Leo Millar amazed his golfing enthusiast father when he picked up a club and drove a ball to an impressive 100 yards with one hand.

“At this point he was swinging away left-handed with his stumpy bit — we call it his ‘special’ — resting on the top of the club,” Leo’s father Ian Millar told a local newspaper. “But he was hitting the ball really well.”

Other people who watched the boy practice were quite amazed too.

“I took him up the practice ground at my local golf club, and when the professionals saw him and realized he had only been playing for two days, they offered him free lessons,” he said. “He has been told that he has a perfect golf swing — it is textbook.”

Seeing his son’s talent and thinking of where it might go, the Millar family contacted the Dorset Orthopaedic company, a company that develops and manufactures prosthetics. Bob Watts, the founder of the company, was so intrigued with Leo’s talent that he came up with a sleeve that wraps around Leo’s wrist to enable him to insert any golf club. Watts said that the glove allows for a free movement.

“Now with the new prosthetic limb on he is using both hands and arms for the first time, and can hit the ball 200 yards,” said the boy’s father.

A spokesman for the Royal & Agent, the spot’s governing body in the UK, said that they have no problem with Leo’s glove because it is covered by a rule regarding artificial medical devices.

“While we cannot give a definitive ruling on any piece of equipment without seeing it, if there are no particularly unusual features of the prosthetic hand I’m sure it would be absolutely fine,” the spokesman said.

via: Design Buzz

Bionic glove may help 10-year-old golf wonder kid go pro is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

Now you won’t have an excuse for not going to the gym as this new machine takes the gym in the comfort of your work space.

There’s really a lot of things to like about the product. It is very flexible and can be used in a lot of ways as its desk’s height is adjustable.

“This is the adjustable-height desk that pairs with a semi-recumbent elliptical trainer to let users exercise while on the job. Designed to be pedaled at slower cadences that won’t break one’s concentration (or cause one to break a sweat), an average user can burn about 4,000 calories in a typical workweek,” written in the Hammacher Schlemmer website.

“The elliptical machine’s generously padded seat slides smoothly along the frame to accommodate users of almost any stature, swivels for easy entry and exit, and has an adjustable backrest for comfort. Resistance is electronically controlled via the included performance monitor that tracks distance, watts, rpm, and calories burned, and displays information stored for up to 30 individuals on its 4″ x 6″ LED screen.”

By using the product, you can double your calorie loss from using a standing desk. The Elliptical Machine Office Desk is priced at around £5000.

New office exercise product lets you exercise while working is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

The SpokeLit is a LED bicycle light that can be easily attached to your bike’s spokes using the clips. Take your wheels for a spin and see the light glow. SpokeLit is not to be used as a substitute for regular bike reflectors, it just adds visibility on the road and it can be used to complement these existing installations.

The device has a glow mode, which emits a steady light, and a flash mode. Both modes have differences when used, which can be fun to watch.

Bike riders can find the product to be dependable and very secure. The SpokeLit comes with a set of 2 CR2016 3V batteries that seems to have a long life. When the batteries die, riders can rest assured that spare batteries are available and they won’t have any problems taking on the road again.

The Nite Ize SpokeLit uses LED lights that gives high-visibility to your bike spokes at night, giving added protection. Bikers who use the product will definitely be the envy of their fellow riders once they light up their wheels with this device.

The Nite Ize SpokeLit is available at an affordable price of £6.95. With the holiday season just around the corner, you might want to give these as gifts to your biker friends and do them a favor of increasing their protection when they ride at night.

Anyone else see this as an interim answer to the Tron Lightcycle?

SpokeLit Provides Protection and Tron Lightcycle Looks is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

This modern bike shelter idea comes from a designer called Joe Mattley and it is a sort of solid metal cage with a lid you pull down over it to keep the vehicle safe and sound inside.

The WAVE design is said to only take up one square foot of space and offer a highly resistant frame which no one will be able to break into. The design is 6 feet tall and it is made so that the bike is placed in it vertically. The owner then puts his own padlock on the shelter and walks away whistling his favourite show tune without a care in the world.

Will these things take off? They could certainly fulfil a need which is out there to keep bikes safe from harm. The final outcome on their future will probably come down to how expensive they are to build and how long they last. If they are relatively cheap and last years without any maintenance we could start to WAVE shelters springing up all over the place. Only time will tell us if they turn out to be the next big thing or something whic

WAVE Bike Shelters bring Lockable Bike Sheds to the Streets is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

The designer describes Horsey as not only a transportation device but also a lovely pet, to be honest it’s my type of pet as it requires no feeding, walking and you can leave it at home unattended knowing that it won’t tear up the furniture or leave an unpleasant mess on the carpet.

The tagline ‘Feel the horse in the middle of the city’ actually made me laugh out loud but when you think about it makes a lot of sense as it’s probably much more practical than a real horse. The kit comes with a wooden ornament, metal fixings and screws which seem to compatible with almost any bike with a suitable frame – whether you actually want to make your bike look like a horse is another matter entirely.

Horsey Gadget Transforms your Bike into a Horse is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

Plans to equip the London Underground with Wi-Fi for the London Olympic Games in 2012 have started with 16 underground stations switching from private Wi-Fi usage reserved for staff use to public access this week.

One of the first stations to receive the upgrade was Charing Cross, the BT Openzone trial has been reported as a great success and it has now been rolled out across the Bakerloo and Northern lines. BT Broadband customers will be able use the BT Openzone Wi-Fi on the platform within the station but not on the actual tube itself. TFL are currently seeking investment to bring the remainder of the project alive before next years games.

In total they want to equip 120 underground stations with Wi-Fi before next summer. They make it sound as if there are many bidders for the project too: “A contract will be awarded to the chosen bidder by the end of 2011… passengers will be able to log on to the internet from their laptops or mobile devices at stations before the 2012 Olympics.”

So is the promise of underground Wi-Fi a good thing and do you think they will pull it off?

Via: England 2012 Olympics

London Underground to roll out Wi-Fi Trial is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

The bosses at FIFA seem to have been trying to avoid helping referees with technology for a long time now, but it looks like the change is finally going to come soon. FIFA President Sepp Blatter was traditionally seen as one of the fiercest opponents of bringing more technology into football, but following some high profile mistakes at the 2010 World Cup he changed his stance on the matter and decided to get some trials done on the subject.

It has been reported that they are going to give more trials to possible goal line solutions, after some 10 early models failed to cut the mustard. There is an International Football Association Board annual meeting in Wales this weekend and the recent FIFA trials will be discussed in depth there.

It seems that the first trials, including the Cairos microchip ball from Adidas, were a failure, as they didn’t prove to be as accurate or fast enough to meet the criteria which has been set. The guidelines for any device are that it has to be completely accurate and also give a decision within a second. The Hawk-Eye system used in tennis wasn’t present in the trials but will be included in future ones.

The FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valcke, has been quoted in the last few days as saying that the world governing body is still committed to getting the right device which will give a lasting solution to the age old problem of the ball bouncing on the line and back out. He also suggested that if a solution could be found then they could try it out in an English stadium first.

Now, what would have happened if Hawk Eye technology had replaced the Russian linesman back in 1966 and had spotted the Frank Lampard goal in 2010?

Source: T3.com

Fifa Exploring Hawk Eye for Goal Line Technology is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

The self tying sports shoe is a bit of a misnomer really. If you don’t have the energy to tie up your laces or you’re too large to get your hands down there to do the job then there’s a good chance that a sports shoe isn’t what you’re really looking for and yet that’s precisely what Nike seemingly want to create.

When we first read about the self tying shoe we imagined laces that mysteriously, magically even, laced around themselves doing the whole bunny ears and tree thing without thei ntervention of human hands in any way. The reality, though, is both less exciting and more realistic.

On pressing a switch towards the rear of the shoe, the straps within essentially tighten (constrict may not be the best choice of word from a marketing point of view) around the foot so there’s neither sight nor sound of a lace. This does, of course, mean that there needs to be a motor inside the shoe and some kind of power source.

Regarding the power source we think there must be some way to create energy, let’s call it pedpower, as the owner walks and this energy can be stored and used to tighten and slacken the shoe at will – we don’t have a patent for that yet so feel free to jump in any time you like Nike.

Would you buy self tying shoes?

Has Nike gone a little far with this one?

Will they ever see the light of day?

Join the discussion on Facebook.

Nike Self Tying Shoes – Ideal For The Lazy And The Obese? is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

As yet we can’t find any way of winning money but with 17 different ways to score or indeed lose points it’s pretty in depth and according to the game creators an average 90 minute match would have around 1,200 scoring events compared to 15 in more typical fantasy football games.

There’s a very good selection of games in which you can take part and once you’ve signed up you choose 3 players from a match rather than the usual 11. As the game progresses, scores are updated in real time and you can even make 3 live substitutions as the game progresses.

The game went through its final test phase during the World Cup and the team behind the game say that tests went better than they could have ever hoped for and this led to the release of the game just in time for the start of the Premiership campaign.

Lets face it, much as we love the game of football, some of the matches can be incredibly dull and make 90 minutes feel like a prison sentence. Putting money on the game can help to improve the situation a little but not everybody wants to gamble away their wages getting scores wrong. PickLive looks like it could prove to be a fun and entertaining way to supplement the enjoyment of any game and you can play against mates too.

Have you tried PickLive yet?

Have you got your fantasy 11 sorted?

Live Fantasy Football Game Launched For New Premier Season is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos

October is the expected date when the technology will hit the headlines again, although chances are reasonable that Blatter and Fifa will once again decide that it’s too expensive or dress it up and claim that it is to do with the flow of the game. While there have been sensible suggestions of digging out a slope behind the goal line until something is done, the debate will continue – maybe Fifa should take a leaf out of the NFL’s books.

The NFL is considering adding some serious tech to its game. Cairos Technologies develops magnetic field chips and believes that placing a small microchip inside the ball would mean no errors when it comes to deciding whether the ball really has crossed the line (or whatever happens in NFL).

Similar technology is unlikely to be introduced by Fifa, after all imagine the cost of that and imagine what Ronaldo would be able to do with his free kicks then. However, the fact that the NFL is even willing to consider such a move in order to cut down on possible errors and costly mistakes should be seen as a positive note and one that Fifa could well benefit from following.

Will Fifa introduce goal line technology?

Will the NFL use microchips in their balls?

NFL Shows Fifa How To Do It, Trials Microchip Ball Technology is a post from: Gadgets and gizmos