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Missouri wants to bring Hyperloop to the midwest
The state of Missouri has signed a deal with Virgin Hyperloop One to investigate if it's worth building a high-speed link between three of its biggest cities. A team of interested parties will examine the feasibility of constructing a route between Kansas City, Columbia and St Louis, parallel to I-70. That will include looking at the engineering challenges, as well as the potential economic benefits of such a route.
A hyperloop route may zip between Kansas City and St. Louis
The earliest hyperloop routes might not be limited to wealthy tech havens like California or the UAE. Missouri officials and Hyperloop One are seriously exploring the possibility of a hyperloop route that would run between Kansas City and St. Louis. In theory, the pod-based system would shuttle you between the cities in under half an hour, instead of the nearly 4 hours it takes by car -- you could commute from one end of the state to the other for work.
Cubs fan uses jukebox app to troll St Louis fans
In the hours ahead of the decisive game four for the NLDS, a Cubs fan who goes by Clue Heywood on Twitter, and lives in Arizona, pranked Cardinals fans. Hoowee, he pranked them hard. Using a jukebox app, the kind that let you pick a song from the bar's Whurlitzer, he plunked down $50 worth of "Go Cubs Go" by Steve Goodman at various bars throughout the St. Louis area.
Uber pushes for rule changes by using drivers as mail couriers
Uber is no stranger to using grassroots campaigns to push for pro-ridesharing regulation, but it just took things one step further: it's turning its app into a political activism tool. If you live in St. Louis, you now have an UberLetters option that sends old-school paper mail to the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission in hopes that it will allow the lower-cost UberX tier in the city. Once you've written your plea, you hail an Uber car that drops it off for free. It's an unusual move that will only last for a day (you have until 4PM on July 7th to act), but the company argues that these makeshift couriers are virtually necessary. The MTC only accepts public comments through fax or physical mail, so Uber couldn't just ask supporters to email their feedback.
Apple Stores: St. Louis pictures, Chicago opening
TUAW reader Justin W. went to the grand (re-)opening of the (larger) Apple Store in the St. Louis Galleria mall this past weekend, and he's shared some pictures of the event over on Flickr for us. As you can see, it looks like things were hopping, with plenty of blue-shirted employees overseeing a nice tide of customers. There were also some t-shirts passed out, and Justin says he picked up a few bumper cases as well. Thanks for sending those in photos, Justin! If you're in Chicago, it looks like there's another opening going on up there this weekend. The Apple Store at North and Clybourn (this is the same one that cost Apple $4 million to renovate the El stop on that corner) will finally open this Saturday, October 23rd. The grand opening will be held at 10am, and I bet it'll be an exciting one -- any new products put on sale for the event Wednesday will probably be on display front and center this weekend. As usual, if you go, be sure to take pictures and tell us how it went!
New Apple Store opening in the St. Louis Galleria this weekend
This weekend Apple will open up its 305th retail store in the St. Louis Galleria mall, right there at Brentwood and 40-64 (which I heard finally finished construction recently). Saturday is day one, and the store should be open at 9am, so if you want to be around for the festivities (including the t-shirts and the hoopla), make plans for this Saturday morning. I'm kind of surprised the Galleria didn't have an Apple Store yet -- the only other one in St. Louis is down at the West County Mall, but I'd have expected to see one in Chesterfield, or maybe out in St. Charles somewhere. The Galleria is a good choice, though -- upscale and central, exactly where Apple wants to be. As always, if you head out to the opening and take pictures, be sure to send them along to us, we'd love to see them. Update: Oh, well that shows how long it's been since I've visited St. Louis. There is a store in the Galleria already, but according to our commenters, it's a mini-store, and this opening on Saturday will be a full retail opening in another location in the mall. So there you go -- still an opening, but not completely new. That explains my confusion -- I thought the Galleria would have had a store by now, and it did.
Boeing's unmanned Phantom Ray makes dramatic video debut, set to take off this December
The big new trend among wargadget makers seems to be the elimination of the fleshy operator, and we're seeing it happening with helicopters, boats, and even space shuttles. The Phantom Ray is Boeing's take on how we can do the same to jet fighters, and it's had its official unveiling in St. Louis this week. Primarily intended to serve as a reconnaissance and intelligence drone, this 36 foot-long airborne robot will be able to cruise at speeds of up to 614mph, and will even do a bit of suppression fire when you need it to. It's designed to be undetectable by radar and offers a minimal heat signature for missiles to lock on to, as its engine is buried deep within the body. Sounds ominous indeed, but the Phantom Ray will serve as the testbed for even more advanced technologies and will take its first flight in December of this year. See its grand debut on video after the break.
HD shortages: They're not just for Europe anymore
We've heard quite a bit about how shortages may prevent European soccer football (whatever) fans from checking out the World Cup in high definition, but what about HDTV owners in the good ol' U.S. of A? This article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch details the problems some are having getting hold of high definition cable boxes, and according to cable company representatives, such shortages are common across the country.Tis a shame that in this land of plenty, some are still being forced to go without. As you enjoy your 1080i, 720p or otherwise this Good Friday remember those who are forced to get by on 480i, the children who are being (bit)starved and the ignorant (up)converted masses. Something must be done.
Does Charter do DVI?
HD Beat reader Chris wrote us about a problem he is having trying to connect his cable box via DVI, and found that it was not enabled."Just thought i would send a little experience your way tonight. I just spent half an hour on the phone with charter cable. I have all my services through them and through the 8 months we have had service with them, they have been great. Until today. I just ordered a DVI cable and received it. My wife and I get home to hook it up, snuggle and bask in the DVI HD glory in our home. But wait, it isn't working. What??!?!? that isn't right it wouldn't work. I contacted charter for a little assistance and they tell me that the DVI option is locked out on all the boxes because no one uses them. How the hell do they know that? They don't give anyone a chance to try it out! I spoke with several folks about this because i was ticked. I love HD. with the component cable hooked up, but I was just plain excited with the idea of hooking it up with DVI and now Charter has shot it down. Charter claims they have to pay a third party to unlock that feature on the box. what a crock! After searching the web, it turns out other folks have run into this also!"Chris is in the St. Louis area and has a Motorola BMC9012 Moxi DVR. This review of the box noted that several featues (including DVI) are disabled, but an update provided that capability if your provider chooses to enable it. This thread on AVS Forums provides some more insight, hopefully the update will be rolled out soon. Any other HD Beat readers run into a similar situation with their cable provider or know of a way to get that perfectly good digital output working?
