Twenty-seven year old UK entrepreneur, Matt Horan, has started a company based off an ingenious idea. “After getting tired of giving my girlfriend a piggyback home every Saturday night, I had a ‘eureka’ moment,” says Rollasole founder Matt Horan of his clever invention. (Pics)
 

SmartSwipe
The SmartSwipe home credit card terminal plugs into your computer’s USB port so you can happily swipe your life away with the credit card of your choice. Need some more junk for the basement or attic? This’ll help you fill the gap with no messing. It’s not real money, and that chocolate covered toaster looks [...]

Feeling Sleepy Yet?

Having problems sleeping?  Tried every solution in the book?  Lord knows there’s a good lot of them, from outright superstitious behavior to drowning your room in scents to popping the good ol’ pill.  Here’s another one you can try: sleeping with the light on.  Huh?!?
Well, not the big, bright light in your room.  [...]

A research laboratory at Japan’s Ritsumeikan University has developed a monitoring system for wet diapers that consists of a self-powered sensor/transmitter and a receiver and is supposed to assist staff in hospitals and nursing homes in performing diaper checks with elderly patients. The sensor kit has to be placed inside the diaper and sends signals [...]

If you are too bored with all the lava and plasma lamps and displays then make way for the Spica Speakers, which bring out the best from the world of water. Although water isn’t an illuminant like lava and plasma, it does give you a fantastic effect in the form of shape shifting patterns and [...]

Audi Autonomous TTS
Audi is working hard on a car that doesn’t require the driver to anything except sit there and watch the scenery go by. It’s called the “Autonomous Audi TTS,” not the catchiest of names, and it’s “intended to explore the best capabilities of current and future driver assistance technologies.” (Pics and video)
 

The new TKTS booth in Times Square supports glass benches atop two-inch-thick windows
The largest load-bearing glass structure in the world, the new TKTS booth in Times Square, supports glass benches atop two-inch-thick windows. Sounds delicate, but it regularly holds 500 foot-stomping Jumbotron watchers. For reinforcement, engineers at Dewhurst Macfarlane used a plastic film called SentryGlas [...]

Think prayer is all you can do to keep your home safe in the middle of a warzone?  With the X-Flex bomb-surviving wallpaper, you just might have another line of defense.  It’s not exactly salvation, but it could help keep your fortress intact for just a little while longer.
Invented by Berry Plastics in conjunction with [...]

Behold the helmet of head health

Stressed from all the pretending that you do at the office?   Forget medicating, all you need is some liberating pressure on your skull.  At least, that’s what Kinatech is thinking with the new Headtime Scalp Massager, a huge, head-crowning bowl that looks like it’s raring to fry your brains.
Looking like [...]

A drug that failed tests as an antidepressant is being hailed as “Viagra for women” after surprising but not unpleasant side effects.
In three separate trials, the drug flibanserin did wonders for women’s flagging sex drive despite doing nothing to lift mood.
The accidental discovery is akin to Viagra’s – it was originally designed as a heart [...]

ROAMS Robot uses off-the-shelf components to build 3D maps of an area
At a robotics conference, a vehicle called ROAMS demonstrated a cheap approach to mobile map-making. 
ROAMS (Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System) was created by researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, with funding from the U.S. Army. It uses several existing [...]

A first search with Google Swirl turns up stacks of image thumbnails that users can click on to explore
Look for images of “Washington” online, and Google’s search engine may turn up a random sea of pictures showing the Washington monument, the White House, George Washington, and actor Denzel Washington. Now Google’s new “Image Swirl” feature [...]

A sensing surface developed by Microsoft researchers offers new ways to use computers.
Computer users have been typing on keyboards and clicking on mice for more than 20 years. An experimental new interface under development at Microsoft could give them a completely new way to use their system.
 

 
Anybots “QA” at Work
Having one of those days where even a hearty bowl of Fruit Loops and Jack Daniels can’t get you out of bed? A telepresence robot can come into the office for you, elevating telecommuting to a decidedly new level. The somewhat humanoid ‘bots, produced by Mountain View, California-based Anybots, are controlled via [...]

Many people think that the hearing impaired would have lost a large part of being human, that is, being unable to experience the joy of music. Well, have you ever attended a deaf church’s worship service? Those involve drums that lets the congregation literally feel the beat of the song, and the Sounzzz concept is [...]

Finger touching
A new wearable device that anyone can communicate with that is easier and lighter in mobile circumstances corresponding to the 3.5G, 4G communication standard. Human hand is the most basic communication method. For easier and simpler controls, it uses the instinctive input method “finger joint”. Excluding the thumb, each finger joint makes up twelve [...]

The Webbook from Litl
This is the Webbook from Boston-based Litl. It is the combination of netbook and photoframe. Powered by 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor, and comes with HDMI output, 1GB of RAM, 2GB of flash memory, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, a webcam, mic, and speakers.
 

Don’t go bumping these cars!

Here’s an interesting up-cycling story about some boy toys that have found legal ground and even more fun from a bumped up perspective.
“Bumper cars were crazy fun when I was a kid. Even as an adult today, they still look immensely entertaining and I’d probably be on one every weekend if only [...]

Cool Rider
Now you can have all the fun of a Segway without looking like a dork. Notice how the Cool Rider is positioned to be a much more stylish conveyance, ridden by a suave gentleman with an insouciant sunglasses-wearing air.
 

Go Go Gadget High Voltage Robot!

Fiddling with high-voltage power lines is certainly a dangerous job, especially for humans. With that in mind, a Tokyo-based company, HiBot, is working with western Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co. to test a new robot next year that can inspect several power cables at once, and we’re fairly sure that [...]

Counter Culture Icon Fritz the Cat now available on Vans

Vans slip-ons have been a popular and fashionable shoe option for many years now. In recent years, Vans has made shoes featuring designs from pioneering underground artists we really dig like Robt. Williams and Rick Griffin. We were thrilled to find out that they recently added a series of [...]

The ZeroEdge Aquariums look cool, where the water pours over the edge and makes it look like there’s no sides to the pool. ZeroEdge Aquarium can be designed in any size or shape and can be positioned your home or office.

After throwing your laptop, charger and spare battery into your travel bag as you head out the door, suddenly you don’t feel so mobile anymore. One solution is to rely more on your iPhone for basic business tasks, such as grabbing data from your company’s computer systems, managing a Web site and even viewing, editing [...]

A clear silk film, about one centimeter squared, with six silicon transistors on its
surface about to be implanted into a mouse (Photo: Rogers/Omenetto)

 Tattooing dates back to at least Neolithic times and has experienced a resurgence in popularity in many parts of the world in recent years. Advancements in tattoo pigments and the refinement of [...]

What a nifty idea! Many folks insist that toothbrushes should be sterilized, after all, if you don’t, your toothbrush could become a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty bacteria. This concept toothbrush will harness the kinetic energy that we generate through the activity of us brushing out teeth. If you brush for 3 minutes, [...]