Hasta La Gadget!

Need an excuse to get some cardio into your life? Can’t live without ye old internet? Thanks to Matt Grey and Tom Scott, the answer to your weight loss woes is pictured above. The aptly-titled Webcycle is essentially a sensor-laden fitness bike that requires users to pedal faster in order to snag more throughput. An Ubuntu-based laptop is wired up to an Arduino and an array of sensors that allow more bits and bytes to seep through based on how hard the rider is working. A simple slow pedal is all it takes to load mobile pages and text-heavy sites, but if you’re hoping to actually watch the video after the break, you’ll certainly need to kick things up a notch. Pure brilliance, we say.

[Thanks, Yoda]

Continue reading Webcycle provides pedal-powered internet, reason to dodge browser-enlarging Flash sites

Filed under: Laptops, Internet

Webcycle provides pedal-powered internet, reason to dodge browser-enlarging Flash sites originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Shweeb is a person-powered monorail. The theme-park ride is a combination of the most futuristic of transports and the oldest: pedal-power meets sky-train.

The Shweeb lives in the Agroventures Adventure Park, Rotorua, New Zealand, and is essentially a row of recumbent bikes inside a clear plastic bubble, suspended from a rail. The efficiency means that a team can run at around 40kph (25mph) without too much effort, and in fact the track record for one man is 36kph (22mph). Because of this speed, the capsules swing out around the corners and the result apparently gives you quite the rush.

The tech page on the ride’s site bangs on about the transportation of the future, but is is? the beauty of the bike is that you can go anywhere, when you like. A monorail, whether powered by oil, coal or legs, is still public transport and still tied to a track. Yes, it’s safer, it’s dry in the rain and it looks like a lot of fun, but the transport of the future is already here. It has two wheels, and it’s called a bike.

Product page [Shweeb via Oh Gizmo!]

Sure, Garmin’s zumo 660 was designed with the biker in mind, but BMW’s taking it one step further with the latest in its branded Motorrad series, the Navigator IV. Based on Garmin’s GPS ditty, it’s got the same 4.3-inch “glove friendly” touchscreen, voice control, and A2DP support. It can withstand heavy vibration, fuel sprays, UV rays, is waterproof and most importantly, can play your favorite adrenaline-pumping tunes for when those other precautions are being handily tested. Additionally, we’ve got a four-button motorcycle mount and it comes pre-loaded with a database of BMW dealers, just in case you ever need one in a jiff. Coming third quarter to US and Europe, there’s no word on price yet, but as a basis for comparison, the cost of the zumo 660 is about $700.

[Via NaviGadget]

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

BMW kicking Garmin’s zumo 660 up a notch with the Motorrad Navigator IV originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For bike enthusiasts, ain’t no mountain high enough and now ain’t no river wide enough. A Chinese man has created an amphibious bike that travels as well on land as it does on water.

A few large empty water bottles and a touch of madness is all it takes to do this mod. The bike uses eight gallon water bottles attached to a metal frame to keep it afloat. Paddles on the wheels allow it to be  maneuvered on water. On road, the water gallons are pulled up and it becomes just another bike zipping along.

The bike made by Li Weiguo was shown in the Hubei province in China. It cost around 20,000 yuan or $300o to develop, says Inhabitat.

While, for now,  it may be a novelty, Li Weiguo is seriously looking for a manufacturer for his invention. Any takers?

Check out more photos of the water bike

Photo: Floating Water Bike/

Schwinn’s Tailwind electric bike — which has been available for just a few months — has been sitting in our apartment since post CES, waiting for the New York weather to shape up enough for us to give it a fair spin. Well, it’s been beautiful recently, so the pedal-assist bike has been taken for several spins on our backyard BMX trail to see what kind of dust we could raise together. The bike is a retro, hulking, 58 pound package, with a Toshiba SCiB Quick Charge Plug n’ Drive (SCiB) battery saddled onto the back for about 30 miles of assistance. It’s an expensive (about $3,200) piece of eco-friendly transportation, to be sure. So the questions are thus: what do we think about Schwinn’s latest foray into commuter cycles? Just who is this bike for? Will we ever get used to carrying it up and down our apartment stairs? Join us on the road after the break.

Continue reading Schwinn Tailwind electric bike review

Filed under: Transportation

Schwinn Tailwind electric bike review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 May 2009 17:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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