I’m going to skip right over the question of how a company rationalizes naming itself “God Ability” and just introduce one of their products: a fuzzy wristband with an integrated (and uncomfortable looking) programmable LED display. You can input up to 6 separate 255 character messages in either English or katakana, which will scroll across your wrist in either glowing red or glowing blue. I guess the messages might even be readable if someone happens to be staring at your wrist from the proper orientation for a long, long time. Now all I need are some scrolling LED leg warmers, and I’ll be all set. Set for what, you ask? Exactly. $32.
I got my scuba certification in 36 degree water. It was a miserable experience, and since then I’ve only gone diving in nice warm places like Australia and Fiji. The H-Bomb heated wetsuit opens up all sorts of new suicidal possibilities like surfing in the Arctic. The wetsuit uses two electric fiber heating elements to keep you warm, but there aren’t much more in the way of details. According to one of the testers, “the cold wasn’t even a factor when we were surfing, because the wetsuits are that good. The only time you felt the water is when you got flushed and that actually helped because the water circulated around the wetsuit and helped distribute the heat. It was just like surfing in normal water.” Except for the icebergs and orcas, right?
Most of you probably don’t live out in the boonies like I do half the year, but if you do, you’re probably just as frustrated as I am about the lack of decent cellular service, not to mention WiFi. You can buy something like this, but it’s expensive, tethered, and somewhat of a monotasker. Today, NEC announced the development of a wideband antenna that’s not only wearable, it’s actually clothing. From the press release:
Antennas are generally designed to operate in an open space, and if used in close proximity to a human body or other object, the impedance deteriorates, causing a noticeable reduction in performance. This antenna is designed to demonstrate equally good impedance characteristics whether used in an open space or close to a human body, for example when attached to the user’s clothing.
One of the difficulties encountered in the past when using conductive fabrics was that soldering was not possible. In the case of this new antenna, power is supplied to a small flexible print substrate by a soldered coaxial cable, so that power supply is possible through capacity coupling with the substrate.
NEC will first test reception of digital terrestrial broadcasts in the 470-770 MHz band. Later, it will test the potential of this antenna as an external antenna for terminals in the future, conducting ongoing development while studying potential future applications.
My overly optimistic impression would be that as soon as NEC gets around to commercializing this technology, you’ll be able to throw on your jacket to improve your cellphone reception… Of course, by that time, our jackets will probably have cellphones and laptops and donut makers built in anyway.
N00b pwners everywhere rejoice: now you can physically abuse your gaming opponents, which (trust me) is much more satisfying that just typing “lol u suxorz” over and over again. The 3rd Space Vest was originally designed to be a remote medical diagnostic tool, but it’s obviously much more appropriate for the first person shooter genre, where its 8 pneumatically-actuated pressure cells can simulate the direction and force of incoming fire. The vest will currently work with Quake 3, Quake 4, Call of Duty, and Doom 3, but I imagine that it’ll be easily adaptable to other games. It comes in a few sizes in both camo and black, and for you hardcore FPS girls, it even comes in pink to match your Hello Kitty gaming rig. The $189 retail price ($169 if you pre-order) includes the vest, an air compressor, a USB cable, and a power supply. The FPS Vest should ship in November; a version that mimics G-forces for flight sims and racing sims is in the works. My recommendation for the next generation: built-in tazers and heating/cooling pads for you fantasy RPG nutjobs.
Need a hug? Yeah, so do I, but there’s nobody around right now besides my pet snake, and when she hugs me, it’s only because she’s hungry. Lucky for me, I’ll soon be able to buy myself a Hug Shirt, which is able to reproduce hugs electronically via cellphone. Designers at CuteCircuit conducted numerous hugging sessions in order to map the most critical hug intensity points, which include upper arms, upper back, waistline, neck, shoulders, and hips. The shirt has “hugging output actuators” over each of these points, which are able to duplicate the warmth, pressure, duration, and even heartbeat of the hugger on the huggee. All you need is two Hug Shirts and a Java and Bluetooth enabled cell phone, and whenever you hug yourself, the exact characteristics of your hug will be measured by your Hug Shirt and sent via SMS to the second Hug Shirt. If you happen to be naked and feeling huggy, you can still send someone a hug with special HugMe software for your cellphone. I’m happy to report that the Hug Shirt is lead-free and non-toxic, and runs on rechargeable batteries. Even better, it’s fully washable. And best of all, it’s supposed to be available for purchase by this holiday season, for around $300.
Remember the good old days, when success could be measured in diamond rings? For better or worse, diamonds are old and busted, and the new hotness is personal exposure, which (some would argue) is just as hard to attain. The VanityRing embodies this concept with a little wearable LCD that displays how many hits are returned by a Google search on your name. At night, plug it into its ring box, and your Google stats will be updated.
The only problem with this ring is figuring out exactly how many Google hits you really deserve. I, for example, get about 26,200 results when I type in “Evan Ackerman” (with quotes). However, those results include people who have stolen my name, like this baby. So what fraction of those hits are actually me? I have no idea, but it would be great if the Google search algorithm had some sort of nodal relationship option you could use to see which results are related by common links. Or maybe there’s something like that out there already… If not, well, you’ll have to talk to me about intellectual property rights before you design one.
In September, I posted an article over at BotJunkie about a robot helicopter that reminded me a little bit of Airwolf. After that, I rented some Airwolf DVDs on Netflix, and now that I’m hooked on the show (okay, not really, I remembered it being way more awesome than it actually is), I just had to show you this working Airwolf helmet which is currently for sale on eBay. When I say “working,” it means that the helmet is a padded fiberglass custom motorcycle helmet that will, in fact, protect your head. It also features a speed visor, an LED targeting bar, and a specially designed battery pack. Whether the speed visor and LED targeting bar also work in some fashion is unspecified. The helmet itself is painted in the original Airwolf color, “Phantom Gray Effect.” Totally badass, and yours for the buy it now price of $900. A just because it’s Airwolf Airwolf video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
New backpack smell always takes me back to the first day of school. And since I’ve been out of school, I haven’t put much thought into replacing my ancient JanSport. But ever since Mobile Edge sent me a couple of their laptop backpacks to check out, my sense of style, my laptop, and my back have all been demanding something new. I was able to meander about with these backpacks for several weeks on a trip up to the Pacific Northwest, and I’ll review them both separately over the next few days. You can be assured that these reviews are unbiased since I had to send the backpacks back (grrr); but it’s worth noting that I was disappointed to have to do so, ’cause I really did (mostly) like them. Read my full review after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
This dorky looking gadget called the Head Spa Massager “incorporates Japanese engineering and utilizes acupressure to relax and soothe your problems away. It’s like thousands of tiny fingers simultaneously massaging your scalp.” That sort of creeps me out a little bit, personally. The designers suggest using this thing “at your desk at work” or “on your morning commute in traffic,” which are great ideas if you want to look like a raving loony. It’s supposed to relieve stress by stimulating blood circulation to the brain, and incorporates a rechargeable battery so that you can take it everywhere and wear it all the time. $49.95.
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By Evan Ackerman
The only problem with this ring is figuring out exactly how many Google hits you really deserve. I, for example, get about 26,200 results when I type in “Evan Ackerman” (with quotes). However, those results include people who have stolen my name, like 
