Vehicle Gadgets

The Xero e-board Neo is one of those products that is a specific niche audience. As it is, I am not one of those who wants to get on a skateboard and go 14 miles per hour.

Yes, this is the e-board, an electronic skateboard that can be charged up in three to four hours, and then go about 13.5 miles from there.

Of course, if you are going to make a motorized skateboard, then the skater is going to have to control it somehow. This is why Xero created a controller that resembles slot car racer controls. However, they gave it a disturbing shape…a gun.

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Take a look at this bike from Germany, and stop looking at the model with the silvery wardrobe from a cheesy James Bond movie. I’m pretty sure she’s not Megan Fox, who isn’t all that in the first place.

This bike is made from Formula One parts as well as parts from fighters. If that doesn’t sell you, then you should know that it is electric powered. Yes, there is a 1300-watt motor with lithium ion batteries in lieu of pedaling.

It is called the Grace, and it is good enough for 18 to 31 miles per charge, which depends on the rider’s weight. It takes about one hour to recharge the battery, and it can achieve a top speed of 40 miles per hour.

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What has taken years of development has resulted in a self-proclaimed “best underwater propulsion device” that is available in the market, making it the ultimate underwater scooter for both divers and snorkelers. Yes, the Bladefish Sea Scooters are capable of pumping out a whole lot more power compared to its predecessors that relied on lead acid propulsion.

Unlike them, these new models can be recharged in a fraction of the time and can be easily carried as hand luggage. They’re also much smaller than their leaden predecessors and are highly manoeuvrable and compact. All models include computer controlled circuitry, double seals and a battery life meter.

You will be able to pick up the Bladefish 1000, Bladefish 2000 and Bladefish 5000 for £245.99, £299.99 and £479.99, respectively. Needless to say, the more money you fork out, the faster you’re able to travel while underwater, but it is safe to say that none of these will help you outswim any predatory shark looking for a human fillet…

Love the thrill of adrenaline rushing through your body? The World’s Wackiest Racers might help you out in this department, coming in a wide range of whacked out designs that will definitely put a smile on your face.

You’ll have the pleasure of being a passenger in the following bizarre vehicles as they hurtle around at an indecent speed: a sofa (complete with lamp and TV), a four poster bed, and an office desk (with chairs, computer and water cooler). As a bonus, you’ll also be able to drive the strangest double-decker you’ve ever seen.

They retail for £99 each, so pool some money together with a group of close-knit friends and have a blast of your life with the World’s Wackiest Racers!

Imagine if you were to chop off Johnny Five’s head and put him on your dashboard. I realize that sounds gruesome, and I’m sure someone actually did that at the end of the original Short Circuit, but just imagine that cute little head on your dash having loving expressions, and showing you the way to go home.

This is essentially the role of AIDA (Affective Intelligent Driving Assistant). This robot head not only serves as a GPS Navigation system, but it actually has expressions. It’s eyes will look happy when you’re going the right way, and become a warning sign when you are not. There is a video of this intriguing concept after the jump if you aren’t already sold on it yet.

AIDA is more than a navigation system, though. It is intelligent enough to remember where you have been, and from this information determines your driving habits. It uses a lot of sensors to gather intel, and will even let you know when you’re low on gas, and where is the best place to stop for gasoline on your way.

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Finally, folks living in the US will be able to pick up the TomTom car kit for iPhone, where this accessory was specially designed to offer iPhone users the best in-car experience while driving without compromising on their safety as well as that of other road users. This will allow you to take full advantage of the iPhone’s GPS navigational capabilities, where among the features include secure docking, enhanced GPS performance thanks to a built-in GPS receiver for improved positioning accuracy and an integrated loudspeaker and microphone. Not only that, when docked, your iPhone will be charged to make sure it won’t run low of juice the moment you arrive at your destination. The TomTom car kit for iPhone will retail for $119.95 a pop.

Press Release

I believe that hover technology is possible, and an episode of Mythbusters showed prototypes that were, at best, gigantic slow moving air hockey pucks. This is essentially what the Air Board is.

I even saw a clip from an old Wife Swap episode which had the “Balloon Boy” family playing with hover technology, and it seemed to work better than their little charade.

You can get this air board for about $14,000. If you think that is pretty expensive for this product, then you should know you’ll have to pay for gasoline. The Air Board has a 1.3 gallon tank that it will burn through in an hour.

Of course, some assembly is required, and the Air Board stands four feet high when it is up and running. It can go at about 15 miles an hour, but I’m not certain where you would drive it except a skateboard park or something.

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Some of you might remember when we reported on the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit, a now recently opened roller coaster at Universal Orlando that allows the spectators to choose a soundtrack. Disney’s EPCOT Center has now debuted a new ride called Sum of All Thrills, which allows the spectators to design and ride their own roller coaster.

How is this possible? The spectators use computer tablets to design their “dream track”, and then get into a robotic carriage that uses virtual-reality technology for their pre-programmed ride. Users can even program the ride so it can be a bobsled ride or airplane ride.

This ride is very similar to CyberSpace Mountain, a ride that allows spectators to customize their virtual ride with drops, loops, and other stunts. I’m not certain how loops could work if the user selects the bobsled option on the Sum of All Thrills.

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