Hasta La Gadget!

Even if you don’t like trains as much as this guy… or even this guy… you still might like to collect railroad swag. Here’s something you probably don’t have in your collection already – USB hubs shaped like tiny trains.

Sprire’s SP-K480 and SP-S480 trains replicate old school and modern trains, but in this case the windows have been replaced with USB ports.

The train cars can even be separated slightly (though not completely detached), and when not in use, the USB cable can be tucked underneath the train’s tiny engine.

Oh, and the best thing… They come with LED Righting…

No, I didn’t make that up. Alas, they’re only available in Korea at present, but if you’re willing to brave the language barrier, you might be able to pick them up at the Early Adopter Shop for 11,000 KRW (~$10 USD) each.

A 20 year-old woman stole a four-car train during the wee hours of the morning at a depot outside Stockholm. Unable to drive properly, she lost control of the train and drove it right straight into an apartment building occupied by three families. Luckily, no one inside the three-story building was harmed. On the other hand, the thief, who happens to work for a cleaning company, suffered serious injuries and had to be airlifted to the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nissan Leaf Gets $6,400 Discount, GPS Takes Elderly Woman In Wrong Direction For Over 900 Miles,

We’ve seen plenty of geeky room makeovers in the past months. There was the TARDIS room, the Skyrim basement and the spaceship bedroom. Vaughan, Ontario resident Jason Shron is a train geek – in fact, he makes model trains for a living – so naturally he made a replica of a train car in his basement. Naturally for him I mean.

Jason’s happy place is a replica of a VIA Rail train car from the 80s. According to Global Toronto the exterior of the train is made from drywall, but it’s mostly authentic on the inside. It took him 4-1/2 years to build, and Jason even made fake emergency kits and, on one end of the train, a photo mural depicting a neighboring car to complete the delusion illusion. Shron lucked out with many of the replica’s parts; he got them from an old car that was about to be scrapped.

You can read more about the train at the link and on Jason’s company newsletter. I have a replica of an office space – in fact I’m in it right now – but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want to see it.

[via Global Toronto]

Who doesn’t love chocolate? You can never have too much. You probably wish that you had a train-load of chocolate delivered to you every day. But what about a train that is actually made of the sweet stuff? A 111-foot-long chocolate train. Now that sounds delicious.

Photo: L’avenir

This train was created by “master chocolatier” Andrew Farrugia of Malta. It’s 2,755 pounds of fine Belgian chocolate – 6.5 million calories if you are counting.

Photo: L’avenir

He got the idea for the train last year, when visiting the Belgian Chocolate Festival in Bruges, with the thought that you can make a train as long as you want. Overall, it took Farrugia 784 hours to build this incredible thing, which is now officially the world’s longest chocolate sculpture ever built.

Photo: L’avenir

I call dibs on the engine. That’s always the chocolatiest part of any chocolate train.

[via Oddity Central via Neatorama]

Anyone who’s hopped on a flight at a major airport, or even some land-based transit, knows the agonizing wait that certain agencies demand while they scan for explosives and check boarding passes. Hitachi is working with Nippon Signal and the University of Yamanachi to build a new boarding gate that hopefully kills those two security birds with one stone. As you’re swiping your boarding pass (or smartphone), the machine also scans it for particle-sized traces of explosive materials and sends the all-clear or no-go in less than two seconds. If all goes well, the system could check up to 1,200 passengers every hour at a single gate — a rate quick enough to prevent a logjam at even the busiest terminals. Our chief reservations surround its scope. Hitachi has earned enough trust to get trial installations at Narita International Airport and a Tokyo subway station this coming spring, but we have a hunch that some airport officials would demand a more thorough screening, no matter how much it’s actually needed.

Continue reading Hitachi boarding gate can sniff explosives on passes, keep the transport queues flowing (video)

Filed under: Transportation, Alt

Hitachi boarding gate can sniff explosives on passes, keep the transport queues flowing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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