metallic

Darkside, a big truck, kept on my tail, repeatedly smashing into my Mustang until I found the handbrake button on the PS3 controller.

Pulling 180s, I used my car's better maneuverability to bring machine gun and rockets to bear on the big truck. This was my first taste of the new Twisted Metal game, which Sony is bringing out for the PlayStation 3.

Sony hosted a launch event in San Francisco for the new game, in a venue that included automotive set pieces and two characters from the game posting for photos. And to the delight of attendees, banks … Read more

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A new rumor says the next iPhone is getting a big dose of metal on its backside.

Citing "a close source," Boy Genius Report today posted a smattering of features bound for Apple's next big iPhone, which it says is due next Fall.

On top of that list is an entirely new physical construction that's a mix of aluminum on the back and a "rubber or plastic material" along the sides that will bridge the front and back of the device.

The rubber material, which … Read more

What do metallic glass, the world's largest solar-powered boat, and next-generation credit cards have in common? They all captured the attention of SmartPlanet viewers this year.

CNET sister site SmartPlanet has rounded up its most watched videos of 2011 in the areas of science and technology. Other videos that proved popular included one about a family recycling rain water and one on NASA recycling urine and turning it into drinking water for its astronauts.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "SmartPlanet's Top 10 videos of 2011."

Related SmartPlanet links:

There are several indications that the paranormal is upon us.

I am not specifically referring to any gray-haired politician or resident of New Jersey when I say this. It's just that too many odd things are happening for all to be regarded as usual.

Please imagine, for example, how the workers at Michael's Wholesale Furniture Distributors in Plymouth, Mass., must have felt yesterday when a 6-inch chunk of metal crashed through their roof.

The way CBS in Boston describes it, this piece of metal was around 6 inches long and weighed between 3 and 5 pounds.

What might … Read more

Liquid Metal Battery, a company formed to make cheap storage for wind and solar power, has hired its first CEO.

Phil Giudice, who was the third employee of demand-response company EnerNoc and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Commissioner until earlier the year, announced his "new gig" on Twitter. One of his tasks as CEO is to raise more money to build up the company, he told The Boston Globe.

Liquid Metal Battery was spun out of the lab of Donald Sadoway, a professor of materials chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Funding for the company has … Read more

I interviewed Magico's Alon Wolf a few months ago when he visited his NYC dealer, EarsNova.

Like so many audio entrepreneurs I've talked with over the years, Wolf had started building speakers for himself years before he officially got into the business in 2005. Mastering engineer Paul Stubblebine was one of Wolf's first customers; he heard something in a Wolf speaker he couldn't get anywhere else.

Wolf was only interested in building the very best speakers he could without cost constraints, and that's his market niche. Thing is, it's also the most demanding market, … Read more

Stealth Bastard is stealthy PC action game  filled with obstacles, deadly pitfalls, and of course, espionage action.

Created by Curve Studios, Stealth Bastard: Tactical Espionage Arsehole (for Windows) is a free side-scrolling platformer that that encourages using both stealth tactics and speed to race against the clock. Players control a ninjalike spy who can jump and cling to walls, hack through consoles, and sneak around the shadows. Dodge security cameras, killer lasers, and bladed pinwheels while running as fast as you can to the exit. Play through dozens of levels, download user-submitted stages, or create your own … Read more

I recently dropped by EarsNova's spacious new high-end audio store, which has the best-looking showrooms I've seen in a long while. The vibe was relaxed, and the demo rooms' sound was pretty special, but it was the little Magico Q1 speaker that bowled me over.

Were my eyes deceiving me? How could this big sound come from such a small speaker? The sheer physicality and beauty of the sound required some recalibration of my senses to take it all in. Most bona fide high-end speakers are big, imposing things that dominate a room. They're so huge that … Read more

No one wants to stumble upon the radiation warning sign. But its presence at least indicates that hazardous materials have been detected, and that there might be some form of control of those materials.

In high-risk scenarios without up-to-date signage (war zones, abandoned testing sites, and now airport security lines), it could prove quite handy to have a handheld device that can detect hard radiation--including nuclear weapons.

Chemists at Northwestern University report in the journal Advanced Materials that they are one step closer to developing such a device.

"We have designed promising semiconductor materials that, once optimized, could be … Read more