Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

While it looks more like an overstyled bicycle, the thick frame on the Marcus Levison-Hays’ Electrobike Pi hides a set of rechargeable NiMH batteries and motor that allow the bike to be self-propelled. Charging the bike takes about 2.5 to 3 hours from a standard household outlet and on a full charge it can hit a top speed of 20 mph with a range of about 25 to 30 miles.

The Pi is referred to as a “human-electric hybrid” since it can be switched between three different modes using a throttle control on the handlebars. The rider can choose between pedal power, an electric/pedal mode or a fully motorized mode when they’re really feeling lazy. The bike also includes two saddle bags, two different sized seats with adjustable placement and a voucher for a new helmet.

As long as you’re willing to brave the elements every day, it’s not a bad alternative to using a car for commuting to work. But with an $8,000 price tag from Design Within Reach, you might also want to invest in a really nice bike lock.

[ Electrobike Model Pi Kit ] VIA [ Yokiddo ]

By Evan Ackerman

Despite my still tender age of twentysomething, I never thought I’d live to see the construction of an honest-to-goodness commercial spaceport. But by 2010, Spaceport America should be completed and operational out in the New Mexico desert (somewhere around here). The winning design is a 100,000 square foot, $31 million facility designed to be a “Destination Experience,” which is supposed to mean that (since you probably can’t afford a ticket) you’ll be happy just visiting. I’m not too sure about that, but the building is pretty neat looking in a Star Warsy sort of way, and it’s promised to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. The primary tenant is going to be Virgin Galactic (no surprise there), but the building will also serve as headquarters for the XPrize Cup and the Rocket Racing League.

[ Spaceport America ] VIA [ Space.com ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While the Segway hasn’t really caught on the way its makers had hoped it’s nice to see the technology and concepts behind the device catching on elsewhere. The Tango was created by high school students Ben Gulak and Jason Morrow who represented Team Canada at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico this year. Think of the Tango as a self-balancing, compact version of a racing motorcycle with a bit more kick than even the fastest Segway model.

Riding the Tango is just like riding a racing bike though instead of having the wheels mounted in the front and back they actually sit side by side in the middle of the bike. Using accelerometers the Tango detects the subtle movements of the rider which are used to control the vehicle. Like with the Segway you just lean forward to drive forward or lean left and right in order to turn. Since the Tango is electric powered it produces zero emissions but it also means a top speed of only 40 miles an hour. So while speed freaks should look elsewhere, commuters living in a crowded city center might soon have another transportation alternative.

Unfortunately Ben and Jason didn’t win the top prize at the Intel ISEF but they did manage to get a lot of publicity which will hopefully attract investors and get more people excited about their concept.

[ Teen scientists rev their motors ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Like Ben Storan with his Personal Wind Turbines, Andreas Zachariah was also one of the winners of the 2007 BSI (British Standards Institute) Sustainability Design Awards. But instead of harnessing wind power Andreas’ invention is designed as a wake up call to get people to understand what their impact on the environment really is. It’s called the ‘Carbon Hero’ and it’s basically a keychain sized device that’s used to keep track of a person’s ‘carbon footprint’ when it comes to the modes of transportation they use.

Carbon Hero™ calculates the exact carbon footprint of the user’s transport habits by identifying different forms of transport taken as a user travels through ‘space’, by virtue of their relative location, velocity and the pattern of their activity. All of this comes in a unit the size of a key ring.

Once gathered, the data is downloaded to software on a PC or mobile phone which displays the amount of carbon used and the amount of credits needed to be purchased in order to offset the amount used.

Andreas felt that while people have become more conscious and educated about the products they buy being environmentally friendly they’re less concerned when it comes to public or private transportation. By giving them tangible data on how their own transportation habits affect the environment they’ll be more likely to change those habits in an attempt to improve their ‘footprint.’

[ He's a Carbon Zero Hero Press Release ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Short of going for a spin inside a giant inner tube this unicycle called the Nimbus Ultimate Wheel is probably as simple as you can get when it comes to a mode of transportation you can actually control. It does away with the seat and other frivolities on a standard unicycle and is basically just a wheel with with an offset pedal on each side.

The bare bones design and lightweight aluminum frame means the Ultimate Wheel is great for commuters who like to bring their bike into the office or store it in their apartment but like the unicycle I just don’t see this catching on.

But if you’d like to try your hand at snapping your ankle the Nimbus 20-inch Ultimate Wheel can be found at Unicycle.com (where else?) for $74.

[ Nimbus 20-inch Ultimate Wheel ] VIA [ productdose ]

And if you don’t think this contraption is actually ridable I’ve included a YouTube video after the jump that proves otherwise.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

Scuba diving isn’t for everyone but for those who want to stay above the water and still check out what’s going on below a glass bottom boat is a great compromise. PARITETBOAT has a whole line of glass bottom equipped boats that are also capable of reaching speeds of up to 40 knots. While going that fast isn’t exactly ideal for underwater observations it’s great for tour companies who quickly want to get their guests out to an ideal viewing location.

The boats come in a variety of sizes and while the LOOKER 25 is considered mid-range seating about 6 observers the largest craft, the LOOKER 35 can seat over twice that. The underwater viewing window is shaped as an optically regular spheroid and measures 2×3 meters in size which is apparently the biggest in the world. It’s made of modified acrylic with a thickness of 15mm and anyone worried about it cracking should be relieved to know it’s actually more solid than the boat’s fiberglass hull.

The LOOKER series of glass bottom boats are primarily aimed at hotels or other tourist-related companies in parts of the world where scuba diving has become popular. But there’s nothing stopping you from ordering one for the cottage and checking out what secrets lie at the bottom of the local lake.

[ PARITETBOAT LOOKER 25 ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

By David Ponce

Don’t get us wrong, you still have to go through security. It’s only the long lineups that FlyClear promises to help you avoid. Here’s how it works. You pay the company $100 for one year service, and give them a truckload of info about you: figerprints, DOB, address, etc. Once they’ve checked you out (and ruled you’re likely not a terrorist or unstable or something), they will give you this blue card with a chip on it. Once you’ve got that, you present yourself at a Clear line in a participating airport, and you get to skip the whole lineup. You still have to go through X-Ray, but you’ll get there faster than anyone else due to the dedicated line. The company is even working on some technology that if approved by the TSA would allow passengers to keep their shoes and jackets on.

Of course, the problem is that it’s currently only available at very few airports: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG), Indianapolis (IND), New York JFK Terminal 7 (JFK), Orlando (MCO) and San José (SJC), with a few more on the way. And yeah, we know the company’s been around and doing this for some time, but we’re choosing now to talk about it.

[ FlyClear ] VIA [ SciFi Tech ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Once again it seems I’ve missed the Busworld Asia convention that’s held in Shanghai and wouldn’t you know it this is the year they unveiled this monstrosity. At 82 feet in length it’s probably safe to say this bus now owns the world record and will for some time. (Though I’ve heard rumors that an 83-foot model could be making an appearance at the 2008 show!) The bus uses two accordion joints and has three sections capable of holding up to 300 passengers. But there is a trade off since the bus is only capable of reaching about 51mph.

When I was lucky enough to have a bus ride as part of my daily commute the drivers could barely get those regular sized buses around most corners without clipping the curbs so I wish these guys the best. Of course that probably won’t be a problem since this bus will mainly be used for transporting commuters between Beijing and Hangzhou and will avoid the crowded downtown areas of those cities.

As for price? While a regular bus costs between $80,000 to $100,000 this version can cost as much as $258,000.

[ World's Longest Bus ] VIA [ Crave ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I don’t know about you but where I live I can see taxi drivers avoiding me if I were waving one of these things in the air. The Taxi Hailer is a credit card sized device (though a bit thicker at 5mm) with a bright orange light that’s supposedly highly visible both day and night. The idea is to wave it around when you’re trying to hail a taxi since it increases the odds of a cab driver seeing you.

Using the device is dead easy with a simple on/off button and the light is claimed to run for at least 100 hours on 2 user replaceable lithium cell batteries. And if you’re the corporate type you can even order the Taxi Hailer branded with your company name and logo. Like I said before the cab drivers I usually deal with will probably be more likely to ignore me if I was waving this thing around but given the Taxi Hailer website uses images of Big Ben and such I suspect things might be different with London cabbies. From what I’ve heard they actually know where they’re going too.

The Taxi Hailer is available on their website for about $20.

[ Taxi Hailer ] VIA [ Gadget Candy ]

By Evan Ackerman

Virgin Galactic, the company that successfully launched SpaceShipOne (with Scaled Composites) and is working on SpaceShipTwo (for which you can now book a 2009 flight at $200,000 a person, round trip of course), has entered into a joint venture of sorts with NASA to develop hypersonic commercial transport technology. Hypersonic generally refers to speeds of Mach 5+, or 3,500 - 4,000ish mph depending on altitude. That’s potentially London to New York in under an hour.

Virgin readily admits that hypersonic research isn’t something they’re cut out for. NASA, however, has already successfully tested their hypersonic scramjet powered X-43A up to Mach 10, and are working on expanding the program with hypersonic vehicles like the X-43B (concept shown above) and the X-51A. So in a nutshell (from the COO of Virgin Galactic): “We are interested in possibly paying for it. NASA is interested in researching it.”

As a past (and let’s hope, future) beneficiary of NASA grant money, I can say from experience that while NASA has the will, when it comes to the way, they’re notoriously stingy with research funding. Here’s hoping for my own corporate sponsor… Any British billionaires out there interested in Martian impact cratering?

VIA [ National Geographic News ]