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Weather Sensors Mounted on Commercial Airplanes to Provide Ultra-Accurate Weather Forecasts

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Up until recently, meteorologists used a combo of  ground weather sensors, weather balloons, satellite imagery and computer calculations to determine the current weather conditions and future forecast for your location.

AirDat uses wallet-sized sensors, attached to commercial jets, to deliver some of the most accurate weather forecasts ever presented. Covering more ground than ever before, AirDat can deliver specific local specs, rather than regional conditions. AirDat already has 160 sensor-equipped planes making daily flights out of 225 airports across all 50 states with 320 more planes on the way.

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Carnival Fun In Your Own Home

Remember that one summer in Coney Island where you sat down at a boardwalk game, trying to win a prize for your girlfriend? You had to shoot the water into a dude’s face until it a bell went off and little did you know it but you actually had a knack for this game.

Now fast forward to today. You’re divorced, lonely and you’re smoking entirely too much pot. Due to recent investments in GFSE stock, you’ve got $11,000 to play with. What do you do?

Easy. You spend it on this authentic Water Blast machine. It’ll allow you and your buddies to spend countless hours shooting jets of water at a target, just like you did that one special summer.

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New Jet Fuel Made From Pond Scum

Finding new ways to make eco-friendly biofuels is going to be crucial to surviving this whole global warming thing. That’s why it’s so exciting that someone’s figured out how to power jets with alga.

A synthetic biology company named Solazyme has figured out how to make jet fuel using oil produced by caged marine microorganisms. Other companies are researching algal jet fuel, but Solazyme’s formula is the only one that’s passed government tests for Aviation Turbine Fuel.

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Crazy Waterfall

I don’t know anything about this video and I can’t read Japanese but this video shows some waterfall device shooting out dolphins, letters and all kinds of crazy shit with water jets. Enjoy.

Link (Thanks, Dennis!)

A commercial jet that will get you from D.C. to Tokyo in 2 hours

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We all hate long flights. We always wind up sitting next to the vomiting baby whose parents are those people you’ve heard about that need more than one seat to fit comfortably, yet only pay for one, slyly overflowing into your seat. Hypersonic jets might one day make those torturous 20-hour flights pleasant 2-hour jump. Hypersonic jets soar faster then the speed of sound. New innovations might lead to lighter weight and higher fuel efficient jets.

A commercial hypersonic jet airliner would be able to circle the Earth in a matter of 4 hours, which would make flights a lot more enjoyable for out inconvenient seating situation. Will we ever see the light of day for this hypersonic jet? There’s really no way of saying. But, we pray in sake of our sanity, not to mention our non-vomit resistant gadgets, that we do. — Andrew Dobrow

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Hot Pod Floating Spa makes the rich more comfortable and us more envious

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Those rich guys just never have enough, do they? As if having an olympic sized swimming pool and lagoon style spa wasn’t enough. The Hot Pod Floating Spa helps the wealthy not have to strain their legs by walking ten feet to their in ground hot tub, by bringing the spa to the pool.

They can now enjoy both the cool, refreshing feeling of pool water, with the relaxing hydro therapy of spa luxury. The Hot Pod Spa works by taking water from your pool heater and pumping it through specially hydro-engineered jets, while the rest of the pool around you stays completely cool and serene.

Composed of heavy duty nylon, the Hot Pod is supposed to be made to last a while. But we know how those damn rich guys make their money. Our nylon tubes use to pop all the time when we were kids, so we don’t see the difference with one of these. Especially when your shelling out $800 for this floating spa.

Over-exuberant? Definitely. Worth the money? Probably not. Unique and top of the line? Seems like it. Should you get one? Not unless your neighbors with Bill Gates. Or Bill Gates himself of course. Oh, and Bill if you’re reading this, get some better developers. — Andrew Dobrow

Hot Pod Floating Spa [via Born Rich]

Maverick Solo Jet, Fly Higher Than Rick James

maverick solo jet

Have you ever had the impulse to travel at speed’s upwards of Mach .82? If your answer is yes and you have an extra 1.25 million dollars to shell out, consider yourself a modern day Lindberg. The Maverick solo jet is man’s answer to the question “Why can’t human’s fly?”. For a cool lump of change, mankind is now able to own a personal jet capable of climbing at speeds of 8000 ft/min, or roughly 600+ miles per hour. Which pretty much assures that little Timmy will make it on time to soccer practice.

The single engined Maverick Solo Jet is touted as “truly the 2nd generation of personal jets”. Excuse me for being ignorant, but I wasn’t aware there was a “1st” generation of personal jets. The plane it’s self looks like it would be a pretty snug journey, but Maverick’s website assures us that 5 adults can fit in comfortably. Note: Some peoples idea of “comfort” are sure to disappoint. 9 feet of cabin sure seems like a limited amount of room to fit 5 adults. Especially with the mass of adults rapidly increasing. Damn McDonald’s. Jump for more pics.

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