Electric vehicles will no doubt be more and more commonplace in the future, and you know what this means? More and more gas stations would have to learn to co-exist with these types of vehicles, resulting in each pump offering both electric charging as well as regular fuel. I do think that this isn’t such a good idea after all, since a slight spark in an electrical charging system could result in all that high octane fuel catching fire, blowing up in some Hollywood-style explosion. Well, that could just be my imagination getting the better of me, but what we have here is the first billing system in the world for electric vehicle charging posts.

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I remember reading Brave New World in high school, and the mode of transportation in the future was helicopters. I remember thinking that the writer Aldous Huxley had a pretty unenlightened point of the world of tomorrow, because most modern science fiction writers picture the future skies full of rotorless flying cars.

It would appear that the “Muecke” single seater lightweight sport helicopter concept could prove Mr. Huxley right, especially since he was right on many other things. Read the book if you don’t believe me.

As you can see, this helicopter has no tail rotor, but has two rotating blades. Apparently, the blades rotating in opposite directions are enough to give the mini-copter lift and balance.

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I’m sure all of you remember the movie Total Recall, where Arnold Schwarzenegger rides in a cab that drives itself. It would appear that someone has taken inspiration from science fiction with this Robotic Taxi Service.

It looks a lot like the “Slimos” that we reported on a week ago. Designer Kubik Peter’s automated transport is electrically powered, and can seat about two. That may not sound like much room, but there is a trunk in the back for some luggage.

Now I’m sure you’re wondering: how does the passenger tell the robo-cabbie where to go? I believe the user just makes a selection of cross-streets on a touchscreen controller. I would imagine that the touchscreen would have internet access, so maybe the passenger can watch a little YouTube video while he or she is waiting to get from Point A to Point B.

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Ah, strollers. For those of you who don’t know the fun of wheeling a baby around all day, you are in for quite a treat. Welcome to days of wearing both your arms and legs out as junior gets pushed around to places that may or not be compatible for wheels.

When my wife and I had our second child, we decided to buy one of those double strollers. Although they “conveniently” hold two kids, they really are hard to get around. What I would have given for the Taga stroller/trike. As you can see, the parent sits in a seat behind the tykes and pedals them to places.

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As information becomes easier to disseminate these days, it is no surprise that more and more people are taking up the environmentally friendly route, making choices that will affect our eco-system positively. While there has been some progress, there remains a whole lot more work to be done in the long run. One of the ways to do your part is choosing green forms of transport, and the GoCycle electric bicycle is a decent option if you do plenty of intra-city travel. This is the world’s lightest production electric bicycle, tipping the scales at just 16.2kg. Despite its small size, it is able to move you for around 20 miles before requiring a recharge, and at a top speed of 15mph to boot. Recharge time currently stands at 3.5 hours, and the £1,158 price point will come with a sealed-for-life chain, a decent suspension system to prevent sore buttocks and three-speed gearing.

Product Page via TRFJ

We’ve seen the Podio MP3 speaker yesterday, and today let’s take a look at the Lavod MP3 Bike Speaker and Flashlight that does not only playback your favorite tunes while you pedal furiously to shed those post-holiday pounds, but you will also be able to take advantage of the built-in flashlight functionality should you be unfortunate enough to encounter a loose chain when dusk falls, and need all the light possible along a lonely, deserted road to place the chain back in its proper position.

This handlebar-mounted gizmo blasts out your favourite tunes so you can rock and roll without tangling with potentially dangerous headphones. What’s more it enables riders to hear tweetering birds alongside the melodious strains of Cannibal Corpse. And if that doesn’t flutter your mudflaps you can listen to its FM radio. You can even preset the stations using the accompanying software. The Lavod Speaker is USB-friendly. Simply plug it in and drag your songs onto its 2GB onboard memory. Easy, and you won’t need to faff about with batteries because this beautifully engineered gadget is charged via your computer, its rechargeable battery delivering a whopping 8-10 hours of continuous playback.

One thing though – the £99.95 price point might be a wee bit steep for most people, and there are always cheaper alternatives around like carrying a separate torchlight whenever you go cycling.

I remember watching an episode of Mythbusters where they were discussing the possibility of hovering technology. Apparently, Adam and Jamie had grown up seeing the same ads on the back covers of comic books that promised an “Air Car”, and I remember these ones too.

The Mythbusters then challenged each other to a race with hovering vehicles that they built on their own. They were able to get them to hover, but getting any forward motion on them proved problematic.

It would appear that Australian company Entecho has figured out an application for hover technology. This fan-forced flying saucer could start a serious transportation revolution as the huge blades spin to give it lift, and the skirt around it gives it directional manipulation.

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It goes without saying that we love to be entertained, otherwise how else would you explain sold out rock concerts, millions of Thriller albums making their way to living rooms all over the world and the clamor for the latest hit movies. In fact, with the advent of the iPod, entertainment has gotten all the more portable, spawning a mushrooming portable media player industry that has players from various companies coming up with their own creations. While these devices can be carried around in one’s pocket, what about entertainment options in the vehicle itself? Right now, we’re just stuck with built-in DVD players as well as in-dash displays (or those attached to the sun visor) to keep the kids entertained with Barney’s DVD during that cross country road trip, but what if entertainment could be personalized in high definition for each passenger? That’s what Fujitsu Microelectronics Ltd. aims to do with their new MB88395 processor, an LSI which supports the “1394 Automotive” communication standard for automotive information systems.

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