Single Serving Coffee - Best You've Ever Had...

Coffee - considered by many the quintessential caffeine delivery system in the world. Those luscious little beans have been cultivated on every continent except Antarctica. However, many people don't like coffee due to some of the bitter compounds present in the brew.

Compounds such as chlorogenic acids, trigonelline, furfuryl alcohol, and even caffeine itself lend bitter flavors to a pot of fresh coffee. Fans of the drink have been trying for centuries to find the best way to extract all the flavor and aroma from coffee, while extracting only a balanced amount of bitterness.

Aerobie, the folks that make those wonderful flying rings, created a way to brew a single cup of the most flavorful and yet least bitter coffee you've ever tasted. Coffee snobs around the world have enjoyed the Aeropress coffee maker, and have compared the brew it makes to brews made with $6000 Clover coffee machines, all for the reasonable price of $25.99!

Via [ThinkGeek]

Go slow in life, kill time with a cup of coffee!

Designed by Hong Kong based design studio Chilli Chilly, these gun mugs feature a porcelain base, a gold or platinum plated trigger, and what appears to be a mock "safety" switch on the side.

Great for that morning cup of coffee at work. There is nothing better for taking your career to the next level than letting everyone in the office know you like guns and getting jacked up on caffeine. Available soon (currently sold out) for around $16

[Product Page via Cribcandy]

Strobe Light Bicycle Vest

With summer right around the corner, it's time to get back on that bicycle you swore that you'd ride every day and get into some semblance of shape. Unless you live in the Arctic Circle, however, the sun will set and you'll quickly find yourself bicycling at night with nary a stranger able to see you. That is, unless you choose to don something like the Stridelite.

The folks at Bright Night USA have designed both the Stridelite and the Cyclite, cycling jackets not only with the typical reflective stripes and bright colors, but feature an integrated strobe light of sorts, letting passersby know that, "Hey, I'm ridin' here!" The jackets come in both hard and soft shell designs, and will set you back somewhere in the neighborhood of $150-$190. Perhaps a little on the pricey side, but it's still probably better than waking up on your neighbors lawn because some careless motorist knocked you over.

Stridelite + Cyclite [Bright Night USA via OhGizmo!]

trioBike Does a Three-Way...

Here's a versatile conveyance called the trioBike that can function as either a bicycle alone, a stroller, or a combination of the two. You can drop your kids off at day care, leave the stroller there and ride your bicycle away.
We were completely sold on this idea until we discovered that the complete system with bike and stroller together costs 2065 Euros, or a jaw-gaping $3,259. Ouch.

Product Page [trioBike A/S]

Cy.Fi Speaker, a Wireless iPod Dock for Your Bike...

If you want to wake up the neighbors and bother everyone with your music while you ride your bike, the cy.fi wireless iPod dock is the bike speaker for you. Working with the old-school iPod nano (and probably working with any iPod with a dock connector), it's a wireless speaker, and no, it's not using Bluetooth. It's using the Kleer Audio transmission that claims to be 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth.

The Cy.Fi speaker is about the size of a deck of cards and mounts on your handlebars. It spreads its stereo sound to let to the left and right, and makes it so you don't have to wear earphones that might obscure important noises of impending danger. Get more speakers, and one iPod can broadcast its signal to everyone in your riding group.

The company says the Cy.Fi's transmission is 100% lossless, sent from your iPod tucked safely away in your pocket. You can also control volume and skip tracks right from the speaker.

Available sometime in 2008, it'll cost you $149. [Cy.Fi]

Tong City bike hides your components, brightens the night ...

This Tong City Bike design is unique in two distinct aspects: first of all, all of its components are housed in the body, keeping the gears and chain hidden away and protected, not to mention your pantlegs protected.

It easily opens up for maintenance while staying hidden away while you ride. The body also has a mobile safe built in for holding stuff like your phone and wallet while you ride, which is a nice touch.

It also has lights built in all along the body, letting you stay extra-visible at night. The light's colors can be changed and customized to your liking.

It'll make you much more visible than if you just had a simple light on the front, which could make a huge difference in safety for people biking at night.

Via Yanko Design

Giant Twist Freedom DX lets you slack off while getting some exercise

Biking is a fine way to get exercise while enjoying the great outdoors, but there's nothing worse than pedaling miles from home, then realizing that you're going to have to pedal all the way back too.

While it looks like a standard cruiser style bike, the Twist Freedom DX from Taiwanese bike manufacturer Giant, hides a 250 W DC motor, that can propel the bike up to 75 miles. A selector on the handlebars lets you choose how much human power you want provide, then the electric motor delivers the rest.

Just the thing you want when you're miles from home and it's getting dark.

It will be available in May for about $2000.

Popular Mechanics

Hindsight bicycle digital rear-view mirror

Only for the geekiest (or most paranoid): the HindSight is composed of a small camera that attaches to the handlebar or the seat post and lets the bicycler see what’s coming behind him or her. If you wonder, the manufacturer says that the system is “unaffected” by (normal?) road vibrations.

At the moment, there is no commercial product, but it is said that “a working prototype is available upon request” on the Manufacturer’s website (Cerevellum)

Do you want to spread your 'cycling' message to others? Try HokeySpokes!...

Bike riders looking to announce their thoughts to the world will really like these. (We are know for letting others know how we feel, don't we? LOL)

I saw these years ago, and just thought about them again, so I thought I might as well write a post about HokeySpokes. I am trying to order a few tonight, and I will let you know if they are still available and will write a review of these ASAP...

Are you like me and have one of those 'killer hills' that you hate to climb?

Hilly cities normally have a low share of cycling. How come that Trondheim, the third largest city of Norway, has the highest share of cycling compared to all the other Norwegian cities? I think this may be one of the main reasons:

One of the most important infrastructure elements is the bicycle lift Trampe. Since the opening in 1993, it's pushed more than 220,000 cyclist up the very steep hill BBrubakken in the historical heritage part of the city center.

There is no doubt that Trampe has inspired students as well as other people living in Trondheim to take to their bicycles. In a user survey, 41% of the lift users claim they're using the bicycle more often due to the installation of Trampe.

Do you want to leave your 'unique' mark on the road?

Bicycle company Nirve offers several 'Cruiser' bike tires with patterns in the tread, including pinwheels, flames, and Japan's beloved anthropomorphism, Hello Kitty.

Too bad they don't make any road cycling tires, I think the 'Devil's Tail Flames" would look good on my bike....

They' run $9.99-$29.99

Catalog Page [Nirve.com]

Very Sweet Wooden Bike, Great Design

I can’t help being struck by the sight of what looks like a handcrafted wooden art piece rolling along the road on two bicycle wheels. Not just any two bicycle wheels, either—these are Xentis Kappa carbon fiber... Waldmeister Bikes, of Germany,, manufactures wooden frames and fits the components on. So far they only make one model. The frame is made of multiple layers of beech wood, glued together and pressed under high pressure, then shaped to the right dimensions. Without a seat tube, and being made of soft wood, the frame acts as its own suspension.

The design also won a 2008 red dot award: product design

Coffee Printer makes your cup of joe a beautiful thing

Could I have some artwork with that cappuccino?" Not exactly something you hear at Starbucks a lot, but if this coffee-printer technology goes mainstream, who know? Wait, a coffee printer? Yep, Oleskiy Pikalo woke up one day with a hankerin' for some fancy designs on his latte, so he bought a used Philips 8155 x-y flatbed plotter and modified it to shoot out edible ink. The result is a machine that can draw surprisingly detailed art on your cup of joe — and put creative baristas everywhere to shame.
It's doubtful any Starbucks outside of Florence would install one of these suckers, if only for the reason it'll add at least 2 minutes to your order. Still, on a slow Sunday afternoon I'd wait the extra time for novelty's sake. Though I'd feel guilty for drinking it.


Via Architectradure, via Hacked Gadgets

Java Trivia...

Here are some more interesting facts that you may or may not yet know about coffee. Some things to think about over your next cup of Joe:

• Along with peanut butter and beer, coffee is on the top ten list of “most recognizable odors.”


• Arabian Wine is the name by which coffee was first known in Europe.


• Some green coffee beans are stored for years before roasting. Some experts believe that certain beans, when stored properly, improves with age


• Coffee was advertised a medicine in the 1600’s in England. It was advertised in 1657 as a cue for gout, scurvy and other illnesses. From the University of California comes a scientific report to gladden any coffee lover’s heart. They found that the steam rising from a cup of coffee contains an equal amount of anti-oxidants as that found in three oranges. These antioxidants help prevent cancer and heart disease being heterocyclic compounds.

Turn-signal jacket gives cyclists direction

While I am usually not the first one to point out how dorky someone's clothes look, especially cyclists, but this LED jacket, designed by Leah Buechley, qualifies as the exception. The lights on the back of it are arranged in arrow patterns — a great way for cyclists to let cars and bikes behind them know if they're turning. As long as the controls are easy to use, it should be great, though it might be bad if they're easy to accidentally trigger… no one wants to see the bicycle equivalent of the forever-blinking turn signal.
Once you're indoors, the jacket has multiple uses — from directing people to the men's room to letting them know how you plan to vote in November. And, of course, making you look dorky, but hey of it keeps you from getting tagged bya car, I think it is a great idea. I might even figure out how to get one for myself...

Via DVICE

Coffeenatic: Social Network for Coffeeholics

With social networks skyrocketing in popularity today, why would it still be a surprise to come across one that is made especially for coffee lovers? It makes sense – to get together with people with the same interest as you do.

So what is Coffeenatic all about? What can you expect from a social network? That’s what you get from Coffeenatic. Of course, everything there revolves around coffee so you can expect to get an added does of caffeine as you browse through their pages. One can opt to merely read and browse without having to sign up but I think it would be better to join the fray if you have something to say and you want to interact with fellow coffee lovers.

Via Brewed Coffee

One very sweet 'folding' recumbent...

Whether you love cycling long distances for pleasure, commute to work, or race around for your thrill, recumbent bikes are meant to give you the freedom of comfort and choice. Owning a recumbent bike that’s not just comfortable but also looks classy and sophisticated is a matter of pride.

Take a look at the HP Velotechnik’s Scorpion fx, the foldable recumbent bike designed for long distance cyclists. The job of folding and unfolding this bike can be done is 60 seconds flat and you don’t need to be technical expert to do that. The suspended rear rack is a is a rigid construction made from ½” alloy tubing, designed to withstand the high lateral forces when cornering on a trike and can bear 50 kg luggage. The BodyLink seat and plush suspension ensures a comfortable ride. Since the seats can be adjusted, the one-size-fits-all saying holds good with the Scorpion. HP Velotechnik’s reliable No-Squat Design assures fast acceleration without unwanted suspension pogo. The finish is phosphated and powder-coated in red to make heads turn as you zip past through them.

The thrill of riding Scorpion fx can be all yours for $3090.

Get some fresh air in the pedal-powered Surrey Stretch Limousine

Looking for a cool-looking open-air vehicle to drive around your loved ones or guests?

Take a look at the Surrey Stretch Limousine, the newest Surrey designed for nine adults and two kids. The classy red and white buggy is sure to give you and your guests a good work out as you pedal around the nieghborhood and get some sunshine and have some fun. If you are adventurous enough, you could even take it around the town on the weekends when the roads are traffic-free or rent it out too if you want to earn a couple of dollars.

The Surrey Stretch Limousine can get you that fresh air for a cool $5,195.

Would you spend $3,800 for a Home Coffee Roaster?

For the coffee-lover who prefers to roast their coffee at home this Coffee Roaster from Diedrich Manufacturing is particularly made for home use.

The coffee roaster features precise bean and heat temperature controls, time, temperature and multiple air flow controls, and continuous roasting with a single roast capacity of 1 pound of coffee beans and the maximum hourly roast output of 4 lbs.

Diedrich calls it a personal roasting machine for the passionate coffee consumer and with a whopping $3,800 price tag it surely is meant for the strictly rich coffee-addicts. Personally, I would rather invest that kind of money in a new bicycle.

via Appliancist

Say it ain't so Floyd...

Floyd Landis will make his final appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in New York next week in an effort to regain the 2006 Tour de France title he lost because of a positive doping test.

The hearing that begins March 19 is expected to last six days.

Landis went to CAS, world sport's highest appeal body, after losing a public hearing by the American Arbitration Association last year. That panel upheld the results of a laboratory test that indicated Landis used synthetic testosterone during a comeback win in the 17th stage of the 2006 Tour.

Landis went on to win the title in Paris but was later stripped of his yellow jersey.

The 32-year-old rider from Pennsylvania has been fighting an expensive legal action to regain his title and reputation. He is banned from cycling by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency until the end of January 2009.

Landis submitted appeal papers to CAS last November in which he stated that "to wrongly strip a champion of his victory due to a flawed test is much worse than to have an athlete cheat his way to victory." Landis claims the French testing laboratory made mistakes and returned a false positive test on his sample.

The CAS hearing, likely to be conducted at a Manhattan law firm, represents the last chance for Landis to clear his name.