The rather unique Bangkok Motorbike Festival

Welcome to the newsletter for Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for February the 11th, 2013. The rather unique Bangkok Motorbike Festival The Bangkok Motorbike Festival is quite unlike any other motorcycle show on Earth. Held within one of the world's largest shopping centers, the festival spreads a motorcycle show among the upmarket boutiques and cafes. This year, Honda Thailand put the country's burgeoning customization services on display. If you're a motorcycle enthusiast, it's worth a look. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile The best jailbreak apps in Cydia The jailbreak community has been churning out iPhone apps since before the App Store existed. Some of those apps even served as – ahem – "inspiration" for Apple-made iOS features (Wi-Fi Sync and MobileNotifier come to mind). But as much as iOS has evolved, Cydia is still a hotbed of innovation. Which of its apps stand out? Let's take a look at the all-time best jailbreak apps. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile W Motors unveils US$3.4 million Lykan Hypersport When Ralph R Debbas founded W Motors in Beirut with Sari El Kahalil in July 2012, he wanted to create the world's most expensive, luxurious, and exclusive car. Well he's made a fair fist of it with the Lykan Hypersport, which has been unveiled at the 2013 Qatar Motor Show. W Motors will limit numbers of the car, which it heralds as "the first Arabian hypercar," to just seven, each priced from US$3.4 million. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile MVRDV's spectral Glass Farm echoes traditional local architecture When I first glimpsed the photos of MVRDV's Glass Farm, I misapprehended it. I assumed I was looking at an ordinary brick building which, in an act of willful capriciousness (you know how architects can be), had been entirely encased in a glass outer shell. The truth, it turns out, is simultaneously more logical and more imaginative. Completed January 17, Glass Farm is a spectral monument to traditional local architecture, and without a brick in sight (not a real one, at least). Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Handheld Black Hornet Nano drones issued to U.K. soldiers Drones have become a valuable asset for any military force in recent years for both combat and surveillance. But while scanning a warzone from miles away is great from a tactical standpoint, unmanned aircraft can be just as useful in the hands of troops on the ground. That's why British soldiers in Afghanistan have been issued several Black Hornet Nanos, a palm-sized UAV that can scout around corners and obstacles for hidden dangers. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Halley VI Antarctic research station opens for business Just over a century after Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition came to a tragic close, Britain's latest and greatest Antarctic Research Station has opened and will become fully operational over the coming weeks. The £25.8 million (US$40.6 million) facility was designed by Hugh Broughton Architects and engineering firm AECOM, and represents a continued commitment from the UK's scientific community to maintain a cutting-edge facility in the region. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Meindl builds a retractable spike system into its winter boots German footwear manufacturer Meindl recently added an innovative solution for winter traction to its line. The metal spikes in the Tecvision Spike System provide traction during the slipperiest winter conditions and quickly retract back into the rubber sole when they're not needed. You can tackle all winter conditions with one pair of boots. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Tentsile unveils Stingray suspended tent UK-based tent manufacturer Tentsile has unveiled an all-new suspended tent, dubbed "Stingray," which the company bills as an ideal combination of hammock and tent. Employing three tree straps, two poles, and a polyester fly sheet, Stingray allows up to four campers to sleep suspended in the air, thus avoiding ground frost and errant rocks – not to mention all those creepy-crawlies which tend to live on the forest floor. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile MOVEO electric scooter folds in two, and looks kind of cool When you hear the term "folding electric scooter," you likely think of a stand-up scooter along the lines of the Zümaround or the MyWay Compact. At best, you might picture something with a bicycle-style saddle and seatpost, such as the Voltitude. MOVEO, however, features a full traditional seat that's mounted directly on the chassis. Although the scooter isn't in production yet, it hopefully will be by next year. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Microsoft Surface Pro vs. MacBook Air In selling the Surface Pro, Microsoft's marketing team has a big challenge. The new tablet is essentially an Ultrabook in a tablet's body. But most customers are going to look at it and think "iPad competitor." We already compared Surface Pro to the iPad, but perhaps a more appropriate comparison is to the MacBook Air. Let's see how their specs – and other features – compare. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile All-terrain DTV Shredder hits the market Those looking procure their own DTV Shredder are in luck. The DTV (Dual Tracked Vehicle) that first crossed our desks in 2010 is now available for purchase. And the price of being able to tear it up over practically any terrain (with the exception of public roads)? US$3,999. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile BMW designs a car to a four year-old's specifications Who says that car makers don't listen to their customers? A reader at Jalopnik asked for help in producing a concept image for a car built to the specifications of his four year-old nephew, Eli – BMW responded with the ride we all secretly wish we owned. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Modernizing the mashrabiya: Smart-skinned Al Bahar Towers near completion Glass-skinned steel-frame skyscrapers have many advantages. They're relatively quick, inexpensive and easy to build and require comparatively few materials. But they pose problems; heat not least among them. Buildings with fully glazed facades are essentially greenhouses, so when the sun comes out, they can get uncomfortably hot. The problem that is more acute in hot climates like that of the United Arab Emirates, where, despite this fact, the appetite for glassy high-rise continues to be voracious. For its design of Al Bahr Towers in Abu Dhabi, Aedas has developed a unique intelligent skin, inspired by the traditional Arabic mashrabiya, that it claims reduces interior heat gains caused by sunlight by around 50 percent. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Homework table caters to messy people with limited space If you're working from home, the first thing you need is a good environment in which to operate, whatever the task at hand may be. Lots of space isn't a must, but a solid desk, a comfortable chair, and a distinct lack of clutter are all necessities. Homework, by Slovakian designer Tomas Kral, is an attempt at marrying the need for practicality with the need for calm, cleanliness, and everything being in its right place. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile The adventure-proof Alpaca carbon fiber travel guitar While Bob Wiley's Ministar and the Apache Series from Vox are certainly travel-friendly guitars, they're not exactly adventure-proof. Chris Duncan's Alpaca Guitar, on the other hand, is precisely that. Described as a great sounding, go everywhere instrument, it's lightweight, durable and weather- and water-resistant. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile O+A's temporary shipping container "city" Shipping containers have formed the backdrop to the Over het IJ Festival for more than two decades, but for its twentieth anniversary, festival organizers decided to go one better, creating a "temporary city" for festival-goers and performers alike. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Dyson expands Airblade line of hand dryers With the introduction of its Airblade in 2006, Dyson broke the mold for hand dryers by providing a device that actually dried a person's hands in timely fashion. The Airblade has proven a huge success for the company, picking up numerous awards and saving untold thousands from soggy handshakes. Dyson has now expanded its Airblade line with three new models powered by what the company calls one of the world's smallest and fully integrated 1600 W motors. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Crazyflie is one crazy-tiny quadrotor A nippy new quadrocopter named Crazyflie has just been made available for pre-order by Sweden's Bitcraze. Unlike other pint-sized fliers like the (yet to be released) NanoQ and MeCam, this impressive-looking critter won't arrive in one piece and all ready to fly. Instead, Crazyflie is being made available as a self-build quadrocopter development and hacking kit. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile It may be light but don't call Xkuty a pedelec Weighing in as it does at a mere 45 kg (99 lb), it's tempting to categorize the Xkuty as an electric bicycle. There's a small problem with doing so, though. It doesn't have any pedals. Needless to say, its designers from Spain bill this as a feature (thanks to the lack of chain), though it does leave little room for debate: the Xkuty is a scooter, albeit a remarkably lightweight one. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Pedestal Stand for iPad brings technology to toilet trips Using the bathroom can be a dull activity. To relieve the boredom some people read a book, others complete a crossword, and others just twiddle their thumbs. In this gadget-obsessed age, smartphones and tablets have entered the bathroom boredom-relief equation, and it seems there's an emerging market for accessories to assist those who like to mix technology with toilet breaks. After all, if toddlers are getting in on the act, why not adults too? Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Curiosity collects first bedrock drill sample NASA's Mars rover Curiosity collected its first drilling sample on Saturday. The 4x4-sized robot used the drill in its hand to collect samples from the interior of a flat, veiny sedimentary bedrock that was formed by ancient Martian water. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Review: Mailbox for iPhone Does mobile email have room for innovation? After all, most smartphone email apps are little more than touch-friendly versions of an all-too familiar email experience. Orchestra thinks there is room. The company's new app, Mailbox, reframes mobile email as a to-do list. Does it hit the right marks? Read on, as we review Mailbox app for iPhone. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Japanese elementary school enrolls robot exchange student A new research program is underway in Japan which will introduce fifth graders to a 1.2 meter tall communication robot called Robovie over a period of 14 months. Researchers at the International Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) say Robovie has the conversational skills of a five-year-old, which they hope to improve through daily interactions with the children at Higashihikari elementary school. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile You are receiving this email because you signed up for our daily newsletter at http://www.gizmag.com. 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