Last May, CNN Money estimated that due to inflation, that $6 million surgery would cost slightly over $26 million. But obviously the surgery in the original TV show wasn't quite medically accurate, and creating those bionic parts from scratch would actually cost somewhere between $50 and 100 million today—although after one successful prototype is completed, it could cost far less.

However, CNN Money posted this article in May 2008, before the world economy exploded. My learned estimate for how much the Six Million Dollar Man's surgery would cost today? Twelve bucks, and a hoagie. [CNN]

This week, Gizmodo is exploring the enhanced human future in a segment we call This Cyborg Life. It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine.

The collectors aren't active yet, but when they're switched on they'll be used to power lights for a nearby hiking and biking trail. They're 16 feet high and 14 feet across (at the "flower," presumably) and are being viewed as both an art installation and a greening initiative. As Austin Council Member Lee Leffingwell shamelessly brags, "Our city has a great understanding of how art can transform public spaces." Yeah? Well, our site has a great understanding of sweet giant metal flowers, too. [MAKE]

My Apartment in Austin (6:30pm)
My apartment is on the northwest side of Austin, in a quiet neighborhood between the denser central part of the city and the outer suburban areas.

Suburbia - Round Rock, TX (4:30pm)
Round Rock may be home to Dell, but it's largely a sleepy suburb. I parked in front of someone's house and they actually came home from work while I was testing, giving me an odd look like they thought I was casing their house.

South Austin Coffee Shop (2pm)
Dominican Joe's is a bit of a drive from my apartment, but worth it to get what I consider the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Their coffee is not bad either.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue, Austin (3:30pm)
The Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial is in a beautiful park on the bank of Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake). It is just east of Zilker Park, where Austin City Limits is held every year.

Downtown Austin - Congress Ave. (4:30pm)
Downtown Austin is rapidly expanding upwards—three new high rises went up in the past year or so. This location is very central, near the intersection of 6th St. and Congress Ave.

Results
Upstream and down, AT&T was strong with a few exceptions. Verizon was a decent contender, while Sprint was unpredictable. When it comes to downloads, the downtown density (either buildings or cell users) has a severe impact on bandwidth.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

The instructions are simple enough. There's the Microsoft speech API, the LED mouth, some circuitry, and lastly the googly plastic eyes from a craft store. It's certainly no EVE, but it's a start. [MAKE via Tecnhabob]

The flamboyant in-house cinema room boasts 24-karat gold gilding details, hand embroidered fabric seats and genuine antique candle holders throughout. That's nothing compared to the technology behind the flush finish. There are twenty-four 12-inch subwoofers, CAT/MBX speakers tuned by professional engineers, a 200 pound, 3 feet long Runco MBX-1 projector, which is able to crank out 40 ft wide images, thirty-eight distinct audio zones, with the cheapest speakers costing $2000 /pair and touchscreen controls, which double up as controls for the whole house. The cost of all this flawless gadgetry? A staggering, $3.4 million. We'll keep saving. Hit the link to check out the full gallery. [Home Entertainment]