Ubicycle public bicycle service: Unmanned bike rental kiosks by Continuum
By Andrew | May 30, 2008
Renting out bicycles for public usage is no new thing. But devising a complete automated and unmanned bike rental kiosk like system is definitely a novel idea. Ubicycle public bicycle service, thought by design firm Continuum, the Hundred Dollar Laptop project people the bike rental system definitely comes to fore as a promising one.
These kiosks will be powered by solar panel roofs and RFID-embedded Smart cards to keep a track of users and security purposes. Not just the RFId tags, but also the unique green colour of the bikes will not let thieves fly away or ride freely on these bikes.
The fact that the bikes can be rented with your good old public transportation card makes them all the more convenient to use and access. He kiosks will be available through out the city so that you can drop the bicycle at the point nearest to your destination.
Via: Dvice/DContinuum
Loc8tor Lite: No more losing business!
By Andrew | January 26, 2008
I am one of those who people who are on a constant spree to find things, as I keep loosing one or the other things. Christened quite apt, the Loc8tor Lite is a gadget that’s of the size of your credit card, available at your rescue where ever you need and wherever you need.
Loc8tor Lite is a chic thing to find anything that you can lose and found at your home. Right from the keys, TV remotes, mobile phones to the lively ones like your pets and not to forget your car.
Yes, you got that right, it’s the RFID technology that works in the lite that make you find your desired object that’s attached to a small homing tag.
This is how the Loc8tor works: It gives you audio and visual cues from the handheld point in the direction where it scans the missing Tag/object. No matter your keys are stuffed behind that sofa or forgotten in the near by store, Loc8tor will take you to that place with in minutes and even seconds in some cases.
The accuracy can be estimated by the fact that the signals are so strong that you’ll be guided with in a proximity of inch/2.5cm of the lost object, no matter you are indoors or outdoors! All you need to do is follow the direction where you are getting the strongest signal from the handheld…that’s it!
Price: £44.99 (about $88 USD) which comes with 2 tags.
Via: Uberreview
Quickies: ‘Post-it’ notes in their electronic avataar
By Andrew | January 19, 2008
A good news for all those who loved communicating and setting reminders through the hard to ignore ‘Post-it’ ot ‘Sticky’ notes as nowonwards, the good old ‘Post-it’ notes will also be used to send reminders and messages through e-mails or a mobile device as they get converted into their electronic avatar!
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed electronic sticky notes called ‘Quickies’, which is aimed at merging the digital media with the paper world with a view to improvies ’staying organised’.
These can be digitally searched, so even if you forget where you put the Quickie, a keyword search on your computer can easily give you an access to all the Quickie notes that you put on forthat articular keyword, making your work simpler!
Quite similar to the Post-It notes in appearance, Quickies combine artificial intelligence, natural language processing, ink recognition technologies, and RFID tags into a modern version of the reliable analog. When placed inside an electronic pad the handwriting gets converted into a digital form, which is recognised by the Custom software.
So, the next time your boss changes the time of the meeting when you are away, the Quickies will automatically send him/her an instant message regarding the same.
Hmm…seems the electronic-post its will be a great deal of relief to those who are still a bit uncomfortable when it comes to using keyboards and computers.
Via: Discovery