When Cyclists Are Forced to Fly, There’s This Bicycle Luggage [Luggage]
Personally, I’m the caliber of cyclist that’s able to ride to wherever it is I happen to travel, including to Europe, but for those of you cut from lesser cloth there’s this bit of cleverly shaped luggage called AeroTech Evolution.
If the shape didn’t tip you off, let me explain: Like those golf bag-shaped monstrosities you see on airport luggage turnstiles from time-to-time, the AeroTech is shaped like a collapsed bike. Because it’s meant to transport bikes in airplanes.
There’s room for two detached tires/wheels and the frame, the pedals, and space for other cycling goodies. Just be sure you’re carting around one of those lightweight aluminum or carbon fiber bikes in this thing—steel frame Huffy’s need not apply. [Core77 via Likecool via Design Blog]
Ion propulsion engine could take you to Mars and back in 39 days
Ready for some interplanetary exploration? We’ve had the force shields, currency, and refuel stations all sorted out for a while, and now here come the ion thrusters we’ve been missing to make manned trips to Mars really viable. Currently, a return journey to Mars can take up to two years, with crew members having to wait a full year for the planets to realign, but with ion propulsion — which uses electricity to accelerate ions and produce small but longevous thrust — ships can get there and back within a reasonably tight 39-day window. Ion propulsion rocket engines were first deployed successfully by NASA in the Deep Space 1 probe in 1998, and the latest iteration’s successful Earth-bound testing has led to plans for a flight to the moon and use on the International Space Station as test scenarios for the technology. It’s all still very much in the early stages, of course, but should all that testing, checking, and refinement bear fruit, we might finally have a whole new world to colonize and sell sneakers on.
[Thanks, Davis]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Ion propulsion engine could take you to Mars and back in 39 days originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 20th, 2009
at 11:31am by Vladislav Savov
Topics: Engine, InternationalSpaceStation, InterplanetaryTravel, IonPropulsion, Mars, Nasa, RocketEngine, Space, Space Travel, SpaceExploration, SpaceTravel, Transport, Travel, astronauts, exploration, international space station, interplanetary, interplanetary travel, ion propulsion, rocket, rocket engine, rockets, space exploration
Intelligent speed bumps collapse to reward slow-pokes, cut down on emissions
There’s a saying that originated in the wild, wild west, and if our memory serves us correctly, it goes a little something like this: “If you can’t convince the cops to do their jobs, just install as many speed bumps as humanly possible.” Oddly enough, that very mantra has mirrored reality down in Mexico, with some 18,000 speed bumps established in central Mexico City alone. In an effort to cut down on pollutants emitted from legions of motorcars slowing and accelerating rapidly, Decano Industries is developing a “smart” version that collapses if your vehicle taps it gently enough. Granted, an actual speed sensor would be slightly more efficient, but we’re told that it reacts to the impact so quickly that it would seem as if you never even ran over the bump. As for speedsters? The bump would remain erect, increasing their road rage level ever higher. Still, the best advice on all of this comes from one Marielena Ramírez: “They should just get rid of speed bumps, not try to make them smarter.” ¡Viva la Revolucion!
[Via Autoblog, image courtesy of ScientificallyFormulated]
Filed under: Transportation
Intelligent speed bumps collapse to reward slow-pokes, cut down on emissions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 16th, 2009
at 10:52am by Darren Murph
Topics: Decano Industries, DecanoIndustries, Safety, Speed, SpeedBump, SpeedBumps, Transportation, Travel, global, mexico, prototype, speed bump, speed bumps, speeding
Laughably large Red Light Camera Detector proves that you should just drive safely
Just a hunch here, but we get the feeling that you’ve gone one step too far when you decide to install a red light camera detector in your vehicle that’s larger than a) your GPS unit and b) the bag phone you used between the years 1991 and 1994. For those bold enough to disagree, there’s the wild and wacky device pictured above, delivered to you by none other than Hammacher Schlemmer. Packing an internal database of 6,000 red light and speed cameras across the US and Canada, the GPS-enabled device also boasts a 1.6-inch OLED screen to show your position in relation to upcoming cameras, and of course it’ll belt out all sorts of warnings to help you avoid the inevitable. Of course, you could just follow the rules of the road, but then you’d have no excuse to burn $199.95 up front and $19.95 annually on this heap. Tough call, no?
[Via NaviGadget]
Filed under: Transportation
Laughably large Red Light Camera Detector proves that you should just drive safely originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 15th, 2009
at 3:38am by Darren Murph
Topics: Car, Database, Hammacher Schlemmer, HammacherSchlemmer, Red Light Camera Detector, RedLight, RedLightCamera, RedLightCameraDetector, Safety, Transportation, Travel, camera, highway, legal, red light, red light camera, ticket, traffic, whistler
Full body scanners at airports reveal your junk
Full-body scanners are being tested in a variety of airports. I didn’t get the pleasure of using one on my recent trip to Japan, unfortunately, so I can’t provide a first-hand account of what it’s like. I suspect it’s quite unremarkable to walk through one of these. That won’t stop people from being outraged over the fact that some TSA goon sitting in a sterile room somewhere where he can’t see the individual walking through the scanner gets to drool over grainy black-and-white images of everyone’s naughty bits!
The BBC brings word that the scanner is being tested in Manchester airport, and that reaction from the public is mixed, at best. Never mind the fact that the scanners allow travelers to pass through without removing their coats or shoes, dramatically speeding up a horribly inefficient process. The scanners show you naked!
But the full body scans will also show up breast enlargements, body piercings and a clear black-and-white outline of passengers’ genitals.
The spokespeople for the manufacturers and various security entities all assure us that the images cannot be stored. Yeah, right. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that a distressingly large number of human beings will do darn near anything to look at nekkid pictures of other human beings. I can envision a whole new fetish springing up around black market rips of security scanner images. Start registering domains now, gang!
The good news is that you can show your junk to the TSA goons up to five thousand times per year before you need to worry about the radiation you’re subjecting said junk to.
