Hasta La Gadget!

Forget robotic drones; Honda’s new lawnmower can turn a dreary task into an X Games sport. Honda aptly calls it the Mean Mower and claims it can reach speeds up to 130MPH and can go from 0 to 60MPH in just four seconds. For a lawnmower to reach those staggering numbers, the company’s UK arm reached out to Team Dynamics, its British Touring Car Championship partner. They redesigned one of the company’s machines, equipped it with a motorcycle engine to make it more powerful and replaced some of its parts with fiberglass to shave off some of its weight. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you can cut grass while speeding and drifting like Vin Diesel — its cutting cables only work if you slow it down to 15MPH. No word yet on whether the Mean Mower will hit the market, but speed devils can live their Fast and Furious lawnmowing dreams vicariously through the driver in the clip below.

Filed under: Misc, Alt

Comments

Via: WSJ

Source: Honda UK

It may be the US government generating the most PRISM-related headlines, but the UK authorities have found themselves in plenty of hot water as well. If you were one of her privacy-concerned citizens hoping to see someone at the Government Communications Headquarter (GCHQ) get their comeuppance, then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament has found that the GCHQ was within its legal powers to collect data on citizens. In particular, the committee cited the Intelligence Services Act of 1994 as giving the authority to do so to the GCHQ. This is far from the end of this saga, but for Brits hoping there would be quick legal retribution for those who unceremoniously listened in on your personal communications, it’s a sad day indeed.

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Source: BBC

While Americans have seen a few driverless cars on the open road, their British counterparts have had to settle for demos on private circuits. They’ll get a better glimpse soon, though, as the UK Department for Transport now expects tests on public streets by the end of 2013. The initial trial runs will be gentle — Oxford University’s Nissan Leaf-based RobotCars will drive only on lightly trafficked roads, with humans tagging along in the event of a crisis. We haven’t yet seen a timetable for more aggressive experiments, but we’re not exactly in a hurry to compete with early autonomous cars during rush hour.

[Image credit: Oxford University]

Filed under: Robots, Transportation

Comments

Via: BBC

Source: Gov.uk

Not that they weren’t pretty excellent already, but some major BBC channels are due to get 1080-line upgrades by early next year. UK viewers will get five new channels in total, with no need for any subscriptions (courtesy of Freeview HD, YouView and Freesat), including BBC News HD, BBC Three HD, BBC Four HD, CBeebies HD and CBBC HD (so long as Mr Tumble can fix his make-up). The programming will match the standard-def counterparts and contribute a promised 250 hours of extra HD content per week. There’s also talk of broadcasting regional programs and variants in HD, although that proposal still has to be approved by the BBC Trust and could be a bit further off.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Comments

It’s no secret that some British residents want an active-by-default internet filter to keep kids away from salacious content. However, the BBC now claims that the UK government wants to falsely imply that this filter already exists. According to a reportedly leaked letter, the Department of Education is asking internet providers to refer to their filters as “default on” without changing what’s ultimately a voluntary system. As you’d imagine, the companies are supposedly quite unhappy: ISP sources believe the phrasing would mislead customers and encourage complacency. Officials have declined to comment on the demands, but we may know the truth soon enough as the Department of Education’s letter says an announcement could come “shortly.”

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Via: Jack Schofield (Twitter)

Source: BBC