The unicycle on steroids.

First the unicycle, then the Segway, now the Solowheel.



The race to create the "greenest" means of transportation is in full swing. Now on top of hoping that the person on the Segway in front of you falls off, you can have double the opportunity with the invention of the Solowheel. The producer, Inventist, calls it the "smallest, greenest, most convenient People Mover ever invented".

The Solowheel reminds me of a robotic skateboard. It weighs in at a whopping 20lbs. It works like a Segway where you control the speed with the angel of your body. It is also battery operated.

The impressive part to me is the fact that it is so small. A disadvantage to the Segway is where do you put it when you need to go in somewhere? As long as you can lift 20lbs, the Solowheel can be carried into the workplace. You just might look a little dumb doing it. The product is another invention that will make so many of us lazier. If you can walk, you should feel a little ashamed using the Solowheel on a daily basis.

Segways have gotten increasingly popular since their release. Even my University's police department uses them. Hopefully for Inventist, the Solowheel catches on. Let's raise our glasses to all battery powered wheels out there.

Super Computer "Watson" makes IBM proud

I blogged a few weeks ago about IBM's brainchild "Watson." IBM developed Watson basically to establish the fact that they have the capability to turn our planet into a real life I, Robot.  In light of my theory, I suggest everyone does anything and everything that IBM wants. Who knows what they are hiding in their labs.

All jokes aside, Watson showed up strong. The computer smoked Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. The computer displayed its ability to comprehend even the most abstract questions. It really is impressive what IBM constructed.

I do think it was a little unfair in one aspect. There were many questions that these three geniuses obviously knew the answer too. When this was the case it seemed like Watson was always the first to buzz in. You can see the expressions on especially Ken's face when his finger just was not fast enough. If the questions were presented in Scantron format, I think the scores would be much closer. Anyway, IBM deserves some major credit. The experience was pretty cool to witness. Start the clock on the Chinese to respond with something to one up Watson. 1 pt America.

Shave your head in 20 seconds?

In 30 years we will seriously have more free time than we know how to handle.

I came across the most ridiculous video today. I strongly debate whether this is legitimate or not but if it is, I have come to the conclusion that humans have unlimited potential.

The video is pretty self explanatory, it shows a helmet with four razors blades on the inside. If you turn the helmet on, the blades will move and shave your head in about 20 seconds. Did I mention it is also wired with tubes that inject shaving cream during the process?

Judge for yourself, but seriously, where does the hair go?

I hope this ride comes to life

First things first, I need to tell a little story about my childhood. When I was little, the best thing about Spring wasn't the weather or the flowers. Hands down, the best thing about Spring was this carnival that used to come in right down the road from me. To this day I still think about it every time the season comes around. There were five great things about this carnival.

1. The funnel cakes

2. The Gravitron Ride

3. The pictures of really sexy woman I would win from that game where you pop the balloons with darts

4. The fact that I knew the owner of the carnival so whenever I wasted money on games I would just talk to him and he'd give me the prize anyway.

Lastly, the BEST thing about this carnival was the fact that I had a best friend named Kyle with severe motion sickness. Kyle would throw up on the Spinning Swings, The Scrambler, The Gravitron, and basically any ride that spun at a decent speed. The fact that he would be consistently peer pressured (by me) into getting on these rides every year is actually still pretty fricken hilarious now. 

What makes Kyle so important to this post, is this video of concept carnival ride I came across. The video is the a model of a ride invented by Thomas Casey. The video calls it "The Rings of Saturn" I call it, "Kyle's worst nightmare."It's basically two Ferris Wheels that spin in all directions and allows the seats to spin. Every year there is some sweet new ride at some amusement park that is the new" Tallest" or "Fastest" ride. Six Flags and Disney World can have all those roller coasters. I just pray, for the sake of seeing Kyle on it, that this ride gets picked up and dropped off at the carnival near my house.

New Age Beer

The next time you visit a major sporting event, you could witness the magic of your beer filling up through the bottom of the cup. This new dispenser works with magnets allow the beer to flow up through the bottom. The new dispenser will surely lower the rates of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in vendors across America. I'm not quite sure of any other benefits that the dispenser has, but doesn't it look really cool? Hopefully this can cut down on the lines that grow heavily during the seventh inning stretch of baseball games. In a few years or so, this might be how you fill up your Diet Coke at McDonalds. This may or may not catch on, but it sure makes you wonder what other possibilities it may be used for.

Future of Cars?

On Saturday, Catharine Smith published an article for The Huffington Post about a new car system that would make driving easier, safer, and more efficient. The system works like a train of automobiles  on the highway. It's like train-cars that move in an out of the wireless system when ready. The train cars are have one professional driver in the front that controls all of the cars. This allows for all the other drivers to do basically whatever they want. You can sleep, eat, read, etc. on the way to your destination. The smarter we get, the lazier we get, but if it is safer, more efficient, and saves on resources who can complain? Stay tuned in the years to come. Sartre and Volvo are testing the system now in Europe. They are predicting it could take over ten years to get this wireless car system to run full steam.

Super Computer to Compete on Jeopardy!

On February 14th, the world will be able to witness something really magnificent. IBM has built a computer with a seemingly unlimited potential for knowledge. What is more impressive is that the computer named Watson is able to display its knowledge in the form of answers to Jeopardy! questions.

Watson will compete in a traditional game of Jeopardy! against champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson's  opponents are not normal champions, they are two of the top game show money earners of all time. Each has earned millions of dollars through the game of Jeopardy! Jennings won over 70 straight games of Jeopardy! to earn the bulk of his winnings.

Next month the showdown will commence. It's kinda scary how powerful technology is getting. Hopefully Watson isn't the next Skynet. I personally don't think the humans have a shot, simply because I think the computer can hit the buzzer faster than them but who knows. What do you think?