Unlike wood-based models, the Heat 1X is a real metal rocket. At more than 9 meters high, it's also the largest amateur rocket in the world. The guys building it are planning one almost as large as the V-2.

They call themselves Copenhagen Suborbitals, and they operate from an abandoned shipyard in the outskirts of the Danish capital. This group of nutters rolled out their Heat 1X engine last Sunday. The image above puts it next to their planned beasts and the first ballistic missile ever: The German V-2.

These are the same guys who built a submarine last year, which makes me fear they are probably planning to build a cruise missile and pacify some hostile territory. Like New Jersey. [Something Awful]

Unlike wood-based models, the Heat 1X is a real metal rocket. At more than 9 meters high, it's also the largest amateur rocket in the world. The guys building it are planning one almost as large as the V-2.

They call themselves Copenhagen Suborbitals, and they operate from an abandoned shipyard in the outskirts of the Danish capital. This group of nutters rolled out their Heat 1X engine last Sunday. The image above puts it next to their planned beasts and the first ballistic missile ever: The German V-2.

These are the same guys who built a submarine last year, which makes me fear they are probably planning to build a cruise missile and pacify some hostile territory. Like New Jersey. [Something Awful]

Netbook graphics are inherently weak, especially with Intel's much-derided integrated graphics. But the new Nvidia Ion—like its predecessor—lets even a wimpy netbook Hulk out to play DX10 games and 1080p videos. It's your netbook, on steroids.

The new, souped-up Ion uses Nvidia's Optimus technology to retain your netbook's solid battery life, claiming up to 10 hours (though that obviously depends on what tasks you're doing). Where Intel's GMA 3150 can't handle a benchmark like 3D Mark Vantage, the current generation Ion does so with aplomb. Twice as well, in fact, as the first Ion. It also offers 4x faster video enhancement and 7x faster video compression versus Intel's integrated solution.

One thing to keep in mind: there are two Ions coming to the market, and the performance being quoted only applies to the 16-core iteration that'll appear in 12-inch netbooks and desktop all-in-ones. The new 8-core Ion, which will show up in 10-inch netbooks like the Acer Aspire One 532G, was actually outperformed by the first-generation Ion in a benchmark test from late February.

Still, there's no question that any Ion is a step up from the graphics your netbook currently offers, and while there haven't been many hardware announcements yet, there should be over 30 next-gen Ion designs—ranging from netbooks to all-in-ones to nettops—by this summer. You should expect the same $50 premium that you currently pay for an Ion netbook, but for all the added functionality it may well be worth it. [Nvidia]

Netbook graphics are inherently weak, especially with Intel's much-derided integrated graphics. But the new Nvidia Ion—like its predecessor—lets even a wimpy netbook Hulk out to play DX10 games and 1080p videos. The difference? It's a discrete graphics chip.

The original Ion was an integrated chipset (a spin on the GeForce 9400M inside of unibody MacBooks), but since Nvidia can no longer make chipsets for Intel's latest chips, the new, souped-up Ion is a separate graphics chip that connects via PCI Express and uses Nvidia's Optimus technology to automagically switch between Intel's integrated graphics and Ion, retaining your netbook's solid battery life. The claim is up to 10 hours (though that obviously depends on what tasks you're doing). Where Intel's GMA 3150 can't handle a benchmark like 3D Mark Vantage, the current generation Ion does so with aplomb. Twice as well, in fact, as the first Ion. It also offers 4x faster video enhancement and 7x faster video compression versus Intel's integrated solution. The difference now though is that we're talking about a discrete GPU beating an integrated one, whereas before it was more of an apples to apples (or at least integrated to integrated) comparison.

One thing to keep in mind: there are two Ions coming to the market, and the performance being quoted only applies to the 16-core iteration that'll appear in 12-inch netbooks and desktop all-in-ones. The new 8-core Ion, which will show up in 10-inch netbooks like the Acer Aspire One 532G, was actually outperformed by the first-generation Ion in a benchmark test from late February.

Still, there's no question that any Ion is a step up from the graphics your netbook currently offers, and while there haven't been many hardware announcements yet, there should be over 30 next-gen Ion designs—ranging from netbooks to all-in-ones to nettops—by this summer. You should expect the same $50 premium that you currently pay for an Ion netbook, but for all the added functionality it may well be worth it.

New NVIDIA ION Netbooks Deliver 10x Faster Graphics And Up To 10 Hours of Battery Life Thanks to Acclaimed NVIDIA Optimus Technology

Acer, ASUS and Lenovo Among Leading Vendors to Introduce Next-generation ION PCs

CEBIT-HANOVER, Germany-March 2, 2010-NVIDIA introduced the Next-generation NVIDIA® ION™ graphics processor today, which will supercharge netbooks with 10 times the graphics performance of standard netbooks1 and enable up to 10 hours of battery life2 thanks to NVIDIA® Optimus™ technology.

The new ION graphics processing unit (GPU) vastly outperforms basic netbook graphics by delivering rich HD media in games, movies, and Internet-based video. Unlike netbooks with Intel integrated graphics, ION netbooks have the power to play amazing HD video smoothly from sites like YouTube and support popular PC games like World of Warcraft.

The new ION netbooks also feature NVIDIA's highly acclaimed Optimus technology, which automatically selects the best graphics processor for running any given application – seamlessly routing the workload to either an NVIDIA discrete GPU or Intel integrated graphics. The result is great battery life and superior performance when you need it.

More than 30 products featuring the new ION GPU are expected to launch by this summer including netbooks, small form factor desktops, "barebones" systems, motherboards, and discrete add-in cards. The Acer Aspire One 532G (10-inch) and ASUS 1201PN (12-inch) are expected to be the first new ION netbooks to be introduced. New all-in-one PCs powered by next-generation ION will include the ASUS EeeTop 2010PNT and Lenovo C200. Channel partners including AOpen, AsRock, Asus, Foxconn, Giada, J&W, Jetway, Pegatron, POV, Shuttle, and Zotac also plan to introduce new ION-based products soon.

Facts about Next-generation NVIDIA ION graphics:
· It's a discrete GPU (graphics processing unit) with dedicated memory that attaches to an Intel Atom Pine Trail CPU via PCI Express.

· It supports streaming HD video on sites like YouTube HD, and smooth gaming performance on titles like World of Warcraft and Spore.

· ION netbooks feature NVIDIA Optimus technology, which automatically assigns processing chores to the NVIDIA ION GPU or integrated graphics. Optimus powers down the GPU for basic tasks like web surfing, further extending battery life. When more graphics horsepower is needed for playing 3D games, running videos, or using GPU compute applications, Optimus automatically enables the ION GPU.

· It will be available starting in April with the Acer Aspire One 532G netbook.

· It accelerates a growing list of media-rich applications including Muvee Reveal for making home movies, Badaboom for media conversion, Total Media Theater and PowerDVD 9 for watching HD video or instantly upscaling standard definition video to near-HD quality.

[Nvidia]

Bill Bunten is the mayor Google, Kansas—formerly known as Topeka, Kansas. He signed a proclamation temporarily renaming the city in an effort to convince Google to make Topeka a test site for a gigabit fiber Internet connection.

According to Bunten, he hopes that changing the city's name for the entire month of March "would set Topeka apart from other cities vying for Google's attention, which include Grand Rapids, Mich., and Baton Rouge, La."

Ah well, do whatever it takes, Bunten. It's not like this is Topeka's first peculiar name change, anyway. In 1998, the city was renamed "to "ToPikachu" to honor a nationwide kickoff of the Pokemon franchise. [CJ Online]

Oh, this weird box at the center top still baffles people. Is it where you search? Is it where you submit blackmail? What sort of comments go in there? Find out in this week's edition of Gizmodo's Tips Box.

Of course tips aren't the only thing you can submit through that box since it leads you to the wonderful land of tag pages, but let's focus on the hot-hot-hot tips that came in through it this week, shall we?

We got introduced to something oddly tasty looking called the BatterBlaster by mhsrebelguy06. (Warning; Some sound plays automatically on the linked site.) Speaking of mhsrebelguy06, he also taught us about how women are amazing firewalls.

We also got to see a neat infographic shared by dfp3050 that breaks down spending and religious beliefs.

Our dear otko decided to be funny and give us a $5 tip. (I haven't received a check yet, buddy!)

CrispyAardvark has found some rather neat Lego models by 15-year-old Sven Junga:

ochee_ found weird contraptions that made me want to hug all the world's children and promise them that I won't ever shove them into one of these torture devices disguised as freaky art:

Oh, and this week there were a ton of videos dropped into #tips. Here are a few amusing-yet-far-too-weird ones:

That's some of the craziness that we've sifted through this week, but we encourage you to add to it—both silly things and serious tips.

We're proud of our comment system and commenter community. In fact, many of our posts come from items submitted to our #tips box. Gizmodo's Tips Box is a regular feature to show the funny, scary, and freaky things we just couldn't post, but want to share.

A new study found a direct link between the time teenagers spent staring at screens and their inability to have meaningful relationships with their parents and peers. This study obviously was conducted before that Russian kid blessed us with Chatroulette.

You've likely been at one end of this debate—either you were a teenage TV zombie being told by your parents to go play outside, or you were that parent trying to keep your kid from spending another mindless hour on the Internet. In this battle, it turns out, the wisdom of age prevails.

The study, published in this month's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that every hour of TV watched increased the teen's likelihood of detachment from friends and family 4% and each hour of Internet increased it 5%. Let's break that down: If you're 16 and watch 4 episodes of 24 after school, you're 20% more likely not to like hanging out with your parents.

So it's true, being glued to screens deprives kids of all those emotions that aren't represented with emoticons. Thankfully, in the intervening months since this study was completed, Chatroulette has come and totally renewed young people's interest in interacting with other human beings. And their genitals. [PhysOrg]

Based on its name, I thought the iLuv Premium iMM178 Vibe Plus is an overpriced sex toy, but it turns out it's a rather clever iPod/iPhone-compatible alarm clock which shake-shake-shakes you awake. Just hope the headboard doesn't hit the wall.

The idea is that you shove that mouse-looking thing under your pillow and wait for your alarm to go off. When it does, everything will get a bit shaky while a speaker blares whatever sound or music you've selected. In theory, this should wake up even the deepest sleeper, but I'm more entertained about the thought that it could move beds enough to make your neighbors believe that you're having the most precisely timed sex ever. Every single morning.

iLuv Announces the Premium iMM178 Vibe Plus, A Dual Alarm Clock with Speaker Integrated Bed Shaker for iPhone & iPod Users

iLuv releases premium new Apple iPhone-certified version of bedside alarm clock that will shake the deepest of sleepers awake

PORT WASHINGTON, NY – (March 1, 2010) – iLuv Creative Technology, the leader in innovative solutions dedicated to developing unique accessories for Apple's iPhone and iPod announces the iMM178 Vibe Plus, the next generation model from their Shake & Awake alarm clock dock series originally launched last year with the iMM153 . This Apple iPhone-certified new improved version features a sleek and slim black body design with a bed shaker that includes a speaker and volume control. iPhone and iPod users now have ten ways to wake up to their favorite music and this dock provides a 7 day – 5 day – 2 day alarm option for waking at a set time everyday, weekdays only or weekends. The Vibe Plus will be available now for the suggested retail of $89.99 at www.i-luv.com and other retailers.

This Apple iPhone-certified alarm clock with a premium bed shaker for iPhone and iPod includes a multitude of features and functions.

Key Features:
• Bed shaker vibrates a bed or a pillow to wake up the heaviest of sleepers and includes a 3-level volume control
• Built-in speakers featuring jAura acoustic speaker technology allow you to hear your music with depth and clarity
• Dual Alarm function for 7-5-2 everyday, weekday or weekends wake options • Time-sync function that synchronizes time for your iPhone & iPod • Large easy to read digital display with 10 level LCD dimmer control • 2 Way volume control – from the main unit or from the shaker
• Integrated universal dock for your iPod plays and charges your iPhone and iPod
Digital Dual Alarm Clock Capabilities:
• Dual alarm clock function allows a couple to wake to separate alarms • 10-Way to wake up including to iPod, FM radio, buzzer, bed shaker, iPod + bed
shaker, FM radio + bed shaker, buzzer + bed shaker
Radio Functions:
• FM stereo • PLL digital tuning technology improves the radio signal clarity
• Programmable presets for 10 radio stations

*Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPhone, iPod Touch 2nd generation, iPod Touch, iPod Nano 1st – 5th generation, iPod Classic, iPod with video, iPod 4th generation, iPod mini

[iLuv]

You can now feed your social media obsession even further by downloading a Facebook app onto your Zune HD. Heads up though, seems that you may need to update your Zune software first. [CrunchGear]

The mobile OS running on this old Toshiba TG01 looks like Windows Phone 7 and it mostly acts like Windows Phone 7. But in reality it's a clever user interface skin covering up Windows Mobile 6.5.

Put together by a fellow named LeSScro, this interface tweak can make older WinMo phones pretend that they can handle Windows Phone 7 and will hopefully be made available soon. [Pocket Now via Mobile Crunch]