Update (2011-05-12): the answer is no, it’s a Navteq 3D mapping car with a LIDAR array. Thanks to Darrell Kresge for the clarification.

As I was walking to lunch today, I caught sight of this weird contraption, and had just enough presence of mind to grab a few snaps of it.

One strange feature is a spinning white cylinder inside the arm canted at a 45 degree angle.

It doesn’t look like any of the Google Street View vehicles captured before, nor does it have the Google markings. The Michigan license plate is a bit odd as well. A prototype, perhaps? Or is some other company is getting into this racket, perhaps Microsoft?

Not only do Webpass give me fast 45Mbps symmetrical access for $45/month, with no capricious restrictions or anticompetitive shenanigans, but they are also real mensches.

(updated 2013-04-21)

See also this list of cloth napkin burgers.

1. Bix
2. Mission Beach Cafe
3. Marlowe
4. Roam
5. Umami
6. Slow Club
7. Magnolia
8. Mos Grille
9. Custom Burger
10. Bistro Burger
11. Super Duper
12. In-n-Out

As a bonus, the most overrated burgers:

1. The Burger Bar in Macys—the Las Vegas one was OK, but the SF one is a wreck, far worse than even a McDonalds, with inedibly gristly meat the one and last time I had the misfortune to go.
2. Zuni Cafe—the shoestring fries are lovely, but the burger itself blah
3. Joes Cable Car—OK, but nothing to write home about
4. Five Guys—this East Coast chain is starting to make an appearance in the Peninsula (they have a location at Tanforan), it’s OK but I can’t understand the rave reviews