Bird? Plane? Or scary, moon-like dirigible?

Looks like our old friend the dirigible is getting a long-awaited, long-overdue makeover. Yes, the oft-satirized, suggestive football shape is being upgraded into a suggestive spherical shape, which will be known as the Air Genie. What’s more, its surface “would be covered with 61.5 million LEDs, turning the airship into a floating video billboard,” along with “30 video cameras, giving it the ability to record and project its surroundings.” Needless to say, the reaction to the Air Genie has been decidedly amused, with one Gizmodo reader comparing it to the Death Star. Which was funny, but I think a Sonic the Hedgehog reference is more appropriate here. Not that a giant, Technicolor ovary floating over the Super Bowl wouldn’t be menacing, but I’m pretty sure the only time we’ll see Darth Vader on that thing is if he’s trying to sell us a long distance plan.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

February 13, 2007 in Kiefaber | Permalink