The eROCKIT (hybrid bicycle)

Cyclist-enthusiast Stefan Gulas invented the man-power hybrid motorcycle eROCKIT, which combines the sport of motorcycle and ecological benefits of a bicycle. The bicycle-motorcycle is able to travel at a speed of 80 km/h. The cost of a hybrid motorcycle is approximately 25 thousand euros.

The eROCKIT in motion

Apparently to keep the power on the person riding the has to keep turning the pedals. The bike multiplies the the human power by about to a factor of 50. (A top cyclist produces 1/4 horse power and the eROCKIT can produce up to 12 hp)

[HowStuffWorks, Funfuse, eROCKIT]

Recently been experimenting with Quartz Composer (See the picture next door. All visual code design using easy block and spaghetti lines to join the blocks. Easy and simple and you can make some pretty interesting things. The only drawback I found was that I needed a lot a clicking to get things done. Perhaps learning some keyboard shorcuts of by heart will do good . Anyway you can see a screenshot of a screensaver using the iSight camera below. (Try it on your own PC using this download)

Note: These are Screensavers (Mac OS X – Tiger and Leopard)
-> Place Quartz Composer´s .qtz files into your “…/Library/Screen Savers/”-folder and configure with your SystemPrefs-Pane.

(Yes, some of you will have to create a new „Screen Saver” – Folder; e.g. if you, or your user, haven’t had any screensavers installed before). [via antenna-flog]

(See also the Isight Prank)

This is an example of Quake III being played on the Ipod Touch. Pretty wicked if you ask me. Will online gaming soon be part of everyday street life? Sounds good!

[via Hermit Works]

Thirty years after the movie thriller ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ hit the silver screen “sQuba” is the first car that can actually ‘fly’ under water.

“Dive it again, James!”  If the situation gets too hot for the secret agent he’ll go underground – or under water. So demonstrated impressively by Roger Moore in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me” in 1977 when he dove below the waves in a sleek vehicle that moments before seemed to be an ordinary car. The only problem: The scene never really took place; it was an animation.

With the “sQuba,” the world’s first real submersible car, the movie fake now becomes reality for visitors of the Geneva Motor Show (March 6th – 16th, 2008). Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht (52) is known for his extraordinary automotive creations. The acknowledged James Bond enthusiast and Swiss automobile visionary kept revisiting this scene in his mind over and over: “For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water. Now we have made this dream come true.”

And it is this submerged stabile flight at a depth of 10 meters that sets the “sQuba” apart from military vehicles. While the latter can go under water, they are limited to driving slowly over the submerged ground. Rinderknecht: “It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water. The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water.”

[Read more ...]

A stroll around the park may soon be enough to charge the raft of batteries needed in today’s power-hungry gadgets.read more | digg story

Inspired by the gecko feet, University of California, Berkeley have created a new kind of tape.

Conventional adhesive tape sticks when pressed on a surface. A new gecko-inspired synthetic adhesive (GSA) does not stick when it is pressed into a surface, but instead sticks when it slides on the surface. A similar directional adhesion effect allows real geckos to run up walls while rapidly attaching and detaching toes. The gecko-inspired adhesive uses hard plastic microfibers. The plastic is not itself sticky, but the millions of microscopic contacts work together to adhere. The number of contacts automatically increases to handle higher loads. A feature of the hard plastic gecko-inspired adhesive is that no residue is left on surfaces as is left by conventional adhesive tapes.

[Read more ...]

The above video shows a spanish show where the hosts show how to walk on water..

Easy does it… Just add some maizena (cornstarch)
CarlosCardoso, Actueel

Johnny Chung Lee, a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, shows in this movie how to create a head tracking device using the Nintendo Wii controller and sensor. The result is a very unique and realistic three-dimensional view of the world. Pretty impressive.

The next example shows how to use the Wii remote to make a cheap white board display, or even a multi touch display on an ordinary laptop… Great job!

For more examples visit Johnny Lee’s site 

Andrew Fentem has designed an electronic version of the Rubiks Cube using LED lights and a touch screen interface. Although it doesnt look as sturdy as the original Rubiks cube, the Fentix Cube does give a look into the future of games as electronics and mechanics start to converge… 

Also check out the ULTRA-FAST VIRTUAL AIR-HOCKEY on the inventors home page here. Looks excellent..

Recent: Solve the Rubiks cube in 26 moves..