Getting a satellite signal out of Perth, for instance, can involve lying prostrate on the ground in the public park next to the CBD with a receiver dish in one hand and a microphone in the other, a bodily feat that requires the kind of physical contortions that might test a Byron Bay yoga instructor.

BBC: Essential reading for new arrivals in Australia

For the next month, Piccard and Borschberg will perform test flights around the Bay Area in preparation, and the plan is for the journey to start on May 1st, with an estimated arrival in Gotham sometime in early July.

ENGADGET

In December he reportedly broke into his own Colwyn Bay headquarters to test security, but it recently emerged he may have had a faulty key fob.

BBC: Brunstrom to go by Christmas 2009

One test site, in Galway Bay, is up and running, and IBM has been working with SEAI there already to monitor wave conditions, acoustics, marine life and pollution levels in and around the bay.

FORBES: Wave Energy: The Latest Battleground in the Conservation vs. Innovation Debate

Before its coast-to-coast American trip, the Solar Impulse will take test flights around the San Francisco Bay Area in April, officials said.

WSJ: Solar plane plans stops in Phoenix, Dallas, NYC

Speaking of sun-powered planes, the Solar Impulse just made its final test flight around the San Francisco Bay Area before embarking on a cross-country voyage next week.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: flying electric car, 3D-printed livers and a two-story-tall bike

We gave you a brief look at the product earlier in our contest, but we went hands-on with the Snapzoom ahead of Engadget Expand -- with the San Francisco Bay serving as our test subject, no less.

ENGADGET

With the Focus Electric rolling into showrooms, I took a pre-production model on a two-week tech test drive around the San Francisco Bay Area last month to experience daily life in the cloud with an electric car.

FORBES: The Ford Focus Electric: A Tesla Model S For the Middle Class