Monthly Archives: December 2012

If you build it, they will come.

Posted on by

In a shed located in a garden in the back of a normal house on a normal street in a little town in England you’ll find Kevin Thomas working on his car. What’s so unusual about that you might say, seeing the same thing plays out just about everywhere around the world on any given day? Ahh, but you see, Mr. Thomas is building a Formula 1 car. You heard that right – with parts he’s cobbled together from ebay, memorabilia sites and a network of contacts, he’s putting together as best he can a 2001 BAR003. Yes, some things are going to have to be parceled out because they are beyond his expertise, but he is doing the bulk of the construction himself and as a do-it-yourselfer myself, I say more power to him. (I’ve built a few project cars including a 1966 GTO and more recently a 1987 Chevy Silverado but nothing along the lines of what he’s tackling.)

I don’t think he would’ve been able to get as far as he has without the use of the internet. It’s a beautiful thing when it comes to locating hard-to-find auto parts and I’ve even been dipping my toe in the water lately learning how to search and purchase things that are hard to find locally. If I can do it, anyone can but my hat’s off to Mr. Thomas for taking this to the ultimate extreme. He’s built a shed of dreams that have all the gear-heads out there rethinking some ideas they’ve put on the back-burner. If I lived in England, I would certainly be beating a path to his back door to have a look-see.

Woody, who knew you were an airhead?

Posted on by

cardboard helmetI seem to be stuck in airbag mode because here’s another story about them. This one has to do with a new bicycle helmet made with a cardboard liner instead of EPS foam. The inventor got his inspiration from the woodpecker: “Looking into nature, the woodpecker is one of the only species that experiences severe impact to its head every time it pecks. Its beak and skull are joined together by a corrugated cartilage structure that absorbs each impact.” The Kranium liner is made with honeycomb shaped corrugated cardboard with each cell acting as a mini airbag. His helmet design allows for “flexing at different points which absorbs the peak force of the impact after which the tiny air pockets absorb the remaining energy.” It’s 3 times stronger than regular helmet liners, 15% lighter (90% of the liner is air) and it’s sweat and rain proof. He’s actually having a hard time getting anyone to believe the excellent safety ratings he’s received after all the testing that’s been done in China, UK and Germany. There should be a clear plastic version out soon in Europe with the US seeing its debut sometime next spring. I wonder if the NFL is checking this out?

While you’re wearing your cardboard helmet, why not take a spin on this cardboard bicycle. It’s 95% cardboard and very cheap to make – about $9 in materials. Who knew cardboard was so versatile (I even saw a cardboard wheelchair prototype last week). What’s next, cars?

News for Week of 12-9-12

Posted on by

1. The car tech industry is working on a cool seat belt latch that unhooks when wet helping to keep more people from drowning when their car is submerged. When water hits the inside of the Escape Belt a salt pill dissolves and releases the hammer of the male section of the belt freeing the occupant. It’s the same tech used by airlines in self-inflating life jackets. The mechanism costs around $40 and the cartridge needs to be changed every few years. Great stuff coming from this Dutch manufacturer.

2. London cabs are getting free wifi. You have to watch a 15-second ad every 15 minutes but that could be just what the doctor ordered if you’re trying to avoid roaming charges on your smartphone. Is it viable? Londoners will just have to wait and see.

3. This one is truly creep-worthy (is that a word? I’ll add a hyphen). The US is planning to listen in on people’s conversations on buses. “With the new systems, experts say, transit officials can effectively send an invisible police officer to transcribe the individual conversations of every passenger riding on a public bus.”  Watch out good people of Eugene, Ore.; San Francisco; Athens, Ga.; Baltimore; Traverse City, Mich.; Hartford, Conn.; and Columbus, Ohio because you seem to be the first to have this implemented. Big Brother is getting his ears on.

 

Cell phone airbags?

Posted on by

Yup, you read that right. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has just been awarded a patent for a smartphone airbag. Love the fact that the issue of frail cellphones is being addressed and kudos to Mr. Bezos for coming up with any idea that might eventually pan out. Here’s the guts of the patent per the article: “It starts with a safety monitoring system that would use a gyroscope, camera, infrared beam, radar or other sensors to detect such things as motion, orientation and distance from other objects — then determine in a split second if the device is at risk of damage from impact.” Apparently the device could deploy either airbags or springs with an added propulsion system that would guide the phone to a soft landing. Pretty sci-fi if you ask me but hey, the patent office says it’s ok.  I just hope they don’t come with an idiot light.

News for Week of 12-2-12

Posted on by

Here are three articles that caught my eye this week. The first two have to do with distractions while driving while the third is just distracting any way you look at it.

1. What do you think? Do red-light traffic cameras cause more accidents?

2. Wow, look at this (I hope you’re not driving). As if we don’t have enough things to concentrate on behind the wheel, but this article actually says that computers for your car’s windshield would actually be “helping to improve safety.” I guess I just can’t think of a tweet I needed to see that badly (but then again, I’m kinda old and like my bad news delivered in person and not when I’m driving a 4,000 pound projectile).

3. White House wants 100% of vehicles to have black boxes by 2013. I’m just gonna leave that one alone except to say it’s 1984 all over again.

WWII Vets

Posted on by

This isn’t car related, but we’d just like to give a shout-out to all the WWII vets out there seeing it’s Pearl Harbor Day. Thanks Dad.