Fishing can be a nice, relaxing way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Of course you actually need a good deal of time to not only get to a spot that has fish, but you need to gather up your gear, pick up bait, etc. Well the people at Takara Tomy have decided that such things are too much of a hassle, and instead decided to introduce this augmented reality Virtual Master Real to let you fish anywhere.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy fishing. I just think that using a plastic gadget to do so takes all of the enjoyment out of the activity. My favorite things about it are sitting on the shore in the country smelling the fresh air. Catching the fish is only one small part of the fun.
I’ve found there’s a simple rule of thumb when it comes to finding a set of compact, portable speakers that don’t sound like they’re made of cardboard. And it’s a rule that everyone is already familiar with; you get what you pay for. So let’s get this out of the way right now. Aliph’s Jawbone JAMBOX portable Bluetooth speaker is not cheap. In fact, let’s not beat around the bush here. At $199.99 I’d say it easily qualifies as expensive.
That being said though, it’s also easily one of the best sounding portable speakers I’ve ever heard. And while it obviously can’t compete with even a half-decent home stereo setup, if you’ve been hunting for something that’s easy to transport and sounds great, I think you’ll be suitably impressed by what Aliph has cooked up. Read my complete review after the jump.
So Apple’s stance on water damage vs. warranties has become a little grey as of late, but that doesn’t mean you should be any less cautious about getting your iPhone or iPod wet. It’s still a sensitive piece of electronics that just doesn’t play well with H20. And water’s not the only hazard. I don’t know how many times I’ve troubleshooted an iPhone with a malfunctioning headphone port that was resolved by just fishing out a piece of pocket lint trapped in there.
So while they’re maybe a bit excessive, these iCorkz look like a sure fire way to keep moisture and other crud out of your iDevice. Made from premium grade high-polymer silicone and organic polyurethane the iCorkz come in two versions for protecting the dock connector and headphone port, and are “precision uni-die molded for a perfect fit with no unsightly mold lines.” At $9.95 + $4 shipping they’re not exactly cheap, but if you’re really worried about those moisture sensors voiding your warranty, I guess you can look at it as a little extra bit of insurance.
Unless you’re afraid of heights, I’m pretty sure that everyone has dreamed of being able to fly at some point in their lives. But I mean more like soaring above the clouds like an airplane, not skimming a couple of feet above an asphalt road like you do in this StreetFlyer contraption.
Created by Dr. Carsten Mehring, the StreetFlyer lets a harnessed rider transition between walking along with the ‘bike’ and a prone, lying-on-your-stomach position where you pedal the single rear wheel with your feet and steer the front pair with your arms. I doubt it provides the same flying thrill as say hang gliding or skydiving, but the worst case scenario here is a little road rash, which is a bit less daunting. Well that and peculiar looks from everyone you pass, honks from cars since it appears to take up a lot more room than a traditional bike and random taunts and mockery from people like me. At the moment the StreetFlyer only exists as prototypes, but apparently a more marketable and ‘practical’ version is being designed that you could end up seeing on the streets some day.
It seems like there’s a new watch band accessory for the 6th generation iPod Nano popping up every week, and for the most part they rarely bring anything new or interesting to the table. However the new Sport Watch Band from HEX is the first one to accomodate the dongle required for the Nike Plus in-shoe pedometer.
I mean it’s not exactly the most ground-breaking innovation, but since the 6th gen Nano has become so popular for workouts, particularly when paired with a watch band, it’s a small improvement that’s sure to make the Sport Watch Band very popular among fitness types. And it will be available in April, probably comparably priced to their existing $29.95 Nano watch bands.
Listen YikeBike, it’s not that we don’t want to like you. You’ve clearly got a stylish design and are definitely a fresh take on urban commuting. It’s just that… well… we think riding with our hands behind our backs just looks stupid. Maybe we’re just not being open to new things, we can admit that, but given the choice we’d much prefer to tool around our urban hoods on this slightly more conservative looking Batribike Micro.
Like the YikeBike it features a 14.4V lithium battery which powers a 120 watt high-torque electric motor, propelling a rider up to 12mph. But when the battery dies you can still use it as a regular old manually powered bicycle. In ‘pedal assist’ mode it has a range of 12-15 miles, though the website lists the ‘motor only’ range as being ‘Not Tested’ which quite frankly is a little suspicious. I mean that’s the one fact potential buyers are going to care about right? The Batribike Micro weighs in at just 21lbs and collapses down into an included bag making it easy to toss in the trunk of your car or single-prop plane, and will set you back ~$970. (£599)
Part of the challenge and excitement of setting up a domino chain is being careful not to accidentally knock one over, which will quickly undo all of your hard work. So when I first read about this Esper concept toy, which is basically a set of dominoes that can independently fall over and wirelessly trigger the next one in the chain to do the same, I thought it would take all the fun out of it. But after watching this video which demonstrates some of the unique ways the Esper dominoes can be played with, including being mixed in with traditional dominoes, I’m completely enamored with the concept.
I particularly like the ordering methodology where you simply shake each domino to ‘set’ its number, and they’ll always fall in order from the lowest number to the highest. And that dominoes with the same number will always fall at the same time. Unfortunately it seems the Esper Domino was developed by Jarashi Suki and the IAMAS Ubiquitous Interaction Research Group way back in 2009, which makes me a little less hopeful that we’ll ever see them go into production given it’s been 2 years already.
I’m all about creating new sports. When we were kids my siblings and I were particularly adept at re-appropriating sports equipment for new athletic endeavors, not unlike Calvin did with his greatest creation, Calvinball! So while this new take on racquet sports is probably going to take a while to catch on, I applaud the creators of 360ball for trying something new.
I’m not going to go into too much detail about how the game is played, the overly dramatic video I’ve included below, which makes 360ball seem like a gift from the heavens, does a far better job at illustrating how a match unfolds. But the CliffsNotes version is that after a serve the other player or team is allowed to touch the ball twice before bouncing it off a special plate in the middle of the court, returning it to the other team. If a player is hit or the ball hits the ground, the other team gets a point. It sounds simple enough, but when you watch it being played you can see there’s a lot of room for strategy.
Now obviously 360ball requires a special circular court to be played in. So unfortunately you can’t really use an existing Squash, Racquetball or Tennis court which is going to be a bit of a stumbling block preventing it from catching on quickly. But the first official permanent court has already been installed in Knysna, South Africa where the game was invented, and when you think about it playing in a circular court has a lot of advantages. Both players or teams are constantly moving around its circumference so neither side really has an advantage when it comes to wind or sun, while spectators are able to sit all the way around with everyone having the exact same view of the court. And as a big fan of Squash, I think it just looks really fun!
Did I fire 29 bullets or 30? When you’re in the middle of a shoot-out, that can be an important thing to know. Granted, the only time most of us really care about that sort of thing is when we’re playing an FPS. However, if you’re a gun aficionado, then you might find this little device to be of interest. It clips onto your firearm of choice and counts the number of shots fired.
The custom gadget uses a rather simple way of counting shots. Rather than keeping track of the bullets themselves, it uses an accelerometer to measure the gun’s recoil. Since different guns are going to have a different amount of recoil, this can be adjusted. Also adjustable is the counter itself, since you may have larger or smaller magazines. The device was originally made as a one-off project, but the creator is now working to put it into production, so you may be able to purchase one of these in the future.
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