General Motors and Segway plan to take a two-wheel concept vehicle for a spin around New York City on Tuesday.

The prototype vehicle, called Project PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), is designed to ease congestion and pollution problems in cities. It is based on the Segway Personal Transporter but holds two people, instead of one, and lets them sit, instead of stand.

A PUMA runs on lithium ion batteries, can reach 35 miles per hour, and can travel up to 35 miles between charges.

It includes some high-tech touches, including GM’s wireless OnStar communications technology that lets a passenger locate other drivers in a city.

The two-wheeler is meant to address the mounting problems of urban car transportation, according to the two companies that plan to unveil the vehicle at an auto show in New York.

Read full article on CNET

For some reason this reminds me of the scene in Airplane! the movie when the brothers were talking jive and the elderly white woman interprets. I wonder if the flight attendant here was inspired by the movie.

The Beeb are so bloody on point.

The No. 1 Detective Agency is Alexander McCall Smith’s novel series set in Botswana, featuring the first lady detective to solve mysteries, everything from infidelity, kidnapping and mistaken identity.  BBC1 adapted the book for a mini series, shooting it last year; threw in songstress Jill Scott to play Precious, Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) to screenwrite and (the now late) Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) to direct the whole shabang.

America, it’s coming -  HBO March 29th.  Watch the trailer.

Being a pretty avid reader (And loving NYC’s Library service), I’ve always envied the people on the subway I see reading the Amazon Kindle. It’s an awesome device, with eInk, which beautifully and faithfully reproduces printed text. And there’s a growing library of titles appearing on Amazon, for a lot cheaper or equivilent to a paperback.

The problem for me is the device is in the $300 range, which is pretty steep for a bookreader, that doesn’t do much more, with a 16-greyscale shade screen. But an iPod touch, which is roughly around the same price (which I own) can function a million other things, just like it’s big brother the iPhone.

So this is a pretty big deal to me. I’m sure for you too.

Download it!
Clickable iTunes Link

We conducted a little experiment here at the office to try and figure out why it takes so long to receive letters that are addressed in the Courier typeface. So they told me to send out a regular envelope addressed to the agency. Of course, I couldn’t just send a blank piece of paper…

Right after I sent this out I couldn’t help but think “I’m going to jail.”

summer’s just around the corner. get your death frisbee game up.

So only moments ago, a plane crash landed into the Hudson River. Thankfully, it wasn’t a firey ball of explosive jet fuel that we normally associate with plane crashes- however I’m sure the freezing cold water is not exactly like landing on a big fluffy pillow! And alas, the power of the internet- and twitter prevails. Just minutes after news broke, this picture/article has been circulating amongst New Yorkers.

Sometimes it’s nice to get out to a place you haven’t visited in a while and see it with new eyes. Monday I went to the Museum of Natural History. I don’t think I’ve been there since a 6th grade class trip. In short, I came to find out I’m still a snide prick.

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