Wave power is definitely an interesting alternative when it comes to environmentally sustainable electricity. A prototype called Searaser has an interesting take on the technology, it uses wave power to pump water 650 feet uphill and then generates hydroelectric power by allowing the water to return downhill. The makers say that a full-sized model (the picture is a scaled down prototype) could power up to 470 homes, and that a deployment of 43,000 could power 20 million. [Times Online via Tree Hugger, DVICE]
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If you are trying to keep track of how inebriated you are then the Last Call iPhone app might offer a little insight. It is, for want of a better term, a drunkenness calculator. Enter in your body weight and how many drinks you have consumed and it will let you know how close to being hammered you are. If you are over the limit and need to get a taxi home, it will call one for you.
The Lego Safe is not just any Lego project, as the video after the jump reveals. It comes packed with a motion sensor, so it can’t be carried off and has a lock with five double digit codes to give a total of 305 billion possible combinations. Once you have dialed up the correct combination on the electronic screen, the door will open automatically; nice. (more…)
For the 3rd year in a row, we bring you the coolest collection of toys on the planet. As we do ever year we add one more number to the list from the year previously which takes us to lucky number 13.
Without further ado, here is the 2008 collection of the coolest toys around. From hand crank locomotives to a dinosaur that gives bouncy rides, these toys are perfect for kids of all ages. Enjoy.
The Hand Crank Locomotives
The hand crank trains makes me wish I was a kid again, or at least a kid with rich parents.
This is the heirloom locomotive reminiscent of the ones encountered at carnivals and fairs in the 1940s that uses the simple pushing and pulling of a child’s arms on a hand-crank to propel it around an outdoor track. Each of the two included locomotives is made from cast aluminum with stainless-steel crank handles, and supports a single child up to 100 lbs. Minimal effort is required of children as they crank, so each train glides easily on precision-crafted, cast-iron wheels with a familiar “click-clack” sound with no slipping. The 30′ diam. 12-gauge circular track is made of welded steel, and sets up in under one hour with the included fasteners and wrenches; Includes two locomotives and track. Includes two nylon covers to protect locomotives. Ages 3-13.
Firing your Snowball Blaster is a simple process, pack the snow into the forming chambers, pull back the slingshot firing mechanism and let rip on targets up to 50 feet away. There are three forming chambers, which make three snowballs that are said to be perfectly spherical. You will always win the snowball fight as long as the snowball blaster is around.
Price: $30
[ via Geek Alerts]
EyeClops Night Vision Goggles
If your looking for a great excuse to buy the night vision goggles, ThinkGeek has you covered:
Here’s the situation: you wake up in the middle of the night and you have to pee. Real bad. But you don’t want to turn on all the lights, for they will burn your eyes with their incandescence. So, you either injure yourself, stumbling in the darkness, or you wet your bed. Neither is fun. If you have some of these awesome Night Vision Goggles next to your bed, you’ll be able to see in the dark and pee in safety and ease.
Ok, so you might think these things are just toys, the type that say “night vision” but really just have a pop out flashlight. Nope. These are the real deal; true infrared night vision, for the price of a toy. You can’t imagine the happy dance we did when we realized these worked really well. Now we can sneak around like the ninjas we know we are, in the dark, watching all - and you won’t be able to see us. Unless you’re a ninja too, and have some EyeClops Night Vision Goggles of your own.
If your kid loves to build stuff, especially 7′ 10′ towers this toy is for them. Plus, any company that starts with the word Uber, you now they must be good.
This complete professional construction kit is for architects, engineers, students and anyone that loves to build! Build representations of existing sky scrapers, bridges, and other structures Create prototypes of your own designs Basic building techniques are provided which show you how to create load-bearing walls, curves, arches, etc. 8 Foundation plans are included Build a sky scraper from real blueprints Learn to build from blueprints. Full scale blueprints are included that teach how to build from plan views, isometric views, detailed views and more. Download and print your building permit and learn about wind loads and seismic loads.
An awesome, prehistoric friend, KOTA The Triceratops Dinosaur from Playskool is ready to accompany your imaginative child on all kinds of adventures. With lots of sound effects, including music, munching, stomping, and roaring, this baby dinosaur is a realistic creation. He even moves his head and tail and blinks his eyes. KOTA is built so that curious kids three and older and up to 60 pounds can enjoy a bouncing ride.
ASRock has figured out a way to get a clean boot of Vista running in a mere three to four seconds. As long as you have an ASRock motherboard with AMD’s 780G or 790GX chipsets, or Intel’s P45 or P43 chipsets, a bios update can see you getting the same performance.
According to Custom PC UK:
The idea behind Instant Boot is that it takes advantage of the S3 and S4 features of ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface), which normally enable the Sleep/Standby and Hibernation modes in Windows respectively. However, by calling them at different times in the boot-up and shutdown process, Instant Boot enables you to boot up to your Windows desktop in three to four seconds, even after a proper Shut Down.
Booting in four seconds would certainly motivate me to get back on my desktop and actually turn it off once in a while, unfortunately I don’t have an ASRock board, but considering that ASRock is the budget wing of Asus, there is hope yet. This is a whole lot better than Splashtop. [Custom PC UK via Slashdot]
