Verify Location, a UK company that specializes in offering tracking services to the public, is now offering the Sazo GSM. About the size of a matchbox, the Sazo GSM broadcasts its geographic location to an internet site where it can be tracked and monitored. Unlike GPS tracking devices like the TrackStick, this Sazo model uses cellular phone frequencies to determine its location, making it feasible for use in enclosed areas. In addition to tracking, the Sazo GSM offers services similar to a cell phone, like receiving calls and sending emergency SMS messages. Unfortunately, the device and service are only offered in the UK, so you'll have to find another way to determine if your girlfriend really spends her nights volunteering at that homeless senior citizen blood drive she's always talking about.
Audi has unveiled a car accessory that could make your daily arguments with moody teenage barristas a thing of the past. The WMF espresso machine is a coffee machine that sits firmly between the driver and passenger seat in Audi's latest concept car. Although it appears in a concept form, Audi assured that it is fully functional, "provides fresh coffee at the touch of a button," and will only occasionally sprays the driver's crotch with a blistering stream of searing coffee. Combine this espresso machine with some of RoadPro's utensils, and you could rent out your kitchen to a family of nomadic herders.
Crigler-Najjar syndrome is a disorder that inhibits the breakdown of poisonous bilirubin in the body, which can lead to yellow skin and eventually be fatal. To treat the disorder, sufferers are forced to expose their skin to a specific blue light for hours on end, usually in a modified tanning bed. In an attempt to create an easier form of treatment, Philomeen Engels has developed the Ledwrap, a suit made of breathable material with flexible disks of LEDs. The Ledwrap emits the correct color of light necessary to treat the disorder, and it enables a much more fluid and comfortable treatment. The final benefit of the Ledwrap is to give the wearer the proper data files necessary to end the tyrannical reign of the MCP once and for all.
Electrical engineering students at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have created the world's largest 3D-display. The display consists of 8,000 suspended ping pong balls that each contain a red LED light. It will be used to play games of 3D snake, 3D pong, and 3D duckhunt, and it will display SMS messages and simple animations. The display will be revealed on April 23, and remain open to the public until a wino inevitably enters and gets trapped in the strands of welcoming light.
If you thought those thirteen year old skateboarders in your neighborhood were annoying, just wait until their skateboards start blasting whiny emo rock. Skatesonic is a project that places special electronics on the trucks and wheels of skateboards to produce music. The music varies depending on the surface that the skateboard is rolling over and the different way people ride. The skateboards can be hooked up in unison, so a group of skateboarders can each play their own "instrument." If I wake up one morning because a bunch of skateboarders are "jamming" together on the sidewalk in front of my home, I'm going to start pelting them with VHS cassettes of Grind.
ThinkGeek is now selling an clever GPS tracking device. About the size of a USB thumb drive, TrackStick GPS Data Logger will record its exact coordinates every few minutes. It has no display, but when you can plug it into any computer, and it can sync up with Mapquest or Google maps to show you where it's been; the time, date, and altitude of each reading; and its speed and direction traveled. The small form factor of the TrackStick lets you place it practically anywhere, and the battery life will last between 5 to 7 days. Simply place one of these in your pocket and you'll know exactly where you were during that night of heavy drinking, providing you with helpful clues when you try to figure out why you woke up next to so many unconscious transvestites.