technabob » new zealand

yikebike: the sitting man’s segway

technabob — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:28:41 +0000

The YikeBike is a new electric transport vehicle coming from New Zealand. The compact personal transporter features an innovative design that can speed you along through city streets and country roads without ever requiring you to stand up.

The sit-down electric YikeBike tops out at 20km/hr (appx. 12 MPH). An electric chainless drive powers the bike up to 10 kilometers (appx. 6 miles) on a quick 30 minute charge. While that’s not a ton of range, it’s certainly enough for most urban commuters to get to and from work. It’s also great for short haul travel from public transportation sites like trains and buses.

And thanks to an innovative lightweight folding carbon composite frame, you can carry the YikeBike up to your office during the day for a recharge (and to protect it from theft on the street). The whole thing weighs just 9.8 kg (appx. 21 lbs.) which means it won’t break your back carrying it around either.

If you can get past the annoying song in this commercial, the YikeBike actually looks pretty cool…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Here’s a better (and far less irritating) video that shows off the YikeBike being put through its paces on a variety of challenging terrains. It’s surprisingly agile, given its unassuming looks.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Expect the YikeBike to start shipping sometime in 2010. Final pricing hasn’t been set yet, but it’s likely to run between €3500 and €3900 (appx. $5180 to $5772 USD). You can reserve one now with a €100 (appx. $148 USD) deposit here.

weramouse ergonomic mouse gets the mouse off the desktop and into your hands

technabob — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:45:08 +0000

New Zealand has given us many great things. Sheep, Kiwis, Lord of the Rings, Eagle vs. Shark, Flight of the Conchords, and now the one-handed ambidextrous ergonomic mouse-ball. What will they think of next?

The WeraMouse V2 (aka the Ergotouch Mouse) is just a little smaller than a conventional mouse, but you don’t put it on your desktop. Instead, you hold the WeraMouse in your hand and operate your computer wirelessly from up to 25 feet away. Technically, it’s not a mouse at all – it’s a trackball with a scroll wheel and a pistol-grip button. The one-handed wireless controller is said to reduce wrist strain and allow you to remain in a more neutral posture than you do when using a traditional mouse (although the guy in the picture above looks like he’s setting a pretty bad example for “good posture”). Battery life for the WeraMouse is rated at up to 28 hours on a single charge, and when it’s not in use, there’s a charging dock that’ll juice the WeraMouse back up in about 90 minutes.

The WeraMouse V2 retails for $99 (USD), and it looks like the Ergotouch guys are working on a WeraMouse V3 that uses a trackpad instead of a trackball, in case you prefer your mice without any balls.

levelhead: trippy augmented reality game

technabob — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:26:44 +0000

New Zealand digital artist Julian Oliver is working on a cool game that blends the electronic universe with the real world. His work-in-progress game called levelHead uses a series of cubes placed on a table top. Digital cameras and custom software sense the movements of the cubes and superimpose digital images of a tiny little 3-dimensional gameplay universe.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As you tilt each cube, the player climbs through the environment, moving in concert with the angles of the physical cube. The objective of the game is to move the cubes to help guide the digital player to the exit of each cube’s virtual environment. Some of the doorways lead to another cube, while other are dead ends that make you start all over. The whole interaction looks like a Michel Gondry video to me.

Oliver developed the game to run under Debian or Ubuntu Linux, and plans on releasing it as an open source project soon.