SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - I watch Russell Davies blog for my interest in mobile technology and was pleased to see this little expedition of his. On his first (and last?) ascent of Ben Nevis he strapped Nokia N95 to his chest strap on his rucksack and set it to post live photos & GPS location to the internet every minute.

On the way up it worked for precisely three minutes. But, on the way down it worked for a bit longer, so this video is about an hour of descent from the top of Ben Nevis, compressed into a minute, down to about 1000m, where it stopped working. Not sure why. I like it though, it works as proof of concept. I’m not sure what the concept is exactly, but it’s proved.

Watch Video:

a bit of a descent of ben nevis from russelldavies on Vimeo.

The Flickr set of photos is worth looking at too.

Quirky, but a nice project.

-Robin

(Image Credit: Russell Davies Flickr Set)

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Google have announced the addition of global contours to their free mapping service. Very nice indeed, especially when combined with the satellite images. The above screenshor is of Lugnaquilla in Wicklow, Ireland.

Now this is becoming a serious tool to plot adventure points of interest on. Mountain names would be spectacular.

How do you get it? Go to maps.google.com, Click [Terrain], Zoom in close enough!

View Larger Map

-Robin-

Next up we have a Japanese inventor who found a way to use the raw kinetic energy of the ocean to to provide means of powering a boat. Yutaka Terao has developed the latest in a long running series of vessels that use the eco friendly propulsion of waves.

The Suntory Mermaid II uses a pair of movable fins mounted under the bow to generate forward propulsion using dolphin like kicks. While the maximum speed is a modest 5 knots, this shouldn’t bother the Mermaid II’s 69 year old skipper Kenichi Horie, as he attempts to sail 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan later this month. Let’s just hope that he remembers to turn off the left turn signal after pulling out of port.

Although the vessel isn’t breaking any speed records having this system equipped on a boat with an engine or sail could be handy if they main method of propusion is somehow damaged or lost. It would be interesting if this could also be applied to large scale vessels like yachts or even tankers. via Treehugger

-Alx-

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - You can keep your MacBook Air! Spotted on the Adventure Blog during the week, the Roper Mobile Duros 8.4in Rugged PC is unreal. I really do want one for Christmas, although I expect the price tag is just as unreal.

Equipped with an 8.4-inch brilliant sunlight viewable, SVGA resistive touch screen and an AMD Geodeâ„¢ LX 800 Processor or Intel Celeron M 1.0 GHz, the Duros packs up to 1 GB memory and up to 120GB storage (up to 64GB solid state drive). Its hot swappable battery feature diminishes downtime and provides continuous battery life.

Hot-swappable batteries is a fantastic idea (that means you can switch without powering-down). The box runs Windows XP (which is suprising for a hardcore unit like this, but I guess compatible for software) and you can also add on communication modules for:

* Wi-Fi
* Bluetooth
* GSM
* GPRS
* EDGE
* UMTS
* GPS

Specs for the geeks among us.

-Robin.

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Via Springwise a HUD (Heads Up Display) for car GPS units that draws the line of where to drive on your windscreen. It’s called Virtual Cable.

The makers of Virtual Cable say they have a better solution. The New York City area start-up has designed a heads-up dashboard display that virtually ‘paints’ a highly visible line above the road ahead. The line curves precisely where a driver using an in-car navigation device would normally be instructed to turn. Follow the line till you reach your destination. It’s that simple.

I love technology like this. Love it. But, I’m worried about this one. You just know that some unsuspecting fool will follow the HUD not the road and driving into an oncoming car or sit in the wrong lane as the HUD told them to.

Especially at night… isn’t this plain scary? If there’s problems with people following the tail lights of the car infront, what behaviours will this invoke?

At least tail lights are a safe bet.

The upside to this is, the driver does not have to focus on a small GPS map on the dashboard.

I disagree with this as a safety point…

The driver does not have to interpret audio commands or translate map symbology.

Still I’d love to try this and see it for myself…

Do check out the videos of it on their website and post your opinion on safety below.

-Robin-

(Image Credit: From the MVS website.)

IRELAND, DUBLIN (Geared Up Blog) - Just out this month it looks like Garmin have tried to combine looks and function. No more cables needed to link up with the computer as the Forerunner 405 communicates wirelessly with your computer. The other major difference is there is now a power saving mode which will let battery last 2 weeks in this mode. Or the battery life training time is 8 hours. If someone is looking to double up their training watch as their everyday watch as well then maybe this is the thing for you!

Long runs, tempo runs, speed drills. You expect a lot from your body…and from your training gear. Meet Forerunner 405. This GPS-enabled sport watch tracks your training, then wirelessly sends your data to your computer. The ultimate in training technology, its sleek design features a touch bezel that lets you quickly scroll and select features on the run.

People may be thinking now, ‘will I upgrade to the new Forerunner 405 or not?’ Well in my own opinion i don’t see it as an upgrade just a new part of the range. This watch is aimed at people who want everything from a watch. Being able to train with it on and it not looking out of place in an office environment. I think the Forerunner 305 will continue to sell well while the 405 explores a different area.

-Eoinod-

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (Team Geared Up) - It’s all the buzz in the tech sector of the internet and its now available. The Eton Voice Link Radio is the coolest, sharpest and one of the most functional pieces of survival kit around. If one of the survivors on Lost had one of these the show wouldn’t have gotten through half a season. This is a compact voice link AM/FM radio that offers two-way talk via any Family Radio Service-enabled device, receives both General Mobile Radio Service transmissions and weather advisories from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, and features a bright LED flashlight, cell phone charger, a siren, a digital clock. If that wasn’t enough it features a hand crank so you’ll never be needing to search for any power to charge it up. Not to mention for a radio, its damn sexy…

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - Short & sweet post to say Google Maps have turned on Terrain View. Wow.

Click the little [Terrain] button beside Satview on the map to access it.

Google, you’re the gift that just keeps giving!

View Larger Map

-Robin

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - The Water-Buoy, a flotation device for your keys has appeared on Springwise, one of my favourite sites for ideas.

As featured on BBC’s Dragons’ Den last night, young entrepreneur James Halliburton is bringing an innovative solution to market for boaters who are worried about losing valuable items overboard

It works very much like a hydrostatic release on a lifejacket. At a certain water pressure it pops open a valve releasing gas. The impressive thing here is, this tiny keyring can lift 1kg.

Once the Waterbuoy hits the water, the gas inflates the balloon and the submerged item is pulled up to the water’s surface. Aiding retrieval at night, an integrated LED light switches on and keeps flashing for 24 hours.

Much like Alex’s dark thoughts about his Life Bag being used on long flights, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if this went off in your pocket on a dance floor.

-Robin-

(Image Credit: Images from Water-Buoy, montage made by Springwise)

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - The brilliant SummitPost.org have launched MBPost.com, a version of their site for collecting and commenting on Mountain Biking trails around the world. Eoin announced in March that SummitPost had launched SPv2, and obviously this is part of the MB launch. They say:

Already we have hundreds of biking photos and information on over 100 mountain biking trails and areas. It is a fun site, and it definitely has the potential to be one of the best mountain biking sites on the web.

SP is a fantastic site for mountaineering, I’ve planned many routes from using beta from text & photos on the site about the peak we’re trying. Laminated SP print-outs always seem to make my pack lid pocket in the Alps!

Thanks to SummitPost.org for emailing this announcement to TGU!

-Robin-