Uno - The Motorised Unicycle… Sort Of

The 2008 National Motorcycle Show threw up a bit of a blinder in terms of unique concepts and brilliant design. The Uno uses two side by side wheels and balances perfectly upright through the use of two gyroscopes. The 18 year old inventor, Ben J Poss Gulak boasts that the machine is so simple to operate that it only requires a single on/off switch.

In order to accelerate, the rider leans forward. The more you lean forward, the more the Uno accelerates. In a similar vein, leaning backwards causes the Uno to decelerate. The gyroscopes and the lay out of the twin wheels also mean that leaning to either side will cause the bike to steer in that direction.

It looks precarious but it went down a storm at the motor show. Ben answered all the questions that were inevitably thrown at him. He learned his trade from his Engineering grandfather and plans to create more one-off inventions. Quite where you go after creating a motorised unicycle I have no idea but for its uniqueness and engineering brilliance this is one incredible machine.

The 3D GPS - HP IPaq 314

It may just be me, but GPS isn’t something I can really get excited about. If it works well then you don’t get unnecessarily irritated by the incessant and patronising instructional voice. You also manage to find your way to your chosen destination without panicked instructions informing you to get back on the road (the M6 toll road is one such example – my GPS couldn’t cope with it adequately for some time and seemed genuinely irked that I was driving through farmland!).

HP have gone some way to remedy this lack of excitement by providing a dedicated 3D GPS display. The 4.3” monitor on the HP iPaq 314 displays your location and surroundings in full technicolour 3D glory. So now, instead of driving down a red line you could be driving down a graphical representation of a main road, accurately depicted as a Sim City type landscape.

I’m still struggling to get hugely excited – although the specs do peak my interest a little more. A 600MHz processor is hugely impressive for what is essentially a computerised A to Z; as is the 128MB RAM that is also included.

If you regularly travel on work, you just don’t like getting lost, or you’ve plain run out of gadgets to spend your money on then the HP iPaq 314 is about as impressive as a GPS can actually get. That is, until they develop one that can play eye spy.

Knight Rider Gets A Modern Look And Gadgets To Match

Fans of the hit tv series Knight Rider will be thrilled to hear that a new breed of Kitt is set to be unleashed on the world on the 17 th February 2008. The all new Kitt is full of modern gadgets all packed into a great new car.

The new car is a Shelby Mustang GT500KR with the tradtional addition of the swooshing red light on the bonnet grill.  The out side of the car looks amazing and borderline aggressive.

Pictured right is the origional Kitt and the brand spanking new version. As you can see the car has come a long way!

 The interior of the car features a host of automotive gadgets, details of what is actually featured has not been released yet but we will be sure to let you know as soon as the show has been aired.

As you can see the dash has a large integral screen, loads of nobs and dials for gadgets and gizmos. There is also a steering wheel that would have looked at home in the origional Kitt - I love it!It also looks like there may be some kind of voice display on the dash but this is purely speculation.

The launch date for the new knight rider 2 hour feature is the 17th February in the US.  Watch this space for updates!

Car To Run On Air By 2009

You may have heard about green house gases, well of course you have! Global warming is at the forefront of every politicians mind and many people are seeking a greener way of life. Well I am happy to report that an engineer has promised his latest air powered car will be available within a year!

The Onecat has five seats and is constructed of lightweight glass fibre, it weighs just 350 Kilo grams and the projected cost is just £2500.  The car is powered by compressed air that is stored in the cars lighweight carbon fibre chassis, the best part is it only takes 3 minutes to ‘charge up’. This is one heck of a lot quicker than electric cars.  This car sounds like a great idea and I hope the designers can get it on the market as quickly as possible.