Peter Mychalcewycz
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Ford Adds Inflatable Seat Belts to New SUVs
Seat belts are the foundation of automobile safety, and they are receiving a high-tech makeover from none other than Ford Motor Company.According to a Ford press release, rear passengers in the company's 2010 Explorers will be the first to experience inflatable seat belt technology. The seat belts look just like traditional seat belts, but inflate within 40 milliseconds following a crash (video after the break). Ford says, "inflatable belt helps distribute crash force energy across five times more of the occupant's torso than a traditional belt," essentially expanding the protection and redistributing pressure, keeping rib cages safer and impact less direct. The increased area of protection is particularly beneficial to children and the elderly, who can find the physically jarring crash particularly traumatic.
Knockoff Michael Jackson Cell Phone Redefines Gaudy
The Michael Jackson phone, manufactured by a Chinese imitation goods company, is in the very poorest of spectacularly poor taste. It boasts enough faux gold and jewels to make a Liberace impersonator cringe, and it has the audacity to come packaged with a Michael Jackson DVD. (We can only assume that the manufacturer and distributor of this shiny P.O.S. made sure the accompanying DVD was a bootleg of the highest order.)
This phone is garish, disgusting, and exploitative. That being said, at least the phone gaudily admits the fact that it's exploitative. It's honest, in a way. And that's a lot more than we can say for that streaming biopic from last month. [From: Mashable]
Gift Guide: Garmin Approach G5 GPS Golf Companion
Garmin Approach G5 (Sports Fan, Under $500)
To some, the game of golf is nothing more than a good walk spoiled. For the true disciples of the game, it is a test of character and mental fortitude. Both parties agree that it can flat out embarrass you.
For those who could use an ace up their sleeve (we're talking to you, everyone that isn't Tiger Woods) the Garmin Approach G5 might be just what is needed need to kick start their game. This golfer-friendly GPS device comes preloaded with thousands of courses' information, providing users with real time info on shot distances, hazards, and weather/wind conditions. The G5 also doubles as a four-person score card.
Golf can be a humbling endeavor. Tell your golfers to prepare themselves accordingly.
Silk-Silicon Implants Could Connect to Your Brain, Enable LED Tattoos
Researchers have developed a new type of super-thin silicon transistor, which can be embedded on a dissolvable silk-based film (pictured). Brian Litt, associate professor of neurology and bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, told Technology Review, "Current medical devices are very limited by the fact that the active electronics have to be 'canned,' or isolated from the body, and are on rigid silicon." These new silicon-silk implants are much easier to place within a body: the silk sheet "melts away," and the transistors are small enough that they don't irritate tissues.
iPhone App, Where's My Car?
We love holiday shopping as much as the next person, but we could do without the mammoth parking lots (and our embarrassing inability to navigate them). Honestly, is there anything more demoralizing, after a successful raid on Walmart, than not being able to find your own car when you get outside? We think not.Thankfully, there is hope for the parking-lot challenged, and it comes in the form of 'Car Finder' [App Store link]. Using augmented reality (real-time video overlaid with computer-generated graphics), this marvel is available from Apple's App Store for $0.99. It sounds cool, and it is. Simply use the app to mark your car's location, and walk away. On your way back, Car Finder, in conjunction with the iPhone's built-in GPS, lets you view your surroundings in on the iPhone's screen. Simply rotate your body until the screen displays the general direction of your wayward automobile, and a big red arrow will guide you to the icon that represents your car's location. Neat, huh?
United Airlines Messes With Wrong Traveler... Again
A near celebrity in the eyes of anyone who's logged onto YouTube (or Switched) in past months, Canadian singer David Carroll was less than pleased when United Airlines baggage handlers broke his guitar last summer. United initially refused to pay the $1,200 repair fee, but -- after Carroll's song 'United Breaks Guitars' (video after the break) attracted millions of YouTube viewers and got nearly ...'This Is Why You're Fat' Twitter Contest Involves... Eating
With obesity levels rising, the U.S. population's affection for junk food is obvious. In case you needed further proof of our flabby nation's torrid love affair with gut-bombs, we would like to present the Eat N Tweet Challenge.
Created by This is Why You're Fat, the Web site dedicated to all things artery-clogging, the Eat N Tweet Challenge pits contestants in a race against time, each other, ...The Science of Mona Lisa's Smile
The subtle complexity of Mona Lisa's sly smirk has captivated generations of casual art enthusiasts, academics, and even scientists. In reality, it is a fine sliver of paint, but in the realm of art, it acts as a monument to the indefinable. But it's time to end the infernal debate: is it a smile or not?
According to a study conducted at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante, Spain, the ...Solid Alliance's 'Crazy Earphones' Are Just That
A new line of earbuds from Solid Alliance has drawn attention for its, shall we say, less than palatable designs, and as a public service to our readers, we would like to agree with all the haters. Beauty may reside in the eye of the beholder, but so does ugly.
The increasingly derided and aptly named Crazy Earphones line consists of four truly dumbfounding designs: sushi roll, banana, cat ...Scubacraft Lets You Conquer the Sea, for a Mere $164k
Hybrid automobiles may be the future of mass terrestrial transport, but their vanilla styling and performance simply do not compare to the sheer awesomeness of one new aquatic counterpart. Put it this way, we just don't see James Bond tearing through a foreign metropolis in a Prius. Put Bond in a boat/submarine hybrid in a Venice canal, however, and he looks right at home.
The Scubacraft is ...
