Have you ever been torn between your love of both cars and bikes? You can’t beat the thrill of riding a motorbike, but when the weather is terrible, don’t you just long for the comfort of a car? Alvino Design has come up with a solution in the form of their Proxima car/bike hybrid concept.
The Proxima is a stunning vehicle that looks like a hotrod at the front and a motorcycle at the rear. The cabin has 2 tandem seats for a motorcycle-like seating arrangement but instead of being exposed to the elements, are tucked inside a fully-enclosed cabin. Apart from providing comfortable, all-weather riding, it should also improve aerodynamics considerably.
The wheel arrangement might be seen to offer less maneuverability than a traditional motorcycle, but at the same time could present a whole new level of excitement and capabilities.
If you’re into odd-shaped vehicles, this should definitely be up your alley. For those who are not, you’ve got to appreciate the elegant tapering that makes this car a work of art.
It would be a scary future indeed if we found a giant dyson hurtling towards us each time we try to cross the road. That’s exactly what designer Ashley Cichocki has in mind with his M.01 concept car that folds in on itself when stationary to maximize parking space.
The design utilizes super stretchy fabrics over a pneumatic skeleton to facilitate the strange morphing action, which reminds me a lot of BMW’s GINA Light Visionary Model.
At speed, the body stretches out to provide more stability and contracts to squeeze into a parking space as small as two meters.
As with most car concepts these days, it is designed to be environmentally friendly and would run on hydrogen from a tank stashed in the rear of the body.
Elpida Memory Inc has come up with a 1GB DDR3 SDRAM module that is capable of achieving speeds of up to 2Gbps, topping the fastest industry standard of 1600Mbps. The module is also very energy efficient, requiring 35% less current than the company’s existing chips.
The chip should be popular for low-power devices as it can run at the current standard of 1600Mbps using only 1.35V as opposed to the usual 1.5V.
The breakthrough was achieved using 65nm process technology and mass production of the chip is slated for October this year.
For those who haven’t heard of Elpida before, they are a company based in Tokyo, Japan who specialize in the production of fast, high density, energy efficient DRAM. They were only established in 1999, yet have achieved a number of significant breakthroughs.
Scientists in Japan have developed a new kind of flash memory that could potentially last hundreds of years. The new ferroelectric Nand Flash chip can also be made smaller and uses less power than current chips.
Flash chips are everywhere these days, providing storage on USB thumb drives, mini notebooks like the Eee PC, gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii, digital cameras as well as SSD hard disk drives and countless other devices.
These chips offer us a large amount of storage in a slim, lightweight design, but not many people realize that they are expected to have a lifetime of only 10 years.
These new chips can be written to over 100 million times versus just 10,000 times with today’s chips. They also use less than 6 volts when writing, compared with 20 volts currently.
Maybe we should put off getting that new thumb drive for a bit, eh?
Samsung has today made its new TL34HD digital camera official. The compact point-and-shoot will feature high-definition video recording, an impressive 14.7 megapixels of resolution and a renowned Schneider 28mm lens with 3.6x optical zoom.
Samsung says it’s the most advanced point-and-shoot in the company’s history and will come in a very slim form factor too, measuring just 3.68″ x 2.34″ x 0.80″.
The back of the camera is dominated by a 3-inch touchscreen hVGA LCD which uses Samsung’s Smart Touch 2.0 interface to improve user navigation. The LCD has a high resolution of 460K pixels and a new anti-reflection coating to improve visibility and usability.
The software adds a new feature taken from the desktop. A recycling bin. This may be useful for people who accidently delete a lot of images, but generally could be quite an annoying addition.
The body is an all-metal build and will be available in either all-black or silver with red accents. It will be available in September this year for $329.95 MSRP.
Belkin have found another use for Apple’s ingenious/frustrating MagSafe magnetic power adapter. They have put together a guitar cable called the ‘BreakFree’ that utilizes the technology to prevent guitar and cable damage. Unfortunately, it ruins your fun at the same time.
In theory – the idea is pure genius, but in practice – just downright frustrating. Who wants to be suddenly disconnected from their cranked up amp while dancing around with their guitar?
I know it ruins your lead, I know it ruins your jack and I know if someone trips over your cord while your guitar is resting it will go flying, just as a laptop would – but this is Rock ‘N’ Roll, man.
The reason it works on laptops is because there is backup power supplied by the battery, allowing you to keep working for hours before having to plug it in again. Try using a dead battery in a MagSafe MacBook and you’ll see what I mean. A slight tug on the cable will disconnect it and you lose everything you were working on.
For anyone really worried about possible guitar/cable damage, consider a wireless guitar system instead.
As a part of Timex’s global design competition, a state-of-the-art watch concept was presented that looks like the latest in spy gadgetry. The watch is worn on a thumbnail, much like an acrylic nail and when deactivated, the transparent watch is virtually undetectable.
The display activates on command and can be tweaked to illuminate in a range of colors, but could it also be configured to display not only the time but perhaps secret spy data?
I’m envisioning this as Bond’s latest timepiece – not merely a watch, but a concealed information device. You with me? It could display coordinates or other mission critical data from MI6, even whilst captured.
Personally, I’d like to see a phone incorporated into this design. We could wear a transparent speaker on our thumb and a transparent mic on our pinky and walk around making and taking calls using that globally recognizable “call me” hand gesture.
A company called MonoMobile has developed a type of automobile that could very well help to provide us with cheap, rapid, personal and oil-free transportation through an ingenious merging of two existing technologies.
Their Liberator car is a cross between a lightweight electric automobile and a monorail carriage which provides the benefits of mass transportation whilst maintaining the personal comfort and freedom that comes with owning your own vehicle.
The car runs on battery power to get around town but when you need to go further, you can hook up to an electrified monorail highway. This transports you at up to 200 mph to your destination and charges your battery simultaneously.
The developers of the car, Jay Andress and Andy Webster say the car (originally called the CityEl) will free drivers to use their time more productively on long-haul road trips as they don’t need to control the vehicle on the monorail.
Apparently, the required monorail infrastructure will cost less than 1/10th of traditional highways and the computer-controlled vehicle separation will eliminate congestion. Lets hope these guys get the chance to bring this brilliant idea to the public.
If you’re looking for the ultimate hardcore motorcycle, you can’t go past this road-ready model by a Mr Clemens F. Leonhardt. This rider-dwarfing monster is no concept, it is set for series production. If you’re game, go and show all those Harley riders who’s boss.
The Gunbus is powered by a 410-cubic-inch, air-cooled, pushrod V-Twin and is sure to scare just about everyone who sees you coming.
I’m not sure how easy it will be to make turns with this monster, it could prove quite difficult with so much weight and such a long wheelbase, but that’s not the point, right?
Despite its massive size, it is by no means the largest bike in the world. That title belongs to this bike and probably always will.
The Gunbus could take bike stunts to a new level – but I doubt we’ll see anything like the madness in the video below. Check it out – Death wish or what?
Ruyan America is about to launch their Vegas Freestyle E-cigar which is likely the most high-tech cigar ever created. Designed to look and feel like a real cigar, minus the chemicals, it will get you 1800 drags of ‘flavorful’ vapor.
The cigar incorporates a microchip, atomizer, airflow sensor and liquid cartridge to emulate the look and feel of breathing and exhaling smoke.
With all the good stuff removed, I guess the only real danger involved with using one of these cigars is being called a poser. But, if you’re seriously thinking about getting one, you’re probably already used to that.
The company also makes e-cigarettes which add nicotine to the vapor for smokers to get a toxin-free fix or for quitters trying to cut down on their habit. Could these be the cigarettes of the future? A hit of nicotine, minus the tar? Being a smoker myself, I’d quite like to give one a try
Mark's Technology News:
Reports on the latest and greatest achievements in the world of technology. Featuring everything from gadgets and electronics to communications and internet developments, scientific and environmental breakthroughs to advancements in design, lifestyle, transportation and renewable energies.
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