Posts by Category: cool tech

Funky stuff, man!
cool tech September 4, 2007 posted by
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Photosynth – 3D fun and frolics with photographs

Proof that interesting stuff still trickles out of Microsoft labs now and then, Photosynth is a technology which takes a mass collection of images and creates a 3D environment which can be navigated and examined in detail. It’s rather too innovative to explain in words, so you’ll just have to explore the thing yourself. It’s fun.  Photosynth is an amazing new technology from Microsoft Live Labs that will change forever the way you think about digital photos…Our software takes a large collection…


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cool tech August 30, 2007 posted by
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Retro Electro Cars – give your Mini an ecological makeover

The folks at Future Vehicles have launched a Retro Electric Car Conversion service which will convert an olde worlde Mini (or other suitable bone shaker like a Citroen 2CV) into an electric vehicle. The entry level priced model will travel at 40 mph and have a range of 50 miles, but you’ll need to stump up £17,500 to experience the joy of such stylish silent motoring.   The classic Mini is an iconic city car, it is lightweight and fun to drive. Converting…


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cool tech August 30, 2007 posted by
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DIY upgradeable laptop – bling blang, it’s aluminium man

Torquil Harkness decided to build his own upgradeable laptop computer as a protest at the scarcity of good, cheap DIY laptop cases on the market. We share his angst. Repeat after us kittens, homebrew good, factory mediocre. Anyhoo, he’s ended up with a 2GHz machine with an ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card, all of which can be upgraded as tech improves. And it’s shiny, dude!  This, my first original computer design came out of frustration and I hope one day…


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cool tech August 29, 2007 posted by
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Network27 – bolt an online booking system onto your business fast

Network27 is a great idea. Need a booking system but can’t be bothered to create one yourself? Well fret no longer Mrs Busy Business Person, for help is at hand. Conferences, hotel rooms, lessons, hire, you name it. If you run a business which schedules customer services then this is one fast and easy way to replace your paper system or move it online. Priced from £9.99 per month for one business location.  Create your booking website by completing the signup form….


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Awesome August 27, 2007 posted by
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Broadband in the park – or how mobile broadband snuck up on us when we weren’t looking

It’s 2.00pm on a hot sunny afternoon and I’m blogging this from a deckchair in our local park using the new T-Mobile WebnWalk HSDPA USB Modem…and I’m gobsmacked. Long time readers of The Ferret will know that we’ve been looking forward to the arrival of mobile (i.e. cellular) broadband for ever, although we always figured it would need some fancy new techs to do it. Well we’ve got news for you….high speed mobile broadband is here, it’s affordable and it’s…


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cool tech August 25, 2007 posted by
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Sonex Electric Airplane – hum, crackle, swoop and soar

The Sonex Electric Airplane is a concept plane which runs on batteries. That’s right, you can recharge it from your wall socket and poodle off as and when you feel the need. Clever eh? Two things. First, there’s no way I’d trust any teeny tiny engine like that to keep me aloft at 5000 feet for any length of time and two, a 24 hour charging cycle for an hour’s flight time? Riiight! And it’s significant that while there’s a fancy…


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cool tech August 24, 2007 posted by
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RescueTime – time management gets superb automation tool

I’ve been beta testing RescueTime for the past week and it rocks. We first mentioned it back in June and now that I’ve had a chance to play with it I can honestly say that this is one of the coolest web applications I’ve seen in a long time. Strictly speaking it’s a hybrid web app, since you need to install a small client side proglet to do the actual monitoring of your activities, but whatever the tech, this could…


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cool tech August 23, 2007 posted by
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Sony’s Bio Battery – sweet sounds from new sugar power

Catch this Sony demonstration of a sugar powered bio battery. It’s pretty sweet. Arf! Actually it’s a seriously cool technology if they can ever perfect it for commercial use. The video shows them powering an MP3 player which is great, although I can foresee problems with people being tempted to eat their gadgets when they get depressed. Ah well… [via TokyoMango]  The bio electric battery which this time was made on an experimental basis the worldwide highest output of 50mW…


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cool tech August 23, 2007 posted by
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Joopz – two way web to cell phone text messaging service

Joopz offers two way SMS text messaging from web to mobile phone. Yep you can send your messages from a computer and also receive replies, which makes it a pretty cool service. You can save chat histories, have group chats and even schedule message delivery for future events like birthdays. Lovely idea, shame it’s only US and Canada though.  Joopz was created to make text messaging easier to use, more convenient and more accessible. Joopz allows users to send text messages from the Web…


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cool tech August 22, 2007 posted by
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Watercone – fresh water from salt or brackish water

I cannot believe that the Watercone developers are still looking for investors to mass produce this thing. We have a world where every day 5000 children die through lack of safe water and no-one wants to step forward and help distribute this superb, simple solar powered desalinator? Unbelievable.  A Product that enables anyone, in a most simple fashion, an independent, cheap and mobile solar Potable Water generation from sea water or brackish water on the base of condensation by solar…


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cool tech August 22, 2007 posted by
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The DIY Segway – yet another home grown Segway clone

We’re loving this DIY Segway a lot. Built by uppity students for less than $1000, the writing’s on the wall for future commercial copycat products to rival the rather expensive Kamen mobile. There’s clearly quite a bit of work to do – can you spell wobble-trolley? – but it’s a nice start. Can we call it a scooter yet?  When designing a segway, there’s a lot to consider. You have to make sure that the motors you’re using have enough…


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cool tech August 21, 2007 posted by
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RedPost Kit – hackable DIY Linux based 19 inch digital picture frame

The RedPost/Kit is a DIY Linux powered 19 inch digital picture frame. It features WiFi or USB connection, 128 MB of system memory and a 200MHz CPU. The makers also encourage you to tinker with the system and customise it to your requirements, which is a refreshing change. It’s not as svelte or elegant as other brand name products on the market, but if you’re looking for an open platform to do some clever things with remote transmission of images (like…


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cool tech August 18, 2007 posted by
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SeaFalcon SF 08 – island hopping WIG craft

The SeaFalcon SF 08 is a fuel efficient (26 mpg) diesel engined ground effect craft which has been designed to replace boats and aircraft for traveling short distances between islands. Top speed is 120 mph, and it can carry up to eight people a distance of around 1100 miles without refuelling. Sounds interesting all right, shame I just sold my island to that nice Mr Jobs.  Wing-in-Ground effect crafts skim very low over the water, typically at a height of 10…


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cool tech August 16, 2007 posted by
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Green Glue – soundproofing gets a strange new material

Green Glue is a new liquid material which the makers claim substantially reduces sound by converting the audio vibration into heat. It’s deployed by sandwiching it between two layers of thin material like drywall or plywood. The concept sounds absolutely fascinating, especially for city dwellers who have a permanent battle with noise pollution, and I’d love to know whether it works as advertised. Their website contains an impressive amount of information, but that’s not everything of course.  How does Green Glue…


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cool tech August 10, 2007 posted by
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Electruc MEGA Multitruck – clean green carrying machine

The Electruc MEGA is an electric multitruck. What meaneth? Well it can convert from pickup to van to drop-side to tipper to…you get the picture. Of course an operating range of 60 miles and top speed of 30 mph means that this is strictly a city baby, no long distance haulfest from here. Still, it’s an innovative approach to inner city business transport. £10,120.00 plus VAT.  These versatile light utility vehicles are creating quite a stir on the streets of our…


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