By Evan Ackerman

Back in January, we (and the rest of the internet) posted about LightLane, a concept device that uses lasers to project a virtual bike lane to help keep cars from squishing you flat. Understandably, it was a popular idea with bicyclists everywhere, and the designers have managed to put together a working beta version. As you can see in the video, it works quite well, even in car headlights:

Does this mean it’s going to end up in production? Hopefully yes, since it’s now in “beta phase development,” although there are no details on when it might be available or how much it might end up costing. We’ll keep you updated.

[ LightLane ] VIA [ CoolHunting ]

By Evan Ackerman

We first saw Monkeylectric’s persistence of vision LED bicycle wheel system at Yuri’s Night back in 2008. They’ve updated their software and hardware with the m464q wheel display system, which is capable of full motion video at 256 pixels resolution. The wheels have linear LED arrays along all four axes, and if you’re going faster than about 8 mph, the LEDs blur together and thanks to some ingenious computer programming they look like a solid circular screen.

The video system is fully programmable, includes a wireless interface, and costs a couple grand, but there’s also a system that does only simple patterns (like these) for a mere $60.

[ MonkeyLectric ]

By Evan Ackerman

Bicyclists and cars don’t have the greatest relationship when it comes to roads. While bicyclists often ignore traffic laws, cars often ignore bicyclists, and everybody gets pissed at everyone else for being selfish jerks. Unfortunately, Light Lane could very well make all that worse… On principle it seems like an okay idea, projecting a virtual bike lane around you to help keep motorists off your ass. But, if you’re trying to make a bike lane where there isn’t a bike lane, I bet the cars trying to get around you aren’t going to be amused, to say the least.

Lane Light is currently just a concept.

[ Dustbowl ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Jonathan Kimak

This unique bicycle won the 2008 Innovate Or Die contest and was created by five IDEO engineers and designers. The Aquaduct allows a person to carry a large amount of water while filtering it into clean drinking water at the same time.

Since many villages in third world countries rely on water from distant wells or lakes just getting enough water for a family can take all day. And after the transport is over the water could still be unsanitary to drink.

The Aquaduct uses the pedal power to force the water through a filter resulting in clean, ready to drink water by the end of the trip.

Check out the video after the jump.

[ IDEO ] VIA [ Crunch Gear ]

By Jonathan Kimak

Yahoo has created some GPS enabled camera bicycles as part of a new marketing campaign. The bicycles are equipped with Nokia N95 cameraphones that are set to take a picture once per minute when the bike is in motion. The picture is then uploaded to a special Flickr account along with it’s GPS coordinates. The camera is recharged by the solar array at the back of the bike.

The bikes are currently pedaling around San Fransico and New York and will soon be pedaling around the world in countries such as Singapore, Denmark and the U.K.

For those of you who want your own Flickr bike you can make your own if you have a Symbian Series 60 phone. You can download Yahoo’s ZoneTag software to the Symbian phone and then strap it onto your bike and go for a ride.

[ Wired ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]