World's Largest Fire Extinguisher Stands in for Fireworks, Does a July 4th Flyby [Science]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/329008397/worlds-largest-fire-extinguisher-stands-in-for-fireworks-does-a-july-4th-flyby

No, this is not a Photoshop. It was taken on the 4th of July by Spencer Weiner of the LA Times, showing a firefighting airtanker dropping state-of-the-art fire retardant on wildfires in southern California.

The retardant it's dropping consists of ammonium sulfate or ammonium polyphosphate with attapulgite clay thickener or diammonium phosphate with a guar gum derivative thickener, colored with ferric oxide to mark where it's been dispersed. Not only is it non-toxic, but after the fire is out it'll act as a fertilizer to promote new growth. Be thankful one doesn't have to buzz by your house, and be sure to visit The Big Picture for a lot more incredible photos from the recent CA wildfires. [The Big Picture; Wikipedia]

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Wizard Rapid Descender Backpack Beats Taking the Stairs [Safety First]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/329017404/wizard-rapid-descender-backpack-beats-taking-the-stairs

If everyone living or working in precariously elevated positions could shoot Spidey-silk from their wrists in case of an unexpected fall, there would be no need for the Wizard rapid-descender concept from UK design shop HJC. But a sleek Dyson-esque backpack housing up to 250 meters of woven liquid polyester that can hold you and two tons worth of distressed damsels is a fair second option. If this thing comes to market, I think I've found my new treehouse-egress solution. [Yanko Design]

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LG Projector Phone Is Like a Media-Throwing Web Shooter [Projectors]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/329101156/lg-projector-phone-is-like-a-media+throwing-web-shooter

The winner of LG's next phone design challenge has been announced—and by the looks of things, it appears that Spider-Man's web shooter was a major source of inspiration. The device is actually a pen-shaped cellphone/mobile projector that can throw images, video and other information on the back of the user's hand when mounted on a wrist strap. I'm not sure if LG still plans on manufacturing the winning concept phone, but slinging a mini or pico projector image around like a web shooter has definite geek appeal. UPDATE: This phone concept is actually a runner up. Hopefully we will know more about the winning entry from designer Dave Schultze soon.

[TelecomsKorea via Unwired View via AboutProjectors]

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Massive Dubai Fountain Will Be the Largest, Most Technologically Advanced Water Works of its Kind [Mega Fountain]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/328481789/massive-dubai-fountain-will-be-the-largest-most-technologically-advanced-water-works-of-its-kind

In Dubai, they're doing things big these days. Big hotels, big palm tree islands, big wallets, and very soon, big $281 million fountains. The biggest one in the world, in fact, and it will be large enough to give the famed fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas an inferiority complex.

At 825 feet long, the unnamed fountain will be 25% larger than the Bellagio fountain. Powering the fountain will be pumps capable of shooting columns of water approximately 450 or so feet into the dry Middle Eastern air. A light and sound show produced by a network of 6,600 lights and 50 projectors will illuminate the burgeoning Dubai skyline at night. About 22,000 gallons of water are expected to cycle through the fountain at any given time when it is completed in 2009. Now, if you'll excuse me, nature calls.[Luxury Launches]

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New report says SSDs are, in fact, more efficient

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/328256097/

Filed under: Storage

So LAPTOP magazine published a report confirming what most people already believe to be true about SSDs (that is, before last week when SSDs supposedly hit the fan): they use less power than traditional drives. Apparently they got up to 20 minutes more battery life when testing an SSD against a platter-based drive in an Eee PC and Gateway T-6828 (which jibes with our own experiences using SSDs in laptops), but if you ask us, the discussion seems a little moot. SSDs perform way faster and are far better suited to portable computing where drives are moved, bumped, and jostled -- the power savings is great, but the speed and reliability are still our top two reasons for going SSD.

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