Sunday, July 1, 2007

Jet Packs On Sale

Now, Mexican start-up Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM) offers its custom-built TAM Rocket Belt (left) for $250,000, which includes flight and maintenance training. On a full tank of hydrogen peroxide the belt weighs 124 to 139 pounds, and provides 30 seconds of flight. TAM's sole competitor is Jetpack Inter­national, a Colorado-based company that sells what it calls "the world's longest-flying jet pack. The hydrogen-peroxide-burning Jet Pack H202 (right) can stay in the air for 33 seconds, 3 seconds longer than TAM's model. The H202 weighs 139 pounds, and is competitively priced at $155,000, flight classes and all.

Jetpack International founder Troy Widgery plans to release the T73 Turbine by the end of the year; it's a $200,000 model that will burn jet fuel, allowing it to stay airborne for 19 minutes. Not to be outdone, TAM is working on a propane-burning jet belt, though it hasn't said when it will be available. While swapping inert hydrogen peroxide for propane or Jet-A fuel has obvious drawbacks, jet belts would be, for many, a childhood dream come true.

Source : PopularMechanics

Faster way to download iTunes

Privately held Swarmcast, which specializes in streaming video over Web connections, on Tuesday unveiled a new application to accelerate video downloads from Apple Inc.'s popular iTunes store.

Swarmcast said its technology can help a viewer download movies, music or television episodes to their computers up to 10 times faster than usual. Such technologies are viewed as key to help Internet media proliferate, by making it easier for viewers to access entertainment off the Internet.

Swarmcast's technology, called the Autobahn Accelerator for iTunes, uses what it calls multi-source streaming. Many downloads rely on a single computer server to deliver information over a network, raising the likelihood of delays, while this application pulls video from several servers simultaneously.

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