Hasta La Gadget!

The ultimate JamBox mount: An entire bike

Yves Behar, the designer of JawBone’s JamBox speaker, has obviously heard that I’m looking for a JamBox bike mount. Only instead of just designing a mount, he’s gone and built a whole bike to hold the thing.

That’s not strictly true, of course. While the Local, as it is called, does indeed hold a JamBox, it is designed to do a whole lot more. The Local is “the bike version of the practical pick-up truck.” To this end it does everything other cargo trikes can do, and more.

The Local will carry luggage and kids on its low front platform, and with a strap it will even carry a surfboard. Lights are built into the frame, there’s a tether to stop anyone snatching your bag off the front shelf and the bike features the first integrated lock that looks like it would work.

The D part of a d-lock is integrated into the frame at the front, and a bar locks across its ends. Remove the cylinder, drive the bike so its front swallows a pole and re-lock. You’re done.

Finally, a Shimano Alfine 11 hub and disk brakes front and rear will start and stop you easily.

The idea is that you can use this bike to do anything a car could do in your neighborhood. I like it a lot, and especially the light, bright colors that make it less like the serious cargo-carriers my local fruit shop uses to deliver its goods.

Behar makes no mention of price or availability, but if any concept deserves to make it into the real world then this is it.

Local product page [Fuse Project via Design Boom]

See Also:

• Jawbone Makers Dream Big for Tiny Headset
• Pick Up Artist, the Best-Named Cargo Bike Ever
• Home-Made Kid-Carrying Cargo-Bike

Search, browse and buy. Traveling by train is now as easy as buying a song

In the U.S, the only people to ride railway trains are hobos, and tree-hugging hippies taking the Caltrain into San Francisco to work their tech-industry jobs. In the UK, trains are a much used (and outrageously overpriced) way to get around.

The new Train Tickets app from CrossCountry Trains won’t help with the prices, but it makes finding routes and buying tickets a lot easier. You can search on any train journey in the UK and view timetables. You can buy tickets from within the app, and depending on what kind of train you’re taking, you either get an “m-ticket” or you can print a paper ticket using machines at the station.

You don’t even have to sign in to use the app, meaning that you can buy tickets with some amount of anonymity.

I think the idea is fantastic, and all rail networks should do something similar. Unfortunately you can only get the free app from the UK App Store, which cuts out all foreign visitors — people who would surely appreciate such a thing.

And presumably Apple gets its regular 30% cut of ticket prices, which pretty much proves that the existing ticket prices really are too high. I have a request for Gadget Lab readers over in the UK: If you buy a ticket with this app, check your iTunes Store receipt and see if it has any details of your journey on there. It would be ironic indeed if the rail company didn’t have your ticket details, but Apple did.

Train TicketsBy by CrossCountry Trains [iTunes. Thanks, Stephanie!]

Our Train Tickets app [CrossCountry Trains]

See Also:

• Crowd-Sourcing iPhone App Live-Tracks NYC Subway Trains …
• Free WiFi comes to British Trains
• Amazing German Bike-Carrying Train
• Bikes on a Train: Station Dock Vends Folding Bromptons

Gabriel Wartofsky’s e-bike exist in real life

You know all those concept bikes we see which look like they’d break in two as soon as you jump on them? And how it doesn’t matter anyway, as they’ll never make it outside of a CAD rendering? Well, Gabriel Wartofsky’s e-bike is not one of those concepts. Not only did he come up with a plausible-looking design, but he managed to get it funded already on Kickstarter.

Strength-wise, the bike looks good, sharing the fat tubes and chunky joints of the super-tough (although slightly wobbly) Brompton. The fold, too, is smart. The handlebars fold first, and then the front and rear wheels simply swing around on their tubes too end up tidily tucked inside the loop of the frame.

Drive comes from an electric motor in the front hub, and by a rod-based direct rear-wheel drive connected to the pedals. This last eliminates the chain, which is a real pain to deal with on folders.

No CG renderings here. The direct drive keeps pants hems clean

Most important of all, Gabriel has a fully functioning prototype, and it looks great. Amazingly, the Kickstarter buy-in price is a mere $25,000. Not bad for a bike, when sometimes we see iPhone case makers asking for upwards of $60,000. This probably has something to do with Gabriel’s design being rather well developed already — he’s been working on it since 2008.

Folding Electric Bike for Commuters [Kickstarter]

Rumor ’round the Twitterverse has it that Amtrak may finally be implementing free WiFi on October 1st — finally seeing the bet laid down by various plane and bus companies over the past couple years. The casual conversation between conductor and passenger yielded the information that the system is finally ready to extend beyond Acela, apparently “ready to roll and it’s just a matter of ‘flipping the on switch.'” This comes as great news for commuters who spend their mornings and evenings stuck on slow, old, often curious smelling Regional trains. Unfortunately, other than the tweet, there’s no word (official or otherwise) whether net surfage will be possible beginning next month. Regardless, looks like the “I didn’t have internet access” excuse is still valid for a little while longer for all you nine to fivers.

Update: To be clear: Amtrak Acela trains by and large already have WiFi, as do some regional trains in the Northwest. This latest addition would be for Northeast Regional trains.

[Thanks, @melanierenzulli]

Amtrak to finally launch free WiFi for regional trains on October 1st? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Soma’s prototype Pick Up Artist is strong enough to carry a tall, overweight man

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the best thing about Soma’s new cargo bike was its name: the Pick Up Artist. But even with such an awesome moniker, the bike itself is even better.

Like other cargo bikes, the Pick Up Artist has a long wheelbase for stability. Unlike other cargo bikes, it achieves this length by shifting the front wheel instead of the back wheel. The small wheel is moved forward, underneath the load-bed, and is steered using a linkage system similar to the bakfiets bikes used to deliver goods and children over in Northern Europe.

This linkage also means that the wheel moves independently of the load above, which stays fixed to the frame. If you ever rode a Brompton with its frame-mounted front carrier, you’ll know that this setup is way more stable than a rack that moves with the wheel.

The Pick Up Artist will carry up to 200 pounds (91 kilos), which means that you could even load me on the front.

Soma is still undecided on whether to make the Pick Up Artist or not. I’d vote yes, if only because of the name. If it ever does make it into stores, it’ll cost around $1,500.

More Cargo Bike News [Soma via EcoVelo]

See Also:

• Amazing DIY Cargo-Bike Mods
• Zaftig Cargo Fork: Lowriding Load-Lifter
• Electra Delivery Bike is an Old-School Cargo-Carrier