BMW Lo Rider First Look...

BMW sprung one of the first surprises at EICMA 2008 with the introduction of its newest concept study, the BMW Lo Rider. We haven't seen BMW venture into the power cruiser segment since Pierce Brosnan ripped around the streets of Saigon on a stolen BMW R 1200 C in the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies. Only a tight rake on an inverted telescopic fork and 6-piston brake calipers on a wave rotor disc mean the Concept Lo Rider places more emphasis on performance and less emphasis on cruiser. A tubular trellis frame and Paralever rear-wheel swingarm ring with Monster familiarity. Sourcing the vaunted BMW Boxer flat twin for its power, the Lo Rider is claimed to get over 100bhp out of its electronically-fed, overhead camshaft-equipped engine.

But the beauty of the BMW Concept Lo Rider lies in its level of customization. Like streetfighters? Then go with the vertically-arranged dual headlamps with a sporty raised exhaust system. Choose the seat bench for two, opt for a semicircular headlamp up front and run the pipes down low and you've got a roadster. Mix it up - BMW wants you to. This level of customization on a factory bike is unprecedented and is a promising prospect to boost sales.

DUBAI MALL - A 20 Billion Dollar Project ...

It is 4 times as many as the new Westfield London shopping centre. Twice delayed, Dubai Mall opened on November 4, 2008, with about 600 retailers, marking the world's largest-ever mall opening in retail history. However it is not the largest in gross leaseable space, and is surpassed in that category by several malls including the South China Mall, Golden Resources Mall, SM City North Edsa, and SM Mall of Asia.
Over 12 million sq ft (equivalent in size to more than 50 soccer pitches), the Dubai Mall has a total internal floor area of 5.9 million square feet (55 ha) and leasable space of 3.77 million square feet (35 ha), about same as West Edmonton Mall.
It surpasses the previously largest mall in the Middle East City Stars, which is located in Cairo, Egypt. With a gross area of over 8 million sq feet (74 ha), City Stars was the largest mall in the Middle East since 2003.

Description

The Dubai Mall has 10–15 distinct 'malls-within- a-mall', totaling 9 million ft² (84 ha) of shopping retail space (comprising of a total of 1200 stores, when fully operational) . Featured attractions include: the world's largest Gold Souk with 220 retailers; the 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2) Fashion Catwalk atrium; Fashion Island (Avenue), with 70 stores dedicated to haute couture; the Middle East's first Galeries Lafayette department store; Oasis Fountain Waterfall; and WaterFront Atrium. Other attractions include the region's first SEGA indoor theme park covering 76,000 sq ft (7,100 m2); KidZania, a 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2) children's 'edu-tainment' centre; a 22-screen Cineplex, the largest in Dubai; and The Grove, an indoor-outdoor streetscape with fully retractable roof. It also features over 160 food and beverage options, 220 gold & jewelry outlets; a supermarket and an organic food mart. Among the shops is British toy store Hamley's, which opened a 32,000-square foot (3,000 m²) store that includes a replica of London's Regent Street, with the franchise owned by Retail Arabia. Many shops, however, remained shuttered for a long while to come. Bloomingdales might open by 2010 and Galeries Lafayette, by February, 2009. It also has a 250-room luxury hotel, 22 cinema screens plus 120 restaurants and cafes. The Mall has over 14,000 parking spaces across 3 car parks, with valet services and a car locator ticketing system.

Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre

The Mall's Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre, developed and operated by Oceanis Australia Group, officially earned the Guinness World Record for the world's "Largest Acrylic Panel" (32.88 m wide × 8.3 m high × 750 mm thick and weighing 245,614 kg). The acrylic viewing panel is larger than Japan's Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (22.5 m wide × 8.2 m high and 600 mm thick). Its 750 mm thick acrylic viewing panel can withstand pressure of 10 million litres of water used in the aquarium, but its transparency gives visitors clear views of over 33,000 marine animals on display. The Mall adopted an International Standard of Ethics and Animal Welfare Policy in its development and operation.

Dubai Ice Rink

The Mall's Dubai Ice Rink multi-purpose venue, uses refrigeration plant technology by developing 1.5 inches (38 mm) of ice bed, almost 3 times the thickness of an NHL ice rink for Olympic-sized attraction. Dubai Ice Rink can host a capacity of up to 2,000 guests, when converted into a multi-functional hall with world-class multimedia system including a 20 m × 10 m LED screen. Operations Manager, Richard Rowlands, a 7 years Welsh figure skating pairs, described it: "Dubai Ice Rink in itself is an exciting facility, bringing the first-ever Olympic-sized ice rink to Dubai. A top-class facility offering the best of, including over 1,800 pairs of skates imported from a leading manufacturer in Italy to fit children and adults of all ages and sizes, the Dubai Ice Rink will host themed nights, Learn-to-Skate programmes, figure skating lessons and hockey matches.The advanced technology used at the Dubai Ice Rink ensures that the consistency of the ice-bed is maintained at all times. By incorporating the refrigerator technology of pushing in glycol through a network of pipes, and monitoring the cooling over a period of five to six days, the 38 mm ice-bed is tailored to withstand multiple activities in a safe environment."

Construction

The mall was built by a joint venture of Dutco Balfour Beatty, Al Ghandi/CCC[ and Turner Construction[ citation needed] for Emaar Properties and was scheduled to be completed in 2006, claiming to be the size of 50 "international- sized football (soccer) pitches". Most of the workers used in construction of the mall were Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi & Sri Lankan guest workers. The internal mobile phone coverage for Dubai Mall was commissioned, integrated and carried out by Motorola Dubai for Etisalat & DU.

Shops

The Dubai Mall contains more than 1,200 shops and is anchored by Galeries Lafayette, Debenhams, Bloomingdale's, and Marks & Spencer.

New Airbus A380 Flight Test

Airbus A380 completes test flight

The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has landed safely, completing its maiden flight.

The long-awaited test lasted almost four hours, with the A380 circling the Bay of Biscay before returning to base.

The A380 took off from its production site in Toulouse with a crew of six and about 20 tonnes of test equipment.

Thousands of aeroplane enthusiasts clapped and cheered as the twin-decked, four-engine "superjumbo" made a flypast before landing.

Regional effort

Speaking after he landed the plane, test pilot Claude Lelaie said the flight was a "milestone".

In pictures: The maiden flight Have your say on the A380 Boeing profits slip

"You have seen a lot of ground tests, a lot of wind tunnel tests, simulators - for the first time you can see all the systems working together in the real world in the air," said Mr Lelaie.

Jacques Rosay, who flew the A380 during take-off, said the plane behaved "immaculately" and that as a pilot "you handle it like you handle a bicycle".

France's President Jacques Chirac called the test flight a "total success".

"A new page of aeronautical history has been written," he said in a statement. "It is a magnificent result for European industrial cooperation."

The A380's maiden voyage was powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, which were designed specially for the superjumbo.

A380 and Boeing 747 compared

Airbus, which is owned by European firm EADS and the UK's BAE Systems, sees the A380 as the future of air travel.

Arch-rival Boeing has instead chosen to focus on mid-sized long-haul aircraft such as its new 787.

The US firm congratulated Airbus on the successful test flight, but added that "the A380 is a very large aircraft for a very small market".

Take off

The A380 - designed to carry as many as 840 people between major airports - took off from its production site in southern France just after 0830 GMT.

It had returned by about 1225 GMT, and touched down with a small puff of smoke from its wheels.

Most of the testing was carried out at 10,000ft and within 100 miles of Toulouse, said Peter Chandler, deputy project pilot for the A380.

During the flight, there was a live satellite feed of data which was monitored by a team of experts on the ground, Airbus said.

Taking no chances, the crew had been equipped with parachutes. A handrail had also been fitted, leading from the cockpit to an escape door.

Ringside seats

More than 50,000 people watched the take-off and landing, many of them sitting on the grass banks that line the runway.

The historic flight was also broadcast live on television and thousands watched via a giant screen in Toulouse's main square.

More than a year of flight-testing and certification-programme work will now follow before the A380 starts commercial services.

Pilots will then have to push the plane far harder than they did on Wednesday, testing for extremes of speed, altitude and temperature, experts said.

The A380 project has had its share of problems.

In December 2004, Airbus' main shareholder EADS, which has an 80% stake, revealed that the project was £1bn (1.5bn euros; $1.9bn) over budget, at more than £8.4bn.

The UK's BAE Systems owns the remaining 20% of Airbus.

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