The Wall Street Journal ran a story on "space elevators" last week. The idea is to launch a geosynchronous satellite with a high-strength, low-weight tether that extends all the way back to Earth and is anchored (to say, an offshore oil derrick). Then, you can send materials back and forth using a climber contraption.

A rocket would take two spools, each the size of a living room with 31,000 miles of ribbon wrapped around it, to an orbit of 22,000 miles. Both would be unrolled, one being allowed to waft back to earth, the other pulled up and away from earth by a spacecraft and then anchored with a weight at the end. Then they'd be joined in the middle.

The bottom portion would be secured onto an oil rig-like platform located along the equator, 1,500 miles west of Mexico, a location chosen for its uneventful weather.

The ribbon would weigh 800 tons, or about 26 pounds a mile. Were it to break, the top segment would float away into space while the bottom would fall to earth. Nothing you'd want to be on hand to see, of course, "but nothing that would threaten the planet," said Edwards.

Link

This video shows you how to convert a butane lighter into a secret container. Along with an empty plastic lighter, you also need a push button pen and some tape. Link

Update: Watch out. Some people are getting ridiculous pop-ups on this link. (Including me.) – Joel

Image: Popular Science

I had already planned on talking about "ground effect" vehicles at some point, when Avi Abrams dropped this doozy—a gorgeous painting of an unlikely Soviet hydroplane that looks like a water-skiing oil derrick—on our new "In the Year 2000" Flickr group. (A Boing Boing Gadgets and Paleo-Future Production.) Then that picture was linked back to this comprehensive post on Dark Roasted Blend about ground effect vehicles, where I saw this prototype painting that first appeared in Popular Science in 1984.

Something about seeing the American Airlines livery on a massive, ocean-gliding, swept-wing Spruce Goose-a-like just tickles me. Do want.

Ekranoplans Showcase [DarkRoastedBlend.com]

This new Japanese game, Kokoro Scan, has the player say several words into the Nintendo DS's microphone, then selects the one that most closely matches your "true feelings." According to a YouTube commentor—I know, but this one seems like he knows what's up!—the woman in this video says the following:

密会 mikkai: secret meeting
浮気 uwaki: cheating
同棲 dousei: living together
結婚 kekkon: marriage
離婚 rikon: divorce

Of course, Kokoro Scan picks "cheating." I sure hope this game comes out in the U.S.! So I can never buy it! Update: Not that I have anything to hide!

A SEGA Game Guaranteed to Wreck Relationships [Kotaku]

The Duchess of Design Regine Debatty has uncovered a bunch of interesting student projects from the School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University. They're all interesting projects, but I'm partial to "The Drum Suit," pictured probably needlessly here, since all its magic happens under the surface.

"Piezo sensors sewn in the cuffs and under the foot interact with an arduino board that is connected with an midi wire and then in to the computer," explains Emma. "In the computer, midi files on a midi keyboard generate a bass sound and cymbals sounds. I also peeled off the plastic covers of the piezo sensors to make them more sensitive."

Fashion & Technology prototypes [WMMNA]

Noah Shachtman, currently reporting in Iraq, explains how the Marines are using biometric scanning devices to degrade passage in or out of Fallujah:

The Marines have walled off Fallujah, and closed the city's roads to traffic.  The only way in is to have a badge.  And the only way to get a badge is to have Marines snap your picture, scan your irises, and take all ten of your fingerprints.  Only then can you get into the city. 

...

There are still plenty of holes in the nets.  The biometric systems don't all talk to one another.  Nor do they interface, really, with the other fingerprint- and iris-tracking systems used in other parts of Iraq.  Getting the machines to work far, far out in the field can give a Marine migraines.  (And, for today, let's not even get into the privacy and human-rights implications.) But, in combination with other measures, the badges do seem to be having an effect.  After years of bombs and machine gun fire, the city of Fallujah has suddenly gone quiet.

Iraq Diary: Fallujah's Biometric Gates< [Danger Room]

General Motors fan site Cheers and Gears scored these mockups of proposed future car interior/interface designs, including this concept for a wireless key fob with a built-in scroll wheel and screen. For what, exactly? Who cares! I want a tiny screen in my keyless entry fob. And a car.

It's blue sky stuff, of course, including this charming note: "Voice Recognition Fob (i.e. Knight Rider)"

GM Design Center Conceptual Interior Elements, Coming soon? [CheersAndGears.com via Autoblog]

FUTR WRLD is calling for artists to submit works for their upcoming art book and accompanying gallery show:

FUTR WRLD is an open source collaborative effort among artists to create a conceptual rendering of earth and its inhabitants in the year 2060. The environment of the planet will change in the next 50 years. How will humans incorporate and change through the use of technology and untapped natural resources. How will modern day society be affected by these changes. What will be the outcome in cities and small villages around the globe. Will we have to place trust in machines. Will technology be a positive forward motion or a hindering step back. We are asking that artists from all over the world participate.

Sounds like a great project and I can't wait to see the results, but I'm not exactly sure what's so "open source" about it.

If you're toying with some ideas but would like some feedback before you submit them, Core77 has set up a FUTR WRLD bulletin board for discussion. (That's where this sketch came from.)

Submission deadline is October 31st.

Project Page [Anti-Motion via Core77]

I'm not sure if this sensational robot model, designed by illustrator Ashley Wood, will be available for sale or is just a one-off—the last set of robots I fell in love with, from Take-G toys, were not—but Wood implies that they might be on his blog. Here's hoping!

Some Bertie Shots [AshleyBambaland.Blogspot.com via Ectomo]

The "Stunning Ring" doesn't knock out your attackers by dint of its gaudy design alone. Instead, by press the locking trigger on the side, the Ring will emit a two-to-three second blast of pepper spray. And while there's nothing funny about women being attacked in real life, I adore the banner/frieze that sits atop the "Protect Yourself Direct" website. (Reproduced above.) Eat elbow, plastic-haired perp!

The ring, sure to be a hit in middle-school locker rooms around the country, is available for thirty bucks, with refills going for eight.

Product Page [ProtectYourselfDirect.com via NewLaunches via Complex]

Philips new "Power4Life" product line offer an interesting option for users who spend a lot of time away from mains power. In fact, it's sort of a shockingly obvious idea: put rechargeable battery packs inside the power brick.

Of course, there's no reason to do this as standard—we certainly don't need more rechargeable batteries going into the stream, especially if they're never used—but for go-getters this makes a lot of sense. They happen to be pretty swanky looking, to boot.

The top dog model is the "SCE7640"—poetry!—that can kick out up to 20 volts of juice, enough for many laptops. Another model is suitable for mobile phones, while another works with USB.

Press Release [Philips via Gadget Lab, Gizmodo]

Being one of the first to try the Ultimate Ears UE-11 Pro, a $1150 pair of headphones with four drivers inside, might seem like a sweet score. (Especially when you're not paying for the unit and, since they're custom molded to fit in your ears, won't have to return them.)

Not so, says CrunchGear's Mike Kobrin:

A couple of weeks later, I got the UE-11's, pictured above, in a nice custom metal case, complete with my initials on the inside of one of the earphones. I spent the next 45 minutes or so trying to insert the earphones, which are made of hard plastic -- no doubt to protect the $1150 worth of miniaturized electronics inside. By the time I was able to get them in, I was sweating, and they were far from comfortable. Actually, they gave me a headache within a few minutes, despite the incredibly glorious sound.

The AudioFile: My Violated Ears [CrunchGear]

• Text Aria – Opera Mini 4 Beta is out today. [Operamini.com]

• Dock Move – Nate True figures out a clever way to allow more than four homebrew iPhone apps to show up on the main screen. A little wonky, but neat. [Cre.ations.net]

• Noob Tubes – "The Firefly PCB was created so even the beginner to [DIY] tube amps can succeed." [MAKE!]

• Station to Station – Hyatt puts Tesla roadster recharging stations in 3 hotels [SFGate]

• You Can Go Your Own Way – NBC ends contract on shows with Apple's iTunes [Reuters via Gear Factor]

• Misty, 5-bit Color Memories – "reasonably complete archive of scans of old Australian Commodore and Amiga Review (back to the Commodore Review days, up to the Amiga Review days) and Professional Amiga User magazines." [Racevb6.com via How to Spot a Psychopath]

"Bendable Interior Objects," or BIO, are office products, designed by Swedish (duh) studio Form Us With Love, that are constructed almost entirely out of folded aluminum. While some of the products like the trash can come pre-assembled, several of the smaller items such as this desk set ship on a single sheet of aluminum.

You'll pay a stiff premium for clever design, though—the desk set is 33 Euro.

Catalog Page [Werf.se via Yanko]

From today's Amazon newsletter email.

P.S. What's the original reference of the "Irony, they thy name is" phrase? Too many lazy writers like myself have made it difficult to source in Google.

Using a mirror spinning at a ridiculous 20Hz—20 revolutions a second—researchers at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies have created a fully-functioning monochrome "holographic" display. While holographic displays are pretty common, most implementations don't allow true 360-degree walkarounds. This puppy does.

I was going to pooh-pooh the practicality of home implementations, but surrounding the spinning mirror with a protective bubble wouldn't be that impractical. Getting the overhead projector with beams in the image on the mirror into something more compact would likely be a bigger challenge.

However you slice it: very, very cool.

ICT Researchers Win "Best Emerging Technology" Award at SIGGRAPH 2007 [CGSociety.org via Geekologie via Technabob via Archipass via Swiss Miss via Core77 via Engadget]

Junk catalog Hammacher Schlemmer occasionally gets a winner—this new "Digital Video Rocket" by Estes may be one. While the capability isn't as good as one would hope—only 12 seconds of video or three VGA-quality pictures—it sounds like a lot of fun for a sunny afternoon.

It's $60 plus shipping from the Hammaschlem, plus rocket cost. ($10 for three.) I'd bet you could find this at your local hobby stores soon, too. They'd appreciate the business. And human contact.

Catalog Page [Hammacher.com via Coolest Gadgets via GetUSB.info]

Yamaha's upcoming "Tenori-On" sequencer looks terribly fun, the sort of thing you'd expect to see in software or in a research lab, not on the shelves. But the shelves are its destination, first in the U.K. for market testing. I can't seem to find a price.

A few people in the Gizmodo comments also are pointing out the Monome project, as well, which may have cooked up the idea first. The Monome collective will be releasing new devices of their own by mid-October, including a massive 256-button grid. (Here's a video of a Monome board.)

Frankly, I'd be happy with either!

Product Page [Yamaha.com]

Although it's not ready for the open market yet, Casio is showing off a prototype camera at this year's IFA trade show which can shoot six-megapixel images at 60 frames per second. To give you an idea of how fast this is compared to other cameras, the top-end Canon EOS-1D Mark III DSLR can only shoot at 10 frames per second (albeit at 10 megapixels).

Even kookier, this prototype Casio can shoot VGA-quality images at 300 frames per second. Why would you want to do that? Slow motion. And because, you know, why not?

Of course, the amount of memory it will take to shoot these sort of images will quickly limit practical use, but give everything a couple more years (2008 for the camera, at least) and you've got a little glimpse of the future.

Casio Digital Camera Could Take 60 FPS Images, 300 FPS Video [CrunchGear]
Press Release (Japanese) [Casio.co.jp]

Update: Changed title from "DSLR" to "Camera," after a commentor noted that it's probably not a DSLR, unless Casio has figured out how to flap the mirror 300 times per second. (Unlikely.)

It's only been around for a day, but our new "In the Year 2000" Flickr group is already up to almost 72 members. How rad is that? Uploads haven't come in hot and heavy yet—okay, we've just had one—but it's a winner: a triptych of images from one of my personal favorite futurist illustrators, Syd Mead. Nice catch, Octal Kahn!

Syd Mead Trio [Flickr]

I see very little detail, but can only infer from this video that the Sony "Rolly" is a tiny device that responds to music and moves around. (I also presume its name rhymes with "Sony," even though it is spelled like it should be pronounced like "Raleigh.")

Yes, it's a flash, moving tube with no discernable purpose. Sony's still got it! [via Engadget]

This isn't a direct gadgets post, but it doesn't take a engineer to make the connection: The strange pizza you see above are items removed from the gullet of a fledgling Laysan albatross, a rather large sea bird that had consumed over a half-pound of plastic. It is my understanding that most of the plastic that enters the sea actually does break down eventually, but it breaks down into tiny particles that become distributed throughout the ocean—not a true decomposition.

Consumer electronics contribute their fair share of plastics to the environment. Even worse, at the rate consumer electronics become obviated, there's no reason we couldn't use biodegradable plastics or more sustainable materials. (Or at least that's my working theory; part of my work over the foreseeable future will be discovering what's holding us back.)

Anyway, sorry to be such a downer this early in the morning, but ever since I read Susan Casey's piece "Plastic Ocean" in Best Life, it's sort of haunted me. There's got to be a way to create gadgets that can be completely recycled.

A Picture is Worth ... What's For Supper? [TreeHugger]

• Save up to $550 off Refurbished Core 2 Duo iMacs at Apple. These are the older models, but that's just fine. [Dealhack]

• Gateway Notebook w/Intel Celeron Processor 520 for $400. Nothing special about this machine at all besides the price. [Bargainist]

• Nokia 770 Internet Tablet for $134.98. This model has been supplanted by the 800, but it's still got a lot of tinker room. [TechBargains]

• Refurbished Humax TiVo 40-Hour DVD Recorder after $150 rebate. I'm not normally a rebate man, but that's a really decent TiVo + DVD system for $50. [Dealnews]

• Microsoft Labor Day Deal: 50% off four Xbox Live Arcade games. Zuma is actually really fun, and of course Dig Dug and Gauntlet are classics. [Dealnews]

From the manufacturer's website:

Syndecrete is a cementitious composite using natural minerals and recycled materials. It as a solid surfacing material that is less than half the weight and twice the compressive strength of ordinary concrete.

What that means for you and me is that Syndecrete—or more properly "syndeCRETE"—is available in a variety of colors and textures. It's sort of like a concrete Dairy Queen "Blizzard," except instead of a Heath Bars and coffee you get abalone, glass, or wood chips.

Lots more colors and information is available on the Syndecrete page.

Company Product Page [Syndecrete via Apartment Therapy]

First of all, thanks for all the kind words everyone has had for me over the last couple of days, both here on Boing Boing and privately. To err to the maudlin, I needed it.

We've still got some kinks in our system. Comment account integration between the main Boing Boing site and Gadgets is still screwy—making you have two separate accounts is not by design. We'll fix that. We are also still trying to figure out how best to integrate the content from Gadgets with the rest of the content. We'll get it all worked out, I'm sure, but in the meantime, patience is appreciated.

Fred N., Peter T., and Fernando A. all sent in favicons when they realized BBG didn't have one. Thanks to all of you! It should be filtering out now.

Besides that, it feels good to be back in the saddle, especially with so many good comments already starting to show up. And remember, if you'd like to contact me directly, my email is here.

A few people have said they're having some problems with line breaks in feed readers. We thought we had that fixed, so be sure to refresh your feed, but if it's still happening I'd appreciate it if you mentioned it.

Just like the rest of Fisher's "Space Pens," this model comes with a gas-pressurized cartridge which forces out the ink no matter at which angle you may be writing.

It doesn't even use normal ink, instead containing "thixotropic ink" which has a consistency similar to that of thick rubber cement.  The shearing action between the ink and writing ball briefly liquefies the ink allowing it to adhere to hard-to-write-on surfaces like metal and plastic -- or even wet surfaces.

That's not what makes this "Contractor Tool" model special—it's the case. Made of ABS plastic, it has a built-in level, reference angles and ruler, and a magnetic case that keeps it from getting away from you as you write lewd messages on a hunk of pig iron.

A Space Pen for the Handyman [Toolmonger]

Update: "Anonymous" adds this great anecdote:

The sample space pen I picked up at a trade show years ago contained an interesting tale. Apparently one night, as Paul Fisher worked on the project, his deceased father appeared to him in a dream, and told him the answer to a sticky technical problem. Paul went back to work armed with this solution... and soon found that it didn't work. Still, he kept trying, and eventually invented the space pen.

As I see it, this is instructive in two ways -- 1) Mystical shortcuts are no substitute for perseverance, and 2) Being dead doesn't automatically make you a genius.

And look! Paul's running for President!

Engadget HD went behind the scenes at a local television station that has recently upgraded all their hardware to support the creation of high-definition video streams. If you're a wires and sockets nerd, there's a lot to love, including lots of pictures like this one of shiny, expensive video routing hardware.

If you already work in video production it's probably nothing you haven't seen before, but for those of us on the emit side of the screen, it's a fun peek.

What it takes to produce an HD newscast [EngadgetHD.com]

The "Take Out" is a concept that replaces the drawers in a traditional chest-of-drawers with cases, the better to lug their contents around. While at first this may seem impractical for anyone other than globe-hopping super spies, the designer Klaus Aalto has pointed out how many things like tools and toys often need to be utilized one set at a time. On the other hand, you'd have to remove an entire case to rifle through it.

Project Page [SaumaDesign.net via Josh Spear]

Klipsch's new Duracellesque IMAGE Earphones claim to be the world's smallest and lightest in-ear headphones, which very well may be—the actual noise-making part of the headphones seem smaller than the silicone tips which keep them in the ear. They are cringingly expensive, however, at $350. I know headphones can get a lot more expensive than even that, but for something pitched to the iPod set it's difficult to think about taking something that misplace-able out in public.

Press Release [Klipsch via Uncrate]

I know we're all just getting to know each other here, so I thought this might help you get a better idea of my sensibilities. Created as a pilot for an online video competition, The Duncan Bros.'s Overdrift is the pinnacle in, well, all human endeavor, pretty much, synthesizing drift racing, archeology, dimensional travel, and dinosaurs.

While I'd like to say that if you don't enjoy Overdrift we'll never truly be able to be friends, I do have to admit that it helps to be familiar with the over-the-top enunciation and emoting of Asian action films and anime.

Duke out!

For my entire computing life, I've had an irrational hatred toward the Amiga. Not because there was anything wrong with them—in fact, I wanted one very badly—but because every time I'd go to buy a game for a crappy old 286 PC, the pictures on the box of the box would remind me of what sort of amazing graphics I wouldn't be getting.

Those tearful memories of silent ache inside a dusty Babbages washed over me again as I read this hilarious thread over at gaming forum NEOGaf, in which gamers posted screenshots of games that were ported to less-than-capable systems.

Above is the Capcom classic Street Fighter II, on the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum. So many enraptured British children loaded those onto their computers to be assaulted by a vomitous phantom of their longed-after game, bowed their tiny heads, and passed away.

Insanely Downgraded Ports Thread [NeoGaf via Game|Life]

This amazing, articulated Bumblebee model (from the Transformers movie) is hand-crafted entirely from cardboard and paper salvaged from Japanese fast-food containers.

BUMBLE BEE With PAPER [WonderDasher.blog.Sohu.com] (Thanks, Captain Marvel!)

Broadcasting your intention to handle dog excrement is frowned upon by many—ignoring the fact that you usually have a dog tied to your arm—but if you like to keep it sassy, the "S3 Lighted Pooper Scooper" may be your tool of choice. Resembling a whiffle bat, the S3 can be disassembled to reveal a scoop and a container in which to put the samples. But wait—and this really is the first time I've ever seen an infomercial on YouTube, but I suppose it was inevitable—there's more!

In the handle of the S3 is a flashlight, the better to spot canine IEDs before they are triggered. Only $25 plus shipping and handling!

Of course, if you don't line the inside of the recepticle with a plastic bag, you'll be walking around with a plastic container full of crap that you then have to wash out. And if you've already got a plastic bag...

S3 - The Light-up Pooper Scooper [Coolest-Gadgets via Gear Factor]