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casesmains · 2 years

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Tron legacy soundtrack flac

#Tron legacy soundtrack flac iso#

Ultimately, there wasn't any new thematic ground for Legacy to cover.

#Tron legacy soundtrack flac iso#

what? To a programmer or the company IT guy, what would an Iso look like? In the original film, lightcycles and disc games were actual video games being run in the system, so is The Grid running video games too? Who is playing them? Nothing is really established about this world that our characters are living and fighting in. iso programs, so if not, what are they? Spontaneously generated Programs that do. How does The Grid function? Are all of these people you see around it Programs? What do they do? What about Clu's legions of soldiers? What is their function in a working computer system? If Clu is changing Programs into soldiers, what does that mean for the system? I assume the Isos aren't. TRON had a very clearly developed world and strong ideas about what Programs were, how they related to Users, what the threat posed by the MCP was, and that little bit of Messianic religious theme thrown in for good measure. The problem is that it doesn't seem to know why it exists or what it wants to say. It has a slick, stylish Apple Store aesthetic and it is hard to go wrong with a soundtrack by Daft Punk (if you want a real treat, track down Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, an anime film by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto set to the entirety of Daft Punk's album Discovery). TRON: Legacy is some beautiful candy for the eyes and ears. This really comes out when considering Legacy's weaknesses. TRON: Legacy, on the other hand, comes off like executives at Team Disney sitting around a boardroom and deciding what IP they can dust off for the young male 9 to 34 demographic groups. One gets the sense of the team at Monolith Productions looking for a new concept and turning with high fidelity to a favourite childhood film. Between the two attempts, TRON 2.0 comes off as more legitimate. Not to mention that someone already made about the best conceptual sequel to TRON that anyone could hope for: The Matrix. It only ever achieved cult status to begin with, and the heat had long since gone off of it. Add in religious overtones and about 12 minutes of genuine 1982 vintage CGI, and you have the ingredients of a pretty important film if not an overwhelmingly good one.ĭeveloping a sequel several decades after the original film is a daunting prospect. It sluggishly plods along its story, but as an early attempt to develop a Sci-Fi concept about these magical new boxes called "computers" and those crazy "video games" that kids these days are playing, TRON does a pretty good job. I appreciate them for what they are, and a disingenuous 30-year-after-the-fact sequel certainly helped me to appreciate what the original film was doing even more. Sure I have DVDs of the original and TRON: Legacy, and I've seen all of TRON: Uprising, and I recently played the Legacy prequel game TRON: Evolution, which in turn led me around to finally playing TRON 2.0, which I had heard so much about for so long, and I've found where you can play the original TRON and Discs of TRON arcade games online, and I've considered a TRON Halloween costume several times, but I wouldn't consider myself, y'know, a real die hard devotee of the franchise. How a digital creation can translate into an analogue body.I don't consider myself any kind of big TRON fan. Instead this album is about how music can make you feel. Ranging from fast paced and aggressive to slower and more contemplative this is not about genre, nor is it about style. The album is comprised of 24 tracks, with each track name giving a slight/blatant hint at what part of the story each is meant to represent. Taking inspiration from the elements and instruments that were used in the original score but with a few modern techniques, styles, effects and my own spin on implementation. In my head this is what I would have done with the soundtrack to the second film in the Tron series. This album acts as a direct continuation to my album ‘The Grid’ from 2016, however it also acts as a spiritual replacement soundtrack to Tron Legacy. It seems we will need every scrap of help to traverse this cyber universe, find the creator of The Grid and escape alive. With corrupted creations and unique beings born inside this digital world it is hard to decipher friend from foe. This cyber frontier is filled with unknown dangers that must be fought to survive. Soon we are pulled into a digital world, one which has become more advanced than we could have ever imagined. Haunted by this mystery we are drawn to a familiar place, The Arcade. In 1989 the creator of The Grid disappears.

#Tron legacy soundtrack flac

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fumikomiyasaki · 3 years

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Okay, Lynn [Brush]+[Lips]

Kia [Brush]+[Cheek]

Amy [Guide]+[Lips]

Yaeko [Whisper]+[Palm]

Mellow was a bit nervous, waiting for Lynette to arrive after her Last class. They Had a Date at the Cinema today and He was way too early given His classes are already over.

"Mellow, did you wait for me?"

"There was a place that I wanted to Show you before we go to the movies. W-would you mind following me?"

She grabbed His Hand and smiled. "Of course."

He took her to the Pier a bit close to the Cinema. They both sat down on a Bench and watched the Sunset...

"H-Hey Lynette. I know we have our Second Date but... W-would you mind If I try something?"

Lynette goes Red.

"What do you mean?"

"I'd have t-to Show you."

She took a deep breath.

"yes." Mellow looked shy away but then Turned to her, pushing her Hair to the Side a bit and gave her a kiss. It was a Bit clumsy but you could know it came From the Heart.

Both Blush heavy but the redness of the Sunset didn't make it seem that way.

Lynette leaned against him smiling.

"Thanks for being Here with me Mellow..."

Eve was at one of His lightcycle races against His dorm members as Kiara arrived at the dorm to eat Lunch with him. Eve jumped Out of the cycle quickly and brushed her Hair away to give her a quick cheek kiss. She blushed slightly.

"Its so good to See you Kiara, hope.yoi didn't wait Long."

"Not at all but, I didn't know you could Drive."

"Light Cycles doesn't really Need a drivers license or something. Wanna try it?"

"If I can, of course."

Eve gave her Instructions on how to use the machine and she put on the helmet and drove Off.

As Eve saw her Hair fluttering from the helmet and doing the track pretty Well He smiled to himself. "She is so pretty. "

Under a calm tree Aiden rested from the Stress at His dorm. Amelia visited him.

"Could I maybe sit with you, Aiden? I brought Lunch."

He chuckled.

"You don't have to ask, we are dating."

She smiled brightly. To have him admit some of His Feelings and See them together makes her happy.

"Would you mind Amelia... If I layed my head down in your lap? Its more comfy than the tree..."

She blushed heavily.

"O-O-of course you can..."

He smiled and layed Back. He took some fruits of the Basket Media gave him and ate them away. Then He looked Back at Amelia.

"You know, with you I feel Like I finally found a place to call Home... And I wanted to thank you."

He Got His Head Up to kiss her and layed Back down.

"I feel similar Aiden... I am glad you opened Up to me."

As the Destopia students Went to class, Kome walked by Yaeko closely to whispers her something. "Meet me later at the fountain. I have a surprise for you."

Yaeko did as Kome Said and arrived with Kome who Had a Gift prepared for her. As Yaeko opened the box, she saw a bunch of Novel books.

“I sorted through the Library of my house and found these and thought the might interest you.”

“Thank you so much Kome, I will take good care of them.”

Kome smiled.

“Know Yaeko, if you ever need anything from me, I would do anything. You are that important to my life.” She took yaekos palm and placed a kiss on it causing Yaeko to blush.

“Thats a promise from me.” She smiled cheeky as she left.

#twistedwonderlandoc #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twistedwonderland #twisted wonderland #disney twst #twisted wonderland ocs #twisted wonderland original character #kome nabusa #mellow mildew #eve alternate #aiden renous #aiden x amelia #eve x kiara #mellow x lynette #kome x Yaeko

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365days365movies · 3 years

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May 7, 2021: TRON (1982)

Starting to leave lo-fi sci-fi with this one.

Can I just say, I am VERY excited for this one. Mostly because it’s hard to get more ‘80s than this movie, specifically in terms of computers. I’ll explain. Y’know Jurassic Park? Yeah, the same movie I’ve brought up far, FAR too many times this month. Is...is that my favorite sci-fi movie? Shit, it might be? I’ve read the books, I’ve seen the movie COUNTLESS times...I’m pretty sure it is! Huh. Go figure. Anyway, where was I?

Oh, right! Remember the most irritating character in the movie? This is, in my opinion, older sister Lex Murphy. In the book, for the record, she’s a VERY different character. She’s the youngest sibling amongst the two, and she’s a sports nerd who hates dinosaurs. And she’s also the most annoying character in the book, so at least they kept that consistent. However, you may be saying to yourself: “Jesus, this dude really loves Jurassic Park. Even in the intro for Tron, he’s talking about it. Why the hell does he keep bringing it up?”

Well, allow me to explain. When I was 9 years old, I was super into two things: dinosaurs and reading. You may think that I wasn’t very popular in school as a result. And the truth won’t surprise you. Anyway, on January 3rd, 2001, it was a cold morning in the supermarket when

...OK, lemme get to the point. IT’S A UNIX SYSTEM!

See, this moment when Lex hacks into the computer to reactivate the locks (a task given to Tim in the book, but whatever) does two things. One, it makes Lex relevant in a film and story where she’s almost entirely unneeded. And two, it established something in the minds of movie-watchers everywhere: a completely misguided idea of what computer programming is.

And this is just one of MANY examples of Hollywood weirdly representing computers to the public. This was kind of a trend throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, as computers were beginning to become available to the public. Examples are:

WarGames (1983), dir. John Badham

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), dir. James Cameron

Revenge of the Nerds (1984), dir. Jeff Kanew

Weird Science (1985), dir, John Hughes

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), dir. Russo Bros

That last one isn’t a great example, and it’s not even within the right time period. I just love Arnim Zola, and he NEEDS TO RETURN to the MCU. Goddamn it, I want this guy back, complete with his full robot body! COME ON FIEGE, LOOK AT THIS GUY! That last one may or may not be my fanart for the character with my own design NEVERTHEGODDAMNLESS!

Look, all you gotta do is connect the various machinations of Arnim Zola to the foundations of AIM, which is easy given their link in the comics. Zola and his fellow Paperclip scientists helped fund Aldrich Killian’s AIM, and the project to give Zola his sick-ass robot body eventually wound up being a part of the project that would create the hovering robotic chair used by this guy.

THIS IS ALL I’VE EVER WANTED PLEASE

...Ahem.

Anyway, the weird-ass ways that Hollywood’s represented computers, hacking, and all other associated things can be traced back to 1982, when the first film to use mostly computer generated imagery for its setting was created. This was, of course, Disney’s TRON. And while I haven’t seen it before...I’ve see its sequel in theaters?

On a related note, Tron Legacy might be a mediocre film with a mediocre soundtrack, but GODDAMN DO IT LOVE THE FUCKING VISUALS. It’s genuinely my favorite aesthetic. That whole “outlined in light” thing? Goooooooh, BABY, how I love it.

Style over substance, but OH THE FUCKING STYLE

Anyway, despite that, I’m looking forward to seeing where the whole thing came from. I dig that style, too. Is there a name for those aesthetics? Let me know, so I can devote my life to it forever. Anyway, shall we get started?

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

So, we start this movie off with a BANG, jumping into an arcade where two kids are playing none other than Lightcycle, and jumping into said Lightcycles to meet one of the drivers, Sark (David Warner). A sadistic program, he takes great pleasure in executing programs in Lightcycle races.

One of these programs, in fact, is being brought into imprisonment now, to be set against Sark in a race. The program, Crom (Peter Jurasik), speaks with fellow prisoner Ram (Dan Shor), where we get some idea of the lore of this place. Many programs believe in “the Users”, god-like figures who they believe created them and tell them what to do. However, the mysterious Master Control Program is rounding up the programs that believe in Users, taking over their functions or executing them. Diggin’ the lore so far.

In the real world, we meet Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a computer programmer commanding his own program, Clu (also Bridges), and...look, I’m not sure what they’re doing, but OHHH. IT’S A UNIX SYSTEM, BABY. The beautiful bullshit that this movie uses to denote computer activity and programming, it’s...MMMMMMMMMCHEF’SKISS, it’s so FUCKING GOOD!

Anyway, Clu’s apparently being sent to find some information, but he’s caught by Master Control. Jeff Bridges shows off some pretty over-the-top acting, but it’s charming as hell. Clu’s interrogated by Master Control Program (also Warner), and killed, or “derezzed”. This frustrates Flynn, but why?

Well, we get a clue from MCPs concentration with Ed Dillinger (David Warner), who arrives at his office in the COOLEST FUCKING HELICOPTER I HAVE EVER SEEN. I will never make enough money to have this helicopter, but maybe one day I can do it to a car, holy shit. Anyway, Dillinger lands and enters the ENCOM building, where he speaks with his computer table, which contains MCP.

Is this a thing with computer programmers? Do they, like, physically talk to their programs, and the programs talk back? Is this a thing that happens? Are the conversations interesting? Are IT people literally computer-whisperers? I gotta talk to my friends in computer sciences and IT about this.

Apparently, Flynn’s been snooping around their servers for a specific file, and they’re trying to stop him from getting that file. Meanwhile, in an office in the building, a man named Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) is blocked out of the system in an attempt to flush out Flynn’s location. Bradley’s summoned to the office for what seems like a routine interview, but is actually more of an investigation. Doesn’t go anywhere.

On a side note, by the way, it would appear that MCP is somewhat in control of Dillinger. Although, how and why is unknown. In any case, he’s attempting to amass power. Additionally, the fact that he’s directly speaking to one of the Users is...interesting. And on a second side note, Bradley is preparing something, a security program called “Tron”. That might come up later.

MEANWHILE, elsewhere in the building, a group of scientists are conducting an experiment to digitize solid matter and transport it into computers. It succeeds with an orange, much to their delight and celebration. One of these scientists is Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan), Flynn’s ex-girlfriend and Alan’s current girlfriend. They go to the arcade to reconvene with Flynn, much to Alan’s irritation.

Flynn not only owns the place, he’s also a game whiz, brilliant computer programmer, and recently fired ex-employee of ENCOM. He’s also been sneaking into the ENCOM system, and he details exactly why he’s moving against them. While working for ENCOM, he had started writing programs for some very complex video games, which could’ve have made him quite a bit of money. But Dillinger stole his files, and uses it to climb up the ranks to Senior Executive of ENCOM, while Flynn lounges in relative poverty. He’s planning on getting into the system to get evidence of Dillinger’s wrongdoing.

The trio plots to take down Dillinger and get the evidence together, breaking into ENCOM that night. Meanwhile, Dillinger’s meeting with Walter Gibbs (Barnard Hughes), a co-founder of the company, and one of the other scientists who made the digitizing machine. Dillinger says YOUR TIME IS OVER OLD MAN, and brushes off his concerns about he’s handing the company.

He’s not the only one with issues, as MCP decides to take over FOR Dillinger. Apparently, Dillinger’s talents are stealing data and creating Cybernet/HAL 9000. Good job, buddy. But that may end, when Alan goes to finish and install his program, Tron, which will hopefully take MCP down. Meanwhile, Lora and Flynn go to the basement with the digitizing machine. At the computer terminal, MCP decides to stop Flynn by...well, you know where this is headed.

Yup! Flynn’s brought into the computer by Lora’s machine, and is digitized and put into the game grid. And since we’ll be spending a lot of time there, I think I need to acknowledge something: I really love how this movie looks. The CGI is rudimentary, but it’s used surprisingly well. Consider that this is also made in an era where this is the kind of imagery that computers could literally generate at the time, and you’ve got a pretty great movie in-context.

Flynn, now in those spiffy program duds, is sent by the MCP to compete in the Game Grid, under Sark’s supervision and tutelage. He’s thrown into the brig with the other imprisoned programs, where he learns more about this world. Once brought into the throes of the Game Grid, he’s told that those who believe in the Users are to be trained poorly, ensuring their inevitable death. Meanwhile, those who renounce their belief will be spared. And of all the programs who still believe in the Users, there is none quite as powerful...as Tron (Bruce Boxleitner again).

We see Tron’s badass skills in Ultimate Frisbee. And OK, it’s not Ultimate Frisbee, but you throw discs that contain all of your essence and all of the things you’ve learned in your time there. You basically pour your entire essence and being into the disc as you throw it. So, really, it is Ultimate Frisbee, according to that one dude who’s REALLY into Ultimate Frisbee.

Flynn is commanded to play one of these games, and he winds fairly easily. However, when he defeats his opponent, he’s almost about to die. However, Flynn refuses to finish him off, leading Sark to do so instead. And Sark is tempted to kill Flynn as well, but he holds off at the last moment.

Flynn finally gets to meet Tron, where he feigns being a program that knows of his User, Alan. Of course, Tron looks exactly like Alan, which is why Flynn blurts out his name. But as they’re discussing this, Flynn, Tron, and fellow prisoner Ram are sent to compete in the Lightcycles. And, yes, I’m now looking for a game like this on my phone, because GODDAMN to I love Lightcycles. Can’t WAIT for the Disney World ride, oh my GOOOOD.

So, our guys get in the Lightcycles, and they outmaneuver Sark’s guys. They’re actually able to escape the arena and the Game Grid, making it outside the citadel. They encounter a, uh, bitstream, and soak up some energy before moving on. On the way, though, they’re nearly killed by Sark’s guys in tanks, and Tron is separated from Flynn an the unconscious Ram.

Flynn and Ram finds a place to rest and hide, and Flynn discovers that, as a User, he actually has the ability to somewhat manipulate the reality within the computer, and he makes a version of MCPs ships, the Recognizers, which resemble the villains in Flynn’s game that Dillinger stole. Now realizing that Flynn is a user, Ram asks him to help Tron, before dying and disappearing into pure code. Whoof.

Tron, meanwhile, ends up finding an input/output program named Yori (Cindy Morgan), who helps him in his escape. She takes him through the city, where we see some interesting designs for control programs, almost like a Hunger Games Panem sort of deal.

Flynn has trouble driving his ship, as he meets a “bit”, a small bit of data that only answers in yes or no. He, too, ends up in the city, and you start to notice that this film has a really heavy influence in our cyberpunk concepts and fashions today. Honestly, I really dig this whole thing. Kevin uses his programming powers to disguise himself as one of Sark’s guards, while Yori and Tron find their way through the main citadel of the guards.

They make their way through to the access tower, where they ask the program Dumont (Barnard Hughes again) to let them access the interface that will allow them to speak with the Users, specifically Alan. Reluctantly, Dumont agrees to let Tron through, where he goes to the access port. Which, for the record, looks awesome. He goes to speak with Alan, and he does that one pose. Y’know, the famous Tron pose that’s on the poster?

Yeah, that’s the good stuff. Anyway, he gets information written onto his disc that’ll allow him to kill MCP. Neat. And unfortunately, that’s exactly when Sark and his guys show up, taking Dumont away as Tron and Yori escape. Yori gets them onto a Solar Sailer, a device that will transport them to the central computer. Tron fends off some of Sark’s guys with video game noise kicks, and the Solar Sailer arrives to take them away.

Sark chases after them, but the pair manage to outrun his very cool-looking ship. MCP threatens to destroy Sark for his failure, but he promises that he’ll be able to get them. On the ship, Tron looks down at the side to see Flynn hanging on. Turns out that he was one of the guards that attacked the two. Tron pulls him up onto the ship, and Flynn reveals that he is, in fact, a user. He also reveals that Users aren’t exactly the gods that programs believe them to be.

Anyway, how’s Dumont doing?

Ah.

Well, the Recognizers find Tron, Yori, and Flynn, and chase after them on the light beam the Solar Sailer is on. However, with his User powers, Flynn manages to get the Sailer onto a different beam, while pulses on the original beam destroy the Recognizers.

Doesn’t end up mattering much, though, as Sark finally catches up and intercepts the group. The Solar Sailer is destroyed, and Yori and Flynn are thrown in the brig with Dumont, who’s still alive! Can’t say quite as much for Tron, apparently. But, again, I can only assume that Ton is still alive. We’ll see, though. Sark denies Flynn’s identity as a User for some reason (I mean, MCP told you who he was, but OK), and he sentences them all to death. Outside the ship, of course, is Tron, who’s hiding and waiting for the right time to strike. And that is when we finally see him.

Glorious. Absolutely goddamn glorious. MCP is taking the remaining programs that believe in Users, Dumont included, and incorporating them into his mass. Meanwhile, Sark has found Tron, and the two are fighting with a classic game of Ultimate Frisbee. Tron nearly defeats Sark entirely, but MCP revives him, and gives him the power to take out Tron. He grows gigantic, and it looks genuinely really convincing.

Flynn prepares to take out MCP once and for all, and kisses Yori just beforehand, which is weird as shit. He jumps into the program, and controls it just long enough for Tron to throw his disc at it and land the finishing blow. And with that, MCP is ended, and the threat of take over is gone! The I/O towers light up, and the Video Warriors have won! Don’t ask me what that means, I study birds.

And with ALL OF THAT DONE, Flynn gets the proof he needs from a print-out that, to be honest, I feel like he could’ve just typed up himself. It doesn’t look like that much. But, still, MCP is gone, Dillinger’s screwed, and Flynn now gets a cool-looking helicopter of his own, as the new CEO of ENCOM. And from there, he will become a deadbeat dad that abandons his kid to live in computers forever. Or something like that, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Tron Legacy.

And that’s Tron, a goofy movie of its time, but one that’s a lot of fun all the same. And with some effects that, to be honest...I actually really liked! But more on that...IN THE REVIEW! See you there!

#tron #tron 1982 #steven lisberger #jeff bridges #bruce boxleitner #david warner #cindy morgan #barnard hughes #science fiction may #sci-fi may #user365 #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #useranimusvox #userbrittany

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pogueman · 7 years

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Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels

yahoo

You may not be European. So you may not know about electric bikes, which are white-hot popular in the cities of Europe.

On an e-bike, a smooth, silent motor boosts your pedaling, making easy work of hills and headwinds. E-bikes offer a perfect middle ground between cars (easy, but expensive to drive, expensive to park, and polluting) and regular bikes (free, non-polluting, but you get to work sweaty). An e-bike means never paying for gas, sailing past traffic jams, and never having to hunt for parking.

As long as an e-bike’s motor tops out at 20 miles per hour (15 in Europe), your government considers it a bicycle. So—unlike with motorcycles—you don’t need a license, you don’t have to be 16, you don’t have to register it, and don’t have to fuss with a bunch of laws.

That part was supposed to get you excited about e-bikes. Now here’s the part where you crash: Good e-bikes start at $3,500 and go way, way up. (Here’s my review of four of them.)

But suppose you could electrify the bike you already have? Suppose you could just pop off its wheel, and replace it with a motorized one. Then you could have an e-bike for a fraction of the price—without giving up the frame, seat, brakes, gears, and handlebars you already own and love.

The Copenhagen Wheel turns any old bike (or new one) into an e-bike.

That’s the idea behind the Copenhagen Wheel and the Geo Orbital wheel. (A third, really promising replacement wheel, called the UrbanX, was a successful Kickstarter project and then, renamed UrbaNext, succeeded on Indiegogo. Apparently they’re accepting pre-orders. But the company didn’t respond to a dozen emails I sent over a couple of weeks, they didn’t reply to any queries sent through their web form—and their phone number in Singapore is disconnected. I sure hope UrbanX isn’t Urban Ex.)

Both companies are based in Massachusetts, both wheels are waterproof and rechargeable, and both wheels change bike-riding game.

GeoOrbital

This futuristic, robotic-looking circle ($1,000) replaces your existing bike’s front wheel. As a result, you can perform the entire wheel-replacement surgery in, no joke, two minutes after viewing the installation video. Spread your brake pads, open the quick-release clamp, swap wheels, redo the clamp and brakes, and then snap the thumb throttle onto your handlebar. You can’t use the GeoOrbital on bikes with disc brakes.

Nobody will mistake the GeoOrbital for a regular bike wheel.

On the other hand, a front-wheel design has no way to know how hard you’re pedaling, or even if you’re pedaling. You don’t get any help from your e-wheel except when you’re holding down the thumb throttle. (Throttle-powered e-bikes are illegal in the bike lanes of Europe, however.)

Here’s the handlebar throttle—the only way to get a boost from the GeoOrbital.

There’s a long list of juicy features. The tire is made of hard foam, so it can’t ever go flat. The ignition key locks the removable battery in place, and also turns the power on or off.

Here’s how you charge and turn on the wheel.

You can get the GeoOrbital in either of two sizes. The smaller one, for 26-inch bikes, has a smaller battery, and therefore a lower weight (17 pounds), charging time (3 hours), and range (12 miles without pedaling, or 30 miles with pedaling).

The larger one (for bikes with 28, 29, and 700c wheels) is more massive: 21 pounds, 20-mile range without pedaling (50 miles with pedaling), recharges in 4 hours. Of course, you should take all e-bike range estimates with a grain of salt the size of your fist. Your weight, speed, and terrain all have a huge effect on those numbers.

You’re not going to fool anyone with the GeoOrbital’s looks: It’s truly weird-looking and attention-getting, like it’s made from the Terminator’s spare parts. The hub’s three giant arms press against the wheel rim—the tire rotates, but the contraption itself does not. (The company notes that this hubless design is a relative of the Lightcycles in the old Disney movie “Tron.”)

The motor makes a soft whine while it’s helping you, but it’s otherwise clean and quiet. Here’s what it looks and sounds like while you’re riding:

youtube

(Yes, I know it’s a decrepit, rusted bike—it’s the only 26-incher I had on hand.)

The GeoOrbital also boasts regenerative braking: When you’re coasting or braking, your momentum recharges the battery a bit. Unfortunately, when you’re not using power—when you’re just pedaling your bike as usual—the wheel fights you, adding resistance.

That, and the substantial front-weighting of your bike, make an unwieldy combination. A few of my test riders, initially delighted by the quiet whooshing feeling of GeoOrbital-assisted riding, lost a lot of their enthusiasm as a result.

The Copenhagen Wheel

This wheel costs more—$1,500—and replaces your back wheel. Installation is therefore a more complex operation than popping off the front wheel. You have to fiddle with your bike chain, for example. Takes about 10 minutes instead of one.

You buy the entire rear wheel, but the magic is in the red capsule.

You can order this wheel for almost any bike—road, hybrid, or mountain; any kind of tire, in 700c or 26-inch sizes; single-speed or 7-, 8-, 9-, or 10-speed. You can also, by the way, order a beautiful complete bike with the Wheel already installed, for $2,000.

You can also buy a complete bike in various styles.

But wow, what a beautiful, compact, simple-looking machine. There’s nothing on your handlebar, no cable snaking up your bike frame. Instead, the shiny red capsule hub of your wheel contains everything: motor, battery, three computers, radio, and 74 sensors. If the design concept of the GeoOrbital is “all the technology is on display,” the Copenhagen Wheel’s is “conceal all of it.”

There’s a lot going on in that red hub.

Of course, this design means that you can’t swap in a new battery; you’re stuck with one 30-mile charge at a time. It, too, recharges a bit when you brake or coast.

The center of the red capsule contains an on/off switch and a tiny door that protects the charging prongs.

The charging cable has a magnetic tip, which pops open the charging-port door.

When you start to pedal, the Wheel amplifies the power of your foot. This is the best part by far: The boost is smooth, silent, and controlled. The feeling is exhilarating. Everyone who tries it utters one delighted exclamation or another: “WOOHOO!!” or “Whoa!” or “Oh, wow!” or “Omigod!”

They get it immediately: That this wheel levels not only the hills of your city, but also the playing field for older, younger, or weaker riders.

A phone app—a little buggy, unfortunately—controls how much boost you get: Turbo, Standard, Eco, None (it’s just a bike), and Exercise (extra resistance, which recharges the battery). The app also auto-tracks your rides, maintaining a map, distance, time, and calories burned for each session. As you drag your finger around the map of your route, a graph shows you how much of the work you performed, and how much help you got from the wheel.

The Superpedestrian app tracks your rides—and graphs how feeble you are.

The app can also “lock” the wheel. It still turns, but a thief won’t get any assistance from the Wheel.

The huge benefit of replacing your rear wheel is, of course, that the Wheel knows when you’re pedaling, and how hard. It gives you a boost proportional to the effort you’re expending. Somebody up at Superpedestrian (the manufacturer) spent a lot of time fine-tuning the torque ratios so that it would feel smooth and magical.

Coasting Home

These two products address the same problem, but their philosophies could not be more different. The Copenhagen Wheel supplies power only when you’re pedaling; your bike may be superpowered, but it’s still a bike. The GeoOrbital, on the other hand, basically turns your bike into a moped. You can, if you like, just sit there and cruise along without pedaling at all.

Which philosophy you prefer is, of course, a matter of your philosophy.

The Copenhagen Wheel’s sophistication, polish, fun, and unobtrusiveness made it the favorite of most of my test riders; they felt it was easily worth the $500 price premium. At 17 pounds, it, too, is heavy (batteries and gravity, man—am I right?). Then again, regular e-bikes weigh around 50 pounds. And having the weight in the back feels more stable than having it in front.

Both of these wheels, though, beautifully execute their mission : Turning the bike you already own into a superbike.

More from David Pogue:

The 4 people Steve Jobs handpicked to review the iPhone reflect 10 years later

Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables

Apple polishes up 23 features in Mac OS High Sierra

The 27 most interesting features in iOS11

The DJI Spark is the smallest, cheapest obstacle-avoiding drone yet

The new Samsung Galaxy does 27 things the iPhone doesn’t

The most important announcements from Google’s big developer’s conference

Google Home’s mastermind has no intention of losing to Amazon

Now I get it: Ransomware

Google exec explains how Google Assistant just got smarter

Amazon’s Alexa calling is like a Jetsons version of the home phone

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You can read all his articles here, or you can sign up to get his columns by email.

#tech #_uuid:e66e4f2b-849c-3aee-a639-ef64bddd9d2b #Pogue #David Pogue #_lmsid:a077000000BAh3wAAD #_revsp:yahoofinance.com #_author:David Pogue

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lifesshortpop · 7 years

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{☯ When Jet first meets Mercury!}

From Tron: Invasion

After surviving one more round of racing, the portal took him back to the staging pit. Wolfgang doled out flasks of something that was the color of Mountain Dew under a blacklight and tasted…green. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not to drink it, but was too thirsty to care and downed the whole thing in two gulps. After that, two guards marched him to a cell.

His “accommodations” were vaguely like one of those capsule hotels he stayed in when he went to a developer’s conference in Japan. At the time, he was just out of college and freelancing, so it wasn’t like the contracting company was going to pay for a decent hotel anyway. The room was tall enough to stand in and wide enough to fit the bed. Dim light from an unknown source was enough to make out shapes, but not much else.

The aftermath of his adrenaline rush left him bone-weary. Rest would probably be a good idea before being sent out into another round of lightcycles. He’d barely survived that last round. On the downside, the small cubicle with its silence and its thin bunk gave him too much time to think. He felt jittery, unbalanced, his mind running faster than his lightcycle, and just as unable to brake. The glowing patterns on his body flickered like a bug zapper and seemed to buzz faintly like one, too.

He turned the lightcycle rod over in his hands. By now, his brain had caught up with the basics, but even those spun off into more questions. Why him? What was his father and Ma3a really working on? Who was that “Master User” that seemed to be behind the virus? Who wanted to hurt his father, anyway? And did this so-called “digital universe” have anything to do with what happened to Uncle Kevin?

The last item on the list was the most dreadful to think about. Jet still had the toy Solar Sailer on his bookshelf along with his developer’s awards, action-figure likenesses of his parents perched on its deck. Those stories always were too fantastic to believe, even if part of him secretly wanted it to be true. Now, Jet had to wonder how much was left out for the sake of six-year-old ears. If his godfather came here in 1989 and met with foul play…

You’re next, Jet. It’s just a matter of time.

He lay on the bunk and closed his eyes, too exhausted to move but too tense to rest. Breathe in…breathe out…don’t think…

He had just succeeded in reaching the not-quite-awake stage when he heard something snap and felt a mild electric shock tingle across his chest.

“Don’t move. You will answer my questions, and you will not try to fight back. If you do, the Rod Primitive is a painful way to de-rez, and no one will query too hard about your outcome.” The voice sounded like the femme fatale in a bad detective movie processed through a synthesizer.

Jet nodded furiously in agreement.

“Good.” The electrical shock sensation abated. “Ma3a has a lot of enemies, especially now. It might not be worth your while to help her.”

“Too bad,” he hissed. If he was getting killed, might as well be for the truth. “I’m helping her anyway.”

“Who really sent you?”

Jet dared to crack open his eyes. It was definitely a woman (or at least a female Program) in the room with him. With the cubicle so small, she was half in bed with him already. All she seemed to be carrying was her lightcycle rod, which she had snapped in two and was using as an improvised shock stick weapon. Her circuit pattern was as elaborate as his was, lit in the same blue-white. Her face was eerily beautiful, the angles of her cheekbones and chin just a little too sharp and her skin a little too flawless to be human. Her “hair” was short and the same blue-white as her circuit lines. She seemed deadly and cold, an Amazon made of ice and electricity. Wisely, he decided not to see if first impressions were accurate. Everything here seemed to be trying to kill him.

“Ma3a sent me. I swear,” he answered. “I’m here to help her. I’ve been fighting off the virus, but the ICPs mistook me for the cause when they couldn’t identify me.”

Those shock sticks came close enough to be painful and Jet bit back a curse. “What do you know about ‘Master User Thorne?’” she asked.

“Nothing,” Jet answered. “I know of a J.D. Thorne, but he’s Encom’s security director. I had to help him fix his hard drive last week.” Never mind that he was a game developer and not helpdesk. To Thorne, just about everyone was a flunky.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked him over, assessing him in a way he couldn’t name before pulling away her lightcycle baton, sealing the sparking halves, and placing it back on her hip. Her hand centered on the thick-lined blue panel on his chest. When her fingers splayed over it, a different kind of shocking sensation spread outward from it. The contact made him gasp as nerve endings from his chest to his fingertips lit with relief, like having a deep tissue massage everywhere at once.

She climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. The position would be indecent on his side of the screen. Leaning in so her face was millimeters from his, she chuckled low. “You don’t have any of the virus in you. The ICPs really should have checked for that.”

“What the fuck?” he blurted out. Okay, he normally didn’t have to resort to language like that unless the boss came in insisting they shave three weeks off the beta-testing or Sam had another “great idea.” His heart (or whatever replica he had in this digital body) began to pound. “Look…look. Who are you?”

She became serious, almost apologetic, as she leaned in and cupped his face with one hand while the other gently traced and scraped across circuitry patterns he had previously assumed were a form of identification or merely decorative. More of those indescribable feelings began a slow burn through his body. “I think we’re on the same side,” she explained. “I want to believe you’re here to help. I want to believe you. You must understand, though, how dangerous entrusting permissions to the wrong script can be.”

“Yeah, that got me into this mess,” he said. What was she doing to him, and why did it feel so good? Without being entirely aware of what he was doing, he reached up and began to mimic her movements, touching the ladder-pattern of lines on her sides, and feeling a ghost of the same sensation in his body. What was happening to him?

“Ma3a needs your help. And you’ll need mine,” she said, her hands caressing the energy meridians that crossed his shoulders. “Let me give you a chance at surviving the next round…”

It felt good…better than good. Energy was flowing into him and all the tension was flowing out. Electric warmth circulated in his body like blood and breath. It resonated in places he didn’t know could feel.

“What are…?” He couldn’t even speak coherently.

“You’re so tense that you’ll burn yourself out. And the energy rations here aren’t good for your system in the long-term,” she said by way of an explanation, stretching out and putting more of her body into contact with his. “Relax.”

Oh, God…the feel of her body against his; every point of contact sent renewed pleasure through his whole being. His rational brain tried to figure out how this even worked – the energy meridians of this digital body transmitting sensation in a similar method to the human nervous system, but somehow amplified a hundredfold. Of course, his rational brain was also screaming that this was entirely, utterly *wrong.* She could still whip out that rod and kill him after all.

He pushed aside his fear and analysis. Whatever she was doing, it was fucking incredible and just as sane as anything else in this world of half-remembered stories and surreal terror. Greedily, he reached up and raked his hand into the Program’s hair, pulling her into a kiss. Now it was her turn to gasp with surprise, and Jet couldn’t help feeling a little smug. About time he managed to shock someone here.

“Users…” she breathed, when they broke apart, her eyes like electrified sapphire. “You feel so…different. So…”

Silencing her with another kiss, his free hand was exploring the Byzantine pattern of circuitry on her back, including a short, thick line right between her shoulder blades that almost caused her to jump off the bed when he placed the flat of his palm across it. The pleasure resonated in his chest in a strange, telepathic-style connection, their joined energy in a complete circuit – flowing, looping, no start and no end.

The circuitry on his hands fit the lines on her neck like they were designed for one another. The aura of their joined bodies glowed brightly enough to be blinding, but it wasn’t painful like it would be in the analog world. His hips arched up as she pushed down – unable to stop, unable to hold back from the touching, the energy, the life, the release…

The sensation was too much, the feeling too intense. His entire body felt like it was tearing itself apart and reassembling from the sheer power/pleasure/touch. The woman gave a shuddering cry as Jet’s own vision went to white-out.

****

When he regained consciousness several minutes (hours on this universe’s clock) later, he felt calmer, more settled. Whether it was the energy he shared with his strange visitor or just being resigned to the realities of the world he found himself in, he didn’t know.

And before this, how long had it been since you got laid, Jethro? drawled an inner voice that sounded a little too much like Sam’s for his liking.

Okay, so it was this world’s idea of sex. With a sentient computer program. And he still had no idea what her name was. Fine. Just one more surreal aspect to the insane situation he found himself in, something to process when –no more allowing for “if” - he got back home.

When he was called, he marched into the data stream and onto the Grid.

The announcer called out for the third and final challenge. “Welcome to the light-cycle racing finals. In this double-elimination match, Jet and Lan are squaring off on one side of the arena, while Mercury and 2-D are on the other side. The winners will meet in the middle…”

Pulling his cycle baton, the light-cycle rezzed into life beneath him. He was ready this time.

He’d survive. He’d find her. They’d find Ma3a and his father. All that stood in the way right now were three light-cycle cars and four arena walls.

#jet/mercury #from the fanfic #story is called Tron invasion on ao3 #alwaysyori

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tripstations · 5 years

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The New Attractions at Disney World

In a theme park not so far, far away.

If you’re a fan of all things animated, Star Wars and Marvel then boy do we have good news for you: Disney just released news of several, huge changes coming to Disney parks around the world. There are a ton of awesome new rides, hotels, theme parks, exhibits and adventures coming down the pipeline. So here’s what you need to know to organize your vacation days way ahead of time.

While Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (the hero’s journey you’ve always dreamed of) just opened its pod bay doors at the end of May, the new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is Walt Disney World’s newest destination: the starcruiser Halcyon, which is cleverly disguised as a hotel.

The new experience even comes with its own freshly tailored backstory. Halcyon is owned by a company called Chandrila Star Line, based in Chandrila, homeworld of Rebel leader and future Chancellor of the New Republic, Mon Motha. When you check-in, you will be transported to a time just days after the battle of Endor was won in Return of the Jedi. And your stay is designed to feel just like cruising through space on a large space cruiser.

So far, Disney has been pretty hush-hush on what that entails (presumably so that your screams of delight will be that much louder) but Gizmodo has a few great concept photos on their site. And we do know that there will be an “all-immersive adventure” with games, gambling, drinking and rooms with windows that “look out into outer space.” But for the full set of details, we’ll all have to wait until December 2019, when Galactic Starcruiser opens (and that’s really close to winter holiday break time so maybe now’s the time to tell everyone about your alternative plans).

Marvel fans, Disney is calling. Just last night, Disney Parks hit us all with the news that a new superhero-themed area is opening at Disney California Adventure, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. It will be called the “Avengers Campus,” will be home to a ton of attractions based on the Marvel Comic Universe, and “When guests visit Avengers Campus, they will become part of an interconnected, global story that spans from California to Paris to Hong Kong with the Avengers recruiting new extraordinary people to join them,” reads an official Disney Parks’ blog post.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all we know about it so far. But, it is not scheduled to open until summer 2020 so there’s plenty of time for some Thanos-level news to come down the pipeline.

Epcot will be receiving an update in the shape of a Moana attraction called the Journey of Water. What will that journey entail? So far, we know that it will feature a “lush exploration trail” of water, but no further details (or opening date) are available at the moment.

I think that we can all agree that the lightcycle is one of the (if not the) best part of the Tron movies. And since we’ve all been fantasizing about tripping the fluorescent light fantastic at break-neck speeds on a digital track, Disney has just announced that those dreams will be coming true (in the western hemisphere, that is. Shanghai already has one) via the TRON Lightcycle Run. So far we know that it’s under construction, that it will be different from its Shanghai counterpart, and that the concept art looks really cool.

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