Photo of the day: open road in Texas

by Elizabeth Seward on


There are plenty of motorcyclists in Texas and there’s also plenty of open road. Texas: where summer never really fully ends. I haven’t ever driven a motorcycle myself, but I have spent hours upon hours hitching rides as a motorcycle passenger–it’s fun. But not only is it fun, it’s also so… summer.

Whether you’re navigating roads this summer on a bike, by car, or on foot, there is something distinctly comforting about the view shown in this shot. The open road is one of the first images that comes to my mind when I think of travel and photographer Dani Way caught this open road image with beautiful accuracy.

Wish we’d feature your photo in Photo of The Day? Just upload your shots to the Gadling Flickr Pool then!

Video/Photo of the day: Cloud over Austin, Texas

by Elizabeth Seward on

An attention-grabbing cloud rolled over the city of Austin last night. I spotted the cloud from the kitchen window and proceeded to immediately notify my photographer friend, Ben Britz, in the next room over. The cloud was spinning relatively quickly. It was colored pink, white, and even aqua in some parts. Shortly after the cloud was dimmed with the darkness of sunset, shots of rosy lightning within the cloud began illuminating the night sky.

I found this time-lapse video on YouTube and couldn’t help but post it. This is, I promise, exactly how it looked. Austin was under a tornado watch the last couple of days, but the rain has yet to come.The following two photos were shot by Ben, who loves a good cloud photo op.

Other YouTube users caught the same cloud on film. Check out the giant cloud from some different angles with these videos below.

The sexiest city in the United States is …

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Don’t waste your time looking at the coasts, if you have a map in front of you. And skip the big cities and clichés – you won’t find Las Vegas at the top. Austin, Texas is the sexiest city in the country according to a survey by Men’s Health Magazine. A number of factors contributed to the win, including birth rates, condom sales and the rate of STDs … not to mention sex toy sales.

Texas came out looking pretty good, with Dallas, Houston and San Antonio also getting props behind winner Austin. In all, seven of the 15 sexiest cities were in Texas. It must be the heat, because colder cities didn’t fare as well. It isn’t hard to be too sexy for Portland, Maine, which finished last, and Burlington, Vermont.

Some of the likely suspects failed to deliver. Vegas came in at #70, with New York following at #73. San Francisco was #74, with Miami #88.

[photo by Steve Zak Photography]

Formula One returns to the United States – Austin to host races from 2012

by Scott Carmichael on

Some fantastic news for Formula One fans all around the world – the most watched sport in the world is coming back to the United States – and will take place on a new track in Austin!

In the past, U.S. F1 races had been held in Watkins Glen, Indianapolis, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix. Sadly, after the 2007 season, it looked like the United States would be without a race for years to come.

Thankfully, a major US investor has committed to constructing a brand new venue, and secured a ten year agreement to host the event in Austin. The new track will be built by Full Throttle Productions, who are now the promoter of the United States Grand Prix.

City of Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell went on record to say “The City of Austin will be proud to host this magnificent event and I look forward to welcoming the participants and fans of Formula One to our City.”

Austin already has a great amount of experience hosting large events, and I’m sure the city will be able to put on a fantastic show when thousands of F1 fans show up for a weekend of racing. Congratulations to Austin – the Gadling team spent some time in your magnificent city earlier this month, and I for one will gladly return to enjoy the Formula One race at your new track.

American Airlines is being watched by the FAA

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Three strikes have led to increased federal attention for American Airlines. The last month hasn’t been kind to the airline. In two instances, planes bumped wingtips with during landings in Charlotte, North Carolina and Austin, Texas and another overshot the runway in Jamaica. The FAA released a statement on Friday indicating that it would review these situations in case they’re symptoms of a larger problem. American Airlines, of course, is cooperating with the FAA in this matter.

And, this comes on top of the airline’s customer service debacle, in which a flight attendant threw a nutter over a passenger’s request for orange juice (still no word on whether disciplinary action or litigation has occurred).

This doesn’t change my perspective on American as the one to beat in 2010. A little extra FAA scrutiny doesn’t change much, and if the airline comes out the other end with no problems – and, better, resolutions – this extra look will soon be forgotten.

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