Hasta La Gadget!

Many people believe that standing is better than sitting, especially for those who have desk jobs or work long hours on their computers. Standing for hours on end in front of a standing desk isn’t the most comfortable thing to do, but it could give you the added benefits promised for those who stand up more.

Adding some comfort to this, though, is the StandRight Standing Task Chair.

It basically lets you cheat a little while you do your work at your standing desk. The Standing Task Chair is designed to support you while you stand, distributing the weight between your butt and knees. It also has supports for your knees and an inclined footrest so it’ll make you feel like you’re sitting on air. That’s definitely a whole lot more comfortable than just standing up.

The Standing Task Chair was designed by Jeff Heath and it’s up for funding on Kickstarter through July 1st. A minimum pledge of $499(USD) will get you one of your very own.

[via Incredible Things]

Clean water can be hard to come by, especially when you’re in the great outdoors or traveling in areas that don’t have sufficient facilities. While you might come by a water source, the water is probably unsafe for drinking and might contain contaminants or pollutants that might make you sick.

Small, portable water filtration systems are already available, but Vapur goes one step further by including an actual water bottle with their system.

Vapur already manufactures a line of foldable and collapsible water bottles that are widely used by travelers and those who want a convenient way to store and transport water.

Vapur calls their portable water purification system MicroFilter. It’s packaged and sold with the 1-L Eclipse Anti-Bottle, and both weigh just 2.7 oz (77 g) when empty. The 0.2-micron filter can remove 99.9999 percent of waterborne bacteria and 99.9 percent of protozoa, although it can’t remove viruses like most other filters.

Vapur’s new portable filtration system has received recognition from publications like Outside and National Geographic. The MicroFilter system was launched this week and can be purchased for $69.99(USD).

[via Gizmag]

Cancer sucks. There’s no cure (yet) – only prevention – and no one’s exempt from either getting it now or in the future. Every year, men and women, young and old, fall ill to the dreaded Big ‘C’. It’s a painful and difficult process for everyone, but probably more so for kids who might not completely understand what’s happening.

So to make things better, even just a little bit, the A.C. Camargo Cancer Center in São Paulo, Brazil teamed up with Warner Bros. to give their children’s cancer center a new look.

The theme? Superheroes. Chemotherapy has been rebranded as ‘superformula’ to fight against one of the biggest villains against humanity. IV bags are tucked into colorful Justice League-themed boxes to make them look cooler, and special comic books are handed out depicting how Justice League characters lost but then gained their powers after undergoing similar treatments as the young patients.

(The) experience went far beyond the covers by also providing a new look to the entire Children’s Ward: the game room was turned into the Hall of Justice, corridors and doors were decorated in the same theme, and the exterior acquired an exclusive entrance for these little heroes… As any good cancer doctor will tell you, the most important step in fighting the disease is believing in a cure.

Belief breeds hope, and hope breeds strength. With a fighting spirit, cancer can be beaten, just like every other villain out there.

[via Geekologie]

We’ve seen a variety of artificial exoskeletons that can augment a person’s strength and even help disabled people walk again. Their main disadvantage is that they’re quite bulky and heavy. That’s why DARPA is working on a similar suit, except this one’s meant to be worn like an undergarment.

As indicated in the concept image above, the Warrior Web suit is designed to help soldiers carry additional load while supporting injury prone areas such as the ankles, knees and hip joints. The idea is to provide all this while still allowing the soldier to wear the usual clothing and armor. The video below shows a soldier carrying a 61lb. load while wearing a Warrior Web prototype:

DARPA envisions future versions of the Warrior Web suit to have even more capabilities, such as “core injury mitigation technologies; comprehensive analytical representations; regenerative actuation; adaptive sensing and control; and suit human-to-wearer interface.” Perhaps the real world Iron Man will just look like Tony Stark.

[DARPA via Freshness]

Dogs have long been touted as being man’s best friend. Aside from companionship, dogs can save human lives, depending on their training, by sniffing out bombs, transporting medicine (remember Balto?), and helping the blind ‘see.’ Given all the joy and help that dogs give humans, it’s only fitting that humans give back to them as well.

Take the case of Naki’o, an adorable dog that lost all four paws to frostbite when abandoned as a puppy.

Image Credit: Rick Wilking/Reuters

He did fine as a pup, but began having difficulty supporting his weight as he grew bigger. So his loving owner, Christie Pace, searched for alternatives to help Naki’o out. She explained: “I have a soft spot for rescue animals in general. I was looking for something different, unique. I wanted to make more of a difference than a regular dog. I knew I could help him out.”

Pace set up a fundraiser to get prosthetics for Naki’o from OrthoPets. But when the animal hospital saw how well the pup did with his initial fittings, they set him up with a complete set of prosthetics, free of charge.

Image Credit: Rick Wilking/Reuters

I guess you could say they have a heart of gold. Oh, and a little bit of trivia: Naki’o is the world’s first ever dog to be outfitted with custom prosthetics on all four legs!

[via The Star via Metro News via Dvice]