Did you know there’s a division at MIT called the Smart Cities group? It’s true, and judging by the designs the team puts out maybe we should just leave city planning to them from here on out.

They have a two-seater electric buggy in the works called the City Car that can stack against other City Cars to cut down on space and make transporting easy. Six to eight cars are said to be able to fit in one conventional parking space. The cars are built around an omni-directional robot wheel, which not only allows for impressive maneuverability, but also contains the vehicle’s electric-drive motor. City-goers will be happy to hear that the system allows for each wheel to turn 90 degrees, making parallel parking as easy as driving sideways.

The City Car is due to be shown off next year. Until then, we have this video to ogle at the very least. — Kevin Hall

Technology Review, via Engadget

The Mademoto Electric Cruiser has done the unthinkable and taken all of the beneficial purposes out of rollerskates, skateboards and other manual modes of rolling transportation. Thank of the Electric Cruiser as the front half of an electric moped, a juiced up unicycle or a severely gimped Segway. It is designed to happily drag you around while using rollerskates, skateboards or other modes of manual, wheeled transportation.

Obviously, the included flame decals on the Electric Cruiser demonstrate the badassery that one electric cruising individual embodies. It likely won’t make you look any cooler and definitely won’t help you exercise while skating, but at least it is electric, and therefore green! — Travis Hudson

Mademoto Electric Cruiser, via 7 Gadgets

Unlike in the States, cigarette machines are everywhere in Japan. Rather than get rid of them due to the problem of underage kids being able to buy packs of smokes from them like we did here, they’re using technology to keep the machines around and ensure that only adults can make purchases from them.

A new machine is in development that will have facial-recognition software built in to gauge the age of wannabe purchasers. If they have a young-looking face, it’ll require photo ID, which it will then compare with your actual face to determine if it’s legit. It’s a pretty clever and sophisticated system, one that’s clearly way more expensive than just forcing people to go deal with a human being at a convenience store but much more convenient for the many smokers of Japan. — Adam Frucci

Textually, via The Raw Feed

If you’re still stuck on Velcro and hate the embarrassing skreeep that sounds a lot like “I don’t know how to tie my shoes,” Golaces might be the perfect solution. Golaces are a set of elastic bands you string through the holes on your shoes and look a lot like laces, but without all that tricky tying and knotting. So all of the sneakers you’ve retired because they’re a pain to do up can now find a new place in your wardrobe.

Golaces come in three sizes and only cost $10. That’s a pretty cheap price for reviving your shoes. Me, I’ve already made all my lace-ups slip-ons and didn’t even know I was an inventor. I just don’t untie them. Then again, Golaces offer a variety of colors beyond white and black. — Kevin Hall

Golaces, via Cool Tools

huh… yeh?

t’s very important for fire engines to get to their destinations as fast as possible, but it’s equally, if not more, important for them to be able to, you know, put out the fire using water. That’s where this MiG-engine-equipped fire engine goes wrong.

Sure, slapping a jet engine on a fire truck is insane and will give it unparalleled speed, but when you need to remove the water tanks to make room for the engine, it seems to me that you’re doing more harm than good. Not to mention the issues with maneuverability that you’d have trying to steer a truck with a MiG engine on the back. Overall, I give it an A for effort and a D- for thinking things through before starting a project. — Adam Frucci

Jet-Powered Truck, via Oh Gizmo!

Oakley is still at it. Despite only having one customer for their Thump line of MP3 sunglasses — the not-so-favorable Dog the Bounty Hunter — the latest in the line of Thump MP3 sunglasses, the Split Thump is now available. Design-wise, these sunglasses have definite stepped it up a notch from its predecessors by being able to hide the earbuds in the side arms of the sunglasses.

Unfortunately, Oakley has missed the target when it comes to pricing. The multi-hundred dollar price of the original Thumps two or three years ago made sense because MP3 players were damn expensive, but now it is just shameful. The Split Thumps with a puny 2 GB MP3 player will be sold for $400.

Upon further investigation of the Oakley website finds a similar pair of Oakley sunglasses, sans the MP3 player for $170, and if my math is correct that could inevitably make the 2 GB MP3 player in the Split Thumps worth $230, or nearly the same price as the 80 GB iPod classic and way more than it should be. Yeah, that just isn’t right, Oakley. — Travis Hudson

Split Thumps, via BBG

This, my friends, is one sexy bathtub. Appropriately named the Whirlpool Glass bathtub, it sports clear sides that’d give anybody a nice clear shot of your naked self soaking in tepid filthwater. Sexy!

But honestly, it is really nice looking. Plus, it has sixteen jets all along the bottom and back that’ll give you a nice massage while you’re soaking. There’s also a little waterfall for your neck, which I can only imagine feels pretty great. It’s all quite luxurious and cutting-edge, which is why it sports a luxurious price tag to match it: $3,200. But come on, aren’t you totally worth it? — Adam Frucci

BornRich, via Ubergizmo

Your watch is an important accessory. It makes a bold statement about you, as much as what you’re wearing does. And if you haven’t yet ditched your watch entirely, relying on your phone’s clock to tell you the time, you might be looking for a new watch to freshen up that tired look of yours.

Your new statement couldn’t be much bolder than the one this Horological Machine No. 2 makes. Just look at this thing! They don’t even call it a watch; to the makers, it’s a ” hree-dimensional timekeeping machine for the wrist.” How innovative! In addition to looking seriously badass, it also offers such confusing features as ” Instantaneous Jump Hour, Concentric Retrograde Minutes, Retrograde Date, Bi-Hemisphere Moon Phase and Automatic Winding.” Oh… good. You can pick yours up for a mere $59,000. — Adam Frucci

Watchismo, via BoingBoing

Benjamin, I want to say one word to you, just one word. Are you listening? Starch.

Hawthorne, CA, based Cereplast is changing the world of plastics, creating a more eco-friendly version made from the starches in corn, tapioca, wheat and potatoes. The “natural” plastic is perfect for the food-service industry, as California now requires all take-out containers to be recyclable or compostable. The company also recently unveiled a new hybrid plastic called Biopolyolefin that can be used in consumer electronics, cosmetics, toys and packaging. Biopolyolefin is 50% starch and 50% hydrocarbon.

Why not use the 100%-spud stuff? Because the enemy of today’s potatoes in your fridge remains the enemy of tomorrow’s potato-based laptop: heat and time. A DVD made of all-starch plastic probably wouldn’t last that long, and exposure to air speeds up the breakdown. And don’t think the new natural-based material means you could ever snack on your BlackBerry. None of the resins are designed to be eaten, not even if you trapped in an avalanche. But at least you’ll still be able to play Tetris. — Trevor Curwin

Via Cereplast

Nothing says “I’m a classy guy with nothing to hide” like being really into spy cameras and equipment. But hey, I’m not here to judge, I’m here to inform. So, creeps of the world, let me introduce you to the world’s smallest lil’ camcorder.

Fitting easily into a stick of gum or a pack of cigarettes, the CAM-007 can shoot up to 2 hours of paltry 15fps video to a microSD card before the battery dies. A 1GB card can hold a generous 19 hours of sneaky footage, and the whole contraption charges via USB. It looks to be the perfect tool of the private eye or dedicated peeper, so go ahead, buy one for a mere $350. I won’t judge. Much. — Adam Frucci

Product Page, via Trends in Japan

Now THIS is how flight sims should be set up – several players in the simulators and a few in the air. So you have no idea if you’re shooting at something that is real or virtual or what.
Because fighter pilots do so much of their work BVR nowadays, linking them into a network with virtual enemies is fairly good training for them and a whole lot cheaper.

An interesting little story about how breathalysers were put into use by making a mistake with a decimal point: basically the experts claimed a 2.3% false positive rate at the trial, but the research itself claims a 23% false positive rate!

entretainment indeed…. good tips on movies

Most of us are familiar with various goofy little amphibious vehicles that are good for a lark. But this one is guaranteed to induce shore-side heart attacks the first time you drive it head-first into the lake at the campground. Built by a company that’s actually called Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International, I still wonder at times if it’s all just one big elaborate joke.

Rather than starting with an existing RV and plugging up any holes, the folks at Cool Amphibious have built the Terra Wind to be more like a boat that just happens to drive on land. With its twin 19-inch screws it can hit 7 knots on water, while it will top 85 mph on terra firma. A fold-down rear platform makes fishing and swimming easy, and you can even use the slide-outs while out on the water. The main hitch I see is the $850,000 starting price ($1.2 million as pictured). For that kind of money, you could spend years traveling between luxury hotels in your Ferrari, while renting yachts as needed. — Michael Trei

Terra Wind RV, via Coolest Gadgets

These here are some fancy, expensive speakers. The Pantheon Loudspeakers from Siltech stand an imposing 63-inches tall and weigh a hefty 310 pounds, but it’s more than their size that makes them stand out. No, what makes them unique is the fact that they used “NASA-used software called multi physic Cosmol that helped them simulate mechanical, electrical and acoustic room behavior from every angle before coming up with a prototype.”

The price for speakers designed the same way a spaceship is designed? Oh, just about $100,000 a pair. Totally worth every penny, I’m sure. I mean, you didn’t want to buy a house in this lifetime anyways. Why buy when you can rent and put completely ludicrous and overpriced speakers in your rental? Makes sense to me. — Adam Frucci

Stereophile, via BornRich

Your golfing buddies are either going to think you have the coolest putter ever made or that you’re a complete dweeb, but few will be neutral about this limited-edition Golfsmith Enterprise NCC-1701 putter. We thought we’d seen in the most futuristic golf club yet until we saw this one, vaguely resembling the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek. Its twin nacelles out back are actually precision cylindrical balancing weights, lending phaser-like accuracy to your putting stroke.

Designers from Golfsmith at first didn’t intend to create a strange new putter with Star Trek overtones, but once they saw the final product, they decided to boldly go and acquire official Star Trek licensing and paint it up, naming it the Enterprise and deciding it was so special they would only sell 1701 of them. To be one of the lucky members of Starfleet to use this rare tool, it’ll cost you $130 to beam one into your golf bag. — Charlie White

Star Trek.com, via bb Gadgets

You might think that your home theater setup is impressive, what with all the time, effort, and money you put in to getting it perfect. The big-screen HDTV, the surround sound, and the layout were all chosen so meticulously. Well, chances are, your setup really sucks compared to the winner of Home Entertainment’s “Installation of the Year” award.

Created at a cost of about $3.4 million, this ludicrous setup features such trivialities as 24-karat gold gilding details, hand embroidered fabric seats and genuine antique candle holders. Oh la la! As for the actual guts of the thing, it features a CAT/MBX speaker system, a 3-feet long Runco MBX-1 projector that can throw images as wide as 40 feet, and 38 distinct audio zones. Overkill? Definitely. But I don’t see your living room in a niche magazine spread. — Adam Frucci

HedMag, via BornRich

If the above photo of a “stretch Prius” looks Photoshopped to you, you’re not alone. The image elicited hundreds of deriding comments on the PriusChat message board before the car’s creator came forth and described how he “pimped” his Toyota Prius so that it would hold his family of six comfortably. Even in its modified state, which is far heavier than the original car, the owner claims that it can get up to 50 miles per gallon. He provided more pictures to show that the car is not just a miracle of digital imaging.

This larger “limousine” version of the car is actually more aerodynamic than the original. And though it took over 200 hours to modify the car, its owner claims that it was a relatively inexpensive project, costing under $10,000 because he was able to use parts from junk cars and sell the leftovers. With all those doors, it sure looks like it beats a mini-van to us. And with this solar roof rack, its mileage would be even more similar to that of a normal Prius. — S.E. Kramer

PriusChat, via Red Ferret

If you love danger, you might do extreme sports. If you love danger and also keeping your private areas neat and trimmed, you might like the very aptly named no!no! Shaver. It burns away your short ‘n curlys using thermodynamic wire. The “thermal heat signal destroys the hair, which is characterized by odor.” Sweet mother of god.

If you really want to play with fire around there, literally, the no!no! is available for a hefty $250 a Sephora now. Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you when you end up with burn scars down there though. — Adam Frucci

Product Page, via Boing Boing Gadgets

The i-SOBOT robot from toymaker Takara Tomy managed to score an honor upon its release — i-SOBOT is the 2008 Guinness Book of World Record’s smallest humanoid robot in production, standing at just six and a half inches tall.

Just because it’s small doesn’t mean the i-SOBOT skimps on being a fun toy, however. It has 200 different phrases to say (our favorite: a hammy monologue while the robot fakes a slow Western-style death) and its 17 servos, coupled with a gyro sensor for stability, enables the i-SOBOT to take on an impressive number of poses. Check out the gallery below for some of our picks. i-SOBOT can be controlled and programmed with a remote, and can recognize 10 different voice commands.

At $350, though, this toy will probably only find itself in the hands of big kids with big wallets. Click through for a snazzy video showcase of the i-SOBOT. — Kevin Hall

i-SOBOT, via Loving the Machine

Inspector Gadget fans can now look forward to imitating their hero with the debut of Yamaha’s BOBBY mini-scooter at the Tokyo Motor Show. On the outside, the BOBBY looks like a suitcase with wheels and even collapses into a smaller square form perfect for big city commuters. But in addition to the small form factor the BOBBY also features various Internet enabled features yet to be announced.

Perhaps the geekiest aspect of the vehicle is that it is turned on via cell phone using Sony’s FeliCa function, a contact-less IC card technology currently in use in many Japanese train ticket systems and cash cards. The BOBBY is still just a prototype with no set market release date, but this kind of marriage of software and hardware from an established motorcycle company is encouraging.
— Adario Strange

Via Tokyo Motor Show

You definitely want to decorate your pad in a way that will impress people, but having one of these LOS! levitating lamps in the corner might steal the crowd. Designed by Angela Jansen, the Crealev LOS! lamps don’t simply use a see-through middle layer to simulate levitation, but rather a system designed in-house that looks a lot like magnetism. Touch it from the top or push down on it and, while the levitating portion will give a little bit, it hovers back up into position.

The Crealev LOS! lamps are just a concept at the moment and were presented at Dutch Design Week. — Kevin Hall

Crealev, via Trendoffice