How Engineers Will Make The Costa Concordia Float Once Again

Next week, Italians will finally say goodbye to the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship that has been sitting off the coast of Giglio Island for two and a half years.

Ladderlimb

One for the DIY fan, the award winning LadderLimb is a helpful ladder accessory that allows you to securely hang in place buckets...

Make Hand Music With Your Own Pair Of Imogen Heap's Gloves

Imogen Heap is one of those musicians who has long embraced tech, and now she's giving you a chance to get your hands on her musical gloves.

13 Of The Weirdest Computer Mice We've Ever Seen

Not too long ago, we dived into the world of unconventional, strange and often horrible computer pointing devices...

G-BOOM Wireless Bluetooth Boombox Speaker

Winner of “Speaker of the Year” from iLounge, ultimate Bluetooth Boombox pumps out powerful sound and full bass...

Chinese company wants to build this spectacular floating city

With so many of China's 1.4 billion people clustered around its coastline, things can get pretty crowded. So instead of using more precious land space to build the cities of the future, a Chinese company has proposed using some of the 71 percent of the Earth's surface that's covered by water for expansion.

Floating City will be a four square mile structure that floats like an iceberg, with some of the surface structure visible above the surface, but most of the action happening down below the waterline. Built on land in large hexagonal sections, the pieces will be slotted together like a giant jigsaw puzzle in the ocean. Designed to be totally self-sufficient, Floating City will have its own farms and waste disposal systems, and will offer everything from housing to entertainment, sports complexes and shopping. Transportation will be provided using a series of underwater tunnels and submarines.

To create a plan for Floating City, CCCC turned to an architecture firm called AT Design Office, and they came up with the basic design of how it could all fit together. CCCC is now looking over the proposal with the China Transport Investment Comapny who may finance the project. It all seems a bit fanciful, but this wouldn't be the first time that China has actually built something that seemed like a pipe dream when you first saw the proposal.













Tsunami Ark: Handmade Flood-Proof Floating Wood Capsule



Former Facebook and PayPal employee Chris Robinson is two years into an epic backyard project rising behind his home in Palo Alto: a structure dubbed the Tsunamiball.


A veteran of Silicon Valley with no nautical or construction experience, Robinsin met his wife in Fukushima and, after seeing the disaster unfold, set to work trying to solve the issue of tsunami-proof architecture.


His capsule is 22-foot-long, 10-foot-wide, 8.5-foot-high and built of plywood and epoxy, envisioned in Adobe Illustrator, vetted by engineers then slowly constructed by hand. The inspiration? Seaworthy escape pods and spherical treehouses.


So far he has finished most of the hull but still needs to add buoyant insulation, a structural keel and an electric motor fueled by solar batteries. While his own California home is unlikely to ever go underwater (at least not literally), Robison plans to test the seaworthiness of his creation in the nearby Pacific Ocean, and then perhaps rent the place out on AirBNB. Maybe it can also serve as a prototype for a new kind of disaster-resistant design for coastal areas.



Enclosed Self-Sustaining Floating City: Future of Humanity?



Based on current climate change, there seems to be a good chance that we will have to restructure our way of life within the next several generations. Futurist Phil Pauley has been concocting the perfect underwater city for future humans who may have to abandon land.


Pauley’s Sub-Biosphere 2 proposes creating an entirely self-sustaining civilization that will float in the ocean. The biosphere will need no air, water, or other resources from the outside world because the closed ecosystem will provide everything the residents need.


The futuristic structure will consist of one central “support” sphere and eight off-branching smaller spheres. Each smaller sphere houses about 100 families. Each of the nine spheres contains its own ecosystem, providing the entire structure as a whole with everything it needs to survive. It would certainly be a change from the world we inhabit today, but it could be the idea that will keep the human race afloat in the coming centuries.




World's first floating apartment build to commence in 2014



Designed for developer ONW/BNG GO, The Citadel is a flotilla of apartments in one modern luxury development. The project, which will begin building work early next year, will consist of 60 units in a high density arrangement (30 units per acre of water). Part of the project means halting some flood defenses and letting the water back in. Olthuis points out that Holland has as many as 3,500 polders (patches of low-lying land that are protected by artificial dikes) which are below sea level and kept dry by pumping water out 24/7. This new development, dubbed New Water, will essentially be re-flooded after centuries of being kept artificially dry.

Waterstudio's design for the Citadel



Visualization of an apartment interior


The project, which will begin building work early next year, will consist of 60 units in a high density arrangement




Ultra Cool Floating Table Lamp Isn't an Optical Illusion, Just Science



No, this ultra cool floating table lamp isn't an optical illusion accomplished with wires or strings, but just science. What actually makes this $1300 lamp float is integrated levitation technology consisting of several electromagnetic components and a sophisticated control system.


Next to the fact that they employ the very latest LED technology, the lamp is low in power consumption too. With a touch of your fingertip, the lamp can be dimmed to the intensity you require.


The lamp consists out of a handcrafted wooden base with a high glossy black finish. Attached is a stylish black fabric covered power cable. The conical shaped lampshade is manufactured in matte black fabric with a pearl white inner side furnishing. The light flows through the openings of the mirror which covers the lower part of the lampshade.


Water Mat



WaterMat is lightweight, safe, and very easy to use. Multi-person water toy provides countless hours of summer vacation fun for kids and adults.
Now you can finally do relaxing yoga in the middle of a beautiful lake.

Relax on Water


Jump on Water


Run on Water


Play on Water


Stand on Water


WaterMat Video

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Floating Mat


Water Sports


Yoga on Water


Walk on Water