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World's longest aircraft retires to make way for production models
The world's longest aircraft has been sidelined... although that's not necessarily a bad thing. Hybrid Air Vehicles has decided against rebuilding its record-setting Airlander 10 prototype. The company will instead use its resources to create the "first batch" of production-grade Airlander 10s, CEO Stephen McGlennan said. The experimental vehicle provided the data necessary for future development, the executive added, leaving no reason to put it back in the skies.
Sergey Brin’s secret airship will deliver aid and schlep his family
Last month, news dropped that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is building an airship on the sly -- not a traditional airplane but an honest-to-god helium-filled dirigible. He insisted the project wasn't operating under the tech titan, even as his fellow co-founder backed a "flying car," it wasn't clear what Brin would be doing with the world's largest current aircraft. Now, details are starting to come out: Apparently, the zeppelin will split its time between delivering humanitarian supplies to remote locations and serving as a luxurious "air yacht" for Brin's friends and family.
Bloomberg: Google co-founder Sergey Brin has a 'secret airship'
A couple of days ago we got a good look at a "flying car" backed by Google's Larry Page, and now Bloomberg reports that Sergey Brin has a project too -- it's a zeppelin. The airship "which isn't an Alphabet project" is being built in a leased hangar at the NASA Ames Research Center, although it's unclear if there are any plans to make a business out of it. The report points to former NASA director Alan Weston as leader of the project, citing a radio interview where he described a helium-filled (it's actually flame-retardant) vehicle for cargo hauling and a LinkedIn profile that momentarily listed him as CEO of "Ltare."
ICYMI: This power tool might save you from yourself
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Shaper's Origin is designed to use augmented reality and an on-screen display to guide you through cutting wood pieces. And Australian National University researchers developed the most efficient solar receiver in the world. The chopstick piano video is here and the airship crashing in what looks like slo-mo; here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Longest-ever aircraft takes damage in second flight
The future of air travel may have to wait a while. Airlander 10, Hybrid Air Vehicles' cross between an airplane and airship, suffered damage at the end of its second test flight. The longest-ever aircraft wrecked its cockpit when it nosedived on landing. HAV reports that the crew is "safe and well," thankfully, but it's not clear how long this will delay the Airlander program. The company tells the BBC that it's waiting on the results of a debriefing before it provides more details.
World's longest aircraft takes its first flight
That aircraft you see above may look more than a little odd, but it just made history... and it might be the future of flight. Hybrid Air Vehicles has successfully flown the Airlander 10, a long-endurance airplane/airship hybrid billed as the longest aircraft ever at 302ft end to end. It was just a short, minutes-long trip around the countryside in UK's Bedfordshire, but it showed that the massive (if more than a little posterior-like) design is airworthy.
Check out Lockheed Martin's robotic blimp inspector
Lockheed Martin's hybrid airships are as big as a football field, and it's a huge challenge making sure their surfaces are don't have tiny pinholes in them. That's why the company developed a robot called Self-Propelled Instrument for Damage Evaluation and Repair or SPIDER to crawl on the vehicle's surface and conduct autonomous inspections. The aerospace corporation developed SPIDER under its top secret Skunk Works division, which was also responsible for making its helium-filled hybrid blimps. It's composed of two magnetic parts that snap together: one goes outside the blimp's envelope (or its surface, which is made of special balloon fabric) and the other goes inside.
Dungeons & Dragons Online launches Update 22
Are you ready to buckle your swash? Has your swash been buckled in anticipation? Do you own a variety of buckles and swashes? Because Dungeons & Dragons Online has just released Update 22 onto the live servers, and that means that Bards will have plenty of buckleswashing to do with the addition of the Swashbuckler enhancement line! Dance, parry, crack horrible puns, and stab at people while still retaining all of the usual song-based mechanics of Bards. It's free for everyone! Update 22 also includes an epic-level upgrade to Three Barrel Cove, perfectly complementing the newly swacklebushing methods of Bards. There are also major improvements to guild levels and guild airships, allowing guilds to hit level 200 while sporting new and improved facilities on new and improved airships. And there's new stuff in the cash shop, too, giving DDO players plenty to do if they ever tire of the interactions of swashes and buckles.
Goodyear's first new blimp design in 45 years... isn't actually a blimp
For 45 years, Goodyear has been using the same ole model for its Blimp fleet, famous for flashing ads in the skies and taking aerial shots of big events. Now, the tire company has finally launched the first dirigible in its next-generation fleet, and it's not even a blimp anymore -- it's a zeppelin. Considering blimp technology's remained largely the same all this time (imagine, the last time Goodyear bothered with a new design was when Apollo 11 landed on the moon), the switch is certainly understandable. This model (called Zeppelin NT) is capable of vertical take off and landing, and is larger and faster than the company's current airships, thanks to its three movable engines. Unlike traditional zeppelins with rigid structures, though, it's more of a zeppelin-blimp hybrid, as it relies both on internal pressure and a frame to maintain its shape.
PAX Prime 2013: Guns of Icarus Online's new Adventure mode, features, and PS4 version
Guns of Icarus' Online's concept of crewing airships in a steampunk future might be a little strange at first, but it's something that Muse Games is really passionate about. I linked up with founder Howard Tsao yesterday at PAX Prime to talk about the game's upcoming Adventure Mode, which will add new context to battles over the unfriendly skies. The new online mode won't replace Guns of Icarus' current lobby-based multiplayer mode, but it will add new content, including missions and factions to provide a backdrop for actions in the game's steampunk world.
Guns of Icarus adds new ship, upgrades chat and more
Now might be a good time to check in with Guns of Icarus Online if you're fond of steampunk airships or blowing them out of the sky. Muse Games' buy-to-play title recently updated to version 1.3 of its client, which adds a new ship type, a new gun, and plenty of upgrades to the game. The new ship is called the Mobula, and Muse says that it's ideal for both standoffs and pursuit. "Of course, this comes at a price," the company's press release says. "Its slow turning speed makes it vulnerable to flanking maneuvers, and its repair points are tucked away inside the hull." Also new this patch is the ability to form parties, assemble crews prior to entering a match, and a "bigger, better, faster, stronger" chat system. Various other systems have been tweaked, and we highly recommend visiting the official website to find out how.
Airships arrive in SimCity
The world's most whimsically impractical mode of transportation (read: airships) is now available to SimCity mayors willing to part with about $9. This means that Goodyear tire enthusiasts and steampunk aficionados alike can now bond even more deeply over their shared love of lighter-than-air travel, provided they've already bonded over their shared love of city-building games. Look, we're still working on this fanfic. The Airships Set, available on Origin for $8.99, includes an "Airship Hanger" for receiving/removing tourists, a "Commuter Airship Mooring" for local metropolitan commuters, two hot air balloon parks and "Event blimps" that appear during sporting events and the like. The set also includes two achievements, neither of which involve declaring the relative humanity of something, at least as far as we know.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Guns of Icarus Online
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, Howard Tsao, founder of Muse Games, talks semi-MMO, steampunk, co-op airship battles with Guns of Icarus Online. What's your game called and what's it about?Our game is called Guns of Icarus Online. It's a multiplayer airship-to-airship combat game where you battle it out in the skies on customizable ships with your friends and against other players, all set in a steampunk- and dieselpunk-inspired post-apocalyptic wasteland. Imagine if World War I never really ended; that's where we're at.How does Guns of Icarus Online continue the narrative and gameplay of Guns of Icarus?In the original game Guns of Icarus, you take on the role of Gabriel, who is basically an early pioneer of airship flight centuries after the Great War has laid waste to civilization. He builds his own airship out of scavenged parts and goes traveling across this hardscrabble post-apocalyptic landscape, visiting scattered settlements and fighting off sky pirates the whole way. Even though he doesn't survive the voyage, his doomed flight is an inspiration to the people he encounters, a brush of contact with the wider world and a sign of hope that things can get better.Guns of Icarus Online takes place almost 100 years later, when Gabriel has become a legendary, almost mythic figure. With the rapid development of airship flight in the intervening years, the once-isolated towns have come into much closer contact, bringing both trade and warfare. It's a time of unprecedented prosperity, but also renewed conflict. In Guns of Icarus Online you are one of this new class of aeronauts, young men and women who have left their hometowns behind and signed up to serve aboard one of these airships in search of glory and adventure, seeking your fortune in the skies.%Gallery-178189%
Flying Fortress Lego blimp lords over us with a Mindstorms-based iron fist (video)
Most Lego Mindstorms constructions have never slipped the surly bonds of Earth. The Flying Fortress Lego Blimp from Tyler Westmoreland and Chris Shepard won't be similarly held down, however. Courtesy of two NXTBee wireless adapters, Tyler and Chris can fly the Mindstorms NXT-driven airship using a remote control and adjustable propellers. There's no secret tricks involved, as everything is an off-the-shelf part that anyone can find, including the 55-inch helium balloons. We have proof: Tyler has shared the source code for both the blimp and the controller, so anyone with the resources can recreate the Flying Fortress for themselves. While the thought of homemade drone blimps looming overhead is slightly disconcerting, we'll steel our resolve when it means that most any enterprising builder can take Lego airborne. [Thanks, @frankiebit]
Guns of Icarus Online soars to October 29 launch, pre-order now
Guns of Icarus Online, also known as That Video Game Where You Shoot Things From A Steampunk Dirigible, launches on October 29 and is available now for pre-order on Steam, for PC and Mac.Guns of Icarus Online is on sale during the pre-order frenzy, selling at 25 percent off for the standard edition, at $15. The Collectors Edition is 24 percent off, for $25, and includes the Captain's Costume Pack and the soundtrack. A Collectors Edition four-pack is also 24 percent off, for $35. Since Guns of Icarus Online is a team-based multiplayer game (on steampunk dirigibles, did we mention?), the four-pack is good for bullying friends into playing with you.All pre-orders provide instant access to the beta. Get flying, folks.%Gallery-166178%
US Army's LEMV spy blimp spotted hovering over New Jersey, may take up cargo duties (video)
The US Army's not-so-secret Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) spy blimp is better at staying hidden than we thought... if unintentionally. Although it was due to fly the friendly skies of Lakehurst, New Jersey in mid-June, Northrop Grumman's usually unmanned surveillance was only just caught floating over the Jersey Shore as part of a maiden flight on August 8th. The conspicuous, delayed test run proved that the LEMV could take off, steer and land smoothly, and started a series of exercises that should culminate in combat trials over Afghanistan at the start of 2013. Northrop's KC Brown Jr. tells Wired that there's a possible (if purely coincidental) consolation for missing another deadline -- the airship could be used in a pinch for carrying as much as seven tons of supplies without getting into harm's way, albeit at a fairly glacial 30MPH. The successful first flight won't be much consolation to Mav6, whose Blue Devil 2 was scuttled at the last minute after technical issues; it's nonetheless a relief for US troops, who may get weeks at a time of constant intelligence on enemy movements. Catch a short snippet of the early LEMV journey after the break.
Army spy blimp to launch within weeks: 300 feet long, $500 million, 'multi-intelligent'
It can't go faster than 34MPH and it's already a year late for its planned deployment in Afghanistan, but Northrop Grumman's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) is now set for its maiden flight. The test run is scheduled for sometime between June 6th and 10th over Lakehurst, New Jersey, whose residents ought to be forewarned that it is not a solar eclipse or a Death Star, but simply a helium-filled pilotless reconnaissance and communications airship that happens to be the size of a football field. After floating around for a while, the giant dirigible is expected to journey south to Florida, where it'll be fitted to a custom-built gondola that will carry the bulk of its equipment, and by which time her enemies hopefully won't have come into possession of an air force.
PAX East 2012: Guns of Icarus announces closed beta, details adventure mode
STEAMPUNK! AHH! OK, now that that's out of my system, let's talk Guns of Icarus Online. This morning, I had the pleasure of meeting with some of the folks from Muse Games at PAX East to talk about the studio's upcoming steampunk-airship-battling title. The title is still in alpha testing, though it will be springing into the early stages of closed beta at some point in the next couple of weeks. At launch, the title will be focused on competitive, match-made PvP matches a la first-person-shooters. But this is Massively, so let's talk MMOs. Strictly speaking, I'd have to say Guns of Icarus Online isn't one -- at least not yet. After the initial match-based "skirmish" mode of the game is released, the studio will continue to support it by slowly adding in "adventure" mode features. Adventure mode is more akin to a traditional MMO in that it provide a more open world for players to navigate and explore, tradeskill and economy systems, missions, towns, and settlements, all within a persistent world. While it remains to be seen whether the game will ultimately become a "true" MMO, this stylish foray into the steampunk/dieselpunk genres is definitely one to watch. Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of April 6-8, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2012. Whether you're dying to know more about TERA or PlanetSide 2 or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
DIY unmanned airship soars 95,000 feet above Earth, lays claim to new record (video)
Are you entertaining dreams of launching your own private spacecraft? All you need is about 30 grand in your bank account, and lots of spare time. Last weekend, a company called JP Aerospace sent its unmanned Tandem airship 95,085 feet above the ground -- a height that, according to the company, establishes a new record for remotely controlled airships. In fact, JP Aerospace says this altitude is a full four miles higher than any other airship has ever flown. To pull this off, the team strapped its 30-foot-long aircraft with two balloons, and packed it with a pair of electric motors that manipulated the Tandem's specially designed propellers. It's a relatively simple method, and one that didn't exactly break the bank, either. All told, it took about five years and some $30,000 to launch the aircraft, as part of the company's Airship to Orbit project. The long-term goal is to use the Tandem or similar airships as a launch pad for rockets or other interstellar aircraft. No word yet on when that could happen, but you can float past the break for a brief video on the Tandem, coupled with a brief PR.
New ArcheAge clip shows off CBT4 transportation
Starving ArcheAge fans, take heart. With the onset of the game's fourth Korean closed beta test, we'll likely be seeing more news and views from the upcoming fantasy sandpark over the next few weeks. Today's reveal is a two-minute video focusing on the game's mounts, and while there are a couple of clips that we've seen before (notably portions of the hang-gliding footage and the airship shots), there is a whole bunch of new stuff as well. There are the requisite horses, of course, but also some nifty steampunk automated carriage thingamabobs. The video also features some mouth-watering shots of player ships complete with unfurling sails, what appears to be functional rigging, and players climbing masts, turning the ship's wheel, and more. See for yourself after the cut.
