Gadgets Palace

Free Spirit Wheelchair

Edwin — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:27:01 +0000

Marcus Cunnington relied on his illustrious background that includes experience as an aerospace technician to a stint in research and development on the Williams F1 team to come up with Free Spirit - touted to be the lightest manual rigid wheelchair in the world. Just how light is it? Well, it tips the scales at 6.3kg and features a carbon fiber composite design to achieve such a phenomenal weight. I suppose one can actually now lift wheelchairs when working out, replacing weights instead. The Free Spirit line is available via Marcus’ own company, Future Chairs, and customers will be able to choose from ’standard’ and ‘ergo’ models.

Some of the high performance characteristics include lightness, rigidity, durability, and shock absorption, all which are made possible via carbon composites as these can be varied through different fiber angles, different plies, different ply thicknesses, and different combinations of materials. To the layman, this means the final product can specifically be tailored to precise specifications, achieving a customized degree of stiffness where steel, aluminum or titanium cannot. The Free Spirit range features an impressive stiffness to weight ratio of composites, where the 6061 and 7000 series aluminum used in some wheelchairs is approximately one-third as heavy as steel, one-third as stiff, and, at best, has around 80% the strength as the 4130 steel used in wheelchairs. Titanium itself is around 66% the weight of steel, one-half as stiff, and approximately 60% as strong as steel. Carbon fiber composite, on the other hand, is no more than 25% the weight of steel while maintaining its stiffness and is nearly 400% stronger in tension. Just in case you aren’t too good with figures, those are impressive readouts and basically mean it oozes with quality.

Free Spirit wheelchairs are now available in the UK, and Marcus has plans to release it in Ireland, Spain and Canada later this year.

Source: Gizmag

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Inventor Demos Soft Pneumatic Exoskeleton, a Good Getaway Suit [Itp 2008]

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:45:00 +0000

newVideoPlayer("itp_exoskeleton_giz.flv", 494, 276,"");We caught a quick glimpse of the Soft Pneumatic Exoskeleton before, but here inventor Che-Wei Wang demonstrates it on himself, explaining how the system gives added power to limbs at key moments. He can power it with a mini scuba tank or one of those CO2 cartridge for pellet guns, but the usage is limited by the capacity of gas you can carry. Ideal scenarios he says include hard landings—dudes involved in "parkour" street jumping could use it to avoid ripping up their kneecaps. Wang says future applications include a memory mode, where a famous athlete wears it to capture some signature maneuver that some punkass non-athlete can then copy, just by donning the same model exoskeleton and jacking the software. How's that for Johnny Mnemonic meets The Matrix meets Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure? [CWWang.com; ITP 2008]

Outdoor Electric Fireplace With Speakers and MP3 Support Boggles the Mind [Outdoor Fireplace]

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:30:00 +0000

We enjoy electric fireplaces as much as the next guy due to their convenience and ability to not spurt fiery ashes onto your carpet, but having an outdoor one is very strange. It might just function decently on a patio or a deck as a centerpiece for your friends to gather around, which is probably why this one has concealed speakers and MP3 support. Plus, the included shrubbage goes pretty far in convincing guests that it's a real fireplace sitting out in the middle of your backyard. [AVING via Uber Gizmo]

High-Pressure Tooth Spray Cleans Teeth With Water, Not Bristles [Philips]

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Toothbrush-like contraptions that spray water into your teeth holes have been around for years, but Philips' new patent has several innovations that makes sure you don't blast your gums into submission. The spray head has probes that can detect how far away it is from your teeth, ensuring optimum distance.

Plus there's talk of having a light beam that reflects off your enamel to determine how clean your teeth are and when you need to move on. We'd take one of these if they integrated the water spray into one of their Sonicare brushes, which work fantastic already. Try and make enough money to pay back your student loans now, dentists! [New Scientist]

iPhone Tip: Put Club Cards On Your Phone As Pictures [IPhone Tip]

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:30:00 +0000

While this might not work for cards you have to slide through a magnetic reader, the idea is definitely sound. Just take pictures of your club cards (Costco, Safeway, Blockbuster), import them into your iPhone as an album, and trim down the number of cards you have to carry in your wallet. When you need to use a card, just whip out your phone and show it to the cashier, hoping that they don't get too uppity about your cleverness. If they do, just throw your phone at their head à la Naomi Campbell. ['t Is Goud via Lifehacker]

Finger Conditioning With Xtensor Improves Reaction Time

AndrewD — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:23:51 +0000

Every diehard gamer knows that reaction time is just about everything when it comes to fight-based computer games. As long as you a have sharp mind and fast moving digits, you’d figure everything would be working at top notch.

But sometimes, even the fastest thinking people have a problem coordinating their hands to move as fast as their mind, not to mention that over time, especially on all-night gaming sessions, your fingers and wrist are bound to get weak throughout the night, totally causing hell to your gaming skills.

If your fingers have a tough time keeping up with your mind, there’s only one way to solve this problem, and no, it is not to think slower. The Xtensor Geek Hand Exerciser is the only contraption on the market which is geared towards hand strength for gaming specifically in mind.

The Xtensor uses a repetitive flexing to stimulate muscles and tendons in the hands, wrists and elbows that have been virtually off limits while using other device. Xtensor is guaranteed to improve your reaction time vastly, while also building muscle strength to avoid those disastrous mid-game cramps.

If you’re tired of wasting time with sore fingers and aching wrists you can grab your own Xtensor from Think Geek for $39.99. The rest of your body might be in horrible shape, but at least your hands will be top-notch.

Product Page via Random Good Stuff

Like Coolest Gadgets, check out our sister site Coolest Reviews for unbiased and hands on tech reviews.

Full-Body Virtual Foosball Game Called Ukikit (Get It?) [Itp 2008]

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:15:00 +0000

newVideoPlayer("itp_ukikit_giz.flv", 494, 276,""); The Wii-volution is in full effect at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program—a perfect example is this physical virtual foosball game called Ukikit. You Velcro a pink strap to your foot, and an iSight camera tracks its movement while a sonar sensor tracks your proximity. The data translates into swivel kicks and side-to-side slides in (almost) realtime. I loved playing it with inventor Thomas Chan almost as much as I enjoyed the "Moving Parts" virtual pinball game, but as you can see in the video, both the system and I both need a little more practice before we're perfect. [Ukikit; ITP 2008]

Psystar Update: Automatic Updates Activated Plus New Quieter Case [Apple]

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Psystar, the company that's shipping hacked versions of OS X Leopard in off-the-shelf hardware, has just updated their product to address some of the main complaints in their recent reviews. The biggest change is that they're rigging up a custom version of Automatic Update (the thing that didn't work at all in their old version) to push "safe" updates from their site, not directly from Apple. That's because installing updates from Apple would possibly break their hacked version of Leopard, forcing all their customers to send back units for repair.

If you already purchased a machine, you can download an update to enable this. Second, they're shipping a newer case with a quieter fan. It doesn't seem like they've found a way to control fan speed yet, or they could have just seeded an update for that to people who are stuck with the louder, full speed one. Our recommendation is still a "don't buy" for these guys, partially for their lousy tech support, as well as for several other reasons.

Xbox 360 Slim Might Come in 2009? [Gaming]

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:48:00 +0000

TGDaily has a very interesting rumor about the Xbox 360 getting not just upgrade parts, but an entire redesign based on upcoming hardware. After the next 65nm chip upgrade, the next 45nm one won't just be a die shrink, but it'll be a complete redesign, integrating multiple components onto one chip (system-on-a-chip design).

By doing this, Microsoft can shrink the number of parts in their 360, leading to a possible slim version much like how the PS2 slim replaced the standard PS2 a few years ago. Or, they could use the chance to do a redesign of their hardware, making it less likely to red ring or fail. We'd prefer the latter. [TGDaily via 360 fanboy via Uber Gizmo]

On the other hand, 8bitjoystick has their own opinion on the matter, saying that there's no way Microsoft will do a redesigned 360 this generation. The reason that makes the most sense to us is their current accessory design. The face plates to the external hard drives to the wireless adapters are all made for the current 360, and it doesn't make sense to have accessories that don't match the new design. Plus, it's unlikely Microsoft would put out all new accessories for the new box either. [8bitjoystick]

The Top 5 Android Developer Challenge Round 1 Winners [Android]

Sean Fallon — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:30:00 +0000

Round 1 of the Android Developer Challenge has come to a close and 46 of the 50 winners have been made public (the remaining four opted not to disclose their work). For your convenience, we dug through the winners and picked five of the apps we think might be in the mix for that sweet $275,000 prize in the final round.

Android Scan discovers pricing and metadata for any product with a barcode. After a code is scanned automatically into the phone using the camera, you can get images of CDs, DVDs, or book covers along with detailed reviews on Amazon. It will also display a list of stores nearby that offer the product, links to online storefronts, online music sample tracks and local library searches. [Android Scan]

Breadcrumbz Allows users to navigate and record a route using images instead of a map. The goal is to develop a community around the app where users can share geo-content. [Breadcrumbz]

Pocket Journey "connects your location to the voices of a global community of artists, historians, architects, musicians, comedians, and others so you can quickly know everything about anywhere." The app will rely on a community to provide in-depth information about a particular area for tourists or locals looking to explore. [Pocket Journey]

GolfPlay may be more of a niche offering, but it is a big niche, and if you have ever played the game you know that any help you can get is more than welcome. The app is intended to offer golfers support for real-time necessities like GPS locations, game statistics, and weather information. [GolfPlay]

Commandro is an elaborate social networking app that allows users to communicate with a network of friends and coordinate and plan activities. [Commandro]

For the complete list, check out the following links: [Phandroid and Android Blog]