Light Start – Hyundai’s housework, Blimp II: The Return, Android projectors, and Final Fantasy XV
Brett Venter
Hyundai’s taking its own crack at converted vehicle batteries for the home
Hyundai is taking a crack at turning batteries meant for motor vehicles into something that can be used in the home. By ‘crack’ we mean ‘attempt’ rather than ‘comment’ or ‘dangerous narcotic’, of course. Researchers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have taken the vehicle fuel cell for Hyundai’s ix35 and slapped an electrical socket onto it. It’s basic, but it works – to the tune of 10kW. Should be more than enough to run a house for a while, right? Other modifications were made so that the ix35 could supply its juice to a house, meaning you might one day plug your car into your breaker board and have it keep the lights on. Suck it, Eskom! Only… not just yet. Hyundai are still working on making their cars into more efficient power plants, so you can’t go off the usual grids just yet. Soon, South Africa, soon.
Some day (soon), the blimp might ride again
If you were paying attention in history class you will recall that the Hindenburg isn’t that fellow in the pork-pie hat from Breaking Bad. It was a live-streamed (for its time) air disaster that killed 35 people and the blimp industry. Enough time seems to have passed since then, as we might soon see what are called hybrid blimps – a combination of a large airbag (each personally filled by Donald Trump, we have no doubt) and an aerodynamic design. The blimps, which are reportedly in development by companies like Lockheed Martin, would primarily be used to transport cargo (Each should lift over 200 tons of stuff) at slower speeds but they should be cheaper overall. There’s also the chance that people could use them for slow air-trips and there’s no chance of exploding. Helium, baby. At worst, you’ll start to squeak if your blimp springs a leak. See, we were right about Trump having a hand in the filling process.
The XGiMi Z4 Aurora is the Android projector you never knew you wanted
We’ve seen pico-projectors before and, bluntly, most of them suck. Or are highly specialised. The XGiMi Z4 Aurora, a projector that comes from China by way of IndieGoGo, might change our minds about that. That’s because it’s packing Harman Kardon sound, 700 lumens of brightness and a 1,280 x 800 resolution packed into a tiny little Android-powered box. Which features gesture volume control, multiple HDMI inputs as well as USB 3.0 and 2.0, local storage, wireless streaming, support for pretty much any streaming service that has an Android app – we’re going to go ahead and say this is looking quite attractive. If you’re looking to pre-order, it’ll set you back $449 (R6,730) for now. Full retail will be $699 (R10,500).
Final Fantasy XV is shaping up to be one hell of a road trip
You’ve either followed the last twenty-something games in the series (don’t let the XV fool you, newbies) or you haven’t but there’s a new Final Fantasy on the horizon. And it could be a good one to get into, if the trailer above is any indication. Epic battles, against monstrous and hideous foes, riding chocobos and then just general goofing-off with friends are all covered, to the strains of Stand By Me, the track that has been picked as Final Fantasy XV‘s theme. We’d go back and play the others for background now, ahead of the launch later this year, if we were you.
