Hasta La Gadget!

I spend a lot of time searching the Internet for new and different things to write about and for some reason I keep coming across different ways to memorialize our dearly departed. I’ve told you about drive thru funerals, and diamonds made from ashes, and talking headstones, so I figure what the heck… In keeping with tradition I might as well let you in on this too.

An Arlington Vermont company called Cremation Solutions is creating custom made cremation urns in the shape of your loved ones head. Thats right, with just one or two pictures of the persons face, and by using state of the art 3D imaging techniques, the company will make a polymer compound likeness of your loved one’s head and mount it on a marble base. Excellent.

I know you’re probably wondering, so yes, the heads will have hair, for folks that had very closely cropped hair, it can simply be digitally added to the head, or the company will gladly add a wig, per your specifications. Ashes are loaded from the bottom and a beautiful brass nameplate is affixed to the heads luxurious black marble base.

These, um, nifty little keepsakes come in 2 sizes, with the almost life-size head coming in at around 11 inches tall and is capable of holding the entire remains of your average sized dead person. The “keepsake” sized urn comes in at only 6 inches tall and will only be able to hold a small portion of the ashes, but promises years of enjoyment as a “treasured family heirloom.” I keep wondering why they didn’t go all out and make it talk… now there’s something for your mantle that could really give you the creeps! Prices start at around 600 bucks for the keepsake urn and $2600 for the full size, find out more at cremationsolutions.com

[ Personalized Cremation Urn – Comes out a Head copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

I know I am not alone when I tell you that I can’t even begin to engage my brain in the morning without a cup of coffee. Okay, truth be told, it’s two cups of coffee and without it, everyone knows to not even talk to me. I often wonder how caffeine-free people make it through their day, or how they get anything done. One of these days I’m going to have to quit drinking coffee, but it’s not going to be today!

Especially since Lavazza (famous coffee maker) is making the first ever car coffee maker, to be offered as an option on the brand new Fiat 500L. Imagine, cruising down the road, with the aroma of freshly brewed espresso wafting through your luxurious new Fiat. With your brew bubbling right between your front seats, and plugged into its very own power source, you will have everything you need to keep you going.

Called the “coffee experience kit” it comes with two auto friendly cups, an espresso making base with a spoon and sugar holder (no word about milk or cream) Simply snap the new Lavazza into your Fiat’s secure center docking station and let Lavazza work its magic as your coffee pod is steeped in perfectly heated water, making an awesome cup of fresh espresso. Who needs Starbucks’s?

Well, I guess I do. While it seems like the new Fiat will soon be available in the U.S., it doesn’t look like the Lavazza coffee maker will be an available option for us. It appears that our sue-happy society (think McDonalds coffee on lap disaster) has got corporate attorneys too nervous to let us actually have an on-board coffee maker, but I’m not going to count out finding a retrofit kit on e-bay and hey, espresso is small darn it, I can drink it at a red light, as soon as I’m finished making my calls, putting on my make-up and finding a good radio station. For those that can, the kit is expected to be around 300 bucks and the new Fiat to go with it, $22,500.

source: usatoday.com

[ Lavazza makes Coffee for your Fiat copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Few things strike as much dread into the middle of my day as much as the laundry. I think its right up there on my list of things I have learned to hate the drudgery  of quite a long time ago. Vacuuming, kitty litter emptying and laundry. Hate em. We’ve put a man on the moon, how come I’m still doing this stuff the way my mom used to? Sure the washing machine is bigger and higher tech… but its the same boring job.

Well, scientists might actually have my best interests at heart. Mingce Long and  Deyong Wu say they have developed a fabric coated with titanium dioxide (think suntan lotion ingredient) That breaks down dirt and kills different microbes when exposed to certain kinds of light, more specifically, their product can clean itself when exposed to sunlight… very nice.

The report on this fabric describes a regular cotton fabric that’s coated with nanoparticles (I told you about them yesterday, they’re a size between molecular and microscopic) made from a compound of titanium dioxide and nitrogen. Their tests show that a cotton fabric coated with theses particles removed an orange dye stain when it was exposed to sunlight, and the coating even stayed intact after washing and drying. What a minute, washing and drying? Am I missing the point here?

A similar study is being done at the University of California, where scientists have created another compound that also allows cotton to break down toxins and bacteria when exposed to light. Heck, I’ll just make my family eat dinner outside in the sun, and kill two birds with one stone. Now we just have to figure out a way for the food to cook itself, then, life will be good.

Source: zmescience.com

[ Do you Think these Clothes are Going to Clean Themselves? copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

I often sit out on my patio gazing at the moon and stars and wonder just what kinds of secrets the Universe may hold. So many little kids dream of being astronauts, I guess I might have too… but I have a myriad of control and claustrophobia issues, probably best left for my “psychiatrist in a box” post thats coming up tomorrow. In the meantime, check out spaceflight opportunities for the rest of you.

Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richard Branson revealed at the 2012 International Airshow in Farnborough that the company has now actually accepted deposits for the suborbital flights from around 529 brave men and women, all ready to become first time astronauts. All this as a life-sized replica of the flying machine SpaceShipTwo was unveiled at the show.This news comes following the recent testing that confirms all major components of SpaceShipTwo’s rocket system’s have been qualified for powered flight, leaving the craft on track to actually “lift off” before the end of the year.

SpaceShipTwo actually takes flight from the back of Virgin Galactic’s proven WhiteKnightTwo,  getting her aloft and ready to begin her suborbital missions. Thanks to the extreme flexibility of such an air launch, Virgin Galactic’s customers will enjoy reduced infrastructure costs in addition to the wide range of possible launch locations tailored to individual mission requirements and weather conditions.

So if being pinned back in your seat as your brains and cheeks shift to the back of your head, while howling rocket motors propel you to 50 thousand feet into the air at about 3000 miles an hour (which is almost 4 times the speed of sound) into the weightless world of space sounds super appealing, Virgin Galactic has  got a ticket they’d like to sell you, and at only 200 thousand dollars a pop, I’d make my reservations now! Hey, if I’m traveling at 4 times the speed of sound, will I be back on Earth before anyone can hear me screaming?

To book your seats please make your reservation with a Virgin Galacitic Space Agent, or visit virgingalactic.com.

[ Virgin Galactic – Commercial Spaceline, Big Dollars and no Peanuts. copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

It was just a day or two ago that I told you about the Child Minder safety alarm. I found it a shame that our hectic lifestyles could put any of us in such a haze that we could actually forget our child in the backseat of the car. It’s an unbelievable tragedy and I thought the 70 dollar safety alarm had its place, even if it saved just one kid.

But can the interest of safety go to far? As of February, one Florida county has an ordinance  that requires all licensed daycare centers to install alarms in school vehicles that remind drivers to check for children upon vehicle shut off, and of course a patented  device called Kiddie Voice was there to meet the call. Kiddie Voice, was specifically designed to make the driver walk to the back of the van or bus in order to deactivate the system.  This  feature ensures that drivers check all the seats before they leave the bus.

I understand that a parent who usually doesn’t take their child to daycare could make a tragic mistake, but a school bus driver? It must be so, because stories of child fatalities or heat related injuries on day care vans and school buses continue to make news. But did we really need an ordinance? Palm Beach County passed a similar ordinance last year and more counties in the U.S. are soon to follow suit. Who knows what comes next?

Well, in case your county is next, the Kiddie Voice Child Reminder System is available at atwecgrp.com for under 300 bucks and is activated when the ignition is turned off and can only be disarmed by a button located in the back. Do you think its actually possible to legislate common sense?

[ Kiddie Voice – No Child Left Behind copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]