By David Ponce

With the advent of Kickstarter, a lot of previously unfeasible ideas(due to lack of capital) are now hitting the marketplace. Kickstarter is a distributed funding platform, and if a product gains enough momentum usually it can get reach its funding goals. Today we look at something that has only a rough prototype in the pipeline (call it a proof-of-concept device) but could have a lot of potential if funded: self-inflating bicycle tires made by a nascent company called Pumptire. This is my understanding of how they’d work. On the outer edge of the tire, there’s a hollow tube called a lumen. As you roll, this tube is compressed, like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. Ahead of the point of contact with the ground, in the lumen, is compressed air which goes into the tire through a special valve. Behind the point of contact is a vacuum, which draws more air in through another part of this special valve. It is this valve which also senses when the correct inner pressure has been reached and stops drawing in more air. You’ll never need to “top-up” your tires with air again!

There are two versions planned: a casual cyclist version which will top out at 65psi and a Pro version which will be adjustable and be able to reach 100psi. If it makes it to market, target price will be $129 for the casual tire, and $149 for the Pro version.

Here are what I see as the potential hurdles. 1) If this valve, which you can see in the picture, is too heavy, it’ll throw off the balance of the wheel. 2) The collapsible lumen will eventually erode and make the whole system useless, possibly faster than a regular tire. 3) The project needs… wait for it… $250,000!! As of this writing, there’s $2,718 pledged, which is a little more than 1%. But here’s hoping that talking about it will do a little to help.

[ PumpTire Kickstarter ] AND [ Pumptire Website ]

By Luke Anderson

Getting a flat tire on your car always sucks. I don’t care where you are, it’s never fun to change a tire. Usually the worst part is actually trying to jack your car up so you can take off the wheel. Usually you’ll find the worst excuse for a car jack known to man in your trunk. You know the kind, they have some kind of rod that you have to twist about three hundred times, then you get to do it all again when you’re done changing the tire. I believe I’ve found the coolest jack ever.

This Exhaust Air Jack is a work of pure genius. It is a big orange bag which you set underneath your vehicle. There is a hose coming out of it which you connect to the exhaust of your car. In about 30 seconds the bag will have inflated enough to raise your car up off the ground. There’s even a one-way valve to prevent air loss if you decide to turn off your vehicle This will work on just about any surface, which isn’t the same for traditional jacks. I’d say that $129.99 for one of these would be money well spent.

[ AJPrindle ] VIA [ SlipperyBrick ]

This seems to be one of those gadgets that’s better in theory than in practice. The Inflight Power Recharger supposedly allows you to recharge any USB powered device when all you have access to is a headphone jack either on a plane, train or bus. The small device works like a ‘charge pump’ which stores the low voltage from the headphone jack in a capacitor and then converts it into regulated USB power. While it may take a bit longer to recharge your gadgets with the Inflight Power the idea is it’s better than nothing.

Unfortunately though the folks at Wired’s Gadget Lab actually tried the device out on both a 757 and an A320 while traveling and both times it didn’t work as promised. Only when using a special test tone provided by the manufacturer that was playing off an iPod did it actually work and provide sufficient power through the USB connection. So it’s not surprising then the Inflight Power also holds a couple of AAA batteries that will boost the power from a headphone jack or will even recharge your toys if no jack is available.

The Inflight Power Recharger is available directly from their website and depending on what adapters you get it ranges in price from $34.99 for the base unit up to $49.99.

[ Inflight Power Recharger ] VIA [ Wired's Gadget Lab ]