The makers of the Copenhagen Wheel from M.I.T.'s SENSEable City Laboratory claim that the new features mark the advent of "Biking 2.0," a new era based on smarter bikes and easier rides. The wheel is certainly a step in that direction; it includes sensors for detecting distance, speed, direction, all of which are beamed via Bluetooth to the rider's iPhone. The wheel also includes a built-in lock that sends the rider a text if tampered with.

But the most notable feature of the Copenhagen Wheel is its KERS or Kinetic Energy Recovery System, a mechanism by which energy from braking is stored up for later use, giving the rider a boost when going up a hill or speeding through traffic. Some bicycle purists have already dismissed the wheel as a novelty while others suggest that M.I.T. has succeeded in reinventing the wheel. [MIT via Inhabitat]

Actually, why the hell are you even snowboarding on one of these things in the first place? The designers, students studying industrial design and visual communication (and bling) at the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL), don't mention pricing on these one-of-a-kind snowboards, so you know what that means. Right, not good with numbers. But aside from that, these boards are inlaid with crystals, which means "expensive."

And lastly, if any one of you rides into town for Snowmodo on one of these things you should seriously take a hard, serious look into kicking your own ass. [Nideker via Born Rich]

Dubbed the "Lamborghini of snowboards" by Cheetah, this $1,900 board is heavy on the hype until we can get resident rider and Editorial Director Brian Lam to test it out (*cough* winter reader meet-up *cough*).

If Cheetah is to be believed, the F-117 will do everything short of take off and do an Immelman Turn, thanks to a huge honkin' hole that runs down the center of the board. Says Cheetah, "the main purpose of the opening is to reduce the amount of surface which comes in contact with snow. Smaller surface means less drag, which translates into more gliding speed."

Then there are the supports, which would no doubt do Christopher Nolan proud with their nod to Batman's Tumbler. However, unlike the Tumbler, one thing this board cannot conquer is heavy powder, which the makers say one should avoid if you want to buy. A heli-skiing and boarding piece of gear this is certainly not.

The board is limited edition and available for preorder now. Shipping is expected to begin sometime this month [Cheetah Ultra Sports via Engadget]

[Blam: Not sure I buy this design. "Less surface area for more glide" is a principle that doesn't make sense for me on all conditions. I bet that thing will do alright on a groomer but will sink on powder. I like the fact that weight is placed directly on edges, for focused turning power, but depending on the rest of the geometry this board could be very twitchy. And while some makers are focusing on reducing the distance between a boarder's boots and the ground, this design clearly raises you. It might have the same type of instability you'd get from stilts, albeit to a lesser degree. Regardless, a lower center of gravity is your friend in this sport! But I'd have to test it to find out more.]

Apparently it's quite tricky to get a bike to balance, since steering and such requires a degree of off-balance maneuvering...but the team at Keio University in Yokohama has managed it and their prototype easily manages 2.5 meters per second.

They're working on making it able to deal with uneven road surfaces, and ultimately they want a zero-speed stable bike, since "Many bicycle falling accidents happen when elderly people stop a bicycle in a crosswalk, and so on." Great. Though, I'm going to suggest a lower-tech and greener approach: A third wheel. [Physorg]