Do you really need that light on to not trip over your coffee table and break your leg? Let’s find out, shall we? The Consumption Feedback Switch is a device that monitors your electricity usage. If it feels you’re within your light quota when you flip on the lights, you’ll see a small, harmless spark. But if you’ve been one of those dolphin-unsafe villains from Captain Planet, reading a few minutes too long at night, a gigantic stream of deadly electricity will mend your ways pending you not die.
You know what would make gaming even more fun? Pain. Or at least that is what the folks at Mindwire would like you to think. Their new MindwireV5 unit helps you get into the action with sensations ranging from a “crashing car to the blast of a machine gun’s multiple bullets hitting you; a sharp zap all the way through to a soft massaging feeling.” Five self-adhesive pads are connected to the arms, legs and stomach which administer a range of electric shocks that create sensations that mimic in-game action.
Also known as the 3rd Space Vest, the Force Feedback gaming vest from TMgames is filled with compressed air pouches in order for you to feel the pain when you’re hooked up to your console and having your butt kicked by scary aliens. Compatible with around a dozen games, including Call of Duty, Doom 3, Quake 4 and Medal Of Honor, so if you want to feel what it’s like to be knifed, shot, blown up or merely punched in the kidneys, you might think about shelling out US$169 for this. Or you could just go to the rough part of town and tell the scariest mofo you can find that you had sex with his mother last night. [TNGames Storefront via Gadget Review]
The “Constraint City” vest is a weird project by Austrian artist Gordan Savicic that’s a sadistic type of WiFi detector. It’s a vest, and as you get closer to WiFi hotspots, it gets tighter and tighter, causing discomfort and pain. The idea, according to Savicic, is to create “schizo-geographic pain map” of the wireless signals around us. OK. Perhaps it’d be better used to wean people off their Internet addictions, although I suppose you could just plug in and avoid the squeeze. Or, you know, just not put on the stupid vest in the first place. [Project Page via Make]
TN Game’s 3rd Space Vest, designed by physician Mark Ombrellaro, is based on a earlier medical instrument that permitted doctors to carry out distance based investigations. As if there could be an even better use, Dr. Ombrellaro has modified the vest so gamers will be able to feel gaming impacts, such as punches and shots, by means of alternating air pressures that will simulate the sensations.
Sebastian Ritzler, a design student in Germany, has created a feature-laden rolling white cane called the Mygo that will make the blind scoff at us eyesies. The Mygo uses a sensor-camera combo to measure the ground below it and give the user real time feedback via a wireless headset. The cane also ends in a small wheel that uses a steering engine that helps the user steer by providing feedback through the grip.
The Mygo is height-adjustable, tough, and waterproof — in case you’re a blind swimmer — and runs on a lithium-ion battery that will keep it going for around 6 hours. It has yet to go into production but Ritzler is aiming to make it an affordable innovation, something in the $200 range, which, if it works as advertised, is a damn good deal. [BusinessWeek via Wired]
If you ditched your watch because you carry a phone around with a built-in clock, but are sick of pulling your phone out every time you want to check the time, you should check out this Haptic Clock. It’s a small program for Java phones that tells you the time through a series of vibrations, allowing you to keep your phone in your pocket.
Simply reach in your pocket and hit the 5 key to get it to tell you the time. How does it tell it to you?
Well, not quite a carpet, but of all the interactive floor screens I’ve seen, this makes the rest look like dinky toys. It’s a plaything too, which is great. All about delivering a “social audiovisual immersive experience” for nightclub goers, and an amazing new toy for VJs to work with. If you’re going to be in Tokyo (surprise, surprise), go check this action out.
Visualux [via Josh Spear]
Remember the Pantech IM-R200 double LCD phone with touchscreen keys? You know, the one that gives you tactile feedback on the touchscreen so you can actually see what’s going on? AVING hassome nicer pictures of the screen, showing off various styles of keypads that you can change to.
We’re hoping there’s more than just keypad styles on the touchscreen—maybe some kinda QWERTY or something—but we do see that it looks different when a call is in effect. Head over to check out more pics.
Bonus shot after the jump.
There’s more than one fancy slider out there, you know. If you are sick of the Ocean (Already? You’re too jaded, my friend), then feast your eyes on the Pantech IM-R200.
It’s a slider that features two LCD screens, one that slides out from beneath the other. While one might argue that this has the downsides of both the Ocean and the iPhone (bulky slider and a touchscreen), this touchscreen features tactile feedback in the form of a vibration feature. How well does it work? Great question. It’ll probably be a while before we get a chance to find out, as this phone is headed to Korea with no word on a Stateside release. –Adam Frucci
New dual-screen slider from Pantech [Slashgearl]
