Wash 'N Roll: New Prototype "Bike Washing Machine" Launders Via Your Legwork

Chores are never pleasant, but what if you could get more than one of them done at the same time, get exercise, AND help the environment as you did so?  With this new invention, you'll be feeling good, looking good, and doing good, all at once...

What's next, a rowing machine whose flywheels spin a clothes dryer?
(Please steal that idea and make it real, Chinese students.)
(Image courtesy thehomesteadguru.com.)

Tracked In The Sack: New High-Tech Wristwatch Delivers Your Sexual Stats

Technology has the amazing ability to provide us with abundant, seemingly boundless amounts of information.  Sometimes, that also includes too much information.

"Hey baby...set me to LOVE MODE."
(Image courtesy geeksme.com.)

Goals, Not Coal: Energy-Harvesting Soccer Ball Illuminates Impoverished Lives

As the world (rightly) shifts away from dependence on fossil fuels and begins to cultivate new avenues of obtaining energy, it seems the sky is the limit for innovative ideas.  However, by "sky", we don't mean that solar has to be the sole rock 'n roller of the possibilities.  Watch how a small company has provided help to impoverished areas with a sustainable source of portable, playful power...

Even if you don't like sports, this is pretty cool.
(Image courtesy espn.go.com.)

New GoPro Camera Arrives; Ski Season Can't Show Up Fast Enough

They've already become their own advertisement, product, and terminology, and now GoPro is adding another cool camera to its line of sporty, sturdy tech toys...

Sure it's cute, but how well does it shoot?
(Image courtesy petapixel.com.)

Don't Just Complete, Compete! New "Push-ups With Friends" App Motivates More Muscles

We're now over a month into the new year - have you managed to maintain your resolutions?  If so, congratulations.  If not, was it because you aimed a little too high, or was it simply a lack of motivation?  If your time got crunched but your belly didn't, now, a new app can help you deal with at least one small aspect of getting fit.

The free new iPhone app PUWF (Push-ups With Friends) is straightforward and effective in the way that documented competition can be.  You do pushups, touching your nose to your smartphone as you complete a rep.  You and your friends will all get notifications when someone else in your group also drops and knocks out some pushups.  A leaderboard indicates monthly progress.  Your ripped arms and back will indicate the rest.

Use your smartphone for "games" that actually improve yourself.
(Image corutesy quickanddirtytips.com.)

With gadgets like the FitBit and entire smartphone systems devoted to managing every element of your health that's technologically trackable (at least without the aid of hospital equipment), the PUWF app eliminates the need for overabundant obsession.  Like a brutal but effective drill sergeant, it just wants you to do more pushups.  It might not yell at you as viciously, but the drive to out-push your friends might motivate you just as well.

What are you waiting for?  Time to unleash those pythons!  Drop and give PUWF fifty!

"You're too pretty to count them on your own!"
(Image courtesy slate.com.)

Power On The Fly: Pioneering With A Pocket-Sized Charger

Sure, you love your devices, but feeding them can become problematic at times.  Stop bothering the bartender and bust out your own portable power, thanks to a new invention: Kraftwerk.  Created by the German company eZelleron, the gadget runs on regular everyday lighter fuel to unobtrusively juice your phone, camera, tablets, e-readers, and whatever other bit of technology is near-permanently in your orbit.

According to the Daily Mail, the device never requires a plug-in of its own, and each refill of lighter fluid or camping gas is enough to fuel 11 iPhones.  The eZelleron company maintains that Kraftwerk is a "quantum leap in terms of performance and availability compared to conventional battery chargers...Kraftwerk really is a small portable power station."

This is your first step to escaping the Grid.
(Image courtesy www.dailymail.co.uk.)

Slated for release in November/December of this year, Kraftwerk already exists in fully functioning prototypes. The remainder of the project is being funded by Kickstarter. The device appeals to a sense of freedom and adventure, with their Kickstarter campaign noting that Kraftwerk is "an invaluable advantage both in everyday life and even when traveling to the ends of the earth."

The durability and portability are major advantages for our hyper-connected world. Lighter than carrying batteries, adept with connection (a simple USB port handles all), approved for air travel, and capable of enduring all sorts of weather conditions, this energy-efficient device will discreetly help fuel the future, 5 volts at a time.

Never miss a gnarly shot again...keep your camera juiced-up anywhere with Kraftwerk.
(Image courtesy GoPro.com.)

The folks behind Kraftwerk are pushing forth what is a small but important part of a larger picture. According to wikipedia, Germany has been hailed as "the world's first major renewable energy economy" and had a third of their electricity generated from sustainable resources in 2014.  With Germany poised to have nearly half of their electricity generated by sustainable resources by 2025, items like the Kraftwerk reflect how such an innovative mentality benefits people in many scenarios, not just on the macro scale.

Their kickstarter pitch isn't being hyperbolic when they say, "So let's revolutionize mobile energy supply together!  Be a pioneer on the fascinating road to freedom of power!"  And nothing says "pioneering" like posting a selfie from someplace definitely sans sockets.  Kraftwerk, keep it going!

Perhaps the band Kraftwerk can use the device Kraftwerk to power their Man Machine?  The possibilities are endless...
(Image courtesy drownedinsound.com.)

Nothing But Net, Now ON The Net: New ShotTracker App Assesses & Shares Your B-Ball Skills

Think you've got game, but have no way to scientifically quantify it?  Now, you too can assess your skills like the pros with a new wristband that catches all your basketball glory (or goof-ups.)

The ShotTracker system, according to wired.com, is comprised of three elements:  one wrist-mounted sensor, one net-mounted sensor, and a mobile app that allows the sensors to share information via Bluetooth and concretely calculate whether you scored a shot or fell short.

Shot stats ASAP.  Let the future aid your freethrows.
(Image courtesy vimeo.com.)

The system includes a wristband and a compression sleeve for wearing the diminutive wrist sensor at your preferred level of comfort.  For $150, it will ship in early December, well in time for any Xmas-party shootouts.  The durable devices are waterproof and weatherproof, and if you feel like waiting for version 2.0 in mid-2015, it will be also able to calculate your exact location on the court.

ShotTracker includes a sharing program where you can compare dunks and drops with other users, and also a list of workouts so you can bring your game up to shareable snuff.  Coaches can also add their own workout plans, to perfect players even outside of practice.

Whether you're trying to make the team or just trying to tell if your old skills are still on point, the ShotTracker has a little something for every kind of hoop dreamer.  As the ShotTracker website rightly explains, "You can't improve what you don't measure."

It's like having these guys in your smartphone!
(Image courtesy redeapp.com.)