ElliptiGo Mashes Together an Elliptical and Bike, IKEA Gets into Electronics
There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
We're not quite sure how we missed this last year, but Segway tours now have a competitor for sheer nerdiness. The ElliptiGo 8S is the world's first elliptical bike, with a peddling mechanism tied directly to the elliptical motion. This, of course, enables you……
Social Networking Aids the Ill, But More Connections Are Vital
Facebook's population officially outnumbers that of the entire United States, and Twitter has obviously become firmly established within pop culture. That being the case, the creation of specifically marketed social networks capitalizing on the online networking boom should be completely expected. Some of the demographically geared services cater to white collar professionals and others to nerdy sci-fi fans, but one target group is experiencing a dramatic period of success that has escaped previous at……
8 Essential Kitchen Gadgets
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Several of us Switched writers live in New York, where kitchen space is a precious resource. But despite the fact that we cook in spaces the size of coat closets, we like to prepare dishes that make our friends jealous and our significant others fearful of losing us. [Ed. note: Matt is speaking for himself. We rely on him to feed us. Seriously.] And, while no kitchen appliance will ever magically transform you from Sandra Lee to Escoffier, a little know-how and ingenuity with the aid of some ……
Hacking Gets Even Easier With DIY Malware Kits
As if phishing scams and identity thefts didn't already make the Internet unappetizing, hackers are apparently getting still more industrious in ways that leave us feeling queasy. According to The New Scientist, we now have to worry about “a burgeoning cyber-crime industry, one which lets people with next to no programming skills steal a fortune in cash or get hold of sensitive government documents.” Whoa, nelly! Do you mean to tell us that our freedom-loving Grandpa Joe can simply buy a hacker's ……
Get Your E-Spring Cleaning Done With OnyX and CCleaner
We've got a double dose of Switched Downloads for you. Normally we try to cover cross platform apps so everyone can get in on the fun, but with the category of app we're covering today, that just isn't an option. CCleaner and OnyX are system cleaning and optimization tools for Windows and Mac respectively. We searched for a comparable product for Linux, but the closest we could find is the unreliable (and potentially dangerous) System Janitor built into Ubuntu.
PC: CCleaner
What it is:
CCl……
Design Concepts: Gadgets for the Visually Impaired
The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless.
According to the 2008 National Health Interview Survey Provisional Report, approximately 25 million Americans have repo……
Text Messaging Tricks Invigorate Your 'Dumb Phone'
We spend a lot of time discussing the various capabilities of smartphones and the apps available for them, but the truth of the matter is that not everyone has a smartphone. In fact, the vast majority of people don't. Fortunately, though, “dumb phone” owners don't have to miss out on all the fun, thanks to the versatility of SMS.
The blog Make Use Of highlights several ways that you can use text messaging to stay connected via social networks like Twitter. In particular, Make Use Of looked at the……
MMO-Obsessed Parents Charged in Death of Infant
Fans of massively multi-player online games (MMOs) frequently receive ridicule for their fervent devotion to online avatars. Rarely do those devoted gamers become so engrossed in their multiple virtual personalities that they face criminal charges, though, let alone negligent death accusations.
In a horrific case of Net obsession, a South Korean couple has been charged in relation to the death of their three-month-old baby, the BBC reports. The two, who had both been laid-off, apparently became so consu……
'Power A' Case Turns Your iPhone into a TV Remote
The peripheral marketplace offers companies a fantastic opportunity to capitalize on the success of massively popular items. As is often the case, though, those peripherals are typically lacking in the performance department. An upcoming add-on for iPhones looks like it may actually counter that trend of inadequacy.
The sleek two-piece Power A case fits snugly over the iPhone, and transforms it into a universal infrared (IR) remote control. Multiple devices can be controlled from one screen, and the IR ……
Origami-Inspired Folded Solar Panels Could Increase Efficiency
Up to this point, the design of solar panels has been primarily a 2-D affair. But now, some scientists say that “folding” these flat panels into a 3-D design, like origami, could provide more efficient solar power.
According to LiveScience, 3-D panels could absorb more light and create more energy because the light that's usually reflected off a flat panel would be caught and absorbed by another panel. To test this idea, MIT theoretical physicist Jeffrey Grossman and his team used a computer simulat……
