Light Start – Electric Porsche, sensitive robotics, Ducati Monster, F-35 VR, and Mario’s birthday
Brett Venter
Say Hi to the Porsche Mission E electric sports car
Everybody likes the Porsche, except for people who don’t. For the first group (we like you folks more), Porsche has announced details of their new 911. But that’s not why we’re here. We’re here because they’ve also announced the Mission E, a concept electric car that will give Tesla sleepless nights. Because Porsche only knows one way to make cars and the Mission E is a 600HP, 0 to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds, 250km/h top speed, 500km range EV – one able to charge from 0% to 80% in about fifteen minutes. Which is about a gas-station stop here in South Africa anyway.
DARPA gives someone a helping hand with a sensitive prosthetic
One day we’ll be going in for elective cybernetic enhancement but right now prosthetics are reserved for those who really need it. Or those with more money than sense and a peculiar obsession, but we won’t get into that. This is more important. DARPA have announced that a 28-year-old paralysed subject has become the first person to ‘feel’ sensations through a prosthetic hand. The limb is connected directly to the subject’s brain and allows him to feel which of the artificial fingers is being touched. It might not sound like much but the original press release begs to disagree. And so do we.
You don’t need to be a spy or a globe-trotting video game heroine (we’re talking about Lara Croft here, heathens) in order to appreciate the appeal of Ducati’s Monster naked bike series, especially since there’s a new addition to the list. The Monster 1200 R is a 160HP, 0 to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds, er… Ducati. Which is a little like being astride a two-wheeled Lambo. We’re still waiting on pricing and top speed from Ducati after its Frankfurt Motor Show unveiling but the 2016 bike will be worth waiting for. Because riding one in Johannesburg seems to make BMW drivers at intersections a little crazy, for some reason. Turns that accelerator foot into lead, it does. Not that it helps, even if you’ve got a little M on your vehicle.
The F-35 HMD – for all your night-time military air-strike needs (and others)
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, officially the world’s most expensive fighter, is getting some impressive new toys. Like the F-35 Head Mounted Display (Gen III), a custom-fitted heads-up display, helmet and all-round weapon enhancement that will give pilots data in their field of view, track head movements, permit seeing through the cockpit sides and floor and even aim at targets using integrated eye tracking. The F-35 HMD, which is made by Rockwell Collins, looks and sounds like something from military fiction but it is quite real and it is quite close to being more than just a fighter jet enhancement. It may spend some time saving lives on the ground as well.
Mario turns 30, makes the entire Stuff staff feel very old
Guess which little Italian plumber mascot for a Japanese company turned 30 this week? If you guessed anyone other than Nintendo’s Mario then we really, really want to know who your answer was. But it’s true, Mario turned 30 as of 13 September this year. Nintendo have a few things going to to celebrate but we’re most keen on their history section – Because we’ve played pretty much all of them, really, and it’s a nice look back at childhood (and a few more recent occurrences – we’re not filthy casuals when it comes to Mario support, after all).
