Gizmodo: geewhiz

GeeWhiz Condom Catheter Still Gives Me the Willies

matt buchanan — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:20:00 EDT

You know why I never wanna have a heart attack or prostate problems? The catheter. You know which one I'm talking about. Just the thought makes my junk burn. Enter this year's truly deserving Medical Design Excellence award winner, the GeeWhiz Condom Catheter. No more tubes twisted and crammed into tiny holes they don't belong in. GeeWhiz is leak proof, requires no adhesives and is easy to slip on or off. And did we mention the nurse doesn't have to jam a tube into your cock? Invention of the year. [Medgadget]

Stara Technologies Mini-Missile Precisely Guides Payloads to Targets

Charlie White — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:44:23 EST

This sensor guidance system from Stara Technologies looks like a tiny precision missile, and that's basically what it is, but it's a whole lot more sophisticated than meets the eye. It's not specifically designed to deliver explosives, but when you toss it out the window of an airplane (or a Predator drone as you see here), its precision guidance system can deliver it to whatever exact coordinates you desire. It opens a parachute at the last minute to safely deliver your payload, weighing anywhere from one to 400 pounds. Does it work? Recently it proved it could deliver the goods to within around 10 feet of its target. This could be used for good or ill—from blood packets for someone severely injured, to spy gear or chemical weapons sniffers. [Stara Technologies, via Crave]

MIT Dudes Develop Mind-Boggling Wireless Electricity

Charlie White — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:33:40 EDT

Now those eggheads at MIT have done something truly magic, figuring out a way to send power seven feet away, and look ma, no wires. Their trick uses resonant coupling, turning electricity into magnetic energy resonating at a certain frequency that proved to have that old black magic.

For some reason, 10MHz is that certain magic number. Resonating a coil at that frequency on one side of the room, it sends its magneto-goodness over to the other side where there's another coil that also resonates at that same 10MHz frequency. Yeah, for some strange reason, this magnetic energy is able to jump across a 7-foot space, but only at that specific 10MHz frequency. Cool.

There must be a catch to this.

For one thing, the power is transferred with 45% efficiency, which won't exactly be energy-saving. Also, with all those techno-power magnetic waves floating around, some crackpots will be tempted to get out their tinfoil hats, and those who believe that magnets can have profoundly dangerous effects on the human body will also be getting pretty jittery.

Never mind all that, say the genius researchers, who declare the power transmission safe, even for pacemaker wearers. They admit it might be a few years before we see this jaw-dropping tech in general use, but this is a start. They've proven that the idea works, and now they just going to need to perfect it. Wireless electricity? Whoa. – Charlie White

A Wirelessly Powered Lightbulb [Technology Review, via BBC News]