Archive for: scooter
- November 12, 2010 7:13 pm
In life there are mods, and then there are mods. This tweaked Segway with significantly larger wheels plays on basic physics push to the device’s top speed up to 25mph. That doesn’t sound like a lot to a society used to 70mph+. But when you’re on a top-heavy, two-wheeled machine that uses nothing more than a few gyroscopes and electric motors to keep you from faceplanting into the pavement, it’s considerably more dangerous.
You know you want to hop inside and check it out…
- September 24, 2010 8:55 am
Starting your car or other type of mechanical transport machine in 2010 requires some kind of key, numbered code, or simple key fob w/ embedded sensor. The rides of tomorrow — smartphones. This Mini Scooter E concept by BMW has a docking station that allows smartphones to be used not only to start the device, but also navigate it as well. It’s fitting seeing as how a huge number of smartphones come standard with at least some form of basic GPS capabilities. Being a futuristic design, propulsion is of course provided by batteries and electric motors.
If this were available now and I lived somewhere that wasn’t so rural in nature, I’d pick one up. You? Hop on past for a couple of videos breaking it down in nerdy detail…
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Segway. While the basic design is many years old now, I still find myself wanting one more than ever, despite the fact I can’t afford the $5,000+ pricetag. But even in my *almost* blind nerdy love, I can still easily see the Segway’s faults. Most obvious to the average eye is the Segway’s size and weight. It’s huge! That’s where the Ewee-pt strikes a new chord.
Designed and built in Germany, the Ewee-pt plays off the Segway’s basic concept, but gives it a much needed diet. First and foremost, the Ewee-pt is half the width and half the weight of a Segway. Along that same note, the unit is much lower to the ground, holding the riders a solid foot lower in height. Coupled with re-worked controls, the Ewee-pt is all around much easier to ride on and maneuver once finished.
But nothing is more telling or enticing than the price. While the Segway still easily sails north of $5k, the Ewee-pt can be had for €799 ($1050) — a quarter of the Segway. So it’s smaller, lighter, easier to use, and cheaper. Segway…you’re in trouble.
If you want to see the Ewee-pt taken for a spin, hop on in…
Remember the Segway? It was supposed to be “the” gadget of the modern digital age. The creators voiced their personal accounts of the future in which each man, woman, and child would one day ride Segways everywhere. Well, that future just hasn’t materialized yet. Far from it in fact. You could say the Segway was an epic failure. I instead choose to see it as ahead of it’s time. Sad, but true.
Nevertheless, one companies failure is another companies success — or so Taurus would like us to believe. Hoping we’ve forgotten the pretty useless (for the masses anyway) traits of the Segway, Taurus is eying to wow us with their “Taurus Concept Vehicle”. Now, I’m a geek, so I think this is pretty sweet. Bring common sense and reality into the picture however, and all that “coolness” suddenly wears off.
In a day and age where the Segway failed, if this concept vehicle follows anywhere closely behind, failure is a sure bet as well. For us nerds, we can at least gaze on over these concept images and imagine what the world will be like decades from now, because that’s as close as the Taurus Concept Vehicle will ever come to us.
Anyone feeling a little gloomy that the human race is seemingly crawling along when technology is concerned?
Dvice > OhGizmo > Jalopnik > Taurus
If I was faced with the task of mowing 5-10 acres, it would be full on riding mower for me. Even though I’m young and fit, walking would take way too long. If the yard were smaller though — say 1/4 acre — I’d be much more inclined to walk. Besides sometimes being faster than riding in smaller yards, walking also helps prevent your body from aging too quickly. For someone that sits on their ass in front of a computer all the time, I can attest to this fact.
But what if you didn’t want to walk, and you couldn’t afford a large riding mower? Well then, you’d pick up a lawnmower scooter. Yes, a scooter with a blade — albeit a tiny blade. Looking at the yard the scooter is framed in, I sure as hell hope they aren’t marketing a yard of that size to a mower that small.
On the other hand, my Grandma would love this thing.
Gizmodo
- November 19, 2009 1:08 pm
Just when I thought I’ve seen the most clever use an iPhone app can take on I pleasantly get surprised. The fact of the matter is, even though the title says “iPhone”, controlling a wheelchair with a consumer device is actually open to a few more Apple branded devices: iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPod touch V2.0 and 3.0. Right off the bat, I’m sure many of you are filling your heads with endless and meaningless (in my head) code that will need to be executed in order to get the hardware above speaking and controlling the compatible wheelchair systems: Dynamic Controls DX2, DX or Shark wheelchair. That’s the beauty of this whole union — the chairs don’t need to be reprogrammed. Plug-n-ride entertaiment!
The obvious benefit is the ability to control normal movement with the iPhone/iPod Touch screen. But the developers and engineers behind this project didn’t stop at simple navigation. Besides navigation controls, chair riders can see many other diagnostics of their chair, talk to and recognize other devices connected to the chair, as well as pull a charge from the chair battery. Modern gadgetry coming together with practical medical uses is always fun to see for us and I’m sure extremely exciting and life changing for those who depend on it. Pretty sweet huh? Almost makes me want to buy a motorized wheelchair and zip along all future-like. Wanna join my wheelchair gang?
9to5 Mac
9to5 Mac > Dynamic Controls
- October 24, 2009 10:14 am
Taking gadgets, old gadgets in particular, and creating new forms of art, machinery, and all out geekery is something that when executed correctly results in utter beauty. In the case of this modded PowerMac G4 Bike, it may not be beautiful in the traditional sense, though the fact that it draws your gaze upon its body and sucks you in ever deeper means something does it not? While this Mac went back in time, no longer to surf the digital streets, (as the innards are now occupied by a 49cc motor), this highlights one of those moments in life where analog is perfectly A OK with me. I don’t have a space desktop to just gut and go modder on, but if I did…
Ubergizmo > Macmod
