Hasta La Gadget!

Line up 24 cars in a desert, wind 1,000 feet of welding cable through them and throw one-hit-wonder Gary Numan into the mix and the result is a cool, fun video that turns all the cars into one big musical instrument.

Syyn Labs, a Los Angeles-based arts and technology collective, worked with Zoo Film to create the video as a commercial for DieHard, a maker of car batteries.

Over three days in the desert, a team of six engineers worked on 24 cars and removed the batteries from each. Instead, they connected them all together to a central computer and a keyboard. The horns inside the cars were removed and instead an MP3 player was used to tune it. The entire set-up was hooked to one DieHard battery.

As Numan hit each key on his keyboard, the software turned on the lights and sound for the corresponding car,  says Brent Bushnell, who works at the Labs. Since the stock car horns in each car couldn’t be tuned, the group inserted their own horns into each car. The horns were tuned using MP3 players. When Numan pressed a key, a signal was sent to a controlling computer which called on a relay to activate the horns and lights simultaneously.

“Everything in the car, the keyboard and the computer was powered using a single DieHard battery,” says Eric Gradman, one of the engineers who worked on the project. “Overall, we consumed just about 31.3 amphours.”

The Labs’ previous project was a Rube Goldberg machine whose action perfectly meshes with a song from pop band OK Go.

And if you are wondering what song the cars are blaring, it is Numan’s 1979 hit ‘Cars.’

Video: Syyn Labs

Driving in California could get a little more annoying in the coming days. The Legislature of the state that brought you Brody Jenner and Spencer Pratt is now considering a bill which would allow the beginning of research into electronic license plates for vehicles. The new-fangled plates would look just like regular ones when a vehicle was in motion, but would flash awesome advertisements and other messages when stopped for more than four seconds. One San Francisco based startup, Smart Plate, is already hard at work on developing just such a device, but they’re not in production yet. The measure is seen largely as a money making scheme for California, which — like nearly everywhere else in the world — is heavily in debt after several years of hard partying and irresponsible shopping trips. Parties interested in advertising on the plates would apparently contact the California DMV directly (then wait in line for 12 to 14 hours before submitting their preliminary application for ad space). If approved, the DMV will be required to submit its research and findings to the Legislature by January of 2013. Here’s to the future!

California considers electronic ads on license plates, we consider never moving there originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everyone knows you can use Mentos and Diet Coke to make fizzy fountains that shoot soda as much as 30 feet in the air. Now, two guys have harnessed that power for human transportation, with a rocket car powered by Mentos and Coke.

Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz are the guys behind the famous video of a Mentos-and-Diet Coke, Bellagio-style fountain, which they estimate has been seen by more than 120 million people. Four years later, they’re back with a rocket car powered by nothing but Mentos and Coke Zero. The video, which debuted this week, shows the duo’s efforts to set a land-speed and distance record for a vehicle powered by nothing but erupting, minty, fizzy soda.

The video was directed by Rob Cohen (director of The Fast and the Furious). Two dimensions not enough? There’s even a 3-D rocket car video you can watch on YouTube, if you have a pair of red-and-cyan 3-D glasses.

Wired sat down with Grobe and Voltz shortly after a recent performance at Maker Faire to find out how they built their 900-pound vehicle. It contains 108 2-liter bottles of Coke Zero, 648 Mentos, an elaborate-looking system of PVC pipes and pistons, and a complicated rig for dropping all those mint candies into all those bottles at the same time. In this exclusive Wired.com video, the duo explain how they made the magic happen.

As for the switch from Diet Coke to Coke Zero? The two explained that Coke, which is one of their sponsors, wanted to tout the newer diet soda instead of the old one. In fact, almost any kind of soda works, though they say diet sodas work a bit better. The one thing to keep in mind: You want warm soda for the maximum effect; a Coke right out of the fridge won’t fizz nearly enough.

These guys should know: Since their 2006 video launched, Grobe and Voltz have managed to make a living staging Mentos-and-Coke performances and other events.

For more Mentos-and-Coke videos, including outtakes from the filming of the latest video, check out the pair’s website, Eepybird.com.

Video: Wired.com. Produced by Annaliza Savage, camera by Michael Lennon, edited by Fernando Cardoso.

In a move that could shape the mobile landscape — or simply suck down cash, of course — General Motors just revealed that Google was its mysterious infotainment partner. In the final hours before Google I/O, we sat down with GM VP Nick Pudar to tell us what the future thus holds for OnStar. As we saw in January, GM’s already developing smartphone apps for the Chevy Volt on iPhone, Blackberry and Android that will let you remotely lock doors, honk the horn, check tire pressure and more…. But sometime after the Volt launches, Google Maps Navigation will be integrated into the smartphone app, and we got a hands-on tour. Check out the new interface and hear about GM’s strategy after the break.

Continue reading Google partnership has GM OnStar exploring Maps, open APIs and more

Google partnership has GM OnStar exploring Maps, open APIs and more originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s rush hour, and you’re headed due West on your evening commute — the sun burning holes in your eyes. You could flip down a window visor, trading your field of view for visibility. Or, with a prototype shown off at Intel’s 2010 International Science and Engineering Fair, you could simply let the windshield darken on its own. Two San Diego students (both accustomed to copious amounts of sunshine) rigged a Toyota Prius to do just that by stringing up electrochromic panels, which dim when voltage is applied. The trick is figuring out when and where to apply it, because when the sun is shining the panels themselves all receive the same amount of light. So instead of gauging it at the glass, Aaron Schild and Rafael Cosman found that an ultrasonic range finder could track the driver’s position while a VGA webcam measured the light coming through, and darken the sections liable to cause the most eyestrain. We saw a prototype in person, and it most certainly works… albeit slowly. If you’re rearing to roll your own, it seems raw materials are reasonably affordable — Schild told us electrochromic segments cost $0.25 per square inch — but you may not need to DIY. Having won $4,000 in prize money at the Fair, the teens say they intend to commercialize the technology, and envision it natively embedded in window glass in the not-too-distant future. Here’s hoping GM gives them a call. See pics of the Prius below, or check out a video demo of their prototype right after the break.

Continue reading Auto-dimming electrochromic panels reduce glare when driving (video)

Auto-dimming electrochromic panels reduce glare when driving (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 12:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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