When talking about cars, the first thing that comes to mind as far as fuel is concerned is gas or diesel. For some of the more ecologically-concerned citizens, there’s also electricity and even water. One of the lesser known diesel alternatives however, is air. Yep, AIR. The “air” that’s occupying space and everything in between. However, it’s not ambient air that the air cars are running on, but rather, a different kind of air — something like processed air would be more of a correct term.
This MiniCATS three-seater car along with the bigger six-seater sedan called CitiCATS, have debuted in France last 2005. Still, the idea of having air as fuel is still a subject not known to the majority of people around the globe, due to it being a lesser-known fuel option. Due to the ever increasing prices of gas, people are looking for more and more alternatives to help alleviate the pain in one’s pockets for having to spend as much for fuel. All you have to do to be able to use your Air-powered car is to remember to recharge it every night.
As was said, it’s not ambient air that runs these types of cars — it’s compressed air. There’s an electric pump inside the car which compresses the air to up to 300 bars in pressure. That’s why you need to recharge your car for four hours. What runs the car is the escaping air as it moves the car’s pistons. Top speed of this air-fueled car is 70 miles per hour. At full tank and at top speed, the car can travel 50 miles in all. The smaller MiniCATS car initially sold for $9,850 while the larger CitiCATS was priced at $16,000. The number of air-powered cars can only increase in time as it seems to be a worthy fuel-alternative.
Are car crashes something you’re scared of? Do you fear for your life every time you slink into a car? Is this the reason why you haven’t learned to drive and haven’t gotten around on your own in your car? If you watch science fiction often, you should have seen cars which could prevent accidents from happening. This time around, it’s fiction no more. The subject of speculations and wonders has become a reality. Still not in the market as of current, but pretty soon, it would be a staple for family cars.
Volvo is the company which came up with a crash-proof family car. The technology, called the CitySafety system, entails having a laser-guidance system that’s able to identify vehicles in front of your own and slow down or brake as needed. The laser-sensor of the technology is built onto the windshield. The laser-sensors have the ability to scan up to six yards from the nose of your car to determine the condition of the traffic before you. If it determines collision, it makes 50 simultaneous calculations on what braking speed is necessary to avoid crashing.
When running between 10mph to 20mph, the technology only determines whether to slow down or not. However, at higher than 20mph, a mode called “adaptive cruise control” kicks in. This mode or setting accelerates or decelerates your car depending upon the existing traffic conditions. Every year, 125,000 injuries are attributed to car crashes, and Volvo is proud to bring this technology out. The technology will first be released in XC60 cars starting Autumn of 2008. These cars are priced around £25,000. Although highly useful, one has to think what will happen during miscalculations, as things like that happen. Just imagine if the mistakenly hit the brakes and you’re driving at high speeds. I guess we can only leave our misgivings for now until the time we actually see it in action.
Gone are the days when your kids beg you to let them keep dogs and cats and you always don’t allow them to because you’re worried about the money for food and that you’d have to regularly clean them and yes, clean the droppings. As always, the Japanese seem to have the solution for all our pet problems. Sega Toys Japan has come up with two robots which might just replace real cats and dogs in the homes of the not-so-animal-fond people.
Let’s take a look, first, at the Dream DX. Unlike the defunct Aibo, Dream DX is very much like its real-life counterpart, except its innards are made of metal. The life-like Dream DX can even move its mouth, close its eyes, walk to and fro, and wag its robotic tail. It can also react to the words “good boy” and wag its tail like dogs are supposed to. The Dream DX was unveiled to the public during the Tokyo Toy Forum. This little bugger would be available in Japan soon for JPY29,600 or US$270. It’s so cute and cuddly and best of all, it doesn’t need a bone. If they can make it fetch, I’d get one for myself.
If there’s a dog, of course, there’ll be a cat. The Dream Cat, also created by Sega Toys Japan, is a feline robotic pet. Unlike the Dream DX, however, the Dream Cat can talk! It has 333 Japanese words pre-installed. It utters those words depending on where you touch it — it has sensors all over its body. Unlike all felines, however, the Dream Cat is quite a snob like felines are supposed to be. Play with it too long and it gets annoyed.
Sure, robotic pets might be a poor alternative to real animals. But for people who can’t get pets for various reasons, they might be the solution to your longing.
The Consumer Electronics Show 2008 was a flurry of shiny electronics goodness. While we loved it and all, sometimes it’s great to stare at concepts and imagine when we’d actually see them in reality. These are two very interesting gadget concepts which are both useful and stylish. First up is the domino USB flash drive. Looking very much like their actual counterpart, USB domino was designed based on the premise that flash drives and HDDs would get smaller and would be able to pack more in the future. In fact, just recently in CES, Toshiba unveiled their 1.8-in and 2.5-in hard drives which boast capacities ranging from 60GB to 180GB. But that’s not what this is about. Anyhow, as for these domino USBs, the circles fill-out with white coloring the moment 1GB is used. Aside from the fact that its stylish, it’s also very useful. At least you’re always aware of how large a data your flash drive is carrying.
Next is the flameless rechargeable USB Lighter. We say flameless because it really produces no flames! How does it light your cigarette, you say? The USB gizmo uses resistance coil heating technology, like that found in car cigar lighters. But that’s not all this wonder boasts of. It also has flash memory for storage. Oh, and the USB, it’s used for recharging and, of course, transferring data into and out of the lighter. I sure hope nobody takes up smoking just so they could use this, no matter how cool it looks. One has to wonder though, is the storage kept safe from the heat? We don’t want to lose valuable data now, do we? It’ll be interesting, nevertheless, to see this lighter in production. But it might be far off into the future, maybe even never, but we could only hope.
I could only think of two types of people who can be interested in the timepiece we’re currently featuring — die-hard fans of Titanic, that ship touted as the unsinkable which sunk on its maiden voyage and die-hard fans of Titanic, the movie. So what do we have here? Why, the Titanic DNA watch, of course. The Titanic DNA watch is, apparently, made from parts of the sunken Titanic. Uhu. So a submarine braved the depths of the ocean to collect scrap metals from the deep blue seas to be made into a watch.
As if that’s not enough, the black dial of the watch is supposedly made from the coals lifted from the Titanic. Um, okay. I guess asking how we could know if the materials were really from the Titanic is out of the question? I don’t suppose you can show us a video of the process from the excavation to the manufacturing, can you? All I can say is, count me out of buying this one.
From deep waters, let’s shift to waters in your bathroom. Since it’s winter in many parts of the globe today, some people would, of course, taking a bath with warm water. If you’re the quintessential example of someone who doesn’t know how to properly gauge water temperature, these shower heads were made for you. These shower heads from KZLIDEA change color when the water reaches a certain threshold in temperature. Lukewarm water (32 degrees Celsius and below), get the normal white lighting. When the water becomes 33 to 41 degrees Celsius, the shower head turns blue. A warm 42 to 45 degrees Celsius gets a purple while anything above that understandably gets a red. Tweaking the cold/hot water knobs has never been as fun before. Just imagine having your own bathroom disco. As of now, there are no reports of where you can buy these shower heads and for how much. Too bad.
With Christmas day fast approaching, festive lights across the world double in number since the first day of December. Many of you have probably already purchased Christmas trees early on into the month but for those who haven’t, perhaps you’d like to know there’s an alternative to your run of the mill Holiday greens. If you want to be the talk of the town, set yourself apart from the rest with this 7-foot tall upside-down Christmas tree.
Originally created for stores with limited floor space, it’s not available for retail at $599.95 a pop. Don’t worry about this curious-looking tree, it won’t topple over with an 84-pound, 12-cm base. Interesting enough. My only gripe is that it’s pre-lit and hence, limits what one can do with the design. Oh, and of course, I won’t shell out 600 bucks for an upside-down Christmas tree.
If your predilection for twinkling lights doesn’t stop at pre-lit Christmas trees, you can always take it to the next level. What else could you do, other than wrap yourself up in bright lights, of course. Enter the Color-changing Deluxe LED Coat. On normal days when you’re not feeling ’round the bend, switch the lights off and the coat will be normal fur number. When you’re feeling frisky, however, turn the switch on and the lights under the fur will start blinking and twinkling. Paint the town red (or in this case, in twinkling colors) while strutting your stuff in this baby and see if there’s anybody else who can take the stares away from you. I reckon you’d look like a mobile Christmas tree. But hey, at least you won’t get lost in pitch-black alleys. At least you got lights on you all the time.
There are only ten days until Christmas and people are getting antsy. Everyone’s shopping for gifts and many are going ’round the bend trying to look for that perfect something they’re giving their loved ones this season. If you have a gamer in your family and you know nothing about it, then rejoice because Game.co.uk just came up with the highly ingenious ‘gift selector.’ You just need to input the age category, some more specifics and them BAM BAM BAM. You just lay back, relax, and wait for the gift selector to do its thing.
The gift selector could give you suggestions for both games and game consoles so if you have the cash, then your problem’s just been solved. You’re saving major headache by using this baby. And since you’re going to get your loved one gaming apparels, there’s no need to worry about the gift being impersonal as you’re not exactly the one who chose it.
The time of traditional radio is really coming to an end unless the hardcore old-timers make their staunch stand in preserving old-school radio. Sony’s throwing in web radio for the latest update of the firmware for PSP Slim+Lite 3.80. The PSP web radio will be available in the land of games and gadgets, Japan, on December 18 with the rest of the world (that’s us, sadly) catching up with the new update in the next months to come. The PSP web radio featuers stations like the Disney channel, Sky.fm 80s and Station Agent among many others.
Other than the new web radio feature, video search is also added for Japanese PSP gamers. They always get the good stuff first, don’t they? Now that’s what I call a Christmas gift. But hey, don’t be too depressed, there’s always next year after all.
If you think alcohol drinking is rampant in your part of the globe, wait ’til you get to Japan. The home country of Godzilla sees alcohol as part of the norm. Salarymen, known to the rest of the globe as office workers, often go straight to drinking right after work. In fact, alcohol is so common and big in Japan that parents often allow their underage children to drink. The Japanese also take every opportunity available to celebrate and have a nice drinking party. Whilst in other parts of the globe drinking might cause juvenile delinquency, it seems to have the opposite effect on Japan.
To make sure you don’t hang out with a drunk, however, an ingenious invention has entered the market. Topland’s Etiquette Checker checks the soberness of your company by testing their breath. Marketed with the tag line “Let’s become a sociable person” which is worthy of Engrish.com, one’s alcohol level is predicted within 13 seconds of checking. The product then puts the person on a six-tier scale as you can see on the LCD screen. Due to Japan’s predilection for alcohol, however, one is not determined as too drunk to be enjoyable company until the test pronounces him off the scale.
The aim of the manufacturers is to make “responsible drinkers” out of the Japanese and to have everyone only drink within the scale to avoid and curtail hang-overs. How noble. I believe the best thing about this gadget, however, is that it tries to keep people within the limits of having stinky alcohol breath. It’s a turn-off and major source of embarrassment, believe me, unless you’re infamous for worming your way out of embarrassing situations by claiming you’ve just had garlic and onion pizza. To see the Etiquette Checker in action, watch this video.
The Holidays are upon us and again we’re greeted with the sense of impending doom urgency as we try and get everything spiffed up for the season. I could just imagine everyone trying to liven up houses and workplaces. As someone who works on a tiny desk more than eight hours a day, I’d sure love to get a taste of the Christmas season on my small space. The USB Christmas tree would look great next to a monitor, don’t you think? You can plug your miniature tree into the USB port of your computer and it’s good to go. It works on any operating system and blinks four different colors — purple, blue, red and green — so your desk reflects the gaiety of the season. Just make sure your boss approves lest you get fired right before Christmas. You can buy the USB Christmas tree in Santa’s toy factoryGadgetshop.
On another note, if you’re short on time like I am, and don’t have enough to spare to set up a full-fledged Christmas tree, then you’re one lucky guy/gal to have been born at a time when there’s something such as the Christmas Tree projector. Made of plastic pipe with ends of thin plywood from which the Christmas tree figure is carved out, you can carry this baby anywhere with you. The gadget features three different color LEDs — green, white and red. The green stays on for the body of the tree while the white and red LEDs blink to provide verisimilitude to the illusion. With this, setting up a Christmas tree is as easy as setting the projector on a surface and enjoying the view. The best thing about the Christmas tree projector is you don’t have to worry a jot about cleaning up the decors and you can have your Christmas tree any time of year — how cool is that?
If you ever wondered how it’s like to be a highly affluent gadgeteer, then this post is for you. Apparently, there’s no room for minimalism for some — just take a look at these two gadgets.
First up, Sennheiser earphones. CystalRoc, a UK company, has teamed up with Sennheiser to glam up two of their headphone models — the CX300 and the HD25. The pieces are marketed and described as:
“fully functioning handcrafted work of art, developed with a technique which has been honed to absolute perfection and a quality of workmanship which ensures that every crystal is precisely positioned and in its own perfect space”
In short, it works just like normal, except with a gazillion of Swarovski crystals to blind our humble eyes. The bling-i-fied headphones come in Light Rose, Crystal AB and Light Sapphire. The model CX300 sells for $205 while the model HD25 sells for $620. A tad too much for headphones, even with Swarovski crystals. I’d rather take my headphones and bling-i-fy them on my own.
Next stop, a bling-i-fied Sony Playstation 2 controller. This one surpasses the prior because these aren’t just Swarovski crystals lining the controller up, these are real 68.32c (collectively) black diamonds. The body of the controller itself is made of 18k white gold which is, as we all know, more expensive than gold. Unfortunately for us geeks, these weren’t made to be used. This bling-i-fied PS2 controller pendant is actually meant to be a pendant. Granted, your neck is strong enough to carry the bling, otherwise you’re cursed to suffer stiff neck all day. And who wouldn’t? I bet a diamond-encrusted PS2 controller isn’t the lightest thing in the world — both on your neck and on your pocket. No price on this baby, but sure would love to have one — if and when I become a rich enough geek.
Source: Headphones via T3
PS2 controller via Gizmodo
When talking about cars, the first thing that comes to mind as far as fuel is concerned is gas or diesel. For some of the more ecologically-concerned citizens, there’s also electricity and even water. One of the lesser known diesel alternatives however, is air. Yep, AIR. The “air” that’s occupying space and everything in between. However, it’s not ambient air that the air cars are running on, but rather, a different kind of air — something like processed air would be more of a correct term.
I could only think of two types of people who can be interested in the timepiece we’re currently featuring — die-hard fans of Titanic, that ship touted as the unsinkable which sunk on its maiden voyage and die-hard fans of Titanic, the movie. So what do we have here? Why, the Titanic DNA watch, of course. The Titanic DNA watch is, apparently, made from parts of the sunken Titanic. Uhu. So a submarine braved the depths of the ocean to collect scrap metals from the deep blue seas to be made into a watch.
From deep waters, let’s shift to waters in your bathroom. Since it’s winter in many parts of the globe today, some people would, of course, taking a bath with warm water. If you’re the quintessential example of someone who doesn’t know how to properly gauge water temperature, these shower heads were made for you. These shower heads from KZLIDEA change color when the water reaches a certain threshold in temperature. Lukewarm water (32 degrees Celsius and below), get the normal white lighting. When the water becomes 33 to 41 degrees Celsius, the shower head turns blue. A warm 42 to 45 degrees Celsius gets a purple while anything above that understandably gets a red. Tweaking the cold/hot water knobs has never been as fun before. Just imagine having your own bathroom disco. As of now, there are no reports of where you can buy these shower heads and for how much. Too bad.
The time of traditional radio is really coming to an end unless the hardcore old-timers make their staunch stand in preserving old-school radio. Sony’s throwing in 
The Holidays are upon us and again we’re greeted with the sense of impending 
