Gizmodo: Trap

Topia One-Seat Electric HUVO Prototype Might As Well Be Shaped Like a Coffin

Jack Loftus — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

With the arrival of Topia's one-seater prototype, I think it's finally safe to say the SMART car has something it can take in a fight. Called the HUVO, this diminutive electric car forgoes features like "well-being" and "sanity" for "lightweight" (330 lbs.) and "Jesus Christ watch out for that MINI Cooper!" To save weight and development costs, the HUVO is made out of materials that would make any contemporary golf cart proud; mainly plastic, ceramic, more plastic, and a bit of high-tensile steel plate. Although, as the headline implies, if HUVO goes into production Topia should probably just make the thing out of a nice, sturdy wood, and save your immediate family a step at the funeral parlor.

[Tech-On]

Blow Victims Away with Mentos and Coke Booby Trap

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT

That sound you are hearing is thousands of people screaming after falling for this Mentos and Diet Coke booby trap. And the sound you will hear soon will be the screams of the people who did the traps, as the joke victims beat the crap out of them. [Instructables]

Cordless Propane Mosquito Trap Gives You Al Fresco Bug Jerky

AddyDugdale — Wed, 21 May 2008 06:30:00 EDT

Effective over up to an acre of land, this battery-powered garden gadget allows you to commit mass mosquito-cide using a tank of propane. Silent and odorless, the trap emits octenol (something that mozzies find sexy, aspazzarently) to lure the beasties close to the machine. Once there, a vacuum gathers them into the "removable catch basin", or death pan, as I like to call it, where they are dehydrated, giving you the potential to serve mosquito, midge, black-fly and sand-fly biltong at your barbecues. Cost is $500, and the mosquito trap will run for up to three weeks on a 20-pound propane tank. [Hammacher Schlemmer]

LEGO Mousetrap Makes Mice Hate Danish Cheese

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:00:00 EDT

This LEGO mousetrap by Jason Allemann is pure, classic simplicity made of bricks. Created with LEGO technic, the trap measures 30 x 16 x 24 studs, and captured two mice that had decided to live in his home (one in the picture above.) The mechanism itself is quite simple:

1) mice get inside to get food
2) mice step onto a pressure plate
3) pressure plate pulls an axle out of the door
4) door closes immediately caging mice inside
5) kill mice
6) skin mice
7) make furry coats and cool sneakers for a bunch of mini-figs
8) sell clothes to LEGO fans
9) grill mice meat slowly, applying multiple thin layers of teriyaki sauce
10) eat mice

So as you can see, it's not only a perfect pest killer but also a great way to start a LEGO business (ok, Jason says he released the two captured mice in a "not-so-nearby wooded area." Obviously, the guy doesn't have a single idea about business or gourmet cooking.) [True Dimensions via Brothers Brick]

Homemade Conan the Barbarian Booby Trap Almost Stabs Verizon Agent to Death

matt buchanan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:55:00 EDT

Long Island is a dangerous place, filled with bad accents and crazy people wandering around, like Verizon technicians. Eric Stetz knows mere deadbolts won't keep them out. No, you've gotta get medieval, Conan the Barbarian style. So he built a booby trap out of a massive knife, crutch and elastic trip-cord to poke intruders in the head. To death. Like the Verizon guy scheduled to visit his apartment.

Luckily for Mr. Verizon, the building's super dropped by to make sure everything was cool, and managed to avoid being chop sueyed with his ninja super skills as the knife snapped at him like cobra when he opened the door. When arrested, Eric asked the cops "Did anyone get hurt with my knives? I wish they did." Since they didn't, the court thought it was cool to release this dude on bail. I love this country. [Newsday via Gothamist]

Is This The Best Mantrap I've Ever Seen?

AddyDugdale — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:44:01 EST

For when a lasso won't do, may I recommend The Trap, an art installation by This Is Collective, a bunch of rather clever designers. The embroidered steaks on the bedspread, means it will only work on meat-eating sewing freaks, ladies. The Trap was on show at the Come Up To My Room installation in Toronto last week. [Gladstone Hotel via MoCo Loco]

Discovery Venus Fly Trap Robot Swallows Bugs Alive

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST

Sure, it's an easy enough thing to find a Little Shop of Horrors plant robot that snaps shut to kill bugs, then burp comedically. But how about a bionic Venus Fly Trap that lures insects, detects them with its hidden motion detectors, then gulps them down whole and alive? The bugs fall into the clear containment chamber, which you can decorate with mementos to keep the bugs from getting too homesick, such as a stick, a leaf and maybe a piece of cheese or celery. Doing this, the Discovery Channel Store explains, allows you to "discover a world of fascinating discoveries." And yes, they do take the Discover card. [Discovery via Ubergizmo]

Acabion's 750bhp GTBO Motorcycle Blazes at 340mph

Sean Fallon — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:40:02 EST

Get a load of this: the cockpit-like Acabion GTBO features a a 750bhp, turbocharged Hayabusa engine that is capable of hurling the bike down the road at 340mph with a 30 second 0-300mph acceleration time—and, amazingly, that speed is capped. If all of that wasn't eye popping enough, the bike is also fuel efficient. It can get 100mpg at 100mph and 25 at 250.

Designer Peter Maskus is releasing the Acabion to the public in extremely limited quantities, although the price is a little steep at €1.87million or around $2.7 million US. Plus, you have to wait for 3 years while the bike is built. Its probably just as well though. I mean, where would you drive it? And even if you could, the odds seem pretty high that you would end up as a stain on the road should you ever decide to open it up. More photos at Jalopnik. [Acabion via Hell for Leather via Jalopnik]

Samsung's Unleashes World's Densest Flash Memory

Haroon Malik — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:15:00 EDT

Samsung has just rolled out a 30nm 64Gb NAND flash memory chip, which happens to be the world's densest. By packing together the maximum of 16 of the multi level cells, a memory card containing 128GB of storage space can conceivably be created.

Samsung has managed this feat by developing a new process they are calling self-aligned double patterning technology (SaDPT). SaDPT involves a more efficient pattern transfer than used in Samsung's (older) charge trap flash (CTF) procedure, and if we get any more technical we may implode spontaneously. Both procedures are cost effective and we can expect to see higher capacity flash based drives at a reasonable price. Although a 128GB memory card at a realistic price point is optimistic, the general price of flash memory should fall as a consequence of the new development. The devices are planned to begin mass production in 2009 and an estimated market value, in a three year period, is projected to be as high as $20 billion for the new class of memory chips. [Via Press Release]

OLPCs Used to Download Porn by Nigerian School Kids

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:00:00 EDT

The Third World shorties make me so proud. According to Reuters, "Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization have used them to explore pornographic sites on the internet." The article says that the Nigerian government, who released the statement, felt the educational program had "gone awry" on account of the boobies, but did not say whether government officials were angry at the schoolchildren, angry with the US-based providers of laptops, or angry that they themselves did not have the necessary laptoppage to do some "exploring" of their own.

A representative of the One Laptop Per Child aid group was quoted as saying that the computers, part of a pilot scheme, would now be fitted with filters.

Yeah, like that's going to help sales. [Reuters]

Spider Catcher, for Catch-and-Release Spider Hunting Fun

Charlie White — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:00:00 EST

OK all you wussies, instead of smashing that spider against the wall with your bare hands and leaving a permanent stain, keep that eight-legged creepy-crawly arachnid at arms length with this Spider Catcher, made of stiff bristles that let you practice catch-and-release tactics in your own home. This device is even delicate enough to catch butterflies and moths without harming them.

Its makers tout its humane nature, not killing those poor spiders and insects but releasing them outside where they'll be free to reproduce and spawn even more of their progeny to come inside and bug you again. But then, is it inhumane to kill a spider, an insect, a worm, a single-celled animal? Perhaps some people are taking that phrase "thou shall not kill" a bit too literally. – Charlie White

Product Page [Gizoo, via Shiny Shiny]

Spy Gear Intruder Trap System: RFID for Kids

Noah Robischon — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:44:35 EST

Wild Planet's Intruder Trap System is made up of three wireless motion sensors connected by radio frequency. I suppose the "keep out" sign just isn't enough in this day and age. Why three? They all work together. The first one is touch sensitive...

...which means you can put it on top of your iPod and it will flash a red light and start whistling if anyone tried to nab it. (The unit shown in the picture below is a prototype, the real thing won't have that big black wire with an ugly box hanging off of the end.)

The second sensor is a motion detector. But this alarm is only armed after the touch sensor has been triggered. So now the burglar is running but they head smack into alarm number three, which is a motion sensor loaded with two darts—thwap! Hahaha. Busted. Okay, now back to work.

This will be available next fall for between $29.99 and $49.99.–Noah Robischon

GhostBusters Proton Pack, Wand, and Trap

Brian Lam — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 10:15:45 EDT

Developed by Dr. Egon Spengler and Dr. Ray Stantz after their residencies at Columbia University, the proton pack fires a stream of protons via a wand for use in paranormal investigation and capture. The protons, sometimes referred to as positrons, attack the negative ectoplasmic energy of a ghost, snaring the little bugger, holding it in place ideally above a trap.

The pack's beam creates a powerful recoil, and has damaging effects on material, usually combing to create extensive collateral damage. Early attempts to power the pack by wall current resulted in melted wiring. Instead, the pack is powered by...

an unlicensed mass of nuclear material with a half life of 5,000 years. Should the power source reach a critical thermal state, the resulting blast would affect half a square block.

The wand has controls for beam intensity, length, and polarization levels, with a maximum frequency adjustable to 500,000 Mhz. Crossing the streams from one or more wands was initially discouraged, as it was believed that "total protonic reversal" would occur; this effect would have catastrophic results, namely "the end of all life as we know it, and every molecule in one's body exploding at the speed of light." –Brian Lam

Proton Pack [Wikipedia]
HOW TO - Make a Ghostbuster costume (and accessories) [Make]

Berretta Extrema2: In the Hands of a Master

Charlie White — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 11:09:44 EDT

If you're a trap or skeet shooter, you know how your shoulder feels after firing off a few cases of shotgun shells at those defenseless clay pigeons. Beretta comes to the rescue with its Xtrema2 Recoiless Shotgun, a gas-operated shooter with a hydraulic recoil damper which keeps that sucker from knocking you over every time you shoot it. Okay, okay, it's a gun, but just so you know, we're not into killing animals—at least not personally—but we do like to take us down a clay pigeon or two from time to time. Check out this promo video from Beretta, where you can see the art of skeet and trap shooting embodied in this one highly-skilled man, who at one point throws 10 clay pigeons into the air, and then shoots every one of them with this $1600 gun. It's downright remarkable. – Charlie White

Product Page [Beretta USA, via über review]