Do a quick search on Flickr for “light drawing” and you’ll discover tens of thousands of long exposure photos where people ‘draw’ images and patterns using a moving light source. And as many as I’ve seen over the years, none are as impressively detailed as these Formula 1 car photos created by Mark Brown and Marc Cameron at the British Grand Prix. If you’re a fan of their skills you can actually buy prints of their previous work, which also consists of mostly high-performance sports cars.
It’s not the only solution for connecting your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to your car’s entertainment center. But Scosche’s new sneakPEEK auto cable does a lot of things right. It’s designed to be wired into your car’s electrical system, as well as connecting to your stereo’s composite video inputs. So videos from your iDevices will be piped through the LCD displays in your ride while they recharge in the process.
But if you want to enjoy your video content privately while still topping off your iDevice’s battery, a switch on the cable turns off the video connections. And while most cables like this only come with enough slack to connect and leave your iPhone or iPod in the glove compartment, Scosche’s sneakPEEK auto has a generous 9 feet of cable so anyone in the car can use it. Unfortunately it also comes with a Monster Cable-like price tag of $74.99.
If you’re a Formula 1 racing fan your eyes have probably already lit up at the sight of this 1:1 full-sized scale replica of the steering wheel used by Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in the 2011 F1 season. It’s hand built from real carbon fibre and the switches, paddles and buttons all move, though technically they don’t actually do anything. But the rest of us are left scratching our heads as to why someone would spend $2,151.07 on a steering wheel they can’t actually use for anything other than some quality imagination time. Although given the real things are rumored to cost in the $30-40,000 price range, if not more, this one’s a real bargain. Too bad there’s only 250 up for grabs.
As much as I enjoy watching videos of truly impressive and astounding LEGO creations, it also makes me feel pretty embarrassed about the things I used to build. And none moreso than Sheepo’s LEGO Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet which is built from almost 3,500 parts, weighs just over 8lbs. and is powered by 8 electric motors.
It has everything from real locking doors, an emergency hand brake, a retractable hard-top roof and spoiler and a 7-speed gearbox complete with reverse. The photos of his creation on his blog are impressive, but if you consider yourself a true AFoL you’ll want to spend the 7+ minutes needed to watch this video walkthrough of all its features being demonstrated.
And if you think you’ve seen something like this before, you probably have. A few years ago there was a video floating around of one of Sheepo’s previous creations, an incredibly detailed LEGO Bugatti Veyron. But I think this certainly one-ups it.
No matter what the temperature is outside, I think leaving pets unattended in a parked vehicle is a stupid idea. Denice Pruett, who works for a veterinarian in New Mexico, feels the same way. After seeing and hearing countless stories of pets who succumbed to hyperthermia or heatstroke while left in a locked vehicle, she came up with the ‘Too Hot For Spot?’ decal which lets you know just how hot or cold your vehicle really gets inside. It sticks to the inside of a car window like your standard novelty static cling decal, but includes a working thermometer needle showing you the temperature inside.
Besides letting owners know if it’s ‘safe’ to leave their animals locked inside (again, why even risk it?) the ‘Too Hot For Spot?’ thermometer also educates other people passing by as to how warm a locked and sealed car can get on a sunny day. $12.90 including shipping.
When most people set out to build a replica of a vehicle seen in a movie they usually set their sites on something like the Batmobile, ECTO-1 from Ghostbusters or the time traveling DeLorean from Back To The Future. Not eBay seller brandon9445. He turned a 1995 Jeep Wrangler Sahara into one of the support vehicles seen in Jurassic Park. More specifically, the jeep that actor Wayne Knight gets lost in, before being eaten by a dilophosaurus.
The jeep has 118,000 miles on it, probably not from being driven around a giant tropical island science experiment, and the owner has gone to great lengths to make it as screen accurate as possible. Most of the graphics are painted on instead of being vinyl stickers so they’ll last longer, the stock interior has been replaced to match the colors seen in the film, and they’ve even added the light bar that allows each of the four lights to be individually controlled using a set of joysticks on the dashboard. Sadly the eBay auction has ended, with the winning bidder scoring the Jeep for a mere $9,000. Reports of them being a genetic engineering billionaire are unconfirmed.
Having taken ‘Fahrvergnügen’ farther than it really needed to go, Volkswagen has apparently been on the hunt for more unorthodox forms of advertising, and it seems like they’ve hit the nail on the head again. In order to literally demonstrate the “awesome road-eating power and acceleration” of their new VW Golf R they created the print ad pictured above featuring the tag line “Eat the road.” And it turns out the ad, which was placed in South African copies of the Auto Trader, was actually printed on paper made of glutinous rice, flour, water, salt, propylene glycol, FD&C color and glycerine. Meaning it was completely edible. Now I’ve no idea how it tasted, but I’m hoping the trend is carried on at upcoming auto shows since Doritos flavored brochures and press releases sound like the perfect snack.
Today’s modern hippie might find it difficult to procure a 1965 Volkswagen Camper Van, the iconic mode of transport for the flower power movement of the 60′s. But since they’ll probably spend most of their time just sleeping in it anyways given the cost of gas these days, this is a more practical alternative. Designed to look like a perfect 1:1 scale replica of their 1965 Camper Van, this tent is officially licensed by Volkswagen and comes in your choice of red, yellow or blue.
Inside it comfortably sleeps 4 people and is divided down the middle allowing couples to have a little privacy while they’re not making war, and the design even means it’s tall enough to allow people to stand up inside. At ~$486(£299.99) it’s a little pricey as far as tents go, and unfortunately it’s not expected to ship until August 25th at which point your Summer of love is pretty much already over.
In my 5 or 6 years of blogging about gadgets and gizmos, the Keyport Slide stands out as one product that had a bit of a rough time making its way to the marketplace. We first wrote about the Keyport back in 2007 which we thought was a great concept, with not so great pricing and execution. $300 for a fancy key holder was expensive, no doubt about that, and users were asked to physically mail in the keys they wanted converted, which a lot of people thought was a little sketchy.
In 2009 when customers who had originally ordered the Slide still hadn’t received their product, we were pretty sure the product was DOA. But it turns out that wasn’t the end of the saga. By 2010 the company behind the Keyport had not only sorted out and vastly improved the logistics of the ordering process, but the price had been slashed to $79.99. And customers (finally!) started receiving their orders, which turned out to work just as promised. So when we were offered the chance to try out the latest version of the Keyport Slide we jumped at the opportunity. Both because we still think it’s a great idea and product, and also for some much needed closure. Check out our full review after the jump.
Related Tags: Art, automotive
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