D-I-Y electric bike for you!

Electric cars and bikes have become mainstream technology today. No one blinks an eyelid when you see “just another electric bike” making rounds of your city. For extremely eco-conscious bikers, even these so-called eco friendly bikes leave a slight dent in their minds. Why?! You may ask. The reason is simple. You have to charge these bikes after all! The power for charging these come from that plug point in your garage, which in turn uses powered generated by burning fossil fuels (mostly!). Ok, that might have sounded a tad far fetched but well.. It’s the truth.

Enter the ubiquitous little solar panel. This might be the ultimate tree hugging technology ever. Generate your own electricity using the power of the ever shining Sun! The following is what you get if you cram a geeky, eco conscious guy with access to solar panels and give him a bike to toy around with.

I am talking about Prometheus LLC’s first attempt at a solar powered bike. While it may look a tad gaudy, it does its job pretty well. Based on a Kawasaki Ninja 250, this unnamed model packs in a unknown number of lithium -ion phosphate batteries rated at 4.6 kWh mated to a 10 HP Perm PMG 132 motor. The result is a 70mph top speed with a range of about 50 miles. If you’re still looking for solar panels on the bike, I’m sorry, you won’t find any. The panels come separately -- so that you can generate electricity of your own for your bike. Oh and did I say that this bike is not for sale? If you want one, make one. All instructions in D-I-Y format at the Prometheus website. Before you decide to plunge in, make sure you have a nice bank balance, and in case you finally manage to build it, get a full face helmet as well so that people don’t recognize you as the guy with the ugliest bike in town.

Via: Engadget

Techtree Link

TiLR: Your new Robotic boss.

Remember the days when you heaved a sigh of relief when you heard someone say “boss aint comin in today!”? The good ol’ days when you had your boss out on a business trip and getting to see his monotonous face on that tiny laptop whenever you had those boring teleconferencing sessions? Yes? Remember mimicking your boss behind the laptop that’s showing his pompous face? 

Well, relish all those moments because a company called Robo Dynamics has created this uglier (depending on which side of the divide you stand) version of your boss complete with eyes- and wheels for boots so that the boss can take a look at what exactly is going on at “work” when he’s not around. TiLR (pronounced Tie Ler) will be able to move about the office, interact with the favorite secretary and hear in stereo, all of your anti boss tirades – thanks to bi-directional video and audio. To make things worse, you will also be able to see his face in full glory on that 8” screen. Telepresence they call it. 

For those who are already lookin’ for a loophole, this thing runs WinXP Pro. If you manage to find the hard drive and crash it…well you have a clue! 

Full specs here  

Techtree link

Look ma, they pimped our home phone!

Just when you thought the landline was dying a slow, predictable death, here’s something that could help delay or even stop the inevitable!

Enter Open Peak’s Home Media phone with guess what? An Intel Atom processor inside! What has a home phone got to do with an Intel Atom processor? Precisely our thoughts when we first heard of this. So here we go.

OpenPeak’s latest gizmo can be termed a basic VoIP handset and a base station – but the package offers a whole lot more than any standard home phone on sale today. To start with, this looks nothing like a home-phone, until you see the virtual keypad. The computer-like, touch screen interface uses its own flash-based Operating System. Then there is the option to connect this with home automation software to control household electronics. The UI and the icons although iPhone like -- is said to be a breeze to use and folks at Gizmodo has come out with rave reviews. And yes, the base unit has a speakerphone as well!


The device has an RSS reader but strangely, no web browser. This anomaly could be easily fixed considering that the API is available with developers who will come out with a large set of applications.

Open Peak revealed that this could be on sale as early as January 2009. No details regarding the price – as of now.

The Megalodon: 7.1 for your ears

If you though 5.1 channel surround in headphones was going too overboard, look what folks at Razer have done!

Presenting, the Razer Megalodon, a 7.1 channel surround USB headset with microphone. For those who are unaware, Megalodon is the name of a prehistoric giant shark, which would have made the current Great white sharks turn in their graves.

This beauty (or beast, depending on which side of the divide you stand), comes with Megalodon’s maelstrom audio processor and has something called HRTF (head-related transfer function) which supposedly enriches the surround sound experience. The kit includes a remote control, which has buttons to switch from standard 2.0 stereo mode to 7.1 mode. And yes, its plug and play.

At $149.99, this is strictly for those who cannot afford a full-blown 7.1 set up but would still like to have a share of the fun. Expect this in Q4 this year.

WiFi Mouse from Ozmo!

In a move to compete with established wireless solutions like Bluetooth and IR, Ozmo is working on a low –power, Wi-Fi Personal Area Network solution. One of the first products to use this might be the optical mouse reference kit announced earlier this month.

The reference design kit code-named OZMO-AV35-RD supposedly uses the Ozmo Devices OZMO1000 IC, and Avago’s ADNB-3532 optical mouse sensor.

Dave Timm, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ozmo Devices says “Wi-Fi PAN is rapidly emerging as the technology of choice for peripheral product connectivity. Our Wi-Fi PAN solution leverages the Wi-Fi capability already present in many platforms, eliminating the need for an additional radio or a dongle. Through this collaboration, Ozmo Devices and Avago Technologies make possible the rapid development of Wi-Fi PAN based mouse products. By combining our low-power single chip IC with Avago’s industry leading LED-based and laser-based navigation sensors, mouse manufacturers now have a solution superior to any based on legacy wireless methods.”

The reference kit is currently being demonstrated at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

Source: I4U News