Geek toys

Nothing quite says “rich children” like an indoor, child-sized train set that can move monied young lads around to their heart’s content. Regular kids have to settle for tiny, toy train sets that they move around with their hands, but not rich kids! No, they get to ride their train sets.

Just look at this crazy hand-crank locomotive toy. For a cool $4,100 (plus $500 shipping), you get two trains and a 30-foot-diameter track to put them on. They can support kids who weigh up to 100 pounds, and they’re propelled via hand cranks. And they’ll make your kids obnoxious snobs. Just get them Legos like regular parents.

Hammacher Schlemmer, via Oh Gizmo!

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/rideable_train.php

If you’re trying to get yourself to exercise more, you need the proper motivation. Sure, losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle are OK motivations I guess, but I prefer a more tangible incentive: beer. Frosty, cold beer.

That’s why this exercise bike would be perfect for me. It’s got a heat pump attached to it, so if you drop a beer in and pedal enough, it’ll cool it off for you. So you can time your workouts instead of by calories burned or minutes biked but by beers cooled. Once you chill up a six pack, it’s time to stop. What a healthy system!

PEGE, via Treehugger

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/an_exercise_bik.php

Computer programmers at UC San Diego have whipped up software that poses a serious threat. Called “Sneakey,” it can use an image of a key from almost any angle to create an exact replica. It doesn’t have to be a good image, either. Cellphone pictures work and, in a chilling example, the team successfully reproduced a key using a shot taken with a telephoto lens from 200 feet away.

“You only need to click a few control points in the image of the key and the ‘Sneakey’ program does the rest,” programmer Benjamin Laxton told a UCSD reporter, “It normalizes the key’s size and position so that each pixel then corresponds to a known distance. From this information the height of each of the key cuts can easily be computed and likewise the bitting code can be extracted.”

It’s devilishly simple, which is worrying. The “Sneakey” software was used last night as part of a presentation at the Conference on Communications and Computer Security, as an example of how new technology changes the game when it comes to security. What can you do to guard against it? Not much, save treat your keys like you do your credit card. Don’t publicize its image, because that’s all “Sneaky” and software like it would need.

Via UCSD

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/sneakey_softwar.php

So you want to be a robot for Halloween? If you want to make yourself look truly scary, you have your work cut out for you. To construct an outfit that makes you appear to be fully mechanized, you might need the skills of a machinist, and to pull of the wearing of it, you’ll need the grace and dexterity of a mime.

In the following pictorial list of the 10 best robot costumes, we found that rather than using industrial manufacturing techniques, a few of our favorites brought industrious humor and ingenuity to the task. Others, well, they were built by the professionals:

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/pictorial_world.php

Have you ever noticed something online that you couldn’t explain and was more than a little creepy? You’re not alone. Whether it’s sites that seem to looking back at you or Facebook profiles that update themselves, the Internet has a ghost problem. Who ya gonna call?

That would be us. There are logical explanations for all the different kinds of weirdness you might encounter online, from creepy websites to demons taking over your PC. We’ve determined the 10 freakiest threats on the Net as well as the reality underlying — and explaining — each fright. Perhaps with a bit of understanding we can make friends with the ghosts in our PCs. Failing that, at least we’ll know where to drive the stakes when the Internet Apocalypse begins. Guard yourself against our Internet hauntings, then share your own stories of Web weirdness in the comments below.

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/is_the_internet.php

One of the chief criticisms of the iPhone rollout in Japan was the device’s lack of 1-seg television service that comes standard on many of Japan’s newest cell phones. Today television addicts in Japan can safely purchase the iPhone now that Softbank has unveiled a 1-seg digital TV tuner attachment that will allow users to watch up to 3 hours of 1-seg TV on their iPhones via WiFi.

In addition to letting you watch the boob tube the new attachment will also function as a much needed supplemental battery for the iPhone. Pricing and release date have yet to be determined, but once it’s released Japan-based iPhone users will have access to a new network of about 3,500 WiFi locations essentially ensuring your ability to see that new Japanese Brad Pitt cell phone commercial he would never be caught dead doing in the U.S.

Via Softbank

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/softbank_brings.php

With Lewis Hamilton hoping to capture the Formula One driver’s championship next weekend in a McLaren-Mercedes, the German car maker has given us a glimpse of how they see the future of racing. Formula Zero racing will combine elements of land yachting, luge, and the thrill of Formula One, along with a sensitivity for environmental issues which is typically at odds with today’s racing. Each team is given a fixed amount of energy to complete the race, and points are awarded based on a combination of elapsed time and energy efficiency. Even the spectators will get a futuristic perspective, as the race will be run on a glass track allowing them to watch the race from below!

If this all sounds pretty far fetched, at least one small part of it becomes reality next year when Formula One will start using regenerative braking to give the cars a brief power burst when passing.

Mercedes-Benz Formula Zero, via Born Rich

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/mercedes_benz_s.php

One of the problems with dieting, is juggling all of those fat, calorie, and portion size numbers. Sure, you could walk around with a calculator strapped to your wrist, but you would still have to measure everything and then enter all of those numbers.

The IC3 intelligent cutlery system consists of a computerized handle, with interchangeable knife, fork, and spoon heads, which measures your food as you eat it. The forks sensors measure fat, protein, and sugar content, while the spoon weighs the food, and the knife ensures that the internal temperature is safe. Designer Alex Schulz says that after the meal, the handle can compile the information and produce a report. In addition to dieters, this could be a big plus for diabetics and others who need to monitor their food intake.

For now, the IC3 system is just a concept that’s on display at the Designparcours Munich 2008 exhibition.

Yanko Design

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/high_tech_cutle.php

Everything you need to know about the equipment behind the upcoming election is right here at DVICE. Our interactive election map, pictured above, is a quick and easy way to find out what America is and will be voting on for its next president. Learn all about it by clicking here, and take our quiz: What do you know about voting machines?

All this week we’ve kept tabs on what’s going on with voting technology: Florida’s optical scanners used for early voting ran into some trouble, West Virginians are complaining about vote switching, and Internet voting may be a viable option for Americans overseas. We also found the 10 best election maps from around the net, and the 7 scariest problems with today’s voting machines.

More top stories from the week:

SHIFT: ‘Clean’ coal is a fraud
There’s a lot of talk of “clean coal” technologies. So what’s the deal?

Red ring of death pumpkins
Scaring Xbox 360s this Halloween.

Life Pebbles point the way out of a burning building
Science fiction and firefighting meet — without the book burning.

The world’s most awesome microscope can see the smallest details
Say hello to the Titan 80-300 Cubed.

USB Key Skull Ring unveiled for Halloween geeks
Spooky storage in time for Halloween.

Docomo unveils prototype power shoes
Walking power plants for your feet.

Crazy $19K pen thinks it’s a watch
Penmakers decide to celebrate watchmakers with an odd clockwork tribute.

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/week_in_review_21.php

In the run-up to the election, DVICE has been investigating the technology behind voting machines, and some of the weaknesses and problems with it. But I’m sure many of you still feel that there are bound to be small isolated problems with a task as mammoth as this, and that most of the time the voting machine companies do a pretty good job.

In that case, consider what must be the No. 1 most boneheaded move in voting machine history.

Hacking a voting machine usually involves getting inside and swapping out a chip or two, so you would think they would make them really hard to open up. Sure enough, it you look at a Diebold (now called Premier Election Solutions) AccuVote-TS machine, there’s a locked cover keeping everything secure. The only problem is that even election officials lose their keys occasionally, so Diebold sells new ones to “Diebold account holders” through their online store.

Now this is where it gets really dumb. Right there on the order page is a picture of the keys (since removed), showing exactly what they look like. Dumber still, it turns out that every AccuVote-TS machine uses the exact same key, and dumbest of all, it’s essentially the same as many of the keys used for hotel mini bars and office file cabinets. A group studying voting machine security at Princeton University found that with three blank keys, a file, and a small vice, they could easily make two working keys by copying the key pattern from the Diebold website.

Via The Brad Blog

Article Source:http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/voting_machines.php