Just imagine a Segway and a skateboard had a baby. Don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the mechanics involved; just assume the whole thing happened in a laboratory (since that probably is where it happened) or like a baby in a Disney movie (quick shot of the prince and princess getting married; cut to One Year Later with a beautiful baby and the Happy Couple looking well rested and not having gained an ounce. Disney babies. Not real life.).
The IO Hawk is a Segway without handle bars. You can’t go very fast (top speed 6 miles per hour) or very far (about 10 miles on a three hour charge), but you will look très super cool tooling around on this thing.
Here is a link to the VBV (Very Boring Video) which shows what this thing actually is. Don’t bother turning on your sound—it’s just background music.
So if you happen to have an extra $1,800 (plus tax and shipping) sitting around (just so we’re clear: you don’t) you can own an IO Hawk.
Holy Moly! Facebook has gone and done it. The inconceivable (I do nah think tha’ word means wha’ you think it means) has happened. Our entire Universe has been turned upside down.
Yes. Facebook has brought the world of Harry Potter to life.
And by “the world of HP” I do not mean the theme park or the movies. I mean the actual world. Into our world.
On FB, you can now make your profile picture a short, looping video. Short as in 7 seconds. Looping as in will play over and over again making PLM (people like me) somewhat sea sick. Video as in pictures that move a la Harry Potter.
Mind boggling.
Or possibly not as inventors constantly push technology to catch up to fiction. Or perhaps a better way to say it is that they push to turn fiction into non-fiction.
I don’t think I’ll be changing my picture to a video any time soon.
But as soon as portkeys are real, this mom is going to do a lot of traveling.
No, I am not hoping for foot sores. I believe my feet are frequently sore enough, thank you.
But “the world’s most comfortable stiletto”? That required investigation. (And by “investigation” I mean “reading the article rather than going to sleep.”)
Turns out the self-described Most Comfortable Stiletto was reasonably comfortable according to the reviewer, but she still had red spots on her feet at the end of the day. I can’t comment on their comfort since I didn’t wear them.
Nor am I likely to since they are not billed as the World’s Most Gorgeous Stilettos. For a reason. (You can judge for yourself World’s Most Comfortable Stiletto .)
More importantly, they are not billed as the World’s Most Affordable Stilettos. For a reason. More like 500 reasons.
For the time being, I am content to wear my heels. Which may not be the World’s Most anything, but they are gorgeous and affordable and not crippling. Which is more or less all I ask of my shoes.
That and to protect me from the occasional stray Lego.
To be clear, there are a lot of people on the road right now who probably should go back to driving school (looking at you, red pickup driver who thinks turn signals are just for decoration).
There is a new car in the universe (thank you universe). A new kind of car.
It’s name is EOscc2 (not as marketable as R2D2, but I’m sure they’ll work on that) and it’s billed as an ultra flexible micro-car for mega-cities.
And as long as you don’t need to take anything bigger than a lunchbox with you, it is perfect.
It’s wheels go every whichaway which means parking is a breeze.
No more three-point turn, this baby just spins around.
With a bunch of robotics and sensors it will help you park (and one day do the driving, parking, and coffee making for you).
And—get this—it changes shape.
Yep. This car goes from 2.5 meters down to 1.5 meters.
I can’t even stand myself that is so cool.
The cars also hook up into a little train which might be interesting for people all going the same way, but I’m not sure I see that part catching on in the US.
No clue when, as, or if it will come to market, but I love how these folks are thinking. You can Car that changes shape.
In honor of Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you”) I have found some very interesting Star Wars facts.
In fact, My Friend The Internet almost passed out from overwork when I asked about weird Star Wars facts, because it turns out there aren’t just a lot of weird facts there are gazillions of weird facts. And there aren’t just a lot of site talking about the weird facts there are gazillions of sites talking about the weird facts.
Do you know what you get when you multiply a gazillion by a gazillion? Of course not, you’re on summer break.
A gazillion times a gazillion equals an internet saying “Really? All this before 7 am?”
Because there is so much out there, I will share only a few fun facts about Star Wars. (You’re on spring break so you have plenty of time to go visit all those sites on your own.)
An army of Wookiees was originally intended to help out on Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI Return Of The Jedi, but Lucas opted to use a smaller furry animal instead. And so the Ewok was born. Strangely, the word ‘Ewok’ isn’t actually mentioned at all in the film.
Yoda is the Sanskrit word for warrior.
The phrase “I have a bad feeling about this” or “I have a very bad feeling about this” is said in every Star Wars movie.
Every single Clone Trooper was computer animated (thanks to CGI for cutting the costume budget).
In Episode 1, the personal communicator used by Qui-Gon Jinn is actually made from a resin cast of a Gillette Ladies Sensor Excell Razor. Don’t cut yourself while speaking?
The sound of the TIE Fighter engines is actually the sound of an elephant call mixed with the sounds of a car driving on wet pavement. (I am in awe of whoever thought of that.)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was labelled “The Doll House” when it shipped to theaters, and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones was labelled “Cue Ball” when it shipped to theaters.
It took 10 puppeteers (using both hands) to operate Jabba the Hutt.
Chewbacca’s look was inspired by George Lucas’ dog Indiana (guess where the name Indiana Jones came from?).
Every Star Wars film has been released the week after George Lucas’ birthday on May 14.
And because you’re on break, you have plenty of time to watch the long version of the trailer for number VII.
As you probably know, the size of the seats has shrunk by 408% over the last few years, while the size of travelers has expanded even moreso. This does not make for a delightful travel experience (and by “delightful” I mean “roomy”).
I feel like an accordion trying to unsquish after a night of crazy polka music. I can’t imagine how people who are less vertically challenged than I am manage it.
In addition, the in-flight beverage service has slowed to a crawl. By which I mean that while I brought water on board with me, I didn’t bring a diet coke, and quite frankly this is a flight that requires diet coke. The flight attendants seem more concerned with the flight operation than with my personal particular need for a diet coke. Clearly a case of misplaced priorities.
Being the lady that I am, I am sitting here stoically, waiting calmly. Not fussing. Just fading a little on the inside.
Fact: There is no place on an airplane to charge an electronic device
Airplane travel used to be an elegant(ish) experience. One would dress up for the occasion. Stewardesses (in those days they were all female and called stewardesses) seemed to live only to bring joy and beverages to passengers. (There was no such thing as diet coke in those days, but I can’t figure out how to fault the airlines for that.)
In those days, you weren’t just given a drink. You got a Full Meal. And snacks. And refills.
On the downside, there was a smoking section in the back of the plane (and by “back of the plane” I mean the entire cabin smelled of smoke) and if you wanted to go to the restroom you had to walk through the blue haze of accumulated cigarette smoke to get there.
On the plus side, in those days you could recline your seat more than a quarter of an inch without ending up in the lap of the person behind you.
And the seats were designed for people (rather than sardines) to sit in.
Do I sound nostalgic? I can’t quite decide whether I miss the Good Ol’ Days or whether I’m happy in jeans and a t-shirt.
Perhaps once I unfold and regain my more-or-less-normal shape, I’ll decide.
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