Bikes Archive

  • Google Maps for Android gets Bike directions, Location Sharing, Navigation Shortcut

    Google Maps for Android gets Bike directions, Location Sharing, Navigation Shortcut

    If you're running Android 1.6 or later, go pop into the Market and update Google Maps. You've got some new toys waiting for you.

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  • BE-ENV: Panasonic Japan’s expensive, cool e-bike

    BE-ENV: Panasonic Japan’s expensive, cool e-bike

    We've covered plenty of electric bicycles from Japan in the past, but let's be honest: Most of them are really ugly, for example these (technically interesting) models Sanyo introduced three weeks ago. But this new Panasonic e-bike, the BE-ENV [JP], looks rather cool and is something I could see the younger (and male) population actually using, too.

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  • Sanyo’s electric bicycle charges battery on both flat ground and downhill slopes

    Sanyo’s electric bicycle charges battery on both flat ground and downhill slopes

    We have reported about electric bicycles multiple times in the past, but today Sanyo in Japan announced [press release in English] the "eneloop Hybrid Bicycle" whose battery riders can actively charge while pedaling on flat roads. Previous models, for example this one Sanyo released in 2008, mainly harness energy from braking when the bike goes downhill ("Loop Charge Mode").

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  • Everyone needs a Vespa; even the kiddies

    Everyone needs a Vespa; even the kiddies

    Vespas are wonderful machines and now even your kids can scoot around town. Fred Perry has teamed with Piaggio for a limited edition run of a full size and what looks like to be kiddie Vespa. Who cares about the full size model, it's the mini one that I can't stop looking at.

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  • Five iPhone Apps That Replace Bike Hardware

    Five iPhone Apps That Replace Bike Hardware

    The iPhone has proved to be rather adept at replacing other pieces of hardware. The combination of portability, a big screen that allows it to mimic any interface and an open (ish) App Store means that we are continually surprised at what people can make it do. Today, it’s the turn of the bicycle. It turns [...]

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  • Should Bikes Be Taxed? Vancouver Commissioner Thinks So

    Should Bikes Be Taxed? Vancouver Commissioner Thinks So

    Commissioner Steve Stuart of Clark County, Vancouver, wants to tax bikes in order to pay for new bikes lanes and trails. Speaking on Wednesday he said “We license our dogs. You license your car. Why wouldn’t you license your bikes?” Stuart is just trying to find money to improve cycling infrastructure, and proposes neither a mandatory [...]

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  • Michael Jackson’s sad, sad toy barn

    Michael Jackson’s sad, sad toy barn

    These panoramas show the remains of MJ’s secret toy lair complete with C3-P0, Batman, and Darth Vader dolls along with some bikes, some Bruce Lee stuff, and a few lumpen Power Rangers. This is the detritus of an overgrown kid with attention disorder. It jumps from cool thing to cool thing and even includes an arcade [...]

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  • Bottleclip Keeps Stylish Cyclists Hydrated

    Bottleclip Keeps Stylish Cyclists Hydrated

    Matthias Ries has come up with an ingenious solution for carrying water bottles on bikes, especially for the accessory-phobic fixed-gear rider. The Bottleclip is a standard sized screw cap and a snap-on clip combined into one small plastic chunk. Screw in almost any normal PET water bottle and it hangs from the top-tube of the [...]

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  • England Gets NYC-Reject Bike Racks

    England Gets NYC-Reject Bike Racks

    Last year, the results of the New York CityRacks Design Competition were announced. The winner? Woking, in leafy Surrey, England. While New Yorkers get a fragile, ugly and hard-to-use steering-wheel-shaped rack, the rather prettier and much more functional Y-Rack (a losing entry in the contest) is being installed on English streets. Just take a look at [...]

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  • Shake, Rattle and Roll: Camera Mount for Bikes

    Shake, Rattle and Roll: Camera Mount for Bikes

    The Fat Gecko from Delkin is a video camera mount which clamps onto your bike’s handlebars and lets you shoot as you ride. It’s billed as lightweight, rugged and can remain attached for quick-releasing the camera. On paper, it looks fantastic. So, what’s the problem? The problem is that you can do exactly the same using an [...]

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  • Ultra-powerful laser could make incandescent light bulbs more efficient

    Ultra-powerful laser could make incandescent light bulbs more efficient


    Look, LED light bulbs are fanciful, great for Ma Earth and a fine addition to any home, barber shop or underground fight club. But let's be honest -- even the guy that bikes through blizzards to get to work and wears garb that he grew in his basement isn't apt to shell out $120 a pop to have what's likely the most efficient light bulb American dollars can buy. Enter Chunlei Guo from the University of Rochester, who has helped discover a process which could morph a traditional incandescent light bulb into a beacon of burning light without using nearly as much energy as before. In fact, his usage of the femtosecond laser pulse -- which creates a "unique array of nano- and micro-scale structures on the surface of a regular tungsten filament" -- could enable a bulb to increase output efficiency in order to emit 100-watts worth of light while sucking down less than 60-watts of power. Per usual, there's no telling when this new hotness is likely to hit the commercial realm, but one's thing for sure: we bet GE's paying attention.

    [Via Physorg]

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    Ultra-powerful laser could make incandescent light bulbs more efficient originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 16:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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