Design

It looks strangely like something Adam West's Batman might drive in 2013, but Aston Martin's 100th anniversary CC100 speedster wasn't designed with superheroes in mind, camp or otherwise. Instead, the yellow-and-blue-gray speedster is an homage to the company's heritage as a manufacturer of luxury sports cars.

The design is based on the 1959 Le Mans and Nurburgring-winning DBR1, with materials and design elements that look to the future, according to the company. "CC100 is the epitome of everything that is great about Aston Martin. Fantastic heritage, exceptional design, superb engineering and an adventurous spirit," … Read more

It's always good to stop and smell the roses, but sometimes you have to tweet to access them.

At least that's how it works with an interactive Internet-connected garden created by the U.K.'s University of Lincoln. Familiar plants greet onlookers, but when they tweet using a specific hashtag, electronic paneled screens dividing the plot into two distinct areas shift to reveal an area containing more exotic foliage.

The garden, called "Digital Capabilities," just won a gold medal at this year's prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which runs through Saturday. But its architects hope to keep it up and blooming as a permanent installation. … Read more

In general, bicycles haven't adopted the same high-tech features as many cars. Turn signals are done by hand, and GPS equates to using good old-fashioned brain power or the information you have on your phone. Helios Bars, a Kickstarter project, can turn a regular bike into a smart bike.

The feature list is a fun read. There are left- and right-turn signals, a headlight, GPS tracking in case someone nabs your ride, proximity lighting that senses your presence, and a visual speedometer with color-changing lights. There is also a turn-by-turn navigation feature. Rear-facing LEDS on the handlebars indicate when a turn is coming up.… Read more

Engineer Ben Kokes is a lot of things. He's an outdoor enthusiast. He's a Bronco mechanic. He's a tinkerer who builds electronic gadgets for fun. He's also in love.

I'll let him tell his story in his own words: "Once upon a time, a boy met a girl. Then a short amount of time later, the boy decided to design and build a ring for the girl, because doing things in the most complicated way possible is just what he does to show the love." To that end, Kokes made a ring. But not just any ring. It's a titanium ring with internal illumination.… Read more

The sunsets would be impossibly beautiful. The evening sky would glitter with a thousand silver arcs. If Earth had rings like Saturn, you'd only have to look up to get a spectacular show.

Veteran astronomy artist Ron Miller has created some stunning views of what our skies would look like if Earth were a ringed planet, and they make me want to launch a Kickstarter campaign to make it happen.

In a recent article for sci-fi blog io9, Miller presented his wild visions of a ringed Earth and what the sky would look like from various places on our … Read more

The latest fad for tech companies' new office buildings seems to involve making them as far-out and avant-garde as possible. And Amazon is the newest firm to jump on that train.

The e-commerce giant and gadget maker unveiled a slew of new drawings (PDF) on Tuesday that reveal a series of colossal, mirrored, biospherelike domes alongside a taller rectangular building that could be its new campus. The designs were created by architecture firm NBBJ and also include a copious amount of green space and landscaping.

The intent behind the design, according to the project proposal (PDF), is to "create an alternative environment" where "employees can work and socialize in a more natural, parklike setting."

"The generative idea is that a plant-rich environment has many positive qualities that are not often found in a typical office setting," the proposal says. "While the form of the building will be visually reminiscent of a greenhouse or conservatory, plant material will be selected for its ability to co-exist in a microclimate that also suits people." … Read more

You thought it had been settled, didn't you?

You've been practicing the new pronunciation (or the old one).

And now you're going to have to think again.

Recently, the White House very presciently decided to open its own non-purple Tumblr account. It took the occasion to declare with seeming finality that GIFs -- those very files that so many people find funny -- are hard, not soft.

Hard as in hard "g." Gif like "gift." Not like "jiffy."

Some giffers fell in line. Now they will have second thoughts. For the … Read more

LG Display is preparing to demonstrate a new, flexible smartphone panel that promises to be unbreakable.

The new screen is set to pop up at the Society for Information Display's annual exhibition, Display Week 2013. The event, which showcases display products, is taking place this week in Vancouver, Canada.

The OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology used in the LG screen is apparently thinner, lighter, and more flexible than conventional LCD displays.… Read more

NICASIO, Calif. -- Growing up in the 1960s, Ben Burtt was such a big "Star Trek" fan that when he went off to college at a school where he had no TV, he had his father record the audio from each week's episode and mail it to him.

Sitting in his dorm room, Burtt would listen to the shows with headphones on, taking in each new episode with no pictures. But he didn't need the video to understand what was going on. "It was so vividly portrayed with excellent sound effects," Burtt said, "… Read more