Tech Gadgets Reviews

Schwinn makes its first appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show this year to show off its Tailwind bicycle, which uses new battery technology from Toshiba to enable faster charging and extended battery longevity.

The Schwinn Tailwind can be recharged in 30 minutes as opposed to the four hours required by other so-called eBikes, which use an electric motor to assist the peddler when the going gets tough. In addition, Schwinn says, the Tailwind’s battery’s overall lifetime is twice that of the competition, with 2,000 recharge cycles.

"With the system turned off, the bike functions exactly like a traditional bike," reads a note on the Tailwind site. "Flip the switch to on and it is an entirely different experience. The powerful front hub motor provides just the amount of extra help you desire, while the long-life lithium ion battery gives you the power to go where you need."

With a light aluminum frame and a front suspension fork, the Schwinn Tailwind goes on sale at independent bike shops at the end of January for $3,200 — a steep price, especially considering that carbon-spewing cars will continue to ignore your existence while hardier bikers might even find cause to make fun of you. But for those with difficult commutes or low muscle-to-fat ratios, the aptly-named Tailwind could make fun, environmentally-friendly commuting much more attractive.

See Also:

• Jet-Powered Bicycle Makes 50 MPH Feel Waaaaay Too Fast
• Hands-On With the Topeak Bicycle Multitool
• Terrifying Robot Bicycle Shed Can Eat Over 9000 Bikes
• Where Are the Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities in the World?

If these are comfortable, they are by far the greatest invention ever created.  No one likes their toes to be frozen and once they get that way, it’s hard for them to thaw.  Then you’re stuck with cold feet most of the day.  That is unless you manage to sneak a space heater into your workplace.  That won’t really help you while you’re outside either though.  If you are spending the day in the snow with your kids, you could enjoy warm toes, even if the rest of you is frozen.

The insoles have embedded rechargeable batteries and keep the insoles at 98.6 degrees (Fahrenheit).  It will run for up to eight hours with a full charge.  Which is plenty of time for you to freeze in the snow.  The lithium-ion cells are said to be undetectable and could be recharged plenty (up to 500 times).  To charge these up you’ll need an AC adapter.  The insoles come in both men and women’s sizes and they are sadly just a bit pricey.  For a pair of these it will cost you $99.95 from Hammacher and Schlemmer.

Source: BookofJoe

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Just before Macworld kicks off tomorrow, there are still some last minute rumors going around including a 7″ unibody MacBook Pro that will be introduced tomorrow. The latest rumor concerning this 17″ monster include an extremely slim battery which cannot be removed, although the battery is touted to last much longer compared to the five hours offered on the current model. There is no word on whether silver-zinc batteries will be used, but as with all other rumors, we’ll just need to wait for the actual event to unfold before official news makes the headlines. Are you looking forward to the Macworld Expo? Do you think the releases at CES will overshadow what is available at Macworld by a large margin?

PCPerspective believes that Apple is preparing a 28″ iMac that would be powered by a Corei7, the latest processor from Intel (read our Corei7 review). That’s kind of new and somewhat exciting (for the sheer size of the display). To be clear, it seems that three iMac will have a NVIDIA chipset with integrated graphics, but the Corei7 version will run use Intel’s X58 chipset as NVIDIA doesn’t have a product to cover that segment yet.

We already said many times that upcoming Apple computers will be powered by NVIDIA from top to bottom. We know that Snow Leopard, the next Mac OS, will use GPUs heavily and we suspect that this is the long term reasoning for that move. Finally, a new mac mini should appear and it is widely expected to be the smallest Mac ever.

If you’re part of the working class who grind out a living each day, do you ever stop and wonder whether the super rich celebrities and personalities of the world live on a totally different planet, economic recession or not? Soccer supperstar David Beckham’s love for collecting exotic cars is no secret, and it seems as though his son Brooklyn is a chip off the old block. After all, how many kids in this world are able to boast that they have a £50,000 Porsche to drive around? This handcrafted toy is powered by a diesel engine (wonder what the mileage is like) and has been customized to fit just a single person - guess Brooklyn can’t go picking up a Spice Girl anytime soon as she won’t have a place to sit (other than on his lap).

This extraordinary bike-hack allows a takeaway driver to speed helter-skelter through the mean Japanese streets without spilling a drop of miso. The rather precarious looking appendage on the rear is a counter-weighted, hanging shelf onto which the bento boxes and bowls can be placed.

As the bike tips upon cornering, the platform stays level and keeps the food where it’s supposed to be and not on the tarmac. Of course, if you drive like the typical pizza delivery boy you’ll still end up with sloshing soup, but keep it steady and this swinging shelf should work fine. An elegant and simple hack.

Dangerously delivered dinner [Tokyo Times]

The advent of LED technology means mirrors no longer have to look boring, as with the Damask Mirror courtesy of Blowzone. This engraved mirror comes with integrated LED lights, and when it is switched on, the mirror will illuminate to bring life to the engraved design in full color and detail. Whenever you turn off the LED, the engraving can still be seen, but otherwise it works as an ordinary mirror to show you whether your hair is in place or not. There is no word on pricing as at press time.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 and Y450 are smaller siblings of the Lenovo Y650: they are smaller (15.6 and 14″) but share many elements of the same hardware platform. Among the differences: their CPU has less cache memory (that sometimes helps with performance) and it is fair to believe that clock frequencies will be lower too. However, they can as much as one full hour of additional battery life compared to the Y650, from 3.5hrs (discrete graphics) to 4.5hrs (integrated graphics). Overall, they share the same design than the Y650, I have a particular interest in the 14″ version. Starting from $829.
Highlights

* 15.6″ 1366×768
* 14 ” 1366×768
* 4GB DDR3
* 3.5-4.5 hrs of battery
* 4.6Lbs (Y450)
* NVIDIA NB10P-GE1 GPU (GeForce 9600?)
* 5400rpn, 500GB
[Source]

If your boss is too cheap to buy you a comfortable working chair that has arm rests, letting you sit on a plastic stool all day long, perhaps it is time you considered investing $19.99 in the Arm-Rest Table Pad. The name of the device is pretty much self-explanatory - it was specially designed to attach to most work tables, with the aim to reduce arm fatigue, prevent injuries and save money on medical bills in the long run. Constructed from sturdy metal, you won’t need a single tool to assemble this and comes in handy at both home and the office. Just make sure the table is no thicker than 5cm and you’re good to go. If you need to get this for the office, we doubt that you can claim the $19.99 from the Claims Department either. Find a new employer already!

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I’ve always been a nut for a color, but frankly color combinations like this just give me nightmares about my childhood.  All those terrifying brightly colored pants, it’s just unnatural.  I don’t care what the latest fashion trend thinks, we have to save new generations from the horror of those bright colors.  Thankfully they do offer more natural color combinations than the ones shown here.  Plus they seem to be offering decent headphones for an affordable price.

These come in three different styles, Tank, Chopper and Matador.  The Chopper and Matador are just slightly different sizes, but Tank offers the extra perk of including an extra cable with a microphone.   They are said to offer DJ quality sound, with crisp highs and rumbling bass.  In addition to the Graffiti color combination shown here, they also offer two other color combinations.  The Azzurro, which is different shades of blue, and the Shade which features black, gray and white.  The prices range from $49.99 to $79.99, which isn’t anything outrageous in comparison to other headphones of the same style.

Source: ChipChick

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