three cool gadgets

this week’s cool gadgets post sees three products with that undefinable cool quotient. the first is a solar-powered flashlight manufactured by solcool, a company that is more widely known for distributing hybrid ac units that can be hooked up to solar cells, making them part of the solution and not part of the problem.

the flashlight looks very attractive but for many people it will not represent a replacement for the convenience of a battery-powered flashlight. to recharge the battery, a 0.1w or 2v feeds into a 1.2v / 800m ah ni mh battery. recharging takes a day of sunshine and in return you get 1-2 hours of light from the flashlight. judging by the specs, it’s going to be a bright light given that it has six leds and one red led. i just want to know that if i’m making a midnight trip to the biffy when the power grid goes kerthunk, that i won’t be stumbling over an errant toy or pair of shoes and taking an early trip to the great source code in the sky! in my view a worthy replacement for battery-powered flashlights but don’t plan on using it to read a long novel by or as a nightlight while camping! $24.95 from the manufacturer.

next up is a really intriguing product that utilzes active fresh blue technology to help keep food fresh. in this case fruit. created by the design team of ahmet bektes, koray gelmez and eda kose, what they have come up with is a very stylish solution to the simple fact that generally speaking, fruit is not truly fresh anymore, if fresh is understood to mean - no more than a few days old. the bacteria that aid in the decomposition of all plant life quickly get to work with the resultant waste of the fruit.
this on the heels of a recently released report from britain that indicates that 3.3 million tonnes of food are wasted every year in that part of the world alone is a compelling reason to look at methods for preventing unnecessary waste.

i can’t pretend to understand how the blue led light works, but apparently the blue wavelength of the spectrum discourages the growth of, and kills bacteria. the “blue” technology is also being used in the halo vacuum and in arcelik refridgerators. a very pretty salad bowl to be sure.

the last item i’ll mention here came out of the greener design competition held in 2007. designed by canadian sarah hay, dubbed the “evo”, it’s a very simple, almost magical device that addresses the need for people to create stories about their travels. here is what the designer says about evo: “evo is a personal recording device which can be worn as a pendant or pocket watch. an intuitive interface provides contextual information: location, direction, time, atmospheric pressure. It also captures still and moving pictures with audio and is designed to take with you on your travels. a gps receiver enables the recorded files to be referenced with geographic information so, not only is the information valuable at the time of experience, but opens up wonderful possibilities for re-experiencing the personal media in a dynamic map based software environment upon return.“
its technical features are as follows:

- formed anodized aluminium casing was chosen for its light weight, protective and scratch resistant qualities
- a series of 'o' rings seals the two shells together ensuring water resistance and offering soft tactile qualities
- a cmos photosensor combines the image quality of ccd technology with compact size, adaptability and energy efficiency
- a polyled (polymer light emitting diode) display offers high brightness, high contrast, and a fast response time suitable for displaying video
- minimal moving parts for longevity and durability
and most amazing of all, it is powered by a pull-string energy harvester taking this item off the grid and off the battery-dependence cycle.

what an incredible idea!! somebody hurry up and make it!