360 DEGREES Weblog

Aston Martin, the car of choice for both secret agents and the rich and famous. But we suspect neither will be beating down the showroom door for the Aston Martin Cygnet - although they will be the only people entitled to buy one.

The Cygnet is Aston Martin’s take on the city car. Or rather, it’s Aston’s take on an existing one, specifically the Toyota iQ, with the Japanese car giant building the thing, then sending it over to Aston Martin for the ‘glam’. Which leaves you with a reliable, economical car with all the refinements of a high-end Aston. Well, almost - a stumpy city car really isn’t going to impress your fellow spies in Cannes, Aston badge or not. Oh my God how to ruin a brand!

Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal was indeed taped, apparently in multi-track audio, with many cameras and in high def.

Of the rehearsal The Wrap writes:  “The rehearsal, which went on for several hours, included dancers, musicians and aerial performers. Three people close to the production said it had been captured by multiple cameras, and the audio digitally recorded in a manner that could be used to produce a surround-sound DVD and audio products.

The show — which was to kick off of a 50-concert series at London’s 02 arena — was planned as a spectacular performance. At one point, Jackson was suspended on a crane; at another, there was a 3D view of “Thriller”-style haunted mansion, that required the audience to put on special glasses.”

While concert promoter AEG is not commenting just yet, they are releasing images and the buzz about a possible album and extended video is growing.

It runs on Nickel Cadmium batteries that power a 15hp brushless motor, taking it all the way to 45mph, and has mechanical brakes on the front wheels for added craziness. So that’s real green driving!

Motorists can get a dab at being a spy with this fake car key spy camera. Onlookers would thing that a person is just walking around with the car key, but in reality, someone could be capturing 640 x 480 video at 29fps, or 1280 x 960 images. There’s 2 GB of memory to work well for your covert spy operations. But remember the key is fake, and the moment you take out the “real” car keys, the cover is busted. Split and Run. This incredibly pointless Fake Car Key Security Spy Camera can be yours for $66.

In an interesting move, Dom Perignon, one of the world’s most esteemed champagne houses, is offering the wine connoisseurs a wonderful chance to taste its two exceptional wines side by side. Dom Perignon’s Twin Set includes the Vintage 1995 and the Oenothèque 1995. Recently, Richard Geoffroy, the chef de cave for Dom Perignon, showcased the special vintage, the Oenothèque 1995, at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. The 1995 vintage was first released in 2002, and is bottled once again. Richard Geoffroy said, “It’s like putting a magnifying lens on top of it”. The twin set brings the 7-year-old original and the 13-year-old fraternal twin together. While the Dom Vintage 1995 has flavors of golden honey, marzipan and wet straw, the Oenothèque 1995 boasts hints of mineral, oyster shell, seaweed, iodine, toast, smoke and peat. The Dom Perignon’s Twin Set is available for $550 at Crush Wine and Spirits.

While the free-market works pretty well when, uh, left alone to be free, sometimes it needs a push from a visible hand. Case in point, phone chargers; at the moment some 30 different types of chargers are used with handsets throughout Europe. Today, the European Commission received industry backing of its phone charger standard that relies on a micro-USB socket. The standard is now backed by all the majors (representing 90% of the European mobile market) including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments with compatible devices starting to appear in Europe next year. Or course, the micro-USB charger standard already has the blessings of CTIA, OMTP, and GSM Association which implies a broader adoption beyond Europe, someday

We Make Books

We Make Stories is a unique suite of digital tools for children to create, print and share a variety of innovative story forms. Members will be able to create pop-up books, customise audiobooks, design their own comics, produce exciting treasure maps and learn how to create a variety of entertaining adventures. The site has been developed with a group of interaction designers and is aimed at 6-11 year olds.
Jason Bradbury, author of Dot Robot and presenter of the Gadget Show has played with the site and says; “I am constantly playing with technology and stories - this site brings the two together in a blissfully easy to use and engrossing interface.” Membership of the site will cost £5.99/$9.99 for individuals and £49.99/$74.99 for a schools licence (up to 15 users).

The PhD project of a Brazilian design student at London’s Royal College of Art offers expecting mothers the chance to hold a life-sized representation of their unborn child. Jorge Lopes’ technique makes use of MRI and ultrasound scans and uses rapid prototyping technology to turn them into physical models.

In Dr. Lopes’ own words:

It’s amazing to see the faces of the mothers. They can see the full scale of their baby, really understand the size of it.

iPhones and iPods can be great for watching videos, but only if a single person is trying to view them. However, if you’re wanting to show something to a group of people, you’re not going to want them to crowd around your tiny screen are you? Well later this year you’ll be able to pull out a small accessory that will make your videos large enough to be viewed by all.

The Mili Pro LED projector is a cool little dock for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Just slide your iPhone into place and it will project an image roughly equivalent to a 40-inch TV. The picture will be displayed at 640 x 480, which isn’t going blow your mind with its clarity, but it will get the job done. Having something this small that hooks up to your iPhone/iPod Touch (or any other device using VGA or RGA connectors) would certainly be appealing for the business types giving presentations, or anyone else just wanting to show off video on a bigger scale. Look for this in September for around $300.

The Cooler Master SNA95 is a 95W universal laptop power supply. It can run on anything from 100V to 240V and comes equipped with 9 different tips. The makers claim it fits approximately 90% of the world’s laptops and it even has a USB port so you can charge USB gadgets without nicking precious ports on your laptop.

It comes with an H shaped cable reel that also gets the power supply up off the bench to improve cooling. Prices are around US$70.