Posts by Category: cool tech

Funky stuff, man!

cool tech November 9, 2006 posted by

Like – visual shopping search

The good folk at Riya appear to have given up on face recognition search and launched a shopping search tool called Like.com . The new service is very clever and lets you find a product that looks similar to something you’ve seen or can describe. Hmm…why can’t I shake this feeling that they’ve blown through a bunch of VC cash and now the backers are demanding a product which can make money, and fast? So now, up pops this very vertical – ladies shopping…


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cool tech November 7, 2006 posted by

Weebly – webby website maker

Weebly is a new service which combines cool new Web 2.0 tools like Ajax, drag and drop, themes etc and throws in some plug in smarts to make for a super easy site creator. Think of it as Geocities for the 21st century. I haven’t managed to get in to play yet, so I’m relying on the videocast, but even so I do have reservations about this type of service, good as it may be. The big if – do people really…


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cool tech November 4, 2006 posted by

The Electric SUV – if you can’t beat them…?

The eBox Electric Power SUV. Using the same basic power train as the new Tesla EV sports car, this tricked out Toyota Scion xB goes 0–60 in under 7 seconds, is electronically limited to 90 mph, has a 140 to 180 mile range and comes with power steering, air conditioning and a 5300 cell Li-Ion battery. Oh and it costs 0.02c per mile to run. The Scion will cost you around $15,000, and the EV conversion will add $55,000 on…


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cool tech October 30, 2006 posted by

Yamaha FC-me Fuel Cell Scooter

The Yamaha FC-me Fuel Cell Scooter. Yamaha has a commercially available fuel cell scooter available? Really? Who would have thought? It sounds as if it’s in private beta, but still…  The “Yamaha Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) System” uses a liquid methanol-water solution as its fuel, which eliminates the need for a converter and a pressurized (fuel) tank and thus makes it possible to create a lightweight system for a small vehicle requiring power in the 1 kW range without…


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cool tech October 20, 2006 posted by

RoamCon – control your home while you roam

RoamCon lets you control your home from your mobile phone and receive alerts if anything happens while you’re sunning yourself on the beach. We’re talking remote CCTV security cameras, heating, lighting, smoke detectors and all that kind of stuff handled via IP and a super whizzy DVR. Judging by the blurb it’s designed for rich people (You can use the system in your City flat to monitor your house in the Cotswolds and your apartment in the Antibes) but hey, who…


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cool tech October 20, 2006 posted by

odiogo – hear the web speak

Odiogo. Had a long chat with Marc Kawam, the CEO of this company, the other evening in town. Nice guy. I have to confess that I wasn’t really listening with all ears as he explained that his product lets you listen to RSS feeds on your iPod or other audio player. Ho hum. Then he handed over his phone to let me listen to a sample and wow, the audio quality of the ‘machine’ reader was superb, in places it sounded just like a real…


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cool tech October 19, 2006 posted by

Magic Advert Mirror

The Magic Mirror transforms any ordinary mirror into an advertising billboard when you walk in front of it. Yep, we’re talking a kind of Minority Report tech but without the personalisation. Check out the rather cool video. Apparently it’s all done with a single sheet of paper and the equivalent of a household battery.  Lighted mirror box will transform any ordinary mirror into a bright full color display advertisement. Motion sensor that can detect any object approaching the mirror and…


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Bookmark This! October 10, 2006 posted by

Multiply – the web stage

Multiply. I’ve been playing around with the Multiply personal portal for the past few days and it’s excellent. Think of it as an online stage where you can strut your stuff to friends, strangers and family. You can run a blog, store and show off your photos, music and videos and also maintain a calendar so your friends and family can keep up with your rad lifestyle. All sounds pretty ho-hum eh? But the secret sauce lies in the fact…


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cool tech October 2, 2006 posted by

Espresso Book Machine

The Espresso Book Machine. This isn’t the first time that we’ve covered on-demand printing machines, but maybe this time something will come of it. The machine is the black perspex block on the top right, which is hooked up to two standard laser printers. It can produce a single 148 page book on demand in 8 minutes, from an order placed locally or via the Internet. Video here (the interesting bit is in the last third of the footage when…


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cool tech September 20, 2006 posted by

Digg tech.

Couple of cool Digg tools I stumbled across the other day – Stack and Swarm. Both offer innovative ways of looking at the flow of information through the mega news portal. My fave is Stack, which could develop into something genuinely useful. Nice to see a young company working on new stuff like this. Check them out.


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cool tech August 28, 2006 posted by

Making High Dynamic Range photos.

High Dynamic Range photography is pretty cool. You need some clever HDR software (or freeware even) and an eye for a good scene, but basically all you’re doing is combining different exposures in the same shot to produce eerily surreal images. Here’s a tutorial to get you started. Oh and yes, you will need a digital camera, but you guessed that already, didn’t you?


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cool tech August 23, 2006 posted by

The Odor Recorder.

The Odor Recorder. It may not look like much now, but this machine is probably the first smell recorder in the world. Now close your eyes and imagine a world where we routinely transmit smells from place to place. Where restaurants can send you the smell of their menu while you’re ordering a take-out online. The trick apparently lies in digitizing the components of the smell and recreating them at the other end.  The principle of the odor recorder peroformance is as follows….


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cool tech August 21, 2006 posted by

Stop saw. Save fingers.

SawStop. They say it’s the world’s safest table saw. Apparently there’s 60,000 table saw related injuries every year in the US alone. One every 9 minutes. Youch! This puppy puts an end to the serious injuries because it stops the blade within 1/200th of a second and retracts it out of harm’s way. Pretty cool tech all round, and if’n you don’t believe take a look at the hot-dog demo video .  The SawStop safety system includes an electronic detection system that detects…


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cool tech August 18, 2006 posted by

Compressed air car.

The MDI MiniCat Compressed Air Car runs on…ah…air. Well strictly speaking there will be two versions, one which runs on air alone and a hybrid which will use air for urban about town stuff, and an eco fuel for longer distance, more high speed journeys. Priced at around €6,860 and at €1.5 for a three minute refill, a pretty cool option as long as you don’t mind driving atop a compressed tank. 150 km range, 110 km top speed. The Koreans are…


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cool tech August 8, 2006 posted by

Synthetic Gecko.

The jolly boffins at BAE Systems have developed a material called Synthetic Gecko that grips incredibly tightly without glue or pressure. They claim that a 1 metre square sheet of the stuff could actually suspend a family car, which is interesting tech indeed if true. They’ve managed this feat of skill by mimicking the microscopic splayed suckers on the end of the tiny creature’s toes. Kinda creepy, but hey, useful no? Watch out for this stuff on training shoes maybe (or…


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