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And for those of you who don’t know what to get me for my next birthday…

I was driving to a party the other day and saw this bad boy on the freeway: a Ford GT. Sorry about the crappy iPhone video quality. I’m not sure which year it is, but I do know that these things go for $200k MSRP and are sometimes marked up to around $300k.

According to the Wikipedia article on the car:

The Ford GT is a mid-engined sports car and is the world’s 11th fastest production car. It was built by Ford Motor Company from 2003 to 2006. It began as a concept car designed in anticipation of Ford’s centennial year and as part of its drive to showcase and revive its “heritage” names such as Mustang and Thunderbird.

and then

Of the 4,500 GTs originally planned, approximately 100 were to be exported to Europe, starting in late 2005. An additional 200 were destined for sale in Canada. When production ended in 2006, the full planned lot of 4500 were not produced. Approximately 550 were built in 2004, nearly 1900 in 2005, and just over 1600 in 2006, for a grand total of 4038; however, the final 11 car bodies manufactured by Mayflower Vehicle Systems were disassembled and the frames and body panels sold as service parts.

As with many highly desirable new vehicles, when the Ford GT was first released, the demand severely outpaced supply, and the cars initially sold for premium prices. The first private sale of Ford’s new mid-engine sports car was completed on August 4, 2004, when former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley took delivery of his Midnight Blue 2005 Ford GT. Shirley earned the right to purchase the first production Ford GT (chassis #10) at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Auction after bidding over $557,000. Jay Leno, host of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, took possession of his private sale Red 2005 GT (chassis #12) a week later.

Other early cars sold for as much as a $100,000 premium over the suggested retail price of $203,599. Optional equipment available included a McIntosh sound system, racing stripes and forged alloy wheels adding an additional $13,500 to the MSRP. By June 2005, retail sale prices had dropped to around $10,000 to $20,000 over MSRP, and in August 2005 several new GTs were sold on eBay for no more than the suggested retail price.

Needless to say, it’s a pretty decent car. The funny thing was that I didn’t know it was expensive until we actually looked it up later on. I just thought it looked cool.

Oh yeah and once the guy noticed me taking video/pictures with the phone, he hit the gas and was gone. I’m sure he’s used to it by now though.

I found this on Gizmodo this morning.

That is a robot fish, my friend. Very smart people at the University of Essex developed these babies for “seeking out pollution.”

Nice cover, but I don’t buy it. You release an army of these things into the ocean and suddenly, you’ve got eyes and ears globally.

Well played, England.

Just using Stumble to peruse the interwebs and I came across this guy’s video on how to lower your interest rates from creditors.

What he says isn’t rocket science, he’s essentially giving you two pointers:

• The squeeky wheel gets the grease
• Knowing what to say will do wonders

This is a great time to have this knowledge as it could save you thousands of dollars in the long-run.

Good luck.

If you haven’t read ‘Outliers: The Story of Success’ by Malcolm Gladwell, I recommend that you do. Not only does he cover why the Beatles were so good when they hit America during the British Invasion, but many other interesting people and cultures that just seem “better.” Gladwell is one of my favorite authors.

How great is this software? It’s all flash-based and looks like a stripped-down version of Adobe Photoshop.

I’m just blown away by this. Wow.

Check it out here.