Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!
If you want to stay on top of all of our video reviews of the latest tech, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Gear Live YouTube channel, hosted by Andru Edwards! It’s free!
Latest Gear Live Videos
Fergie’s Hummer Auctioned for Charity
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Hot Deals, Internet, Transportation,
You have another chance to own a piece of a celebrity. Fergie was so moved by the sentiment of Live Earth that she decided to sell her Hummer on eBay and donate all of the proceeds to Global Green. The auction is part of eBay’s attempt at helping to save the planet with its Giving Works program, which donates 10 to 100% of sellers’ proceeds to benefit environmental charities. The bidding war will go on until Sept. 14, with the current bid around $64,000. We were just thinking that with all the gas it takes to move a Hummer, perhaps a better idea would be to offer up a more fuel-efficient vehicle.
Read More 
| eBay
Gallery: Fergie’s Hummer Auctioned for Charity
Advertisement
Proteus Heads For the Water
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
Developed for biological studies, water exploration, rescue, and the military, the Proteus has begun taking a few test drives around the States. The wave adaptive modular vessel can travel up to 5,000 miles on 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Its debut was in New York and it is planning on working its way to San Francisco in January before it moves on to Washington, D.C.
At a size of 100 x 50 feet and a cost of about $1.5 million, the vehicle has metal and fabric pontoons with hinges for skimming up to 30 knots (34.5 mph) while cushioned by shock absorbers. It also can be fitted with different detachable cabins for up to 12 passengers. Named after the Greek sea god who could alter his appearance, we think the Proteus will look a bit strange at first glance and just may scare off the enemy without doing anything but hanging out.
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: Proteus Heads For the Water
Wheelchair Moves by Thoughts
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
Ambient has created a wheelchair that runs on its passenger’s thoughts. It does this with the help of Audeo, a system that catches signals in the larynx from the brain on their way to the voice box. They are then sent to a computer which decodes them and matches them up to pre-recorded words that moves the chair in the specified direction. The company feels that the technology could also work to help those who cannot speak by relaying the messages to a synthesizer. Kudos to Ambient for believing that “everyone should be able to express their thought and ideas.”
Read More | Gearfuse
Gallery: Wheelchair Moves by Thoughts
Last month we told you about NY cabbies who were disgruntled about the new requirement that all taxis have GPS and touchscreen monitors that allow customers to pay by credit card. Yesterday began a two day strike that showed that the drivers were serious in their threats about suffering a lack of privacy with the new rule. Backed by The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, it wasn’t apparent how many took part in the strike and the ramifications of the opposition remain to be seen since other groups opposed the strike.
Read More | ABC
Gallery: NYC Cabbies Stage Strike
Make Tracks With This USB Car
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Toys, Transportation, USB,
Our pick for USB toy of the week is this RC car. You control its six directions from your computer with software for up to a distance of 4 feet (cable included.) The minute vehicle’s size is 8.5 x 4.5 x 3.3 cm, weighs 44 g, and is compatible with Windows 2000/XP. After only a few minutes in its garage for a charge, add decals, honk the horn, and off you go for only $29.99. Check out the demo on brando to watch it go through its paces.
(Thanks, Fanny)
Read More | usb.brando
Gallery: Make Tracks With This USB Car
Isn’t That a Giant Banana Over Walmart?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
Argentinian César Sáez, now based in Montreal, creates socially interactive sculptures and is now working on a Geostationary Banana. Designed with a propeller for the lower atmosphere, it will control itself with the help of two gyroscopes when it reaches up to 50km high. At a size of almost 300 meters in length, it has a semi-rigid bamboo structure, a skin of synthetic paper, and will ultimately cost over 1 million dollars. Sáez and his team are planning to launch the vehicle next August from Sonoma or Baja, Mexico destined for Texas.
We couldn’t really find any explanation for the launching of the giant banana blimp, although his site mentions possible reasons such as a tribute to the advertising industry and Andy Warhol. Why Texas? There are lots of “Walmarts, Exxons and Haliburtons there,” or perhaps because “there are no banana plantations in Texas.” We just wondered if it will have to be quarantined before entering the states.
Read More | Flasher
Gallery: Isn’t That a Giant Banana Over Walmart?
Recently unveiled at the IFA 2007, the Navigon 2100 features a 3.5-inch anti-glare touchscreen, simplified menus, and spoken directions with its text-to-speech. Their Reality View displays geometry and road sign text with automatic speed warnings. The exclusive technology provides 2D and 3D, photo-realistic, virtual views of intersections. Look for the navigational device this fall with an MSRP of $249.00. We wonder if the future of such gadgets will provide us with back seat drivers and directions to the nearest pit stop.
Read More | BetaNews
Gallery: Navigon GPS Speaks
Inflight Power Recorder Takes to the Sky
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Accessories, USB, Misc. Tech, Transportation,
If you do a lot of flying, the Inflight Power Recorder plugs into any passenger seat audio jack and outputs regulated power to the attached USB charging cable/connector. It’s available in four units, the basic one for $34.99, the iPod/iPhone bundle for $44.99, the Blackberry model with a mini-B tip that will also work with some MOTOs and RIMs for $44.99. For heavy gadget hogs, the Power Executive comes with with both tips for $49.99.
Read More | Inflight Power
Gallery: Inflight Power Recorder Takes to the Sky
China Announces Crazy Soldiers
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Editorial, Transportation,
Just as the American Hummer was created as an offspring of the military Humvee, the Chinese car company Dongfeng developed the EQ2050 for theirs, complete with Cummins turbodeisel. Now they have taken that idea and created a civilian version called the Crazy Soldier. The new vehicle is to be launched early next year, at prices starting at about $185,000.00, hoping that telecom and forestry companies will see this is as a nifty knockoff. We hope they check the composition of the paint before they release it, thinking that the name of the vehicle may in fact end up describing its drivers and passengers.
Read More | edmunds
Gallery: China Announces Crazy Soldiers
First Space Hotel Planned for 2012
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
What began as an idea from former aerospace engineer Xavier Claramunt may become reality in 2012. Galactic Suite will be the first hotel in space and allows a round-the-world experience in only 80 minutes. Booking a room doesn’t come cheaply, as a 3-day stay will cost $4 million. While there, guests can wear velcro suits to crawl and stick around their pod/rooms and will be able to see sunrise 15 times a day. Claramunt, the company’s director, says that the hotel was created keeping in mind that each pod had to fit inside a rocket.
“It’s the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge,” says Claramunt. “How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy.”
Even if we had sufficient funding to travel to the posh resort, we think we will pass, as we get a bit nauseous just eating in revolving restaurants.
Read More | CNN
