This week, we feature a few thrilling technologies from the fastest electric car in the world to a hairpin skyscraper that offers heart-pounding adventure rides.
1. “World’s Fastest Electric Motorcycle”
KillaJoule is an amazing piece of machinery built and driven by Swedish engineer, Eva Hakansson. This past week, she broke multiple records at the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials, where she achieved a top speed of 241 mph. If the results are made official, her bike will be dubbed "fastest electric motorcycle in the world." [Videos]
2. SkyRise Miami
A new skyscraper is going up in Miami. The US$430 million SkyRise Miami, being developed by Jeff Berkowitz, will be a 1000-foot, hairpin-shaped tower rising up at the end of Bayside Marketplace. An observation deck will give visitors a view of the Everglades and if that's not thrilling enough, people can experience the amusement-park-like rides. There's SkyRise Drop - think of it as a high-speed zip line - where visitors can simulate base jumping and if that's not adrenaline-inducing enough, get on the SkyPlunge and free fall 50 stories before screeching to a halt. [Video]
3. Virtual Reality Goggles
In Berlin this past week, several electronics companies got together to show off their latest gadgets at the Internationale Funk Ausstellung. At the event, Samsung showed off its Samsung Gear VR, a virtual reality simulator that uses the Galaxy Note 4 for a screen. [Videos]
4. Energy Tower
Power plants don't have to be hideous. The newly opened Energy Tower in Roskilde, the Netherlands, has a a perforated double-layer façade that glows throughout the night. Designed by architect Erick van Egeraat, the facility burns waste at extremely high-temperatures, producing both high-efficiency heat and low-emission electricity for the grid. [Video]
5. Eco Boost
UK-based race car company Zenos has just released two new cars - the E10 S and E10 S "Track" - that take advantage of Ford's EcoBoost technology. The turbocharged 2.0-litre EcoBoost engine packs 250 hp in four cylinders, accelerating the car from 0 to 60 mph in about four seconds. Whoosh!
6. Virtual Makeup Mirror
At the IFA in Berlin, Panasonic showed off their smart mirror, which allows a person to virtually apply different kinds of makeup to see which colours and style look best.
7. Dyson's Robotic Vacuum Cleaner
It was only a matter of time before vacuum cleaner innovation company, Dyson, launched their own robotic sweeper. The 360 Eye features a top-mounted panoramic camera to map its environment, a cyclonic sucker that generates centrifugal forces of up to 50,000 G and tank treads instead of wheels to navigate the uneven terrain of many households. The unit is expected to sell for about US$1,500. Let's hope it's also capable of sucking up loose change lost between the couch cushions. [Videos]
8. Trees with Faces
Mexico City-based studio Maizz Visual created a light installation called Blink Twice to entertain festival-goers at the Summer Set Music and Camping Festival in Somerset, Wisconsin. The artwork employed four video projectors and special animation software to project onto trees huge, 3-D faces that moved and emoted. [Video]
9. Robotic Birds
The remote-controlled Robirds from Nico Nijenhuis of Clear Flight Solutions look and fly like raptors. They'll be used to scare off smaller birds from areas where they’re not desired, such as near airport runways, and around landfills and agricultural fields. [Video]
10. Samsung Galaxy Note 4
At the IFA in Berlin, executive vice president of Samsung, D. J. Lee, presented a new version of the company's giant-sized smartphone, the Galaxy Note 4. [Video]
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