Tag: Technology

Amusing

Adjustable Advantage Toilet Seat Handles 1,000 lbs.

Did Michelle Obama commission this?

As a people, our butts are expanding at a much faster rate than our toilet seats. The Japanese have also been kicking our wide posteriors when it comes to toilet technology.

Now you can say hello to a distinctly American toilet seat innovation, the Adjustable Advantage. The seat features two wings that expand out to either side to accommodate varying sizes of derrieres.

The seat’s most impressive stat is its ability to handle up to 1,000 pounds. The seat may hold up, but the toilet itself could be crushed. The company recommends double-checking the weight-bearing capacity of your toilet before testing the seat’s limits.

Toilet tech doesn’t come cheap. The Adjustable Advantage costs $180. It fits on both round and elongated bowls and comes with a lifetime warranty.

The Adjustable Advantage isn’t just for people who have packed on a few pounds. The company is also promoting its use by pregnant women and folks with sciatic nerve issues. The seat clocks in at a few inches higher than a standard seat, so there’s less distance to travel on the way down to a seated position.

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Amusing

The Flying Car

Video Description:

The world’s first flying car will be available to consumers by 2011, the Associated Press reports.

Terrafugia Inc., an American company based in Massachusetts, plans to produce the vehicle called “The Transition” and deliver it by the end of next year.

It will take about one minute for the car-plane’s wings to unfold for flying and fold up for driving. Drivers do not need to leave the car during the process. When the vehicle’s two wings are unfolded, it can be parked in an ordinary garage at home.

When the vehicle is in “car mode,” it will be able to reach a high speed of 145 kilometers per hour. In “flight mode,” it will be able to reach a high speed of 185 kilometers per hour. With a full fuel tank, the vehicle will be able to fly as far as 805 kilometers.

Amusing

“Iron Curtain” Defense Computer Punches Rockets Out of the Sky

Dodging an incoming RPG is a pretty tall task for anyone, unless you’re a ninja on meth. For the rest of us, it’d be easier to just blow the damn thing up before it hits, right?

That’s the Iron Curtain system in a nutshell: It uses “active protection” technology to blow RPGs and anti-tank missiles out of the air, like if you were to punch somebody’s fist that was about to punch you. What’s surprising is that the chief bottleneck for this kind of tech isn’t lightning reflexes or propulsion or clairvoyance or some other engineering obstacle: It’s pure processing power.

The computer has to register the target, calculate its airspeed and trajectory, and then decide where to shoot back. The Iron Curtain is mounted on the top of armored vehicles, and it fires straight down. The close proximity to the vehicle drastically reduces the complexity of the physics involved, though it also puts more emphasis on the alacrity of the calculations.

Maybe the most amazing thing about Iron Curtain, though, is that it’s still getting better. Right now it’s clobbering RPGs traveling at 296 meters per second, but they have their sights set on countering armor-piercing explosively formed projectile bombs that can move up to 4km per second. The system won’t be in the field for at least another year, but once it is, it will have a chance to neutralize one of the bigger threats to our troops overseas. And if it manages to save a DeLorean or two from Libyan RPGs, all the better.

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Amusing

Martin Jetpack 5000ft Flight

Video Description:

To demonstrate flight high above the ground and the concept of the ballistic parachute as an emergency safety system, the Martin Jetpack was flown to around 1500m (5000ft), brought down from this height and an off-the-shelf ballistic parachute was deployed.The aircraft was flown by James via radio control in a chasing helicopter – also demonstrating the ability of the technology to apply to UAV applications. Jetson, Martin Aircraft Company’s weighted dummy was on board, and the parachute was placed out front for visibility and weight balancing.The video features inventor Glenn Martin and RC pilot James Bowker. The jetpack ascended initially at 4m/s (800ft/min) and the climb took about 6 minutes. The parachute was deployed at around 3000ft above ground level. The aircraft sustained some damage on impact, but we would expect that it is likely a pilot would have walked away from this emergency landing. The total flight was just under 10 minutes.

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