Most people who rent out apartments don’t have much to say about their residence. With apartments, you simply pay your rent and hope that your pipes don’t bust or your air conditioning goes out. Just imagine that if you lived at the top of a 80 story building, not only that but if the building moved by rotation. In this article from the BBC, we find out there is one such building in the works.

The Dynamic Tower has been known about for sometime, but its’ official unveiling just went underway in New York City. I would go so far as to say as this is probably the coolest bit of architecture technology I’ve ever seen. If you’d like to go ahead and skip the rest of this article and see the video, click here.

The building will be constructed in Dubai by Italian architect, David Fisher. The building will constantly be changing shape, as each floor will rotate independently of the other. So if you have an apartment on the 5th floor, your view will never be the same each day. The other amazing feature of the building is that it’s entirely energy sufficient, relying on wind turbines nestled between each floor.

The building will cost a whopping $700 million dollars to build. But the money will soon be made back as the apartments will cost anywhere from $3 million to $36 million.

As construction is going now, the building will be completed sometime in 2010.

Energy consumption has been a real hot issue in recent years. With the rise of greenhouse gases, and people running wild in the street over global warming, energy efficiency has seen key research. We now have hybrids on the road, and people are leaving their thermostats at 75 degrees. While a a lot of this technology might be yawn inducing to most, there is one mode of transportation that is taking a pretty cool route.

There is a company called the, “American Magline Group” which is trying to procure funding to develop a ‘maglev’ train in the United States. The ‘maglev’ train isn’t a completely new technology, as Japan and China already have them in use.

The term ‘maglev’ is short for magnetic levitating train. The scientific basics behind the train are quite simple. The train is propelled forward due to an electrical current created by magnetic force between the train and the tracks. If you up the current, the train will accelerate, and vice versa for slowing down.

So the question you might be asking is, “What’s so great about maglev technology?”. First is the speed that these trains can accelerate to. The maglev train in Japan can reach speeds of up to 360 mph, with the train being designed for the US reaching 310 mph. They still aren’t as fast as air travel (avg. 550 mph). The one factor that maglev trains have over air transport is that it’s a completely environmentally clean mode of transportation.

Japan and China already have maglev trains, but if the Magline Group’s proposal goes through America would have the longest maglev track. The track would extend all the way from Disneyland to Las Vegas.

Japan’s Maglev Train

The biggest roadblock (or track block) for the train is of course “funding”. A transportation bill that has just been passed by President Bush would see that the group has $45 million for funding. While that money seems like a lot to folks like you and me, it would only cover the pre-construction costs of testing and research. The actual construction of the train, and tracks would add up to a whopping $12 billion.

The Federal Railway Administration believes that the money could be better suited to improve already current forms of transportation. But the Magline Group states that if they are successful with their venture, it could lead to clean and efficient transportation.

Who would have thought that trains might become the solution to our energy needs. With people riding trains more and more these days as an alternative to air travel, the idea of the maglev might not be much of a stretch to believe.

I just got back from my week long vacation at the beach. One of my favorite things about vacation, is not keeping up with all the sad and depressing news that happens all around the world. Whether it’s gas prices, politics, or the economy, none of that matters whilst laying around at the beach. Unfortunately when you get back, all of the stupid and depressing stories come roaring back in your face. This article, by Kristin Kalning of MSNBC is a perfect example of the point I’m trying to make.

If you happen to not keep up with video game news, Spore is a game that has been catching alot of buzz. It is being developed by Will Wright, the famous game developer behind “The Sims”, one of the most popular games ever. Spore has a few similarities to The Sims, in that it’s based around creating and maintaining a virtual character/characters. Unlike The Sims, Spore will have players creating creatures using a plethora of different options for nearly limitless designs. You will watch as your creature starts out as a single cell organism, and evolve into a full fledged beast fighting for survival in the world.

To hype up the full game, the Creature Creator has already been released for $9.95. Of course if you don’t want to spend nearly ten dollars for a fraction of the full game, which will release in nearly two months, a free trial is available as well.

With games such as Spore, we get to tap into the creative parts of our brain, and some the more perverted side. There have already been incidents of people posting phallic, breast, and other anatomical creatures across the web. While perusing XSpore.com, a site for uploading your creatures to be viewed, I found all sorts of creatures with human related anatomy being posted. What’s really sad is that most of these offensive creations were the most popular.

I’m not sure what’s more depressing, people who think it’s amusing to make these creations. Or people who get in such an uproar when human anatomy is featured without it being porn or a rated-R movie. Of course kids are going to try and be perverted and make penis looking monsters, or creatures with 20 boobs. When your thirteen, those kinds of things are funny, and if the humor is pulled off right is still funny when your 25.

EA is taking a really strong stance against the offensive creations being featured. They have already gotten together with YouTube to take down the offensive videos being posted. A statement by EA has been made, reminding people that posting anything sexually offensive is against their terms of service.

On my research of Spore creations, I was able to find alot of creative ideas. Here are some of my favorites that have been posted on Sporepedia.

We all remember the scene, when Skywalker get in over his head with Vader. The fight ending with Luke losing his hand to his *spoiler* father. Later on, Luke gets the hand replaced with a prosthetic one, that looks identically similar to his real one. He tries out the motions and everything looks spot-on. Here in our galaxy, and in our current time this technology looks to becoming more of a reality. BBC has released an article about the invention, and what it means for the prosthetic business.

In our neighbors across the Atlantic Ocean, an England based bionics company has developed the i-Limb. The device took home the MacRoberts Award; which is the most prestigious engineering award in the country. The i-Limb has been on sale since July 2007, and has been fitted on more than 200 people. Some of them being US troops who lost limbs in the Iraq war.

What makes the prosthetic limb so great, is the attention to detail for the intricate motions of hand gestures. Each finger has a motor which allows it to be move individually. The thumb can be moved in a 90 degree angle, just like our natural thumbs. While there are more advanced prosthetics out there, this is the most advanced for commercial use. The most impressive aspect of the i-Limb in this writer’s opinion is that it doesn’t require surgery to be outfitted. All it takes is two electrodes being attached to the skin, that picks up electrical signals indicating hand usage.

If there’s one thing I can’t seem to catch up on, it’s cell phone technology. I might be on my way to a nursing home with this statement, but what happened to, “using a phone to call somebody”. I still haven’t really bought into the texting, internet browsing, picture taking, software/application phenomenon that has swept the globe. Why would I want to take pictures using a crappy cell phone camera, when I have a perfectly good digital camera? And why would I want to surf the internet, when I have a computer hooked up that provides a better picture and connection speed?

While these questions might be hitting home for a older, wiser crowd, they are mostly lost on the teens of today. I know people that will be at home, texting away on their cell phones, using up data plan usage instead of IM’ing for free using AIM. I’ve been out with people who have cameras with them, and still pull out their phones to take memorable shots. But apparently the new fad gaining ground, is teens using these cell phone cameras to take nude pictures, and messaging them to one another. All the while, someone will take said photo, post it online, and others will have a chance to check it out.

Of course eventually the parents find out about what’s happened, and the proverbial jaws hit the floor. These same parents who rolled around naked in mud at Woodstock (maybe too old a reference), with people they barely knew, and taking drugs from people they barely knew. The point is, kids are going to be stupid. I believe there is a genetic imprint for all teens, for performing acts that defy logic and decency. Helen A.S. Popkin, of MSNBC got it right, “Kids do stupid things. No need to stop the presses here….The big difference now is that kids have more and better tools to be dumb with. Also, there’s that whole disintegration between private and public, thanks to the Internet.”

I don’t think the nail could be hit any more center on the head. I could easily go into detail of the crazy, and stupid things I did as a teen. I won’t because those things should be kept as private as possible. Unfortunately for teens today, the stupid acts not only get found out by parents, but for anyone who knows of said act and has a MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter account.

I might be a common sense sort of person, but if I found out my kid was using a cell phone to advertise nude photos, the solution would be simple. Take the phone, and either hide it or smash it. Then provide the child with a one of the basic phones advertised for senior citizens, and send them on their merry way. So, if there happens to be any teens reading this, take my advice. If you do anything silly, stupid, or outrageous, try and keep it as private as possible. Believe me, the less people know about it, the better.

While doing my morning rounds through news sites and video site I stumbled across this. Anytime cancer research and treatment news is available I become instantly interested. So anyway here is a video explaining how Hyperthermia is being used to treat breast cancer, along with other types of cancers as well: