Hasta La Gadget!

Riding Tokyo’s Ginza Line subway yesterday I couldn’t help noticing how the whole train had been branded for the upcoming Tokyo Marathon.

Everything from the hanging posters to the handle straps and the sliding doors featured some ad for the Marathon or sports-related product. Tokyo Metro, who sponsor the running event, has got together with other manufacturers for the campaign, including Starts, Asics and Otsuka.

It’s a little hard to see from the picture but even the outside windows of the train displayed the silhouettes of the runner posters. (To be honest, I find images of runners on a train a little bit ironic considering that they always announce about the dangers of dashing to get on a carriage.)

Apparently the Marunouchi Line has also been similarly “sportified” but the trains on either line are only “running” until the 27th, the day of the race itself.

I mean, the game was pretty good too. But the commercials could’ve been better and the halftime show almost destroyed my faith in humanity. But did you know why I had the most fun this Super Bowl? Twitter. More »

Chevy is getting into the pre-Super Bowl action by previewing a small handful of its upcoming ads over on its Facebook page. Most interesting of the bunch is the above one, called “Status,” which highlights the Chevy Cruze’s ability to send and read status updates from the social network via voice.

It’s a cute little 30 second spot–not Star Wars/Volkswagen cute, but let’s face it, that’s a pretty high bar. Video after the jump. 

The Street Flyer is a hang-glider for the streets. It’s like an oversized tricycle, but instead of sitting on top to pilot it, you hang beneath. To propel the vehicle, you run and then just drop into the harness and cruise. This obviously works better on a downhill stretch, and uphill runs are probably best avoided altogether, unless M.C. Escher designed your city’s streets.

The design comes from an old Gadget Lab friend, Dr. Carsten Mehring, last seen here on video with his wearable computer. Mehring has several prototypes for the Street Flyer. The one seen here is steered with a pair of handgrips connected to the two front wheels, but other designs could let you steer by moving your body in the cradle, hang-glider-style. Dr. Mehring also suggests that his invention could be used by the injured to walk suspended from its frame without any pressure on the legs. Think of it as a baby-walker for cripples.

Mehring’s Street Flyer is clearly not meant for daily transportation, but as a weekend leisure toy, it could be awesome. Imagine bombing down steep hills and slaloming just three-feet from the ground. That has to be a rush.

Street Flyer project page (Warning: Flash and auto-play music) [Streetflyer via UberGizmo]

See Also:

• Swiss Pilot Uses Jet-Engine-Powered Wings for Crazy One-Man …
• Landspeeder-Like Flying Car On Sale Soon

We woke up this morning in Dallas to 20 degree temperatures and a parking lot covered in ice. Not exactly the kind of weather the NFL was hoping for when it selected the new Cowboys Stadium to host Super Bowl XLV, but it didn’t stop both teams and media from making their way — however slowly — to Arlington for Super Bowl Media Day. Naturally, the likes of ESPN were there in full force, but rather than picking apart defensive schemes and seeing who could outgun Troy Polamalu for the longest mane in North Texas, we spent our time asking about mobile OS preferences and soaking up knowledge from Cowboys CIO Pete Walsh. With a price tag well north of $1 billion on the new Cowboys Stadium, the home to the world’s largest HD display is certainly one of the most technologically advanced in the world. It’s packing 884 wireless access points throughout (not to mention an internal network operations center that constantly monitors activity on each one), 260 miles of fiber optic cabling, capacity to handle over 100,000 simultaneous wireless connections, over 3,100 IPTVs and micro cell towers for each major carrier within — you know, so that kickoff video that just can’t wait actually sees its way onto YouTube prior to the start of the second half.

Head on past the break to catch of a video of us talking smartphone platforms with Green Bay Packers center Scott Wells, as well as a lengthy (and insightful) interview with the Chief Information Officer of the Dallas Cowboys. Everything from the Cowboys’ rejection of FanVision to their hopes to blanket the stadium with gratis WiFi is covered, and we’re even given a hint that contactless payments and mobile food ordering systems could be just a season or so away.

Continue reading Super Bowl XLV Media Day: Packers split on iOS / Android, Cowboys CIO talks mobility

Super Bowl XLV Media Day: Packers split on iOS / Android, Cowboys CIO talks mobility originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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