NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Don't Just Play The Drums Dude, Ride Them

Last night I caught The Mynabirds and it was easily one of the best shows I've recently seen. While the lead singer is a phenomenal front woman of the fetching variety, I went out of my way to make sure I gave a big hug to the heart and soul of the band: the drummer.

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Let's face it, drummers need more hugs. Night in, night out, they deal with the age-old identity crisis of taking a back seat to the rest of band. There's a reason why Charlie Watts looks so stoic and uninterested while he's drumming. No one's watching him. That's because all eye's are on that strutting rooster-peacock, Mick Jagger. If he's not enough eye candy, there's always the shambling, immortal junkie Keith Richards swinging his Telecaster like a medieval weapon at some idiot who rushed the stage.

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However, with this next invention, drummers are about to sproing to the top of stage, front and center. Canadian inventor Charlie Rose has out done himself with his Boingy Boingy, a rideable drum set suspended in mid-air by heavy-duty car springs.

It's basically a drum set crossbred with a mechanical bull. What's birthed not only looks like one of those rides kids beg their parents for a quarter for outside of supermarkets, it also looks like the most fun you could ever have sitting down.

Saddle up on a the 40-gallon oil drum, get out your sticks and start pounding out some wicked beats.

Rose, a log home builder by trade, gigging drummer by night, first envisioned making drumming more dynamic in 2000. But after two failed attempts to bring his bouncing drum set prototypes to fruition, he sought the help of a clan of custom motorcycle builders.

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In what could be the sweetest business transaction I've ever heard of, Rose said the bikers helped build the Boingy Boingy for "4,000 dollars in beer and pizza, and an El Camino."

Want a Boingy Boingy of your own? Sure you do. Well, good news. Rose will make you one for $4,000. If you're still on the fence about whether you need one, take a look at this video. I mean, how great is life if you're playing drums while bouncing on a saddle-equipped oil drum in the bed of a pick-up truck? It really doesn't get any better than this.

 [Via Gizmag]

Credit: CBC/Dragon's Den

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The Most Rugged, Efficient Portable Solar Charger

Solar Components Joos Orange: $149

Eight months after the Joos Orange won a prestigious CEA 2011 Best of Innovations award, this summer Solar Components released a 20 percent more efficient version. It uses an 8-bit microprocessor with proprietary algorithms to control MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) and optimize the charge rate of its replaceable on-board 5,400mAh Lithium-ion battery -- with up to 96 percent efficiency at peak input power. The sturdy, durable Joos Orange is approximately 6 by 9 inches and 1.5 pounds. Its solar cells, made of Mono-crystalline with Silicon Nitride anti-reflective coating, are urethane encapsulated for a long life without yellowing. And the Joos' heat-ventilating, water-submersible enclosure is rated NEMA 6P.

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In a real-life account of its ruggedness, Andy Ruggenberg, Co-founder of ZeroThousand Motorcycle Collective, attests to the device's durability.

"I was going about 80 at the time, and after a careening down the road a bit, the Orange was pretty banged up. My riding team stopped to retrieve the battered unit from the side of the road. It's certainly a good deal uglier now, but has a great story to tell -- and doesn't need a replacement!"

Joos Orange comes with a variety of tips to charge tons of portable devices. It has two LED lights to indicate the unit's battery capacity level and photovoltaic status -- or you can download the free myJoos Dashboard for Mac and Windows to monitor its activity in real time on your laptop. And an optional reflector kit ($19.99) can supposedly improve its already impressive charge times -- depending on latitude and conditions -- up to 40 percent.

Credit: Solar Components

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Electric Motorcycle Looks Tron-Ready

The Internets are abuzz about a brand new electric motorcycle, with good reason. While I love my sturdy secondhand red bike, the new Mission R has me fanning myself...and not just because of the tech that makes it run.

Even just reading Mission Motors' description of the Mission R is fun. The powertrain "packs 41hp and 14.4 kWh of energy storage in a package smaller than a 600cc sportbike." Its liquid-cooled AC Induction motor sends the bike from zero to more than 160 miles per hour in one gear. Whoa yeah.

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Los Angeles Times blogger Susan Carpenter writes that the key to packing in so much power as being a combination of small motor controller and energy-dense lithium-ion battery cells. Treehugger's Michael Graham Richard highlights an intriguing part of the motorcycle's design: "The batteries use a 'swappable architecture,' which probably means that they can be swapped quickly, either between races or during pit stops."

The Mission R is ready to race, come 2011. No videos available of the motorcycle in action yet, but there should be early next year when it heads into the Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix (TTXGP), an international race for electric motorcycles that aims to push the limits of what they can do while highlighting clean-emission transportation tech.

With the ability to go more than 160 mph while packing batteries, the Mission R sounds like it could handle The Grid (video). The Marchesini forged magnesium 10-spoke wheels make it look Grid-ready. Plus, any vehicle emblazoned with sponsor Texas Instruments' logo on the side is likely to be a geek's dream ride.

Photo: The new electric Mission R motorcycle is designed for racing. Credit: Mission Motors.

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Motorcycle Fights Fires

Recently, Discovery News Tech did a piece on motorcycles powered entirely by electricity. Sure, that's cool and all, but electric bikes just don't get my blood pumping quite like a fire-fighting motorcycle.

Fire departments around the world are starting to use specially designed motorcycles to respond to emergency calls. The latest is the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service in England, which has begun testing two firefighting motorcycles as part of a six-month feasibility trial.

Each bike is a BMW RT1200 police-spec motorcycle that comes with two 25-liter water tanks and a 30-meter hose that sprays water and a special fire-retardant foam.

Now, these motorcycles can't the replace the heavy duty fire trucks for large house fires, or anything like that. Rather, they are meant to respond quickly to small fires that could get out of control, if not put out quickly.

The fire department's Deputy Chief Fire Officer Mike Hagen told Gizmag that, "We used to send a fire engine with a full crew to tackle (small fires), but we want these appliances available for emergencies where life or property are at risk. We have looked at alternative ways to tackle these incidents and these fire bikes offer a new, exciting possibility."

Hagen also says that small "anti-social behavior fires" account for 62 percent of the fires that his department responds to.

These bikes will use a lot less gas than the bulky fire engines that currently respond to small fires.  [via Gizmag]

Credit: Tony Thomas/Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service in England

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