ABU DHABI’S LEANING BUILDING

“Plenty of skyscrapers dominate the desert horizons of the Middle East including the world’s tallest building, the 2716ft Burj Khalifa in Dubai, but until now the term ‘leaning tower’ has been associated with just one destination – Pisa. The centuries-old Italian tourist attraction – which began to lean shortly after it was built in 1173 – has a new rival in the shape of the 48ft-high Capital Gate building in Abu Dhabi. The tower has already been officially recognized as the ‘furthest-leaning man-made tower’ in the world by Guinness World Records.” LINK

Pod cars to float over Abu Dhabi

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is a system that has been used at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown for over 30 years (it was invented by a professor there), and now a super-duper version of it is being planned for Abu Dhabi. It runs on an elevated grid, on wheels rather than on a monorail, and each podcar operates independently, taking passengers directly to their destination, bypassing other stops.

Under one scenario, a passenger enters the system, swipes a card and a voice says "Good morning, So-and-So! Where would you like to go today?" And then tells you when your podcar will be ready, and at which platform.

The podcar artwork shown here depicts a PRT system proposed for Stockholm, Sweden.

Image by Visulogic

Link - Via: io9, Via: Neatorama

Largest Flag Flying in Sky

A huge national flag of the United Arab Emirates flies over its capital Abu Dhabi, Dec. 2. This flag, measuring 50,000 square feet (about 4645 square meters) is said to be the largest flag ever flying in the sky. LINK