Through a combination of solar cells and battery power, the Zephyr experimental plane recently flew for three days straight. Using super-lightweight solar cells and super-efficient batteries, the plane is powered and charged by day, and then the batteries provide power at night.

Like a lot of amazing research, including the Internet, this was funded by the military, in this case to provide a new generation of spy planes.

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Guess they should have used a Mac. They chose Windows XP instead, because they thought it would be more reliable, and look what happened!

Lenovo chairman, Yang Yuanqing, was quoted as saying that because of the complexity of the IT functions at the Games, it was decided to not use the the more recent operating system. "If it's not stable, it could have some problems," he said.

Oops.

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A new company appears to have cracked one of the major obstacles towards full-scale adoption of solar power: Cost.

Its cells can generate power at a price approaching "grid parity" - that is, the same acquisition cost over their lifespan that it would cost to buy power from a normal electric company. It turns out that cost is about $1 per killowatt of capacity.

Previous solar cells cost about $2-4 per killowatt, so this is huge cost savings over the previous technology.

Read the full story at the link.

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Yes, that's a 747 landing right on the beach.

Oddly enough, there has never been a major incident at the airport!

Check out the site for video and more dangerous airports.

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Old news to some of you, perhaps, but it's never too late to enjoy a peek into the Pixar universe, about when point Wall*e was released.

I particularly liked the sign on the server room, like a 24-hour diner.

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If you're like me, issues from Internet censorship to heavy air pollution make this year's Olympics look like an unfortunate mistake. The Chinese seem poor at living up to their word ... but they're still going to put on a spectacular show.

If you still want to watch, you want to have the right gadgets to do it, so instead of paying a Chinese airline for flights, you can pay American gadget makers, who then hire Chinese contract manufacturers to build their stuff. So I guess the Chinese still win, no?

Here's some great stuff for you to buy, or drool over, in anticipation of the Games. And if nothing else, they should make the upcoming Football season truly spectacular ...

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Virgin's Richard Branson and friends board their new plane, "My Other Ride's a Spaceship" for a trip to their partner Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, and the beginnings of a new era in space, starting with launch vehicle White Knight.

"I'm old enough to have seen the moon landing ... I've wanted to go into space when I saw the moon landing ... I've never had that opportunity ... and ... it will be one of the most exciting things I've done in my life." --Richard Branson

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Continuing our coverage of Oshkosh, here's an electric plane that can fly for 1.5-2 hours at 70mph. The engine takes about two hours to recharge, which is a great flight to charge ratio, and a charge only consumes about $0.75 worth of electricity.

Flying thrills for less than $ 0.50 an hour ... I call that amazing!

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The world's largest general aviation show in Oshkosh, MN, wraps up this week. Here's a best in show roundup from Popular Mechanics. I liked the Cirrus single-engined personal jet, but John Travolta's antique 707 is pretty cool too.

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This black and gold Lamborgini - black and gold, no doubt, as in oil being called black gold - was airlifted from Qatar to the UK at a cost of roughly $40,000 for an oil change and service, itself costing about $7,000. Then it was sent back to Qatar and delivered to its rather obviously filthy rich owner.

You can say this was perhaps the ultimate in excess, and you would be right. But I find it funny that "the little guy" takes offense, because a lot of that money was used to employ honest, hard working mechanics and airline workers of all stripes. Just because it was a bit silly to do this doesn't mean the money spent evaporated; it helped all the people involved in transport, and I'm sure the mechanics in the UK were happy for the work.

Still, I had to laugh when I read the quote from an airport worker: “This car doesn’t have a carbon footprint – more of a crater."

Still, a nice example of how the upper 0.00001% lives.

More at the link.

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Are you stuck in traffic all the time? Want a way out? And do you live in a major US metropolitan area?

The Dash GPS could be just your ticket out. It continuously measures road conditions where you are and transmits them back to a central server. So with a few hundred Dash devices often traversing similar routes, it has a comprehensive view of traffic speeds, from the worm's eye view on up.

This is far superior to other devices with traffic features, because the large number of Dash units already sold (at least in Dash friendly places like San Francisco and Los Angeles) mean far more sensor points, and far more accurate speed indicators than the old fashioned way relying on sensors built into only major roads.

An interesting review and experiences in the article.

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Testing of a new drug on mice has shown that it can simulate the effects of exercise - without requiring any of that tiresome running, jumping and stepping!

"We have exercise in a pill," said Ron Evans, an author of the study. "With no exercise, you can take a drug and chemically mimic it."

Long term testing is needed to find out if this works on humans, and if it is consistently safe for the long term use that would be required for effectiveness.

For people like me, who absolutely loathe exercise, and the larger group of people that can't exercise due to severe pain, this drug could really be just what the doctor ordered.

More at the link, of course.

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This telescope, said to have shown such astonishing sights that it cured one observer of his Russian-scale drinking habit, has been lying abandoned since its creator's death in 2002.

It is being given a new lease in life during the upcoming eclipse this August. I like the improvisational nature and look of it; it looks like something out of the crazy but heart-filled Topanga neighborhood near LA. I wish its owners luck in restoring it on time!

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As the peons of air travel become less and less comfortable, more and more imagination gets poured into new amenities for the top 1% of air travelers.

Such as the lucky few who get to fly First Class on Emirates Air's new Airbus A380 jets ... five minute showers! Hardly sounds as luxurious as the real thing on ground, which can last considerably longer, but still an intriguing treat.

But no, you can't share the shower with a special friend ... it can only fit a single person. Or can it? We look forward to the experimentation.

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Many have dreamed of a way for them to soar above the ordinary in a flying device strapped to their body ... and many have failed.

An Australian inventor decided to buck the odds, and his bizarre creation - more a "proppack" than a "jetpack" - is to be unveiled at the legendary Oshkosh private flight event.

He even used his wife as a guinea pig, and - here's the amazing part - she loved it!

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