The San Jose-based Magnetic Air Cars Inc. claims that it is working on the world’s first fuel-less car. The folks at Clean Technica have seen a non-working prototype of the bad boy and they like what they see:

The Magnetic Air Car uses three on-board substations to harness compressed air. The resulting airflow is channeled, modulated, and converted to torque that propels the car.

According to company representative Paul Donovan, the car uses a silicon salt battery that has 30% more mass power than a lead acid storage battery and can charge completely within an hour. The 95 percent recyclable battery can also can be used in a temperature range from -40 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius.

The vehicle should be ready for production by 2010. Wouldn't it be awesome if it came in the BMW GINA Light Visionary Model skin?

Related: The world's most fuel-efficient car? Hint: It's not a hybrid.

Stuart Ramson/HTC-AP

... this phone was not primarily designed to solve a problem that you, the consumer, are having. Rather it was designed to solve a problem that Google has—namely, the need to keep feeding more and more people into the maw of Google's online advertising machine ...

In other words, the phone is a Trojan horse. You get a cool phone for not much money—$179 with a contract from T-Mobile—but then you're caught in Google's Web. Another way to see this is that a quasi-monopolist (Google rules the online advertising business) is attempting to protect and extend its quasi-monopoly by giving away at no cost something for which others charge money. Sound familiar? It's what Microsoft did to Netscape in the 1990s, giving away a free browser to undermine Netscape Navigator.

Oh, snap! I haven't played with the device yet, but it does look fairly nifty (for an elaborate advertising platform, especially). Indeed, elsewhere on the Internets BoingBoing guest contributor Douglas Rushkoff seems to be enjoying his new toy:

I played with Android yesterday. I don't gush over products. At least not in years. But this one makes me feel a bit like I did when I got my Kaypro. It's a solid device that hints at the beginning of a "golden age" of solid and reliable smart phone technology ...

I've played with a lot of phones, but this is the first true "smart phone" that is as easy to use as an iPhone, Sidekick, or Helio Ocean. Unlike the iPhone, it has a real keyboard that slips out from the bottom (and a bit more effortlessly than the one on my Ocean). Real keys, too, that feel good and click. Oh, did I forget to mention it? Copy and paste.

Of course, Rushkoff flicks at the advertising concern, but in the end is just pleased as punch with his relatively open source toy. Here's a video demo of Android that's been making the rounds for, oh, a year (we're nothing if not timely).




In conclusion: I wish Newsweek's top editors would make big announcements wearing Rollerblades.

T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone powered by Google's Android software, according to people briefed on the company’s plans. The phone will be made by HTC, one of the largest makers of mobile phones in the world, and is expected to go on sale in the United States before Christmas, perhaps as early as October. ...

The HTC phone, which many gadget sites are calling the “dream,” will have a touch screen, like the iPhone. But the screen also slides out to expose a full five-row keyboard.

And here's a little peek of what it'll look like:

Yesterday I posted this story about streaming live video online directly from your mobile phone. I didn't want to focus on one service over the others, but I did end up giving more time to Qik only because they've been in the news recently -- with Rep. Culberson Qikking (ugh, verb 2.0) from Congress and the Vatican Qikking the Pope's travels (still can't get over that one). Plus, Qik appears to be the current market leader. But I think in terms of relative merits of Qik over Flixwagon and Kyte, the jury is still out. These services are still so new that I didn't want to write the story as a product review. Ubergeek Robert Scoble, who uses Qik for work, wrote a strong and surprising post arguing that Kyte will emerge victoriant. He's knows the technology better than I do -- and I am not one to predict the future in print or online. But I suspect the services will leapfrog each other several times in terms of quality, speed and everything else that matters.

I'd also like to point out that I wasn't able to quote everyone I spoke with -- Dan Patterson, an independent journalist (with the excellent job title Chief United Nations Correspondent and Social Media Evangelist for the Talk Radio News Service) has shot Qik video of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. He says he has set Qik up to ping his Twitter account -- "I'll say I'm speaking with the secretary general right now, come watch," he told me. He has his account configured to then send the video to his accounts at Mobulus and Justin.tv. "That falls under category of pretty cool."

I also spoke with Jim Long, a cameraman for NBC who is a frequent Qik shooter. The ability to broadcast live from his Nokia isn't necessarily the coolest thing for him. "The game-changer in my mind with technology like this is not that you can go live. The game-changer is that people can come in and look and interact and ask questions," he says. "I see tremendous application potential for news from this." In other words, not only is his cell phone a video camera, it's a teleprompter, a director (viewers can text in commands, asking Long to pan left or right) and producer (viewers can feed him questions). His phone, he says has become "in many respects a satellite truck." 

On a recent trip through Africa, as part of the press pool covering the president's visit, he happened to cross paths with the singer-activist Bob Geldof -- so he shot a live interview with him on the fly. "It was a quick little thing, but people hunger for a more interactive experience. They want their questions answered; they don't want to just shout at the television set any more. This is one means to provide am opportunity for that." Long is hardly arguing that this technology will replace television news as we know it because "we do it better" than citizen journalists. (Plus, he points out that NBC just bought a couple gorgeous Sony high-def cameras). But, he says, "it will be interesting to see how legacy media integrates these tecnologies." Indeed.   

Aw, isn't this sweet? This is, apparently, "a time capsule film made for use at the Apple International Sales Meeting held in Hawaii during October '84," according to the YouTuber who posted it. Deliciously retro. But, man this makes me feel old.

(hat tip: Coudal Partners)

Well hello there.

I'm not sure how you found this, but welcome. You are reading this because I pitched a blog to my visionary editors and they, being visionaries, agreed to let me have one. Hopefully you will keep reading because it will grow into something thought-provoking, funny, curious and worthy of your pity. Or, think of it this way: I have two small daughters to support and if you don't come back here often--and click on all the ads--they will be sent to toil in the Peruvian mercury mines to support me. So please, think of my children.

Meanwhile, I'll be curating things on a daily basis around here, trying to put goodies in front of your eyeballs. What exactly that will entail remains to be seen. But here's a little guide to get started with: I am a general editor here at Newsweek, covering technology, popular culture and, my favorite, unpopular culture. Mostly, I freaking love the internets. Every single last one of them. So I spend a lot of time looking at said internets--and as such, I see mountains of mind-blowingly life-changing awesomeness every day. And, you know, funny videos of piano-playing cats. Either way, I come across so much good stuff that may not merit a full-blown Newsweek-style story, but is certainly worthy of a mention. I'm talking about stuff that can only happen online (or, to give myself some wiggle room, anywhere else on earth). Stuff that inhabits that middle ground between high-brow arts, low-brow trash and mono-brow geekery. Stuff I would love to share with you, gentle reader, like the selfless lover that I am. 

Here, for example, are a few things I'd link to RIGHT NOW if I were blogging. Which, uh, I guess I am. So. Let's get started: the webby (in more ways than one) Italian Spiderman, which wrapped its 10th episode this week and is quite possibly the funniest spoof of bad '60s Italian James Bond knockoffs you'll ever see. Or I'd hip you to new rumors of a forthcoming Mac book pro and then drool all over my keyboard so that the spacebarstopsworking. Or maybe you'd find this as interesting as I did: Wil Wheaton crumbling some Webcake at Comic Con this week. Or check out this current debate over the Los Angeles Times' policy regarding blogging about rumors surrounding a certain (probably erstwhile) potential Obama running mate--the comments raise a lot of interesting issues surrounding the role of blogs at a, ahem, mainstream media outlet.

Of course, for each of those, I'd take the time to cook up some deliciously brilliant thoughts and conclusions. Maybe take the initiative to do a little reporting. I'd dazzle you with my unique voice, my counterintuitive take. This will be a two-way street--I encourage your feedback, tips, debate, lunch money. But not right now, OK? It's Saturday. It's nice outside. And you and I will get to know each other as this experiment continues. It is a work in progress. It is an evolution, an exploration of the tubes.

And also there will be haiku.