Sharp new designs, working air-condition, and clean seats are on the order for a slew of new test BART cars (an estimated 250 of them) that will go into production this May. The new trains will also have 50% more doors (making getting in and out easier), energy efficiency improvements, exterior digital displays with route color and destination, improved passenger information (audio and visual), easier to clean seats and floor (thank you!), more handholds to grab, more priority seating for seniors and disabled people, plenty of legroom in the back for guys to show off their penises to other guys in the last car (say what?), and more.

Trains will cost around $1 billion. And, as The Chronicle points out, if transit officials are pleased, and can come up with another $2 billion or so, they'll buy another 515 cars."

BART's new test trains will be on the tracks and ready to go in 2015. Fingers crossed.

Rik Panganiban captured these shots of moden-day San Francisco overlapped with old images of San Francisco. The results are impressive. yes? But it's much more complicated than that -- at least to us, anyway. He explains:

I have been playing around with augmented reality apps lately, seeing how they might be used for education and civic engagement. The field is still in its beginning stages, but we are already starting to see some interesting applications of AR.

Of course, augmented reality applications have been around since the early 1990s. But it has only been until the past couple of years the consumer grade technology has gotten to the point that you can literally have an augmented reality experience using a device in your pocket. And with various AR standards (open and proprietary) already on the market, the potential for AR is still uncharted.

One of the best examples of the educational value of augmented reality is LookBack Maps.

Goodness, that sounds very smart! Anyway, the applications allows one to juxtapose old images with new ones via your smartphone. Panganiban did it. Here's how:

Once you are at the actual spot, you can call up a semi-transparent version of the historical photo, which is superimposed over the camera view of your phone. Trying to line up the photo with the actual view in front of you is not as easy as it sounds, particularly if it was taken from a strange angle or there are now buildings where an empty space once was. In a few cases I had to step out into the middle of an intersection and hope not to get hit by traffic as a I took a picture.

To learn more, please visit rikomatic.com.

Yesterday morning, a new cable care for tourists was unleashed onto the streets of San Francisco. And yes, you will need sunglasses to enjoy these images of the shockingly colored car.

According to Whole Wheat Toast, who was live at the scene to capture some shots, "This cable car was built over a span of five years and relied on hundred-year old technology." Serving the Powell-Mason Line, the no. 15 car was built using original blueprints with help from the Woods Carpenter Shop, the Cable Machinery Support Shop, the Special Machine Shop and the Running Repair Shop. Whew. And it cost the city a whopping "$823,000 for materials and labor."

Newsom was there yesterday (surprise!) to cut the ribbon. Also, among the car's first passengers, we're told, were President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama's children, Malia and Sasha.

For more scenes of yesterday's car release, check out Flickr phototog Jamison's choice set of images.

CrunchGear allegedly has the first photos on the Internet for the new 3G iPhone. According to Network World:

From the TechGear description and looking at the pictures it's definitely thinner than the original iPhone and looks reminiscent of the MacBook Air. Gotta love the multiple colors and the "red" campaign branding. Looks like the "jesus phone" got an exterior upgrade to match it's new internals.

Also, you can do video chat with your iPhone geek pals, but only via WiFi.

Of course, the Internets being what it is, these images could be fake. And the new iPhone could very well not cure AIDS. Stay tuned!

Update: Spysea tells us:

The new models will feature GPS satellite-tracking chips, third-generation (3G) cellular Internet access, better audio, longer battery life, metal buttons and a regular flush headphone jack. The 8-gigabyte model will retail for $199 in the U.S., its 16-gigabyte sister for $299 ? and the latter variation will also come in white. It hits stores on July 11 in the U.S. and 21 other countries, including Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong and most of western Europe.

Now go clean the urine off of your pants, folks.