Blipverts, the stories that you may have missed while you were looking the other way. Here to help us this week with the Blipvert selection process is our local Microsoft Azure server, a server we lovingly named DeathStar001.

DeathStar001 has joined us for the week to help with cloud server testing but early on we realized he had a talent for finding interesting stories that went under the radar. Our personal favorite has to be the Russian driving video with a twist,  the Russian military driving video. This time round the world’s largest hovercraft is filmed landing on a busy beach in Russia, spectacular.

Also be sure not to miss robot suicide, F-Type Coupe spotted, the SR-72 concept, a new Highpants construction, the Mi3 smart phone and the Taranis stealth drone visits Australia.

The dangers of sunbathing in Russia, the Zubr hovercraft

With huge plumes of spray reaching 30 meters high the world’s largest hovercraft tries to sneak its way to the best spot on the beach. The Zubr LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushioned) is the world’s largest hovercraft, at 57 meters long and 555 tons fully loaded, you will see and hear the Zubr coming.

Even when fully loaded this sea going behemoth can get along at 70 mph / 110 kph, much faster than any water bound naval ships. No one was injured in the making of this video; some nasty sand burn may have resulted however.

Read more here…

Teenager spots unreleased Jaguar F-Type Coupe in camouflage

The best looking car in the world is about to receive a roof, Rob Barker spotted the Coupe version of the stunning F-Type while out shopping. Dressed in camouflage the lines are obscured but still luscious. The 80,000 pound dream car will debut at next year’s LA Motor show. He also reported that the car sounded incredible, easily believable. Read more here…

The robot suicide
One of the first cases of possible robotic suicide has been reported this week. The depressed droid, a Roomba, had apparently off’ed himself after being forced to endure an endless lifetime of cleaning duties. The little Roomba gave himself the big reboot.

Making the situation most unusual is the fact that the poor little Roomba had been turned off for the night. After his robot slave master Gernot Hackl and family had gone out for the evening the Roomba put his plans into motion.

Turning himself back on was just his first trick. Traversing the kitchen bench the robot made his way to a large pot left simmering on the stove top.  Working around his obstacle avoidance programming that should have stopped him touching the pot the sad little Roomba pushed the heavy pot out of his way. Clearing his way till he was parked on the electric element. An action that would melt our sad robot and finally end his suffering. The only question remaining is ‘Was he on Facebook too?’

Read more here and also here…

Sold out in 86 seconds, the Xiaomi M3
Xiaomi, like a bolt out of the blue this Chinese technology company burst onto the scene. Manufacturing their own designs for the local market they now sell more phones in China than Apple. Their latest phone the Mi3 sold the first 100,000 phones in 86 seconds, the second manufacturing run of 200,000 sold out in a little over a minute.

The phone uses the latest Nvidia Tegra 4 chipset, the first phone to do so, 2GB or RAM and the latest Android builds, the Mi3 is pure high end spec. The price however is so low that Apple execs wheeze every time it is said aloud; $410 for the top-end 64GB version, $330 for the standard model. Read more here…

BAE Taranis super drone to be tested at Woomera

The European made stealth drone the Taranis has reached the advanced testing stages of its development, tests that require large amounts of empty unpopulated space in order to blow things up in safety. One of few such places left is the outback of Australia, especially the RAAF run Woomera test range. Taranis will be the first supersonic drone, hence the space required and is shaping up to be an interesting mystery, a long range supersonic unmanned bomber? Read more here…

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Morgan Davidson, the pencil artist so accurate she’s mistaken for a photographer
American pencil artist Morgan Davidson has such an astonishing talent with pencils that her artworks are often mistaken for photographs. All her works are drawn by hand with a simple set of colour pencils. With an interesting perspective and in your face approach Morgan’s works are well worth checking out, they’re already making headlines. Read more here…

Robotic cubes called MOSS
Modular Robotics is currently seeking funding for their easy to use modular robotics kits called Moss. Currently Kickstarting their way to $100,000 required to launch the kits which will sell for $59 USD. Magnetically lock together modules then control them via yoursmartphone, simplicity. If there is even a little electricity in your veins keep an eye out for Modular Robotics kits. Read more here and also here…

The SR-72
The SR-71 Blackbird is not only the fastest man-made aircraft but one of the most stunning technological achievements. Lockheed Martin have recently announced plans to reset the record books with the new SR-71, the SR-72. Flying at Mach 6 the SR-72 would perform reconnaissance missions but it would be able to carry out strike missions, something the SR-71 was not officially capable of. Read more here and also here…

 

Another Highpants construction?
Another Highpants construction has been spotted in China. This particular pair of sky blue slacks has been constructed in Suzhou China and is known as the ‘Gate of the Orient’. Designed to resemble an arch, a symbolic gateway, the resemblance to a pair of very high pants can’t be ignored. Here at Highpants we have to say we like it, like it a lot. Read more here…