Outdoors

March 30, 2006 Altec Lansing announced the newest addition to its inMotion family of portable audio products earlier this week, calling the new iM9, “the SUV of portable iPod speakers.” Its hardy shell and backpack-style carrying case allow the iM9 to shrug off the bumps and bruises of an active lifestyle. And, while the iM9 was designed to act as a rugged companion, it also was engineered to deliver a more powerful, richer sound experience in any environment.  Read More

March 12, 2006 “Mr. Bond, this jacket takes some beating! Its wearer can be tracked down in real time using the high-precision GPS (Global Positioning System) - even inside buildings.” It’s easy to picture Q helping 007 slip on the jacket but in fact it’s not a work of fiction but a new product developed by German company GPSoverIP GmbH and partner Interactive Wear AG. At CeBIT this week, the companies took the wraps off the new jacket to prove that fashionable textiles and state-of-the-art electronics go hand in hand. The jacket is a concept at this stage, and the real gem at the GPSoverIP stand is a new position-finding technology, particularly for vehicle position-finding, in the shape of a GPSoverIP (Global Positioning System over Internet Protocol) web service. This innovative solution any number of moveable or moving objects (even in buildings) worldwide every second and at a very low fixed price.  Read More

March 7, 2006 The Dixie Chopper Xtreme is the world’s fastest lawnmower. It has a 990cc 33-hp engine with the capability to mow grass at 15mph. Given it can take either a 60 or 72 inch cut, that’s a lawnmower capable of mowing a football field in under ten minutes or turn 8.7 acres of grass into lawn every hour all day. Each year in the United States, there are nearly two million ride-on lawnmowers sold, and in recent years the ride-on mower market has shifted from primarily professional turf care to now more than 60% consumer. At the outer edge of the professional market though, sits the US$10,000 Dixie Chopper Xtreme and the reputation it is building is enabling the company to sell high spec lawnmowers to consumers with lots of lawn.  Read More

February 23, 2006 So you’ve got your new HP iPaq 6500 and it’s just the cutest, most innovative piece of convergent technology you’ve ever set eyes on - a phone, PDA, camera and GPS all-in-one and there’s just one problem – you’re either a klutz or you work in a hostile environment and the iPaq’s realistic life expectancy should be measured in days rather than years. Now there’s a casing that can keep your iPaq 6500 alive – indeed, Otterbox specialises in making ruggedised casings for a range of high-tech items, including models designed to look after the full range of Apple iPods, most laptops and handhelds and a selection of speciality items such as Fujitsu’s Stylus Tablet, a Zippo lighter, a handheld GPS and a CigarCaddy to keep between 2 and 15 cigars safe. While most OtterBox products are general purpose, the US$130 OtterBox 1910 is purpose built for the HP 6500 and provides access to all major functions on the 6500 including sync/charge, SD Slot, headset jack, and keypad. A clear window on the back allows use of the 6500's camera and flash through the case, taking crisp photos even in the rain! The 6500's keypad also remains operable with direct push activation through the 1910 and an external stylus holder adds convenience.  Read More

February 22, 2006 UK-Based Maplin Electronics has launched an inventive new range of clothing which has its own in-built central heating system. Believed to be the first of its kind to launch in the UK, Maplin Electronics’ new range includes a body warmer (priced at UKP40) and gloves (UKP20). Both have been designed with new fabric technology that effectively sees heating wire cleverly woven seamlessly into the garments. The battery operated body warmer and water resistant gloves are designed to heat up to a cosy 40 degrees in just five minutes, banishing the cold quickly. Designed with adventurous in mind, the zipper on the body warmer also doubles as a compass device to ensure that you’ll never get lost or cold when you’re out trekking, snowboarding or climbing this season. The jacket and gloves run on standard 6AA batteries and there is no temperature control.  Read More

February 15, 2006 Royal Philips Electronics is a name involved in many technological endeavours, not the least of which is lighting. The company is responsible for some of the most prestigious and demanding lighting projects on the planet, including the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis, London's Big Ben and the project to give Louis XIV’s magnificent Chateau of Versailles its first-ever permanent night-time illumination. Now the company has constructed a new facility at its Outdoor Lighting Application Center (OLAC), near Lyon, France - a unique full-scale city environment, created so designers, architects and city officials can experience how light can be used to improve the quality of urban life. In line with Philips’ innovation in solid-state lighting, it particularly showcases new technologies such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and how they can transform city identities.  Read More

February 3, 2006 Nielsen Kellerman is a technology company that focuses on providing critical information to athletes, but almost as a by-product, has created machines which are now used in hundreds of non-athletic pursuits. The idea for the company’s first product came 30 years ago when Richard Kellerman watched a rowing crew hit a bridge during a regatta because the coxswain was overwhelmed. The amplifier/stroke meter/timer device he visualised that day to simplify the coxswain’s job, subsequently created the company and has spawned many devices now used by rowing crews around the world. Virtually every shell at the 2000 Sydney Olympic games carried NK equipment and continues to evolve, with the upcoming launch of the Speedcoach XL, an in-boat performance monitor that wirelessly transmits individual crew heart rates, speed/split, stroke rate, etcetera to a coaching launch. A decade ago, the company developed a new wind and weather instrument, called the Kestrel Pocket Wind Meter. The product developed into a range, where the flagship product is now the Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker which reads, logs and charts Barometric Pressure, Altitude, Density Altitude, Temperature, Humidity, Wind Speed, Wind Chill, Dew Point, Wet Bulb, and Heat Index... in one pocket-sized US$329 instrument. It should be no surprise that the 4000 is being used by the military, firefighters, adventurers, scientists and the 2006 U.S. Biathlon Team will use it to gain a competitive advantage in this year's Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.  Read More

January 31, 2006 GarageWorks has unveiled a concept tailgating appliance that bundles everything you need for the ultimate outdoor get-together into a self-contained, portable unit. The GaterPak station houses an assortment of appliances and electronics in a weatherproof cabinet which attaches to a trailer hitch for easy transport to the big game. When unhitched, the unit becomes a piece of useful furniture. We forsee a significant worldwide market for this product beyond the United States where the practice of tailgating is a common – in other parts of the world, this would be the ideal mobile barbeque and picnic accessory. See inside for detail images and movie.  Read More

December 27, 2005 When George Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in 1949, he wrote of a world where humanity’s every movement was monitored by Big Brother – recent developments in the UK suggest his landmark work may prove chillingly prophetic. Two recently syndicated articles by journalist Steve Connor serve to highlight just how far the British Government has progressed in its quest to monitor the movements of its citizens. The articles entitled Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey and Surveillance UK: why this revolution is only the start begin by detailing the UK Government’s plans for a network of tens of thousands of cameras that automatically read the number plate of every car passing them, hence constructing a massive database of every vehicle’s movements so police can analyse any journey a driver has made in the previous five years – computers capable of adding together thousands of exact times and locations of a vehicle every time it takes to the roads. Within three months, the computers will be storing 35 million number-plate reads per day and the plan calls for the network to be massively increased in the number of data collection points, with service stations, local traffic authority cameras and supermarket carparks to be added. The second article suggests the scheme will inevitably be broadened to incorporate facial recognition and a much greater number of data points. Of course if you never do anything wrong, you won't have anything to worry about - but if the authorities should ever get on your case, with tens of thousands of data points, you might end up with a few million pounds worth of speeding fines - just for a start!  Read More