Advertising agency JWT were picked to do a spot for Shell Helix Ultra car oil using a fully transparent car. The car chosen as the model was a Nissan 370Z. The commercial used no CGI for the car itself and instead employed Asylum Models and Effects to actually make all the parts of this Nissan from scratch. It obviously doesn’t drive, but it holds together quite well.

Check out the commercial and the making-of video above.

Content and Source is copyrighted by: http://www.doobybrain.com/2010/04/22/shell-helix-ultra-engine-oil-advertised-using-a-transparent-nissan-370z/

The presser ushered in the arrival of Google Maps Navigation in the UK, but perhaps the juicier part of the news was the official confirmation of free nav in development specifically for the iPhone. Unfortunately, the company still won’t say exactly when we should expect the feature to roll out on Apple’s smartphone platform, but knowing the light speed at which Google prefers to move it won’t be long before we have more news on this front.

What do you think: can free turn-by-turn direction service on smartphones replace the traditional in-auto GPS system, or do standalone navigation devices still have value? How will GPS manufacturers adapt to the changing satnav landscape?

Content and Source is copyrighted by: http://mashable.com/2010/04/22/free-turn-by-turn-google-directions-iphone

Video from Youtube:

Click here to view the embedded video.

A demonstration of Google Maps Navigation (Beta), an internet-connected GPS navigation system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps on Android 2.0 phones.

Inheriting his being a plantsman from his mother, Gopiao has done exquisite effects in the many landscapes, both public and private. He has an eye for mixing contrasting textures and proportions, the result of his passion for art collecting and long kinship with plants.

Herbaceous tropical plants explode out of beds around his Quezon City house, as do lush bonsais bursting from their trays. Planting giant bromeliads between golden palms and ferns produce a stylish effect.

A variety of towering palms—10-foot high travelers’ palms, 20-foot high Madagascars, Washingtonia and 10-foot high rhapis grow against the perimeter of the lot.

A giant calathea with lush foliate, 10-tree ferns, plumerias with white flowers and imported cycads line up against the back wall to catch the morning sun. These tall trees preserve the ambiance by blocking neighboring eyesores. A variety of ferns and cycads frame a natural waterfall whose sounds produce a calming effect.

The plantings along the garden are arranged according to the various growing conditions they thrive in. For instance, miagos, peacock ferns and slim bamboos are cultivated on the sides since they don’t need as much sunlight. Gopiao explains that aside from the plants’ varying needs for sunlight, they are composed in terms of color, shape and texture.

Tall plants provide shade for the shorter plants which serve as shrubs or ground cover.

“These kinds of massing create layers of interest, resulting in a depth of space,” says Gopiao. “There’s really no particular pattern. I put a dash of color.”

He cites the example of the sculptural bromeliads, juxtaposed with the flowering pink medinilla magnificas, set against background of threading red vines.

Eclectic

Although the garden is tropical, its accent pieces, culled from his collection, suggest eclecticism. Since Asian gardens are mostly green, one is awakened by a red, pagoda-like gazebo.

“The inside is a tropical themed seating area made interesting by the mix of heirloom rice containers, a dapilan (molave sugar grinder), Maranao brass gadurs and a T’boli belt,” he says.

Groupings of plams, bird’s nest ferns, bromeliads and wide-leafed alocasias blend with Gopiao’s collection of stone implements such as sugar grinders, stone mortars, antique piedra china and Chinese martaban jars.

In fact, the roughness and massiveness of the grinding stone from Pampanga, seven feet in diameter, provides a striking contrast against the fine lines of the brightly-painted gazebo. Lusong from Laguna are unique to his place. Water plants and ficuses float on these terra cotta water vessels. Oriental stone sculptures enhance the Asian feel to his place.

True to his fondness for interesting shapes, Gopiao created a corner furnished with vintage Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs which adds a modern but quirky touch to the garden.

A pocket garden in front of the house serves as a living artwork on which one gaze upon. Japanese in feel, it is lined with grey kodo stones and Chinese limestones that lead to a granite Japanese pagoda. Podocarpuses, kamuning, and miagos cover the boundary of the garden.

Gopiao’s cherished collection of tropical bonsai trees are set on massive piedra china blocks atop a carpet of Kyoto grass. In Japan he won awards for his best bonsai, among them the pemphis acidula or bantigue done in a cascading style back in 2006.

“The feeling is more Zen-like because it houses the all-important trees such as an 80-year-old fruiting crab apple, a 40-year-old bignay and a bougainville done in a cascading style, with salmon-colored flowers,” he says.

In keeping his garden lush, Gopiao merely follows the natural discipline of constant pruning, fertilization and watering. Ultimately he says, “I want things to look very natural, nothing contrived.”

Content and Source is copyrighted by: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/homeandentertaining/homeandentertaining/view/20100303-256312/Garden-of-interesting-shapes-and-sizes

Christopher Gamez, 25, and a master skydiver floated thousands of feet above South Padre Island’s Coca Cola

(CNN) — “Don’t close your eyes, don’t close your eyes,” a terrified Christopher Gamez chanted as he coasted 7,000 feet above South Padre Island, Texas, his heart racing.

One by one, Gamez watched as three people were “sucked” out of the plane and whipped violently into the thrashing winds and mist. “Just put your head back and breathe,” he told himself, seconds before joining the others.

But why would someone with a severe fear of heights willingly plummet from the sky? To cross “skydiving” off his mental bucket list, of course.

Gamez was inspired to dream up his list of goals after watching MTV’s “The Buried Life”, a reality TV show about four friends who set out to accomplish the tasks on their joint bucket list.

The show, which wrapped its first season in March, has motivated many young adults to create such lists right now, rather than waiting until they’re about to “kick the bucket” like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman’s terminally ill characters in “The Bucket List” or Queen Latifah’s supposedly terminally ill character in “Last Holiday.”

Gamez said he tuned in every week, but he knew he wanted to live his own version of “The Buried Life” five minutes in to the first episode.

“If you had one day to live, what would you do?” a voice asks viewers during the show’s opening credits. “Would you climb a mountain? Would you kiss the girl of your dreams? Would you tell someone how you feel? Now, if you had a whole lifetime to live, would you lose that drive, or would your list just keep getting longer?”

“[The guys on the show] inspired me and they pushed me to [go skydiving],” he said. “To see them go out with no fear and do the things they wanted to do — it made me want to do those things, too.”

The show’s title was inspired by a 19th century Matthew Arnold poem by the same name.

The stars on the show — Ben, Dave, Duncan and Jonnie — decided “The Buried Life” summed up their concerns about getting bogged down with daily routine and losing their passion for life.

“What do you want to do before you die?” became the premise for their new lifestyle and, eventually, the MTV series that allowed them to cross Number 53 off their bucket list: “Make a badass TV show.”

That list is under their control.

“What they do and how they do it and who they contact and help — that’s their decision,” said Brent Haynes, a senior vice president at MTV, who first realized the project’s potential when he saw footage of the guys sneaking into the Video Music Awards to walk the red carpet.

Rather than arresting them, we gave them a TV show, Haynes joked.

Others like the guys’ ideas.

“The more I watch ‘The Buried Life’ and the more I’ve seen them experience things, the more I’ve wanted to do it,” Megan Fulton said.

The 18-year-old Emory University student said she appreciates what the guys stand for.

In 2008, Fulton’s friend died about three days after being diagnosed with an infection. The loss prompted Fulton and her friends to create a bucket list made up of kind gestures, long-term goals, personal achievements and travel destinations.

Some of the items, like pay for someone’s groceries and adopt a dog from a shelter, were crossed off rather quickly, she said. But goals like start a flash mob, travel to Lebanon — from where Fulton and her sister were adopted — and overcome her crippling stage fright, will be more difficult to accomplish.

“If they can take part in a Krump [dance] competition, I think I can get up and say a few lines in front of people,” she said. “They’ve really helped me and they don’t even know it.”

One of Fulton’s favorite aspects of the show is that every time the cast members cross something off their bucket list, they help a stranger accomplish one of his or her own goals. For example, in the series finale, the guys help a young man who was adopted at birth find his biological father. Because Fulton was adopted, the episode meant a lot to her, she said.

“You can actually care about people and still be cool,” Fulton said. “[It's] a good trend to have caught on.”

Just one bucket list wasn’t enough for 21-year-old Kevin Cheaney. The Michigan State University student wrote two — one for specific goals he wanted to accomplish during 2010 and one for long-term goals.

Like Fulton, Cheaney was inspired to write a bucket list after his friend died suddenly in a motorcycle accident last summer.

“It opened up my eyes,” he said. “Life is kind of short.”

Though Cheaney hasn’t yet found the time to be someone’s hero, save someone’s life or race Germany’s legendary Nürburgring track, just writing the lists is an accomplishment, he said.

“A lot of these things, like taking more pictures and visiting old friends, aren’t going to be difficult,” Cheaney said. “They’re just going to improve me as a person and make me appreciate life more and really enjoy it to the max.”

Celestine Chua, who has never seen the TV series, came across the bucket list concept while surfing the Internet in 2009.

The 25-year-old from Singapore eventually decided to write her own bucket list, which she shares with the public on her Web site as a reminder to “live every moment to the fullest when you’re in good health.”

Despite already opening her own school for personal development in Singapore and starting an online talk show, Chua said she thinks No. 14, “experience true love,” will be the most challenging goal to accomplish.

“You might think [a bucket list is] just a list of goals, but if you’re really thinking about things you want to see, experience and feel before you die, then the whole concept of setting goals is totally different,” Chua said. “When we start thinking about what we want to do before we die, our goals become totally different. Fall in love, see the Empire State building. That’s the magic of the bucket list — it removes limits.”

Gamez agrees. That’s why he’s not ending his “buried life” with skydiving, which he said he would do again in a heartbeat, by the way.

Bungee jumping and riding a bull are next.

“I’m hooked,” he said.

Content and Source is copyrighted by: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife/04/06/bucket.list.buried.life/index.html

Just days after iPad’s retail debut, a rather genuine-looking Hewlett-Packard presentation has been published by Engadget that features specs and pricing details of the forthcoming HP Slate.

The Windows 7 tablet will sport an 8.9-inch 1024×600 capacitive multitouch display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, a five-hour battery, Webcam, and a 3-megapixel camera, according to the memo. The Slate’s $549 base Wi-Fi configuration will reportedly have 32GB of flash storage and 1GB of non-upgradeable RAM, while a $599 version will come with 64GB of storage. Both tablets also have a USB port, HDMI output, SDHC slot, and a SIM card slot for optional 3G, according to the apparently leaked presentation, which also highlights the features HP sees as superior or a threat to iPad appeal.

Earlier Monday, HP released a new video demo of the device, which the company referred to as a “slate.” The very iPad-looking tablet is shown making use of different apps and features as part of a 30-second musical montage.

It’s not the first time HP has sought to steal some of Apple’s thunder in the coming tablet wars. In March, just hours after Apple debuted its first iPad commercial, HP followed with a pair of video demos showing off its own touch-screen tablet.

Authour:

Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven.

Content and Source is copyrighted by: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20001804-1.html?tag=mncol;title

“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world—it’s going to be a game changer. iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.”

Regarding those applications and books, iPad users downloaded more than a million apps and 250,000 e-books from Apple’s iBookstore, but it’s the iPad numbers that matter. While the iPad had a solid first day of sales, the numbers weren’t exactly “magical.”

Just yesterday, sites like Apple 2.0 were reporting estimates by financial analysts like Gene Munster of between 600,000 and 700,000 iPad sales over the weekend. Given first day sales, and considering Best Buy was closed on Sunday, as well as some Apple Stores, that seems highly unlikely now.

Without knowing Sunday’s likely drastically reduced sales, an exact count for the launch weekend can’t be had, but 300,000 is the number that Apple wants the focus to be on. The original iPhone sold 270,000 units during its first weekend. While it’s true both iPhone 3G and 3GS sold more than a million units on launch, both launches were international. So the iPad outsold the iPhone on launch day, but who bought those iPads may prove more interesting.

Again via Apple 2.0, of the 448 iPad buyers surveyed by Piper Jaffray, some 74 percent were Mac users. As Mac users represent only a tenth of the personal computer users in the U.S., that could be problematic. However, a much bigger problem exists for Amazon, with 13 percent of respondents owning Kindles already and buying iPads. Perhaps the iPad will become the multi-purpose device for content consumption, eliminating single-purpose devices like the Kindle. That would definitely help overcome any “PC gap” the iPad might face and measurably boost future sales.

But today, Apple has sold more than 300,000 iPads, more than the original iPhone, and even more could have been sold had the 3G iPad been available. And yet, despite outselling the iPhone, there just isn’t the same sense of “game changer” that the came inside the box with the iPhone.

Content and Source is copyrighted by: http://theappleblog.com/2010/04/05/day-one-300000-ipads-sold/