Observe The Banana

I like to use my iPod nano to listen to fiction podcasts (like Escapepod!) when I go on longer bike rides for excercise. (I tend to not use it on short in town transportation rides). I first used it in my pocket, but that was awkward. Now I am trying out a Nike armband holder that works pretty well as long as I just let it play, but making changes or selecting something new to listen to is real hard since I can’t see the display.  I am wondering if this new iBikeConsole would be a good option? It claims to be “not just another iPod bike mount” and features a weather proof case and grip mounted wireless control pads to allow you operate your iPod without moving your hands. The most interesting feature listed is “Converts your Nano screen into a Cycle Computer display”. I am not sure how this works, but it looks like there is cycle computer electronics in the mount since they also say it will hold your ride information even when you remove the iPod. I guess it just uses the iPod for a display, like the Nike running gizmo, but it still is a pretty cool idea.  Priced at $76 on their web site it is not not more than a good cycle computer, but I am still not  going to rush out to order one just yet, since I already have a good computer. It does merit watching though to see if they raise the features or lower the price.

iBikeConsole product page (warning: main page attacks you with awful flash music and graphics display. Why do web designers make their pages so hostile to visitors?)

I know people have been hacking together small video transmitter systems into RC planes for years now, but here is a prepackaged system that puts together all the parts and pieces you need into one nice bundle. It has a small color camera with integrated transmitter, video receiver and video goggles with light blocking screen around the edge. At $549 it is not cheap, but could be loads of fun, especially if you fly over any dramatic scenery. Seems like a good thing for a RC club or group to buy and share. One of the most excited parts is the soon to be available options for a OSD (On Screen Display) module which adds things like  altitude, heading, speed and direction to home to your display. An even fancier “DragonOSD” will add a scrolling compass and autopilot functions. There will even be a pan/tilt unit available which will allow you to look around in different directions. That should provide a much greater flying experience by allowing you to look out the side to keep the horizon in view during high banking turns.

Heck, one of these would even be fun on RC cars and boats too!

Follow the link through to the Hobby Lobby product page for a fun video demonstration.

Pilot View FPV 2400 First Person Video from Hobby Lobby

I love this little drumming robot called “Yellow Drum Machine”. I like reading about little “carpet rover” robots, and have done some experimenting with Lego Mindstorms in navigation and obstacle avoidance, but once you have created a little bot that can wander around and avoid things the next obvious question is “now what?” This creative individual answered that by making his bot not just avoid obstacles, but instead drum on them. It finds a suitable surface and plays a little riff with its two front drum sticks while recording what it hears. It then it plays back the riff in a loop and drums along adding in a little floor stick in the rear. Very creative idea. I can imagine a group of these communicating with some swarm behavior programming to find drummable surfaces and make music together. Watch the video and tap along….

Why? Well.. I was sitting thinking what I should do for my next robot, what it should do.. Listening to music.. making a rythm with some robot-parts.. Thought; “Hey, I will make a robot that drives around and plays on stuff”

Get more video and some good technical details at:
Yellow Drum Machine

Over at Extremepumpkins.com they have lots of examples of fantastic pumpkin carving, but I am particularly fond of the “World’s Fastest Pumpkin Carver” video. This guy welded up a set up blades shaped like a classic jack-o-lantern face and attached them to a long pipe handle. With one swing at a pumpkin he produces a basic jack-o-lantern (or a smashed pumpkin when it goes wrong.) Nice.

[Link]

In his book, Fit Or Fat, Covert Bailey suggests a diet low in fat for overall health, but excludes ice cream from his lists of foods to avoid because he considers it a drug instead of a food. As someone with a rather high daily intake of ice cream, I could not agree more. He offered the example of how ice cream could be used to “cure” a child after a bump or bruise, and indeed I do seem to remember my parents administering an ice cream cone to me when, as a small child, my fingers were accidentally shut in a car door (causing more shock and fear than actual injury).

Apparently Demitrios Kargotis has taken this theory one step further with his Mr Whippy machine which doles out servings of frozen custard in serving sizes controlled by the amount of misery it detects in a voice stress analysis.

I wonder if it would give me a nice big serving because I am so unhappy about not having had any ice cream for the last 2 hours?

As I always say, “Every meal deserves a dessert doesn’t it? Well, breakfast is a meal!
and, “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!”

whew, I better go for a bike ride and burn some calories….

From [We make money not art] via [Boing Boing]

Today while browsing the very fun and informative retro pop culture site Duck Soup Retro I discovered the world of TV Lamps. Apparently when TV’s started getting popular in homes in the 50’s there was concern that watching TV in a dark room would cause eye damage, so the TV lamp was born. These decorative lamps were made to sit on top of the TV to provide some ambient light in the room (long before the Phillips Ambilight TV) and came in a wide variety of styles. These were probably purchased for their decorative value as much as for health concerns. The cool one at Duck Soup includes a painted mountain scene behind what appears to be a small fish tank. Upon some further searching I found www.tvlamps.net which includes more historical information and many photographs of a wide variety of TV lamps.

These wall climbing robots look really cool. I could see how they could be really useful for building inspection or surveillance, although the suction fan seems quite loud in the videos so I don’t know how sneaky you could be with one. They have underwater versions too that I guess could be good at inspecting ship hulls.

See videos and read more [via Engadget]

I for one welcome our new wall climbing overlords

This looks like it could be a comfortable alternative in hot weather, I wonder how quiet it is? They also have a shirt with built in fan.

Read more [via Engadget]