Okay, let me just let this sink in for a few seconds…
Your very own uber-cool private two-seater sports submarine…
…that jumps out of the water like a submersible jet ski.
Um… I think I need some smelling salts. I’m so dizzy. Am I dreaming? Is this thing real?
Go to InneSpace.com and see for yourself. There’s even videos.
I think … I think I’m hyperventilating…
[thud]
Here’s a handy device from Blue Line Innovations called the PowerCost Monitor that monitors your electric costs as you’re using it, displaying in real time your ever escalating energy bill.
I see a bright side, and a dark side to this.
The bright side is you can see how much money you’re spending on energy as you use it. The dark side is that you can see how much money you’re spending on energy as you use it.
It’s a glass half-full or half-empty type thing.
The bright side is you can adjust your power usage as you see the dollar amount surging upward, and you’ll never be surprised by a big energy bill again. The dark side is you may be crying as you feel the money being ripped out of your wallet in real time, and may find yourself heating your apartment with a single light bulb, and eating more raw food as you hesitate to turn on that ghastly inefficient electric stove.
Either way, it’s a smart thing to have. The moment I move from an apartment and into a house, you can bet I’m getting one.
Billed as “the ultimate tool for monitoring Internet activity” this groovy spy gizmo called the SnoopStick appears to be the voyeur’s total schiznitz.
According to the company, Solid Oak Software, all you have to do is plug it into an Internet-connected computer. It takes 60 seconds or less to load its program, and then this program is tied specifically to that — and only that — SnoopStick. You then plug the SnoopStick into any other Internet connected computer, anywhere in the world, and monitor everything the original computer is doing, no matter who is logged onto it.
Just a guess, but they must be using a variant of WinVNC or similar remote control software. Regardless, tying it to a USB stick like this and marketing it as a tool for spying on your children and employees is pure genius. It’s a very clever idea and I’m sure the gizmo itself works great, and no doubt they’ll sell as many of these as they can manufacture.
But… should you use it?
NO.
Just like you shouldn’t be peeking into your best friend’s sister’s window with binoculars while she’s undressing. Rationalize it all you want, but it’s still wrong.
Oh great, they’ve gone and changed time again. Someone needs to take the flux capacitor and Mr. Fusion away from Congress!
Whether you like it or not, Daylight Saving Time now begins on March 11 and goes all the way through November 4th. Now there’s more of the year in DST than in standard time. Wouldn’t that make DST standard, now? And standard time will become known as Darkness Saving Time?
Confusing to us, yes, but it’s even more confusing to our gizmos with built-in computerized clocks. Automatic patching should take care of the PC’s and Macs, and your cell phone gets the time from your provider anyway. Usually, that is. But what about your PDA?
Well, you’re going to have to install a patch.
For Palm OS devices, your link is here: Palm Support Daylight Saving Time Update
For Microsoft Pocket PC devices, your link is here: Windows Mobile Updates for Daylight Saving Time
I’ve got one of each, so I’m going through it too. Simply follow their instructions and everything should be okay. But, as always, make sure you back up all the data from your PDA before you attempt this.
Happy time changing!
Sad news for owners of this genuinely groovy gizmo, the Coca-Cola ElectroPlasma Lamp: it’s been recalled.
What could be more perfect than a gas plasma lamp inside a Coke bottle? One that doesn’t have a metal cap. It seems this is a major design flaw, especially considering that metal conducts electricity. Hmmm… isn’t the whole point of encasing a plasma lamp inside glass to keep the electricity INSIDE?
Unfortunately people are being burned by electric arcs zapping curious fingers because of this lack of foresight.
Ouch. Burnt fingers. Lawsuits. Recall the product. Sadness. Especially for Emess Design Group of Ellwood City, PA
Personally, and I’m not suggesting any of you do this, but I’d just put it up where no one would be touching it, and simply keep the lamp. I mean, look at it. That is one cool lamp. And after the recall it’s also going to be one really rare lamp as well.
Again, I’m not suggesting anyone do this. No way, no how. Not me.
Being that I practically grew up on a boat, my heart skipped several beats when I saw this wonderfully bizarre craft: the Proteus, a “WAM-V” which stands for Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel. Looking like something right out of a science fiction movie, Marine Advanced Research, Inc. has developed what they tout as a completely new type of water vessel. That may be so, but I could swear … though I have no proof … that I had a toy that looked almost exactly like this back in the 1970’s.
New or not, it ranks high up on my neat-o-meter…
Now, is it me, or does the way the main arms come down to connect to the pontoons remind you of an automobile windshield wiper? That’s the whole point of this vessel, though. The pontoons inflate, are flexible, and adapt to the waves instead of forcing their way through them. The articulations of the arms facilitate this. WAM-V glides over the water, the pontoons snaking over the waves, zooming along at a good clip while barely making a wake.
The whole craft is modular, and can be made to take apart and fit into standard shipping containers. But also it boasts up to a 5000 mile range so you could conceivably fill it up with gas and just drive it across the ocean.
Another cool feature is that the modular back end can lift and lower to the surface between the pontoons. Which means you can drop a standard boat, or a scientific payload, or a pod of Navy Seals … or James Bond and his latest underwater car … with nary a splash. This makes the WAM-V attractive to both marine researchers and the military. Not to mention Hollywood, because the first thing I thought of was: Movie Prop!
I had two questions about the WAM-V, which Isabella Conti of Marine Advanced Research, Inc. was happy to answer:
GG: Are the inflatable pontoons bullet proof?
Isabella: Proteus’ pontoons are not bullet proof. However, they could be; there is bullet proof material currently available.
GG: What happens if the WAM-V capsizes? Would it continue to float (albeit upside-down)?
Isabella: We don’t believe that this type of craft would capsize. Catamarans capsize when the bow of one of the hulls “catches” under a wave while the rest of the boat continues to move forward. The submersed bow then becomes a “pivot” point that forces the craft to flip on itself. Inflatable pontoons do not “catch”. Have you ever tried to flip over a small inflatable dinghy? You have to literally lift it out of the water and it usually takes two people. WAM-Vs™ are ultralight so they tend to slide on the back of a wave, just like a small inflatable dinghy would. And yes, assuming that it would capsize in extreme circumstances, it would continue to float.
One thing I forgot to ask, but I’m still pondering … if they call a HUM-V a Hummer, would the WAM-V be a Wammer?
A project built by UC Berkeley students for class, this gizmo for folding and dispensing toilet paper is made of Legos and scrap metal.
Very clever! The most complex thing I ever built with Legos was a model space ship. Now all they need to do is add a little spray of air freshener at the end, and the project would be complete.
You just have to love innovation, though this is not something you’ll find hitting the mass market anytime soon.
Tired of having to get up to get a beer in the middle of an important sporting event on TV? Well, a very clever engineer named John W. Cornwell devised a refrigerator that brings it to you … via special air delivery, no less.
Inside, a can is brought up and out of the fridge by an elevator, where it’s then transferred into the business end of a catapult. The catapult swivels around and tosses with amazing accuracy to where ever you’ve aimed it.
Don’t take my word for it, watch the video.
This groovy piece of homemade hardware is controlled by a car’s remote. Pressing the “unlock” button starts the catapult and it spins around until you press unlock again. Press “lock” and the beer is in the air.
If you think about it, the gizmo not only makes it effortless to get a beer, it also limits how many you can have. When you’ve passed the point of drunkenness where you can no longer operate it properly, or lack the eye-hand coordination to catch the flying can, the beer hits you in the face, knocking you out, and thus preventing you from imbibing further.
The only thing I’d do differently is fill it with a different type of beer.
Now this is a groovy gizmo, though not one you’ll likely keep in your garage. Daredevil Yves Rossi has created a jet-powered set of wings that he straps to his back and uses to outrace airplanes. It’s quite a ways along it the development, as it actually flies (see the video on his website or on YouTube), but to take off he still has to jump out of an airplane.
While watching the video I found myself both envious of the way he flies around like a genuine superhero, and terrified that the video would end with a Steve Austin we-can-rebuild-you type of crash. How in the world, I wondered, is he going to land? Sliding on his knees? Ouch!
Never fear, he simply powers down and pops a parachute.
Sweet.
Okay, it’s the year 2007. Where’s my flying car? Where’s the instant matter transporter? Where’s my mail-order factory-created baby?
Um, never mind about the baby part, but I could really use the other two. My girlfriend lives 800 miles away. Instant transport would be handy!
This is the future, though. We’re living it. So, what do we have that was science fiction a mere 30 years ago? Well, for one thing, the Star Trek tricorder is a reality, as is their flip-open communicator. We have a space station, but not the large graceful toroid promised to us. And we have robotic servants and even maids, which are just in their infancy and not quite ready to take over the world. I mean, I don’t see anyone besides the household cat running in terror from an errant Roomba.
Reading science fiction to me is no longer as exciting as reading about real science. The breakthroughs being made today boggle my mind. The gadgets and gizmos being cranked out during the next 5-10 years … wow.
It’s a good time for us gadget freaks to be alive.
