Director Jon Favreau says that Iron Man 2 will take place six months after Tony Stark tells the world that he's Iron Man, and they want "play with idea" of a superhero who's open about his identity. "But it obviously has consequences-in his relationships, on the team. There are a lot of areas we can explore." Yes, like what if all of his suits got together and formed a dance troupe?

In the photo we see the original suit used to break out of his hellish imprisonment, his Mark II armor and two sets of the Mark III—the old and busted one from fighting Iron Monger and a brighter, shinier one that's all cleaned up. I know I've still got Terminator, Star Trek and Harry Potter and Transformers this summer, but I want Iron Man 2 to come out now. [USA Today]

The new BlackArmor NAS 420/440 systems are network-attached storage infrastructures that can house up to four different hard drives at once, each holding a maximum of two terabytes of memory, which creates a total of either two, four, six, or eight terabytes of memory in just one system.

Intended for small companies—which support up to 50 networked computers—these BlackArmor drives were designed with both security and simplicity in mind. Proclaimed as the system with "unparalleled security, accessibility and peace of mind," it has a simple, built-in LCD screen and is meant for an easy to use, straight-out-of-the-box storage system.

Moreoever, with the BlackArmor security system, data is constantly protected because of its continuous and automatic backup abilities coupled with its full-system backup and RAID options. Furthermore, everything from individual files to entire volumes can be secured with password protection and encryption. Additional security to the BlackArmor NAS systems is so that it may be accessed through the Internet, hopefully without compromising any of its data.

Scheduled for release in May, the 2-terabyte BlackArmor NAS 420 will be available for $799.99, while the BlackArmor NAS 440 network servers will cost $1,200 for 4-terabytes, $1,700 for 6-terabytes, and $2,000 for 8-terabytes.

The MIT engineers used nanotech to measure the thickness of a single scale (about 500 millionths of a meter thick), and decipher the makeup of its four different layer materials. They discovered that the materials, in tandem with the geometry and thickness of each layer, all contributed to a pretty amazing suit of armor.

They even tested the armor plating by "biting" scales that had been surgically removed from a living fish. What they discovered then was that P. senegalus armor will probably replace the bulky ceramic plates that adorn our fighting men and women in warzones today.

The P. senegalus armor kept the crack localized by forcing it to run in a circle around the penetration site, rather than spreading through the entire scale and leading to catastrophic failure, like many ceramic materials.

Lighter, thinner, and better? I think with those kinds of results soldiers and law enforcement officials alike could probably turn a blind eye to the fishy smell. Either that, or baking soda just became the next indispensable item in their arsenal next to bulletproof vests. [MIT]

Here is the XM982 Excalibur precision-guided artillery projectile. Soldiers are able to program map grid coordinates into an Excalibur round and use GPS to guide it to target with pinpoint accuracy.
The Objective Gunner Protection Kit (OGPK) is a motorized, rotating turret mounted on top of Humvees and MRAP vehicles. According to the Army it offers protection from IED fragmentation and small-arms fire, includes transparent armor, a sling for the gunner, and super handy rear-view mirrors.
The HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer (that's better known as "Humvee") is a mockup of a Hummer's cabin, and can be spun around to simulate an upended vehicle. Soldiers use this invention to practice disembarking from damaged or overturned vehicles before they're deployed. [CNET]

The device works by mixing two different artificial spider silk proteins and a phosphate salt, then squirting them out of the artificial glass spinneret. This produces long protein chains that form the artificial silk. It's the first device that accurately copies the chemistry and physical processes that are found in nature, as well as being the first to mix two silk proteins (specifically, ADF3 and ADF4 from the European garden spider).

For the time being the quality doesn't yet match real silk, since it appears too grainy. "The major breakthrough is that this is the first time one has produced fully synthetic silk threads and understood why," says team-leader Professor Bausch. The team believes that when they copy the drying and drawing-out stages real spiders use then its quality will be up to scratch. They're working to perfect the synthetic silk machine, but cannot reveal how as they're in the middle of patent applications.

Why the excitement? Well, light spider silk bullet-proof vests and strong medical suture thread is just the start. The material is also known to help in the re-growth of nerves, has been used to encapsulate drugs and make biodegradable fishing line. So large quantities of spider silk might be very useful, and "the best thing is to reproduce nature, instead of cutting open spiders," notes Prof Bausch. That's something that I'm sure will go down well with the horrible creepy-crawlies themselves. [New Scientist and The Telegraph]

That's why the press brought in this guy. [breitbart via digg]

The chest and legs are definitely different, featuring more textured armor and probably some other defensive gizmos we don't know about yet. The cowl also looks a bit changed as well. And since you couldn't tell over the Internet, we squealed like little girls while we were writing this post.

Click for larger Batman.

– Jason Chen

Holy Dark Knight! Check Out Batman's New Suit! [Ifitsmovies]

But what good is a beefed-up Mac if you don't have equally tough peripherals? You can also pick up tough-as-nails keyboards, monitors, mice or even speakers. No word on pricing, but expect a decent price jump for a Mini that could beat you up.– Ben Longo

Thermaltake [Press Release]

High-Tech Uniforms Finally Heading to War [via Defense Tech]

SLR Camera Armor [LetsGoDigital]

In their current tests, they found this liquid armor is best used when painted onto current Kevlar armor in thin layers. The company wants to make the new liquid armor available for police departments, the military, and prison guards. It can protect guards from a shivving, something their current vests and armor can't.

This new armor type is cheaper than traditional fiber armor to manufacture, so we're dreaming of one day coating all underwear in this stuff—making groin hits a thing of the past. – Jason Chen

Body Armor Fit For A Superhero [BusinessWeek]

"If the unit commander has the information about which team members are walking, running, standing, prone, kneeling, and/or firing weapons, he will be able to make well informed critical decisions based on a significantly better understanding of the situation at any given time. Even with the lack of physiological monitoring, these data could indicate potential causalities (e.g., prone, no movement, not firing). Additionally, direction of enemy, ammunition depletion, and severity of enemy engagements could be ascertained."

They were also thinking about attaching something to a soldier's tongue which is even grosser. A fascinating work-around for information overload. – John Biggs

Set Cammos to Vibrate [DefenseTech]

Armoured suits are 'too goofy' say US troops [Telegraph.co.uk]

Its UK developer doesn't want to give away d3o's exact chemical ingredients, but they do say that the material's properties make it just as effective as conventional (and bulky) armor skiers use to protect themselves from slalom poles. It's also being released in products like goal keeper mitts and polo kneepads. The kicker? In the future, the same material could be used for a host of other various applications, such as sound proofing... or the purposefully-vague "flexible ballistic protection."

US and Canadian Skiers get smart armour [ NewScientist.com]

Update: Here's the real story. This guy's 2-day old iPod got crushed during a commuter train ride. The face plate cracked and the stainless steel back was even dented. Rush hour train rides in Japan create murderous pressure on an iPod because you get shoved and packed into the cabins. That gave him the idea to build this armored aluminum case to protect it. He even gives the specs to replicate the design here: http://homepage.mac.com/sideriver/cubesite/zuko/iPodcase.pdf

[Thanks Phil and Didier!]

Armor plate for iPod Photo [Project Page]