On the Edge of Blade Runner

Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron Battle Head to Head

From Tomshardware:

The Woodcrest platform performed very well, exceeding our initial expectations. It is the fastest in all of the tests and completely dominates our benchmarks. The new Xeon 5100 series helps Intel to get back on track, providing class-leading server/workstation processors. The now older 5000-series (Dempsey) Xeon, based on the Netburst architecture, is often last in the competition and merely serves as a point of reference in our tests.

Intel has retaken the throne from AMD in the server/workstation sector and sent AMD back to the drawing board. Next month Intel will release the quad core Clovertown CPU with 2 combined Woodcrest cores. AMD is ready for this threat with the introduction of their X4 Opteron, which is reported to have a L3 cache. Servers will benefit more from these quad core processors than desktop users due to the limited deployment of multithreaded-capable applications in the desktop sector in comparison to the server sector.

In mid-2007 AMD is expected to answer Intel's new threat with a line of faster Opterons utilizing the new Socket F, as well as support for DDR2 memory. Whether or not this will be enough to regain the performance lead has yet to be seen, but with no major architectural changes, it is expected that Intel will still retain the overall better performance per watt status.

In all, both platforms perform quite well, but the nod goes to the Xeon 5100 series for its superior performance and greater efficiency.

Carmack's rocket crashes in desert

From ArsTechnica:

After SpaceShipOne took home the X-Prize in 2004, the X-Prize Cup became an annual event. This year, there was only one entry in the Lunar Lander Challenge: John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace, which fielded a pair of rockets named Pixel and Texel. Unfortunately, Pixel crashed and Texel didn't fly.

The Challenge requires a rocket to lift off carrying a small payload, climb to least 50m, then descend vertically onto another pad 100m away. To win the challenge, the rocket must then fly back to the original pad.

Carmack's team did some impressive engineering work with their rockets, which were able to lift off and fly. Landing, on the other hand, was tricky. At the end of the 100m flight, "We managed to set it down on the pad, but when it landed, all for landing legs broke off," wrote John Carmack on the company web site. "I was preparing to fly it back 'on bloody stumps,' but we also cooked the drive and feedback cables on one of the gimbal actuators, so we couldn't make the return flight."

After ripping the legs from Texel, Pixel was ready to fly again. The next day it was launched again, but only got two legs on the landing pad this time, and it tipped over again. The team patched up another broken leg and launched the vehicle a final time, hoping to complete at least one of the official requirements and win some prize money.

It didn't happen. Just after launch, the vehicle began to tip and spin, then exceeded the automatic safety thresholds for tilt. The computer automatically shut down the engine, and the rocket lurched off the side of the pad, where it seemed to be "down for the count."

While Carmack and team were understandably frustrated, they're already pledging to be back next year. A recent sponsorship deal with NVIDIA should ensure that the cash keeps coming in, and the Armadillo team also learned that Pixel was just "mostly dead" and might live to fly another day. "We are going to take a little break to recuperate and catch up on our other responsibilities," said Carmack, "then get back at it to nail all the known issues and proceed on to bigger and better things."

While the attempt ended in "failure," it did demonstrate that a team with limited funding could do some nifty engineering and could actually produce a working VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) rocket without the backing of any major space agency. Here's hoping that next year's X-Prize Cup is even more exciting.

T-Mobile Launches WiFi-Cellular Service

From GigaOm:

Looks like T-Mobile quietly launched its dual WiFi/cellular phone service called “T-Mobile Hotspot @ Home” yesterday in Seattle1. Potential customers can sign up for the service at www.theonlyphoneyouneed.com2. The T-Mobile service is based on Unlicensed Mobile Access, UMA, which is a big boost for the standard, and will work over the two launch handsets the Nokia 6136 and Samsung T7093. We previously wrote about T-Mobile’s UMA plans, and had been expecting the service last month4.

Who's got the best seat in the digital living room?

Media overload: The following table lists features available for the most popular digital media systems that are intended for use in the living room and offer TV capabilities. A a green check mark means the feature is available by default; a red X means the feature is completely unavailable; the circle icon indicates the feature may be available but requires additional hardware or an unsupported hack. For more details, see "Who's got the best seat in the digital living room?"

From ZDnet:

"A lot of hardware and software companies, including Microsoft, are betting big bucks that they can take over the living room and be your hub for digital media. So who are the contenders? I've been looking at the digital media landscape for the past year and have narrowed the list to a handful of big players.

The options I've chosen to highlight in the accompanying feature table are all built around the television set and digital video recorder (DVR) capabilities. The high end includes support for high-definition TV.

This isn't a complete survey by any means. If you just want to add digital music playback capabilities to the audio receiver in your living room, you have other options that I don't discuss here. You can pick up a docking station for your iPod and plug it into the receiver, or use a box like the Squeezebox or D-Link MediaLounge to stream media files from a networked computer. And I deliberately left out some contenders, most notably ReplayTV and Dish Network.

In this post, I'm not considering anything but features. Part 2 in this series will look more closely at costs, which can be substantial. Part 3 will look at some of the intangible issues, including setup, ease of use, expandability, and reliability.

With those caveats out of the way, here's a rundown on the contenders who want to be the hub of digital media in your living room:


Cable company DVRs. These days, every cable company has some sort of digital video recorder. The cable company has some overwhelming advantages, including the ability to deliver a full range of HDTV channels, relatively easy setup, low cost (typically a monthly rental fee and no upfront charge), and low barriers to entry.

TiVo. The introduction of the CableCard-equipped, HD-ready TiVo Series 3 has breathed new life into the one-time leader in DVR technology. Unfortunately, many of the most interesting features from the Series 2 aren't available in the new model, including support for digital music and the ability to record a program on one DVR and play it back in another room.

MythTV. This is the open-source PC solution, which runs on Linux and Mac OS X boxes but not on Windows. It does nearly everything you could want in a digital media hub, but it is not for the faint of heart.

Beyond TV. The best-known third-party alternative to Microsoft's Media Center runs on Windows and has most of its feature set. It's been continually updated and is now up to version 4.4.

Sage TV. Doesn't get the publicity of the other entrants here, but is intriguing for two reasons. First, it's available in Windows and Linux versions. Second, it supports the MediaMVP extender from Hauppauge, which allows you to stream recorded TV to a TV in another room.

Media Center. Microsoft's full-featured digital media solution has been under continual development and improvement since 2002. Windows Vista Media Center has been certified for use with CableCard technology and is also reportedly working with DirecTV on add-in hardware, which will make it the first PC-based solution to offer support for premium HDTV channels. If you have a networked Xbox 360 in the living room (or anywhere else in the house), you can control the Media Center interface and play back any content stored on that PC.

Apple iTV. Apple's official announcement for this upcoming product was literally a few words in a press release about iTunes 7. (I wrote about this technology based on a few third-party reports.) The data in the feature table here is based on those preliminary reports and is subject to change.

The biggest dividing line between the technologies I've listed here is support for premium HDTV channels. Most of the PC-based products can decode over-the-air (OTA) digital channels if you have the right hardware. But the bar is much higher for cable and satellite HDTV. The cable and satellite companies have a built-in edge in that regard; TiVo (with its Series 3) and Microsoft (with its upcoming Vista Media Center) have run the CableLabs gauntlet and earned certification for their hardware.

The other big dividing line between the solutions I've listed here is in offering a unified interface for all types of digital media, including music, video, and photos. As I mentioned earlier, you can use third-party products in an existing living room AV setup to add digital music playback capabilities, but you pay a price in complexity.

Based on the unbroken line of green checkmarks next to its name, it's clear that Microsoft has decided to make its Vista Media Center the ultimate digital media hub. But having a long checklist of features is just the first step. In parts 2 and 3, I'll look at the fixed and monthly costs of all these solutions and at how likely they are to appeal to digital media enthusiasts."

Chicago Spreads Welcome Mat For Citywide Wi-Fi

From Netstumbler:

The city of Chicago is calling for proposals to build a WiFi network that could cover at least 90 percent of the city and provide free or low-cost Internet connection. The network should deliver a speed of no less than one 1 Mbps. Aside from fully financing and owning the network, the contract winner will also be in charge of maintenance and technical upgrades. For its part, the city would give the network nonexclusive access to essential infrastructure, such as street light poles.

Digg Does The Acquisition Dance With News Corp.

From Techcrunch:

San Francisco-based startup Digg has been in recent acquisition discussions with a number of companies, including News Corp., according to multiple sources close to the negotiations. However, the company was unable to land an offer in the price range they’re looking for - at least $150 million - and will likely close a Series B round of financing instead.

It appears that rumors of the upcoming financing led News Corp. and possibly others to initiate acquisition discussions with Digg, and the discussions were subsequently opened up to other interested parties as well. No formal written offers for Digg were tabled, sources say, because Digg’s minimum sell price was at least $150 million.

One point of controversy was around Digg’s claim of 20 million unique monthly visitors and steep monthly growth, whereas the Comscore’s most recent September report shows only 1.3 million monthly unique visitors and flat growth since April (see chart below). Comscore is notoriously flaky, and these numbers are for U.S. households only. Comscore is almost certainly significantly under-reporting Digg traffic.If a firm offer isn’t made in the next week or so north of $150 million, look for Digg to close a $5+ million second round of financing later this year, possibly with Greylock Partners. Greylock is already an investor in Digg, leading their $2.8 million Series A round in October 2005 (Omidyar Network and several angel investors also participated in the round).

DirectX 10 GeForce 8800, coming November 8th

From Tomshardware:

Nvidia CEO Huang Jen-hsun is in Taiwan to make sure that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will have sufficient capacity for the production of Nvidia's GeForce 8800 (codenamed G80), reportedly the world's first graphics chip that supports DirectX 10, according to sources with Taiwan's graphics card makers. With GeForce 8800 expected to be unveiled in November, Huang wanted to make sure that production of the graphics chip will not be affected by competitor ATI's bookings for TSMC's 80nm capacity, the sources claimed.

From The Inquirer:

G80, GEFORCE 8800 GTX and GTS are old news now. We learned all about the cards including the fact that it has around 700 million transistors, that, as we said many moons before, it is based on 90 nanometre process and has dual power plugs.

The G80 chip needs a lot of power and is the biggest desktop graphics chip so far. I think the image from toms hardware Italy speaks for itself above.

Another thing that we learned is that Nvidia uses a new SLI. We saw it here originally spotted at nvnews.net. The new SLI is dual rail stuff. It is ironic that ATI was the first to introduce such a connector that will let you have read and writes performed at the same time.

As for the rest, no one yet knows how many real pipelines this card has but you can rely on the 1.5GHz scalable clock rates. This doesn’t mean much to us as in theory this card is super fast but we will be anxious to see it in action.

G80, Geforce 8800 GTX and GTS are two biggest graphic cards ever and here is the link for the retail Asus card. Samples should be distributed this week and some lucky chaps got the cards back at Nvidia's editor's dates. µ

AMD's "Fusion" processor to merge CPU and GPU

From Tomshardware:

AMD today announced that it has completed the acquisition of graphics chip developer ATI. The company does not waste any time to make use of the acquired knowledge: In 2007, AMD will be upgrading its mobile platform and offer a Centrino-like platform as well as integrated solutions for commercial and media systems. And there will be a processor with built-in graphics.

800 MPH: Fossett Aims for Land Speed Record

From Edmunds:

DENVER — Steve Fossett, the adventurer known for his record-setting sailboating and solo ballooning exploits, said his next big challenge is to break the land speed record.

The car Fossett will use is a dart-shaped, 47-foot-long, 9000-pound vehicle that looks like a jet airplane without the wings. The car's jet engine is taken from an Air Force F-4 Phantom fighter. The attempt to break the land speed record will be based in Reno, Nevada, with record attempts scheduled from July through October. Fossett said he is seeking a title sponsor and is arranging television documentary and publishing rights.

"This is surely the most dramatic of all world records, the oldest and most famous record in world motorsport," Fossett said in a news release. "I am very, very excited by the opportunity to meet this challenge — to drive through the speed of sound and reach 800 mph. This is a great goal — and we have the car to achieve it."

What this means to you: Everyone wants to be number one. Record-breaking attempts like this tend to inspire the imagination and grow the next generation of trailblazers.

Baldwin-Motion, Lingenfelter Team up on New Powerplant

From Jalopnik:

What happens when you match up the displacement freaks at Baldwin-Motion with the turbo- and supercharger-drunk labcoats at Lingenfelter? We're not exactly sure, but apparently you get something like the new Lingenfelter/Motion Big-Block. Tech specs will be released at the SEMA show in a week or so, but we know the powerplant will be used as fire for Baldwin's pricey SS-427, Phase III 540 and Super Series Camaro replicas. We also know it's a 540 ci. monster producing 660 hp and 640 ft. lbs. torque (on 93 octane, natch). Other than that, it's all about as clear as 10W-40.

60 Minutes on the Lamborghini Countach

Zune Offers Credits for “Shared” Songs

From TechCrunch:

The Zune mystery thickens. Our CrunchGear rumorists have discovered that when you share a song via Wi-Fi using Zune’s three day/three play system AND the other party purchases the song later in the iZunes Music Store (IZMS), you get a credit that you can later trade in for music and media. Very clever, Microsoft, very clever.

Clearly the goal here is to create a bit of viral marketing for music and, as an added bonus, drive sales on the IZMS. As we look into the Zune more closely, it seems the MS team might have just hit on the iPod killing factors that most MP3 players have been missing thus far, although we’re still fairly excited about the touchscreen iPod rumored for this year. Perhaps a Zune/TouchPod ThunderDome is in order, with the Zune flinging DRMed pig waste at the iPod while Steve Jobs and Bill Gates act as Master and Blaster, respectively. Melinda can be Aunt Entity.

Less than three, Meet me here on IRC, LOLOL??? WTF

Build Your Own Google-Powered Search Engine

From Slashdot:

"Google has unveiled a free program called Google Customized Search Engine that lets users tailor a search index to their content specifications, InfoWorld reports. You can select keywords for the index, as well as which Web sites will be included or excluded in the search. You also may customize the look and feel of the engine. The trade-off? When you implement the index on your Web site or blog, it will be populated with Google text ads via Google's lucrative AdSense Program. On the plus side, you do get paid for click-throughs."

Network Neutrality Debate: It's All Relative

From Techdirt:

It seems like the whole "network neutrality" debate is back for another round... and just like last time we're seeing a lot of arguments that seem to be talking past one another, while filling in the cracks with dishonest points, rather than trying to figure out the core of why there's disagreement and seeing if there's some sort of middle ground. While I've been accused of supporting both the telcos and the big internet companies' side of this debate, the truth is I support neither, and believe that there really are more than two sides. In fact, I think it's really just a case where there's not nearly enough competition in the marketplace. If there were, than no broadband provider would even dare to suggest a non-neutral network, or it would lose a lot of business pretty quickly. At the same time, I'm skeptical that any legislative approach to enforcing "neutrality" will work -- and in the long run will most likely create a series of loopholes or a setup that will allow the dominant providers a way to game the system to their advantage.

Larry Lessig recently wrote an op ed piece for the Financial Times talking about the importance in broadband competition and how it's been weakened in the US. Scott Cleland, who has been one of the loudest "think tankers" arguing against network neutrality, responded by challenging a bunch of facts in Lessig's piece. Lessig then responded himself, pointing out that the Cleland's attempt at refuting Lessig's points did no such thing. You can read the whole debate yourself to see where you come out on it, but there are a few points that deserve to be highlighted. First, Cleland pulls out stats about broadband competition saying that price has been decreasing, even though that's not really true. It's mostly stayed steady, once you take out special promotional pricing and the cost of various "bundles" you're forced to sign up for to get the cheaper pricing. Lessig also points out that on a dollars per bandwidth measurement, prices have gone up. In other words, it all depends on how you set your scale.

The same is true of Cleland's argument about how much more broadband we have in the US than we had a few years ago. He trots out the discredited FCC numbers, while Lessig again points out that his scale is wrong. He's doing a then and now comparison within the US, rather than comparing US broadband change to other nations around the world, where we've fallen increasingly behind. As I've said in the past, it may not be the worst thing to fall behind somewhat, if others are making big bets that will later turn out to be mistakes -- but it is still interesting to see a second situation where the debate hinges on both sides using a different scale. Finally, pulls out the completely bogus argument that we thought had died that breaking net neutrality is nothing new because it's exactly what companies like Akamai have always done. The trick here is more subtle, but no less wrong. Akamai doesn't break net neutrality because it provides a premium access path for everyone -- not just customers of a specific ISP. It continues the end-to-end approach of the internet by allowing a company to create better speeds for anyone who wants their content. The telcos aren't trying to do that. They're trying to create special pipes that will force content and service providers just to reach their customers. It's very much a case of what Lessig later points to in the form of a post from Brian Wills saying that the net neutrality debate is similar to if electricity companies tried to charge a premium for what you used the electricity for -- rather than just the amount of electricity. Now, you can argue that's perfectly reasonable, but it's not the way the debate has mostly been portrayed up until now. Supporters of the telcos have argued that net neutrality would ban them from charging more for general bandwidth, which isn't the case at all.

MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo Is Here

Just like that, and without fanfare, Apple dropped MacBook Pros with Core 2 Duo processors today. A lot of people have been waiting for these lovelies to come out, and they don't disappoint, offering a 39 percent speed boost double memory and a FireWire 800 port in the same one-inch shell.

There are two 15-inch models that are available today weighing-in at 5.6 lbs. One is a 2.16 GHz and sells for $1,999, then there is a 2.33 GHz for $2,499. The 17-inch MacBook Pro (6.8 lbs) is available starting next week for $2,799.

The highlights:
* Clock Speed up to 2.33 GHz
* 7x faster than the PowerMac G4 notebooks released one year ago
* Hard drive starts at 120GB — this is where the current MacBooks top out — and is configurable for up to 200GB

Battery life is the same on the 17-inch model, but the 15-incher takes a slight hit (shaving 30 minutes off of your wireless productivity versus the current models).

What took them so long? Just interviewed an Apple exec who responded: "Our last updates were less than six months ago." Dude, that's centuries in laptop time.

The 2.16 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

-- 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
-- 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
-- 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 3GB;
-- 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion
Sensor;
-- a slot-load 6x SuperDrive(TM) with double-layer support (DVD+R
DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
-- PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
-- DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
-- built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
­­-- built-in iSight video camera;
-- Gigabit Ethernet port;
-- built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
-- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
-- two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
-- one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical
digital audio;
-- Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
-- the infrared Apple Remote; and
-- 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.33 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

-- 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
-- 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2Duo processor;
-- 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 3GB;
-- 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion
Sensor;
-- a slot-load 6x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD+/-RW/
CD-RW) optical drive;
-- PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
-- DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
-- built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
-- built-in iSight video camera;
-- Gigabit Ethernet port;
-- built-in Airport Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
-- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
-- two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
-- one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical
digital audio;
-- Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
-- the infrared Apple Remote; and
-- 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.33 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:
-- 17-inch widescreen 1680 x 1050 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
-- 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
-- 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 3GB;
-- 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion
Sensor;
-- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD+/-RW/
CD-RW) optical drive;
-- PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
-- DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
-- built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
-- built-in iSight video camera;
-- Gigabit Ethernet port;
-- built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
-- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
-- three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
-- one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical
digital audio;
-- Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor;
-- the infrared Apple Remote; and
-- 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

787 full-scale static test facility takes shape

When complete, the 787 static test facility will surround a structurally complete 787 airframe, as depicted in the above artist’s rendering. The purpose of the test is to validate the static strength of the 787 by applying external loads to the 787 airframe using 160 computer-controlled hydraulic actuators.

Online downloadable movies

Firefox 2.0 hits the Web

From Tomshardware:

Chicago (IL) - Following on the heels of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla has released version 2.0 of its web browser. The software was released unofficially on Monday, a few days short of the browser's second birthday and a download count that is closing in on 250 million.

Firefox 2.0 brings a range of improvements over version 1.5, which are a sign that browser has grown up into a mature product that can look beyond its current 10% or so market share. The development team has kept the general appeal of the interface, but has fine-tuned many features that are visible to the user. For example, tabs are easier to manage: By default, Firefox now opens links in new tabs instead of new windows, and each tab carries a 'close tab' button. There is also a history menu that keeps a list of recently closed tabs, and a shortcut lets users quickly re-open an accidentally closed tab.

TWiT in on the way out?

Here’s a comment left by Leo himself in the news entry on twit.tv:

It’s not I who want to take a break. I’m here every week ready to record, edit, and post a show. I gladly put in more time on the show than all the other TWiTs put together, but if the other TWiTs decide not to show there’s not much I can do about it.

At this point I have a couple of choices. I could re-cast the show with people who will actually show up, but is it a TWiT without Patrick and John?

Or I could put TWiT to rest and come up with something to replace it. Neither choice is desirable, especially since we have a sponsor who is paying to be on this show in particular, but frankly it’s more than I can handle trying to keep this cast together.

As I said, I’m going to defer a decision until I come back fromt the cruise.

– Leo Laporte, Chief TWiT

Supposedly they are working on a new site, UndoTV.

Save TWiT!!!

Video - Top Ten Funniest Family Guy Moments

Borat and Conan O'Brian

AOL to offer downloads for movie, TV shows

From Yahoo news:

NEW YORK - Movies and television shows from Paramount Pictures will be available for sale through AOL's new video portal under a deal announced Monday.

Classics such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Chinatown" and newer releases like "Mission: Impossible III" will be sold for $9.99 to $19.99 each, comparable to fees at online services CinemaNow, MovieLink and Guba as well as sites operated by MySpace-owner News Corp.

Consumers will own the movies and can transfer them to as many as three other computers or portable devices that support Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player technology.

The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time.

From Seanbaby.com:

20: Extreme Sports With the Berenstein Bears
19: Bible Adventures
18: Kriss Kross: Make My Video
17: Bubsy 3D
16: Bad Street Brawler
15: Total Recall
14: Rapjam Volume One
13: AIRCARS
12: Night Trap
11: Heroes of the Lance
10: Revolution X
9: Custer's Revenge
8: White Men Can't Jump
7: Superman 64
6: Legend of Zelda: Wand of Gamelon
5: Virtuoso
4: Captain Novolin
3: Fight For Life
2: Club Drive
1: E.T. The Extraterrestrial

Rockets, space elevators aim at X Prize Cup

From Cnet:

The Rocket Racing League unveiled Friday its new Mark-1 X-Racer named Thunderhawk, a moniker that was chosen from a 1,000-entry contest sponsored by AOL. The X-Racer will be the de facto vehicle competing in the league's new NASCAR-inspired rocket-racing events, scheduled to tour around the country beginning next year. So far, the RRL has one official team, the "Leading Edge," but it plans to have several teams in place when the games begin.

The X-Racer is 20 feet long, 8 feet tall and weighs 3,000 pounds. It has a LOX/kerosene propulsion system with maximum speeds of 320 mph. It lands horizontally.

Dag "Dagger" Grantham, the chief operating officer of the Leading Edge, said that, all in all, it will cost the team between $3 million and $5 million to operate over the next three years, in addition to the $1.2 million price tag for the X-Racer and ground support. But Grantham is busy looking for title sponsors. If NASCAR is any indication, the team shouldn't have a problem.

Credit: Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com

Video: Amazing Russian aircraft moves

F-22 Video

3D 4-cylinder engine animation