Hasta La Gadget!

When I was a kid, if you wanted to spruce up your bike, you just put a baseball card in the spokes. These days kids have all kinds of cool features on their bikes. Take the Phantom Frames kids’ bike. It is made from sturdy polycarbonate, which is cool, but the main feature here is the bike’s cool glowing effect.

This illumination is achieved through an array of LEDs set inside the bike’s translucent frame. It subtly stands out during the day time, and at night it gets all wild and crazy. The “pipeline” technology of the Phantom Frames bike allows the design to have working LEDs inside its frame, powered by AAA batteries.

There are two different versions of the frame: The smoked Ghost Frame and the Ice Frame which is completely clear.

You can help fund the Phantom Bike on Kickstarter now through 1/3/14. And check this out. You can get an entire bike with all the LED lighted frames with a pledge starting at $165. Before you get too excited though, the bike is just available in kids’ size.

[via Damn Geeky]

No, you’re not dreaming. The pavement is actually twinkling like the stars in the sky, and it’s all thanks to Starpath. It’s a spray-on paint that transforms regular pathways into glow-in-the-dark ones.

Aside from the novel aspect of it, Starpath might also some day serve as a low-cost alternate means for outdoor lighting.  Starpath can be sprayed onto a variety of surfaces, like concrete, tarmac, and wood. It absorbs UV energy during the day and releases this energy by “lighting up” at night.

The technology behind it was developed by UK-based company Pro-Teq Surfacing. Hamish Scott, owner of Pro-Teq, explains: “This product adjusts to the natural light, so if it is pitch black outside the luminous natural earth enhances, and if the sky is lighter, it won’t release as much luminosity. It adjusts accordingly, its almost like it has a mind of its own. Further, the surface is environmentally-friendly and aesthetically pleasing.”

Starpath is currently being tested on the footpath in Christ’s Pieces, which is a well-known park in Cambridge, England.

[via C|NET]

I’ve seen some offbeat projects turn up on Kickstarter over the years, but a project that’s there now called Glowing Plants is one of the strangest. You can probably figure out what the project is about simply from the name. The people behind the project want to create plants that glow to provide natural lighting with no electricity.

That sounds like something right out of Avatar. Exactly how the people are genetically creating glowing plants is rather difficult to describe. All you really need to know is that if you choose to back the project over on Kickstarter, you can get seeds to grow your own glowing plants.

The project was initially seeking to raise only $65,000(USD). With 28 days left to go, the project has blown through its goal, raising over $295,000 to date.

A pledge of $40 or more will get you your own package of glowing plant seeds. The specific plant is an Arabidopsis. A $150 pledge will land you an already growing plant. If at least $400,000 is raised, people who pledge $150 or more will get you a glowing rose as well. If you pledge $250 or more, you can get your own DIY kit allowing you to make any of your plants at home glow.

As the saying goes, it’s all in the timing. But look at it this way: Kobo could have announced its new line of devices the day after Amazon’s big reveal. Instead, the outfit’s looking to take some wind out of Amazon’s sails a few hours before its big event. And while the chances are extremely slim that the company will manage to undercut the looming Kindle news, there’s no question that it’s coming out of the gate swinging, with the announcement of not one, but three new readers: one glowing, one mini and one slathered in Ice Cream Sandwich. The mini and glowing Glo Comfortlight will arrive in October, with the Android-based Arc arriving in November. All told, they’ll range in price from $80 for the Kobo Mini to $250 for the top-end tablet. That’s the short version, but if you follow past the break we’ve got a full rundown of the specs, along with additional photos.

Continue reading Kobo announces three new readers: one glows, one’s small, one runs Ice Cream Sandwich

Filed under: Tablets

Kobo announces three new readers: one glows, one’s small, one runs Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 02:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments