Gizmodo Australia » transport

The Contortionist Bike Is Compact, Bendy, And Oddly Sexy, Like An Actual Contortionist

John Herrman — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:20:00 +0000

I don’t care that the Contortionist bike looks like it would crumple at the first curb hop, or that toting a 26-inch wheel isn’t that much more convenient than wheeling a bike. I just want to watch it fold, forever.

Designed by a 24-year-old student from London, the bike’s claim to greatness is its ability to fold within the circumference of just one of its wheels. He claims he designed it because he “couldn’t find a folding bicycle I liked,” and he “wanted something that could take a bit of punishment and that you could have fun with.” I’m with him until the “take a bit of punishment” part, because this thing looks about as trailworthy as a lawn chair.

You might also notice that the pedals don’t seem to be connected to anything, and, well, you’d be right. As someone who’s watched this breakdown clip about 30 times, completely mesmerised, I’m going to say that’s a minor technicality. [Sky News]

2UNFOLD Laptop Bag Is Too Attractive For You Or Your Computer

Mark Wilson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:40:00 +0000

Your MacBook Air or whatever is a sharp machine, sure. But it’s not timeless, handcrafted Italian leather that’s transformable into one of eight different styles.

The 2UNFOLD laptop works as an urban briefcase, shoulder bag, safecase, rucksack, leather courier, canvas courier (it’s reversible!), leather clutch or canvas clutch. No, I don’t know what all those variations mean either, but the link at the end of this post contains handy photographs.

In vertical modes, the 2UNFOLD holds laptops up to 17 inches. In horizontal modes, it’s suited for 13-inch notebooks. But either way, it makes for a zippy, pockety, and stylish bag that’s a bit too beautiful for us to toss haphazardly onto the airport floor. $US483.

(Sorry if that price part stings a bit.) [2UNFOLD via bbGadgets]

Driverless, Electricity-Run Taxis Will Dominate UAE Eco-City

Elaine Chow — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The United Arab Emirates is planning a bunch of “personal rapid transit” devices: driverless taxis that run on electricity and could hit the streets of Masdar as early as this year.

Built by Systematica, the PRT system will help keep Masdar (a planned city in Abu Dhabi) completely car-free. The vehicles travel at speeds of roughly 7 meters per second, with the longest routes planned for about 2.5km, and will be located two stories beneath street level. Riders will pay about the same price they’d normally drop on an equivalent taxi ride.

Morgantown, West Virginia has the the only PRT system in place right now, built in 1975 when the cost of the technology was many times higher. An equivalent system to the Masdar one (though to a much smaller degree) is currently under construction at Heathrow airport in London. [Treehugger via Dvice]

Hitch Suction-Cup Belt Lets You Catch Free Rides, Dice with Death

Kit Eaton — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:08:51 +0000

Mixing suction-cups with the chance of a high-speed death: sounds like fun, and exactly what designer Robert Nightingale has come up with in his “Hitch” concept. It’s a smidge like the free-ride skateboard Kouriers in Snow Crash and a smidge like bad building-climbing gear from B-movies. The idea of Hitch is simply to sucker onto a vehicle that’s about to move off, using the belt and hand suction cups, thereby gaining yourself a free journey. But Robert also suggests aircraft hangers as a good hitchhiking location, which I’m pretty certain is a one-way ticket to a Darwin Award. [Yanko Design]

Jaambaaro Vehicle Puts the Rickshaw in Ambulance

Kit Eaton — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:15:00 +0000

All joking aside, there are plenty of places in the world where getting speedy medical attention is difficult. And that’s where the Jaambaaro concept from designer Benoît Angibaud comes in. It’s a two-person pedal-powered ambulance, designed to get the sick and wounded to hospital in areas where motor vehicles are rare. It would have solar panels to help generate some energy, and be made of locally-salvaged materials. Great idea, though I have to admit the first thing that came to mind when seeing the stretcher’s blister canopy was a short dude in glasses, shouting “Choppers!”… [Yanko Design]

TSA Says X-Rayable Laptop Bags are Go

Gizmodo US Edition — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:09:00 +0000

The director of the TSA, Kip Hawley, has spoken to the New York Times and confirmed that X-ray-friendly laptop cases will be accepted by the agency as soon as they hit the shelves, potentially bringing an end to the panic that your laptop will go astray in all the fuss at airport checkpoints. We brought you first hints of this back in May, but it looks like the process of getting the bags approved is well underway. And both Targus and Pathfinder Luggage are hoping to have products on sale as soon as September or October.

Pathfinder is currently developing two “checkpoint friendly” models: one wheeled trolley with a removable laptop case, one a briefcase that reveals the laptop when it’s unzipped. These new foam and nylon cases will set you back between US$100 and US$200. Targus’s X-rayable cases vary from a US$39 backpack and a US$100 business traveller version. And there are at least four or five other manufacturers also submitting prototypes to the agency for checking.

But there’s still a catch, of sorts: the TSA is not certifying these bags, and asks that manufacturers use terms like “checkpoint friendly” instead, and avoid buckles pockets or zips in the design. Does that mean your impractical bag won’t seal securely and some officious security guard may still make you fish out your laptop anyway, as he doesn’t believe it to be “friendly” to the X-ray machine? Time will tell. [NYTimes]

[Image: Nick Veasey]

NYC Makes Buses Hijack Proof With Remote Controlled Device

Sean Fallon — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Let’s say someone put a bomb on your bus and it can’t go below 75 kph or it will explode. If that were to happen on a NYC bus you would probably be incinerated because the city has installed a new GPS device in thousands of local commuter and tourist buses. If the authorities get wind of a hijacking in progress, they can slowly stop the vehicle and prevent it from restarting via remote control. It may not work for “Speed” style situations, but for conventional hijackings, it could prove to be an effective weapon.

The GPS device is attached to the bus computer system and it relays information about its speed and direction to a dispatcher. In the event of a hijacking, the dispatcher can remotely slow the bus down and prevent it from being restarted–giving cops enough time to get to the scene. Apparently, slowing the bus down gradually is intended to give terrorists extra time to rethink their position before doing something drastic.

Financing for the system has been made possible thanks to funding from the Department of Homeland Security. So far, the device is on 3000 Grey Line double-decker buses, 80 DeCamp buses and plans are currently underway to equip 3000 New Jersey Transit buses. NYC transit is currently in the pilot stage for the program, but they are expected to follow suit with their 4500 bus fleet sometime in the near future. [New York Post]

Folding Bike Handlebars: So Obvious, It Took This Long to Think of It

Sean Fallon — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:45:00 +0000

At this very moment a bike is leaning against my living room wall taking up unnecessary space. A simple solution would be to replace the standard handlebars with collapsible versions so that the bike could be placed flush (more or less) to the wall. Thanks to designer Joe Wentworth, these retrofit folding handlebars would make a bicycle easier to store and more secure if locked into the collapsed position. Whether this concept will actually see the light of day remains to be seen–but it can’t come soon enough for me. The last thing I need is to another groin-first trip into my exposed bike handlebars. [Tuvie]

Metrolla Strolla: Baby Stroller Gets Some Height Added

Gizmodo US Edition — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:31:25 +0000

The stroller has undergone a radical redesign with this concept by designers Dan Levin and Evan Garrett, which places the baby passenger at almost normal eye-height. The design has sprung legs for ride comfort, and the seat unplugs so you can mount it easily on your bike too. Seems like a great idea, and frees the kid from having to look at endless sets of legs or ceilings rolling by, like in many normal strollers. But I can’t help but worry that it looks very top-heavy, and a topple from that height would be terrifying. Might just need bigger, badder wheels. It’s a concept, so don’t expect to rush off and buy one. [Coroflot via Born Rich]

Lyle Lanley Sells Futuristic Rail System to Ann Arbor, Detroit

Adam Frucci — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:15:00 +0000

Update: Unsurprisingly, this is bunk, as confirmed by Ann Arbor officials. But hey, the concept is still… interesting.
Everybody knows that the biggest, most bustling cities in America are Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan. You know what they say: “If you can make it in Ann Arbor, you can make it anywhere!” That’s why it makes perfect sense that there are plans underway to build an insane futuristic transport system between the two cities.

Dubbed the Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Highway, it’s a rail system that combines Maglev, Hydrogen and Solar power to create a zero-emission mode of transportation. In addition to carrying people and vehicles between the cities, it can also distribute “electricity, water, liquid waste, fiber optics, hydrogen, oxygen and other fuels in its course.”

And while those circa-1996-quality concept graphics might make you think that this is nothing more than a pipe dream of some grad student with Maya, it’s actually going to start being built later this year. Maybe. The website also looks straight out of the 90’s, so it’s tough to tell if this is a real project or something that’s been whipped into “reality” by blogs, but I’m an optimist, so I’m going to go ahead and say that yes, Detroit and Ann Arbor will soon be linked by a futuristic, eco-friendly railway system.

The future is now! [Project Page via New Launches]