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Want some relief from the scorching temps that have invaded the planet? Hammacher Schlemmer has the answer with its Insulated Cooling Cap. Featuring a patented Hydroweave system that utilizes the sun and “draws heat away from your head,” simply immerse it in water and it is said to evaporate the liquid the way that your sweat glands operate. It’s available in navy or khaki for $25.00. The funny thing is, we think we already created this concept, but we call it a cool shower without a towel.
Read More 
| Hammacher Schlemmer
Gallery: Hat Cools with Hydroweave
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We recently sang the praises of Sega’s Homestar Planetarium Pro, and we have just found out that this September we will be treated to its latest software, the Blue Earth Disc. The original gadget, designed by Takayuki Ohira, came with two colored star discs and one of the moon, while this one is a detailed CG of what our very own planet looks like from space. Expect its debut this September. If all goes according to Al Gore’s plan, perhaps the next one will have a slight green tinge to it.
Read More | CScout
Gallery: Homestar to Feature Earth Disc
DU Robo of South Korea is testing OFRO as a security guard at a Seoul middle school before offering it to the general public. Reported to be the first of its kind, the bot is designed to alert staff when it sees someone trying to seduce a student, the thought being that they will then send in a real human or scare the perp away via loudspeaker. With a camera and mic, the bot can be pre-programmed or manually controlled to take its 3 mph rounds. At a cost of $100,000.00 apiece, we think this is definitely a high end hall monitor which will surely make you think twice before telling it that you really don’t have that doctor’s pass after all.
Read More | Space Daily
Gallery: OFRO Plans to Keep Students Safe
Heart Rate Monitor is Like Second Skin
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Wearables, Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
Next week, the first Wearable Technologies Congress will be held in Munich. Some of the items include jackets that protect against extreme heat or cold and a solar shopping bag similar to the Solar Beach Tote we recently showed you. What really attracted our attention was the German beurer GmbH Beltless Heart Rate Monitor. Based on the impressive science known as plethysmography, a sensor measures light reflected by the bloodstream through your finger artery. We think it would be novel if we knew we were going to have a heart attack before we actually biked it up that steep hill ahead.
Gallery: Heart Rate Monitor is Like Second Skin
Promets To Replace Wet-Weather Whiners
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science,
Kawada Industries has created a workable bot that won’t complain about going out in the most inclement of weather. The HRP-3 Promet MK-II stands 5 feet, 4-inches, weighs 149 lbs. with battery, dons a visor, and has been tested under showers and on floors scattered with sand to make the surface slippery. The humanoid was also tested in front of local reporters utilizing a screwdriver in one hand while leaning on its other arm, just as any worker might in an unstable, unfavorable environment.
Kawada hopes to release the robot in quantity by 2010 with each one costing about 15 million Yen (~$120,000.00.) That’s a hefty sum in our books, but probably not for construction companies that tire of employees who demand extra coffee breaks at the first sign of a summer shower. Check out their HRP-2 to see the bot in action.
Read More | Space Daily
Gallery: Promets To Replace Wet-Weather Whiners
Tiro Presides Over South Korean Wedding
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science,
In what is believed to be a world’s first, South Korean Hanool Robotics’ Tiro acted as master of ceremonies for Seok Gyeong-Jae, one of its engineers, and his new wife. The robot is apparently worth about KRW200 million (~$215,053.00) and will eventually feature a “more romantic” female voice. They are hoping to upgrade so that it can be used in the future for other applications, perhaps acting as arbitrator in a divorce in case Seok spends more time with Tiro than the blushing bride.
Read More | Physorg
Gallery: Tiro Presides Over South Korean Wedding
Meet the RoboCop of Russia
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
Russia will now be able to keep up with their bad guys with the aid of R Bot 001 AKA Robokopa. Now on the streets of Perm, which is just outside of Moscow, he will primarily be used to record actions of offenders such as those who have had a little too much to drink. It then quotes the citizen the appropriate law that it is breaking in a monotone that would probably make anyone think she/he had just seen the equivalent of a pink elephant in her/his drunken state.
The giant egg-shaped Robocop weighs 250 kg and costs the department $10,000.00 per bot. By the way, the force reports that not all the bugs have been worked out as yet, for when it was recently surrounded by several small children attempting to look into its cameras, it threatened them. It seems to us that they could just get a real police officer to do the same thing for a lot less rubles.
Read More | Russian Federal Release (translated)
Gallery: Meet the RoboCop of Russia
The last time we were in Mexico, we saw Americans spending pesos just to see, “¿Quién es más macho?” It turns out that the Mexicans were, for these determined types were paying to be shocked by low voltage tasers. Now, they can not only play at home, they can force others to play with them. The Shooting Duel consists of 2 joysticks joined with a 40 cm cable that emit ever-increasing intermittent shocks in a toy that is basically a version of electric chicken. Let go before the other guy and you lose. Don’t play to begin with and you win. Available for $19.99, each controller is 13 cm tall, requires 3 AAA batteries (not included,) and comes with the warning that it is not recommended for those who suffer from seizures or are under the age of 14.
Read More | Shocking Fun
Gallery: Playing With Non-Joysticks
ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) recently unveiled its new pet, Kobie, at the SEK 2007 in Korea. Try as we might, we could not find out much info about the furry koala beyond the fact that it must keep its owners company and has all the silent fuzzies included with a gadget of this caliber. Because the bot has a connection crammed up its nose, we assume there is some software involved to make it more of a companion than the usual stuffed pet. No matter. We just had to present it to Gear Livers who never get enough of our kuddly kreatures.
Read More | Aving
Gallery: Kobie Keeps You Kompany
Although there are only three species of bats that actually drink human blood, people are scared of them nonetheless. We have always believed in bat boxes to encourage the creatures to multiply (and eat our overabundance of mosquitoes.) It seems that they are also on the decline in London, so artist/designer Alex Metcalf designed new homes for them. On display this week at the Royal College of Art Summer Show, he makes even the most unassuming bat look like they are definitely moving on up.
Read More | we make money not art
