Last week the MS Beluga Skysails launched from Bremerhaven, Germany on a trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Upon its arrival, the locals in Venezuela noticed that something was amiss. The 140 meter long cargo ship was being pulled across the water by a giant kite. But then again, a new free/green secondary propulsion system would alarm even the most salted of sea dogs.

Even though it’s not completely relying on the kite as its main source of propulsion it is estimated to reduce fuel costs by 10 – 35%, which in turn means less carbon emissions. The kite itself is shaped like an aircraft wing and it is able to adjust with diffrent air conditions.

Operating range for the kite is about 100m – 300m above the surface. Higher altitudes have stronger winds that also remain stable and consistent. It can be flown in a variety of wind conditions and has the ability to be positioned in other areas around the ship to maximize efficiencies.

I’ve been power kiting for a little less than a year now, so naturally I wanted some specs on this massive kite. To give you an idea, I’m 6′3″ at 190lbs and a 5.5 meter power kite can lift me plain off the ground on a windy day. That ship weighs a slight bit more; to compensate they’ll be using a kite that is a massive 160sqm in size.

A kite that size, in the right weather, would have the ability to pull over 200 people directly into the clouds without blinking. Now that’s power.

Do you remember the scene in Minority Report when Tom Cruise was moving pictures and movies around on a floating screen with simple hand gestures? If it seemed amazingly natural it’s because it was meant to be. I mean, it’s not a big secret that we’re not born with the inclination to click a mouse and type on a keyboard.

Products like the the iPhone and Wii have proven that we crave intuitive interfaces. 3DV Systems has catered to our desire by creating an infrared camera controller that captures our gestures and translates them on screen. The ZCam is about the size of a standard Webcam. It works by capturing the reflection of infrared light. The shutter speed is quick so that it’s blind to anything thats beyond 8 feet. Depth is measured by heat signatures.

Just like Tom Cruise you’ll be able to navigate through videos and pictures with a flick of your fingers. Or you can take your best shot at a virtual boxer in a video game, just like in the video below. Eventually, this simple device may even be used to form virtual representations of people in large online environments. Imagine being able to move your fingers across a screen and see your World of Warcraft character react quicker than any amount of button mashing could produce.

Best part about this simple device that you aren’t going to need to wait until 2054 to get to test it out. You’re also not going to need to be rich as a movie star, because it’s cost is estimated below $100. Looks like computers just got a lot more hands on.

If you take a trip to Disney World you might be lucky enough to test a new device that promises to streamline your experience. The “Disney Magic Connection” is a wireless device that plans on radically changing the way you experience the magic. It runs on a Nintendo DS and has the ability to:

• Give current wait times for attractions
• Let you know whether FastPasses are left for that particular attraction
• And when those FastPasses will become available
• Show schedules
• Parade routes
• Interactive maps which reveal the location of rides, shows and attractions, restaurants, character appearances, restrooms, etc.
• It will know which ride you are waiting for and display interactive trivia based on that information to pass the time

I’m what you might call a Disney fanatic. When I heard this announcement I was both intrigued and disappointed. The theme parks are a multi-layered environment. They offer so much detail that even as a Disney fan, I still find new cracks and crevices unexplored on each visit.

It’s exciting that families will be able to share a streamlined “in-the-know” experience. On short trips where you might not have the time to plan out an 8-hour day with tired children, you’ll still have the ability to see a lot. That includes character visits, attractions and activities that you might have overlooked by planning ahead on a generic website.

At the same time it’s disappointing because it separates park goers into two groups, those who can afford the device and those who can not. It also has the ability to trivialize the experience by making a job out of the visit. Unless it’s designed with the parks atmosphere in mind, I fear that some guests may constantly be looking down into the screen rather than at the meticulous detail that the parks are known for.

Either way, it should be available for the general public by April of 2009. Chalk up another one to the Imagineers for continuously innovating the theme park experience.

Who likes paying $3 a gallon? Answer: no one. Least of all the producers of the new Extreme Hybrid SUV, AFS Trinity. They’ve set out to create a hybrid that will go up to 150 miles per gallon. Surprisingly the road hasn’t had too many bumps.

Hybrids today use the electric portion of the car at low speeds and as the car accelerates the internal combustion engine kicks in. This system goes a completely diffrent route. It runs completely on batteries for the first 40 miles and then allows the engine to kick in after they are drained. Rationale is that the average American drives about that distance to work and back. So why pay at the pump when electricity gets you there smoothly without even using gas?

Long distances on pure electric comes with a price: a full electric motor alongside a full-size gasoline engine. To conquer the obstacle they installed a a 200-horsepower G.M. VueGreen Line motor in the bottom rear of the vehicle. Drivetrain is then run by a belt to propel the front wheels while the custom AFS Trinity motor propels the rear.

Another key difference from regular hybrids is the addition of ultracapacitors. When you press on a normal hybrid’s brakes it converts that energy into a current that recharges the battery. More than half of the energy produced is wasted with this method. Ultracapacitors promise to significantly increase the efficiency of regenerative braking while maintaining the same amount of space taken up by current day lithium ion batteries.

Their working prototype will be shown at the North American International Auto Show this coming Sunday in Detroit. Personally I can’t wait for an innovation like this to hit the showroom floor at an affordable price. Lucky for me, that wait may soon be over.

Scramjet engines would be capable of flying from New York to Tokyo in two hours. They’ve been in development for decades and governments from around the world – USA, Australia and China – are finally making them a reality.

So just how fast is a scramjet? You may need a bit of comparison:

• A Boeing 747 cruises at 567 mph (Mach 0.85).
• The Concorde was capable of speeds of up to 1,330 mph (Mach 2.02).
• An F-14 Tomcat maxes out at 1,544 mph (Mach 2.34).
• The SR-71 Blackbird holds the speed record: 2,511 mph (Mach 3.3).
• Scramjets are projected at Mach 15, that’s upwards of 10,000 mph.

The jet engines of today aren’t able to go faster than Mach 3 because they use turbines that would melt under the outrageous temperatures that occur beyond that speed. So how is it possible to weather the storm? Take out the turbines. Scramjets are force-fed air engines with no moving or meltable components.

Inaugural attempts at this technology began with Reagan announcing a public scramjet project called the National Aerospace Plane (Rockwell X-30) in 1986. Dreams of “a new Orient Express” scheduled to have the technology up and running to ferry passengers by the 90’s. President Clinton canceled the project in 1994 because of all of the barriers and problems the research had.

Yet, as usual, the lessons of yesteryear gave us insight for todays research. Instead of trying to create a plane that can takeoff and reach Mach 25 within moments researchers are slowly developing the engines to instead go off in stages.

The first field tested scramjet flight was in 2002 by Australian researchers, called HyShot. It was essentially a rocket with a scramjet engine strapped on it that was launched 20 miles above the surface of the earth. Upon it’s re-entry the engine fired for five seconds, reaching 5,000 miles per hour (Mach 7.6) before crashing into the ground.

In 2004 NASA’s X-43A, a rocket craft, was launched off a moving airplane and reached a jaw dropping 7,307 mph (Mach 9.6) after 10 seconds. The new goal is 100 seconds of continuous flight. The X-1 engine design is currently being tested in Langley and hopefuls think that its flight time is capable of being extended to an hour of continuous flight.

So when will you finally be able to enjoy the benefits of all this blazing, neck-whipping speed? Darpa’s HTV-3X Blackswift is an unmanned vehicle that is set to make it’s first flight in 2012. After that it’s all a matter of adding some seats and charging a hell of a premium.

[Popsi]