Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on February 27, 2007 by CyberNet.

Vending machines can accept payments from cell phones, so why not McDonald’s? Back in September, Coca-Cola announced that it was going to equip all of their vending machines in Japan with the technology that would allow the machines to accept payment via mobile phones. They hope to have this done by the end of 2008.

With that, I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before cellphones became the newest way to make payments. It makes sense for a couple of reasons, but first because so many people have their mobile phones glued to their side! Secondly, it’s a way for companies like Coca-Cola to save money because they don’t have to worry about collecting coins from machines if they’re getting electronic payments.

According to BBC, this technology is being expanded in Japan to the McDonald’s Fast Food Chain. Together with NTT DoCoMo (a leading mobile phone operator), McDonald’s will offer customers the option to make a payment via their mobile phone. This also provides McDonalds with important information about their customers and their eating habits which they could use for marketing purposes.

This could definitely turn into a replacement for cash, much like the credit card.  It means one less thing you’ll have to carry around, and one less thing to worry about. As mentioned, using a mobile phone to make payments isn’t something new to Japan, but it has yet to reach the U.S. The U.S. mobile market is typically behind other countries anyways, but I think it’s definitely something that could take off here in the U.S. where you can find a McDonalds at nearly every corner.

Sources: Far East Gizmos, BBC

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Soon we’ll be hopping on a jet plane, heading to Vegas, living the life, playing with gadgets, and not getting a lot of sleep. Flying to Nevada for CES on a plane is easy, but getting to the airport can be a challenge if you live out in the country. NASA wants that fixed as a sort of spin-off of its Green Flight Challenge, a prize awarded to an aerial vehicle that can manage 200mpg at 100mph while emitting only 78db of noise at 250 feet. It would also need a very short takeoff and landing, something that would allow it to land on what’s being called a “pocket airport.” These rinky-dink runways would fit on just two acres of land and would launch or receive an (ultimately autonomous) aircraft every 30 seconds. The idea is that such strips could be scattered about suburban areas and provide quick, convenient shuttling to real airports and, presumably, to other pocket airports. Now, we wonder, will we still need to empty our pockets before boarding?

NASA Green Flight Challenge proposes ‘pocket airports,’ invites you to fly ’em all originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is the Crossbow TelosB wireless remote platform, and it did an important job for science in January of last year — it monitored the close proximity interactions among 788 students and staff at one US high school to track a virtual flu. After collecting over 762,000 sneeze-worthy anecdotes among the module-toting teachers and teens, Stanford researchers ran 788,000 simulations charting the path the virus might take and methods the school might try to keep it in line. Sadly, the scientists didn’t manage to come up with any easy answers, as virtual vaccination seemed to work equally well (or poorly) no matter who got the drugs, but that if only we could actually monitor individuals in real life as easily as in a study, prevention would be much easier. But who will bell the cat, when it’s so much less political to ionize?

Scientists attempt to predict flu spread, give ZigBee radios to 700 high school students originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Livestrong Limited Edition Indoor Cycle differs from all other stationary bikes in just one way: It looks totally bad-ass.

The bike, which comes in the trademark yellow-and-black colorway, will cost $1,700, $1,000 of which goes to Livestrong, Lance Armstrong’s cancer charity. Just 500 will be made, and there are several Lance and cancer-themed design flourishes: the number 28 on the fork represents the “28 million people living with cancer,” and the “seven stars on the seat post represent Armstrong’s record-breaking seven Tour de France wins.”

But what you really want to know is just how fit can you get, without even going outside on a real bike? The answer is “pretty fit, if you don’t use it once and dump it in the basement, next to the Bullworker and the in-line skates.” Up front is a 40-pound flywheel, spun via a belt-drive, and the seat and handlebars are adjustable for height. And what handlebars they are! More like a bristling nest of stag-beetles than a regular bike cockpit, there are enough hand-positions to sate even the most ADD of “riders”.

There’s also a computer to tell you every piece of info you might want: heart rate, time, distance, RPM and a calorie-counter.

Of course, you could get all this from an actual bike. An old beater with a cheap cyclo-computer would keep you just as fit, and stop you from getting bored as you ride. But then you couldn’t pretend to be Lance Armstrong, on your way to a “record-breaking seven Tour de France wins.” Or more correctly, “Tour de Spare Bedroom wins.”

Livestrong LS28IC press release [Pitchengine via Uncrate]

See Also:

• Fetish: Stationary Bicycle Celebrates the Art of Spin
• Wii Exercise Bike: Biggest Game Controller Ever?
• $10000 Exercise Bike for Posing, not Riding
• Bike-Mounted Bookshelf for Suicidal Readers

Who said that Microsoft’s experimental prototypes never make it to market (well, apart from Vista)? Now the Sensecam, first shown off way back in January 2008, and in the labs since 2003, has finally become a real, buy-able product.

Kind of. Microsoft may have dropped the life-recording camera like it dropped its PlaysforSure DRM business partners, but a company called Vico has licensed the tech and renamed it the Revue. The Revue is kind of like a Black Box recorder for your life.

Sling it around your neck and switch it on. The Revue will then use a variety of sensors to trigger the shutter, snapping a picture through a fisheye lens. The camera can detect temperature, infra-red motion, light color and brightness, and inside there is also an accelerometer and a compass. In short, the Revue probably notices more about your surroundings than you do.

The camera will snap a few photos per minute, storing them on its 2GB memory. The battery should keep things ticking for “at least” 12-hours.

But why? The main reason for the product is as aid for those whose memories are fading. Taking time to review the day’s events can help to train the memory, says the blurb. This can be done one picture at a time, or you can have the companion desktop (OS X, Windows or Linux) stitch it into a movie.

I see it as being a great way to record a day, or an event, without getting stuck behind the camera. Parties, festival, sports tournaments (especially if you are also participating) would all be better for a candid movie like this.

And what if you need some privacy? The Revue has a switch which will pause it for four minutes. That should be long enough to take care of any business. I’d grab one of these in a second if it weren’t for one thing: It costs $500.

Revue product page [Vicon via Oh Gizmo]

See Also:

• Does SenseCam Make Any Sense?
• Microsoft Digicam for Alzheimer's Relief
• Microsoft Researcher Records His Life in Data