Feb 23

World’s Lightest Hockey Helmet Explains Hockey Hair

Posted in: Apparel, Sports, Today's Chili

s19-z-shock-helmet

It seems fitting that, as Olympians caper about on the ice up North, a review hockey helmet turned up in the Gadget Lab mail today. The lid is the brand new Easton Stealth S19 Z-Shock.

For the uninitiated (me), the point of hockey seems to be getting into a fight. And with those big sticks around, it makes sense to have some protective headgear. The S19 manages to be both tough and light. It weighs 325 grams (11.5-ounces), which the blurb says is less than a cup of coffee (the shipping box had an empty Starbucks cup inside to make the point), and giving it a hard squeeze didn’t deform it at all.

The innovation comes from the one-piece construction, which bonds a polycarbonate shell with an expanded polypropylene foam to make a single piece. We’ll have to test things out, but it sure feels light and stiff in the hand.

Shoving it onto my big head (there is an adjustment band, but I had to let it out beyond maximum) I discovered a few new things about hockey. First, you can’t play in glasses. I was hoping to test the S19 out on the mean courts of bike polo, but it is so tight my spectacles won’t fit inside.

Second, you get one chance at pushing your bangs out of your eyes, and that’s before you put the helmet on. After that, they’re stuck there, dangling over your face and impossible to brush away. If you have long hair, it’s better to get just the front and perhaps the top trimmed short. And this, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the obligatory hockey/mullet joke.

The S19 will be in stores in May, for around CDN$200 (US$170).

S19 Helmet [Easton]


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Feb 22

Flying Panties to Buzz Tokyo Skies

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili

flying-pants

File under “Only in Japan”. On March 6th, if you are in the Akihabara district of Tokyo and you look up, you’ll see hundreds of pairs of girls’ panties. No, you haven’t shrunken into a tiny, homoncular, up-skirt pervert. Instead, you will be “enjoying” the launch of a thousand ornithopters fashioned from underwear.

Ornithopters are flying machines which flap their wings instead of spinning a propellor, and these panty-copters are powered by rubber bands. You will be able to buy a kit and send your own pair of panties into the Tokyo skies. We’d suggest making your own, but the idea is a little too disgusting.

It’s a publicity stunt, of course, and it will promote Japanese manga cartoon Sora no Otoshimono (What Fell from the Sky). The ornithopters will be launched as part of a larger event, the Sky Festival, which takes place down Akihabara way on that day. The Sky Festival will also see thousands of other model flying machines buzzing the heavens. If you are these, take photos and send them in to the Gadget Lab, and we’ll post them here.

Rumors that used panty-thopters will be packaged by schoolgirls and sold in vending machines are unfounded.

Ornithopter flying or Panties?! Humor Japanese manga [Hobby Media. Thanks, Francesco!]

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Feb 03

Gear Ring Is Like Mechanical Catnip to Nerds

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili, Toys and Games

ringpiece

“Stop playing with your ring!” This is something you have probably all heard at one time, as you twiddle away with your fingers and annoy the hell out of the people around.

Well, those intolerant fools can suck it: the Kinekt Gear Ring is *made* for playing with. The surgical steel circle has two bands running around the outer edges with teeth that engage six tiny cogs that spin between them. These cogs mesh with the teeth and make a finger-band that will be impossible to stop spinning. Want to see a video of it in action? Sure: Kinekt Gear Ring video (.mov). (Sorry, the embedded video we had here earlier disappeared.)

The ring will cost you $165, Buying one as a gift for a geek-in-law is like buying a drum-kit for your nephew: the giftee will love you. Your sister will hate you.

Gear Ring [Kinekt via Uncrate]


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Feb 02

Timbuk2 Hidden Messenger Bag

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili

hidden-timbuk2

If you were to visit the Wired.com offices, you’d see more than one Timbuk2 bag slung carelessly on the floor, its owner off to grab a beverage from the Beer Robot to start the day. What you wouldn’t see is this new model, the Hidden messenger bag. Why? Seriously, are you asking that? Because it’s hidden, of course.

The Hidden is similar in concept to the foldable, stow-able shopping bags beloved of old ladies the world over. Only instead of being lame pleather-and-polyester pouches, the Hidden is a cool, recycled PET messenger bag, the kind of bag the hipsters love.

The Hidden starts off as package the size of a (large) wallet, and quickly expands into a shoulder bag, complete with cinch-able closures and adjustable shoulder strap. It’s perfect as an emergency bag, although it probably won’t take the punishment a regular Timbuk2 is happy to soak up. It is also just $30, so you could keep one inside you other messenger bag at all times, just in case.

Hidden Messenger [Timbuk2 via Oh Gizmo!]


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Jan 04

Star Trek Wetsuits: ‘Dammit Jim, I’m a Doctor Not a Surfer’

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili

star-trek-wetsuits-2

These Star Trek wetsuits might – at best – produce some kind of infinite loop that could power the world with perpetual energy. At worst, they may be as dangerous as keeping the pasta next to the antipasta at the salad bar.

Consider this: Bronzed, tousle-haired and muscled surfers are hot. They might be dumb, but hunky eye-candy wins out and the ladies love a surf-dude. On the other hand, “Star Trek” is almost shorthand for “adult virginity”, and the skinny nerd inside is more likely to resembled the whining Sheldon from Big Bang Theory than the lithe Jan-Michael Vincent in Big Wednesday. Combine these opposites by putting a surfer in a Star Trek wetsuit and you have a whirling impossibility, a paradox that could power the universe.

The suits are made to be used in the water, not just as novelty costumes and come in “Command Yellow”, “Science Blue”, and “Engineering Red”. We would advise you to avoid the red uniform for obvious safety reasons. The price for this wonderful wetsuit? An illogical $470.

RDT Star Trek: The Original Series Wetsuit [Roddenberry via Oh Gizmo!]


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Dec 29

Bulletproof Handkerchief Protects A Gentleman’s Heart

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili

bulletproof-1

There comes a time in every TV series when you know the show is desperately fighting cancelation. No, it’s not the episode where the main character meets their doppelgänger (although that is a good indication). It’s the one where the hero is saved from a deadly bullet to the heart by a cigarette-case/book/cellphone luckily placed in the breast-pocket.

As ever, when a home-made solution becomes well-known, it is quickly commoditized, and the The Damned is just such a product. The Damned is a bulletproof pocket handkerchief designed to protect the heart of the gentleman from well-aimed or wayward projectiles. The 270 x 270mm (10.6-inch) square woven from “ballistic strength aramid fiber”, a material similar to Kevlar. But can a small fold of fabric really stop a bullet? From the blurb:

If a gun is aimed at you, fired, and the slug hits you, you will be hurt despite the properties of the square; The impact of the projectile itself is likely to fracture, crack or break your bones bones and bruise you. According to the specifications of the textile, a ballistic projectile such as a bullet will not pass through thirty two layers of this material. We take NO responsibility for those who feel compelled to test the endurance or resistance of the textile in any way.

We certainly won’t be calling this one in for a Gadget Lab review. Not through fear, you understand. No, we don’t need it because we already know a foolproof way to protect a gentleman’s heart: Stay away from girls. €95 ($137).

The Damned [Sruli Recht via


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Dec 28

Ex-Mac Cloner Psystar Opens T-Shirt Business

Posted in: Apparel, Apple, Law, Mac, Today's Chili

picture-14Florida startup Psystar has switched its business model from selling ugly Mac clones to selling ugly t-shirts.

Psystar, which recently lost its year-and-a-half-long legal battle with Apple, is selling t-shirts on its website instead of generic PCs hacked to run the Mac operating system. The company is accepting donations, too.

In a blog post, Psystar said it plans to ask the court to clarify legality surrounding Rebel EFI, a downloadable piece of software that enables users to create their own Hackintoshes. Apple in mid-December won a permanent injunction effectively banning Psystar from selling clones and tools that assist consumers in creating Hackintoshes. But alas, Rebel EFI was not explicitly brought up in the case, and Psystar is seeking clarity.

Psystar’s attorney K.A.D Camara told Wired.com that the startup also plans to appeal the summary judgment and proceed with an anti-trust suit filed against Apple in October 2008.

Psystar agreed in a settlement to pay Apple $2.7 million in damages, but it won’t have to give a dime until the appeals process is complete. That means Psystar better hope to sell about 200,000 t-shirts, which cost $15 apiece.

Psystar’s t-shirts read “I sued Psystar…and all I got was a lousy injunction,” meaning their direct audience is Apple staff. And unfortunately Apple only has about 35,000 employees. Somewhat of an oversight, but one you would expect from a company that sold fewer than 1,000 Hackintosh computers after promising investors it would ship millions of units by 2011.

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Dec 23

Adidas Turns the Sneaker Into an Augmented Reality Device

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili

adidas-augmented-reality

Can’t find your Nintendo DS? Try one of the new Adidas sneakers instead.

Adidas has created a virtual 3-D world that can be accessed using an upcoming line of five men’s sneakers in an idea that ties into one of the technology trends of the year: augmented reality.

“The foundation of augmented reality lies in adding a layer to the real world,” says Chris Barbour, head of digital marketing for Adidas Originals. “That’s what we have done. We have taken a real world item and added a fantastic virtual world on top of that”

All users have to do is go to the Adidas site and hold up their sneaker, which has a code embedded in its tongue, in front of their computer webcam. A virtual world then pops out in front of them and they can navigate it using their sneaker as a controller.

“We are not trying to mimic a real-world look, we have a more stylized, pop-up book creative approach,” says Barbour. “The neighborhood is displayed on a two dimensional computer screen, but you can use your shoe to control the angle and depth of view and zoom in and out, giving a 3-D sense of perspective.”

Over the next few months, Adidas plans to introduce three augmented reality games developed by game developer xForm into the virtual neighborhood. The sneakers will then serve not only as the key to get in, but also act as the controller for the games. Among those available will be a skateboard game, where the sneaker acts as the controller to navigate the virtual city’s alleys, a Star Wars-like game with the sneaker and a music-based game.

The shoes with the augmented reality codes will cost between $65 and $95 and will be available starting February.

Sure, a large part of this is a marketing gimmick and Adidas is not the only company to try out augmented reality in its products. But that doesn’t take away from that this is an idea that makes an ordinary physical object fun and injects some technological pizzaz to it.

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Photo: Adidas


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Dec 17

You-Vision Video Glasses for the Hipster Voyeur

Posted in: Apparel, camera, Today's Chili, video

youvision

Photojojo’s new video-glasses let you shoot movies in glorious nerd-o-vision. The spectacles have a 320×240 pixel video camera in the bridge which is triggered by a switch on one of the arms, and the only real giveaway that these aren’t your usual hipster glasses is the rather hefty build of those arms.

Inside the video is piped at 25 fps to be stored on the built-in 2GB of flash memory, enough for five hours of footage. Happily, the rechargeable lithium battery also lasts for five hours on a charge, meaning you can just switch these on and forget about them.

If the heavy “1950s scientist” look isn’t for you, the clear lenses can be swapped out for shades. The You-Vision specs charge their battery and upload their video through a supplied USB cable. The price for this incessant observation? $150.

You-Vision Video Glasses [Photojojo]


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Dec 16

Mamba Shift Backpack Swallows Almost Everything

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili

booq-mamba

As a connoisseur (read: obsessive collector) of bags, I have discovered the ingredients of the perfect design. The problem is, I have no idea of the recipe with which they should be mixed together. Taken on their rather strong product releases over the past few months, it seems the folks at Booq have been taste-testing bag designs and have come up with some pretty scrumptious results.

The perfect bag should be comfortable to carry (and lightweight), have pockets, nooks and crannies which organize your gear and give easy, fast access, and it should be big enough to squeeze in more than you thought you could. And of course, it should look hot.

The Mamba Shift reminds me more than a little of the Kata 3N1 line, a camera bag that is almost perfect. Like the Kata, the Mamba Shift is a backpack with a combination of cavernous interior and many, many pockets in which to squirrel away your various devices. The Booq bag also has a padded laptop sleeve, a pair of pop-open pockets on the shoulder-straps which hold phones and MP3 players and a removable wallet for, well, anything. And lest you worry about a sweaty back, the Mamba has a breathable mesh layer to let the air in and the perspiration out.

The spec-sheet isn’t the only top-end feature, either. The bag costs a hefty but not over-the-top $150. Available now.

Mamba Shift product page [Booq. Thanks, Brad!]

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