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Loz Blain
Gizcast 5: Fine wine, robotics and three electric vehicles you can buy in 2010
By Loz Blain
08:59 June 26, 2009 PDT
We're on the bottle this week with a fine wine storage and dispensing solution, Noel rings in from his sick bed with some updates on the world of robotics, and we take a look at a car, a motorcycle and an aeroplane that will be electric or hybrid options for you in 2010 - and lots more. Features Loz Blain and Noel McKeegan. Click through to listen or download. Read More
VirtualHUD gives any propeller plane an affordable head-up display
By Loz Blain
02:25 June 25, 2009 PDT
Every now and then, we come across an idea so forehead-slappingly simple, so practical and logical that we have to ask: how come nobody thought of this before? When you have one of those moments, you know the inventor's onto a rip-snorter of a product - and so it is with the VirtualHUD, a super-bright projector that uses the back of a plane's propeller as a screen to create a full-color heads-up display. The system uses similar technology to the augmented reality systems The Mobiler covered recently to overlay instrumental data, as well as GPS points, 'highway in the sky' targets and visual representations of things like no-fly zones, over the pilot's actual view out the cockpit windscreen - all without obscuring natural vision through the propeller. Read More
Tito Lucas Scott treats us to another off-the-wall monowheeler: The OWheel
By Loz Blain
22:11 June 23, 2009 PDT
Brazillian Tito Lucas Ott, the (mad?) inventor behind the highly scary Wheelsurf monowheeler, has been in touch with us again about his newest project, which is no less bizarre. The OWheel operates somewhat like a Segway, but with the distinct advantage of looking like you're hoisting mad wheelies everywhere. To ride it, you stand on the footboards, lean back to engage the "training wheels" and then lean forward to start accelerating the electric drive to a max speed around 40kmh. The Owheel's first prototype is under construction and Tito's putting together big plans for manufacturing and global distribution - but it looks like it's got the same key issue as the Wheelsurf; Tito doesn't seem to believe in stopping very quickly. But he does have a serious ability to inspire the letters W, T and F. Read More
Road-legal Vmoto SCARTT bridges the gap between quad bike and SUV
By Loz Blain
19:07 June 23, 2009 PDT
Quad bikes offer big off-road thrills and go-anywhere versatility for cheap dollars, but they're not the safest things in the world to ride on the road. SUVs are popular for their comfort and safety on the highway, but most are pretty limited in their off-road abilities, and they're so expensive you're unlikely to feel too carefree about throwing them down a ravine trail. The Vmoto SCARTT sits somewhere in between; a little larger and wider than a quad bike, but with two seats, seatbelts, a roll cage and genuine roadgoing ability to match its featherlight, fishtailing offroad giggle factor. The manufacturer's hoping to sell these 500cc practical fun machines for around the quarter of the price of a typical SUV. Oh, and wait til you see the super-sexy hybrid-electric sportster version. Read More
Nitrogen-filled globes set to revolutionize access to fine wine
By Loz Blain
02:57 June 23, 2009 PDT
All wine tastes better once it's aged, right? Wrong. In fact, wine experts say around 90% of wines are released by the winemaker tasting as good as they're ever going to get - and after 6 months of sitting in a bottle, most are deteriorating noticeably. Now, that's a great excuse to fling open your cellar doors, warm up your corkscrew and start drinking - but it's also the key idea behind a new wine storage and dispensing system called N2Wine that could start a revolution in the wine service industry. By keeping each wine completely isolated from oxygen, and at its perfect serving temperature, these racks of "wine globes" allow restaurants to serve a broad selection of their best wines by the glass, confident that even after months or years, every drop will be as fresh as it was the moment the bottle was opened. But will the market accept such a radical departure from the traditional romance of a fine bottle, opened and poured at the table? Read More
Video: mechanical centaur legs let you walk like a horse
By Loz Blain
01:34 June 23, 2009 PDT
Ever wished you were a 7-foot tall semi-centaur with the body of a human and a horse's legs? Er, me neither. But there's plenty of people out there who do, and Seattle-based fantasy artist Kim Graham has come up with a killer Halloween costume that makes you 14 inches taller and gives you uncanny-looking equine legs and spring-loaded cloven hooves. The effect is quite amazing, and even a bit sexy - or, maybe that's just the admirably proportioned Ms. Graham; check out the video after the jump. A set of Digitigrade legs like these can be yours for under USD$1000. Read More
Gizcast 4: Mercedes reveals its ultra-safe car of the future
By Loz Blain
04:17 June 19, 2009 PDT
We've backed off on motorcycles after a bike-heavy podcast #3 - this week is a much broader podcast with some great stories from the automotive world, renewable energy, astronomy, mobile tech and even a piece of beachwear that can make you a bit of cash as you stroll by the seaside. Features Loz Blain and Noel McKeegan. Download or listen online. Read More
Husqvarna's electric Panthera Leo concept ride-on mower
By Loz Blain
16:17 June 18, 2009 PDT
Just when you thought that wildly overdone, highfalutin concept vehicles were the sole preserve of the automotive market, Husqvarna has dropped a lawnmowing bomb with its majestically named Panthera Leo concept ride-on mower. Using five inbuilt electric engines, it lets you quietly go about your lawn maintenance in the knowledge that you've brought a Gatling gun to a knife fight. Three individually suspended cutting heads can be spaced to your liking, there's an LCD dashboard with speed, cutting height, width and battery maintenance readouts and an object collision avoidance system - and it can rotate completely on the spot for total mowing precision. Read More
Mercedes-Benz's ESF2009 Experimental Safety Vehicle showcases safety systems of the future
By Loz Blain
00:26 June 18, 2009 PDT
When Mercedes-Benz produced its last safety demonstrator car back in 1974, it showcased exotic new technology like airbags, head restraints and seatbelt tensioners - things which have become almost ubiquitous on new cars 30 years down the track. So it's worth taking a good look at some of the wild and crazy innovations on Benz's ESF2009 Experimental Safety Vehicle if you want to see where Mercedes thinks road safety is going in the next few decades. How about high-beam multi-zone headlights that intelligently dip only the LEDs shining directly at oncoming cars? Or inflatable metal structures that pop up for extra strength in a crash? What about a huge inflatable braking airbag that pops out under the car to provide a massive high-traction contact patch and doubles your braking power in an imminent crash? Amazing stuff, and there's more. Read More
Mission One's Jeremy Cleland talks to Gizmag from the Isle of Man TTX electric motorcycle race
By Loz Blain
20:59 June 10, 2009 PDT
Entrants in the TTX Electric Superbike GP have laid some of their cards on the table at the Isle of Man - but according to Mission One's Jeremy Cleland, the first TTX practice session was all about safely making it around the track and recording battery capacity data - race pace, he says, will be significantly faster. We spoke to Cleland just before the second TTX practice session at the historic Isle of Man TT circuit - hear his thoughts on the Mission One bike, the TTX races, the future of electric racebikes and the challenges of racing in this new category in our exclusive audio interview after the jump. Read More
Gizcast 2: Leonard Grigoryan demonstrates the Stereo Acoustic Guitar
By Loz Blain
05:41 June 5, 2009 PDT
You'll want your headphones for this week's podcast - episode 2 looks at the Stereo Acoustic Guitar, our first ride of the TTX01 electric superbike, stem cell contact lenses that offer a cure for certain types of blindness, Microsoft's full-body motion capture controller system for the XBOX 360, and loads more. Features Loz Blain and Geoffrey Baird. Read More
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Leonard Grigoryan tests Paul Kinny's Stereo Acoustic Guitar
By Loz Blain
01:43 June 3, 2009 PDT
The regular acoustic guitar is such a familiar and effective shape that it's hard to get past the bizarre looks of Paul Kinny's 'Stereo Acoustic' guitar - but rest assured, it's built that way for a good reason. While standard acoustics have a sound hole that faces forward, projecting the sound to a listening audience, the Stereo Acoustic's two sound holes are pointed directly up at the player. That means that it's an instrument you play for yourself, sitting right inside the sound, enjoying a huge dynamic range and the natural stereo and chorus effects it produces. We took the opportunity to put these unique - and remarkably affordable - acoustics in the hands of classical guitar god Leonard Grigoryan for a video review. Then we locked Lenny in a cage of microphones to take some studio recordings and demonstrate the gorgeous sounds these oddball guitars can produce on tape. Read More
Gizcast 1: hi-capacity batteries, explosive smart guns and the Scuderi split-cycle engine
By Loz Blain
23:00 June 1, 2009 PDT
We're happy to present the first installment of Gizmag's Emerging Technology Podcast with Loz Blain - our weekly news wrap of the biggest, brightest (and sometimes weirdest) products, ideas and innovations from the wide world of emerging technology. Lead stories this episode include the STAIR high-capacity battery, the XM25 high explosive smart weapon, the Scuderi spit-cell air hybrid engine and Swinburne's supersized DVD technology. Download the full episode as m4a (contains chapters and images) or mp3. Read More
Foam-bodied Spira set to make a soft impact on deadly Asian roads
By Loz Blain
22:07 May 27, 2009 PDT
A good product must be perfectly adapted to its market - and the Spira looks like an excellent fit for the chaotic conditions of South-East Asian roads. This odd little three-wheel two-seater weighs only 300-odd pounds (130kg) - that's because it uses a super-lightweight reinforced foam for 90 percent of the bodywork. It gets well over 100mpg from its 110cc engine, it's light enough to lift by hand, and the foam shell has huge safety benefits, both for the occupants and for the legions of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists that swarm the roads of Thailand. Oh, and it floats. Read More
Hands-on: LG's BD370 Blu-ray player
By Loz Blain
01:12 May 27, 2009 PDT
LG clearly has a vision where home entertainment is going and it is pressing ahead into the connected TV world by making sure that even its affordable entry-level products are shipping with some very cool new features. We've just spent a week with the LG BD370 Blu-ray player, which features LAN and USB connectivity, YouTube video streaming, Netflix downloads and BD Live content downloads. It's a fair swag of add-ons for a simple Blu-ray player, but perhaps the BD370's greatest strength is how well it does the basics. Read More
Will the stars align for Scuderi's high-efficiency split-cycle engine?
By Loz Blain
01:00 May 25, 2009 PDT
For more than 100 years people have been trying to come up with an engine design to supercede Nicolaus Otto's four-stroke internal combustion motor. Scuderi is the latest to take a stab, recently unveiling a prototype of a split-cycle engine that relegates the "suck" and "squeeze" strokes to one cylinder, and the "bang" and "blow" strokes to another - for a claimed efficiency improvement of up to 50%, emission reductions of up to 80% and a power density improvement of up to 70%. Meanwhile, it's also able to store large amounts of compressed air, allowing it to run as an air/petrol hybrid when cruising. President Obama's new national efficiency standards represent an opportunity for groups like Scuderi to pitch clever clean engine technology to major manufacturers - but has the split cycle engine got what it takes? Read More
How to get rid of quizzes (and other crap) from your Facebook news feed
By Loz Blain
21:53 May 24, 2009 PDT
Most users have come to accept the new Twitter-style Facebook home page - but one thing continues to infuriate: all the annoying quiz and application updates in your news feed. But all is not lost if you are sick of learning "what Simpsons character" your friends are - here's a quick and easy way to make those annoying quizzes disappear from your news feed. Read More
BMW's 2010 S1000RR superbike - full details released
By Loz Blain
00:05 May 11, 2009 PDT
BMW's S1000RR 1000cc superbike might not be making big waves in World Superbike competition just yet, but today's release of photos, specifications and a hugely detailed press pack leaves us in no doubt that the new Beemer flagship will be an absolute monster on the road. A massive 193 horsepower is just the beginning - the S1000RR packs a combined ABS that's lighter and smarter than Honda's, variable intake tracts and exhaust butterflies that outdo the Yamaha and MV Agusta systems, a 4-mode variable engine mapping system that seems a lot better thought-out than Suzuki's, and a very clever traction control system that's integrated into the mind-boggling fly-by-wire engine management system in a way that seems much more logical than Ducati's. Brand new in every way, this purpose-built German superbike is set to hit showroom floors well before the end of the year. Read More
Sideways on a tilting 4-wheeler: the next generation of fun machines
By Loz Blain
05:13 May 7, 2009 PDT
If the fun we had aboard Piaggio's MP3 is any indication, motorcycles with more than two wheels have a big future ahead of them. The additional stability and traction you get from a tilting three-wheeler is quite an eye-opener, and they're still exceptionally fun to ride. If you want to take the concept one step further, though, an extra wheel at the back as well can actually make the entire bike narrower while delivering the sort of stability that can let you safely powerslide and drift all four wheels on an oily skidpan. Remember Yamaha's wild and wonderful Tesseract concept from 2007? The company is keen to get one into production, but as it turns out, Yamaha has run into trouble with patents held by an ex-courier and motorcycle safety advocate from the UK who has been working on a road-ready tilting 4-wheeler for more than 20 years. Read More
Entecho's Hoverpod: the 3-seat, skirt-steered, 75mph VTOL flying saucer
By Loz Blain
07:35 May 4, 2009 PDT
We continue to be optimistic about the future of personal flight - and from flying cars to coaxial flying platforms, ion-powered jetpacks and more recreational solutions, plenty of innovative designs are striving for viability. We haven't seen anything like this one before though - Entecho has come up with an operating prototype of a sort of cylindrical fan-forced flying saucer, steered by directing the downward airflow through a flexible skirt that allows easy directional control. The blades are not exposed and move reasonably slowly, it's stable in flight and the system is remarkably simple from a mechanical point of view. It's also quite simple to fly using a joystick controller. Totally VTOL and with a small footprint, perhaps the Entecho Hoverpod might deliver as a practical and affordable personal flight solution. Read More
Scarpar's 60kmh all-terrain twin-tracked Powerboard
By Loz Blain
17:02 April 26, 2009 PDT
It's rare that you see a whole new segment open up in personal mobility - and this one looks like an absolute cracker. The Scarpar Powerboard is an off-road powered skateboard capable of taking on pretty much any terrain other than water. An electric or 4-stroke petrol engine powers two articulated tank-style tracks up to a terrifying 60kmh, using a hand control for acceleration and braking. Mud, grass, sand, snow - the Scarpar is capable of driving over just about anything, including rock piles and even fallen logs. Calling venture capitalists - get this thing to market! Read More
Video: Standbike, the 140kmh, 250cc scooter you ride like a wakeboard
By Loz Blain
05:32 April 8, 2009 PDT
In today's peaceful, safe and buttoned-down Western world, people go to all sorts of lengths to get themselves the charge of adrenaline they crave so much - whether it's BASE jumping with a wingsuit instead of a parachute or strapping high-powered motors to things not normally associated with motors at all. We need to dice with death and danger, we say, in order to feel alive - and our creativity in coming up with new ways to scare and test ourselves is quite amazing. Take this odd contraption from Hungary - the Standbike SuperBikeBoard is a 250cc scooter with a custom-built rear section. It comes with a seat mounted on a pole, but that's entirely removable so you can take it to a tight track and ride it something like a motorized wakeboard, moving your body around the bike to balance, steer and stabilize it. You'd need thighs of steel to enjoy it for any length of time, because it looks like a very physical riding experience - and with a top speed over 140kmh, you'll want to keep your wits about you. Read More
Zero S - affordable, street-legal electric supermoto hits the freeways
By Loz Blain
02:19 April 8, 2009 PDT
Zero Motorcycles was a surprise hit in 2008, selling out its stock of 'X' battery-electric motocross bikes much faster than expected and proving in the process that customers are well and truly ready to slap down the dollars for a quality electric off-roader. Now the company has announced the Zero S - a street-legal electric supermotard capable of 60mph and with a 60-mile range off a full 4-hour battery charge. At under USD$10,000 - before you get your 10% Federal plug-in vehicle credit - the Zero S joins the Vectrix electric maxi-scooter in the list of truly practical electric bikes capable of freeway speeds. And with a power-to-weight ratio almost identical to Suzuki's DR-Z400SM, it should be a bag of laughs to ride. If consumers liked the X, we reckon they'll go crazy to be the first on the block to ride this street-legal, lean, green giggle machine. Read More
AA-12 combat shotgun
By Loz Blain
02:50 April 3, 2009 PDT
Assault rifles are all well and good, but when you really need to tear a person to pieces, nothing fills the air with metal quite like a combat shotgun. And for those times when a regular combat shotgun isn't generating enough flying body parts, connoisseurs turn to what must be the most outrageously devastating hand-held anti-personnel murder machine in existence: the Atchisson Assault Shotgun, or AA-12. Fully automatic and drum-fed, the AA-12 fires five 12-gauge shotgun shells per second, with extreme reliability and so little recoil that strong men can shoot it Arnie-style with one hand. And if that hail of hot buckshot isn't enough to make both shooter and target need a change of underpants, consider this: it has been developed in conjunction with the FRAG-12 - a new type of shotgun cartridge in which each round is a small, flighted high explosive or fragmentation grenade accurate up to 175 metres. Read More
LG's 2009 Audio/Visual range: connectivity, convergence and clean, clear interfaces
By Loz Blain
23:16 April 2, 2009 PDT
LG's latest Audio/Visual offerings are moving down the path of connectivity and convergence, and delivering some very nice user interfaces. LG's new "Technology Design Centre" made its debut at the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix on the weekend where the Korean company introduced its PS80 big-screen plasma "Time Machine" TV, with built-in hard drive and digital video recording, its YouTube-capable super-fast BD370 Blu-ray player, its HB954WA 1000w home theatre 5.1 system, tuned by Mark Levinson and featuring wireless rear speakers, and the LH50, an ultra-quick 200hz LED-backlit LCD TV that intelligently adjusts picture controls according to the ambient light conditions in the room. Read More
Freedom Glen
- November 25, 2009 @ 02:47 UTC
