Joe Blogger

aXbo alarm clock

2006-01-24T17:20:00.000Z

Heres quite a useful gadget I think. An alarm that detects when you have had enough sleep and then sets itself off.
A wristband that you wear detects your body movements and decides when you have had the optimal amount of sleep.
One downside that I can immediatly spot is the fact that it would be useless in waking you up in time for work or school, which is when you really need to be up at a set time. Also, you wouldn't need it on weekends because you can sleep in for however long you want.

aXbo

SnackShotz

2006-01-23T12:39:00.000Z

A dog biscuit launcher...

What? This has been advertised as a new way to play fetch with your dog. And, according to their website this launcher “helps to fight against pet obesity by encouraging your pet to be active."
Right. Could work I suppose, I just can't see it taking off in a big way.
Snackshotz

2007 TT spy shots

2006-01-23T12:33:00.000Z

Heres a pic of the 2007 audi TT, both the coupe and the convertible models. No more word on the specs yet. So heres a link to more pics to keep you going.

s-chat

2006-01-23T12:29:00.000Z

So, I was walking home from school the other day, pissed off because none of my teachers had bothered to show that day! I began to think, what if there was somewhere where I could voice my anger and let people know what my school was really like (as it supposedly has a good reputation).
This is where I got the idea for s-chat.
At the moment traffic is slow on the site, and most of the posts are utter rubbish. I'm trying to spread the word as best I can at the moment.

Four door Aston?

2006-01-10T14:50:00.000Z

Aston Martin unveiled a 4 door concept car at the detroit motor show this week, and frankly, it looks stunning. Think a stretched DB9, but MORE elegant!
It reminds me of the Mercedes CLS, a fast, four door coupe. It should retail for around $250,000 and AM hope to begin production next year.

Mogo bluetooth mouse

2006-01-10T14:38:00.000Z

Heres what i think happens to be a great idea, the Mogo mouse. Its an ultra compact mouse that slots away into the card slot on your laptop when not being used (where it charges), and then is easily accessible when you want to use it.
There are no wires as it utilises your laptops bluetooth connection (assuming your laptop has bluetooth) which makes it quite possibly the perfect mouse for those who dislike carrying bulky peripherals.
Buy it here.

2006

2006-01-10T14:36:00.000Z

A bit of a late greeting but, Happy New Year everyone, Happy Christmas, Chanukah or just happy holidays!

Long time no post (yet again)

2006-01-10T14:34:00.001Z

Sorry for the absence from posting. What with holidays and various exams coming I haven't had much time for blogging.

Flexible batteries from NEC

2005-12-09T15:38:00.000Z

NEC have announced that they have made a flexible battery that is about 0.3mm thick, and can allegedly recharge in 30 seconds.
'NEC sees it being used in the future for self-powered ID cards and powering electronic paper in as discreet a manner as possible'.
Well, whatever, but it seems like quite a breakthrough to me. Although i'm not so sure about the self powered ID cards.

Aston Martin to release 'hard-core' V8 Vantage

2005-12-09T15:27:00.000Z

Looks like Aston Martin is set to release a hard-core version of its V8 Vantage - The Vantage RS.
I should be a direct rival to Porsches' GT3 and Ferraris' F430 Stradale. The V8 Vantage RS, currently under test in Europe, will have a stripped-out interior, an uprated engine, and stiffer suspension. It is also likely to be followed by a similarly lightweight 'hard-core' version of the DB9.
Aston should be raising the power of the engine from 380hp to about 420hp resulting in a 0-60 time of around 4.5 seconds and 0-100 in under 10. Also a top speed of 190mph.
It's due before the end of 2007 priced at around $150,000, or about £90,000.

edmunds

Musical Sarnies

2005-12-07T19:00:00.000Z

Tesco, the UK food giant has announced that it will be selling musical sandwiches.
Yes, thats right. The sandwiches will play a tune when the packaging is opened, supposedly to ease your lunch break.
Tesco Spokesman Jonathan Church said the potential of the melodic munch was enormous. "It's designed to provide busy office workers with relaxing music to make eating lunch at their desks more enjoyable than ever before".

Read here

Lotus Europa

2005-12-06T19:10:00.000Z

Pictures and and a few specifications of the reincarnation of the Lotus Europa sports car have been released and it looks like it could be a direct rival to the Porsche Boxster. Priced at approximately £33,000, this two seater sports coupe weighs in at about 995 kg and will have a 2.0 liter turbo engine with 200 hp / 263 Nm supplied by Opel. The Europa should hit 0-60 in 5.5 seconds and 0-100 in 14 seconds and a top speed of 140 mph.

Lotus defines the Europa as "business class", a more refined and comfortable car than her race-oriented siblings Elise and Exige.

2007 Audi TT

2005-12-05T19:19:00.000Z

Photos of the long awaited facelift for the Audi TT have been released.
The Coupe version, even more handsome than its predecessor is set to be formally unveiled in 2006. There will be a total of five engines available including three four cylinders rated at 170, 200 and 240 horsepower, respectively. The TT will also get the 3.2L V6 with 250hp.
It looks like there is also set to be an RS model, producing no less than 350hp from a 2.0L Biturbo.

Ribcap

2005-12-05T18:42:00.000Z

Yes it may sound like a new brand of condom, but it's actually the latest in winter headwear/protection.
It's a cap that from a distance looks like a normal beanie, but close up makes the wearer look like they have spawned lumps all over their head. These 'lumps' are a new material called d30 (dee-three-oh) that is made from "intelligent molecules". These intelligent molecules are soft and flexible normally, but harden on impact and are designed to protect the wearers' head.
During normal use the molecules are moving slowly so the material is soft and flexible. On impact the molecules lock together to absorb the energy from the impact.
Check it out, ribcap.com

Oh, by the way, "The ribcap doesn’t offer complete headprotection and doesn’t comply with any standards established for protective headgear like helmets".

Freesports Film Fest

2005-12-05T18:31:00.000Z

The 'freesports' film festival has come to London for four days of extreme sports films.
The festival, showing at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leciester Square in London starts this thursday (8th December).

Heres the link.

Long time no postage

2005-12-05T18:29:00.000Z

I'm back after a gap in my posting. There wasn't really any good reason for my lack of posting, I just lost interest for a while. Oh well, i've seen the light again and am back!

iLoad

2005-11-10T22:38:00.000Z

Do you find that loading mp3's onto your personal audio player is a complete pain in the ass? Having to burn the CD onto your computer, then convert the files and transfer them to your mp3 player, too much effort for some. Enter the iLoad. This device enables you to transfer music directly from CD to iPod, thus saving time and energy, enabling you to get on with finer things in life, like actually getting to listen to your music.
iload.com

Synthetic Gills

2005-11-10T20:45:00.000Z

The US Army is looking into creating some Synthetic Gills to aid "Human maneuverability and sustainability in both aquatic and high altitude settings".

They are looking to investigate "Microfabricated Biomimetric Artificial Gill System... based on the subdividing regions of clef, filament, and lamellae found in natural fish gills. " In the first phase of the program, "gas exchange units will be designed and demonstrated for rapid, efficient extraction of oxygen from surrounding water."
That make any sense to you? No, me neither.
Heres the link that could make it clearer.

Million Dollar Rims

2005-11-06T18:16:00.000Z

So, you've just purchased your Bugatti Veyron, but it's not quite exclusive enough or expensive enough for you. Well, what to do? You spend $1million on rims thats what!
Asanti showed off these beauties (matter of opinion) at the SEMA show in Las Vegas.
They feature over 12,000 diamonds and 800 sapphires totaling 1,100 carats of precious stones.
Have a look.

Wakeboarding, you need an engine, right?

2005-11-05T19:09:00.000Z

Wrong, as top english wakeboarder, Dan Nott proved recently behind a Volvo 70 racing yacht.
The yacht, competing in the Volvo Ocean Race (starts today, 5th november) was using this as an opportunity for some last minute training for the gruelling race.
Dan acheived speeds of up to 20 knots as he was towed by ABN AMRO ONE, one of the banks' two yachts competing in the race. He managed to pull off various moves such as Raleys (like a superman (see photo)) whilst being pulled from the 30 metre high mast.
Have a look for yourself at wakeworld.com

Miami cruise ship in pirate attack

2005-11-05T18:30:00.000Z

A miami based cruise ship on a voyage from Alexandria in Egypt, to Mombasa in Kenya, has had its journey cut short, after the liner was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The attack happened about 100 miles offshore. It was reported that the pirates attacked the ship with RPG's and rifles, but the crew managed to take evasive action and scare off the attackers without the use of weapons.
The Somalian coastline is apparently notorious for pirates with 23 hijackings since march and more recently, two ships carrying aid for the UN World Food Program were attacked.
Full story here.

iPod fit kit

2005-11-01T19:57:00.000Z

Ever have the problem of your ears being the wrong shape for conventional earbud headphones to fit into your ears? I do all the time and it really annoys me, especially as I dislike having to wear large headphones. The solution? These neat little things that you can mould to the shape of your ears and then stick to any earbud style headphones. Pretty useful, no?
PodFitKit

Most powerful subwoofer

2005-11-01T19:46:00.000Z

Human hearing is rated from 20Hz to 20kHz but you can actually feel sound way below that. This new 'woofer can put out 1Hz. That is similar to the frequency of a jet engine, or a nuclear explosion. Normal subwoofers create there sound by pulsating a 10-12inch paper cone back and forth.
This subwoofer creates a wall of air by rotating the fins and modulating the speed, frequency goes all the way down to 1Hz.

Unfortunatly, this sub has a whopping price tag of $12,900, so you gotta be pretty serious about this sorta thing to wanna buy one!
Check it out.

Oakley Thump 2

2005-11-01T18:48:00.000Z

The replacement for the original thump, shades with a built in mp3 player, is here. These new glasses from the sunglass dons, Oakley, look awesome, especially compared to the previous thumps. The new model no longer has flip up lenses and has a capacity of up to 1GB. Have a look for yourself at oakley.com

Fenomenon design stratos roadster.

2005-10-31T17:01:00.000Z

This is the recreation of a legend. The original lancia stratos roadster, but modernized for the 21st century. This eastern european supercar looks stunning in person (I was lucky enough to see one at this years gumball rally). It has been dubbed as the all terrain supercar, purely because it was designed for eastern europes upcoming nouveau riche, with their large amounts of money but poor roads.

The car you see in the picture to the upper left is the new concept stratos roadster, which will be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show. I'm sure that this will look just as fantastic in the skin as the coupe version did! Check out the gallery.

iPod vending machines

2005-10-31T16:49:00.000Z

Yes thats right, iPod vending machines have been spotted at Atlanta airport.
The machines, just like a drink or chocolate bar vending machine does exactly what it says on the tin, you put your money in, select what you want, and out pops your selected item. Only in this case, said selected item happens to be an apple iPod or associated accessory.
Sounds like a great idea, but, heres the problem. When your iPod is dispensed, it isn't charged, and has no music on it. Pretty pointless placing thsi vending machine in an airport then, as I doubt that you will be getting onto your flight with a laptop fully loaded with music (and iTunes).
Story here.

Birds banned in bid to prevent spread of Flu

2005-10-25T21:20:00.000+01:00

The European Union has banned the import of captive live birds, but not poultry in an attempt to curb the spread of bird flu. The ban has been implanted since the potentially deadly bird flu virus was found in a parrot in quarantine in the UK and since two geese in Germany had tested positive for the flu.
Story here.

Bugatti Veyron

2005-10-25T17:26:00.000+01:00

The final production model of the hotly anticipated supercar from VW owned Bugatti was unveiled at the Tokyo motor show this past week. The car is said to be able to hit 252mph and 0-60 in a gut wrenchingly fast sub 3 seconds. Also, 0-186 in 14 seconds and 0-124 in just 6! Check out one of many stories here, or the Bugatti website, here.

Worlds smallest car

2005-10-23T11:07:00.000+01:00

You thought the mini was small, wait until you see this, the worlds smallest 'car'.
It's called a nanocar and it is made out of a single molecule. At four nanometers long and three wide, the Nanocar has four independently rotating axles, built-in suspension, and off-road style oversized wheels.
Each wheel is made up of just one atom. The car rolls forward or backward across a nanoscale surface, its suspension absorbing atomic-scale steps and holes in the surface.
A photon-powered internal motor has been developed and awaits integration with the nanocar to make the first powered nanoscale vehicle.

Avian/bird flu found in UK

2005-10-21T23:56:00.000+01:00

Avian flu has been found in a parrot that died in the UK.
The parrot, which was in quarantine at the time, had been imported from south america. Because it was in quarantine at the time when it died and when the virus was found, the UK's disease-free status has not been affected.
It is also not known whether the strain found was the H5N1 variant of the virus which has killed at least 60 people in Asia.
Full story at bbc.co.uk.

GT-R proto unveiled in Tokyo

2005-10-21T23:42:00.000+01:00

The new nissan GT-R proto has been unveiled at the Tokyo motor show this week. The car looks stunning, with proper GT looks. (It looks a bit similar to the Skyline R-34 from the rear, but the similarities end there as far as looks go. Check out a full gallery here.

New james bond

2005-10-21T23:29:00.000+01:00

The new James Bond has been announced recently and if you haven't heard already then you may be in for a shock. He's blonde!
Guessed who yet? No? It's none other than Daniel Craig! Who, I hear you cry? He was the star of Layer Cake, which is a must see film if you haven't already.
Have a look for yourself

Transparent armour

2005-10-19T16:23:00.000+01:00

The U.S air force is supposedly testing transparent armour designed to prevent armour piercing weapons from penetrating car windows. The Air Force Research Laboratory's materials and manufacturing directorate is testing aluminum oxynitride -- ALONtm -- as a replacement for the traditional multi-layered glass transparencies now used in existing ground and air armored vehicles.
"ALONtm is a ceramic compound with a high compressive strength and durability. When polished, it is the premier transparent armor for use in armored vehicles", 1st Lt. Joseph La Monica, transparent armor sub-direction lead.
In a test in 2004, two high power sniper rifles were fired at a demonstration piece. Whilst the bullets pierced the traditional glass transparent armour, the new armour ALONtm withstood the shots with no penetration.
Full details here.

How to film the centre of a tornado

2005-10-19T16:18:00.000+01:00

If was to tell you that someone is planning to film the inside of a tornado from a car, you'd think either a) i'm insane, or b) they're insane. This maybe so but believe it or not, its gonna happen.
At least, thats what IMAX cinematographer Sean Casey wants. He has built himself an armoured Ford F-450 designed to repel all sorts of debris whilst inside the tornado. He is hoping to sit inside the vehicle in a specially designed turret so as he can film what a tornado is like on the inside. Seems crazy, take a look at howstuffworks.com

Next gen GT-R website up

2005-10-19T15:58:00.000+01:00

The website for the next generation Nissan GT-R tokyo show prototype is finally up, and it looks stunning. Not much else to say, apart from theres an interview and stacks of photos on the site. No word on whats under the bonnet yet. See gtrproto.com

Ferrari GG50

2005-10-18T19:29:00.000+01:00

In my opinion this is the best looking ferrari that I can remember, the Ferrari GG(Giorgetto Giugiaro) 50. It has been made as a concept for the tokyo motor show to celebrate this designers' 50 years in the business. It is based on the current 612 and retains the same basic mechanics underneath its gogeous shell.
Check it out at italiaspeed.

2006 Malibu Wakesetter 247 LSV

2005-10-17T18:23:00.000+01:00

Heres another boat that looks awesome. Especially in the paint job seen in the photo to the right. >
This 24 footer is propelled by a 400hp engine and features Malibu's trademark Illusion X tower.
It also has 1500lbs of ballast to enhance the wake size. Not sure of the price yet but check out a review of this beast here.

Bird flu heads for the UK

2005-10-17T18:03:00.000+01:00

Worries spead as bird flu is headed for the UK. If the lethal strain, H5N1 spreads from birds to humans then it could mutate so it could travel between people. Farm workers or people that work closely with birds are most at risk and it has been reported that the virus could affect over 50,000 people within the United Kingdom. This was predicted by Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson. Each new outbreak in birds increases the risk to humans, although the threat to people remains low at present, say experts. See the full story here.
Unfortunatly, there is no vaccine as of yet.

Christmas time!

2005-10-16T14:09:00.000+01:00

This sucks. No not christmas itself, but the fact that stores are already setting up their displays for the forthcoming (3 months) holiday. Why? Whats the point? No one is going to do their christmas shopping 'till december anyway, and I noticed displays going up in shop windows back in September! Rant over.

NFS: Most wanted

2005-10-16T14:04:00.000+01:00

The latest title in the Need For Speed series looks awesome. Think of it as a cross between NFS: Underground and NFS: Hot pursuit. The graphics looks pretty stunning from the screenshots I have seen. This will probably be another top selling item this christmas.
Check it out NFS:Most Wanted

Epic boats

2005-10-16T12:51:00.000+01:00

Epic wakeboard boats. These new boats look sick as. They have been built from the base up to create the biggest wake possible. The first boat was made in a garage in San Diego. Oh, and they look the mutts nuts in all black as well :-) Check out the site. I want one, i want one NOW.

Nissan GT-R spied testing

2005-10-16T12:24:00.000+01:00

The next gen GT-R, to be released in 2007, was spied being tested at the infamous Nurburgring track in Germany. See japanesecarfans.com for info and photos.

Video Ipod

2005-10-16T12:11:00.000+01:00

Video ipod is here! Yes i know it's already old news in the gadget world but i just thought i'd post it anyway. Available in either 30gb or 60gb versions its sure to be pretty hot this christmas I reckon. Apple

ClustrMaps

2005-10-16T11:55:00.000+01:00

Check out the Clustrmap at the top of this site. What is it? It's a map showing where in the world my hits are coming from.

Check out http://clustrmaps.com/ for more info.

Joe Blogger

2004-07-23T21:43:00.000+01:00

Hey, I've decided to start this blog again as I realised that it was previously all just random crap that no one cares about. Enjoy.