Top Ten Cell Phones

Top 10 Most Expensive Mobile Phones in the World

Until recently, the vast majority of mobile phones had been priced between £100 and £300, with only Vertu, a division of Nokia , manufacturing uber-premium phones. With prices starting at around £4,000 Vertu phones are only for the filthy rich, and the super famous.

However, Vertu's monopoly of the luxury phone market is coming to an end with the launch of several new luxury mobile makers, including Gresso, Mobiado and GoldVish. Other mobile phone manufacturers are also partnering with luxury brands to produce a range of premium mobile phones, such as LG and Prada , D&G and Motorola, and now Tag Heuer and Modelabs.

Finally, there are the ridiculous, super-expensive one-offs, made purely for headline grabbing, such as Goldvish's "Le million", worth a cool $1,000,000, see below for details!

1. Goldvish "Le million" = $1,000,000 (£540,540)

A PR stunt it may be, and they surely can't be expecting to sell any, but the Goldvish "Le million" is officially the most expensive mobile phone in the world, according the Guiness Books of Records.

There's even been talk of a $1.3million phone, but this has fewer diamonds than the Goldvish so I can't see where the extra expense comes from! The "Le million" is a one off, featuring a blinding 120 carats worth of VVS-1 grade diamonds, according to designer Emmanuel Gueit.

If $1 million is out of your price range. the Geneva-based Goldvish also offer several other diamond-encrusted 18k gold models in your choice of rose, yellow, or white, starting at a much more reasonable $25,600 (£13,837).

2. Vertu Signature Cobra = $310,000 (£167,567)

Vertu is now taking orders for the Signature Cobra, designed by French jeweler Boucheron, but you had better be quick as only 8 are being made! The Cobra will feature one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies.

Vertu will also be offering a "cheaper" version, ruby free, at $115,000 (£62,162).

3. Sony Ericsson Black Diamond = $300,000 (£162,162)

Apparently the Black Diamond will be available in 2007, not from Sony Ericsson but by a company called VIPN. Initially only 5 unique numered pieces will be available for the unbelievable price of, wait for it… $300,000.

With regards to the specifications, don't expect anything remarkable for your money. It will have Quad-band with Wi-Fi, an Intel 400Mhz processor running windows mobile 5, and a touch sensitive 2? screen. It will also include internal memory of 128mb and will come with a 2Gb SD card for external storage, plus a respectable 4 Megapixel camera.

The designer Jaren Goh has used some pretty impressive materials for the build, featuring titane with polycarbonate, mirror-finish cladding and diamonds.

4. Vertu Diamond = $88,000 (£47,567)

The Diamond is Vertu's premium range of high-end mobile phones. As the name suggests the handsets in the Diamond range are diamond-encrusted handsets made from platinum.

Only 200 of the handsets are being produced, the most expensive believed to be worth an estimated £50,000.

5. Motorola V220 Special Edition = £28,000 ($51,800)

Austrian designer Peter Aloisson, has taken a standard Motorola, studded it with 1,200 diamonds and added a keyboard inlaid with 18 carat gold.

The outcome is a £28,000 handset, suitable only for footballers and film stars!

6. Gold Edition Nokia 8800 Phone = $2,700 (£1,459)

If you have $2,700 to spare, you can now buy the Nokia 8800 in 24K gold. However, be warned, if you think you'll be getting a better phone for your extra cash, you wont! The features found on the Gold Edition are the standard 8800 features, which are pretty basic.

It includes a 0.5 Mega pixel SVGA camera, 64 MB of internal memory, 64 voice polyphonic rigntones, FM Radio, Mp3 Player, video recording and 180 mins talktime. However, the Gold Edition does includes a special edition box and charging dock!

7. Mobiado Professional EM (wood) = $1,900 (£1,027)

The Mobiado Professional EM, is a wood-clad upgrade of their earlier Nokia-based phone that includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, music player, FM radio, Bluetooth, and according to Mobiado it's the first production phone with Titanium buttons.

Only 200 are being made and each one has its limited number engraved on the back. At $1,900 however, you're still paying an awfully high premium for a fairly basic phone encased in wood!

8. Bang & Olufsen (Samsung) Serene = $1,250 (£675)

Bang & Olufsen hooked up with Samsung to design the sleek but unconventional Serene. Its not a bad looking phone and it even has a built-in motor to assist you in opening and closing the phone.

It's not very practical however, requiring a special screwdriver to access the battery and the SIM card, and its circular keypad will take some getting used to.

Also, for some strange reason they have positioned the camera lens on the side of the device, which will make it difficult to align snapshots via the viewfinder on the display.

9. Lamborghini 8800 Sirocco from Nokia = $To be announced

The Lamborghini Nokia 8800 Sirocco is another special edition, like the previously launch Aston Martin branded Sirocco. It will ultimately be a standard 8800 Sirocco but with the addition of the famous Lamborghini logo engraved on the font and the back, plus ball bearings from the auto company to in the slider phone mechanism.

The Lamborghini phone will be a limited edition with only 500 being made. It will also feature Lamborghini graphics as wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones, and even has a short documentary video about the Lamborghini.

10. Gresso Luxury Phone = £expensive

The Russia based Gresso, is a new entry into the luxury phone market. Their aptly name "Gresso Luxury Phone" is made of gold and African Blackwood. Apparently they will be releasing a collection of five models called the Black Aura collection, and the designer is a "well known" Italian designer.

Currently there are two versions of the African Blackwood phone, one with pink gold highlights named the Gresso Blackwood Gold Edition, and one made entirely of African Blackwood. In addition to the two African Blackwood phones Gresso also make a phone made entirely of pink gold named the Gresso Gold phone. Initially, the phones will be on sale only in Russia.

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NASA Amazing View

One of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104) is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped Mexican hat. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys.

In the direction of the constellation Canis Major, two spiral galaxies pass by each other like majestic ships in the night. The near-collision has been caught in images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.

The Hubble Space Telescope has caught the most detailed view of the Crab Nebula, revealing the intricate epitaph of a long-dead star. The photo was released on December 1, 2005.

This image resembling Vincent van Gogh's painting, "Starry Night," is an expanding halo of light around a distant star, named V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon). This Hubble Telescope image was obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on February 8, 2004

For the 15th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists used the ACS, Hubble's newest camera, to record a new region of the eerie-looking Eagle Nebula, producing an image with stunning detail. The new Eagle Nebula image reveals a tall, dense tower of gas being sculpted by ultraviolet light from a group of massive, hot stars.

From ground-based telescopes, the so-called "ant nebula" (Menzel 3, or Mz 3) resembles the head and thorax of a garden-variety ant. This dramatic NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, showing 10 times more detail, reveals the "ant's" body as a pair of fiery lobes protruding from a dying, Sun-like star.

This new image was released to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. The new Whirlpool Galaxy image showcases the spiral galaxy's classic features, from its curving arms, where newborn stars reside, to its yellowish central core that serves as home for older stars. A feature of considerable interest is the companion galaxy located at the end of one of the spiral arms.

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, has captured a spectacular pair of galaxies engaged in a celestial dance of cat and mouse or, in this case, mouse and mouse. Located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, the colliding galaxies have been nicknamed "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy. Otherwise known as NGC 4676, the pair will eventually merge into a single giant galaxy.

Resembling a nightmarish beast rearing its head from a crimson sea, this celestial object is actually just a pillar of gas and dust. Called the Cone Nebula (in NGC 2264) - so named because in ground-based images it has a conical shape - this monstrous pillar resides in a turbulent star-forming region. This picture, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, on May 11, 2002, shows the upper 2.5 light-years of the Cone, a height that equals 23 million roundtrips to the Moon. The entire pillar is seven light-years long.

In its first glimpse of the heavens following the successful December 1999 servicing mission, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured a majestic view of the Eskimo Nebula, a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a dying, Sun-like star.

This Hubble photograph captures a small region within Messier 17 (M17), a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5500 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation. The wave-like patterns of gas have been sculpted and illuminated by a torrent of ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars (which lie outside the picture to the upper left).

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) captured this mosaic of The Tarantula Nebula. The Tarantula is situated 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in the Southern sky and is clearly visible to the naked eye as a large milky patch. Astronomers believe that this smallish irregular galaxy is currently going through a violent period in its life. It is orbiting around the Milky Way and has had several close encounters with it.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this interesting photo of the inside of an inflating, see-through space bubble. The transparent bubble is considered a nebula, and it is called N44F. The scene is about 160,000 light-years away in a neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Previously unseen details of a mysterious, complex structure within the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) are revealed by this image of the 'Keyhole Nebula, ' obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. The picture is a montage assembled from four different April 1999 telescope pointings. The picture is dominated by a large, approximately circular feature, which is part of the Keyhole Nebula, named in the 19th century by Sir John Herschel. This region is about 8000 light-years from Earth.

Undersea corral? Enchanted castles? Space serpents? On April 1, 1995, Hubble snapped this image of pillar-like structures in the Eagle nebula. These eerie, dark pillar-like structures are columns of cool, interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that serve as incubators for new stars.

Astronomers, using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope in October and November 1997 and April 1999, imaged the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) with unprecedented clarity. For the first time, they were able to understand the geometry and dynamics of this very complicated system. Earlier pictures taken of the nebula with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 1 left many issues unanswered, as the data could not be fully calibrated for scientific use. In addition, those data never imaged the enigmatic inner structure presented here.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the Trifid Nebula reveals a stellar nursery being torn apart by radiation from a nearby, massive star. The picture also provides a peek at embryonic stars forming within an ill-fated cloud of dust and gas, which is destined to be eaten away by the glare from the massive neighbor.

Hubble Space Telescope continues snapping breathtaking pictures of the solar system's most photogenic planet. This view, taken on March 22, 2004, is so sharp that many individual ringlets can be seen in Saturn's ring plane.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Cat’s Eye Nebula on September 9, 2004. The Cat's Eye Nebula looks like the penetrating eye of the disembodied sorcerer Sauron from the film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings."

This Hubble telescope snapshot of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula, reveals that the object has an hourglass shape with an intricate pattern of "etchings" in its walls. A planetary nebula is the glowing relic of a dying, Sun-like star.

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Wall-Climbing “Spiderman” Robot

Japanese researchers have developed a four legged “Spiderman” robot — made from metal and rubber — that boasts suction cups on each leg, enabling it to climb up walls.

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World-record skydiving parachute formation!

Awesome sunset video of an 81-way world-record skydiving parachute formation!

After almost a week of training a group of dedicated skydivers put together the largest parachute formation ever built. It consists of 81 ... all » skydivers in the formation and several video people flying around. It took place over Lake Wales Florida USA just before sunset and has some incredible shots by some incredible video fliers, and a picture-perfect "starburst" break-away.

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Sony Ericsson W850i

The Walkman branded phones from Sony Ericsson previously were just few in numbers as in the models. Now there are so many to choose from that the expensive Walkman phones from Sony Ericsson better have something really worthwhile to extract those hard earned bucks from the pockets.


The W850i was the first Walkman phone to feature the Walkman Player v2.0 and is the first attempt by the company at the slider form-factor. So let's see how well Sony Ericsson can handle slider phones.

Bundle

The W850i is after all a Walkman phone and hence the standard walkman accessories make for a rich package. The entire package wasn't given to us and hence we don't have an image of the box contents.

Sony Ericsson W850i

Stereo Portable Handsfree (with 3 pairs of buds)

1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo

Memory Stick Pro Adaptor

Charger
CD and Manual
Build and Design

The Sony Ericsson W850i is the first attempt by the company at making a slider phone. It is a brave move by the company to make a slider of a premium Walkman branded phone. The W850i weighs just 116 grams with dimensions 98 x 47 x 21 mm. It's slightly on the bulky side and because of which one could find it heavy.


The phone has a large 256K color screen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The slider has 9 buttons on the surface and a D-Pad as well. The 9 buttons are pre-defined i.e. Back, Clear, Internet, and Activity Menu.

There is a button which doesn't seem like a button but it is nevertheless. It is long orange strip under a silver separator between the screen and the button section. The button is basically the Walkman Player hotkey.

There are two buttons placed on either side above the screen; these buttons are get customized according to the task being performed. For defaults, the one on the left is for viewing the Camera Album contents in landscape and the button to the right is to view same as thumbnails.

Else when in the Camera Mode the right button is a shortcut to starting the flash light and the one to the left is to choose the Photo Mode.

In between these two buttons is the earpiece grill, which also has the secondary camera for video calls.


The center of the button section below the screen houses the D-Pad, which isn't obvious for a D-Pad (just like the orange strip for the Walkman button.) The D-Pad takes some time getting used to as the direction buttons of the D-Pad are bulbs.

The D-Pad feels like a plastic, which is hard-cushioned and hence difficult to press initially; but hopefully over time you'd get used to it considering the big bucks you're going to shell out.

There are two more buttons that are the standard dual buttons below the screen on either side and while the one to the left displays the call list, the one to the right displays the menu.

These two buttons also double as an Answer Call and Cancel/Reject Call buttons. Around the phone are just a few buttons; on the right side are the volume controls and the camera hotkey.

The camera hotkey, when kept pressed for about 2 seconds, activates the camera but for that the keypad has to be unlocked. Below the Camera hotkey is the Infra-red port.

At the top of the phone is the Power ON/OFF button, which also doubles as a Profile selector. This button glows red in the initial charge of the phone when the phone's battery has been completely drained. Beside the power button is the memory card slot, which has a dust cover. Below the phone is the pop-port as seen in most phones.

The back of the phone houses the 2 MP camera. The camera of the phone doesn't have any lens cover or shutter. The camera has a flashlight and a tiny self portrait mirror on one side; while on the other side is the phone's loud-speaker.

The back of the phone has a very odd-looking matt finish; this finish adds to the phone's premium look. There is a design on the back of the phone done with clear circles (impressed.) The speaker has a Walkman logo done in silver, which makes it look all classy.

On opening the phone, you'll see the keypad of the phone, which is very comfortable and can be used with utmost ease. The sliding mechanism of the W850i is very good; there is no feel of it being delicate.

The whole build of the phone reflects the same and I must say that it is a job well done with regards to build of the phone. On sliding open the phone and turning it around you will notice a design of circles which is continued even behind the screen with the Walkman branding engraved on flashy steel.

Walkman v2.0

The most prominent thing about the W850i is the updated Walkman Player v2.0. The v2.0 player has seen a lot of controversy; as even after it has been introduced we still have Walkman phones releasing with the older version. The new version has a nice black theme rather than the stringent orange color.

The Walkman Player now supports Album Art and Visualizations along with Artist, Album, and Track information. The screen of the player shows a lot of details than in the previous version. Track No., Total number of tracks, playback status, and song length are displayed in the first half of the screen. Beside all of these is the Visualization box.

This is where the support for Album Art and Visualizations comes in, so now you can have the Album Art showing in a small box on the screen or in that very same box you can have visualizations playing. Hopefully someday we'll be able to add to the default visualizations for now you just have two options.


Then below comes the progress bar of the song and at the end immediately below the progress bar there are symbols displaying shuffle, loop, and the equalizer preset icons. Then with some space below the progress bar, the Artist name, Track Name, Album Name and then the signs of what the D-Pad has now changed into are displayed.

The W850i is the only Walkman phone which has beat detection. The beat detection helps in the unique feature of Light Effects. The lights blink according to the beat of the music. A similar feature was noticed in the Nokia 3220, which used to blink when the phone rang.

The sorting of music also is different from the standard Walkman phones. There is a Music folder on your memory card where you place your music. There is no need to place it in two levels of folders like in the previous version; so, you can transfer your music to the card even more easily without too much of a trouble.

Sound Quality

The Walkman v2.0 not only brought the cosmetic changes but even an improvement in the sound quality. The music now sounds more distilled. The Equalizer presets Normal, Bass, MegaBass, Voice, Treble Boost, and the Manual as well sound better. The MegaBass equalizer preset has also been tweaked; so, now instead of just thumping bass, it purifies the bass according to the song beat.

Now all of these improvements are only noticed when listening to high bitrate encoded MP3s. You won't be able to figure out the difference listening to low bitrate or average bitrate MP3s. So if you have a collection of low bitrate encoded MP3s, then its better you settle in for a cheaper Walkman phone or else you'll just end-up as a show-off. There is a stereo widening option, which takes effect only when the phone has been attached to a good set of speakers else the volume of the song just turns down.

The phone comes bundled with the standard stereo Walkman earplugs. I guess by now most know about the sound quality of these earplugs or must have heard about it from friends. The same earplugs are bundled with the W850i as well.

The earplugs could fall under the negatives because they cancel most of the sound from the environment and that could lead to dangerous situations; even cause death. For e.g. a person enjoying his/her music on a Walkman phone (except W710) using the provided earplugs while crossing the road could meet the gates of hell/heaven.

The speaker of the W850i is the loudest after the W550i.

The W550i is just plain loud while the W850i sounds much better.

The FM on the W850i works only with the headsets plugged in. The FM quality is really good and provides a good reception in places even with bad reception.

Camera

The W850i has a 2MP camera. This camera unfortunately isn't the auto-focus camera seen in the K750i or the W800/W810.

Instead the W850i's cam is something similar to the downgraded W800i; W700i. The camera starts by pressing the hotkey on the side for about 2 seconds, keeping in mind that the keypad has been unlocked. If not then just slide open the phone and press the camera hotkey to start the camera.

The interface of the camera is based on the K790/K800 camera interface and somehow gives you the feeling that the W850i was meant to house the same 3.2 MP camera. But then something just changed their minds and they put in a crappy non-autofocus 2 MP camera in there.

The 2 MP camera of the phone produced noisy pictures even in the bright conditions. The night mode of the camera with the help of the OLED was just about average not really worth the big bucks you pay. The camera doesn't have a macro-mode and hence it's not possible to take good portrait snaps. All it has is a night mode, Panorama mode, Burst mode, and frames to click 4 snaps in one click.

There are no praises in store for the video either. The video of the W850i is the outdated QCIF (176x144) format. It's about time Sony Ericsson get their act together and bring out some phones with CIF video recording capabilities.

Interface

The W850i has the same interface seen in most of the newly released Sony Ericsson handsets. These phones have a smart interface and even support multitasking. The presence of Java MIDP 2.0 helps in the multitasking abilities of these phones. Today's non-Symbian phones are able to provide almost similar functionality.

At the same time, they are able to maintain the smoothness of the interface while Symbian proves laggy. The W850i holds 16 MB of internal memory and is quite sufficient to keep all smooth unless you completely utilize all of it.

The phone is mostly based on the same interface used in the K790i/K800, except for the newer Walkman player. Talking about the Walkman player I miss the Play/Pause button located on the side of most Walkman phones.


That means now you have to unlock the keypad to Play/Pause the music. While the keypad is locked, all you can do is increase/decrease volume and go to previous/next song. The phone has a flight mode; so, you have to disconnect yourself from work to enjoy your music.


Back to the normal stuff, the phone has a capacity of 1000 contacts with 4 numbers each and a wide array of details such as under "New Contact " you can add in a lot of details apart from the name and the contact's contact (number :P).

You can add the email address, picture, ringtone, voice commands. You can even have the details to the address of the contact's Workplance/Home as per the following: title, company, street, city, state, zip code, and country. Finally you can add the Birthdate and some personal info that helps you remember that contact (Wife: The biggest mistake of my life.) The phone stores 30 received, dialed, and missed calls each.

Connectivity

The W850i has a list of connectivity options, but it doesn't provide for all that one would expect in a phone. The W850i is the 3G version of this Walkman phone; this phone skips EDGE and HSCSD for 3G. You can make video calls and connect to 3G networks. But in a country like India, I think, it would have been better to only launch the W830i that has EDGE and no 3G.

The W850i has GPRS Class 10 for browsing the internet and no EDGE connection, which is much faster than GPRS. It has Bluetooth v2.0, infrared, and USB v2.0 for faster transfers between phones and PC. The Bluetooth 2.0 also supports A2DP profile, which is the stereo Bluetooth capability.


So you can tune into your music/FM and even answer calls. The W850i supports one of the best A2DP headsets of Sony Ericsson, which displays song list, name of the caller, etc, and even has the best quality of music with good amount of battery life.

The W850i connects to your PC through the similar pop-port fashion. The USB connection is USB v2.0; so transfers are pretty quick. When connected to the PC, the phone goes into an offline mode; so, it's not possible to dial or receive calls or even listen to music.

The phone doesn't require drivers to work when connected to the PC. It works like a mass storage device and shows up as two Removable drives in Windows Explorer. But the fact that you'd have to carry the cable around with you does hinder its mass-storage abilities.

Battery

The W850i has a Li-Po 950 mAh battery, which is really good. According to claims the phone has 350 hours of standby time and 7 hours of talktime. In reality the phone worked comfortably for 4 days with loads of music hours and about an hour of talktime each day.


The battery life always seemed to amaze me; the last 10% of the battery seemed like never ending. It just used to keep going on and on. Switching the phone to Flight Mode or using it as just a music player provided even more comfort to the battery.

I never even faced a battery low warning in 4 days of continuous usage and no charging at all. The phone even charges through USB, but during those 4 days I used a memory card reader to transfer files.

Conclusion

The W850i sells for around Rs. 20,000 with a one-year warranty. It is too expensive even considering the newer Walkman player and the 1GB Pro Duo card provided. If it featured M2 memory, the high price tag was justifiable.

Even the newer player requires you to hold a rich collection of music (as in high bitrate encoded MP3s to enjoy the difference.) At that price, it would have been ideal to house a 3.2 MP camera instead we have a 2 MP non-autofocus camera.

All these points could be taken out of the equation if you are looking for a Walkman slider else it's not really worth the money you'd invest. But nevertheless not my pick.

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Amazing sight in the South Pacific

August 2006, the yacht 'Maiken' is traveling in the south Pacific when they came across a weird sight ...
It was sand in the water, and floating ON TOP of the waves ...

This is not a beach, it is volcanic stones floating on the water.

The trail left by the yacht ...

And then this was spotted... ash and steam rising from the ocean ...

And, while they were watching ...

A brand new island formed ...

A plume of black ash ...

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Bluetooth watch Sony Ericsson MBW 100

Not only does a watch serve as a handy tool for timing, it's also a kind of accessory today, whose luxury and stylishness might amplify wearer's image. The very fundamental aspect of every wrist-watch is incredibly simple, so that both one dollar-worth and more expensive scions of this class can handle this function.

It might seem that the major drop in watch production costs, occurred in the 80s of the twentieth centaury and caused by a leap up in microelectronics, would ruin the traditional market of these mechanisms; however nothing like this has happened so far.

Even nowadays, your arm will grab everyone's attention if you have mechanic or quartz watch, boasting original design created by a known manufacturer, better a Swiss one. Basically, such image of a watch has been established with the help of billions, invested by companies in one or another form – through direct advertising and making up a subtle halo around their products.

This market should be closely investigated mainly by handsets manufacturers, as soon they are going to encounter more or less the same situation. By "soon" here we mean "in 20-25 years' time".

When I was still in primary school, the market got flooded with digital watches owing mainly to Japanese manufacturers. Since I was a bit too young back then, I cannot surmise how successful such watches were world-wide, but the thing for sure is that for majority of my classmates those were beyond wildest dreams.

Having gotten Casio-labeled watch (with 16 various tunes, stopwatch, and all this in an extremely slim casing) as a birthday present from my father, I was more than just happy. For a third-form boy such watch served for both entertainment and timing purposes. We played "99" with it (when one must catch milliseconds with the stopwatch) and did countless other things.

Some had watches with built-in FM-receiver (in the USSR they were useless) or calculator. A couple of years later, we got bored with such gadgets, so that in secondary school we had ordinary watches on our hands, frequently mechanical ones. That is how digital watches have gone out of fashion.

As accessories, watches do their best – having created something unique with watch concept inside, you won't hit star-high sales, but certainly will attract masses' and journalists' attention.

Apparently, it is the very idea that was driving Sony Ericsson when it got to developing Vanguard watch. Being the pioneer innovator of Bluetooth technology, they company tries to live up to this image by coming up with various gadgets – just remember the toy-car and the furor it created on the market.



The Bluetooth-equipped watch allows its user to check out who is calling on a tiny OLED-display (96x16 pixels) and at that supports only single profile – GAP (plus music player management tools).

Apart from that the watch boasts the silent alert, which turns out to be quite handy on incoming calls, as well as messages (though the MBW-100's display won't scroll their text)




There are three buttons mounted on the casing, namely two big ones on each side of the clock winder and the clock winder itself, since it can be pressed as well. The analogue watch face with two hands tops the display that stays inactive unless an event occurs.

Although it can be brought to life with the upper key, so that it will get filled up with date, time and battery status. The lower buttons calls up the menu featuring the following options: Bluetooth activation, coupling mode, SMS notification (on/off), time synchronization with handset.


The MBW-100 is quite bulky indeed, as it tips the scales at massive 182 grams, which is too much in the judgment of most users, nevertheless youth won't find much of an impediment in this – eventually, you get used to carrying a watch on hand.

The water-proof (up to 30 meters) casing is made of stainless steel, but due to the inner side housing charger contacts, I wouldn't recommend swimming with the MBW-100 being on you. The hands are covered with phosphorescent powder, thus they remain visible even in the darkest rooms.

On top of that the display (if activated) can tell you time as well, which is quite handy.





Here I must make an important note – this watch goes with Sony Ericsson-branded handsets only with auto pairing being supported. Coupling the MBW-100 with Nokia's phone won't cause much problems, however not a single feature will start up.

The MBW-100 comes in a stylish black-finished box – inside you will find either silver or black colored watch. It would seem that the black trim is more appealing visually, though it's not the whole truth – the steel trim has its trumps as well, since it has somewhat fresh looks.




After a week of use I had twofold impressions – while dimensions and weight are not that crucial for teenagers, other features do matter. For example, when bending hand, you might accidentally push the winder and thus start music playback – it's not a real issue, should you have handset in shirt's pocket, or headset plugged in, in this case you will notice that and turn the player off. But if the phone is carried in a purse or bag, it will most likely have lost the lion's share of its charge before you realize that.


While out of coverage zone, the watch notifies you that the connection is lost with vibration. Such feature seem to be out of place to some extent – in the beginning you keep twitching, when moving around flat, and then come to ignore these signals. It won't make your phone thief-proof either – when moving in a crowd, a thief will be at least 5-6 meters away, so you will hardly see him.

The great thing about the MBW-100 is Caller ID in display – such seemingly unsophisticated feature comes in handy owing to numerous reasons. For instance, when at conference or talks, it's not always polite to get a handset out of pocket and decline a call, but everything changes with Sony Ericsson's latest innovation – you can quietly (everything is relative in this world) check out who wants to reach you so badly. Unfortunately the target audience won't make much use of this particular function – it will rather be just for show only.

Using the top key you can mute incoming calls (both on the watch and the handset), double press declines a call.

The dedicated player controls found on the MBW-100 are good only for Play and Pause commands, since in order to jump to other tracks you will need to press the winder and turn it at once. Taking account of how big the watch is, it is not always handy. The MBW-100 doesn't provide any information on currently played back track.

The built-in battery, as the manufacturer claims, can last 7 days, but in our case the watch managed to stay online for not more than 2 days. Considerable number of calls reduces lifetime dramatically – at 20-25 calls a day, the MBW-100's charge will go off in a day's time. On weekends the lifetime turned out to be twice as long. On the other hand, paired watch, worn as a trinket might work for 7 days indeed.

One of the most troublesome aspects lies in the fact that should the battery run out of charge, the analogue watch stop as well – the hands just freeze. After recharging the battery, you will have to set time all over again, for the MBW-100 lacks auto time set feature. Another shortcoming is that frequently the watch sets time on handset on its own and we couldn't figure out why.

The gadget comes with a special charging cable, whose front end attaches to the watch with a clip, while the other one is a socket for plugging in standard charger for Sony Ericsson's handsets. It takes the MBW-100 about 1 hour and 10 minutes to charge from empty to full.



On a couple of simultaneously received incoming calls, handset might lose connection with the watch, forcing you to wait until it re-establishes connection automatically, or initiate search from the MBW-100's menu. Those keen on technical specifications will be pleased to know that the MBW-100 runs on hilips's chipset (BO2031) with Bluetooth 2.0.

To promote its latest solution, the company has come up with a dedicated portal, featuring a James Bond-like clip, that clearly positions the MBW-100 as a gadget aimed primarily at youth (girls won't find it fitting due to dimensions and weight).

Conclusion and final thoughts

The guideline retail price for most markets will make 300 Euro (in Russia – not less than 400 USD). Does this product offer enough of value for this much money? It is a question without a plain answer – watches coming from this class are not attention magnets and thus impress only with technical specifications, with Caller ID being the major one.

This isn't too much, although youth should find it suitable. All in all, it's a solution for a certain niche, by no means aimed at the mass market. Its sales will prove to be significantly smaller than those of Motorola's very own RAZRWire, even though that solution is not all the rage either.

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Portrait of Abraham Lincoln Made with Coin.

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln Made with Coin [ amazing video ]

He used 1,702 pennies to make a portrait of Lincoln.
Sorting the coins took about seven hours, and making the image took just under six. May 2005.

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Titanic: The Sequel

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Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole

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Red Fort 1670s

The Amar Singh gate

Jahangiri Mahal palace, built by Akbar for his favorite son

Jahangiri Mahal palace

Courtyard of Jahangiri Mahal

Fountain in the east courtyard overlooking the river

The eastern ramparts of the fort.

Khas-mahal palace and the Anguri Bagh gardens,
layed out during the reign of Shah Jahan

Carvings in the Khas-mahal palace

Muthammam-Burj tower, where Shah Jahan spent the last 3 years of his life - prisoner of his own son

View to the north from the tower

A pavilion in Macchli Bavan, which means "fish enclosure."
The emperor sat on a marble throne facing the fish.

Domes of Nagina Masjid mosque

Mothi Masjid courtyard, built by Shah Jahan for his family and court chiefs

Front elevation of Mothi Masjid courtyard

Mothi Masjid facade.

Diwan-i-am palace, where Shah Jahan heard petitions
from the public and met with officials

Diwan-i-am from a cloister to the south.
Note the domes of Mothi Masjid in the distance

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The Amazing Eejanaika Roller Coaster

The Amazing Eejanaika Roller Coaster ( video )

Fuji-Q Highland (Fujiyoshida, Shizuoka Japan)

Number of Inversions 14 times (Guinness World Record)
Maximum Speed 126 km/h
Lift Height 76 m
Angle of Descent 89 degrees
Track Length 1,153 m

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Hottest Star Hideaways

Signing autographs, swilling champagne and wearing the latest designer duds: The daily lives of celebrities aren't half bad. And you should see where they go on vacation.

Anguilla

The Scene: Best known as the island where Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt took their "break-up vacation," Anguilla's top-notch resorts and 33 pristine beaches attract both celebrities and well-heeled businessmen in droves, especially over the December holidays.

Local hangouts include Johnno's Beach Stop, with daily live music, and Uncle Ernie's barbecue joint at Shoal Bay, where fresh fish is barbecued right at the beach.

Hot Hotels: Cap Juluca, The St. Regis, Altamer, and Cerulean, a private villa for rent
Spotted: Robert DeNiro, Denzel Washington, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Donatella Versace, Kevin Kline, Janet Jackson, Liam Neeson.

Aspen, Colo.

The Scene: Come winter, celebrities and politicos are as plentiful as snowflakes in Aspen, where the first-class slopes and shopping are outdone only by après ski at The Little Nell, Hotel Jerome's J-Bar or dinner at Provençale hot-spot Cache Cache.

Hot Hotels: Hotel Jerome, The Little Nell, The Sky Hotel, The St. Regis

Spotted: Mischa Barton, Jack Nicholson, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Mariah Carey, Elle McPherson, Beyoncé, Will Smith, Rosie O'Donnell, Christie Brinkley, Al and Tipper Gore, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.

Bora Bora

The Scene: This French Polynesian island is popular with celebrities because of its remote location (nearby Tahiti is more easily accessible, and therefore less celebrity-friendly).

Bloody Marys, a local restaurant where the fresh fish of the day are displayed on ice and guests take their pick, is popular with local islanders as well as visiting celebs.

Charlize Theron, Sharon Stone and others have stayed at Le Méridien Bora Bora, where glass-bottomed floors provide views of exotic fish.

Hot Hotels: Le Méridien, The St. Regis

Spotted: Eva Longoria and Tony Parker, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Vin Diesel, Chelsea Clinton.

The Cayman Islands

The Scene: The Cayman, as they are sometimes called, made a splash last December with the opening of a brand-new Ritz-Carlton.

Orlando Bloom is rumored to be looking to buy property here, and celebrities such as Sheryl Crow come to scuba dive (Divetech is a popular place for lessons).

Deckers, a Caribbean restaurant with a British double-decker bus stationed outside, is the place to go for a casual dinner.

Hot Hotels: Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman, The Ritz-Carlton

Spotted: Katie Couric, Tiger Woods, Chloe Sevigny, Adrian Grenier.

Fiji

The Scene: Though a Dec. 5 military coup has made this 300-island archipelago temporarily unsafe for travel, its wealth of natural beauty and top-tier luxury resorts have kept it a celebrity hotspot for years.

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline celebrated their honeymoon at Turtle Island, a 14-villa beachfront resort where room rates start at $1,975 per night, as did Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey.

Hot Hotels: Shangri-La, Turtle Island, The Wakaya Club

Spotted: Tom Cruise.

Jackson Hole, Wyo.

The Scene: Locals call it the anti-Aspen, but Jackson Hole's superb skiing and rugged mountain atmosphere draws just as A-list a mix of bankers, politicians and Hollywood stars as its Colorado neighbor.

Private homes (Sandra Bullock and Harrison Ford are reported to have residences here) are the top hot-spots, but Spring Creek Ranch, located at the end of a winding road, provides the privacy that vacationing stars like Uma Thurman and Jim Carrey crave.

Hot Hotels: Amangani, The Four Seasons, Spring Creek Ranch
Spotted: Matthew McConaughey, Christie Brinkley, Ron Howard, Christina Ricci.

Jamaica

The Scene: Ian Fleming wrote almost 15 of his James Bond books while living in Jamaica, and Errol Flynn set up house here in the 1940s. It’s no wonder: The island's endless beaches and top-tier golf courses help keep the celebrities coming, and today, they are a daily part of life for local islanders.

Hot Hotels: Golden Eye, Half Moon, The Ritz-Carlton, Round Hill Hotel and Villas, Royal Plantation

Spotted: Carmen Electra, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Mandy Moore, Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, Michael Bolton, Patrick Ewing, Liev Schreiber, Lauren Hill, Gladys Night, Patti Labelle, Ralph Lauren.

Miami

The Scene: There's no bad time to visit Miami, but New Year's is the best time to see some uncensored celebrity behavior. Last year, Lindsay Lohan was admitted to a Miami hospital after celebrating New Year's at nightclub Prive, and this year, Jessica Alba and Hilary and Haylie Duff will reportedly host a New Year's party at the Setai on South Beach.

Nightclubs such as Mansion, Prive, Crobar and Glass, restaurants such as The Forge, and high-end hotels are the best places to rub shoulders with the glitterati.

Hot Hotels: The Delano, The Setai, The Shore Club, Villazzo Villas (luxurious private villa-hotels available for rent throughout the city)

Spotted: Derek Jeter, Jamie Foxx, Anna Kournikova, Paris Hilton, Alanis Morrisette, Jamie Lewis, Lenny Kravitz, Jay-Z.

St. Barthélemy

The Scene: An exclusive retreat with a European feel, St. Barthélemy's yacht-clogged harbors and white-sand beaches are swarming with the rich, famous and beautiful.

Private yachts or resort spas, such as the Molton Brown spa at Hotel St. Barth, Isle de France or the destination spa at Hôtel Ghuanahani, are your best bets for spotting stars.

Hot Hotels: Eden Rock Hotel, Hôtel Ghuanahani & Spa, Hotel St. Barth, Isle de France,

Spotted: P. Diddy, Russell Simmons, Kirsten Dunst, Hugh Jackman, Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, Claudia Schiffer, Gisele Bundchen.

St. Moritz, Switzerland

The Scene: European royals and Hollywood starlets flock to this resort in the Swiss Alps, whose population expands from 5,000 to 100,000 for the winter season. Badrutt's King's Club is the best place to seek out celebs without their winter gear on.

Hot Hotels: Badrutt's Palace, Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains, Kulm Hotel (owned by the family of Stavros Niarchos, Paris Hilton's ex-boyfriend)

Spotted: Prince Charles, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Hurley, George Clooney, Ivana Trump.

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IPhone is 0ut

Apple's announcements at 9th Jan 9AM San Fransisco
AppleTV - Oops Symbol(Apple) TV - See the difference.
IPhone - No - iPhone is copyrighted by Cisco - so Symbol (Apple) iPhone - See the difference.

iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

Technical Specifications

Screen size - 3.5 inches

Screen resolution - 320 by 480 at 160 ppi

Input method - Multi-touch

Operating system - OS X

Storage - 4GB or 8GB

GSM - Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)

Wireless data - Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0

Camera - 2.0 megapixels

Battery
* Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing
* Up to 16 hours Audio playback

Dimensions - 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm

Weight - 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

Widescreen ipod

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy all your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies — on a beautiful 3.5-inch widescreen display. It also lets you sync your content from the iTunes library on your PC or Mac. And then you can access it all with just the touch of a finger.

Music

Scroll through your songs, artists, albums, and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is dramatically presented on the large display. And now use Cover Flow to browse your music library by album artwork for the first time on an iPod.

Video

iPhone's stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display is the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies from the iTunes Store on a pocketable device. Just tap the touch controls for play/pause, chapter forward/backward, and volume.

Music

Scroll through your songs, artists, albums, and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is dramatically presented on the large display. And now use Cover Flow to browse your music library by album artwork for the first time on an iPod.

Revolutionary Phone

iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows you to make a call by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. It also automatically syncs all your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet service. And it lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email.

Receiving and making a call

With iPhone, making a call is as simple as touching a name or number. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and quickly merge calls together to create conference calls.

Visual Voicemail

An industry first, Visual Voicemail allows you to go directly to any of your messages without listening to the prior messages. So you can quickly select the messages that are most important to you.

SMS

iPhone includes an SMS application with a predictive QWERTY soft keyboard that prevents and corrects mistakes, making it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones.

Photos

iPhone features a 2-megapixel camera and a photo management application that goes far beyond anything on a phone today. Sync photos from your PC or Mac, and you're ready to browse or email them with the flick of a finger.

Receiving and making a call

With iPhone, making a call is as simple as touching a name or number. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and quickly merge calls together to create conference calls.

Breakthrough Internet Device

iPhone features a rich HTML email client and Safari — the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device — which automatically syncs bookmarks from your PC or Mac. Safari also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! search. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over Wi-Fi or EDGE.

Watch QuickTours

Safari Web Browser

With its advanced Safari browser, iPhone lets you see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, then easily zoom in by simply tapping on the multi-touch display with your finger.

Mail

iPhone uses a rich HTML email client that fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text.

Google Maps

With Google Maps and iPhone's amazing Maps application, you can view maps and satellite images, or get directions and traffic information, all from iPhone's remarkable, easy-to-use touch interface.

Widgets

iPhone even has widgets: small applications that give you helpful information like stock reports, weather reports, and more in real time.

Safari Web Browser

With its advanced Safari browser, iPhone lets you see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, then easily zoom in by simply tapping on the multi-touch display with your finger.

Multi-touch

iPhone features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It's an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers. So you can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flip through photos and email them with a touch, or zoom in and out on a section of a web page — all by simply using iPhone's multi-touch display.

Intelligent Keyboard

iPhone's full QWERTY soft keyboard lets you easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. And the keyboard is predictive, so it prevents and corrects mistakes, making it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones.

Wireless

iPhone uses quad-band GSM, the global standard for wireless communications. It also supports Cingular's EDGE network, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, which links to Apple's new, remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.

Built-in Advanced Sensors

iPhone's accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

The proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away.

An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display's brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

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Amazing Crab Island

Location of Christmas Island

Christmas Island rain forest

Red crab

Red crabs begin their march from the forest to the sea,
where they will reproduce.

During the migration, the island's human inhabitants just have to adapt.

There are around 120 million crabs on the march

The crabs navigate the same pathways year after year

For the islanders, encounters with crabs during the migration are just part of island life.

Most of the time we just work around the crabs and take them for granted

Red crabs are scavengers

After two weeks of marching, the first wave of crabs reaches the ocean

The weary travellers dip in the ocean to replace body fluids and salts

The weary travellers dip in the ocean to replace body fluids and salts

Aerial view of Christmas Island

Crabs pop up in the most unexpected places

A female crab expels eggs from her brood pouch

The eggs hatch immediately on contact with the water

Baby crabs navigate their way into the rainforest ... and the ants

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World's Longest, Largest And Fastest

what is the longest bridge in the world?

We thought this would be an easy one, but...
The general rule for judging the longest bridge is the length of the span, so the according to this rule the winner is:
Name: Akashi Kaykio
Location: Kobe, Japan
Date Built: 1998
Span: 1991 Meters - 6532 Feet

Akashi Kaykio Bridge

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana is the listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the longest bridge at
23 miles 1538 yards. The bridge is supported by 9500 pilings, thus does not meet the requisite of the longest span.

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

What is the world's fastest roller coaster?

How much would you pay to be the first rider on the world's fastest roller coaster?

Jeremy Delong paid just under $1,700.00 in an eBay auction to get the first seat on the inaugural run of Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey on May 20, 2005.

Kingda Ka goes from 0 to 128 MPH or 204.8 KM/H in just 3.3 seconds, becoming the first roller coaster to surpass the 200 KM/H mark.

Kingda Ka is also the world's tallest roller coaster reaching 456 feet before plunging back down at over 120 MPH once again.

Kingda Ka

How long is the longest building in the world?

In Osaka Bay, Japan an artificial island was built measuring 4 kms. long and 1 km. wide. This is the site of the Kansai International Airport, which so far cost about $15 Billion to build.
The terminal at Kansai International Airport (KIX) is 1.7 km long, making it the longest building in the world.

Kansai International Airport

What is the world's fastest motorcycle?

If you enjoy seeing motorcycles go really fast make sure you don't miss the annual BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

During the 2006 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials Denis Manning and the BUB Racing team set the new absolute motorcycle land speed record when rider Chris Carr piloted the BUB #7 Streamliner 354.832 MPH on the down run and 346.939 on the return, for an average of 350.885 MPH.

The next BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials are set to be held September 2 - 6, 2007.

The BUB #7 Streamliner

what exactly is the longest car in the world?

Length: 30.5 Meters of 100 Feet
Type: Limousine
Designer: Jay Ohrberg of Burbank California

Features: Includes a swimming pool with a diving board and a king size water bed.
Notes: This car was mainly used in films and exhibitions.

I wonder what the pump read after the fill-up.

What was the world's fastest boat?

The first water speed record was recorded on September 19, 1919 when Casey Baldwin throttled his Hydrodome IV up to a watery 70.86 MPH.

The current world's fastest boat is the Spirit of Australia which Ken Warby managed to get up to 317.60 MPH or 511.13 KM/H at Blowering Dam in New South Wales, Australia on October 08, 1978.

The Spirit of Australia

What is the world's fastest train?

The world's fastest train is Shanghai's maglev train.

Manglev stands for magnetic levitation, a technology that has been around since 1984 but has not been used commercial due to the costs.

Shanghai opened an 18.6 mile stretch in March, 2004 running from the airport to downtown which the train covers in 7 minutes 20 seconds while peaking out at 268 MPH or 431 KM/H.

Shanghai's Maglev Train

What is the world's fastest computer?

Apparently the world's fastest computer is your brain, but with some of the people we know we really question that claim.

Omitting the brain, and being familiar with computers, we know that this page will probably be outdated by the time it loads on your computer, but as of 5:59 AM PST on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 the world's fastest computer is the Blue Gene/L.

The Blue Gene/L was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and can perform at up to 360 teraflops with a sustained performance of 280.6 teraflops.

Just to give you an idea how fast that is, the XBOX 360 performs at about 1 teraflop which is 1 trillion calculations per second.

Blue Gene/L

What is the world's fastest helicopter?

Keep in mind that the maximum speed a rotor helicopter can reach, in theory, before spinning out of control is just over 250 miles per hour.

Now that you know that, at an European air show on August 6, 1986 a Westland Lynx ZB500, that was slightly modified, reached a speed of 249.1 miles per hour or 400.8 km/h, making it the world's fastest helicopter.

The Westland Lynx ZB500

Who is the world's fastest man?

The 100 meter dash is the race that determines the world's fastest man as it did in May 2006 when American Justin Gatlin posted 9.76 seconds, breaking the current record by 0.01 seconds and giving him the title of the world's fastest man.

Unfortunately for Justin Gatlin his reign as the world's fastest man was short lived as there was a scoring error and his time should have been rounded up to the nearest 1/1000 of a second instead of down as it was thus his time was adjusted to 9.77 seconds.

Justin Gatlin now shares the title of world's fastest man with Jamaican Asafa Powell who has also run a 9.77 second 100 meters.

Justin Gatlin & Asafa Powell

What is the world's longest airplane?

On December 21, 1981 the world's longest airplane made it's maiden flight.
The An-225, which is built by the Russian company Antonov, was manufactured to carry the Buran orbiter, Russia's version of the Space Shuttle.
The An-225 holds over 200 records, including the world's longest airplane at 84 meters or 276 feet.
Other stats:

* Payload: 250,000 kilograms or 551,000 pounds
* Wingspan: 88.40 meters or 291 feet 2 inches
* Height: 18.1 meters or 59.3 feet
* Weight: 175,000 kilograms org 385,800 pounds
* Maximum speed: 850 km/h or 530 mph
* Range: 14,000 kilometers or 8,700 miles

There was only one An-225 ever built, a second was started, but not completed.

Antonov An-225

What is the world's longest bus?

In October 2004 Volvo launched the world's longest bus.
The B12M bus is manufactured by Volvo Buses in Brazil and boasts a 12 liter, 340 hp engine.
The bus is 26.8 meters or 87.93 feet long and can seat 300 passengers.
In all 30 buses have been ordered by Viação Campo Belo of Brazil, one of the largest bus operators in the Sao Paolo area.

World's Longest Bus

What is the world's fastest airplane?

The X-43 reached Mach 9.8 but it was an unmanned flight.

The X-15 reached Mach 6.72, but it is a rocket powered aircraft.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which made it's first flight on December 22, 1964, is still considered to be the world's fastest airplane reaching Mach 3.2 or 2,193.167 MPH in July 1976.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird holds many speed records including flying from New York to London, covering 3,461.53 miles in 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds, averaging 1,806.95 MPH.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

Who is the world's fastest woman?

The world's fastest woman is American Florence Griffith-Joyner.

Florence Griffith-Joyner set the current world's record for the 100 meters in Indianapolis, Indiana on July 16, 1988 covering the distance in a mere 10.49 seconds.

Florence Griffith-Joyner

What is the world's fastest fish?

The world's fastest fish can be found throughout all the oceans of the world.

The world's fastest fish has been clocked at speeds over 68 MPH, which is quite a feat for a fish weighing up to 200 pounds.

The world's fastest fish is no other than the sailfish.

The Sailfish

What is the world's fastest sport?

Yes we know there is car racing and boat racing and plane racing an maybe even rocket racing, and those sports are fast, but we are strictly interested in human powered sports.

Jai-Alai is a game that originated in Spain and has been billed as the world's fastest sport with the ball leaving the cesta, a long, curved wicker scoop strapped to one arm, at speeds of up to 180 MPH.

Unfortunately for Jai-Alai, Badminton has taken over the title, a shuttlecock has been recently clocked at 332 KM/H or 206 MPH.

Jai-Alai

What is the world's fastest car?

Ever since the car was invented people wanted to go fast which soon enough resulted in the competition for the land speed record.

Back on December 18, 1898 Frenchman Achères, Yvelines set the first benchmark for the land speed record taking his electric Jeantaud Duc up to a head turning 39.24 MPH.

The current fastest car is the Thrust SSC which was driven by Andy Green for Richard Noble at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

In October 1997 Andy Green took the Thrust SSC up to an ear deafening Mach 1.02,
which is 763.035 MPH of 1227.94 KM/H.

The Thrust SSC

What is the world's fastest bird?

The world's fastest bird is also the world's fastest animal on our planet.

When the Peregrine Falcon spots prey it goes into a controlled dive easily reaching speed of 200 MPH or 320 KM/H.

The fastest speed the Peregrine Falcon reached ever recorded was an amazing 242.3 MPH or 390 KM/H.

The Peregrine Falcon

What is the longest album title in the world?

The longest album title that we could find that actually made the charts is by Fiona Apple.
The album title contains 90 words and, including spaces, 446 characters.

And here it is: When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo,

You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right .

Longest Album Title

Who has the longest legs in the world?

We had fun researching this one and here are our results:
Sam Stacey from England has legs measuring 126.36 cm. or 49.75 inches. She is 193 cm. or 6'4" tall, so her legs make up over 64% of her height.

Ana Hickmann came up as the model with the longest legs. Her legs measure in at 117 cm. comprising 65% of her 180 cm. body.

Ana Hickmann

what is the longest movie ever made?

Well, depends what you consider a movie:
Movie title: None
Director: Buracz Bosnitz
Country: Czech Republic
Length: 908 hours
Year: 1968

Notes: I don't believe this qualifies as it consisted of 908 hours of blank film. It was shown once, then was used to film movies. Personally I'd like to know who actually watched it?

Movie title: The Cure for Insomnia
Director: John Henry Timmis IV
Country: USA
Length: 85 hours or 5220 minutes
Year: 1987

Notes: I don't believe this qualifies either as it consisted of L.D. Groban reciting his 4080 page poem, inter-spliced with rock videos and X-rated film footage.

Our winner...
Movie title: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: USA
Length: 4 hours 10 minutes
Year: 2004

what is the longest movie title ever?

This is an easy one:
Title: Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D

Director: Lowell Mason
Year: 1991
Words in title: 41
Characters in title: 208 including spaces, 168 without
Notes: Basically this movie is a remake of 'Night of the Living Dead' with a new soundtrack added.

What is the world's longest name of a country?

UK may very well be the shortest, but it is also the longest, in English at least. The official name is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is 56 characters long including spaces and 48 characters without.

Al Jumahiriyah al Arabiyah al Libiyah ash Shabiyah al Ishtirakiyah al Uzma also known as Libya is the world's longest country name at 74 characters with spaces and 63 characters without.

what exactly was the longest train in the world?

The longest train ever was a freight train:
Length: 7.353 KM
# of cars: 682
# of engines: 8 diesel/electric
Company: BHP Iron Ore
Location: Port Hedland, Australia
Length of trip: 275 KM - 171 Miles
Date of trip: June 21 2001

what is the longest alphabet in the world?

This is an easy one, maybe not easy to learn.

Country: Cambodian
Number of letters:
74

Just for the record, Rotokas, the native language of the Solomon Islands has only 11 letters, and is the shortest alphabet.
In case you are wondering, Chinese use symbols, not letters, but there are about 5,000 of them. Can you imagine the keyboard?

What is the world's longest abbreviation?

Our first question is 'why is abbreviation such a long word?'
This abbreviation may just explain it, it is the world's longest abbreviation containing 56 letters:

NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOM
ONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT

Meaning: Laboratory for Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations for Composite-monolithic and Monolithic Constructions of the Department of Technology of Building Assembly Operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Building Mechanization and Technical Aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR.

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HITLERS KILLER CHAMBERS..original photos

A detail from a photograph of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, taken by a US plane in 25 August 1944. Krema III is clearly seen, and the roof vents through which the Zyklon-B was introduced are visible.

A pile of the victims glasses at Auschwitz.

Sorting the shoes of victims in Auschwitz. Like all the other property of the victims, it was sent to Germany, except for what was left in the camp by the fleeing SS.

A mass grave in the Belsen camp.

German soldiers cutting the beard of an elderly Jew in Poland.

One of the cremation pits used to burn the victims of the gas chambers in Auschwitz. These "burning pits" were used mainly in the summer of 1944, when the extermination was going at such a rate that the furnaces couldn't handle the number of corpses.


In a letter from SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Jahrling to SS-General Kammler, the cremating capacity of the five Auschwitz crematoriums is specified as 4,756 per 24 working hours.

A mass execution of Jews in Nazi occupied Soviet Union.

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TOP TEN STRANGEST ANIMALS IN THE WORLD

This creature is most probably the creation of an environmental problem. Children at a nursery in Weston-super-Mare, England spotted the three headed frog hopping in the garden.


The blog famous cyclops kitten, Cy was first thought to be a joke photo manipulation. Living only for a day, It had only one eye and was noseless.


The most infamous headless chicken, Mike wowed the world by living for 18 months which indefinitely entered it into the Guinness World Records. It could still live becuase most of his brain stem and ear was left on his body.



Nope this is not photoshop manipulated. A female polar bear named Pelusa turned purple after she was given a special treatment to clear up a skin condition. This has attracted crowds at the Mendoza City Zoo in Argentina. The fur has returned to normal after a few days.

Genetic mutation called 'feather duster' of a parakeet.

Dolphins has taken a pink hue in the Pear River Delta situated between Hong Kong and Macau. It is not known why they are pink in colour but several assumptions include the lack of natural predators or the pink colour is a byproduct of blushing to regulate body temperature.


The two-month old animal, named Cham Leck which means 'strange,' was given to monks at a local pagoda by a farmer who feared the six legged cow would bring him bad fortune.


The hooded seal has a large elastic nasal cavity and when fully inflated resembles a large black ruber ball. They are large aggresive mammals that can exceed 3m in length and 400kg in weight.


The large ocean sunfish vies for the title of strangest fish in the sea. It has an almost circular, flattened body. It weighs up to 2 tons and 3m long. The head is almost a third of the whole body length.


If you had your facts about the Siberian tiger being the largest cat, then you are wrong. The liger is the world's largest cat, a cross breed between a male lion and a female tiger. They exhibit conflicts between the social habits of the lion and solitary habits of the tiger.

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World's Most Expensives

The most expensive hotel to construct in the world?

The Emirates Palace Hotel on the Abu Dhabi Corniche is the world’s most expensively constructed hotel. So, if you wish to feel like a king or queen if only for a night, this is the place to stay.

The hotel cost more than $3,000,000,000.00 to build, that's three billion dollars for those of you that can't count all the zeros.

It is adorned with golden flagpoles, golden chandeliers and golden finials on its rooftop domes along with 1,002 swarovski crystal chandeliers. With your stay, you will enjoy not only the décor but also the 12 restaurants and about a mile of private beach.

The rates for a nights stay for the modest rooms begin at $773. On the other hand, the palace suite features a living room, dining room and three bedrooms with a touch-screen remote control in the bedroom for as much as $11,200.00 per night.

The Emirates Palace Hotel

The most expensive soccer player in the world?

If you love keeping up with what is going on in the world of sports then this bit of information should be included.

France’s Zinedine Zidane was transferred from Juventus to Real Madrid on July 9th, 2001.
The transfer fee is the highest ever quoted for a transfer of a soccer player at 13,033,000,000 Spanish pesetas or £47 million.

Now that is sports trivia you do not see every day!

Zinedine Zidane

The most expensive bikini in the world?

Susan Rosen, in cahoots with Steinmetz Diamonds, created a bikini that model Molly Sims wore for the centerfold of the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

The bikini features over 150 carats of D Flawless diamonds, including a 51 carat D Flawless Pear Shape, a 30 carat D Flawless Emerald Cut, a pair of 15 carat D Flawless Rounds and a pair of 8 carat D Flawless Pear Shapes all set in platinum.

Your cost, should you wish to purchase the bikini, a glittering $30 million, model not included.

Molly Sims In The $30 Million Bikini

The most expensive flower in the world?

In Guangdong, China the Shenzhen Nongke Group, involved in agricultural science research, grew an orchid in 2005.

It was quite an ugly orchid, but an anonymous buyer at an auction would probably disagree with us as he or she bid 1.68 million yuan for the ugly orchid.

SO just how much is 1.68 million yuan? It's roughly $202,000.00 USD and that's just how much the world's most expensive flower sold for.

The World's Most Expensive Flower

The most expensive toilet in the world?

Does anyone remember the hands free outhouse? Well, today to get a hands free toilet with many luxury features you will have to dish out around $5,000 to $5,200. Toto, the world’s largest Japanese toilet maker, created the Neorest toilet.

The features of the Neorest toilet include a warm air dryer, catalytic air deodorizer, heated seat, oscillating spray massage, and a front- and back-aerated warm-water spray. It is environmentally friendly and only uses 1.2 gallons of water for every flush.

A visit to many office buildings in Tokyo will give you an idea of just how popular this hands free toilet really is.
It looks to us that Toto got their hands dirty so you won't have to.

The Neorest Toilet

The most expensive hotel room in the world?

Planning to travel to the Bahamas? Better take all your credit cards with you.

One night in the Bridge Suite at the Atlantis Resort will set you back $34,000.00 USD. Since check-in is at 2 PM and check-out at 11 am, 1 hour of bliss will cost you $1691.00.

Bridge Suite at the Atlantis Resort

The most expensive film in the world?

If you look purely at production cost King Kong (2005) edges out Superman Returns (2006) by a paltry $3 million USD.

The tab for King Kong ran $207 million while Superman Returns lightened investors wallets by only $204 million.

If you factor in inflation then War and Peace (1968) blows away the competition, costing the equivalent of $560 million 2005 dollars while Cleopatra (1963) comes in a distant second at $286 million 2005 dollars.

War and Peace took 7 years and $100 million to produce.

King Kong (2005)

The most expensive movie actress in the world?

Word around Hollywood is Reese Witherspoon is now the most expensive actress in Hollywood. Reese will star in the new horror film, Our Family Trouble and gross a whopping $29,000,000. She now leads the board and puts Julia Roberts in second place for her $24,000,000 for Mona Lisa Smile.

Reese Witherspoon was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana but was raised in Tennessee. She is now 29 years old and has been acting seen the age of 15.

She does nothing but amaze us with her career and her accomplishments winning “Best Actress” for her role as June Carter in Walk the Line on March 5, 2006.

Reese Witherspoon

The most expensive house in the world?

London's Kensington Palace Gardens also know as 'Billionaires Row' is the site of the most expensive house in the world.

Lakshmi N Mittal, one of the richest people in the world bought the mansion from Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for about $10 million USD per bedroom for a grand total of $128 million USD.

Hearst Castle in California was built in the 1920's - 30's for William Randolph Hearst at a cost of about $30 million USD, which would equal just under $280 million USD today.

Most Expensive House

The most expensive jeans in the world?

APO jeans are creating the most expensive and exclusive jeans in the industry. These jeans cost $1,000 for men’s or ladies jeans with silver buttons and rivets, $1,500 for men’s or ladies jeans with white or yellow gold button and rivets, $3,250 for men’s or ladies jeans with platinum button and rivets, and of course the most expensive are $4,000 men’s or ladies jeans with diamond button and rivets.

Along with each pair of jeans comes an authenticity number and an appraisal sheet from a top jeweler from the New York diamond district.

Wonder what every woman will want for Christmas this year - designer jeans with gemstones.

APO Jeans

The most expensive bra in the world?

Well, we showed you the longest bra so how about the most expensive.

Every year Victoria's Secrets offers a one of a kind creation from Mouawad's.

The bras are made from thousands of diamond with usually on very large diamond in the center.

The 2002 version called 'Red Hot Fantasy' contains 1,300 diamond and rubies valued at an whopping $15 million USD.

We could not find a picture or the $15 million creation so here is the next best one.

An $11,000,000.00 Bra

The most expensive ice cream in the world?

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream, is a very memorable statement, but with the price of the world’s most expensive ice cream not too many people will be able to enjoy the taste.

The Grand Opulence Sundae from Serendipity of New York City has the title of the World’s most expensive ice cream with a meal ticket of $1,000.00 per sundae.

The Grand Opulence Sundae is actually garnished with 23K edible gold. You may believe that this treat is one that can be purchased on rare occasion by only the rich and famous; however, Serendipity reports they sell one of these sundaes per month.

The Grand Opulence Sundae

The most expensive tie in the world?

Looking for a tie for father's day? Look no further, what father would not like to own the world's most expensive tie?

Created by designer Satya Paul for the Suashish Diamond group and displayed at a 2004 Mumbai fashion show by Salman Khan, the world's most expensive tie made it's debut.

The tie is made of pure silk and studded with 261 diamonds.

Price: Rs 1 crore.

OK, so what is a crore? Why, a crore is 100 lakhs, of course.

So what is a lakhs? A lakh is equal to 100,000 (in this case; rupees).

That makes the world's most expensive tie worth the following:

* 1 crore.
* 100 lakhs.
* $250,000.00 USD

Most Expensive Tie

The most expensive television in the world?

The most expensive television set is the “Yalos Diamond” TV.
It happens to be studded with 160 real diamonds weighing a glittery 20 carats.
This remarkable LCD television went on display at the IFA in Berlin beginning September 6, 2006.
If you really get a hankering to purchase one exactly like it then you had better be ready to shell out a whopping $130,000.

The Yalos Diamond TV

The most expensive watch in the world?

Chopard of Switzerland is renowned for luxury watches.

If you want the best of the best, the world's most expensive watch will set you back $25 million USD.

Studded with diamonds, the 3 focal point diamonds weigh in at 15, 12, and 11 carats.

A $25,000,000.00 Watch

The most expensive legs in the world?

Just one toe and you could retire. Michael Flatley, star of Riverdance had his legs insured in 1999 for 40 million USD.

If you came here looking for legs of the feminine variety, Heidi Klum of Germany holds the record for the most expensive legs. Her legs are worth just under 4 million USD, but due to a recent scar, their value has gone down significantly.

Heidi Klum

The most expensive shoes in the world?

In 2003 Harrods department store in London displayed the creation of Stuart Weitzman, a pair of shoes inspired by the shoes worn in 'The Wizard of Oz' by Judy Garland.

Woven with thread of platinum and studded with 642 rubies, the price tag on the world's most expensive shoes was a foot stomping $1.6 million USD.

In 2004 Stuart Weitzman did it again, creating the 'Cinderella Slippers' which boasted 565 platinum-set diamonds including one large 5 karat chunk of ice.

They were worn to the 2004 Oscars by Alison Krauss and can be yours for only $2 million USD.

The Cinderella Slippers

The most expensive stamp in the world?

In 1855 in Sweden someone goofed, printing a three skilling stamp on yellow/orange stock rather than green as it should have been.
It is not known how many were printed, but only 1 copy is known to exist.
In 1996 the 'Tre Skilling Banco yellow' was sold for $2,300,000.00

Tre Skilling Banco yellow

The world's most expensive computer game?

7 years in the making and over $20,000.000.00 in development costs the 1999 computer game Shenmue, created for Dreamcast by Sega has become the world's most expensive computer game.

Shenmue is a role playing game with built in mini games and at the time was one of the most realistic computer games on the market.

Shenmue is not for everybody. It's a game rich in story, visuals, and environmental stimuli, but light on overall game play. Fans of whodunits and RPGs will take quicker to the game's overall premise, but there is enough to please the casual gamer as well.

While Shenmue is revolutionary, the game is far from perfect. Regardless of its many shortcomings, though, Shenmue is an adventure worth experiencing - provided you have the time to invest.

Shenmue by Sega

The world's most expensive car?

Between 1927 and 1933 a total of 6 Bugatti Type 41 Royale cars were produced. MSRP at the time: about $42,000.00 USD.

In 1990 one of the Bugattis sold for $15 million USD in Japan.

Bugatti Type 41 Royale

The world's most expensive letter?

In 1991 a Beverly Hills company purchased a letter written by Abraham Lincoln on January 08 1863 for $748,000.00

The letter was written to Major General John Alexander McClernand defending the Emancipation Proclamation.

Here's the letter:

Abraham Lincoln
January 8, 1863

Executive Mansion,

Washington, January 8. 1863.

Major General McClernand

My dear Sir Your interesting communication by the hand of Major Scates is received. I never did ask more, nor ever was willing to accept less, than for all the States, and the people thereof, to take and hold their places, and their rights, in the Union, under the Constitution of the United States. For this alone have I felt authorized to struggle; and I seek neither more nor less now. Still, to use a coarse, but an expressive figure, broken eggs can not be mended. I have issued the emancipation proclamation, and I can not retract it.

After the commencement of hostilities I struggled nearly a year and a half to get along without touching the "institution"; and when finally I conditionally determined to touch it, I gave a hundred days fair notice of my purpose, to all the States and people, within which time they could have turned it wholly aside, by simply again becoming good citizens of the United States. They chose to disregard it, and I made the peremptory proclamation on what appeared to me to be a military necessity. And being made, it must stand. As to the States not included in it, of course they can have their rights in the Union as of old. Even the people of the states included, if they choose, need not to be hurt by it. Let them adopt systems of apprenticeship for the colored people, conforming substantially to the most approved plans of gradual emancipation; and, with the aid they can have from the general government, they may be nearly as well off, in this respect, as if the present trouble had not occurred, and much better off than they can possibly be if the contest continues persistently.

As to any dread of my having a "purpose to enslave, or exterminate, the whites of the South," I can scarcely believe that such dread exists. It is too absurd. I believe you can be my personal witness that no man is less to be dreaded for undue severity, in any case.

If the friends you mention really wish to have peace upon the old terms, they should act at once. Every day makes the case more difficult. They can so act, with entire safety, so far as I am concerned.

I think you would better not make this letter public; but you may rely confidently on my standing by whatever I have said in it. Please write me if any thing more comes to light. Yours very truly

A. LINCOLN.

The most expensive actor in the world?

The question should be what, not who, and the answer is a mouse. Stuart Little demanded a hefty price tag of $50,000 to $100,000 per four second shot to create.

According to Forbes from June 2004 to June 2005 Mel Gibson earned $185 million making him the most expensive actor to hire for a year. He ranked #3 of most expensive celebrities behind George Lucas and Oprah Winfrey.

In 1998 Jerry Seinfeld earned $267 million for his role in Seinfeld.

The most expensive actor in a movie can be disputed as many actors receive percentages of profits.

We believe Tom Cruise to be the most expensive actor. Although he did not receive a single penny as a salary, his 20% profit sharing for War of the Worlds (2005) will surely set the record.

The most expensive mobile number in the world?

Announced by the Kuwaiti News Agency, the world’s most expensive mobile number was auctioned for charity in Qatar on May 22 2006.

The number sold for 10m Qatari riyals or £1.5m. The number, would you believe, was 666-6666.

The auction was organized by national telco Qtel that has held two previous auctions and is planning on another one in September. In the beginning, there were eight individuals bidding on this unique number but it finally dwindled down to last souls.

The world's most expensive telephone number?

In April 2004 a man from China purchased 135 8585 8585 in an auction beating out 70 other bidders.

The winning bid was almost a telephone number in itself at $1,100,000.00 USD.

This broke the record for the world's most expensive telephone number set in 2003 when Sichuan Airlines, again from China, purchased 8888-8888 in an auction.

The most expensive zip code in the world?

For those in the back screaming 90210 please put your hands down, you're not even close. Beverly Hills 90210 comes in at 15th place according to Forbes for 2005.
The Most expensive zip code in America is 94027 which is Atherton, CA with a median house cost of $2,496,553.00 USD.
California actually takes the top four spots, so if you want to move there you'd better get your personal finances in order.
Here are the 25 most expensive zip codes for 2005:

1 94027 ATHERTON, CA $2,496,553

2 93108 SANTA BARBARA, CA $2,176,251

3 92067 RANCHO SANTA FE, CA $2,144,254

4 92662 NEWPORT BEACH, CA $2,046,577

5 11765 MILL NECK, NY $1,948,636

6 94957 ROSS, CA $1,910,263

7 89402 CRYSTAL BAY, NV $1,806,962

8 07620 ALPINE, NJ $1,773,880

9 89413 GLENBROOK, NV $1,765,000

10 07976 NEW VERNON, NJ $1,760,000

11 11568 OLD WESTBURY, NY $1,759,206

12 90402 SANTA MONICA, CA $1,749,834

13 10013 NEW YORK, NY $1,635,000

14 21056 GIBSON ISLAND, MD $1,626,000

15 90210 BEVERLY HILLS, CA $1,582,886

16 06831 GREENWICH, CT $1,573,755

17 33109 MIAMI BEACH, FL $1,505,655

18 94528 DIABLO, CA $1,452,500

19 94920 BELVEDERE TIBURON, CA $1,421,336

20 94022 LOS ALTOS, CA $1,392,522

21 92657 NEWPORT COAST, CA $1,391,710

22 92625 CORONA DEL MAR, CA $1,388,873

23 94946 NICASIO, CA $1,370,000

24 06878 RIVERSIDE, CT $1,348,653

25 90272 PACIFIC PALISADES, CA $1,329,856

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Sand Art Competition

The Vancouver Sun World Championships of Sand Sculpture Competition & Exhibition

The Competition starts at 9am on Tuesday, September 5th with the Doubles Class beginning fifty hours of competition. The one-hundred hour Team Class starts on Thursday. 3 & 4 person teams. Judging on the Doubles Class also takes place. On Friday, 5 & 6 person teams and all the Master Solos start to fill the beach. The 7 person teams start Saturday, September 9th. All entries will finish at 3 pm Sunday the 10th. Adult admission during the Competition is only $8.00 CDN (incl. tax) per day. Accompanied children under ages 13 are only $3.00 Accompanied children under ages 4 and under are free.

The Exhibition, A Beach Full of Finished Master Sand Sculptor's Work!

The Exhibition of finished sculpture is Western Canada's largest outdoor art show. It runs from September 11th 'till October 9th, 2006 (Thanksgiving/Columbus Day). The gates are open from 8:30 'till dusk. Adult admission is only $8.00 CDN (incl. tax) per day. Accompanied children ages 5 - 13 are only $3.00. Accompanied children ages 5 and under are free. Student & senior admission is $7.00 CDN (incl. tax)

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Have you seen NASA

1964. Aerial view of Missile Row, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Photo credit: NASA GRIN Image#: 64PC-0082

Apollo Saturn V Test Vehicle

1966. Aerial view of the Apollo Saturn V Facilities Test vehicle rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and heading to Launch Complex 39A. This test vehicle, designated the Apollo Saturn 500F, will never make the journey to the moon. However, it is being used to verify launch facilities, train launch crews, and develop test and checkout procedures.
Photo credit: NASA GRIN Image#: 66PC-0072

Aerial View of Launch Complex 39

1999. Aerial view of the Launch Complex 39 area shows the Vehicle Assembly Building (center), with the Launch Control Center on its right. On the west side (lower end) are (left to right) the Orbiter Processing Facility, Process Control Center and Operations Support Center .
Photo credit: NASA GRIN Image#: 99PP-1213

STS-79 Rollout

A vantage point high atop the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) shrinks the size and scale of the orbiter Atlantis as it is rolled from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the VAB on 6/24/1996. During the five working days it spends inside the huge building, Atlantis will be mated to the external tank/twin solid rocket booster assembly, and then rolled out to Launch Pad 39A.

VAB Aerial

KSC's Launch Complex 39 is strategically located next to a barge site and a variety of structures, including a Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPF), Press Site, Launch Control Center (LCC), and a crawlerway to the pads. (1998)

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10 top scientific pics of 2006

This image of a peppercorn and a grain of salt taken by David McCarthy is the overall winner (and close-up category winner) in this year's Visions of Science Photographic Awards. The competition is sponsored by Novartis and The Daily Telegraph. (© David McCarthy)


A tiny shrimp fearlessly enters the mouth of a fish to clean its teeth. Fish value this service as the shrimp removes and eats harmful parasites. (© Jim Greenfield)


A clinical skills tutor holds a pile of prosthetic arms. The arms are used to help medical students learn valuable techniques, in this case the insertion of a cannula, a tube used for draining or introducing fluids. (© Amanda Rebbechi)


Representation of panspermia - a theory that the seeds of life are found throughout the Universe, and that life arose on Earth when such seeds landed here early in geological history. The image shows eggs shattering and releasing smaller eggs. (© John Brackenbury)


Films of supersaturated solutions can have crystallization initiated by any disturbance. This black rectangular outline has been scratched out to make a border in which these paracetamol crystals can grow. (© Spike Walker )


The surface tension of water supports a metal paperclip. By photographing it using a grille in front of the light source, the deformation of the water around the clip can be seen. ( ©Robert Anderson )


Cancer cells can spread through the body in a process known as metastasis. This cancer cell is moving down a pore in a filter. The image was taken at Cancer Research UK, where the spread of cancer is studied in the hope of finding a cure. ( ©Anne Weston )


Migraine attacks can cause a variety of visual symptoms (aura) as well as the notorious stabbing head pain. This is a representation of a barn seen during an attack, painted by an artist and migraine sufferer. ( ©Debbie Ayles )


The fine cellular structure of the stem of a sunflower is revealed here, including red vascular areas and blue supportive tissue. This systematic regularity contrasts with the sweeping outline of the butterfly. ( ©Rachel Shillcock)


An eye studies a self-contained ecosystem in which every organism feeds on another, or its waste products. All this sealed globe needs to sustain it is light, so that the plant can produce oxygen. It is like a mini-Earth. ( ©Maximillian Schneider)

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