Gizmodo: queen

Queen Elizabeth Is Getting a Gold-Plated Wii

Sean Fallon — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:40:00 EDT

Not to be outdone by Barack Obama, THQ has sent off a golden Nintendo Wii to Buckingham Palace where the queen will likely receive it and think it's a humidor or something.

Apparently, the gift is really a promotional stunt for their upcoming Big Family Games.

"BIG Family Games is the ultimate Wii game to get all family members, from grandparents to young children, playing together. The Royal Family is arguably the most important family in the country so we felt that they had to have a copy of the new game. But we thought that Her Majesty the Queen wouldn't want to play on any old console, so an extra-special gold one was commissioned. We hope that she and the rest of the Royal Family enjoy the game!"

Yes, I'm sure the Queen will be all over this after a few lessons on these new things called "video games" from her grandchildren. [Kotaku]

Old School Computer Band Rocks Bohemian Rhapsody (Poorly)

Jack Loftus — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EDT

I can't think of a more old school, geeky tribute to Queen than a band comprised of an Atari 800XL, 8-inch floppy disk, 3.5-in hard drive and HP Scanjet 3C. If only it sounded better.

The composer, YouTube user bd594, says what you hear is 100% pure, straight from the machines themselves—no effects or sampling were used. In the case of the Scanjet, the "vocals" were recorded in four separate parts using the one machine.

The aforementioned Atari 800XL is tickling the ivory on lead piano/organ, while a plucky Texas Instruments Ti-99/4a shreds on lead guitar. Rounding out the bunch are the floppy drive on bass and the hard drive clanging cymbals. As many have suggested already, the "instruments" could use a good tuning or ten.

On a related note, Scanjet symphonies seem to be in the air right now. Must be spring. [YouTube via Matrxisynth - Thanks, Matrix]

Queen of England Buying the World's Largest Wind Turbine

Sean Fallon — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:00:00 EDT

We don't know how much it cost her, but word is that the Queen of England has put down some mega-bucks to buy the world's largest wind turbine. The 10-megawatt monster machine built by Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, California will have a wingspan larger than two soccer fields and will stand 574 feet tall when completed. The windmill is expected to displace two million barrels of oil as well as 724,000 tons of CO2 over its lifetime. It will also serve as the flagship for Clipper's Britannia Project, an effort to produce massive new turbines on deep-sea floating platforms. If all goes as planned, the Queen's windmill will light up thousands of British homes starting in 2012. [CNN]

We are the Champions Alarm Clock

Jason Chen — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:45:13 EDT

Wake up each morning and reaffirm that you are, in fact, a winner with this We are the Champions alarm clock. Just like its name suggests, the clock rouses you from your dream—that one in which your parents never divorced—with the dulcet screams of Freddie Mercury and the crazy riffs of Brian May. Morning, thou art a cruel mistress. – Jason Chen

[Boys Stuff via Gear Log]