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Craftsman Electric Hammer Automates the Process of Us Never Building Anything
Posted by Mark Wilson at 4:50 AM on November 14, 2008
Craftsman thought they had finally cornered the lazy-arse market with their 12V, lithium-rechargeable Hammerhead Auto-Hammer, but they made one fatal mistake: We're way too unindustrious to build anything with or without electronic gizmos to back us up. Still, we can appreciate the design as this miniature jackhammer drives nails in at 35 strikes per second with a form factor that's not so different from the original hammer. But haven't we seen this idea somewhere before...namely from a certain Homer Simpson?
You know how awesome it feels to make it to the bathroom after holding it for a really long time? Not just the standard "I gotta go," but somehow enduring the definite, palpable feeling that the thin membrane called your bladder is so full it's going to burst at any second for a considerable length of time, maintaining control until you finally reach the appropriate vessel to relieve yourself into.
While I admit that this Zhejiang 001's mini car looks rather wacky and utilitarian thanks to its solar top, I wouldn't mind looking like a dork if that can save me gas or electric power--if I had to have a car, that is. This one can charge using the sun electricity in 30 hours, giving it a 150km range. According to the engineer, it can only transform 14 to 17 percent of the sun light, which is the usual. But in the middle of a recession, for $US5,560 and no gas or electricity expenses, we can live with "usual" and "fugly" just fine. [
I'm glad I had my tonsils out years ago, or this would make me think twice about it. A 76-year-old man admitted to the hospital in Chiba, Japan, for respiratory failure was about to have a new tube implanted in his trachea when the one already in there caught fire as the doctor cut into his throat with an electrosurgical knife. The flames reached as high as 10 centimeters, and scorched his respiratory passage, mouth and face. 
Last we left the Dream Car 123, the pyramid-shaped electric car that always gets picked last in kickball games, it was (in the words of Addy) 
Tesla Motors is finally rolling out its long-awaited single-speed transmission for the all-electric Tesla Roadster, which will pare down durability issues while upping torque and range. The new gearbox, made by transmission whiz kids Borg Warner, lets the Roadster hit its promised zero to 100 time of 4.0 seconds while upping travel distance to 392km per charge.
Wired's Danger Room blog is spot on in comparing Northrop Grumman's upcoming 
The ElectraFlyer C is a carbon fiber-shelled mini plane that runs on electricity, and it also looks like a lot of fun. It's a mash-up of a commercially available glider body and a lightweight battery and motor/propeller assembly. It can fly for 90 to 120 minutes at up to 145kph, and you can recharge it in about six hours from a regular 110 volt outlet for about 60 cents. Oh, and it's received its airworthiness cert, meaning it's perfectly legal. [
