Best news of all week! Moller International are working on a skycar that holds big promise for the future of flying cars.

Quoted from the site:

The M200X volantor has completed over two hundred successful test flights. It has been extensively hard-tooled so that derivatives not requiring FAA certification are now available.

Recreational and utilitarian models include:

• Demonstrators for use over one’s own property (M200D)
• Versions that operate within ground effect–approximately 10 feet AGL (M200G)
• Experimental or homebuilt variants (M200E)
• Rescue configuration capable of docking with skyscrapers (Firefly 3)

Depending on the number of orders received the prices could vary between $125,000 for the M200G to $450,000 for the Firefly 3.

It looks like a jacuzzi made sweet, sweet love with a saucer and a vacuum cleaner. But damn, the thing can fly!

No Comments » Published by Pär, July 20th, 2007
Filed under Future, Soapbox

Stumbled upon Pacemaker - “The pocket size DJ system” - a while back. It’s an amazing portable audio player with DJ mixing and audio effects. Essentially all you need to cook up a mix on the fly.

It sports a 120GB hard drive, USB 2.0 support, a touchpad, and useful audio editing functionality like loop-in, loop-out, re-loop, cue point search.

Seems like the perfect tool for the DJ on the move. Or even a replacement for your iPod - the Pacemaker can play for up to 18 hours. And having the ability to connect to any stereo system for a spontaneous live mix is quite tempting!

Redgreenblue, pink

It’s a gorgeous site as well. And, funnily enough, the color scheme is strikingly similar to flowerofcables.com. I can assure you that it’s purely coincidental. I finished the new design for flowerofcables.com way before hearing about the Pacemaker, and apparently Pacemaker was launched before the new design saw the light here on flowerofcables.com. Still, fascinating that we’ve chosen a similar approach towards the colors.

No Comments » Published by Pär, July 19th, 2007
Filed under Soapbox

“I am standing waist-deep in the Pacific Ocean, both chilling and burning, indulging in the polite chit-chat beloved by vacationing Americans. A sweet elderly lady from Los Angeles is sitting on the rocks nearby, telling me dreamily about her son. ‘Is he your only child?’ I ask. ‘Yes,’ she says. ‘Do you have a child back in England?’ she asks. No, I say. Her face darkens. ‘You’d better start,’ she says. ‘The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they’ll have the whole of Europe’.”

This excellent article lets us in on some of the thoughts and motivations of a group of people that, sadly, have disproportionately large influence over world events.

No Comments » Published by Pär, July 18th, 2007
Filed under Soapbox

For a couple of years, I’ve intended to put together a website for the music. But it just wouldn’t happen. Something else, more important, always got in between. And time passed. Until I reached a point in December of 2006 where the project just had to be started.

Now, after long hours of intense focus, flowerofcables.com is finally alive and kicking. It wouldn’t have happened without the amazingly talented help of flash guru Oskar Sundberg / Dread.

As you’ve noticed, the site is a combination of a Flash presentation (”the full experience”) and a blog. I wanted you to be able to choose how you want to use the site. If you only want to flip through the blog, you shouldn’t be forced to look at a flash site. Similarly, if you want the flash presentation, it should be available without sacrificing the blog content.

So, I used some scripting (view source if you’re curious) to dynamically load content into the page. When you want the full experience, it appears smoothly. Due to the scripts needed to pull off these tricks, the site loads a little slower. But in this case I chose convenience over load time. And I think the result offers a balanced trade-off.

If you’re curious about the site and who’s behind it, have a gander at the About page. It should set your question marks straight.

I hope that you’ll enjoy the music. And the site. If you do - say so. If you don’t, then tell us why. Don’t be shy.

2 Comments » Published by Pär, July 17th, 2007
Filed under Soapbox