Why ALL automobiles don’t come equipped with at least one, built-in 3-prong outlet is beyond me. And why more drivers don’t keep an inverter like this one from Belkin in their cars is also a mystery. Emergencies alone make a simple inverter a super worthwhile item (we also keep a tub filled with spare clothes, shoes, MRIs, water, etc. in the trunk, you know, “just in case.”). But apart from the once-in-a-blue-moon, doom-and-gloom scenarios where we’ll be stranded in our car and need to tap the battery to charge a phone or radio, having an inverter available for daily use is a true no-brainer. Since last April, I’ve stashed this 300-watt DC-AC inverter in one of the rear seat pockets. I’ve used it to charge my cell phone and replenish my GoBe battery overnight while car camping. In addition, I’ve charged up a range of devices en route on car trips — long and short — way too many times to count. Here’s the short of it: Easy to Use : Just pull out the thing, plug the business end into the cigarette lighter, flip the switch on the device, and plug in up to two devices. (Dr. Obvious says: There’s no need to have the car turned on.) Easy to Carry : The whole thing weighs just 2 lbs.; it’s not as if you’ll ever need to take the device backpacking, but my point is that it’s never a hassle to pull out, put back, ad nauseam. No Outside Juice Required : Requires no batteries, no charging, no sunlight because, you know, it runs off the car battery (Dr. Obvious says: Triple duh). One Caveat : The inverter’s internal fan hums rather loudly when in use. Not enough to disturb phone calls or music too much, but it’s noticeably audible. Verdict : Get one. If not this particular device, then be sure to pick one up that’s got at least two 3-prong outlets… and, perhaps, even a USB . You’ll rely on your inverter more than you’d expect. ~$40 from Amazon . Previously: Review: A month with Belkin's Mini Surge Behold! A styrofoam coffee cup power inverter Review: GoBe Solar Briefcase & Power-Hub Porta-Jump: Tiny Cube Jump Starts Your Car - Boing Boing Gadgets Review: A year with Monster Cables' Outlets to Go BoltBus fleet has free Wi-Fi, power in every seat

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Review: 16 Months w/Belkin’s 300W DC/AC Inverter

Constructed by artist Kevin Cyr , this tiny trailer is a “functioning sculptural piece.” Translation: heavy and impractical (I’m guessing). Of course, if you hooked up a GreenWheel , it might actually be plausible… until you hit any big hills. [via Designboom via Trackosaurus Rex ] * “This Must Be The Place” Previously: Clip-on electric front wheel for bicycles - Boing Boing Gadgets Shimano's new electric bicycle derailleur feted on professional … Buy Me A Shuttle-Bike Kit, Please

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"Home… is where I want to be, But I guess I’m already there"*

Everyone knows being a drummer kind of sucks. You sit in the back and watch the singer take all the credit. The guitar player’s always stealing your lady (unless you’re Mick Fleetwood ). Your gear is HEAVY and, most importantly, no one ever wants to help you schlep it around. Created by a Russian percussionist who was — I’m guessing — tired of setting up and taking down his kit at every gig, the “Moto Drum” is pure genius. More photos at English Russia .

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As If Keeping Time Weren’t Difficult Enough…

Pluggage is a prototype for a carry-on suitcase featuring a built-in battery/inverter and solar panel. Thus, it charges both as it rolls and picks up direct sunlight. The bag was created by ITP student Ohad Folman, who spent 3 months tricking out a Burton Wheelie Flight Deck rolling suitcase with a Duracell PowerSource Mobile 100 external battery pack, a stepper motor , multimeter to display battery life, and a Burton SolarRolls panel capable of generating 4.5 watts. The battery, says, Ohad, will charge within ~2 hours of walk time assuming an average walking speed between 2-5 kilometers/hour. A full charge should power a laptop for about 1.5 hours, depending on the make/model. Unfortunately, Ohad has had a heck of a time getting manufacturers like Samsonite to even check out his invention. Hence, he’s hoping to license the tech to a smaller luggage/travel company: I would envision this piece to retail for $400 to $550 depending on the model (with flexible solar capability or without). The kids model would probably be cheaper (around $250) and the bare-bones (for those who already have a carry-on case) and are interested in the kinetic capabilities would be around $300. I’m working on making the kinetic mechanism removable (like a tape cassette) so it can go through air port security easily (the kinetic mechanism can be scanned separately). I’m also working on hand release switch that will enable the user to remove the friction between the motor and the wheels in situations where the user needs to rush somewhere and does not want to have to deal with any level of friction. I’d buy one. Previously: Review: GoBe Solar Briefcase & Power-Hub The Chairman: a cellphone - Boing Boing Gadgets Rocking Horse cellphone charger Power Pump cellphone charger ready for glastonbury Brando Multi Solar Charger review (Verdict: Avoid) - Boing Boing … Suitcase full of bacon triggers airport bomb detectors Continental Baggage Handlers Stealing Gadgets from Luggage - Boing …

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Kinetic, Solar-Charing Suitcase

I’ve just flown from LA to San Francisco on one of Virgin’s WiFi-equipped planes. It was for Google’s “Day in the Cloud” event, which we’ll have more of at Boing Boing Video presently: passengers on our flight competed with those on the concurrent SF to LA flight in a Pub Quiz game of such difficulty that one is obliged — haha! — to use Google calendar, search, maps and so on to find the answers. We defeated the fools on the other airplane. Or, rather, the best player on ours scored marginally higher than the best player on theirs. My personal score is irrelevant. Virgin let us on free of charge. Unnecesary travel in coach, bookended by the leering of latex-gloved TSA personnel, has doubtless corrupted my judgment. That said, the following conclusions can be made concerning Virgin’s high-tech cabins. - Having the web in-flight is an escape, and a connection to reality. Zoning out on the web is a spiritual refuge from the boredom of air travel, just as it is from the boredom of work. - Before you get online, you have to get pass a third-party authentication proxy thing. Once past it, all is well, but it is the sort of thing that IT people call “a single point of failure.” - Virgin passenger cabins’ lighting and fixture design is modeled on the interior of a Cylon basestar. This is a superior atmospheric to Southwest’s fixed-grin comedy routines, but you have to like neon pink. - You can play Doom and chat with other passengers on the back-of-chair display, but the keyboard on the handset is extremely hard to type on. - Google apps run just as well in a plane as they do anywhere else: there’s nothing to say about it beyond acknowledging that they work. It’ll be a boon to those who already organize work around them. - A cartoon Sir Richard Branson welcomes one to one’s flight. He couldn’t be with us today as he is jet-skiiing to Mars. Update : From the organizers on the login woes: “the WiFi delays you might have experienced were related to on the ground issues with the web login for Gogo on the Aircell server in Illinois. Right now Aircell is working on the issue and the delays were not related to bandwidth constraints on the airplane (we have had up to 65 guests logged on at a time, and we did not have near this number on flights today). These delays were not Virgin America-specific - they occurred across Gogo’s in-flight network.” As commenter TechDeviant notes below, it’s $10 — would it be better if Virgin simply billed it into the fare for everyone, added web access to the built-in chair units, and had an open WiFi network for those with laptops? Gogo’s broken and pointless turnpike system was a real pain.

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An hour with Virgin’s in-flight WiFi

“Uh, I think I snapped it…” I got my first tick on the BBG camping trip. I was lucky. I didn’t even know it was there until it was gone. I brushed it off in the shower somehow without leaving any of the tick in my body *knock wood*. My completely uneducated guess is the hot water must have shocked the little bugger, and when I inadvertently passed my hand over him, he backed out and/or fell out because he had yet to burrow? (if you’re a tick expert, feel free to weigh in). Next time, I won’t be so lucky, which is why I’m going to: a) use bug spray, and b) pick up a legit tick remover just in case. Cause there’s no way I’m going to try the above method. Here’s a series of tick removers, including one that uses cryotherapy . I’m tempted to buy the one with a mini-lasso and just call it a day. Before I do, though, please feel free to chime in with any suggestions, experiences or links to videos of yourself removing ticks. Tickner (”My name is Freeze . Learn it well. For it’s the chilling sound of your doom.”) Ticked Off (you can personalize yours ) Tick Off (battery-operated) Tick Key (comes in a variety of colors) Trix TickLasso (via Cool Tools ) This post is part of a theme day: BBG on Camping .

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Tick Removers: Which Do You Use?

Kevin Kelly pointed me to the idea of ditching a sleeping bag for a tech blanket. He learned the tip from Ray Jardine, who extols the virtues of lightweight backpacking and camping in a series of books, including the recent Trail Life . The basic premise is that the flattened bottom of a sleeping bag is wasted material, since you’re compressing the insulation. A blanket can provide more warmth because it contours to your body rather than maintaining a bag or mummy shape. Plus, it’s much easier to overheat if you’re crashed out in a bag, as opposed to a blanket you can drape and quickly adjust throughout the night. Ray sells his own quilt kits , which I’d love to try. For the recent BBG camp trip, I used Therm-A-Rest’s $50 Tech Blanket (pictured). It is light to carry (1 lbs, 5 oz.), warm (quilted nylon exterior, polyester fill), and packs quick, easy and small (mine packed up smaller than the no-frills sleeping bag I have). What’s particularly smart about Therm-A-Rest’s set up is that their Fitted Sheet ($21) and blanket have snaps positioned periodically lengthwise, allowing you to quickly attach and remove the blanket. Not a pain to set up, take down. Better yet, it was far more comfortable than any sleeping back I’ve ever used. We were camping in mid-50sF, and I was never cold and never too warm. What’s more, unlike a sleeping back you might unzip and find completely open by the morning, the Tech Blanket provided enough room on either side for me to turn over without disrupting the whole tent. If you were camping in warmer weather, I’d imagine un-snapping one button on either side in the middle of the night wouldn’t be too difficult either. Note: I used the blanket and sheet with Therm-A-Rest’s $100 LuxuryCamp self-Inflating mattress and $28 Compressible Pillow . You don’t have to go all-out and get either of these. My favorite makeshift pillow is a small fleece case a friend made and gave to me. You just fill it with your clothes, towel, etc. The only thing you want to be sure of, is that you use a pad that’s size/shape is comparable to the fitted sheet. Otherwise, you won’t feel as snug. The sheets come in medium, regular and large which are 20×66 in., 20×72 in. and 25×77 in., respectively. If you already have a sleep pad that size, you should go for it. Again, we’re talking $21 for the sheet and $50 for a blanket that could also serve double duty at home. I’m in.

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Review: Therm-A-Rest Sleeping System

The Hubba Hubba HP is a $450 3-season tent that weighs a scant 4 lbs when fully-packed (at just 20 x 7 inches), making it ideal for longer-term packing or anyone looking to lighten the load. When assembled, the HP provides 29 sq. ft. Not exactly the Taj Mahal of tents, but my wife and I slept comfortably inside (disclaimer: we’re both under 5′ 8″). Plus, it’s dual-doored, meaning no one has to crawl out over anyone. The real beauty is in the details: there is only ONE tent pole with various offshoots that make up the frame of the structure. It made for a ridiculously-easy set up: The very first time I assembled the tent, the whole process took less than 8 minutes, including stopping every once in a while to say, “Man, this is really easy.” The first time I packed it up, too, the whole experience took less than 5 minutes. The HP version includes a body that’s primarily made of fabric (as opposed to the mostly-mesh Hubba Hubba ), which lightens the load by a few oz. and makes it preferable for colder conditions or where there’s wind and sand. We used our tent in very mild conditions (mid-50Fs at night). No rain, no snow, and virtually no wind. So I can’t really say how it will handle in more extreme environments, but considering it’s twice as expensive as some of the other 2-person tents we tested, it better be able to withstand a nuclear blast. This post is part of a theme day: BBG on Camping .

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Review: MSR Hubba Hubba HP 2-Person Tent [ultralight]

( Download MP4 ) In today’s episode of Boing Boing Video , space/aviation/tech reporter Miles O’Brien speaks with me about the role of technology in the recent Air France crash. He answers a number of questions posed here on Boing Boing by commenters on our previous episodes: how “black boxes” work, why they’re not built to float, whether they would be more effective if they streamed data constantly while in use, and whether better training in the “lower-tech” aspects of piloting could have helped. Since we taped this two-way conversation on Friday, recovery teams off the coast of Brazil have recovered some 16 bodies, and wreckage from the crash. Here’s a snip from his latest blog post about the disaster, over at True Slant . The Air France 447 mystery may never be solved beyond a shadow of doubt, but there are some telling, tragic clues to consider based on what we know about the airplane systems and the extreme weather and aerodynamic conditions it encountered before it went down a week ago. First, a bit of aerodynamics: The doomed Airbus A-330-200 was flying ever so close to its maximum altitude - in a zone pilots call the “Coffin Corner”. It refers to the edge of so-called “flight envelope” of an aircraft. At this altitude, the air is much thinner and that significantly narrows the swath of speed at which the airplane can safely operate. Read the whole post: ” The ‘Coffin Corner’ and a ‘Mesoscale’ Maw .” And speaking of True Slant , check out these two articles about the recently-launched site, a rare refuge for hardcore journalism in these hard times: Washington Post , and Associated Press . If you’re interested in this story — or in aviation and space news in general — you really should also follow Miles on Twitter to see his thought-stream unfold in real time. Previously: BB Video - Diving into Space: Miles O'Brien in NASA's Neutral … Boing Boing Video: Welcome, Miles O'Brien! - Boing Boing BB Video - Miles O'Brien Reports: An Astronaut Climbs Everest … Miles O'Brien Blogging the Air France Crash: The Search for Black … BB Video: This Week in Space, with Miles O'Brien - Boing Boing Miles O'Brien: The Hubble Constant - Boing Boing CNN Closes Space/Tech/Environmental Reporting Unit; Miles O'Brien … Sponsor shout-out : This week’s Boing Boing Video episodes are brought to you in part by WEPC.com , in partnership with Intel and Asus . WePC.com is a site where users come together to “share ideas, images and inspiration about the ideal PC.” Participants’ designs, feature ideas and community feedback will be evaluated by ASUS and “will influence the blueprint for an actual notebook PC built by ASUS with Intel inside.”

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BB Video: Miles O’Brien on Technology Questions in The Air France Disaster

I’m pushing 30, which means I’ve officially entered that stage of life where self-preservation becomes less about avoiding pain, and more about boosting my chances of reproductive success*. In other words: regular health check-ups, infrequent jacuzzi and always a pillow or jacket between the MacBook and my precious, heat-sensitive manstuff . I tend to forget to use such protection, though. That’s why adding a ThermaPAK to my laptop bag seems like a no-brainer**. Small (13.5″ X 11.5″ X 0.5″), relatively lightweight (23 oz.) and reasonably-priced ($30), the pad contains “phase change material” crystals (sodium sulfate decahydrate), which melt to help absorb the heat output from a laptop battery, then crystallize back up when they cool after use. The quilted-like surface on the laptop side also comes into play. According to the manufacturer: ThermaPAK’s pad grooves channel air under the laptop, and use the second law of thermodynamics (which states that heat will tend to flow from hot areas to cold ones to reach equilibrium) to draw heat from the laptop. I can attest to the reduced heat. Last night I sat with the laptop in front of the TV and then in bed. No issues at all in terms of keeping my junk cool. The pad did it’s job and was mostly comfortable (feels similar to the lead apron you wear for dental x-rays, only lighter). However, that rigid surface is a tad on the slippery side. The first few times I leaned forward, my computer nearly flew off the pad. Not a deal breaker, but something to be aware of. The company claims these pads can extend your laptop’s battery life. My experience: at 10:43 pm, I had 19 minutes left on my battery. By 11:11pm, I had 8 minutes. At 11:16pm, 3 minutes (while running iTunes, Firefox and TweetDeck). How the pad may have affected my sperm count, I can’t say for sure. But piece of mind is irrefutable. *I don’t have children, but I do want at least one. **I’ve never used a USB fan, which is another option.

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Review: 1 Night w/the ThermaPAK Cooling Pad