Disc-Shaped Balloon Could Transport Whole Buildings To Remote Areas

Australian aeronautical firm Skylifter has come up with a better way to transport heavy equipment to remote areas that are beyond the reach of railways, roads and runways – a flying saucer.

This 150 meter-wide disc shaped balloon would be capable of carrying 150 tons, an increase of 700 percent from the maximum 20 tons able to be lifted by existing heavy transport helicopters. Its design provides for more stability – with its flatter profile, it acts less like a sail, making it less susceptible to winds during flights of up to 1240 miles. The disc also behaves as a parachute during descent, ensuring a gentle landing, while the low-hanging control pod keeps it from being too top-heavy.
Skylifter has already built a miniature remote-control version of the disc, named Betty. At three meters across, Betty is capable of carrying slightly more than half a kilo, but her primary function is to show how the design functions. The firm plans to build a full-sized prototype of the balloon over the next three years. If all goes well, before long, Skylifter’s flying saucer could be delivering whole buildings to remote locations, or just acting as a flying hotel.

Surprise- Avaya Joins the War of Tablets

A new Surprise competitor joins the War of Tablets & iPads...Its Avaya this time..Yes, its Avaya..the same phone company thats manufactures your office phones.

Avaya's not a name you generally hear when circling the consumer electronics water cooler, and even though it just introduced a new tablet, you still won't ever see this guy in Target, Best Buy or Walmart. Expected to cost between $1,500 and $2,000, this 11.5-inch enterprise tablet is designed primarily to be used at a cubicle, doubling as a SIP phone and tripling as an office collaboration tool. Dubbed a 'Polycom killer' more than an iPad killer, this unit relies on Aura 6.0 and the newly designed Flare user interface (detailed in the video past the break), which enables touchscreen operation and supports multi-user video calling, email, web browsing and support for Android applications. Specs wise, it's 'slightly thicker than an iPad,' has a trio of USB 2.0 ports, inbuilt WiFi, 3G / 4G WWAN support and an integrated battery for those days when you simply have to clock in from the comfort of Venice Beach. Hit that More Coverage link for a live report at the device's unveiling, and feel free to start hassling your manager to order up a few dozen of these. Or use that money for office-wide raises -- whatever floats your boat.

Avaya intros business-oriented A175 tablet, shows off Flare user interface originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 03:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.