Hasta La Gadget!

Just like that insane Fliz bicycle, the Treadmill Bike seems crazy and a bit impractical to me. It allows you to take your favorite gym workout outside, on your bike.


Yes, it is a treadmill on wheels. The video shows that it’s easy to use, a great workout and a safe way to get around. Basically the act of pedaling has been replaced by running. But why not just pick an activity? Either run or ride a bike, people. All your constant overachieving just makes the rest of us look bad.

However this looks like much more work than either exercise by itself, so the workout here may be better than just riding your bike. Just don’t expect to see these on the road anytime soon. The video was created a while ago, and this concept is just to draw your attention to bicycle design software called BikeCAD Pro.

[via Dvice]

This is one piece of ‘gum’ that’s going to be allowed in Singapore. As you might already know, the country is famous for its many rules to keep the country clean and orderly. The ‘no gum’ rule is just one of those, but the Chewing Gum Battery is exempt from that.

That’s because this concept isn’t really chewing gum. Each pack actually contains sticks of paper batteries that can give your devices a boost when it’s running low on power. The packs of batteries would actually be kept charged at solar-powered dispensing stations so you can just go and grab a couple of sticks when you need them.

It looks and sounds like an interesting and promising concept, but you have to wonder, if it’s even possible to make batteries this thin. One company already has developed Li-Po batteries as slim as 0.5mm so it might not be that far-fetched. The Chewing Gum Battery Concept was designed by Ping-Yi Li and is a 2012 iF Design Talents entry.

[via Yanko Design]

While most of us are looking forward to a wireless future, I think we can all make an exception for this new cable. Developed by the geniuses at LG Chem, this lithium ion battery is thin, flexible yet has “the same voltage and energy density” as smartphone batteries.

“Cable.” Huh. Is it also self-aware? Probably not, but here’s what we do know based on the research paper submitted by the scientists behind the battery. It uses a copper wire coated with a nickel-tin alloy as an anode and a cathode made of aluminum wire that’s been coated with lithium cobalt oxide.

Apparently LG Chem was able to power an iPod Shuffle for 10 hours using 25cm (about 9.8″) of their stringy power source. The company hopes to mass produce the batteries by 2017 (hopefully either in a thinner form or with a higher energy density). Someday our bracelets, watch straps, shoelaces and even our clothes could be batteries, and our mobile devices will come in other forms aside from black rectangular slabs.

[via ExtremeTech via Core77]

There’s not much you can do with paper after you’ve written (or printed) both sides of it. You could use it to wrap stuff up you intend to store or throw away, but that’s about it. But if the LiteOn pencil maker ever gets made, then you can actually use it to make pencils.

It’s a concept that winds up the otherwise useless paper so tight that it forms the body of a pencil. Just feed spare paper it into the machine, wait a while, and voila! You’ve got a brand-spankin’ new customized pencil, ready for you to use.

Of course, the lead will be brand new, but I think that’s a pretty easy material to source and feed into the machine. Though there’s no plan for how to add an eraser to the pencils it cranks out.

The LiteOn pencil maker was designed by Chengzhu Ruan, Yuanyuan Liu, Xinwei Yuan and Chao Chen, and is only a concept at this point.

[via Gadgetose via Dvice]

So you need to do some laundry and feel like getting some exercise in at the same time? Then what you need is the Hula Washer.

It’s a design concept by Sang-soon Lee
 that basically combines a washing machine and a hula hoop. Not a very compatible-sounding combination, is it? But somehow Lee managed to make it work.

Basically, the Hula Washer washes the dirty laundry that you’ve managed to stuff into the narrow hoop. The Washer then uses the energy you provide as you spin the hoop around your waist. It’s interesting in the sense that it combines two activities to help you make the most of your time.

But I see two main problems. The first one being the fact that you’ll probably only be able to fit socks and hand towels into that Washer. And second? It just isn’t very practical. Tthere’s no hula hoop dryer to go with it either.

Nonetheless, it’s interesting and happens to be a 2012 Electrolux Design Lab Entry.

[via Yanko Design]