Life-sized Titanfall Mech Surfaces in Germany

If you find yourself near the Berlin Central Station today, you may have noticed a gigantic robot there before you decided to run for your life and hide in some corner. Nothing to fear. It’s just Betty the Titan, and this is just one stop on a four stop tour around Germany to promote Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall in a big way.
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Believe it or not Respawn and EA have been moving this and one other Titanfall prop all around the world. So far Betty has made appearances at Gamescom, GDC, E3, and a couple of other venues. Both Titans were created to represent the true scale of the mech compared to puny humans and they do that well. They would be amazing to see in person.

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The Titans were created by Daniel’s Wood Land, based out of Paso Robles, CA. They are made almost completely out of foam, which is carved using 3D carving machines, then painted and sealed. So they aren’t as hard to move around as you would think. One day soon maybe we have have real mechs this size to crush us and kill us.

[via Geek]

Berlin Can't Finish Its Reunification Memorial On Time Because of Bats

Berlin Can't Finish Its Reunification Memorial On Time Because of Bats

It took Berliners years to agree upon a design for a memorial to the reunification of East and West—but now that the project is underway, an unexpected hurdle is slowing it down: Bats. Lots of them.

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Germany Is Relocating Entire Towns To Dig Up More Sweet, Sweet Coal

Germany Is Relocating Entire Towns To Dig Up More Sweet, Sweet Coal

Most of us think of Germany as one of the most energy-progressive countries in the world. But in recent years, it’s also increased its dependence on a form of energy that’s anything but clean: coal. And it’s demolishing or relocating entire towns to get at it.

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Moby wants you to join his perpetual pool party in Los Angeles, and a group of scientists wants Chin

Moby wants you to join his perpetual pool party in Los Angeles, and a group of scientists wants China to use "spatial economics" to design more walkable cities. Plus: informal transit in Nairobi, a failed utopia in California, radical ideas for the Vegas of 2034, and a significant prehistoric site that’s currently being uncovered in downtown Miami. Check out this week’s Urban Reads.

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This Abandoned Nazi Bunker Just Reopened As a Clean Energy Plant

This Abandoned Nazi Bunker Just Reopened As a Clean Energy Plant

The last time Hamburg’s hulking air raid bunker saw use, it was 1945—and locals were taking cover from Allied bombs inside its six-foot-thick concrete walls. That was almost 70 years ago. This year, the bunker is serving a new purpose: Supplying the city with renewable energy.

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Behold One of the Biggest Controlled Skyscraper Implosions Ever

It took more than 2,000 pounds of explosives to bring down this 32-story tower in Frankfurt yesterday—roughly the same amount as a Mark 84 bomb. Thankfully, since we live in the age of YouTube, there are plenty of astounding videos of the demo.

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5 of the Worst Traffic Jams in History

5 of the Worst Traffic Jams in History

When not being used for poorly thought-out political revenge, traffic jams are making the lives of commuters suck on a daily basis. But sometimes, bad traffic can get spectacularly bad—even worse than fake traffic study bad. In honor of those times, we’ve collected some of the worst traffic jams in history.

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Gigaset gets into Android tablets with two models, including a Tegra 4 flagship

Gigaset QV830 and QV1030 tablets

You likely won’t know Germany’s Gigaset unless you’ve bought one of its cordless phones, but you may want to take notice now that the company is launching its first tablets. Both the 8-inch QV830 and 10-inch QV1030 have relatively upscale aluminum shells and run stock Android 4.2, all the while targeting very different audiences. The QV1030 is the high-speed flagship with a 1.8GHz quad-core Tegra 4 processor, a 2,560 x 1,600 display, 16GB of expandable storage and both 8-megapixel rear as well as 1.2-megapixel front cameras. The QV830 aims at a more frugal crowd with its 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek chip, 1,024 x 768 screen, 8GB of expandable storage, 5-megapixel rear camera and 1.2-megapixel front shooter. Both slates should reach Germany in early December, starting at €199 ($271) for the QV830 and jumping to €369 ($502) for the QV1030. There’s no word of an American launch, although we’re not counting on it when Gigaset doesn’t have much of a footprint in the US.

[Thanks, Martino]

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Via: Tabletsmagazine.nl (translated)

Source: Gigaset (1), (2), GlobeNewswire

German court says Wikimedia is liable for article contents after they’re published (updated)

Wikipedia logo

The Wikimedia Foundation positions Wikipedia as a hub for unfettered knowledge, but it’s now obligated to police that content in the wake of a newly published German ruling. Stuttgart’s Higher Regional Court has determined that the organization is liable for Wikipedia articles. While Wikimedia won’t have to screen content, it will have to verify any disputed passages and remove them if they’re known to be false. The court isn’t telling Wikimedia how to handle this verification, although the legal presumption of innocence will still apply. We’re not expecting a chilling effect on Wikipedia given that takedowns will only be necessary in a handful of circumstances. However, it gives Wikimedia’s moderators an extra level of responsibility — they’ll now have to pull some content quickly to minimize the chances of lawsuits.

Updated: Wikimedia has clarified the ruling. The court sees Wikimedia as a service provider that, on a basic level, isn’t liable for content. However, the site will only maintain its immunity so long as it pulls any content that allegedly violates German laws. If it declines, it risks opening itself to legal action.

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Via: PCWorld

Source: Juris.de (translated)

Turtle with Amputated Leg Gets Some Help from a LEGO Wheel

Schildi was a pet turtle living in Germany, presumably leading a happy life, gnawing on greens and taking forever to get anywhere as turtles do, but when he was abandoned, he lost a leg somehow. Luckily for Schildi, he was rescued, and vets were able to amputate his mangled limb. They replaced it with mankind’s solution for all things: LEGO.
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Yes, this turtle now has a LEGO wheel in place of its front right leg. Because let’s face it, a shopping cart wheel just would have been annoying on everyone’s ears. The doctor used a special surgical glue to stick the base block underneath Schildi and then superglue to connect the corners of the block:

“After that we could add blocks to achieve the correct height,” he said. And now the single wheel has proven to be successful, Schildi has been taken back to the animal shelter. “We will see him again once in a while for check-ups,” Azmanis said. “If he gets a ‘flat tyre’ it will be a simple matter to replace the wheel. They move around quite a lot so I’d expect to see him for a new wheel about once a year.”

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They should have put a LEGO castle on his back while they were at it. That would be awesome.

[The Local via Gizmodo via Geekologie]