Month: September 2005

N55 Protest Rocket System

N55 Protest Rocket

Lets just for a moment forget the fact that if you wheel one of these up to a demonstration, convention, or rally your going to get all sorts of unwanted attention like getting thrown into a police car or shot in the head by a sniper. But then again, maybe you like that sort of thing… Kids today…
Anyway, other than that the idea is pretty cool. If you want to read a pretty good over view of how a modern high powered rocket works this is it. Because the BATF has made obtaining black powder motors next to impossible, the NO2 (nitrous oxide) and plastic motors have become very popular. Its amazing what will produce thrust if you give it a good oxidizer.

    Technical specifications:

    Maximum speed: approx. 475 m/s or 2600 km/h
    Apogee: 5200 meters at a launch angle of 85 degrees
    Net weight: 8,5 kg
    Fuel weight: 3.8 kg

    Component list:
    Steel tube Ø 102 mm
    Acrylic tube Ø 100 mm
    Rocket head: Fiberglass / epoxy
    Cupper nozzle
    Parachute
    Fuel grain: LPDE polyethylene block
    Oxidizer: N20
    Bolts, nuts
    Launching pad
    Launch Control Box:
    Polyethylene box, electric cords, electric switches

[via we-make-money-not-art ]
Manual for Rocket System

Kawaii Doraemon Phone

Doraemon Phone

For those of you who arn’t in the know, Doraemon is 35 years old this month and in celebration of this historic event, the motherboard maker GIGABYTE is issuing a limited run (only 5000) of Doraemon themed cell phones. If I had 15,900 yuan I’d buy one for my wife but the chances of that are slim and next to none.

Doreamon is a character from a Japanese comic. This robot cat is the only feline creature that had its ears chewed off by mice. A Doreaphone was launched a few years ago, aimed at children, and their parents could locate them with this phone in case of an emergency. The Taiwanese site ePRICE spills the beans on this new version of the Doreaphone, that is basically a GIGABYTE g-X5 (this company also manufactures motherboards) in blue robot cat colours

[via Gizmodo]
Doraemon Doreaphone

Rollable ePaper Display

much hotness

WOW!!! Please let this go to market. I’d love to have one. You can see more photos here. Polymer Vision has been turning out the innovation for a while now, I made note of a flexable screen they came out with a few months ago.

Polymer Vision, a subsidiary of Philips, reports that they will present a portable consumer device with a “rollable display” at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin, Germany, September 2-7. The prototype, called Readius, has a monochrome 5-inch QVGA display with four grey levels that can show maximum two images per second; colour screens with quick move images aren’t possible yet.
The screen has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and a high contrast, so it’s also readable in bright daylight.
The display is only 100µm thin and when rolled up has it a diameter of only 7.5mm. It also keeps showing the last image on the screen when you turn off the device.
On the IFA-exhibition Polymer Vision wants to check the wishes of the consumers and demonstrate the adequacy of the technology for the mobile market. Polymer Vision doesn’t want to put this product on the market by themselves, but they are searching for partners and investors. The first devices with this technology should be on the market within 2 years.

[ via Gizmodo]
Philips Shows Rollable Display

The Moovie

moovie

Winner of the Peugeot design contest in Frankfurt Germany, the Moovie has hit the world. Its a two seat electric car that, if ever produced, would reduce traffic and air polution in major cities. I hope that some company starts making an affordable ‘city car’ soon.

The main idea behind this project was to create a small 2 seated city car powered by electric power. What shaped the visual look on the vehicle was the two big electric wheels with hollow rim, these wheels are hollow in the middle, this is where the doors of the car are located, the vehicle has like this big doors allowing the users to have enough space to enter and exit the vehicle. The big wheels have a reason behind it, the bigger the wheel less turns it has to make to travel, less turns less energy expended. The front of the vehicle is supported by two spheres, these are purely for support, the car turns by a system that makes one electric wheel go faster then the other, this system allows the vehicle in some cases to make 360º turns which is great for parking and moving in small city streets.

Peugeot actually made a Moovie

Call For Help returns!

Leo

Looks as if the idiots at G4 might have realized that the dork factor wasn’t going to carry them to ratings heaven. Long live the nerds!

Leo Laporte returns to the US with his Canadian cast, eh? Amber MacArthur and Andy Walker join Leo to cover questions via netcam, phone or email on tips, cool sites, gadgets, tech news, you name it! Tune in Monday thru Friday (check your local schedule for times),G4techTV. Could this be the return of TechTV? One can only hope.

Call For Help returns!