February 8, 2007 2:24 PM PST
The next Super Bowl blimp?
The guys and gals over at Goodyear will be shaking when they read this. The next Super Bowl may feature a far more interesting blimp if Air Genie gets the right people's attention.
(Credit:
Air Genie)
Gear Factor picked up on this patent-pending dirigible called the Air Genie video airship.
The hybrid helium blimp has telescoping landing legs and a completely retractable cabin, so it appears as a perfect sphere when in flight. While it has television and radio broadcasting capabilities, it can also reflect its own surroundings to blend in.
(Credit:
Air Genie)
Not only can it be "invisible," but it can also be silent. The blimp has a "quiet operating, non-polluting power generation and propulsion system," according to the company.
Spooky.... And very cool.
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
