jepler's blurblog

Germany’s Cabinentaxi: The Double-Sided Monorail That Wasn’t Meant To Be by Maya Posch
Wednesday May 7^th, 2025 at 12:33 PM

Hackaday

Cabinentaxi layout as it existed in 1978, with labels by the Tim Traveller YT channel.

The 1970s was a perfect time for alternative modes of transport to be trialed that might replace cars in the wake of the global oil crisis. One of these was the Cabinentaxi, or C-Bahn as it was later called, which was a variation on the standard suspended and monorail concepts.

It was a people mover concept, with ‘pods’ (or cabins) that’d ride either on top of or below the suspended track. It was tested intensively over the course of six years, performed admirably, and completely failed to materialize commercially due to budget crunch times around the world.

Recently [Tim Traveller] went to the muddy farm field that once housed the big test track (pictured above), of which nothing remains but the gates and a sign. Despite the fact that few people have heard of Cabinentaxi prior to seeing [Tim]’s video or reading this, there is a big Wikipedia entry on it, as well as a (German language) site dedicated to the technology.

What made the C-Bahn different from trains and buses were the smaller pods, high throughput capacity and ability to call a pod on demand at any of the stations. This kind of flexibility is what is seen more or less with today’s people moving systems at airports and some cities, except the C-Bahn was classified as a personal rapid transport (PRT), with on-demand pods that could travel between any two stations without stopping or delays. This is something that isn’t seen with public transport today, even if self-driving cars purport to one day do this kind of trick.

Considering that this technology died most due to economical circumstances, we remain hopeful to see its revival one day.

Top image: Cabinentaxi layout as it existed in 1978, with labels by the Tim Traveller YT channel.

Read the whole story

jepler

1 day ago

reply

it looooks very 70s doesn't it

Earth, Sol system, Western spiral arm

spinner
Monday May 5^th, 2025 at 8:49 AM

MLTSHP

Read the whole story

jepler

3 days ago

reply

um isn't it spelt Spiner?

Earth, Sol system, Western spiral arm

jhamill

4 days ago

reply

California

1 public comment

ChristianDiscer

3 days ago

reply

That's funny.

The BEST way to make mac and cheese! by Babish Culinary Universe
Thursday April 24^th, 2025 at 3:18 AM

Babish Culinary Universe

From: Babish Culinary Universe
Duration: 1:00
Views: 58,745

Read the whole story

jepler

14 days ago

reply

1. Add smoked paprika to the bread crumbs
2. Serve with boiled beets for some reason

Earth, Sol system, Western spiral arm

Building a Sliding Tile Clock by Lewin Day
Monday March 31^st, 2025 at 5:01 PM

Hackaday

Hackers like making clocks, and we like reporting on them around these parts. Particularly if they’ve got a creative mechanism that we haven’t seen before. This fine timepiece from [gooikerjh] fits the bill precisely—it’s a sliding tile clock!

The brains of the build is an Arduino Nano ESP32. No, that’s not a typo. It’s basically an ESP32 in a Nano-like form factor. It relies on its in-built WiFi hardware to connect to the internet and synchronize itself with time servers so that it’s always showing accurate time. The ESP32 is set up to control a set of four stepper motors with a ULN2003 IC, and they run the neat time display mechanism.

All the custom parts are 3D printed, and the sliding tile concept is simple enough. There are four digits that show the time. Each digit contains number tiles that slide into place as the digit rotates. To increment the digit by one, it simply needs to be rotated 180 degrees by the relevant stepper motor, and the next number tile will slide into place.

We love a good clock at Hackaday—the more mechanical, the better. If you’re cooking up your own nifty and enigmatic clocks at home, don’t hesitate to drop us a line!

Read the whole story

jepler

38 days ago

reply

Earth, Sol system, Western spiral arm

#9609: Rxser's Flash Guuzen nimo Saiaku na Nagano 〜Kouen hen〜 in 00:38.92
Monday March 31^st, 2025 at 4:50 PM

TASVideos Submissions

Happy April fools day! (Submission 1 of 3)

Introduction:

"Guuzen nimo Saiaku na Nagano 〜Kouen hen〜" is a Henry Stickman like game developed by "Europe-Studio.net" to the best of my knowledge.

Interesting Lore:

I was searching for more Flash games to put on my list for TASes. So I thought that Speedrun.com would be an amazing option for this. And then, I saw this. You and I are probably wondering right now, WTF is the context of this? Good question, because I can't answer that. The story goes is that you are peacefully consuming your beverage of choice when all of a sudden, a bully approches and now you have to perform self-defence to get away.

After that, once you manage to escape, the bullies find their next victim and the game ends. Yeah, don't ask me what I was on when I made this. The WR holder (the only runner) got a 1:22 which is funny due to the delay when the runner presses the next option. So, if you want a free WR, it's up for grabs. One last thing to note, there are multiple games like this because I went down the rabbit hole. :P

"WR" Run:

(Link to video)

Read the whole story

jepler

38 days ago

reply

April Fools submissions are starting on tasvideos

Earth, Sol system, Western spiral arm

New Windows Scheduled Task Will Launch Office Apps Faster
Thursday March 27^th, 2025 at 4:15 PM

Slashdot

Microsoft plans to roll out a new Windows scheduled task in May that launches automatically to help Microsoft Office apps load faster. From a report: The company says the "Startup Boost" task will launch in the background on logon, with the roll-out to start in mid-May and worldwide general availability to be reached by late May 2025. On systems where it's toggled on, users will see new Office Startup Boost and Office Startup Boost Logon tasks in the Windows Task Scheduler, which will ensure that Office apps can preload "performance enhancements."

"We are introducing a new Startup Boost task from the Microsoft Office installer to optimize performance and load-time of experiences within Office applications," Microsoft says on the Microsoft 365 message center. "After the system performs the task, the app remains in a paused state until the app launches and the sequence resumes, or the system removes the app from memory to reclaim resources. The system can perform this task for an app after a device reboot and periodically as system conditions allow."

Read the whole story

jepler

42 days ago

reply

Gawd remember the early 2000s when every ducking application did this? Keep this bad idea in the dustbin where it belongs

Earth, Sol system, Western spiral arm

Germany’s Cabinentaxi: The Double-Sided Monorail That Wasn’t Meant To Be by Maya Posch Wednesday May 7th, 2025 at 12:33 PM

spinner Monday May 5th, 2025 at 8:49 AM

The BEST way to make mac and cheese! by Babish Culinary Universe Thursday April 24th, 2025 at 3:18 AM

Building a Sliding Tile Clock by Lewin Day Monday March 31st, 2025 at 5:01 PM

#9609: Rxser's Flash Guuzen nimo Saiaku na Nagano 〜Kouen hen〜 in 00:38.92 Monday March 31st, 2025 at 4:50 PM

Introduction:

Interesting Lore:

"WR" Run:

New Windows Scheduled Task Will Launch Office Apps Faster Thursday March 27th, 2025 at 4:15 PM

Germany’s Cabinentaxi: The Double-Sided Monorail That Wasn’t Meant To Be by Maya Posch
Wednesday May 7^th, 2025 at 12:33 PM

spinner
Monday May 5^th, 2025 at 8:49 AM

The BEST way to make mac and cheese! by Babish Culinary Universe
Thursday April 24^th, 2025 at 3:18 AM

Building a Sliding Tile Clock by Lewin Day
Monday March 31^st, 2025 at 5:01 PM

#9609: Rxser's Flash Guuzen nimo Saiaku na Nagano 〜Kouen hen〜 in 00:38.92
Monday March 31^st, 2025 at 4:50 PM

New Windows Scheduled Task Will Launch Office Apps Faster
Thursday March 27^th, 2025 at 4:15 PM