Globalspec sends me news letter's and info on tons of new technology's, products, and anything new.
Emerson
28.2.09
27.2.09
Video Eyewear
Lumus, the Israeli company has developed 'designer' eyeglasses with proprietary optic lenses which promise to make the squint problems passe. Lightweight, fashionable, and offering a large see-through screen with high resolution in full color, Lumus is set to lead a new era in video viewing.
The Lumus stylish frames are attached to a miniature projector/LCD microdisplay on the side of each lense. THe display creates the image from a media source, reflects it, and transmits it to the optic lens where prisms and mirrors enlarge the image which the eye sees.
26.2.09
cornerframes
A new approach to picture frames could provide variety to your decorations. From ohmythatsawesome.com, Posted by Tom Stilsonwheel chair
This is kind of an interesting take on the wheel chair. for the person who needs the carbon fiber off road model with drum brakes
Kevin
http://medgadget.com/archives/2006/06/trekinetic_grou.html
21.2.09
19.2.09
Tasty Toaster Charger
Still only a concept design, the Toasty Charger by Hyun-A Ko would offer an all-in-one lithium battery charger for electronics. And it’s fun design would remedy that blight of a drawer that houses all of our tangled cords and bulky batteries.
cute~ caitlin
FUD
I hate going to bars with co-ed bathrooms, because as a guy I know there's going to be a line where there oughtn't be one.
In fairness to women, they have to undergo a much more complicated process than we guys do. And what about those times when there's no bathroom to be found? We males can go just about anywhere in a pinch.
Thus the arrival of a new product, GoGirl, "the feminine urination device that lets you go anywhere."
Simply put, GoGirl is the way to stand up to crowded, disgusting, distant or non-existent bathrooms. It's a female urination device (sometimes called a FUD) that allows you to pee while standing up. It's neat. It's discrete. It's hygienic.
In fairness to women, they have to undergo a much more complicated process than we guys do. And what about those times when there's no bathroom to be found? We males can go just about anywhere in a pinch.
Thus the arrival of a new product, GoGirl, "the feminine urination device that lets you go anywhere."
Simply put, GoGirl is the way to stand up to crowded, disgusting, distant or non-existent bathrooms. It's a female urination device (sometimes called a FUD) that allows you to pee while standing up. It's neat. It's discrete. It's hygienic.
hmmmm... some food for thought... caitlin
(and Branden thinks it's neeto!)
18.2.09
Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratories has stumbled upon a new embeddable nanosensor that could, at least in theory, eliminate those painful pricks endured today by so many diabetics. The so-called "injectable nanotech ink" could be inserted under the skin much like a tattoo, though Draper's Heather Clark notes that it "doesn't have to be a large, over-the-shoulder kind of tattoo." In fact, it can be as small as a few millimeters in size. Testing of the new approach is expected to begin very soon, though that usually means it won't be ready for humans until at least a few years later.
Dan Cushman
Source: Engadget
Zenvo ST1
Zenvo ST1
Danish company Zenvo Automotive has revealed its first hand-built creation, the ST1 supercar. Powered by a V8 engine - fitted with both a supercharger and turbo - producing 1104bhp and 1430Nm of torque, the ST1 measures 4665mm long, 2041mm wide, 1198mm tall, and has a wheelbase of 3055mm. It weighs in at 1376kg, thanks to a light steel frame structure clad with carbonfiber body panels.
Claimed to be the first Danish-designed supercar, the ST1's sharp aesthetic features a jagged shoulder and pronounced feature line leading to the rear air intake. Its aggressive DRG includes honeycomb inserts around the three-piece headlamps, grille aperture and fog lamps, as well as around the rear diffuser. This graphic is also repeated around the taillamps.
Inside, the ST1 features seating surfaces trimmed in leather and Alcantara and instruments with a head-up display and a G-force meter. Interior headroom is 1002mm, front seat legroom at 1104mm, and shoulder room at 1398mm. Options include a custom-colored leather interior and fitted luggage set.
Having spent the last four years developing the prototype, the company will build only 15 examples of the car, which will be sold to specially approved customers starting this year.
Danish company Zenvo Automotive has revealed its first hand-built creation, the ST1 supercar. Powered by a V8 engine - fitted with both a supercharger and turbo - producing 1104bhp and 1430Nm of torque, the ST1 measures 4665mm long, 2041mm wide, 1198mm tall, and has a wheelbase of 3055mm. It weighs in at 1376kg, thanks to a light steel frame structure clad with carbonfiber body panels.
Claimed to be the first Danish-designed supercar, the ST1's sharp aesthetic features a jagged shoulder and pronounced feature line leading to the rear air intake. Its aggressive DRG includes honeycomb inserts around the three-piece headlamps, grille aperture and fog lamps, as well as around the rear diffuser. This graphic is also repeated around the taillamps.
Inside, the ST1 features seating surfaces trimmed in leather and Alcantara and instruments with a head-up display and a G-force meter. Interior headroom is 1002mm, front seat legroom at 1104mm, and shoulder room at 1398mm. Options include a custom-colored leather interior and fitted luggage set.
Having spent the last four years developing the prototype, the company will build only 15 examples of the car, which will be sold to specially approved customers starting this year.
posted by: Ian S.
17.2.09
Tutorial: Rendering with Marker and Airmarker
Introduction
As a designer in the auto industry the majority of my time is spent creating and communicating innovative design ideas for the vehicles you might be driving in 3 to 5 years time. The spectrum of ideas ranges from the sculptural development of completely new exterior form languages through to technical solutions for cup holders.
Unlike engineering there are no set formula to solve any of these design conundrums; it simply comes down to creativity and problem solving. Most designers have their own sources of inspiration (architecture, computer games and nature to name a few) and will draw upon them to generate new design solutions, often ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Having settled on the most appropriate solution it is the designer's job to present the idea to management using simple sketches, colour renderings and digitally modified pictures.
The following step by step guide explains the basic marker technique I use to illustrate exterior design ideas, 'colour-by-numbers' for grown-ups really!
-Branden
Mark Randall Marker Rendering
This is a good marker rendering tutorial for automotive design.
By Mark Randall
-Branden
By Mark Randall
-Branden
Photovolaic breakthrough
The efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems could be (and have been improved in prototypes) by Unique three-dimensional solar cells that capture nearly all of the light that strikes them while reducing their size, weight and mechanical complexity.
The new 3D solar cells capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature "tower" structures that resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid. The cells could find near-term applications for powering spacecraft, and by enabling efficiency improvements in photovoltaic coating materials, could also change the way solar cells are designed for a broad range of applications.
"Our goal is to harvest every last photon that is available to our cells. "By capturing more of the light in our 3D structures, we can use much smaller photovoltaic arrays. On a satellite or other spacecraft, that would mean less weight and less space taken up with the PV system," said Jud Ready, a senior research engineer in the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).
The research has been sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Air Force Research Laboratory, NewCyte Inc., and Intellectual Property Partners, LLC. A global patent application has been filed for the technology.
Cross section image shows cadmium telluride coating
around a carbon nanotube nanotower
The GTRI photovoltaic cells trap light between their tower structures, which are about 100 microns tall, 40 microns by 40 microns square, 10 microns apart-and built from arrays containing millions of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes. Conventional flat solar cells reflect a significant portion of the light that strikes them, reducing the amount of energy they absorb.
The new cells remain efficient even when the sun is not directly overhead because the tower structures can trap and absorb light received from many different angles. The surface of the chip is basically rough like mountains. That could allow them to be used on spacecraft without the mechanical aiming systems that maintain a constant orientation to the sun, reducing weight and complexity - and improving reliability.
Ready noted, "the efficiency of our cells increases as the sunlight goes away from perpendicular, so we may not need mechanical arrays to rotate our cells."
The ability of the 3D cells to absorb virtually all of the light that strikes them could also enable improvements in the efficiency with which the cells convert the photons they absorb into electrical current.
The Seventh Grader
William Yuan, a seventh-grader from Portland, OR, developed a three-dimensional solar cell that absorbs UV as well as visible light. The combination of the two might greatly improve cell efficiency. William's project earned him a $25,000 scholarship and a trip to the Library of Congress to accept the award, which is usually given out for research at the graduate level.
William researched 3D solar cells for two years, as his own personal homework assignment. He borrowed research from Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and a nanotechnology lab at PSU and then enhanced, modified and improved the technology. It is unclear exactly how young William enhanced the 3d solar cell technology.
The 3D solar cell was invented several years ago at the Georgia Tech Research Institute by a team of world-class scientists and engineers.
The Georgia Tech Research Institute http://www.gtri.gatech.edu has been making 3D solar cell prototypes of this design since 2004. You can read about the work in our April 2007 news release http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/3d-solar.htm online at the GA tech Research News. Our work has patents pending in the US and abroad. We have also published our research widely in an number of highly regarded research journals including the Journal of Applied Physics, Journal of Materials and Carbon.
The 3D Solar Cell has the potential to be breakthrough in the solar industry. The global and exclusive license to the 3D Solar Cell intellectual property is held by IP2BIZ in Atlanta. The license is currently for sale to any firm that can further develop, manufacture and bring it to market.
"It is wonderful to see a student in the seventh grade like William taking a real interest in science and math." says a fellow researcher at the GA Tech lab. "We are also happy to hear of William’s interest in 3D solar cells." "We encourage him to contact the Georgia Tech Research Institute so he may be connected with our lead researcher (Dr. Jud Ready), who would love for him to visit our laboratories to see how we create our photovoltaic cells." "Who knows – maybe William can contribute to our groundbreaking work."
In conventional flat solar cells, the photovoltaic coatings must be thick enough to capture the photons, whose energy then liberates electrons from the photovoltaic materials to create electrical current. However, each mobile electron leaves behind a "hole" in the atomic matrix of the coating. The longer it takes electrons to exit the PV material, the more likely it is that they will recombine with a hole-reducing the electrical current.
Their coatings can be made thinner, because the 3D cells absorb more of the photons than conventional cells, allowing the electrons to exit more quickly, reducing the likelihood that recombination will take place. That boosts the "quantum efficiency" - the rate at which absorbed photons are converted to electrons - of the 3D cells.
Fabrication of the new 3d photovoltaic cell
Fabrication of the cells begins with a silicon wafer, which can also serve as the solar cell's bottom junction. The researchers first coat the wafer with a thin layer of iron using a photolithography process that can create a wide variety of patterns. The patterned wafer is then placed into a furnace heated to 780 degrees Celsius. Hydrocarbon gases are then flowed into furnace, where the carbon and hydrogen separate. In a process known as chemical vapor deposition, the carbon grows arrays of multi-walled carbon nanotubes atop the iron patterns.
Once the carbon nanotube towers have been grown, the researchers use a process known as molecular beam epitaxy to coat them with cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium sulfide (CdS) which serve as the p-type and n-type photovoltaic layers. Atop that, a thin coating of indium tin oxide, a clear conducting material, is added to serve as the cell's top electrode.
In the finished cells, the carbon nanotube arrays serve both as support for the 3D arrays and as a conductor connecting the photovoltaic materials to the silicon wafer.
space walk with photovoltaic panel array in the background
Commercial applications
The new cells face several hurdles before they can be commercially produced. Testing must verify their ability to survive launch and operation in space, for instance. And production techniques will have to be enlarged from the current two-inch laboratory prototypes.
"We have demonstrated that we can extract electrons using this approach," Ready said. "Now we need to get a good baseline to see where we compare to existing materials, how to optimize this and what's needed to advance this technology."
Intellectual Property Partners of Atlanta holds the rights to the 3D solar cell design and is looking for partners to commercialize the technology.
Another commercialization path is being followed by an Ohio company, NewCyte, which is partnering with GTRI to use the 3D approach for terrestrial solar cells. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has awarded the company a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant to develop the technology.
"NewCyte has patent pending, low cost technology for depositing semiconductor layers directly on individual fullerenes," explained Dennis J. Flood, NewCyte's president and CTO. "We are using our technology to grow the same semiconductor layers on the carbon nanotube towers that GTRI has already demonstrated. Our goal is to achieve performance and cost levels that will make solar cells using the GTRI 3D cell structure competitive in the broader terrestrial solar cell market."
Researchers in University of California, San Diego have been working on “hairy” solar cells. They discovered that growing nano-wires on photocells boost solar cell efficiency. Nanowires help to conduct electrons from collections surface to electrode.
-Branden
16.2.09
Honda legs
Emerson Archerwww.dailytorque.com/honda-walking-legs
Honda has developed an assisted walking device not only for people who have a hard time walking but also to assist factory workers in making there daily jobs easier, as it offers support while crouching down in awkward seating positions.
13.2.09
Design Boom sound innovation competition
Design Boom organized a national competition for designers to design new ways to listen to music. The entries that won are currently posted on the website and some of the designs are really cool. Super modern and simplistic, and very innovative.
I am going to try to attach a picture of a head set designed by someone from Portugal, we'll see if this works. If not for sure check out www.designboom.com
Rachel Kennedy
12.2.09
Mission One Electric Motorbike
Mission Motors has just unveiled its One electric motorbike that looks drop dead gorgeous, and is no slouch when it comes to performance either. It is capable of hitting a maximum speed of 150mph and has a range of 150 miles, which means you can probably take it out for a spin for an hour or so at top speed before running out of juice. The first 50 of these stunning machines will be delivered next year as a special Limited Edition model, retailing for $68,995 while a vanilla Mission One that is obviously more affordable will be released sometime this summer.
posted by: Barry Dunn
Sylvania ECOlight - Water Powered Shower Light
By Andrew Liszewski
I can think of only one time when I could have used an emergency backup light in my shower (during the great blackout of 2003) but an easy-to-read water temperature display? Now that’s a different story. The ECOlight from Sylvania can be easily installed an almost any existing showerhead, and features a bright LED light as well as an illuminated ring that will change color depending on the temperature of the water coming out. Blue indicates the water is less than 78 degrees Fahrenheit
, while red indicates it’s hotter than 105.8. But the best part is that both lights are powered by the flow of the water via some sort of generator inside, so no batteries or external power sources
are ever needed. Cool!
By Andrew Liszewski
I can think of only one time when I could have used an emergency backup light in my shower (during the great blackout of 2003) but an easy-to-read water temperature display? Now that’s a different story. The ECOlight from Sylvania can be easily installed an almost any existing showerhead, and features a bright LED light as well as an illuminated ring that will change color depending on the temperature of the water coming out. Blue indicates the water is less than 78 degrees Fahrenheit
, while red indicates it’s hotter than 105.8. But the best part is that both lights are powered by the flow of the water via some sort of generator inside, so no batteries or external power sources
are ever needed. Cool!
posted by: Barry Dunn
Folding Bicycle
One’ - Folding Bicycle by Thomas Owen
‘One’ provides a real solution to the problems involved with urban transport. With congestion rapidly clogging up the roads the need for products that can free individuals from their car are in real demand. When open, ‘One’ is a comfortable stylish bicycle that not only offers all the benefits of cycling (like cheap travel and exercise) but with its revolutionary power assist system the user can cruise around with ease. When folded, ‘One’ turns into a smooth, light and compact case free of all dirty and protruding parts. ‘One’ can be easily carried, stowed and stored. ‘One’ is truly a bike for eco and money minded individuals alike. Its stylish design strips it from the folding bike stigma and makes it a bike for the 21st century.
Designer: Thomas Owen
‘One’ provides a real solution to the problems involved with urban transport. With congestion rapidly clogging up the roads the need for products that can free individuals from their car are in real demand. When open, ‘One’ is a comfortable stylish bicycle that not only offers all the benefits of cycling (like cheap travel and exercise) but with its revolutionary power assist system the user can cruise around with ease. When folded, ‘One’ turns into a smooth, light and compact case free of all dirty and protruding parts. ‘One’ can be easily carried, stowed and stored. ‘One’ is truly a bike for eco and money minded individuals alike. Its stylish design strips it from the folding bike stigma and makes it a bike for the 21st century.
Designer: Thomas Owen
posted by:
Ian Swoboda
11.2.09
MIT Creates Energy Creating Shock
Undergrads at MIT have created a shock absorber that is capable of producing up to 1 KW of power. It has a small turbine inside that when fluid passes through, it generates enough energy that can actually replace an alternator, or power auxiliary devices. The added energy is said to provide up to 10 percent fuel efficiency, and if a company such as WalMart were to convert their entire fleet of trucks, it would save them roughly 13 million dollars in fuel.
Dan Cushman
Source: Gizmodo
Green buildings, the answer to global warming?
This building in Chile takes green design literally. The end result is beautiful, tasteful and practical.Tom Stilson
10.2.09
Do you feel like you can't do anyting right?
Have you tried? and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried? And tried again?
Here is a story of Nick. Hope he will give you a strength to try one more time.
by Ted Shin
Here is a story of Nick. Hope he will give you a strength to try one more time.
by Ted Shin
The design revolution of proaesthetics
The concept "immaculate" from Hans Alexander Huseklepp explores the idea of turning a handicap into a high-performance, cybernetic fashion statement. The neurological prosthetic is clad in technology-packed corian plates with dome-joints that offer a larger degree of freedom than that motherly-issued arm of yours.
from: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/10/immaculate-prosthetic-limb-concept-makes-combines-fun-again/
by: Ted Shin
9.2.09
Wear UR world -MIT
Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen.
***note: there is nothing wrong with your speaker, there is no sound for the most part of the movie.***
wired.com
posted by: Ted Shin
***note: there is nothing wrong with your speaker, there is no sound for the most part of the movie.***
wired.com
posted by: Ted Shin
5.2.09
PAPR respirator
Function/Applications
Powered Air Purifying Respirator with hard hat, bump cap, eye and face protection to Australian Standards.
The ultimate all particulate Respirator for:
• Quarries
• Open Cut mines
• Cement Manufactures
• Lime works
• Sand – minerals processing
• Sulfur, carbon, salt, other chemical/mineral mining/distribution
• Road construction and maintenance
• Rubbish Tips
• Underground mines
• Battery plants
• Pharmaceutical manufacture
• Food processing
• Ship, Rail, Coal loading
• Body removal
• Shot blasting
• High-pressure water cleaning
• Asbestos inspection, encapsulation and removal
• Power Stations
• Fertilizer manufacturing
• Farming crops
• Poultry industry
• Wheat Silos
• Cotton gins
• Fibre glassing
http://www.otbproducts.com.au/safety_products/powered_air_purifying_respirator.htm
Posted by Chris Collinson.
Heat It Up
Heat It Up
Portable beverage heaters aren’t anything new but the “Hottie” attempts to 1-up the competition by using silver as the conductive metal, with 3 modular containers to hold instant coffee, creme, and sugar. All this in one neat little package.
When not in use, the drinking cup hides the 3 containers on a heating base with retractable cord. When you’re ready for that morning joe, remove the containers, invert the cup and set it on the base. Mix your drink and plug it in. Within 2 minutes you’ve got your hot drink.
Designer: Arpan Maiti
Portable beverage heaters aren’t anything new but the “Hottie” attempts to 1-up the competition by using silver as the conductive metal, with 3 modular containers to hold instant coffee, creme, and sugar. All this in one neat little package.
When not in use, the drinking cup hides the 3 containers on a heating base with retractable cord. When you’re ready for that morning joe, remove the containers, invert the cup and set it on the base. Mix your drink and plug it in. Within 2 minutes you’ve got your hot drink.
Designer: Arpan Maiti
Posted by: Caitlin Kennedy
What Would Jesus Buy?
Monterrey, Mexico-based Ricardo Garza Marcos' Jesus Lamp is a "floor lamp ideally to be placed behind a chair or sofa. [It] gives a saint-like halo or aureole while it gives the perfect light for reading or working."
Only thing that concerns me is it seems a bit wobbly. I worry I'd accidentally knock it over, reflexively mutter "Goddammit" and be suddenly struck by lightning.Chris Van Dyken
Enduring design
“The 503CWD has been custom built around the classic 500 series camera with its range of high performance, central shutter based lenses. The addition of a high-end 16 megapixel back with a sensor that is 50% larger than full frame 35mm DSLRs - aesthetically integrated with the rest of the camera - turns this classic camera into a digital workhorse. Classic retro features round off the package.”
The Hasselblad 500 series of cameras have existed for over 50 years nearly unchanged, this is a result of utilizing high quality optics and interchangeable parts. You can still use the Carl Zeiss lenses produced in 1960 on the modern camera body.
The advent of the digital back has given photographers the ability to use 50 years worth of high quality camera equipment with the freedom a digital camera offers.
Kevin M. Cordner
4.2.09
BMW Builds a Shape-Shifting Car Out of Cloth
Concept cars give automotive designers a chance to let their imaginations run wild, often with outlandish results. But even by that measure, BMW has come up with something as strange as it is innovative -- a shape-shifting car covered with fabric.Instead of steel, aluminum or even carbon fiber, the GINA Light Visionary Model has a body of seamless fabric stretched over a movable metal frame that allows the driver to change its shape at will. The car -- which actually runs and drives -- is a styling design headed straight for the BMW Museum in Munich and so it will never see production, but building a practical car wasn't the point.
Chris Bangle, head of design for BMW, says GINA allowed his team to "challenge existing principles and conventional processes."
"It is in the nature of such visions that they do not necessarily claim to be suitable for series production," company officials said in unveiling the car Tuesday. "Rather, they are intended to steer creativity and research into new directions."
Giving Bangle and his team that latitude to design so radical a car "helps to tap into formerly inconceivable, innovative potential" to push the boundaries of appearance and materials as well as functions and the manufacturing process, BMW says.
Bangle and is team actually built GINA -- which stands for "Geometry and functions In 'N' Adaptions" -- six years ago, but BMW kept it under, er, wraps until Tuesday. It's built on the Z8 chassis and has a 4.4-liter V8 and six-speed automatic transmission. BMW says the fabric skin - polyurethane-coated Lycra - is resilient, durable and water resistant. It's stretched over an aluminum frame controlled by electric and hydraulic actuators that allow the owner to change the body shape. Want a big spoiler on the back? Wider fenders? No problem. "The drastic reinterpretation of familiar functionality and structure means that drivers have a completely new experience when they handle their car," BMW says.
GINA has just four panels - the front hood, two sides and the rear deck. The doors open in jack-knife fashion and are completely smooth when closed; access to the engine is through a slit in the hood. BMW says the shape of the body can be changed without slackening or damaging the fabric. The fabric is opaque translucent so the taillights shine through, and small motors pull the fabric back to reveal the headlights.
The interior is equally innovative. The steering wheel and gauges swing into place and the headrest rises from the seat once the driver is seated, making it easier to get in and out of the car.
BMW says GINA is built on a space frame that provides all the safety of a conventional car, but we suspect people - not to mention BMW's lawyers and government regulators - wouldn't embrace fabric bodies. Still, the company says GINA could influence the design of future Beemers.
Ian Swoboda
And you thought the bus couldn't get any more sh*ty
Oslo, Norway is putting your(well, their) poo to use. They plan on converting 80 public buses to run on biomethane, a byproduct of raw sewage, in a large step to become carbon neutral by 2050. The conversion is also said to aid in noise reduction and will save up to .40 Euros per liter of the fuel. The first buses will be arriving by September this year, with hope of all 400 buses to be converted thereafter.
Dan Cushman
Source: inhabitat.com
3.2.09
Greece is for Lovers: Hooker’s Delight
As spotted first at Today and Tomorrow ~ the Greece is for Lovers “Hooker’s Delight” is an interestingly misleading name (if your mind naturally leans that way) ~ for a fun martini glass design perfect for the fishermen in your life! Talking about living dangerously ~ you may hook yourself at any moment… or on the flip side, your olive can’t go far when its attached to the stem!
-BRANDEN FULTON
Chris Van Dyken
Logitech Harmony 1100 Advanced Universal Remote
By Andrew Liszewski
I’m still finding stuff from CES to write up, and one of the very first gadgets I had the chance to play with was the new Logitech Harmony 1100 universal remote. In fact, it turns out the person I was sitting next to on my flight to Vegas was the Logitech ‘demo guy’ for this product, so I had an ‘in’ even before the plane touched down. The Harmony 1100 is an upgrade to the 1000 model, and features a 3.5 inch color touch screen that’s complimented with a set of ’soft’ buttons on the sides, and dedicated volume and channel buttons to the right. Now these buttons technically duplicate functionality already found on the touch screen, but I like the fact that you can adjust the volume and change the channel without having to look away from the screen. Who knows when that crazy island from Lost might up and disappear again while you’re not paying attention?
And like with all the Logitech Harmony models, programming the 1100 to replace up to 15 different remotes is easy thanks to their guided online setup that currently supports more than 225,000 devices from over 5,000 brands. But if things get too complicated, the UI on the large touch screen can also be re-configured to show only the commands you want to see, even to the point of choosing a custom icon for each one. Now that large display does raise the issue of battery life, but the remote comes with a docking cradle, so whenever it’s not in use or lost, the battery should be recharging. (I think the Logitech rep suggested 3 or 4 days of use before it needed to be recharged.)
The Logitech Harmony 1100 is expected to be available in February for $499.99.
By Andrew Liszewski
I’m still finding stuff from CES to write up, and one of the very first gadgets I had the chance to play with was the new Logitech Harmony 1100 universal remote. In fact, it turns out the person I was sitting next to on my flight to Vegas was the Logitech ‘demo guy’ for this product, so I had an ‘in’ even before the plane touched down. The Harmony 1100 is an upgrade to the 1000 model, and features a 3.5 inch color touch screen that’s complimented with a set of ’soft’ buttons on the sides, and dedicated volume and channel buttons to the right. Now these buttons technically duplicate functionality already found on the touch screen, but I like the fact that you can adjust the volume and change the channel without having to look away from the screen. Who knows when that crazy island from Lost might up and disappear again while you’re not paying attention?
And like with all the Logitech Harmony models, programming the 1100 to replace up to 15 different remotes is easy thanks to their guided online setup that currently supports more than 225,000 devices from over 5,000 brands. But if things get too complicated, the UI on the large touch screen can also be re-configured to show only the commands you want to see, even to the point of choosing a custom icon for each one. Now that large display does raise the issue of battery life, but the remote comes with a docking cradle, so whenever it’s not in use or lost, the battery should be recharging. (I think the Logitech rep suggested 3 or 4 days of use before it needed to be recharged.)
The Logitech Harmony 1100 is expected to be available in February for $499.99.
The Key Thing Sure Beats A Boring Key Hook
The Key Thing Sure Beats A Boring Key Hook
By Luke Anderson
I’m sure that everyone has wasted a good portion of their lives trying to find their keys. They only seem to disappear when you’re running late. I recall that when I finally hung up a key hook by my door, I seemed to have a better time keeping track of them, though it took a while to get used to hanging them up every day. I think it would help if you had something a little more interesting than some plain hooks for your keys. Something like this Key Thing for instance. Rather than just tossing your keys on a small table or hanging them on a boring hook, you actually stick one of them into a small rubber grip on this half-sphere. Sure, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but it is a bit different. It’s just a concept for now, but it seems simple enough that it might just get made into a full-fledged product someday.
By Luke Anderson
I’m sure that everyone has wasted a good portion of their lives trying to find their keys. They only seem to disappear when you’re running late. I recall that when I finally hung up a key hook by my door, I seemed to have a better time keeping track of them, though it took a while to get used to hanging them up every day. I think it would help if you had something a little more interesting than some plain hooks for your keys. Something like this Key Thing for instance. Rather than just tossing your keys on a small table or hanging them on a boring hook, you actually stick one of them into a small rubber grip on this half-sphere. Sure, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but it is a bit different. It’s just a concept for now, but it seems simple enough that it might just get made into a full-fledged product someday.
2.2.09
Biomega shaft drive bike
This biomega bike (copen hagen model) boasts shaft drive and 8-speed in rear hub. Biomega also makes other shaft drives and inovative bikes. Tom Stilson
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