It shouldn’t matter all that much here in the Philippines but the fact is, electric vehicles are becoming more commonplace and practical. Out of this increasing popularity there rose a quirky little problem that plagued the safety concerns of pedestrians, bicyclists, and pet owners everywhere – the plague of the silent car.

In the “cool” department, this UGV (Unnamed Gravy Van? Actually, it’s Unmanned Ground Vehicle) named “Guardian” and made by G-nius of the US makes its rounds in areas with the need for perimeter security. The fun thing about this autonomous robot is that it can actually go off-road when the need arises, unlike other delicate, straight-from-the-lab robots.

Toyota’s flair for solid, usually staid but ultimately dependable modes of transportation is taking a twist in their latest introduction of some 2-wheeled transportation options. Not a motorcycle, more like uhh – “personal transportation machine” as popularized by a certain American manufacturer. (Thanks to Akihabara News for all pictures)

Have you ever seen a tricycle and gone “wow”? Or perhaps given a thumbs-up to the driver for the sweet ride they have. Well you probably have not; after all “tricycles” here mean “basic transportation” with 125cc motorcycles welded onto steel sidecars. Now then - this is your chance to do exactly so and proclaim your approval of a tricycle – specifically with the Aptera Typ-1 electric or hybrid car.

                                              Not your typical tricycle dashboard.
 

Think you got the best deal when you got your 2G Eee PC? Or perhaps your Astone-with-a-cellphone netbook? Well prepare to have your smugness dashed against the reality of China’s ever inventive PC manufacturers: the Jointech JL7100 is but a third of the price of the original price champ the 2G "Surf" Eee PC.

In the bid to capture energy from all possible sources, this has got to be one of the most logical yet – the Power generating dance floor, or the “Dancefloor Power”. (It seems to be more appropriate if its name had an exclamation point at the end, but I digress.)

Everything’s coming together nicely. With the incessant march of innovations, updates, improvements and most importantly (for this entry at least) convergence, new gadgets are increasingly stuff that combines disparate technologies and make them work together in ways that give our twitchy, geeky hearts a workout. Fancy a touchscreen but want more “physical” method of interacting with the on-screen action? This “coming-together” of LCD touchscreen, sensor, and virtual reality technologies result in the SenseSurface – a new level of convergence for the virtual and the physical.

Gesture-based input devices are nothing new, yet what makes the Clove 2 typing glove device so admirable is the fact that it was created and programmed for as a hack , and by a single person. Aimed at the multi-tasker, this device enables the user to type using only a single hand, while the other appendage is occupied at say, grabbing a fistful of chips or your favorite mug of liquid refreshment.

                                              For hardcore modders and geeks only!
 

You can only get so many configurations of a certain form factor before people start to lose interest. Witness the recent lapse in Asus’ Eee900 sales forecast, probably due to the multitude of Eee PC types coming out (and its competitors of course). So it wouldn’t be far off the mark to say that new form factors will generate an appreciable amount of interest and in some cases, controversy.

                                               This rendering of V12's laptop makes the keyboard look virtual - which it actually is.

From the world of robotic doppelgangers come the 6-legged Stelarc Walking Head, capable of moving autonomously using a library of pre-defined movement orders based on different circumstances like its current position, nature of the trigger (i.e. a person entering the room) and any obstructions. Besides this gee-whiz capability however, lies a somewhat more disturbing feature, a rendered human head that pops up on its upright-mounted LCD panel once it detects a human (or even not) presence with its ultrasound sensors.

No! Really? Initial reaction to this picture invariably came out as incredulous or disbelieving. How about you? Just to clear things up in a jiffy, it’s a real photo, and it’s only a small portion of China’s preparation for the Olympics this coming August 8.

When it comes to fun rides and theme parks, Filipinos aren’t exactly spoilt for choice. Off the top of my head, I can name Enchanted Kingdom, the long running, somehow-surviving high-end theme park, Fiesta Carnival near in Cubao with its old rides and funky railway, and of course the almost seasonal Boom na Boom and Star City. But for most people hankering for something else, the only option is to go overseas, or perhaps try out one of these rolling beauties.

Anyone who remembers “Back to the Future” can be dated quite neatly as an “80s” baby, which isn’t such a bad thing. It was a golden age of iconic paraphernalia that includes the Lucas films and the resurgent Indiana Jones.

It always pays to watch out for the underdog, be it in sports matches or in industry competition. This being HWZ, the latter is the focus of this entry, specifically the mobile phone industry. Big names that immediately come to mind include Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson. China King, or CKing, is obviously not one of the big names. Yet they have made an announcement that will not be ignored by any of the former – the first commercially available “phone-projector”.

Not a lot of technological innovations stem from necessity, despite the adage of necessity being the mother of invention. Then again, to put this adage into perspective, a lot of inventors absolutely believe some inventions are necessary for them. Or are necessarily evil, whichever. When it comes to some inventions, sometimes no “necessity” is actually factored into the equation.