Category: Video

Watch Historic Skydive From Baumgartner’s POV

At this point in time, I’m sure everyone has heard about Baumgartner’s historic space jump which took him from the edge of space and deposited safely him into the record books for all time. However, amidst all the news and footage of Baumgartner’s 38,000 meter/126,000 foot jump, which involved 4 minute and 19 seconds freefall and the breaking of the sound barrier, one nagging question emerged. Where as the footage from Felix’s own chest camera?

Well, as luck would have it, the video was made available just a day later. Naturally, the crews had to access it from his suit, process it and upload it to the internet. With technology being what it is today, people expect things to be instantly available. Yet it seems that some things still have to be waited on. But I think you’ll agree once you watch this footage, a mere 24 hour wait was well worth it. Or in my case, a full four days. My apologies to my followers!

The Future is Here: Insect Biobots!

One small step for man, one giant leap for man-machine interface! Or man-roach interface, I guess! It seems that researchers at the iBionicS lab at North Carolina State University have created a remote-control system to stimulate and steer cockroaches. This report came at the 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society last month, and represents quite the step forward for cybernetics.

In short, the research team equipped a Madagascar hissing cockroach with a circuit board that connects directly to its antennae. It’s a well known fact that cockroaches, in addition to being nuclear war-resistant, use their two antennas to find their way around. By sending electrical signals to one or the other, they were able to steer the cockroach as it made its way around.

To be fair, this is not the first case of insect cyborgs being developed. In 2009, the researchers at iBionicS unveiled a similar program using remote-controlled hawk moths. In that same year, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan presented their collaborate project: remote-controlled beetles! Here, the beetles had electrodes wired into their brains and flight muscles which were used to command them to take off and steer them while in the air.

Interestingly enough, research in both of these latter cases was being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with the goal of creating remote-controlled insects could go where humans cannot and aid in search-and-rescue or even spy missions. You’ve heard of UAV’s, aka. spy drones, doing reconnaissance, right? Well look out! The next time you see a flying beetle or a hawk moth, you could be on someone’s camera. Smile before you step on it!

And be sure to check out the video below of iBionicS lad testing their remote-control roach steering system.

Source: Discover Magazine

True Skin: A Cyborg Short

Hello again all. You know that feeling you get when you sense that you’re getting swept up in a trend? Well, it seems that the trend of making futuristic and predictive videos has captured me in its wake. The latest comes from Vimeo, courtesy of N1ON Productions, and is entitled True Skin. The concept is quite intriguing too: a near-future where cybernetic enhancements are all the rage, and people who are purely organic are discriminated against and looked down upon.

Filmed entirely in Bangkok, this video has a real nitty gritty feel to it, something that no cyberpunk tale would be complete without! And of course, there’s plenty of social commentary too, showing how cybernetic augmentation is tantamount to status and the poor are easily recognized by their lack of physical enhancements. And in the end, the story is told from the point of view of a man who knew he had to get upgraded if he was not going to slip through society’s cracks, even if that meant breaking the law.

No more spoilers, check out the video. And enjoy the scenery, courtesy of Bangkok’s Red Light District!

Baumgartner Makes Historic Space Jump!

It happened! The extreme skydiving daredevil made his historic, record-setting jump, after only one false start. The first attempt took place on Tuesday, but unfortunately high wind conditions forced them to cancel the jump. Despite the high altitude and extremely daring nature of the entire enterprise, minor variations in atmospheric and wind conditions had to be taken into account

Luckily, today things went off without a hitch. Launching from their base camp in Roswell New Mexico, Baumgartner ascended via his high-altitude balloon to the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. Then, at an altitude of approx. 38.5 km above sea level, he jumped with the hopes of achieving supersonic free fall.

And that is precisely what he did, and then some. In fact, according to the  Red Bull Stratos team, Baumgartner’s achieved a top speed of 1,173 km/hour, or 729 mph. The team’s expectation was that 690 mph would be sufficient to get Baumgartner to Mach 1, considering the extreme elevation. The previous record, one of several he sought to beat was 614 mph, which was set back in 1960 and has stood ever since.

Naturally, there were a few technical glitches along the way. These included some issues with Baumgartner’s visor and the balloon’s power supply. After making the jump, he found himself spinning faster and faster, and almost lost consciousness at one point. This is apparently what prevented him from feeling the sonic boom that he eventually made. All in all, Baumgartner admitted it was a lot harder than he thought it would be. Hmm, jumping out a balloon on the edge of space and free falling towards the planet at speeds so fast you break the sound barrier? What’s hard about that?

Kudos to Baumgartner for the record-setting jump and making history. And be sure to check out the video of his jump, freefall and landing below:

New Music Video Tells the Theory of Panspermia

Those who saw Prometheus recently, or witnessed the cinematic spectacle known as 2001: A Space Odyssey, will be instantly familiar with the concept. Basically, it asserts that life exists throughout the Universe and is distributed by meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids. In the more fantastic and imaginative version of this story, the distribution process is being helped along by alien “Engineers” or “Firstborn” who make it a point to seed worlds with their own genetic material, or tamper with existing life to promote evolution.

This new music video, produced by Tom Walsh, is a new and interesting take on the concept. Here, set to the music of “The Last Human on Earth” (by Swimming & Alex Herington), tells the story of a human engineer who is busy distributing human DNA throughout the Universe. Many times over, the name HERA comes up, which refers to Human Evolution Recovery Administration, a group that was formed in 1950 with the purpose of ensuring that humanity survives the death of our sun, our world, and any cataclysms that might come our way.

Check out the video below, and be sure to look up HERA at its website as well. Some very cool reading and watching!

Source: IO9

Batman: Nightwing Short

There’s something to be said about short fan videos. Oftentimes, they are of low-quality and really don’t boast a lot of thought or creativity. But every so often, you get something of real value. Star Wars fans have been treated to some rather appealing videos over the years where fans, using their own imaging and rendering software, produced videos of lightsaber fights that weren’t half bad. And more recently, I came across this video which is the first in a proposed series of Batman shorts that were inspired by the original comics.

This one is entitled Batman: Nightwing and follows the exploits of Dick Grayson, the original Robin who went on to become his own superhero after leaving Batman’s side. Here we see him being called in to deal with the Red Hood, a villain in that emerged relatively recently in the franchise who turned about to be Jason Todd, the second Robin. For those who are unfamiliar with the comics, this is the Robin who was murdered by the Joker and then was resurrected, and returned to Gotham as a villain.

Personally, I like the video because it takes two characters who are important in their own right, but rarely the focus in the franchise, and squares them off against each other. There’s also a sense of generational conflict since we basically have the original Robin and his successor fighting, the one who went independent fighting the one who went bad. It just feels appropriate and significant, don’t you think?

The producer, Danny Shepherd, indicated that this video would become part of a series, and that was when it reached its first 100,000 hits. Now, it’s hovering at just over 540,000! Yeah, I’m thinking there’s going to be a sequel or two 😉 Check out the video:

How Prometheus Should Have Ended

I came across this video some time ago on the HISHE website, but hesitated to post it with the others. For one, I liked the movie, and these guys, in their signature, trademark way, dealt it some pretty smarting blows. But of course, all they were doing was highlighting the plot holes which were pretty clear to anyone who has seen Alien and remembers the particulars of that classic. For one, the Engineer/Space Jockey was discovered in the pilot’s seat, was he not?

But then again, the planet where the Derelict was discovered in Alien and the Sulaco returns to in Aliens was LV-426, not LV-223 where the Prometheus traveled to. So… what gives? Clearly, this is not the planet where Alien took place, but that just raises more questions, questions which are rumored to be answered in subsequent prequels. Now didn’t they say that Prometheus would be the movie that answered all these questions?

Yeah, basically I feel that enough time has passed that I can raise these plot holes and not worry about spoiling the movie for anyone. And this video is a pretty good start. In addition, it’s also quite funny. Enj0y!

Hilarious Game of Thrones “Birther” Video

In spite of their annoying tendency to cling to stupid, conspiratorial notions that are quite racist in nature, the so-called “Birther” movement is at least good for a laugh or two – especially when their antics inspire videos like this one. Using Game of Thrones as their subject matter, the political satirists from Mother Jones Video have produced this movie which questions King Joffrey’s lineage, as well as blame him for everything that’s gone wrong in the kingdom. Enjoy!

Shogun Tango

Welcome to the future of racing! Here we have a new conceptual movie, the product of director Christopher and modeler Greg Desantis, which features high-tech racers blasting across the California flats. The purpose of the fictitious race, which is known as the Bonneville Classic 5000 (but as Shogun Tango amongst its participants), is all about testing the most powerful vehicles in the world.

One look and I think you’ll agree, the look of the video is pretty damn spectacular. You got racing hovercars, monitoring satellites, and what appear to be called “jump gates”. Sound like any futuristic video games you’ve played lately? According to Greg, the team “made the movie in our spare time over about a year. A few people have asked if it is a viral for Virgin, it’s not. We just thought the film would be cooler with real logos, than with fake or generic logos.”

Check out the video below, or go to shoguntango.com.

Source: IO9