Archive for March, 2008

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Hummer H3 built out of losing lottery tickets

Monday, March 31st, 2008

What would you do with a lot of losing lottery tickets? Probably throw them away. But not if you’re an artist…

Lottery Hummer H3

Brooklyn-based artists Adam Eckstrom and Lauren Was collected $35,000 such tickets and built a car. And not a Smart or a Mini – it is a Hummer H3.

Beside looking very cool, the piece, called “Ghost of a Dream,” also has a message behind it. Was and Ecktrom came up with the idea when they realized that most people think of buying a car when they dream about winning the lottery – hence the name of the project. They also wanted for the paper Hummer to contain the value of a real working Hummer, and they succedeed.

See after the jump for more pictures.
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Posted in Auto, Car, DIY | 12 Comments »

Do you need speakers for your bike? Check out the View Gate VMP-300

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Speakers on a motocycle don’t make much sense… But perhaps you want to listen to music while standing still. If you feel this is the accessory your bike was missing, check out the View Gate VMP-300 Motorbike Speakers. They have a 25W output, have built-in 15W amplifiers and are powered by 12V DC. They come a handy attachment kit for quick mounting and they’re 81×90×101 mm in size.

view_gate_speakers.jpg

They can be connected to any music player with a standard connection – but it would have to be pretty sturdy to stand the bike trip. They are available for about $100.

via.

Posted in Accesories, Moto, Sound | No Comments »

Virginia Tech students develop new system of braking lights; actually not that new

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Businessman Meade Gwinn had an idea when involved in a chain accident: braking lights that show the drivers how fast you’re hitting the brakes. Together with students in Professor Mehdi Ahmadian’s mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, he developed a new system of braking lights. The system features an array of LEDs that glow according to the action of the driver: lights in the center glow orange when hestart to slow, side lights turn red after a threshold, and all the lights go red if hitting the brakes.

smart_brake_light.jpg

It looks like Gwinn should’ve been driving a BMW: a similar system, called Adaptive Brake Lights, has already been implemented by the German company. In this case, the brake lights emit a larger, brighter light the more force the driver uses, but the system only works in two phases, as opposed to the three designed by the students.

via.

Posted in Auto, Car | No Comments »

Smartlets: the future way of charging your EV?

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

One of the biggest questions concerning plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is “Where will we charge them?”. A personal charger is one solution, but it limits range and requires the driver to have a garage or a driveway.

smartlet.jpg

A California company called Coulomb Technologies says Smartlets is the future solution for this problem. According to Automotive News, Coulomb CEO Richard Lowenthal thinks that Smarlets could be placed in areas where people usually park their cars, making it more convenient to charge them while they go about their business.

Details about the technology are not yet known, but they will probably be announced at the Plug-In Car Show in San Jose, California, in July.

Posted in Auto, Car, Services | No Comments »

Wearable airbag to make biking safer

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Some might say that the danger is part of the appeal of motorcycle races, but protective bike clothing manufacturer Dainese has been thinking about a novel way of improving the safety of bikers for close to 10 years. The result of that research is the D-Air, which is basically an airbag for the drivers. The system was first tested during a Grand Prix race in Valencia by Marco Simoncelli (250 cc division), Simone Grotzky, and Michi Ranseder (125 cc division) and it was a success.

Although you won’t be able to buy the product until 2010, you can watch it in action right now, after the break.
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Posted in Moto | No Comments »

World’s smallest solar powered car – fun demonstration of alternative energy

Monday, March 24th, 2008

Mini Solar Powered Car.jpgSome consider solar power the future of electricity, but there are still many issues to be addressed before it can be used on a large scale. So… companies are using it on a smaller scale. Very small, in this case.

Dubbed the world’s smallest solar powered car, this toy measures just 3.3 x 2.2 x 1.4 cm and is completely solar powered (that means no batteries whatsoever). The solar panel on top converts sun rays into electricity, powering the motor. It also works if placed under a strong artificial light source – but it’s more fun if it works on actual solar power, really.

It doesn’t do anything much, but it’s an interesting demonstration of the uses of solar energy, something to keep us entertained until full-size solar powered automobiles are in everyone’s garage.

One more photo after the jump, with the car held in someone’s hand, just so you see exactly how tiny it is.
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Posted in Auto, Car, Gadgets, Toys | 1 Comment »

1967 Tote-Gote turned into steampunk electric motorcyle

Friday, March 21st, 2008

This impressive motorcycle is the work of Tom Sepe, who converted a 1967 Tote-Gote, one of the first off road motorcycles, into an electric steampunk work of art.

steampunk_motorcycle.jpg

The motorcyle was fitted with a 15 hp motor, the kind used in electric motorcycle racing, and a steam boiler made from a fire extinguisher tank. The boiler isn’t connected to the wheels however, and it’s only used for visual steam effects. Says Sepe: “But on the other hand, if I crank it up really high, then you get flames shooting out the back of the bike. Which is cool.”

After the jump, a movie of the motorcycle in action. For more details and photos, check out this interview with Tom Sepe.

via.

Posted in DIY, Moto, Tuning | No Comments »

Bluetouch = Bluetooth + touchscreen (hands free, only not really)

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

BluetouchWhat most people expect from a Bluetooth car accesory is being able to use their phone without touching it. The Bluetouch does things a little differently: it lets drivers use a large touchscreen to control their mobile phones.

It has both phone and music functions, supporting a range of players and phones (you can check here to see if yours is on the list; and yes, it works with an iPhone) and offering support for English, French and German.

While a touchscreen seems to defeat the purpose of a Bluetooth device (you want it because you can’t look at your phone, right?), it looks like that on-screen buttons are larger and easier to use than those on a normal phone, so it might prove itself useful. At least you can use it easier than a phone while waiting at a red light.

via.

Posted in Accesories, Auto, Car, Hands Free, Mobile Phones | No Comments »

African toy cars and motorcycles

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

These ingenious toy cars and motorcycles come from several parts of Africa, and they are only made from scrap metal, tins, wire and pieces of leather. Nothing much to say, so we’ll leave you with some photos.


The wheels are made from spray cans. Made in Ghana.


Wire motorcycle from Kenya.


Tin cars from Ghana.

You can see more on the AfriGadget blog or in the AfriGadget Flickr pool.

Posted in Auto, Car, DIY, Moto | No Comments »

CallMe Prism-i LCD Display serves unknown purpose

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

A Korean online store is selling a peculiar device. The CallMe Prism-i LCD Display is apparently meant to attach to your rear window, letting the other drivers know what your phone number is.

prism-i.jpg

The question on everybody’s lips is: Why? In case you step on the breaks too hard and the car behind you crashes you, so the driver can track you down if you try to run? In case a woman driver is so smitten by your good looks that she wants to take you out?

Perhaps someone who knows Korean can enlighten us.

via.

Posted in Auto, Car, Displays | No Comments »

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