The Geek Picnic in Moscow, Russia is an annual celebration of all the things we love at Digital Trends: technology, science, art, and entertainment. At the event this year, American artist Christian Ristow showcased something that combines all those elements perfectly, with a little bit of demolition thrown in for good measure.
It’s called ‘The Hand of Man,” a remotely controlled paw 30 times bigger than the duke at the end of your arm. The diesel-powered creation grants mortals near godlike power, enough to legitimately crush automobiles with a few flicks of the wrist. But unlike Thor’s hammer, you needn’t be deemed worthy — just put on the special glove and you’re ready to smash.
A video by Ruptly TV shows The Hand of Man at work, wowing fans and participants alike with its destructive capabilities. Looking like something out of Mad Max: Fury Road, the grabber is attached to 26-foot arm and weighs over 13,000 pounds. Its complex hydraulics system allows it to pick up, crush, and even toss large objects like cars.
“The idea is to give people this feeling of power and feeling of strength like a superhero, to let them do things that they cannot do in regular normal life,” he explained.
The Hand of Man debuted at the Dutch Robodock festival in 2008, and has since been featured at the Burning Man festival, Coachella, Maker Faire, and many others.
If you’re not into crushing cars, you’ll be happy to know The Hand can mimic complex hand gestures as well.
Instagram user Sunigor snapped a picture of the machine doing the ‘sign of the horns’ gesture at the Geek Picnic. This will surely please metal fans everywhere, but we’re sure you can probably think of some more — ahem — creative ways to use it.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.