five days until a solid material has formed.

Once the food and water source run out, the bacteria die. The irrigation solution is then fully recycled in a closed loop system to save water resources and recapture a byproduct of the bacteria as a natural fertiliser.
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Pebble Time Round

The Guardian reports: [edited]

The Pebble Time Round is a new version of its highly-rated Time smartwatch. It is 7.5mm deep and weighs 28g (cf: Apple Watch 10.5mm/40g).

The colour epaper screen is always on and always readable, including in direct light or the dark thanks to an LED backlight. It connects to iPhone and Android devices, displaying notifications, controlling music and other smartphone features remotely and running Pebble apps.

The Time Round comes in three colours and with either a 14mm or 20mm band. Unlike the Time or the Time Steel, which lasts up to 150 hours per charge, the Round’s battery only lasts up to two days – but charges in 30 minutes as opposed to the Time Steel’s two hours.

It will be available in the US from November costing from $249 (£163), with a UK release coming later this year and Europe in 2016.
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Sign of the times

Who'd've thought?

For larger image, click here.
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Free Font - Clear Sans

Font Squirrel reports: [edited]

Clear Sans is a versatile OpenType font for screen, print, and Web.

Clear Sans has minimized, unambiguous characters and slightly narrow proportions, making it ideal for UI design.

Clear Sans supports a wide range of languages using Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts. The font family includes Medium, Regular, Thin, and Light weights with upright, italic, and bold styles.
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BioLite HomeStove

Siemens reports: [edited]

The BioLite HomeStove is an advanced forced ventilation biomass cook stove. It uses thermoelectric technology to convert temperature differences between fire and air into an electric voltage. A fan-assisted chamber achieves a 90% reduction in toxic indoor smoke and 50% better fuel consumption.

Surplus electricity generated during cooking sessions can charge USB-powered devices such as mobile phones and LED lights.
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London-Somerset-London 11-09-15 & 13-09-15

London - Somerset
The Sun Has Got His Hat On - Ambrose and His Orchestra
Black Skinhead - Kanye West
Queen Of Clubs - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Angel of the Morning - Juice Newton
That's Alright - Laura Mvula
Brandy (you're a fine girl) - Looking Glass
No Hope (single) - The Vaccines
Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down - Alicia Keys
Send Me a Postcard - Shocking Blue
Are You My Woman? - The Chi-Lites
It's Better To Have (And Don't Need) - Don Convay
That's My Girl - Dee Clark
Inner City Pressure - Flight Of The Conchords
Shit Makes The Flowers Grow - Folk Uke
Girl Anachronism - The Dresden Dolls
Merlin's Masterplan - Vandervleuten
Kiss With A Fist (single) - Florence + The Machine
It’s In His Kiss - Vonda Shepard
Wild Ones - Flo Rida Feat. Sia
Jungle Drum - Emiliana Torrini
Madison - Joanna Gruesome
Fade To Grey - Visage
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - Ramones
Let's Dance - David Bowie
Master And Servant - Depeche Mode
This One’s Different - Howler
technologic - Daft Punk
Start Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello
No Particular Place To Go - Chuck Berry
Zola - Wonder Villains
Breezeblocks - Alt-J (∆)
Celebremos (Original 12" Spanish Version) - Kool & the Gang
Prodigy Medley: Jericho/Out of Space/No Good - Hackney Colliery Band
Days Of Pearly Spencer - David McWilliams
Soul Man - Sam & Dave
Jungle - Electric Light Orchestra
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
Hombre - M.I.A.
I Could Easily Fall (In Love With You) - Cliff Richard & The Shadows
Banquet - Bloc Party
Burn Baby Burn - Ash
Let's Twist Again - Chubby Checker
Barbra Streisand (UK Radio Edit) - Duck Sauce
Static On The Radio - Chronic Future
Word Crimes - "Weird Al" Yankovic
Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover - Sophie B. Hawkins
Changes - Alan Buxton

Somerset to London
Don't Bother - Shakira
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles
Hit Em Up - Afrikan Boy
The New Girl In School - Jan & Dean
What A Way To End It All - Deaf School
Spitfire - Public Service Broadcasting
Beat Control - Tilly and the Wall
Rudie Can't Fail - The Clash
The Importance of Being Idle - Oasis
Leave This Island - Maxïmo Park
Half In Love With Elizabeth - Mystery Jets
Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto - Polysics
Walk Idiot Walk - The Hives
Seasons (Waiting On You) - Future Islands
O.P.P. - Naughty By Nature
25 Miles - Edwin Starr
Goodbye To Love (Remix) - The Carpenters
One Nation Under a Groove - George Clinton/Funkadelic
Never Miss a Beat - Kaiser Chiefs
Girl - Jamie xx
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town - Cake
As - Sister Sledge
Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr.
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone - Paula Cole
You Should Consider Having Sex With a Bearded Man - The Beards
Tonight's The Kind Of Night (RAC Mix) - Noah and the Whale
Kiss the Girl - Peter Andre
Just a Gigolo - I Ain't Got Nobody - Louis Prima
You Spin Me Round (like a Record) - Thea Gilmore
You Are My Sunshine/Open Up Your Heart - Frente!
He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' - The Velvelettes
Pull It to Pieces - Elektralow
Reet Petite - Jackie Wilson
It's Getting Better - Mama Cass Elliot
Don't Phunk With My Heart - The Black Eyed Peas
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me - Sandie Shaw
Since You've Been Gone - Rainbow
Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac
This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way) - DJ Shadow
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
The Blues Are Still Blue - Belle and Sebastian
The Love I Lost (Single Version) - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Daydream - The Lovin' Spoonful
Pharaohs (feat. Roses Gabor) - SBTRKT
Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellenbogen By The Sea - Max Bygraves
Mountain Sound - Of Monsters and Men
The Snake - Al Wilson
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Ion IT34 Duo Deck USB Turntable/Cassette Deck

Uncrate reports: [edited]

There are better cassette players, and there are better turntables. But none of them can match the versatility of the Ion Duo Deck USB Turntable & Cassette Player. It can play your old cassette mix-tapes and vinyl, with built-in speakers making it an all-in-one affair.

There's a output jack if you want to crank it up with external speakers or listen privately through headphones, and thanks to the included software, you can hook it up to your computer and rip both formats straight to your digital library.
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Lenovo Phab Plus

cnet reports: [edited]

The 220g Phab Plus has a 7 inch metal unibody design with a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel display and octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor, a 13-megapixel main camera (the front-facing camera comes in at five megapixels), and a 3,500mAh battery.

It runs Android 5.0 with 32GB on board and 2GB RAM. You can expand storage up to 64GB. It comes in gunmetal, gray titanium and silver honey colors.

The Phab Plus will cost $300/£195.
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Wileyfox Smartphones

The Register reports: [edited]

New British mobile maker Wileyfox has launched a pair of Cyanogen smartphones.

The £199 SIM-free Storm has an eight-core 64-bit ARMv8 Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 system-on-chip running at up to 1.5GHz, 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM, a 20Mp Sony EXMOR main camera and an 8Mp front-facing cam, 1920 x 1080 5.5” touchscreen display, and a 128GB microSD card slot.

The Swift costs £129, and has a quad-core 64-bit ARMv8 Snapdragon 410 system-on-chip running at up to 1.2GHz, 16GB of storage and 2GB RAM, 13Mp camera, a 1280 x 720 5” display, and a 32GB microSD card slot.

Both devices can do 4G, and have dual SIM slots, and run Cyanogen 12.1 – a customized Android build. Each phone has a 2500mAh battery, which is removable in the Swift and not in the Storm.

The company has used Cyanogen to replace the default dialer app with the Truecaller app, which has a crowdsourced 1.7 billion contacts.

If you use the Truecaller integrated dialer, and receive an incoming call, a heads-up notification appears that identifies the number and how many people have marked as spam. You can choose to block spam callers, or phone numbers you choose not to receive calls from.
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Mando Footloose IM

gizmag reports: [edited]

The IM utilizes the same unique drivetrain as the original (folding) Footloose. Instead of being transmitted along a chain, the rider's pedalling power is used to charge the bike's 36-volt, 8.2-Ah lithium-ion battery via an alternator in the crank. That battery in turn powers the 250-watt rear hub motor.

The IM is sleeker, lighter and shorter than its older sibling. With pricing starting at €2,690 (about US$3,050), it's also cheaper than the €3,999 Footloose.

Other features include the ability to remove the battery for charging; a polished aluminum alloy frame with a protective plastic coating; built-in rear flashers; and a removable HMI (human-machine interface) bar-mounted LCD control unit. Along with displaying information such as speed and battery charge level, the HMI also allows users to choose between different levels of electric pedaling assistance, varying from none to throttle-only – as an added bonus, the bike won't work when that unit is removed.

Depending on how much assistance riders use, the IM can reportedly cover up to 60 km (37 miles) on one charge of its battery. It has a maximum speed of 15.5 mph, and tips the scales at a little over 21kg.
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Free Font - Cormorant

Font Squirrel reports: [edited]

Cormorant is a free display type family developed by Christian Thalmann (Catharsis Fonts). It comprises a total of 30 font files spanning 6 different styles (Roman, Italic, Upright Cursive, Roman Infant, Small Caps, Unicase) and 5 weights (Light, Regular, Medium, Semibold, Bold).

For more information about the typeface, click here.

Thanks to Conrad Gempf for the heads-up.
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Huawei Honor 7i

Engadget reports: [edited]

The Honor 7i has a camera that can flip around for some quality selfies. The imager in question has a 13-megapixel resolution, an f/2.0 aperture, a 28mm wide-angle lens and dual-tone LED flash. The Honor 7i can utilise the screen to brighten your selfies in the dark. There's also a fingerprint reader located on the left side of the mid-frame, and it doubles as a camera button for left-handed selfies.

Specifications include an octa-core Snapdragon 616 chipset (4 x 1.5GHz + 4 x 1.2GHz), a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display, up to 3GB of RAM, up to 32GB of internal storage, a 3,100 mAh fixed battery, dual-Nano SIM slots (one of which can take a microSD card) and a colour option of either silver or gold.

There's no word on global availability just yet, but the base model in China (2GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage, for China Mobile) costs 1,599 yuan or about $250, whereas the top model (3GB RAM, 32GB of internal storage) goes for 1,899 yuan or about $300.
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WonderCube

Trusted Reviews reports: [edited]

WonderCube has a built-in Lightning and microUSB cable, a micro-suction phone stand, USB key and microSD card reader, a USB connection, emergency 9V battery connection and mini torch. And all in a package no bigger than one cubic inch.

In other words, it can charge your phone, sync files and prop your phone up in either landscape or portrait by sticking to the back. In order to charge your phone 'on the move' you slot in a 9V battery, giving you around three hours extra talk time for Android and iOS devices.

It is a neat little device that packs a lot into a small package. And for $69 (£46), or $49 if you buy from Indiegogo, it's very affordable too.

Shipping in October 2015.


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Ecocapsule

Vision Times reports: [edited]

The Ecocapsule is the latest in tiny home living, where you can live off the grid for up to a year. A Bratislava-based architectural studio called Nice Architects came up with the idea.

It is powered by a retractable wind-turbine, and is also equipped with solar panels. It captures rain water and inside has a hot shower, kitchenette with running water, and a flushing toilet.

The dual power system and a high-capacity battery ensure that you will have enough power during periods of reduced solar or wind activity. The spherical shape is optimised for the collection of rainwater and dew, and the built-in water filters allow you to utilise any water source.
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Nebia Shower

Kickstarter reports: [edited]

Nebia is a fully self-installed shower system with an adjustable bracket and a portable wand. Nebia atomises water into millions of tiny droplets with 10 times more surface area than your regular shower.

With Nebia, more water comes into contact with your body, leaving your skin clean and hydrated all while using less water than a typical household showerhead. Nebia uses 70% less water than a typical household showerhead.
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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 IV

Digital Photography Review has published a full review of Sony's fourth iteration of its high-end compact digital camera.

Snippets from the conclusion follow:

"The RX100 IV is an incredibly responsive camera; fast and ready to churn out high quality images and video with tools designed to help you achieve your vision."

"The quick and responsive RX100 IV has a number of features that make candid photography easy, including face and eye detection, a tilting LCD, silent shutter, and a fast continuous shooting mode in Raw with AF."

"If your end goals are the pictures and video, there isn't a better pocketable camera, and the RX100 IV offers compelling capabilities that easily surpass its predecessor and allow it to punch well above its weight."

"The RX100 IV garners our top award for its pure ambition. Its class-defining image and video quality raise the bar even further, widening the gap between it and any potential competition. As such, the RX100 IV is, today, peerless."

Price: £800
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BauBax Travel Jackets

Entrepeneur reports: [edited]

The BauBax jacket is a multi-purpose jacket intended to keep travellers organised with 15 features that include a built-in neck pillow, koozie drink pocket and iPad pocket, among others. So far, it has raised nearly $3 million from over 15,000 backers on Kickstarter.

The jacket comes in four different iterations (sweatshirt, blazer, windbreaker or bomber) and ranges from $109 to $129.


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Danish Wind Farms becoming increasingly viable

The Guardian reports: [edited]

On an unusually windy day this July, Denmark found itself producing 116% of its national electricity needs from wind turbines yesterday evening. By 3am on Friday, when electricity demand dropped, that figure had risen to 140%.

Interconnectors allowed 80% of the power surplus to be shared equally between Germany and Norway, which can store it in hydropower systems for use later. Sweden took the remaining fifth of excess power.

“It shows that a world powered 100% by renewable energy is no fantasy,” said Oliver Joy, a spokesman for trade body the European Wind Energy Association. “Wind energy and renewables can be a solution to decarbonisation – and also security of supply at times of high demand.”

A surge in windfarm installations means Denmark could be producing half of its electricity from renewable sources well before a target date of 2020, according to Kees van der Leun, the chief commercial officer of the Ecofys energy consultancy.
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Up-goer Five Text Editor

Theo Anderson reports:

Can you explain a hard idea using only the ten hundred most used words? It's not very easy. Type in the box to try it out.

Thanks to Conrad Gempf for the link.
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