When you spend all of your workday bloggin' it's easy to lose sight of the fact that some folks don't have access to basic utilities, or HDTV, or -- the horror! -- the Internet itself. In the time-honored tradition of Hippies and earnest seekers alike, Google has headed to rural India, where it will be focusing its philanthropic endeavors (or perhaps its shrewd marketing endeavors) for the next month and a half. The company's Internet bus will roll through towns in the state of Tamil Nadu, providing connectivity via satellite, and content and instruction in both English and Tamil to people whose only previous exposure to the online world (if any) has been via cell phone or cyber cafe. This is all part of a broader scheme to expand into the Indian countryside, and if the trip is a success more are sure to follow. The company's services already include transliteration, news, bidirectional machine translation, and soft keyboards for a number of Indian languages, and a host of kick-ass Ravi Shankar tunes now available on Google Video.

Those 45 to 90 minutes you spend stuck in traffic each day, inhaling noxious fumes and watching your paycheck dwindle in the form of consumed gasoline, are about to get a lot more nightmarish should you choose to ride this. Though the origin of these images are unknown, we're assuming they were snapped somewhere in Asia (or the ninth circle of Hades); essentially, this here public transportation option enables riders to login via a connected PC and get to work before work technically begins. Of course, we've all ideas most riders just fire up Quake III and get a little LAN action going, but seriously, what kind of torturous mind thought this up? Ever heard of telecommuting?

Update: Seems these buses are all about bringing technology to rural areas that might not otherwise have access. Killer!

Okay Britons, here's your shot at ripping us Americans who've had quite a few laughs at the expense of your GPS-loving neighbors. Reportedly, the driver of a charter bus carrying a high school girls' softball team decided to casually follow the soothing turn-by-turn directions that were being emitted from the nearby GPS unit rather than actually noticing the enormous clearance sign on the overpass ahead. As you can likely guess, the 11-foot, 8-inch-high vehicle plowed right into the 9-foot bridge -- which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 -- though somehow everyone on board escaped without any major injuries. Oddly enough, the driver apparently isn't alone in chipping away at the landmark, as a local even mentioned that "large trucks hit the bridge every two weeks or so," but couldn't resist noting that "this [instance was] by far the worst."

[Thanks, Raleigh]

Finally things are starting to get a little more futuristic around here. Beginning next Monday, bus riders in San Francisco will get a chance to hop at least one ride that will take them to the Columbus stop, Van Ness stop... and the World of Tomorrow. Thanks to the combined effort of SF's Muni and Cisco, the "Connected Bus" will be hauling around free WiFi and touchscreen maps on its walls (which will also carry updated connecting transit information). Sure, it's no citywide wireless coverage, but combined with the BART train WiFi rollout, it's certainly a start. Cisco tested the bus with 15 riders checking email and downloading music and movies on laptops, and say that the signal was "strong and uninterrupted," though they admit they haven't tested the system during a 15-player fragfest. Anyone up for a ride?

[Thanks, Paul in SF]

Japan's world's fastest maglev train may still be quite a few years away from becoming a reality, but it looks like the country can now brag about another slightly smaller but similarly contactless vehicle, with a new suitably futuristic bus now making its debut at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. As if that bit of technology wasn't enough, the bus is also a hybrid vehicle, and promises a sixty percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to those old 20th century-style buses. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of other details at the moment (and what is available is subject to the wonders of machine translation), but it looks like the first bus is already in service, and covering a 4.2 kilometer area around the airport.

[Thanks, kaztm]

Not long after hearing about England's newfangled auto-ticketing system comes word that San Franciscans could soon be facing something similar. If signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, "forward-facing digital video cameras would be installed on city buses," which would then be used to automatically ticket the owners of vehicles that are caught "blocking buses." The cameras would presumably be used to photograph vehicles that are in bus-only lanes, and interestingly enough, the proposed law also authorizes Municipal Transportation Agency "employees to access sensitive personal data" from the DMV for ticketing purposes.

From a kid's perspective, we're sure they'd much rather be cruising on the iPod-equipped bus than a vanilla version that gets significantly better mileage, but regardless, a Tampa Bay school will become the first to receive a pair of hybrid buses to shuttle students around while saving between 70 and 100-percent in fuel costs. The vehicles can be fully charged in around six hours, and while the aforementioned improvements are only so drastic for the first "50 miles or so," it's certainly not a bad start. 'Course, school district officials are hoping that fuel savings will eventually lead to more money for classroom improvements, but we reckon it'll be quite some time before the savings on fuel overtakes the up front cost of these (presumably pricey) machines. Click on for a peek at the video.

[Via AutoblogGreen]

We've seen our fair share of far-out iPod docks, but Mike Leavitt's latest go at creating a piece of functional art makes us yearn to bust out the tie-dyed bandannas and throw a Scooby-Doo marathon bash. The Art Army Van is a modified plastic Mystery Machine toy, which now includes a modernized paint scheme, removable rear CD rack, passenger seat-mounted speaker, and the obligatory iPod jack in the captain's chair. The wheeled machine comes in at 10- x 6- x 6-inches in size, and while we're not entirely confident that such a masterpiece is worthy of a whole $200, we can't deny the temptation to snap one up. Click through to see this groove rider in action.

These days, it really takes something special to catch to eye of the desensitized market, and Nokia's shifting the focus back to the consumer with its lighthearted touchscreen game at a London bus stop. The interactive advertisement requests that the player flip the pockets in order to find matches, but it also insinuates that the sleek Nokia N95 smartphone is just too slim and inconspicuous to readily pick out. Of course, we highly doubt it's all that difficult to spot after a flip or two, but the idea here is novel nonetheless. If nothing else, it sure breaks up the boredom (or frustration) felt whilst waiting on the next bus, so be sure to click on through for a video of the thing so you'll know it when you cross it.

[Via FreshCreation]

If you thought taking a ride on the GamerBUS was a thrill, this one will really make you long to be a youngster in Arkansas again. Reportedly, the Sheridan school district is launching the Aspirnaut Initiative to bring laptops, iPods, and wireless internet right onto Bus 46, and amazingly, they expect kids to actually glean knowledge rather than hit up a round or two of Counter-Strike. The project hopes to make the unbelievably long (three hours, to be exact) commute that some rural students face a bit less boring and a tad more educational, as students will have access to informational podcasts and web-based learning modules whilst cruising on home. Interestingly, the three-year pilot project will not give students class credit for their extra effort initially, but for brainiacs who stick with the program, they'll purportedly be keeping the goods for themselves once the trial run concludes.

[Via ArsTechnica]

Yeah, we know, we all scream for ice cream, but the Scoop startup is looking to add a dash of glitz, glamor, and flashing lights to the traditional ice cream truck biz, which is admittedly overdue for a refresh. The UK-based endeavor will be hitting the streets with Mystery Machine-esque vans that sport a bright flashing spoon atop the roof, chalk-written phrases on the paneling, and hot orange rims to boot. The idea, which took home the gold in CPB's "Blue Sky" competition, stands out from the trucks of yesteryear by handing out branded spoons and delivering delightful flavors in Chinese take-out boxes (pictured after the jump), somewhat catering to adults as well as sugar-craving kiddos. Sure, this may not be a 100 miles-per-hour thrill wagon, nor a Xbox 360-packed rental bus, but it definitely holds it own in the (flashy) "meals on wheels" category.

[Via CNET]

If you're incensed about wasting your weekend (and part of last week) cruising around in futility trying to locate a Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii, the GamerBUS can provide the ultimate painkiller -- provided you live around the Virginia Beach area, that is. If you've got 63 friends or so, and you're not claustrophobic, you can pack your posse into the 37-foot customized RV and get your game(s) on. Sporting a bevy of comfortable seating options, sixteen Xbox 360 "gamer stations" (pictured after the jump) with their own 23-inch Philips HDTV, and all the CAT5 cable / electricity you could ever need, this redefines the party on wheels. Essentially offering a mobile gaming LAN, the bus operators will gladly wire up a 16-person system-linked round of Halo 2 (or a variety of other titles) while you provide the Cheetos and air fresheners. Although weekday hours boast an understandable discount, weekend rates range from $125 to $150 per hour, depending on how long you occupy the vehicle. Notably, no connection has been drawn between this newfangled gaming service and the Va Beach entrepreneur trickster hitting it big on vulnerable ATMs.

[Via Digg]

Public transport in the San Francisco Bay Area is to join the 21st Century now that AC Transit, one of the transit authorities in the region, is about to start testing WiFi on a fleet of 79 buses. The service will be free for riders (and freeloading WiFi addicts in following cars), and is due for a full rollout in mid-fall. The bus routes taking part in the test phase travel along three of the longest bridges in the area (the Dumbarton, San Mateo and Bay), which is intentional: having WiFi on longer routes makes it easier for passengers to justify getting out and booting up their laptop. The idea behind the scheme is to offer a competitive advantage for buses over other forms of transportation, but there are still a few questions about the concept of WiFi-enabled buses that this test may be able to answer. Number one on our list is "will passengers be willing to use their laptops on buses?" There's a glaringly obvious security concern here: you're asking to be mugged if you're happy with pulling out your prized laptop on a city bus. The other pertinent issue is priorities. For most commuters, having a reliable and comfortable service will always be more important than internet access. Finally, it appears that the program will be completely separate from the GooLink partnership that will eventually bring WiFi to the entire city. Joining up with the aforementioned scheme is certainly an avenue that the transit authority should look down, preferably before the state of California plunks down $340,000 of funding on the Bus-Fi scheme.

[Via WNN]