Gorilla Torch gives you an extra hand for dark, tight spaces.

It’s always frustrating when working in tight spaces to try and hold a flashlight while you’re turning a screw. Inevitably, what’s generally easy to do without a flashlight, is darn near impossible when you have to also hold a torch to light your workspace. Enter Gorilla Torch.

Made by Joby, the geniuses behind the Gorilla Pod, a Digital Camera holder that can mount a camera anywhere, the Gorilla Torch is the same kind of idea: a tripod with adjustable segments that enables the user to literally wrap it around anything to hold it in place. It’s LED based light is superbright and also has a built in dimmer switch to adjust to the users liking. It’s weatherproof and operates on thee AA batteries with an average battery life of 20-80 hours depending on how bright you like it.

So, whether you’re working on the pipes underneath the sink or replacing that timing chain in your car, wherever you need light, all you need to do is turn on Gorilla Torch and wrap it around anything nearby adjust the light to shine your way and you’re good to go for hands free lighting. There’s also another feature that can help while working in tight spaces. The footpads of the Gorilla Torch are magnetic, meaning that any nuts or bolts can be within easy reach just by sticking them on the pads.
Cost is around $30, which is a bargain if you’ve ever dealt with juggling tools, lights, and tight spaces!

Hat Tip – Chip Chick

Have you ever noticed that airports always have the coolest systems of mass-transit? I suppose when your baggage claim, as well as departure and arrival gates are miles away, you probably have to. Practically every airport I have been to involved a ride on its own personalized subway train.

Heathrow airport of London has recently added its own mass-transit system, but this is more of an exhibit or ride for the Science Museum of London, rather than a way of helping passengers. However, it could easily be a model of the future of mass-transit, which would hopefully be an age full of driverless vehicles.

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For years, scientists have been looking for ways to achieve human-powered flight. This human-powered hovercraft could be a small step forward in that quest.

The Steam Boat Willy is a project that has been under development for years by the London flight club (not to be confused with the organization started by Tyler Duerden). As you can see by the video after the jump, the vehicle is powered by pedaling like a bicycle. Not only does this inflate its raft-like frame, but it can spin the propeller for some forward momentum.

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If you are in construction, TV reporting, or any other job that requires you to bring expensive tools to another location, then you know the frustration of leaving tools behind. On a somewhat related note, I left a camera behind at a wedding that I went to last week, and all I could think was: “oh, I should have done a quick inventory of my things before I just drove off”.

DeWalt is thinking the same thing when it created Tool Link, a way of keeping track of tools with RFID tags. The system comes with an RFID scanner with software for a truck’s dashboard computer, as well as two RFID antennas for a truck’s bed.

It also comes with 50 RFID tags that can be attached to any tool. So when you leave the job, you can check the computer and see if any tools were left behind, and track down the ones that are missing.

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I realize that normally we devote our articles to products you can actually buy, but the story behind this man’s helicopter is flat-out amazing and inspirational to us all.

Wu Zhongyuan is a 20 year old farmer who, ever since he was a child, dreamed of not needing to climb mountains anymore. It would appear that he found his remedy by creating his own flying machine. Wu used principles that he learned in middle-school physics and other relevant knowledge by surfing the Internet on a mobile phone to create this helicopter.

The blades are made from Elm tree wood, and a motorcycle engine provides the power. The frame is reinforced with steel pipes, and he claims that his single-seat copter can fly up to 2,600 feet! Believe it or not, he assembled this DIY helicopter for just $1,600.

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I have seen fold-up bikes before, and none of them were very impressive. The first I ever saw was back in the eighties, in the Sharper Image Catalog. If I were to find a picture of that particular bike, then I would post it here so you could have a good laugh.

A student name Dominic Hargreaves has won the James Dyson Award for his innovative folding bike that is appropriately named The Contortionist. As you can see, the whole frame fits within the wheel’s 26 inch circumference.

The rest forms a convenient handle that can be dragged around by the rider when the bike is not in use. It reminds me of modern luggage that you see now, which seems to require a retractable handlebar and tiny wheels.

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What’s the point of having a high revving sports car if you can’t push it to the limit on ordinary roads? Of course, most supercars can also be driven slowly to cruise past busy spots so that majority of working class folks would look on in envy, but paying off a speeding ticket (or tickets, depending on your luck) just because you wanted to let ‘er rip down that straightaway is a bummer. Escort hopes their Redline radar detector ought to prevent that from happening to you ever again since it features dual antennas that make the range a whole lot longer compared to other radar detectors. So long, in fact, that Escort proudly claims for it to recognize radar and laser signatures from as far as 13 miles away. No idea on how much truth is there, but the $499.95 investment you make here could save you thousands in speeding tickets sometime down the road.

Source: Slippery Brick

I’m not certain how this pedal-powered monorail system got to be called the Shweeb, but I don’t really care. And you got to admit, it is a very cool invention for something that rhymes with “dweeb”.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to travel in a transparent monorail car that moves not by machine, but by the user’s command? So go ahead and make those phone calls and text messages while you are behind the wheel. All you have to worry about is the car in front of you, and you can stop anytime. By the way, the Shweeb “car” moves faster than an ordinary bike.

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