Hasta La Gadget!

I’ve seen images of a hotel made up of shipping containers, and modern architects using them, but this is the first time I’ve seen one used as a sauna. There are plenty of these old containers around and I bet that you can have them for cheap, if you want to use one of these as a basis for some construction.

The Canadian design studio Castor Canadensis have developed the Sauna Box, which re-envisions a common shipping container. Their sauna design is quite luxurious, and it was created as a traditional wood-burning steam. It’s water-tight, and can moved to any location as it needs little site preparation. It’s powered by wood fire and some solar panels.

Each $41,000 unit is custom-built with an outer skin fabricated from COR-TEN steel. The Sauna Box comes with an iPod dock and speakers, a guitar hook up, stools, magnetic truck lights, and for some reason, a set of bronze antlers. I wonder how much cheaper it would be without the antlers.

[via designboom]

If you’re active, it’s good to have a GPS watch. They have plenty of uses, especially if you run or cycle. Keeping track of your workout is one of the best features. The ones that also feature active navigation will make sure that you won’t get lost. However, most GPS watches can be bulky, counterintuitive to use, and the screen usually isn’t that great.

The Leikr sports watch is supposed to link to GPS satellites faster than others on the market. It’s also is supposed to be less bulky and easier to operate than other GPS watches, though it still looks pretty big to me. That’s probably because of it’s 2-inch widescreen, 320×240 color display. The low-glare Gorilla Glass covered face is bigger than average watches, but it’s only 1.065 cm thick. Having such a large display allows for more legible maps than other GPS watches, as well as the ability to display all of your pertinent stats – time, distance, speed, pace, calories burned and heart rate – on a single screen.

It’s got 8GB of onboard storage and has a 500 Mhz processor, and can communicate with other devices using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and is also ANT+ compatible. Its rechargeable battery is supposed to last 6 hours of active use. Its maps are powered by OpenStreetMap, so I’m not exactly sure how accurate the map data will be. You might want to swing by their website to verify that the maps for your regular haunts are complete and up to date.

The project is currently raising funds for production over on Kickstarter, and you’ll have to pledge at least $279(USD) to reserve one.

[via TechCrunch]

I’m frequently impressed with the projects coming out of DARPA, but most of the stories I’ve come across have been about their advances in robotics and defense systems. This new technology is designed specifically to save lives of wounded soldiers and civilians, and it does it with a simple spray foam.

A foam-based technology has been developed which is designed to fill in the spaces in an injured victim’s abdominal cavity, creating pressure in the voids, and substantially reducing blood loss from internal bleeding. In fact, early tests have shown a six-fold reduction in blood loss, and a dramatic increase in 3-hour survival rates from 8 percent to 72 percent. The foam was developed for DARPA’s Wound Stasis program by Arsenal Medical.

The foam is injected into the patient’s abdomen using a two-part compound that expands when mixed together. The foam then conforms to the inside of the body cavity, slowing internal bleeding. Once the patient can be stabilized at a hospital, the foam can be removed by a surgeon.

While the idea of filling my body cavities with something similar to that spray foam insulation really sounds awful, I suppose I’d subject myself to it if it meant the difference between living and bleeding to death.

If you’ve ever used a heart rate monitor to track your fitness level while running or cycling, you’ll know that these usually aren’t compact devices. Most of them involve strapping a harness around your body so that the monitor can get a decent reading from your heart. This latest watch from MIO plans on getting rid of the bulk.

The MIO Alpha watch uses a sophisticated sensor that has an electro-optical cell and a pair of light beams to track the volume of blood under your wrist, and also compensates for the jostling of the sensor.

Data collected by the watch can be sent to your mobile device via Bluetooth 4.0. While it can continuously monitor your heart rate and activity times, the watch has no built-in GPS, so you’ll have to rely on a separate device or your smartphone for that.

The MIO Alpha was funded via Kickstarter earlier this year, and will go on sale for $199(USD) and will be available early next year at retail.

If there’s one thing that I despise, it’s mosquitoes. The thing is that if they get into my bedroom or apartment, they will suck on my blood relentlessly, leaving everyone else alone. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I need the LG Anti-Mosquito Air Conditioner.

This LG Anti-Mosquito AC was designed for the African market, like in Nigeria were malaria is still a major threat to life. Since mosquitoes are carriers of this disease, it makes sense trying to get rid of as many as possible. The AC uses ultrasonic wave technology which is supposed to repel mosquitoes. According to LG’s tests, the AC has a success rate of 64% when it comes to deterring malaria-transmitting anopheles mosquitoes in 24 hours. Overall, it manages to repel 82% of mozzies. The unit has also been designed to deal with power fluctuations and brownouts prevalent in some African countries.

While it’s primarily targeted at Africa, I could see this being useful in any warm and humid climate where mosquitoes like to breed.

[via Ubergizmo]